#also also i just noticed the date and I drew this exactly yesterday two years ago!

[szkicel]

Some drawing of Sayta from September 2021 when I first got my hands on Procreate.

#my art #procreate #procreate art #artists on tumblr #ocs #original character #character design #ro.bug #robug #when you compare this piece with my newest drawing of Sayta I posted here #it’s literally night and day #it’s insane how much of a progress you can make in just 2 years of using the program consistently #i still like this drawing tho #but also kdjdkfhdhd I needed to add her second set of antennas today bc 2021 me kind of forgot lmao #also also i just noticed the date and I drew this exactly yesterday two years ago! #I didn’t plan this lol

[ao719]

A Night to Remember

Happy 100 weeks @wackydrabbles! 🥳 I am participating in this weeks challenge with the prompt This is huge - we need to celebrate!

A/N: Thank you to @dcbbw and @burnsoslow for prereading!

Word Count: 1992

Warnings: Very mild language, but other than that, none.

The Soho penthouse elevator door slid open; Catherine and Gideon stepped out, followed by a sullen Reyna shuffling behind them. “Well, I’m glad Vince is alright,” Gideon said as they stepped into the kitchen. “I’ll give him hell for putting you in danger once he’s recovered; I can’t exactly kick his ass while he’s down.”

“It’s ‘kick him while he’s down,’ dad,” Reyna mumbled.

Gideon casually shook his head. “Not this time.”

Reyna slumped onto the stool at the counter and pressed her forehead against her palm as she heaved a sigh; Catherine rested her hand on Reyna’s shoulder. “You’ve been looking forward to it for so long, Reyna. There’s no reason you can’t still go and enjoy yourself.”

Reyna shook her head. “There would be nothing enjoyable about going alone.”

“Do you want to come to Miami with us?” Gideon asked.

“No. I’ll just … stay home and wallow. Alone.” Reyna stood and walked towards her room; Gideon and Catherine shared sad smiles.

****

Liam glanced at his watch as he finished dressing; he wondered if Reyna was home. She told him it was senior week; he didn’t understand what the hell that meant, but he knew she didn’t have school because of it, and she’d been out almost every day this week with her friends.

Ever since his birthday ball last month and his realization of how strong his feelings for her truly were, Reyna had been on his mind more than usual. He knew it was one-sided, however, so he tried -- and failed -- to brush it off.

Liam sat at his desk, figuring he would try to call Reyna before starting his day. He opened his laptop and hit the video call icon; he felt his stomach flip when it started to ring. Reyna’s face appeared on the screen a moment later, and Liam smiled; his smile fell when he noticed her red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained face. “Rey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Reyna sniffled as she wiped her cheeks. Liam cocked his head to the side and gave her a knowing look. “It’s so dumb,” she shook her head.

“Tell me anyway.”

“I … I can’t go to my prom,” her breath hitched.

“Why?”

“Because my date is an idiot, and he can’t go … so now I can’t go,” she sniffled.

“What happened?”

Reyna took a breath in an attempt to collect herself. “I was supposed to go with this guy, Vince. A bunch of us were out yesterday when his dad called to let him know he received his acceptance letter into Brown University; it’s a prestigious school and the one he really wanted to get into. So he was all excited and said, “this is huge - we need to celebrate!” So we decided to spend today at Coney, and we rented jet skis. I was riding with him, and he was trying to show off and started messing around. He wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing or where he was going, and the corner of the jet ski hit the concrete slab of the pier, threw me off, and he managed to crush his ankle between the concrete and the jet ski. It broke in three spots, and he has to have surgery …”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt, Rey!” Reyna forced a halfhearted smile as she wiped her cheeks; leave it to Liam to be more concerned about her safety than anything else. “So, just because he can’t go, why does that mean you can’t go?”

“I mean … I could. But all of my friends have dates … I don’t want to ruin anyone else’s big night by third-wheeling it.”

“What exactly is prom again? I don’t understand these things you guys do in the States.”

“Imagine a ball … that’s pretty much what it is, just with less pomp and circumstance … to commemorate the end of senior year.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “It’s fine. I don’t need to go,” she said quietly.

Liam chuckled, and she looked back at the screen as he offered her a sad smile. “Then why are you so upset?”

“Because prom is like a rite of passage, Li! It’s something my friends and I have talked about all year. It’s supposed to be this amazing night to remember …”

Liam looked away from the screen for a moment; in the background, Reyna heard someone tell him that he needed to go. He looked back at her and gave an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Rey, I have to go meet with my father. But I’ll call you later, ok?”

“Ok,” Reyna nodded.

*******

On the day of Reyna’s prom, she spent most of the morning lying in bed until her parents called from Miami to check on her. Gideon informed her that he had enlisted her aunt to keep her company for the day. Reyna insisted she was fine, but Elsie showed up at the penthouse just before lunch and dragged her out anyway.

Reyna hadn’t heard back from Liam since he called her a couple of days ago. She knew he was busy taking a few meetings for Leo, who was away on a diplomatic trip with Constantine, but she wished she could talk to him; he would tell her to stop sulking and crack a joke about why she should be glad she was missing her prom.

After a day of retail and mani-pedi therapy with Elsie, Reyna suggested they grab dinner, but her aunt insisted she get back to the penthouse. Reyna was confused since Elsie had practically forced her to come out, but she shrugged it off.

“Thanks for taking me out today,” Reyna said.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Now, get inside,” Elsie shooed her with a grin. Reyna gave her a curious look before entering the building.

As the elevator made its ascent to the penthouse, Reyna couldn’t help but think of her friends at that moment; they were all at the Conrad by now, their night just beginning. She sighed as she slumped against the metal wall of the elevator. When the doors opened, she stepped out, carrying her shopping bags in both hands. She froze when she saw a figure round the corner, and her eyes went wide.

“Liam?” Reyna dropped her bags and rushed towards him; she squealed as their bodies collided when she jumped into his arms.

“Hey, you,” Liam chuckled.

Reyna drew back from their embrace to look at him. “What are you doing here?”

Liam couldn’t contain his smile as he set her back on the ground. “I have a surprise for you.” He took her hand, guiding her down the hall to her bedroom. When they stepped inside, Reyna turned to look at him. “I need you to get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“Not far,” Liam smiled. “And you need to wear that.” He nodded his head to her closet.

Reyna turned to see the unworn garment she had stuffed away the other day now hanging on the door; she looked at him with her brows furrowed in confusion. “My prom dress?” Liam nodded with a smile. “Why?”

“Stop asking so many questions and just get dressed.” With that, Liam left her to change.

****

A short time later, Reyna emerged from her room. Hearing her come down the hallway, Liam turned to look at her; his eyes widened as a smile split his lips. She gave a little spin, and his eyes traveled over her; she wore a powder blue backless A-line gown. He had seen her dressed up countless times before, but in that particular moment, she took his breath away. “You look … wow, Rey …”

Reyna smiled as she looked him over; he had changed into a pair of black dress pants and a white dress shirt complete with a tie. “You changed, too.”

“Of course,” he grinned. He could see the confusion in her expression and offered his arm. “Come with me.”

Liam guided Reyna up to the private rooftop terrace of the penthouse. When they stepped out, Reyna was met with soft music, and her eyes widened. Liam had it decorated with flowers, candles, twinkling lights, and white and gold balloons. “Liam,” Reyna choked out, “what is all this?”

“I was going to offer to take you to your prom, but when I talked to your parents, your mother informed me that you had already given your ticket away. So … I decided to create a prom for you …” Liam offered her a smile and turned, grabbing something off the ledge. “My research on proms told me I should give you one of these.”

“You did research?” her voice cracked, and Liam nodded and took her hand, slipping a white rose corsage onto her wrist. Reyna’s vision was blurred as she looked up at him. “Liam, I …” She trailed off, finding it hard to speak over the lump in her throat.

Liam smiled as he brushed a tear from her cheek. “I know it’s probably not the prom you had envisioned, but-”

Reyna cut him off with a shake of her head. “It’s not … it’s better,” she tearfully smiled.

Liam took her hand and gestured to a nearby table that was set for two. “My research also told me there’s typically a dinner involved before the actual prom.” Reyna glanced around the decorated terrace, still in shock, as Liam guided her to the table; he helped her into her seat before taking his own. He lifted a large cloth off the center of the table to reveal a pizza box from her favorite pizzeria, and Reyna let out a laugh as she wiped the tears from under her eyes. “It said fancy dinner, but this seemed more -”

“Us,” they said in unison and smiled. “Jinx.”

“It’s perfect, Liam. All of this --” Reyna motioned around “-- I-I can’t believe you came all of this way … and did all of this for me …”

“I just wanted you to have your night to remember.” Liam smiled, seeing Reyna’s eyes glistening in the soft terrace lighting. “I do have something your prom wouldn’t have had, however.” Liam reached down next to him and lifted a large bottle of Cordonian apple wine with a grin. “They wouldn’t serve you this.”

“Definitely not,” she giggled as Liam poured them each a full glass.

****

After consuming the entire pizza and two glasses of wine each, Liam loosened his tie and stood from his seat as a slow song started to play. He offered Reyna a lopsided grin and his hand. “Dance with me?”

Reyna took Liam’s hand, and he led her to the center of the terrace; he gave an exaggerated bow, and she laughed before looping her arms around his neck as his arms wrapped around her waist. She rested her head against his chest as they started to dance.

Reyna still couldn’t believe that Liam had made the long flight from Cordonia just to make this night happen for her. She swore any time she was with him, those secret feelings she held since she was 16 grew, but this made that unrequited love she had for him even stronger. This was one of those moments that, if she could, she would capture and hide it away just to relive it.

Reyna glanced up at Liam, unable to stop her smile as he returned his own. She perched on her tiptoes and pulled him down, pressing her lips to his. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t done before: a kiss under the guise of alcohol to mask their true feelings. Liam pulled Reyna closer, so there was no space left between them as they became lost in that one perfect moment. When she drew back, she stared up at him, reminding herself that they were just friends.

“Thank you, Li,” Reyna whispered.

“For what?”

“For giving me a night that I won’t forget.”

Liam smiled as he stared down at her. “I’d do anything to make all of your nights like this, Rey …”

******************************

This is part of my Always You universe. If you’d like to be added or removed from tags, please let me know!

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#wacky drabbles celebrates 100 weeks #wacky drabbles #trr #choices trr #the royal romance #choices the royal romance #trr liam #trr fanfic #trr fan fic #trr fanfiction #choices trr fanfic #trr au #trr au fanfic #choices trr au #liam rys #king liam rys

[stellartales]

zhongli ▪︎ glazed moon

pairing: zhongli x traveler!reader

genre(s): comfort + mild angst + fluff

summary: liyue harbor is once again preparing for another festival — the mid-autumn festival. but somehow she simply couldn't bring herself to join the others in the celebration. definitely not when her heart is aching in melancholy for her missing twin. — | m.list

background: this scenario takes place during the mid-autumn festival - as quoted from wikipedia - it is the second-most important holiday after Chinese New Year with a history dating back 3,000 years, when China's emperors worshipped the moon for bountiful harvests.[2] The celebration is called Chuseok (autumn eve) in Korea, Tsukimi (moon-viewing) in Japan and Tết Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Festival) in Vietnam

this event celebrated by the chinese is usually spent eating mooncakes and drinking teas. lanterns are also an important aspect of this festival. unlike the yuanxiao fesitval or mingxiao festival (which is the fictional festival featuring best boy Xiao in GI) where lanterns are released into the sky, lanterns are hand-held. this is a festival i celebrate every year hence i'm familiar with it — feel free to read up about this on wiki!

a/n: don't mind me, this is just a random idea that popped in my head. i'm in the mood for some angsty stuff these days so just had to get it out. Flute version of 无羁 (Wu Ji) from the drama 'Untamed' was the song which inspired my angsty mood while typing this. pardon my errors (I may have missed them and i kinda wrote this on a spur sooooo yea)

Please do me a favor and reblog this. Thank youuuu ❤

the vitality of liyue harbor has always been astounding; an envy of the seven nations.

bright, bustling streets even in the darkness of nights was enough to show the nature of the city.

though, today it was a different kind of bustle. stores were already closed; even the nocturnal businesses that one would only see at night.

the moon had been bright and round the past few nights while the people busied themselves for another festival to come.

— the mid-autumn festival, an annual festival celebrated by the people of liyue or at least that was what zhongli explained yesterday when he extended an invitation to her to join him and others in moon-gazing today.

tonight, the moon shone bright and full in the clear dark sky, seemingly more so than the previous nights.

strategically rooted to the ground of a spacious balcony overlooking the gentle waves below, the stone tables were in a perfect spot beneath the brilliant moon.

colorful mooncakes of various flavors and teacups filled with steaming tea laid before her.

she sat at one of the round stone tables with some funeral parlor staff and of course, zhongli himself who has been rather busy ever since she arrived—

the cheerful chatters and laughter drew her eyes away from the empty seat beside her and to the tables across theirs.

his archon days were over, he said.

he was simply trying to experience a mundane life as 'zhongli' now, as the geo archon had put it when she expressed her surprise at his involvement with a festival fabricated by the mortals' minds.

and indeed—

her gaze idled on him.

— he was doing it too well.

illuminated by the golden glow the table lanterns emanated, the cordial and relaxed atmosphere was warmed by attentive eyes and smiling lips.

all on him.

apparently, some things never changed. whether he was rex lapis or zhongli, he carried an alluring elegance and charisma. clinging to every word and his occasional hand gestures, they were like moths drawn to a flame.

she could understand why; she liked hearing him talk. she would have gone over too, if not...if not for this weight on her heart.

it has been nearly a year since she was in teyvat looking for her twin. these few days in the harbor, the full moon was a constant reminder of how time has passed, and yet...

a heavy sigh escaped her. a longing gleam waned in her eyes as she lifted her gaze to the sky.

they used to talk and eat under a full moon just like this, a bitter ache clenched her heart.

her teeth sank into her lower lip as it trembled.

please...not now. her hands curled into shaking fists as she tried to hold back the tears threatening to leave her eyes.

not now. not at this party. she silently pleaded with herself, her squared shoulders shaking. it took all her willpower to not let the dam break.

but one managed to escape her anyway.

—shit.

she was up on her feet fast and slipped away from the party as subtly as she could.

stumbling out of the party half-blind with tears wasn't exactly the best situation to remember about the cloak meant to keep her warm on an autumn night.

luckily, she didn't end up falling off the stairs she currently sat on.

autumn in liyue was typically not cold, but tonight seemed especially so.

she shivered to the chilly breeze brushing against her back. goosebumps crawled across her skin, particularly on the areas her dress failed to protect against the cold.

she couldn't quite bring herself to go back for the cloak. not with the mess she was now.

the sight of the round moon above wavered in her vision as tears quietly trailed down her cheeks.

under the vast, seemingly endless night sky, she felt small...

— her knees were drawn closer to her chest, curled fingers digging into her dress.

...and extremely powerless.

where is he? why can't she find him? is he even in teyvat? Is he even...still alive? does he even exist anymore?

—a dreading sense of hopelessness echoed in her heart and summoned another wave of tears wavering her vision.

under this wide, endless sky and its luminous moon, she felt alone, truly alone in the presence of the joyous cacophony of laughter and playful yells coming from the festival she left behind.

a nasty voice prompted by the noise taunted her — of how no one would notice, even if she were to walk right out of liyue harbor right now.

drowning in harsh, relentless thoughts, she failed to notice the gaze of a pair of wise, golden eyes on her back, soft with concern.

long legs covered the distance between them in a quiet, graceful stride; the gentle clacks of his loafers whenever their heels hit the ground slipped past her notice too.

not even when he climbed down the steps to settle himself next to her, a step above hers.

not even the inevitable proximity between their bodies caused by the short stairs spacious for one but narrow for two.

only until his coat was off his shoulders and wrapped around hers—

"why the tears on the mid-autumn festival?"

—she jolted with a sharp gasp, her widening eyes snapping over to him.

the calm and prodding gaze that met hers was accompanied by the tender brush of his thumb across her left cheek, right under her tearing eye before switching over to her other.

"zh-zhongli?"

she stayed stunned, unsure she was feeling so because someone noticed she had left or was it because of this simple gesture.

zhongli has always been a mentor-like figure to her. his words, his wise gazes, the comforting pets he occasionally gave on her head and back had always reminded her of how she was a mere child in his eyes.

but tonight...this, nothing about the gentleness his hand or his eyes emanate felt normal. or was she just delirious?

the strange stutter of her heart caused by the hand on her face, the blush heating up her cheeks made her tear her gaze away from his, flustered.

zhongli let his hand drop back onto his knee, but his eyes stayed.

crossing her arms to hold onto his coat sitting on her shoulders, she thought hard to recall his question.

"i can't help thinking about my brother, that's all." she looked back at him, smiling.

a smile he thought reminded him of the moon when it was not yet full — a quiet light melancholic with vague sadness.

"don't worry about me, i'll be fine." she slipped a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the festival. "you should go back there, zhongli, they need you. what's mid-autumn festival for liyue without you?"

she moved to remove the coat from her shoulders, but a hand wrapped around her wrist stopped her.

"but what's mid-autumn festival without you, my dear friend?"

zhongli regarded her intently, his eyes boring into hers for a second before shifting to focus on his coat.

there was something else in his eyes when they return to hers; it came and went in a flicker. "...keep this on, it's chilly today."

"thanks..." she murmured, her shoulders sinking as she yet again returned her thoughts to her brother.

"aether..." the pain she guarded showed on her face. "will i ever be able to see him again?"

tears started to well up in her eyes once again.

"i'm sorry, zhongli, i'm so sorry..." a quiet sob broke through, "today is supposed to be about the mid-autumn festival, and yet...here you are, listening to me."

zhongli's mouth opened then snapped close.

he always knew what to say whenever she was in a pinch. however, it was tears this time, and he wasn't exactly sure about what he should do about his body's urge to extend his arms out to her.

he was already more than a thousand years old.

as the former geo archon, he was the immovable rock. emotions and impulses he used to hold within himself in his younger days were buried deep under the sands of time...or at least they should be.

so where did this come from? was this strange stir an inevitable part of being a mortal?

"you know what?"

her movement to rise from the spot beside him turned his head back to her.

resolute hardened the glint in her tearing eyes, "i don't want to hold you back any longer,"

her fingers curled into a shaky fist, nails digging into her palm.

"....the people need you. i-i think i should just go bac—"

his hand flew out before he could think any further; his body was faster than his thoughts this time.

her next breath puffed out of her, in surprise and bewilderment as her body was tugged and cocooned by a breathing warmth before she could understand what happened.

and when she did, her eyes flew wide.

cheek pressed against his neck, she found herself held to his chest. she could feel his chin atop her head and his arms around her.

he was beside her a moment ago, and now he was behind sharing the same step as her, broad enough to accommodate them. was she the one who moved? or did he?

she didn't know how but she couldn't find the energy to care —the scent of musk and lingering tea engulfing her was an alluring comfort that made her want to stop trying.

so warm. really, really warm.

and so was his voice. "...but you need me." a hand caressed the back of her head.

there was a pause before a feigned cough ensued. "i meant, this."

#genshin impact #zhongli x reader #zhongli imagines #genshin impact x reader #zhongli x you #zhongli x traveler #zhongli x lumine #zhonglumi

[hops-hunny]

Alarm

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader

Word Count: 3k

Request: “Can u write a songfic for Fred Weasley based on alarm by Anne Marie? It's ok if u don't want to”

Summary: Based off the song Alarm by Ann Marie aka Fred learns that karma is a bitch

Warnings: cheating, swearing, mentions of sex, small amounts of angst

A/N: I’m sorry this took so long! I whipped this up finally so I hope you enjoy it! I did add a bit extra in the end but otherwise, I did base it off of the song.

You lay here with me, you're shuttin' down

I smell her on ya, I'm focused now

I know what's goin' on in your head, yeah

I know what's happened here in our bed, yeah

(Y/n) lay in bed, deep in her thoughts as Fred wrapped one arm around her using the other to pull the cover up over their exposed bodies. Fred fell asleep rather quickly while (Y/n) dodged the call from sleep. Her thoughts were consuming her. It had all started last week when she found a pair of underwear hanging from Fred’s bed that certainly were not hers. They were much too small and well, she didn’t remember bringing any thongs to Hogwarts with her. And tonight, while he was busy deep inside of her, she was busy deep in her thoughts from the sickly, sweet smell of caramel candies and the stuffy scent of the Ravenclaw common room that was embedded in the pillows that surrounded her head.

Your phone is buzzin', so pick it up

I know she callin', so what the fuck?

I should've known a cheat stays a cheater

So here we are

---------

While (Y/n) was a bright and kind soul filled with optimism and humanity, she wasn’t fucking stupid as much as Fred seemed to think she was. She had started seeing signs way before the more obvious ones. She noticed the first time when he was receiving an influx of owl messages. In the great hall, common room, quidditch practice. Fred had simply brushed it off by saying “Oh it’s just George, love, nothing to worry about.” and at first, she had bought it. She believed his lies, giving him the benefit of the doubt. That was until she got paired with George for an assignment in which he sent his owl to give her a time and place.

 So she waited for the perfect opportunity. While in Fred’s dorm, waiting for him to arrive back from quidditch practice, that same owl from before swooped in dropping a letter on his bed. She was not naturally a nosy person, she wouldn’t want anyone snooping through her things so why should she snoop through his? But, the hearts that littered the outside of the letter got the best of her. (Y/n) looked around the room, making sure she wouldn’t be interrupted, before carely unfolding the letter. 

‘Were we meeting tonight? I couldn’t remember. Either way, I’m wearing that cute little red number under my uniform and as usual, you know where to find me. Take care until then darling, 

Xoxo Marie SinClair’

The girl sat there for a bit, a tornado of emotions brewing inside of her. She wasn’t surprised to say the least. She should’ve known that dirty bastard hadn’t changed. The whole reason she had never accepted any of his advances before was because of his reputation. Everyone at Hogwarts knew of the appetite of the unsatisfiable beast that was Fred Weasley. He couldn’t keep it in his pants if his life depended on it. He got who he wanted, when he wanted and that was just the way it was. 

However, with her, Fred acted differently. He didn’t go for his usual tactics and ways. It was Yule Ball when they had gotten together. She had been crying in the courtyard because her date abandoned her at the last minute. Everyone knew the two were going together so when she arrived and saw him on the arm of some other girl, it drew a lot of unwanted attention. She silenced her crying slightly as she looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching. 

She looked up finding Fred standing there, causing her to roll her eyes.

“Go away, Weasley. I have no time for your usual antics so if that’s what this is, you can simply fuck off.” she snapped, uncharacteristically of her. Even Fred found himself a bit taken back but it didn’t stop him from approaching her. He kneeled before her, grabbing her hands as he looked at her. He took the handkerchief out of his pocket, dabbing her face carefully to get rid of the tears but to also not ruin her makeup.

“You know, what he did was fucking scuzzy. I think he’s a bloody prick for that, abandoning such a beautiful girl. You didn’t deserve that. But, you can’t let him get the best of you! You dressed up all nice and lovely for Yule. We can’t just let that go to waste can we?” He said. (Y/n) looked up at Fred quizzically. She thought about what he said for a moment.

“But, I can’t just go back in there alone. They’ll just look at me even more!”

“You won’t be alone, I’ll be right there with you, every step of the way.” He stood up before holding his hand out to the girl. She pondered it for a second before smiling, taking his hand to go back in and give that bastard of a date a piece of her mind. 

Even then she had been skeptical and looking back, she wished she could go back and change what had happened. She was brought out of her head from a sickly sweet smell of caramel candies and stuffy rooms radiating from the letter. That was the first time she had encountered the smell but even then, she knew it wouldn’t be the last.

And there goes the alarm ringin' in my head

Like somebody said, “Don't you trust him, no”

Text in from his ex, what did you expect?

Now you're lyin' here knowin' where he goes

The next morning, (Y/n) snuck out of Fred’s dorm, knowing she couldn’t handle everything on her own. All the warning signs and evidence ringing loudly in her head like an alarm. She walked through the halls, absentmindedly as she searched for her two dearest friends, Hermione and Ginny. She found them laughing about something in the commons as she sat down. She gave them a tired smile as she looked at them.

“Is everything alright darling? You look quite disturbed.” Hermione said as she held her friends hand looking at her. (Y/n) went to speak before choking on her words. She couldn’t hold it up anymore, she began to cry. She spilled out everything that happened, all the evidence. The letters, perfume, even the underwear. They both held the girl, stroking her back softly as they listened to her.

“But I don’t know, I don’t know. Maybe I’m overreacting? Surely there’s a way to explain this.” the (y/h/h) girl sniffled, looking up at her friends.

“Honey, letters from his ex? The underwear? Love, the signs are all there.” Hermione said in a calm tone, holding her friend as she began to break down again.

“I’ll kill him! The bastard. Letters from his ex? God, I wanted to have faith that this time, now that he had a fucking good one he’d treat her right. But, what did we expect? Dogs will always be bloody dogs. Wait till I tell mum!” Ginny exclaimed, pacing around as she spoke. Her raised tone of voice had gotten the attention of one of the twins’ friends causing him to walk over.

“Who are we on about, Fred? No way that Fred could’ve done that. He’s been uh, helping me study recently! Even yesterday night we were together! No way for him to have time to be shagging other girls. Don’t you trust him?” Dean said, softening his voice near the end as he kneeled before her. (Y/n) looked up at him, (e/c) eyes glaring into the brown ones before her. She had had it. She was fed up with all the he said she said bull. 

“You’re gonna fucking stand here, and lie to my face? Clearly you know where he keeps running off to. But you know what? To answer your question, no. Fuck no I don’t trust him!” the (h/c) girl seethed out through gritted teeth before storming out of the common room. Everyone stood there, a pregnant silence covering the room. Hermione and Ginny stood there, shocked but proud that the usually complacent and quiet girl had stood up for herself.

Now he got that itch, yeah, karma is a bitch, yeah

Same way that they come, that's the way they go

Now he got that itch, yeah, rewindin' the picture

There goes the alarm and the sirens go

There goes the alarm

After what went down in the common room that day, the news had obviously reached Fred extremely fast. He had shown up at her door, with flowers as he tried to form an apology and explanation, stumbling over his words. She stood there, staring at him with a stone like expression which worsened his words. While he was mid apology, (Y/n) had simply taken the flowers before turning around and slamming the door in his face, not even bothering to say anything.

The (y/h/h) girl had grown a lot since then, and everyone could tell. They all had expected her to be torn to bits, crying her days away in her dorm but they couldn’t be far from the truth. When Hermione and Ginny had come to (Y/n)’s room the next morning to go to the great hall like they usually did, their mouths were agape and their eyes grew wide. She had done her makeup, skin glowing the light reflecting off the gloss on her lips. Her hair appeared to look a lot healthier than usual too, skirt hiked a bit more than usual. She had grown tired of hiding on the sidelines She’d show him just exactly what karma had in store for him.

------

(Y/n) walked into the great hall, her dearest friends at side as usual, guys and girls alike greeting you as you walked to your spot at the table. She began to butter her toast, looking at Ginny who was holding in a fit of giggles. “Care to share?” the (h/c) haired girl said.

Ginny leaned in. “Well, I heard from a few of the girls in Fred’s year that he’s been having some rather unusual...sensations going on. So, he went to Madam Pomfrey and she asked him if he had been sleeping with anyone new and he obviously said yeah and well...she gave him a bottle of potion and told him good luck! Bloody hell, (Y/n/n) he’s got some kind of itch going on! You dodged a bullet with that one.” She said right on queue as Fred came in, scratching at his crotch region. (Y/n) and Hermione both gasped at the same time, covering your mouths trying your best not to laugh. 

George walked in shortly after, not wanting to be seen with his idiot of a twin. Fred began walking towards the Ravenclaw table, going in for a kiss to the girl he had been seeing. She stuck up her hand in between them before scooting closer to the bloke next to her who wrapped his arm around her, glaring at the Gryffindor boy. He had a defeated look on his face as he walked over to Dean, taking a seat next to him. The (y/h/h) girl couldn’t take it anymore, she began to laugh uncontrollably as her friends joined in.

“Karma really is a bitch, innit she?”

I saw it comin', I let it go

My girls will tell me, "I told you so"

But I was so intrigued by your style, boy

Always been a sucker for a wild boy

I'm better than this, I know my worth

I might be gettin' what I deserve

But I ain't stickin' 'round for the re-run

What's done is done

(Y/n)’s life had improved even more than before. She never cared about her status or popularity, but it was hard to ignore the attention she was receiving. Most of it was positive but some were negatives, spreading rumors that were quickly shut down. Even though the thought of Fred never crossed the girl’s mind, with all the things she kept hearing from people, it was very clear she was the only thing on his mind.

“I swear (Y/n/n)! I’ve heard from around five different people now that he’s been planning something! All I’m saying is you better be prepared for when he approaches.” Hermione said. (Y/n) scoffed, shaking her head. It wasn’t that the idea was unbelievable. She knew it was something that could very well happen but she didn’t want it to. ‘Fred would have some fucking nerve thinking he deserves some kind of reconciliation after what happened’ she thought to herself as they continued to walk. That was until she heard..

“Oi! Oi! (Y/n) wait up! (Y/n)! (Y/n)!” she froze in her spot, turning around with an eye roll. She looked up at the tall boy, eyes piercing into them. He went to open his mouth to speak again but she held her hand up causing him to stop.

“You know Fred, before I would’ve actually taken the time to consider what you have to say. And you know what? I would be lying if I said I didn’t love you. I always loved how different we were. I was, well, quiet, more reserved and you were my fantasy. You were this wild, unruly boy that no one could tame, no one until me. But you know, now I know why fantasies are called fantasies. Because they’re too fucking good to be true.” She spoke calmly as bystanders pretended to not be listening although some did stop to see what would go down. “Honestly, I truly want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Without your foolishness, I would’ve never realized my worth. And while all the other girls here may fall at your feet, I personally won’t be sticking around for a rerun. So I kindly leave you with, fuck off. What’s done is fucking done.” She said, looking up at the boy whose face was full of a mix of emotions. Sorrow. Regret. Longing. She flashed a fake smile before nudging Hermione signaling for her to follow.

Hermione stood there for a moment before walking up to Fred, smacking him across the face. “You have some nerve, you insolent pig!” (Y/n) dragged her off knowing that the Gryffindor would keep going if she could but for the sake of her, the people around them, and Gryffindor’s house points she didn’t let her.

Bang bang, two-shots fired

Man down, one fool, one liar

Ring ring, trust gone missin'

House on fire, house on fire

Bang bang, two-shots fired

Man down, one fool, one liar

Ring ring, trust gone missin'

House on fire

(Y/n) didn’t know, but there had been a guy watching from afar since this fiasco began. He had watched her grow and blossom, gaining the attention of many men, no not men, boys who thought they were worthy of the work of art that was (Y/n). Out of respect, he hadn’t made a move just yet, knowing the girl would probably want her space. He thought she was amazing. He loved how she was so kind and sweet, spreading optimism anywhere, but never let anyone walk all over her. He loved how she looked when she was concentrating on her studies. But after watching what just went down? He knew he had to make a move. It was now or never.

“Hey, (L/n). Can I talk to you for a second?” (Y/n) turned around at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to be met with a somewhat familiar pair of brown eyes. Her and Blaise were never really friends. Sure, they talked occasionally, working with each other in potions sometimes. He was friends with Draco but was never openly rude as his best friend. She always saw him as the boy’s voice of reason. He was smart, well spoken, and undeniably attractive. She smiled at him.

“Blaise Zabini? To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, watching as he scanned her up and down before meeting his eyes. Hermione nudged her, giving a knowing look before she began to walk off leaving the pair to have a moment alone.

“Well, I’ve been watching you and that dimwitted Weasley boy from a far. I just thought maybe you were tired of dealing with boys and was ready to deal with, well, a real man.” He said, a confident smirk as he took a step closer. He smelled heavenly, like expensive cologne and a smoky smell she couldn’t quite place. “Which is why I was wondering if you’d give me the pleasure of accompanying you to Hogsmeade this week. I was thinking maybe I could take you shopping, then to that little bookstore I know you like, and then if you’re feeling me, dinner? My treat of course.” He said, placing a delicate kiss on her hand. She was taken back to say the least. Sure, she had suitors approach her since her and Fred split, but none of them had done so in such a way as Blaise had. None of them had the confidence or flair.

“You know what Zabini? I think I’d love that very much. Swing by my dorm beforehand. I prefer when they’re early.” 

“Great, it’s a date then! Come with me to Quidditch practice? I’d love to show you off.” He said, holding out his hand. As she grabbed it, her heart fluttering in the distance someone else’s heart was crumbling. 

Fred felt like an utter fool and idiot as the gorgeous girl got more and more distant as the pair moved down the hall. He felt like his heart had a bullet in it and he was left to bleed. He had lost the best woman who would ever enter his life. He felt a tear drop down his face as his heart clenched.

“Come on mate, give it up. I told you to slow down but you thought you were hot shit. Let her live her life, you clearly already lived yours.” George said as he began to lead Fred the opposite way.

There goes the alarm

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

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#harry potter imagines #harry potter x reader #Harry Potter #fred weasly x reader #fred weasley x reader #weasley twins #weasley twins x reader #george weasley #george weasley x you #fred weasley x you #fred weasley x y/n #hermione x reader #blaise zabini x reader

[lovecanbesostrange]

Okay, for the poor people on the Ruby Lucas Harem Discord suffering because of this ask (x) on konako’s tumblr that lead to things (including this fanart x), I have this wild scene out of context.

Mary Margaret was sitting at her desk, updating her chemistry flashcards. Ruby was sitting on her bed cross-legged staring at her laptop screen, waiting for this English essay to write itself.

“Ugh,” Ruby groaned and let herself fall backwards. Out of habit she put her hands to her face, but winced when her fingers touched the band aid over her eyebrow. It’s been five days.

A knock on the door made them both turn. They usually could tell who it was by the exact sound of the knock. Like Charming had one hard knock followed by two quick ones or Mulan knocked four times in a specific rhythm. So whoever this was, was more than unexpected. Ruby drew in a sharp breath. She had heard back from the police yesterday that there would be no criminal charges, but they both knew something else would arise from this.

Mary Margaret looked at her, then turned her chair to fully face the door and Ruby got back up again. “Come in.”

“Hallo. Good, you’re here.”

“Mom!” Mary Margaret was up in a second and gave her mother a hug. “I didn’t know you’d be coming.”

Eva hugged her back, but despite the smile on her face, her voice already made them realize this was not a fun surprise visit. “I didn’t know I would be here today either.” The hug ended and she stepped into the room, her gaze landing on Ruby. “I got some news last night and suddenly I was in my car this morning.”

Mary Margaret glanced at the clock. It was a twelve hours drive with good traffic, so Eva must’ve gotten behind the wheel around 4am.

“Hi…” Ruby busied herself closing her laptop and didn’t look up.

“Honey,” Eva stroked Mary Margaret’s hair, “would you mind giving us the room? I want to talk to Ruby.”

“Sure.” Mary Margaret glanced between the two and then grabbed her things from the desk. “I’m down the hall in the common area.” When she passed Eva she whispered: “Don’t be too harsh on her, please.”

That made Eva smile. Her daughter knew exactly why she was here, but she looked out for her friend. These girls always had each other’s back and knowing they were loyal like that, dragging each other out of trouble, was certainly a good thing.

Eva took the vacant chair and rolled herself over a bit towards Ruby’s bed. “So.”

Ruby slowly looked up. Eva took in the bandaid and she could see a faint red line indicating that her lip must have been busted. Trying to hide one hand with the other was a giveaway that her knuckles were bruised as well. Eva had to breathe slowly. A part of her wanted to grab Ruby by the shoulders and shake the whole story out of her. She wanted to yell about irresponsibilties, the futility of violence and all the consequences physical assault could come with. The bigger part of her wanted to cradle her like the 9 year old she sometimes still saw, who confessed to lying about her home address, as if not having loving parents was her personal failing.

“I was at dinner with friends last night and suddenly got asked if I heard about the ruckus on campus. I was really surprised when I was shown this tiny article about a football player beating up another student. And it took me two phone calls to find out it was you.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby murmured towards the blanket she was sitting on, playing with the seam of her sweatpants.

“For what?” Eva tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. She had felt every emotion during the long drive and had played out many versions of this conversation. But sitting in this room she realized none of those would work.

Ruby furrowed her brows and finally looked up. “Beating up that guy, of course?” It was a bit more of a question than a statement. The question had rattled her. There was so much to be sorry for though. The beating, losing her temper at all, making Regina worry that night already, not doing so great in classes lately, clinging to Snow, making her team suffer… oh, wait. “Also for not calling… I guess…”

The board said that her mother, Anita, would be notified of this by mail. That was her home address, her contact, but maybe this was why Eva was here. The Blanchards had always cared, but now she was in college, she wasn’t a kid anymore, she had to do these things by herself. But maybe, just maybe they should have called. “I shouldn’t have put this on Snow alone… she should’ve talked to you…”

“Ruby, no.” Eva got up and sat down on the bed, gesturing Ruby to scoot over next to her. “Sure, I’m disappointed-”

The word stung and Ruby interjected immediately. “I’m sorry. I messed up, but I promise Snow wasn’t even there and I won’t-”

“Stop!” Eva took Ruby’s hands, now seeing the bruises already turning yellow, showing the passage of time already. “I am disappointed you didn’t call. And I’m glad to hear Mary wasn’t involved, but I wanted to know anyway. Because of you. I care about you. And this is serious. I know…” She paused and slowed down, knowing the next thing would hurt, but after all these years, Eva needed to say it out loud. “I know your mom doesn’t take good care of you, I know you feel like she doesn’t care at all and I honestly don’t know if she does. But I do. I am not your mother, but I care.”

The dam broke and Ruby started to cry. Eva took her into her arms and immediately Ruby clung to her. It was weird that Eva had seen the aftermath of Ruby crying quite a few times over the years, but rarely had she shed tears in front of her. Maybe Eva should have made her before, pushed her a little bit towards that to hammer it home that she cared and that she would be there for her. Just the same she had hugged Mary Margaret after break-ups, over bruised knees, bad grades, and other bad news.

“I’m sorry for everything”, Ruby got out between sobs. Her tears stained Eva’s blouse already. “I didn’t mean to… I don’t want to hurt people… I swear I want to be good.”

There was more, but it was hard to decipher it all and Eva let her cry, rubbing circles on her back. Getting the full story would take time, that was for sure. All she could do now was to reassure Ruby. “I know you’re good, you just made a mistake. People make mistakes.”

Eva looked over Ruby’s shoulder and saw her pinboard. A few pictures were on it and she immediately recognized one taken the time she and Leopold had taken the girls to Six Flags. They had ridden all the rollercoasters until they were practically green in the face. It had also been the day she had seen Ruby at her most carefree. There was one photo of Ruby with her Grandmother, a woman Eva had met only once. Anita was nowhere to be found on the wall.

A group shot looked nice. Eva recognized David from the pictures Mary Margaret had sent her, but couldn’t even guess who the others were. It was a bit sad living too far away to meet all these people, because she had made it a point to know Mary Margaret’s friends in school by face and name. Mulan, Belle, August, Robin, Jasmin, Anna, Aurora… so many names. She smiled at the picture in the corner that showed Ruby in her team uniform, helmet in hand. A candid shot, her elbow resting on the shoulder of another girl. Or maybe it was young woman now.

Eva turned a bit to catch a glimpse of Mary Margaret’s pinboard. Cluttered with far more pictures, flyers and notes. They shared a room, they had shared the most parts of their lives for the past 11 years and yet there still was such a noticeable difference.

Ruby started to calm down and when she let go, Eva leaned forward to get tissues out of her bag. “Can you tell me your version of the story now? All I know is that you were provoked and sent a boy to the hospital. The article said something about questionable self-defense.”

“There are no criminal charges,” Ruby said after blowing her nose. “He said something to my friend. Insulted her. And he wouldn’t stop, calling her… the c-word… and when he touched me, I lost it.”

“He was in the hospital,” she prompted.

“For a broken arm.” A pause. “A broken nose.” Ruby looked at Eva again. “He lost a tooth. And has some more bruises than I do. He was on the ground fast…”

Eva put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “I have no problem believing you would defend any of your friends like that. But you must have hit him pretty hard.” Ruby nodded, the shame was visible. “Tell me the truth. Has this happened before? Because what I can’t believe is that you would pound someone when he’s already down. Something else is going on and I want to know if that will happen again.”

Ruby pressed her palms against the mattress and slid away a bit. Eva could hear - and even see - her breathing pick up. This was almost all the confirmation she needed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Has it happened before, yes or no?”

“Yes.”

Silence fell.

Eva closed her eyes. This was the thing she had feared. Because either Ruby had lost it very big time and the paper didn’t cover the big scoop behind it. Or something had been going on and she had been blind to it. And she needed to hear this from Ruby herself either way.

“When?”

“Back in high school… it was… at junior prom…”

Eva scrambled her brain. She remembered Mary Margaret having a date and giving her one more motherly talk about safe sex that had left her daughter bright red in the face. She also remembered that date bringing her home even before curfew and that Mary Margaret had been not very talkative that night. She had sworn nothing bad had happened with him and Eva only suspected that they’d had a stupid teen argument. There was nothing too remarkable about that. Had she seen Ruby the next day? She couldn’t recall.

While she was thinking, Ruby went on hesitantly. “This boy Peter had asked me out… from the hockey team… but it… it was all a prank… some of those guys wanted to like… set me up for a joke… and... “ She quickly glanced up and right back down again. “It wasn’t as bad, he had bruises and a swollen eye. Snow was there to stop me and we all agreed to not tell anyone. I apologized to him though. And it all… it was… like now… just more… it wasn’t just Whale being a dick to my friend, it’s… everything is so much sometimes and I explode.”

This was less surprising to hear than Eva cared to admit. “Have you ever hurt somebody with intention?”

Ruby shook her head. Her voice was broken. “One time… but only one time… I shoved Snow… I swear it was only once… I yelled at her and shoved her and the second I had done that… I apologized immediately and I never ever intended to hurt anybody.” She looked at Eva again. “Least of all her. I swear.” For this she held eye contact as long as she could.

Eva reached out touching her hand that was clenched around the edge of the mattress. “Thank you for being honest.”

There were a lot of details Eva wanted to know about, but this had been hard enough on Ruby. And now they had time to figure things out. But she had revealed a bright spot. “No criminal charges, you said?”

Ruby nodded. “The police seem very uninterested. And any civil things… well, I need to worry about what the board decides. My… friend said her family will keep things on the down-low.” She squirmed a bit.

“Who is this friend?”

“Regina Mills.”

“Mills? Oh.” Of all the people to get in a fight for, this was probably the luckiest choice. Although it didn’t sit right with Eva that there might be things going to circumvent what law dictated. But she also knew that worse people got away with far worse behavior and Ruby deserved to have one strike with minimal consequences. Even if this was technically her second. “I have looked up a few therapists in town already. I nee-”

“I’m seeing the campus therapist already. But I blew off a few appointments and I get that I shouldn’t.” Eva looked over at Mary Margaret’s bed at that. “Yes, Snow made me. She went with me the first time even.”

“What else are you girls keeping from me?” That came out more judgmental than she meant to. “I know you’re growing up, but you’re still kids to me. I always thought you knew you can come to me with problems.”

“Sorry.”

Eva scooted closer again and put her arm around Ruby’s shoulder. “Enough with the apologies. I know you’re a good kid. I remember you kept Mary from starting to smoke, so that’s something.”

“You know about that?” Ruby looked at her bewildered.

“I am a mom after all and some things I do pick up. You didn’t like it, because you’re an athlete, right?”

“Yeah, it’s super shitty for your lungs and I told her it was uncool.”

Eva laughed. “Wish that would work on Leo and his cigars. But thanks for that. I know you two look out for each other. But I will have to chew out my daughter for keeping a few too many secrets.” Ruby tensed up a bit. “What? Something else I need to know?”

“No…” She dragged the syllable out, dragging her toes over the floor.

“Ruby, I just said you can tell me. That is all I want from you, the truth. And we can work anything out from there.”

“But… what if…” She crossed her arms in front of chest, bracing herself. “What if… I’m not who you think I am?”

“You’re Ruby Lucas. You’re the best friend of my daughter, almost more like a sister. You worked your butt off to get here and you work hard to be the best version of you. I know you even send some of that money home you make at the gas station. Because you care so much about people you love, like your grandmother. I know you are a good person, even though you keep way too much inside. But we can work on that now.” She gave Ruby a kiss on the head, like she would with Mary Margaret. “What could be so bad about you?”

“I’m… I think… I’m gay.” Ruby breathed out that last word and was one tense muscle in Eva’s half embrace.

Eva looked at the pinboard again. The picture with Ruby smiling while leaning on the other girl. It clicked. On top of everything else, this secret had weighed Ruby down. She sure had enough reasons to be angry at the world already. This wasn’t something Eva had prepared for, so she just brought around her other arm to pull Ruby closer. “I want you to be happy and in love.” Finally she felt Ruby breathe in again.

((I just have to stop myself here. This could go on and on and on and on otherwise. Because I already know Eva is gonna take them out to dinner, insisting on meeting David. She gets a hotel room nearby. Of course Snow offers to let her sleep in the dorm but “Honey, that’s kind, but no. So much no to sleeping in a dorm bed.” And she freshens up a bit and passes a book store, where her eye is caught by a pride display and she gets a bracelet with a tiny rainbow flag, two actually, she wears one and gives the other to Ruby, because well, she doesn’t know exactly what to say, but this will definitely not make her think less of her!! Eva is the silent MVP of the story.))

#gender mix football AU #(where nobody gives a fuck about football) #Ruby Lucas #(sorry for spamming the tag - come to the server to yell at me about it) #this fic would be 100k words at this point already - sorry I don't have actual writing stamina for that #konako #somehow it's her fault - and the demons circling her inbox #lazylaziel #if only you knew what you started... even though it's so far removed by now... sorry #$! #RRCAU

[plotting-against-you]

Will It Ever Be the Same (Part 1)

Fandom: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)

Characters: Ryan Hudson, Nancy Drew, Ace, Bess Marvin, George Fan, Ned 'Nick' Nickerson

Prompt(s): This is based on two prompts. One of those prompts is from Alicia, who asked: "Could you do one where Nancy is 13 instead, has blonde hair like Lucy, and blue eyes like Ryan? She goes to his place like in 1x17 to get help for the ritual and on the way out she gets dizzy because she's been working herself to exhaustion. In that moment Ryan notices how similar she looks to Lucy and himself but decides not to say anything but also knows Nancy is his. She eventually tells him before doing the ritual. They go back to his place and he just says 'I know it's you'. She gets overwhelmed, almost passes out, and he just sits with her and tells her to rest."

This is also for @nancydrewcentral's week 2 hiatus prompt: Time Period AU.

Warnings: Panic/Anxiety attacks, mentions of anxiety and coping mechanisms, mentions of character deaths (past and present), mentions of suicide

Nancy wrapped her arms around herself as she bent over, heaving shallow breaths into the air. The sky grew lighter now, as she’d been running for most of the night, and she found herself unsure what to do or where to go next.

“You’re DNA wasn’t a match for the female hair.”

“It’s a mother-daughter match for Lucy Sable.”

“She’s me. The baby is me.”

She couldn’t believe the information she had just found out, and she wished she were older. She thought that if she were older, she might have had more experience in life to handle this sort of life-shattering revelation, but being only fourteen years old, all she felt was betrayal.

And heartbreak.

And panic.

So maybe she felt a lot of things, Nancy admitted to herself, but she felt she had the right to do so. Her whole life had been turned upside-down in a matter of a few hours, and she wasn’t sure what to do now.

She’d been told stories of how hard freshman year in high school could be, but she was positive her friends hadn’t meant this.

She saw headlights approaching and ducked behind a tree, holding her breath as they passed. Though she knew it could be dangerous for someone as young as her to be out alone all night, she was in no mood to face her father. Besides, it wasn’t like she was inexperienced.

She was Nancy Drew, after all.

Or was she?

She let herself plop onto her butt in the grass as she contemplated what to do next. She couldn’t face Carson—for calling him ‘Dad’ now was too hard—but she couldn’t stay out there for too much longer. She’d left her jacket as she climbed out her bedroom window and had started to shiver as soon as she had stopped running.

Her heart ached for the only woman she’d ever known as mother, Kate Drew, and her feelings were mixed there. She didn’t want to be bad at her…whatever she was to her now. Kate had died only a year earlier, and coming to terms with the fact that she’d lied to her hurt more than she wanted to admit.

Then she shivered again and realized she had to find somewhere to take shelter.

She could go to The Claw, she knew. She and her friends had picked up summer jobs working there for cash—under the table of course and no pun intended—and Dawn had always said they could go there whenever they needed. But her friends wouldn’t be there for a few hours yet, and Nancy wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to explain her new parentage to them yet.

As the rush of memories from the night prior filled her head, she picked out one statement that kept replaying itself.

“Ryan Hudson is my biological father.”

She’d seen Ryan Hudson in many different ways over the last few months. For fourteen years, she’d known him as the rich, arrogant hill topper who only graced their town when it was convenient for him or his business dealings.

Then his wife had died during her shift at The Claw, and they’d all been thrown into what she thought would be the weirdest time in her life. Being a murder suspect at fourteen wasn’t what any of her friends had expected for their lives, but it had happened. It was while she was trying to solve that case that she started to see a different side to the man.

Then she’d found out everything regarding his painful loss of Lucy Sable, and her heart broke for him.

Though she’d wanted to help him and Lucy’s ghost in some way, she was forced to put her feelings on pause as even crazier things came to pass—it would be just their luck to call to a sea spirit that wanted them dead—and she’d had to change her list of priorities.

Now all she could think about was how she knew the difficulty in trying to reconcile something in your brain that you had no control over and no knowledge of, no matter how hard you tried.

Standing from her spot in the damp grass, she took a deep breath and started walking again.

This time she knew exactly where she was going.

…

Her phone rang just as she was approaching Ryan’s house.

Groaning as she assumed it was her…Carson, again, she lifted it to hang up but stopped when she saw that it was Ace instead.

He’d been at The Claw with her the night before when she’d read the DNA match on John Sanders’ laptop. So far, he was the only one to know her secret outside of herself and Carson, and she’d only let him stay because he refused to leave her side.

Though he was usually more ‘chill’ than that, he could be a very protective boyfriend when he wanted to be.

She knew that he would be worried about her, especially considering he knew her better than anyone else in her life. So, deciding it would be a good idea to at least tell him she was alive and not eaten by a bear or killed by the Aglaeca, she answered and lifted it to her ear.

“Ace.” She breathed his name out like he was the life raft she needed to save her from drowning.

“Nancy.” She could hear the concern in his voice. “Where are you? Are you okay? Your dad called my parents and said that you ran away.”

She bit her lip. “Carson told me the truth after I confronted him.”

“Oh, Nance…” He used her nickname, and it squeezed at her heart.

“I’m sorry I made you worry.” Her voice was thick with tears as she felt them rush to her eyes. “I can’t be around him right now.”

Ace’s voice was soft as if he were calming a scared animal. “You could have come to me.”

She shook her head, though she knew rationally that he couldn’t see her. She had the brief thought that maybe he had hacked a satellite and could possibly see her. When they’d started dating, he promised he would do anything he could to keep her happy and safe.

“I’m sorry. If I had come there, your parents would have told Carson, and I just….”

“I get it.” His voice was equal parts comforting and protective. “Just tell me if you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” She sniffed.

“Good. Because I know you’re dealing with a lot, but uh, George’s mom says the Aglaeca’s coming after us.” He said it quickly as if ripping off a band-aid.

This stopped her in her tracks, and she paid no mind to the fact that she stood on the side of a dangerously curved road in the middle of nowhere.

In her silence, he continued. “Nick, Bess, George…we’ve all gotten these really weird visions. Portents. Have you?”

She sighed and closed her eyes in defeat. “I vomited up a seaweed wreath yesterday morning.”

“I would say that qualifies.” He said lightly.

“When I went to look for it later, it had turned to sand. Are you saying the Aglaeca did that?” She hadn’t believed in the supernatural before Tiffany Hudson’s murder, but she wholeheartedly believed in it now.

“Yeah.” Ace hesitated. “Apparently, it’s like a bloodhound. And because the Aglaeca responded to your call for Lucy’s bones, you’re acting as its gateway.”

“What, Ace? What aren’t you telling me?” Nancy knew her boyfriend well, and he was holding something back from her.

“Uh…well, that also means you’re the one that’s capable of stopping it.”

“You don’t sound hopeful about that.” Her heart lurched in sudden anxiety. “Do you not trust me to do it?”

“No!” He said quickly before correcting himself. “I mean, yes. Obviously, I trust you. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

It was his turn to sigh. “Well, George’s mom says that you can throw it off your trail by mixing your blood with somebody else’s. Disguising yourself so that, you know, the curse can’t find you, because if it can’t find you, it can’t find any of us.

“Uh, but…the ritual has to be done with a relative. Your blood relative.”

There was the catch and the reason for his earlier hesitation. “Well, that’s a problem, because…you saw the test results last night. My closest relative is not my blood relative.”

“But Ryan Hudson is.” He sighed again. “Listen, I know that poses certain challenges, and don’t worry. You know your secret is safe with me. But…”

“I, uh…” She started walking again and let the gears in her head turn. “I think I have a plan.”

“Nancy, babe, what are you going to do?” His voice held concern again, but also admiration.

He constantly made sure she knew how in awe he was at her detective skills and her ability to make the best of even the worst situations.

“I’ll meet you guys at Bess’ aunt’s party, okay?”

“Can you at least tell me the plan?” Ace was quick with his words, knowing full well that she could hang up at any moment.

“I have to talk to my father.”

…

Ryan crouched on the ground, frozen in place as he looked at the papers scattered in front of him. He’d been up nearly all night searching for any clue as to why Lucy hadn’t talked to him before taking her own life.

Then he’d picked up on the clues she’d written in her journal, and his mind had stopped.

Stroking his finger over Lucy’s baby picture he’d found in her yearbook, he allowed his mind to wander to every what-if scenario that came at him

What if Lucy had been pregnant? Were either of them ready to be parents at eighteen?

What if she’d told him about the baby? Would it have made a difference?

What if she’d lived? Could they have raised their baby together?

What if his parents found out? Is that why they threatened her?

Ryan was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed his front door opening and whipped his head up to make sure it wasn’t either of the elder Hudsons coming in. He couldn’t have them knowing what he knew—they could react any number of ways. If he did have a child out there, he didn’t want them anywhere near his parents.

Then he caught sight of Nancy and sighed. “What, did you break-in? Figured you and your dad would be celebrating by now.”

Nancy remembered how Ryan had thanked them after the hearing had adjourned. He’d been upset by everything that happened but also grateful that they’d found out the truth of what happened with Lucy.

She felt horrible for having to go back on those things and hurt him again.

She wondered how she was supposed to once again break the heart of this man who had been through so much. He was only thirty-two and had lost the love of his life and his wife. Now, after twenty-four hours of thinking he knew exactly what had happened, Nancy was supposed to add more to his plate? It was causing her heart rate to spike, and she knew a panic attack was coming.

She saw the hopeful look in his eye and couldn’t do it. She wasn’t going to be the one to deal another blow to his fragile mental health.

“I need your help.”

“Uh, sorry, I can’t today. I have to get over to the free clinic in Trenton.” He was still crouched on the ground as he spoke.

Her face scrunched in confusion, and something shifted in his brain that he couldn’t quite place.

“Don’t you have rich people health insurance?” She questioned him as she moved over to the counter.

He rolled his eyes at her teenage sarcasm. “It’s not for me, okay? I’m trying to get answers on Lucy. The court clerk gave me a copy of her journal.”

Her already accelerated heart rate sped up as she turned to him. “Why?”

“Why?” He sounded appalled by the question and stood. “Because my dad threatened her! I wanted to make sure he wasn’t being physically violent. I didn’t see anything in her journal about that, but I did find some other helpful things.”

Every time he spoke, he made her anxiety worse, not that he was aware of it. “Like what?”

“I mean, you’re still young, so I don’t want to read some of it to you, but in early spring of 2000, she was writing stuff that makes me think….” He trailed off, unsure if he should tell her what he found.

She was only fourteen, after all. He didn’t know what she knew or if she was even comfortable with the subject.

“Go on.” She looked at the back of the papers in his hand, not being able to meet his eye. “I’m not a child.”

Ryan sighed. “I think she might have been pregnant.”

Nancy fought to keep the gray from edging into her eyesight as she swallowed down the rising panic within her. She knew if she didn’t give into the feelings soon, or at least do some techniques that she’d been taught, she’d pass out or worse. But she didn’t want to give away her secret to him just yet—if ever—so she shook her head.

“And you think the baby was yours?”

He scoffed. “Of course, it would have been mine! Lucy and I were…dating…around New Year’s, and so yeah. Mine.”

“You mean you were sleeping together around then.” She corrected for him and rolled her eyes at the shocked and slightly horrified look on his face. “Oh, stop that. I’m in high school now. I know these things.”

Then she caught the new look on his face and froze. He no longer looked shocked or horrified by her words but stared at her as if he was looking right through her. She felt her throat tighten and took a step back.

Ryan stared at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. Whatever had shifted in his head minutes earlier when she’d scrunched her face had returned the moment she rolled her eyes at him, and all the puzzle pieces had come together.

Both of those faces were exact replicas of his and Lucy’s expressions respectfully, and suddenly he was seeing what he hadn’t through their entire “working” relationship.

Besides the fact that Lucy had been haunting both of them, the young detective had told him she was allergic to wasps’ stings, and so was he. In addition to that, he remembered seeing her bite her lip when she was nervous, a trait that Lucy had right up until the day she died.

Then there were her looks. Her blonde hair may have been turning redder every day, but it was undoubtedly Lucy’s, as were her blue eyes his. She was the perfect combination of them, and he knew the truth in his heart.

Lucy had been pregnant. And Nancy was their daughter.

Then his surroundings came back to him, and he saw how she looked at that moment.

Her usually snarky yet confident expression had turned to fear, eyes wide and pale skin merging together to make her look gaunt. Ryan saw her throat moving quickly and knew she was trying to either swallow down tears or suck in air. Her hand, which now gripped the papers he’d handed her, shook enough to be visible, and she looked utterly exhausted.

He knew a panic attack when he saw one and knew that she also knew the truth.

Not wanting to push her, he told himself he wouldn’t bring it up to her. But, still, he had to make sure she was okay. The last thing he wanted was for her to be hospitalized because she was panicking over this added thing in her life.

“Nancy?” He kept his voice even, though he could hear the worry in it. “Are you okay?”

As he said the words in the same way Ace had said earlier, she told her brain that it was her boyfriend’s voice she was hearing and forced herself to relax. “I…”

“Can I get you some water?” Ryan moved away from her, walking to the sink. “You look pale.”

“Yeah, I, uh…didn’t get any sleep last night.” She forced herself to take some deep breaths while his back was turned and felt a bit more stable when he brought her the glass. “Counteroffer…I’ll help you find out if Lucy was pregnant if you do me a favor after.”

He’d do anything she asked of him, he realized, even if it meant doing her favors or playing along with something she clearly didn’t know he knew. “Deal. Do you need to call your dad?”

He saw the way she cringed at the word ‘dad’ and confirmed his theory that she wasn’t doing as well with the news as he was.

“Uh, nope. I’m good. He’s probably at work anyway.”

He didn’t call her out on the lie, instead holding the front door open to follow her to his car. He’d find out more about that situation later.

…

She’d lied to him. She’d looked him right in the face and lied to him.

They’d taken the trip to Trenton, and acting like a spoiled, entitled rich guy had made Ryan realize just how shitty of a person he probably was in everyone’s eyes. After Nancy had insisted on speaking to the doctor herself, he stood in the waiting room and thought about it.

He knew that he was different from everyone else in Horseshoe Bay, but until he was pretending to threaten to shut down the clinic, he had never realized how those people might see him. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that you had been an asshole for thirty-two years of your life, but Ryan had decided at that moment there wouldn’t be another.

He was going to change for Nancy, even if she never knew it was for her. He never wanted to see the look on her face as he had when she’d shut him up or told him a flat-out lie after leaving the clinic.

Sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, he thought about the story she’d spun for him, telling him that Lucy had been pregnant but had died with her child still inside her womb. He had done the math and had figured out that Nancy had been born weeks earlier than her due date, and she must have too.

Her knowledge of life and her ability to spin a tale baffled him.

“So, are you going to like…tell me why we’re going to Diana Marvin’s house?” He questioned, not wanting to sit in silence any more than they had.

Nancy huffed. “It’s Bess and her cousin Owen’s house, too.”

Owen Marvin was quite unlike the rest of his family. Being their age and having so few family members that were, he sometimes joined Bess at The Claw during her shift to hang out with their group. Of course, they all knew that he primarily came to flirt with Nancy but had been sweet enough to stop once her relationship with Ace had come out.

“I know, but still. You know that I’m like persona non grata, so you want to tell me what this favor is or what?”

“Yeah, in a minute. Can I ask you something?” Nancy had shifted her head lazily on the headrest so that she could look at him.

She still looked slightly pale, something the doctor had also noticed when they walked in, but her breathing seemed to be better, and she looked less like crying.

“Yeah, sure.”

She opened and closed her mouth only once before speaking. “What would it have meant, if-if you’d had the…the baby? Do you think you were ready to be a dad at eighteen?”

He should have known this question was coming. Even so, he answered honestly as he figured she’d be able to tell if he was lying. Besides, she looked too vulnerable as she stared at him.

“At eighteen? No…” He chuckled slightly. “No, hell no. A kid like me, I was dumb and spoiled, and I had horrible parental role models, as you know, so no. That would have been a disaster.”

He thought of his parents again and internally cringed, promising himself he’d do everything in his power to keep them away from Nancy.

“Do you think…do you think that you would have tried to…?” He saw her tuck a strand of hair out of the corner of his eye before she froze and started pulling at her hair. “Oh my God.”

“Hey, you okay?” He glanced at her now, then nearly hit the breaks as she started choking. “Hey. Hey, h-hold on.”

He swerved dangerously to the side of the road and brought the car to a park. Nancy was throwing herself out of the car the second they were stopped, and he followed her actions, panic welling up inside of him.

He wasn’t sure if she was having a panic attack again, but it looked different than it had before back at his house. When he finally got around to her side of the car, she was breathing again. He reached her side the second she slammed the door shut and watched in confusion as she stared at her reflection in the tinted windows.

“Hey, what…what, are you having a panic attack?” He knew he wasn’t supposed to ask, but it scared him.

Then he saw her look at her hand and the pile of sand that sat in it that had definitely not been there a moment prior. “No, no, uh…it was a portent.”

“A portent?” How did she even know what that word meant? He sure didn’t at fourteen. “What, you mean from Lucy?”

“No. From something completely different.” She looked scared now, but differently from before.

This had nothing to do with their familial relationship, and that seemed to worry him even more. He wondered if her whole life would worry him, as she seemed always to be ingrained in some dangerous happenstance.

“This is the favor that I had to ask you, actually.” She sounded upset, tears threatening to fall. “A few days ago, I did something unusual to get the evidence to exonerate my…to exonerate Carson. Uh, my friends and I did this ritual to call to this sea spirit.”

He was completely confused but tried to keep up. “Sea spirit. Like…like dolphins?”

She shook her head as she sat on the ledge overlooking the sea. “Stay with me. It’s a local legend. Uh, and it worked. The Aglaeca answered my call. But the problem is…is I couldn’t hold up my end of the bargain.

“The…the Aglaeca wanted Owen Marvin’s blood. All of it. So we couldn’t go through with it, and now we triggered this, uh, curse, and I have to fix it. And in order to do that, I need to do another ritual to make sure that the spirit doesn’t lock onto its target, and…and that’s where you come in.”

She hated having to get someone else involved, but she was desperate for anything that might save the lives of her and her friends.

Though he wanted to wrap his arms around her and whisk her away to be somewhere safe from all this nonsense, he knew that wouldn’t solve anything. He’d seen enough of Lucy’s ghost to know that supernatural creatures existed, and if his daughter was tangled up with one, he couldn’t let her down.

“Why me?” He was genuinely curious and hoped it didn’t come off as a refusal. “I mean, unless this Aglaeca takes cash, then I’m….”

“It’s not about your money this time, Ryan.” She snapped at him now, and he could see the panic setting back in. “It’s about you specifically, because….”

He froze, watching her face carefully, and wondered if this was the moment she would reveal that she knew she was his daughter.

Then he watched as she hesitated and shook her head. “It’s a long story, uh, and one of which you don’t need to know all the details. But if you just come with me….”

He nodded immediately. “Yeah, no, of course. I mean, it sounds urgent.”

They stared at each other for a second, and he watched as Nancy tried to blink away the tears that had pooled in her eyes. He felt his resolve breaking before taking a deep breath and deciding to take a leap of faith.

“Do you need me because I’m your father?”

Part 2

#cw nancy drew #nancy drew fanfiction #nancy drew #ndcentral #nancy x ace #nancy drew & ryan hudson #younger nancy drew #teenage nancy drew au #time period au #part 1

[louiseleblancdiggory]

"I really want to kiss you right now" from the fluff prompt list for Rowaelin please...

I have another ask that can serve as a part two for this if you guys are interested. If not, this can end here. Enjoy!

Drunk mistakes

--

Aelin wasn’t by any means a lightweight, so Rowan was wondering exactly how much she had to drink to be in the state she was right now.

If normal Aelin was happy, drunk Aelin was a fucking ray of sunshine.

She smiled at everyone and laughed at anything, dancing around with her friends. Rowan was more than content in watching his best friend have the night of her life. She was turning twenty two that day, and Rowan had promised to be her DD if she wanted to get wasted. She protested a little, saying that he should also drink and that they could get an Uber later, but Rowan needed to wake up early the following day and being hungover would only make his morning worse. He had a seminar to watch, and if those things were already brutal while sober, he could only imagine the horror that they would be if his head was pounding and his mouth tasted strange.

After explaining that to her, Aelin reluctantly accepted his offer.

Thus him sitting at a bar, sipping water and watching her have fun with their friends. Elide didn’t drink, so both of them were sitting together, talking while the others danced and drank.

“She looks gorgeous.” Elide shouted over the music, a soft smile on her lips. Elide had known Aelin her whole life, the two of them distant cousins. “It’s infuriating how she manages to get prettier every year, isn’t it?”

Rowan only nodded, his eyes on Aelin’s lithe body dancing with Vaughan. She had chosen a golden mini dress to match with her golden heels, all of that added to the tanned skin and the golden blond hair, Aelin looked like the fucking sun. She irradiated energy even from afar, and Rowan couldn’t stop staring. Since they met in the summer before college, he had always known she was beautiful. It was impossible not to notice. But whenever she smiled, the effect was multiplied by a thousand, and Rowan had to force himself to stop staring at her.

As if she could hear his thoughts about her, Aelin’s head snapped in his direction and she smiled directly at him. Shouting something to Vaughan, she turned and started to walk to where he was seated. Before he could say anything, Aelin threw her arms around him and pressed her body against Rowan’s. From the corner of his eye, he saw Elide getting up and going to Lorcan.

“Are you having fun?” She said against his ear, lips brushing on the shell of his ear, and his arms tightened around her.

“Yeah.” He responded. “Are you?”

She didn’t reply, only drew slightly back to smile up at him. Rowan’s breath was knocked out of him, but he smiled back at her.

She stared at him for a few seconds, pupils dilated because of the alcohol. Like that, there was only a small line of blue and a thicker one of gold.

Her smile widened, and she took a step forward to scream at him. “I could kiss you right now, Rowan Whitethorn. I really want to kiss you right now.”

Before he could even open his mouth, before he could even kiss her, Fenrys came from behind Aelin and hugged her.

“Hello birthday girl!” He shouted, and although Aelin laughed at that, her eyes were still on Rowan. “Sorry, Whitethorn, I’m stealing her for now. You can have Aelin back by the end of the night.”

Fenrys swept her in his arms and Aelin let out a yelp when he carried her away. Rowan was still shocked, still with no reaction. He should have told Fenrys to fuck off and kissed Aelin. He should have told her that he wanted to kiss her too. Fuck, he should have done something instead of just sitting there doing nothing.

Fuck.

————————  

Aelin’s head was pounding, and she promised to never drink like that again in her life.

She groaned, sitting up in bed. She was dressed in a shirt from Vaughan she had stolen when they went to Suria during spring break. She faintly remember Rowan bringing her home and her changing from her mini dress to the shirt.

Rowan.

Fuck.

Like a punch, the memories from last night came rushing to her head and she groaned again, face falling to her hands. She remembered throwing herself at Rowan, remembered looking him in the eye and saying she wanted to kiss him. Remembered him looking at her with shock. Remembered him not kissing her.

Oh gods, she wanted to die of embarrassment.

She needed at least a month away from him to recover from the mortification.

As if the gods were playing some sort of sick joke, Rowan’s voice sounded after a knock on the door. “Ace?”

She looked at the clock, eyes widening when she saw it was already two in the afternoon. Rowan’s seminar had been over for hours now.

“Yeah? Come in.” She cleared her throat, looking towards the door. When Rowan entered, Aelin had to bite the inside of her lip.

Since they had met four years ago, Aelin had fallen hard for Rowan. He had been dating a despicable girl at the time, Remelle, and because of that Aelin never got to ask him out. Instead, they became friends. When Rowan finally ended things with Remelle, Aelin was afraid of asking him out too soon. And then she was afraid of destroying the friendship. And then…

She had come up with a bout a hundred excuses now, and for four years she kept her feelings for him silent.

Until last night.

“Hey, Ro.” She said, keeping her voice normal. Maybe he would just ignore what happened yesterday. Aelin didn’t know if that made her sad or glad.

“Hey.” He said, a little bit uncomfortably.

Shit shit shit shit

“Hum, Ace…” He started, sitting on the bed in front of her. “I know you drank a lot last night and…”

Her heart was about to burst out of her chest. “And?”

“Do you remember anything?”

Her own heartbeat was too loud for her own ears. Was he giving her an out? Did he actually think she didn’t remember shit? She could say she remembered everything and deal with the consequences. Or she could play dumb and maintain the friendship intact.

Aelin wanted to come forward about her feelings, she really did but…

“No, I actually don’t remember shit.” She heard herself lying, the taste bitter in her mouth. “Why?”

Tags: @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @lexflame @sleeping-and-books @annejulianneh111 @perseusannabeth @linshryver @mu-si-ca-l @camilamartinezdunne @dank-queen7 @maastrash @morganofthewildfire @queen-of-glass

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin au #rowan whitethorn #aelin ashryver galathynius #aelin galathynius #rowan x aelin #aelin and rowan #rowanaelin #tog #throne of glass #throne of glass au #throne of glass fanfiction #throne of glass fanfic #answered #writing #mardu writes

[prettyyoungandbored]

Becoming Mrs. Wayne [The Dark Knight] Four

Pairing: Christian Bale!Bruce Wayne x OC

Summary: Demetria Gallagher knew her cozy life would change the second she became engaged to Bruce Wayne. But what she doesn’t know is she’s getting more than what she agreed to. (I am trash at summaries.)

Warning: None

Taglist: @dragonballluver (Let me know if you want to be tagged in this!)

Previous

“27 down is ‘falafel.” 

Alfred looked up, shooting a glare at Demetria. Her lips curved into a childish grin. 

“The bloody hell is a falafel?” he asked, unamused at the word. 

“It’s a fried ball made up of chickpeas and beans. It’s actually delicious.” 

He shook his head. “You Americans and your fried food.” He returned his gaze back down to the Gotham City crossword. Demetria snuck another glance at the crosswords, looking for another one she knew right off the bat. 

“14 across is ‘David Cassidy.’” 

The old man shot her another dirty look. She shrugged her shoulders, desperately trying to hold in her laugh. “I’m sorry.” 

Across the yacht, Bruce shifted his attention from the newspaper he was reading and watched the two with an amused smile on his lips. None of the girls he ever brought home acknowledged Alfred (with the obvious exception of Rachel) and if they did it was to ask for something. Demetria had made an effort to get to know and befriend the old man, knowing how much Alfred meant to Bruce. Their friendship and playful banter was something Bruce could get used to for years and years to come. 

Demetria made eyes with Bruce and walked over to him, her white babydoll dress blowing with the wind. She pat his legs, motioning him to scooch over. He obliged and she curled up against him, propped up on his lap.

“You looked a little lonely over here,” she said. 

He smirked. “You pushed Alfred to his breaking point, didn’t you?”

“I forget how seriously that man takes his crossword puzzles.” 

The couple chuckled as Demetria played with Bruce’ slick back hair. The salty aroma filled her nose as the noise of waves crashing against the yacht filled her ears. 

“Feels so good out here,” she sighed. “Definitely one of your better ideas.”

“My better ideas? Since when did I ever have an idea that wasn’t good?”

“The one time you took me to that new restaurant and I got food poisoning.” 

He laughed, the memory coming back to him. She refused to let him see her in such a state, but he came over anyway to make sure she was hydrated and functioning. 

Needless to say, they never went back there and he owed her big time.

Bruce lifted the newspaper up and continued reading, Demetria reading along with him. 

“Anything interesting going on back home?” she asked. 

“Nothing but the usual mobster activity and an editorial piece about the overwhelming amount of Batman copycats.” 

She hummed. “I can’t help but wonder if Batman feels bad about the copycats.”

“I’m sure it gets annoying after awhile.”

“Do you think he feels responsible for them?”

There are times he wants to tell her he’s Batman, but he wants to keep her away from that part of him. He’s been successful so far, why bother bringing her into it now?

Then she changed the subject.

“What’s this?” She pointed at a section of the paper. “‘Witnesses say clown robbed downtown city bank?’”

Bruce took a quick glance at it. “Must be about that bank robbery downtown from yesterday.” He looked over at her to find a disgusted look on her face. “What?”

“I just...clowns...ugh.” She shivered. “Doesn’t sit well with me.”

“You’re afraid of clowns?”

“How could you not be? They’re creepy. Didn’t you ever see ‘It’ or ‘Poltergeist’?”

He chuckled. “They’re not that bad.”

“Well they scare the shit out of me.”

“So I should cancel the clown I hired for our wedding?”

She slapped his arm. “You’re an ass.”

Bruce set down the newspaper. “Speaking of the wedding, I was wondering if you had any ideas or preferences in terms of location?”

She shook her head. “Zero. You?”

He cleared his throat. “I was thinking Wayne Manor.”

Her eyes lit up, a huge smile slapped across her face. “I would love that!”

“Really?” He cocked his head back.

“Yeah! I mean the property is beautiful, plus it’s something that would be comfortable and simple for us.” 

“You’re sure you want to do it at Wayne Manor?” Bruce asked. 

She ran her fingers through his hair. “Babe, we could go to city hall and get it done and I would still be the happiest woman alive. I don’t care how we get married, I just want to be with you.”

While he never needed a reminder of why he loved her, it was times like these that did. He’d never come out and say it, but underneath the wealth and the vanity he used to mask an protect his true self, he valued the simple things that money could never buy. Demetria shared those same values. Both longed for a quiet and intimate life together which was more than enough. 

“I only ask two things,” Demetria said. 

“Anything.” 

“One, we plan this together. This our day, not just mine and not just yours. It’s ours.” 

“Not an issue at all.” 

“Two, this wedding is as small as possible.” 

He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s done deal.” 

As they leaned in for a kiss, the sounds of the helicopter landing drew their attention from each other. They watched as it made a graceful landing. 

“The plan has arrived for you sir!” Alfred called out. 

Demetria pat Bruce’s knee as she got up. “Have fun breaking off this deal in China.” 

Bruce threw off his white shirt, handing it to her.  He grabbed the duffle bag and threw it overboard. 

“Please be careful, Bruce.” 

“For you, I will.”

He gave her a quick kiss before diving into the water. She watched as he swam over to the helicopter before climbing aboard.

She watched as the helicopter flew away before turning to Alfred. 

“What number are we on, Alfred?” 

“Eighteen across. The clue is ‘Get your own bloody crossword.’” 

_____________________________________________________________

A couple days later, Demetria found herself at the entrance to St. Swithin’s Home For Boys. She was grateful the orphanage had taken her call and allowed her to come visit. 

She made her way to front desk area, smoothing out her pants. She smiled at the elderly nun at the desk. 

“Hi, I’m Demetria Gallagher,” she greeted. 

The nun smiled back. “Hello there! We’ve been expecting you! My name is Sister Agatha. You’re here for the tour, correct?” 

“Yes! I was hoping to speak with the Mother Superior or Monsignor O’Malley.” 

“Unfortunately both were unable to make it due to prior commitments; however, they asked that Sister Mary Ellen give you the tour.” 

“Sounds great!”

“Please a seat while I phone her.” 

Demetria sat in the bench across from the desk, eyeing around the orphanage. It’s old age was definitely showing. She made mental notes of the broken down wood, the cracks in the wall, and the lingering dust. Her mother would love a project like this. 

“Miss Gallagher?” 

Demetria looked up to find a nun in her late thirties with kind brown eyes and a welcoming smile. “My name is Sister Mary Ellen. How do you do?” 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Demetria said reaching out her hand. 

Sister Mary Ellen shook it. “A pleasure to meet you as well. We’re so excited you’ve taken an interest in the orphanage.” 

“Bruce has told me so much about this place and I’ve always wanted to come see it for myself.” 

“The Wayne Family is such a big part of the orphanage’s history. Bruce has been so generous to us in the past.” 

Sister Mary Ellen first took her to the library, named in memory of Martha, Bruce’s mother. Despite it’s broken state, the walls were covered in old books stacked in the shelves. 

“Not a lot of boys spend time in here,” Sister Mary Ellen said. “We’ve been trying to get them to, but some are harder to persuade than others.” 

“Understandable,” Demetria assured.

Next was the kitchen, then the chapel, and then some of the dorms. While the building was historic, its structure and the components inside were out of date and almost out of function. 

There were a a good amount of kids staying in and they deserved a better home. 

“May I ask you something?” Sister Mary Ellen questioned. 

“Of course.” 

“There’s been a lot of talk amongst the nuns about what it is you plan to do and I just...well...what is your intention exactly?” 

Demetria chuckled. “It’s ok. I can completely understand the curiosity.” She sighed. “Bruce has always told me how much this place has meant to him, especially after the death of his parents. I know it’s hard for Bruce to give attention to this place and so I wanted to step in and make sure you’re getting not only what you and the boys need, but what you deserve. You all deserve to be living in better conditions and I can guarantee you Bruce agrees with me.” 

“What is it you can do for us?” Sister Mary Ellen asked. 

“My mother works as an interior designer and would be more than happy to help redecorate. I also know a lot of people who can help make sure this place is functioning properly and is up to all health code standards. I want to make sure you all are taken care of and are given the attention you all deserve.” 

Sister Mary Ellen couldn’t help but smile. “What about finances? I know the monsignor and Mother Superior would ask to be kept apprised.” 

“They would be. That’s something I’m currently working on, but I want to know what I’m at least working with here.” She smiled. “Although, my mother would do this for free. I know that for certain.” 

Sister Mary Ellen chuckled. “Let me take you outside.” 

She led Demetria to playground where Demetria noticed four boys playing basketball. She couldn’t help but notice that no matter how hard they tried to dunk the ball in the chain basket, they kept missing. 

“May I?” Demetria asked. 

“By all means.” 

Demetria made her way over to the boys. One boy had black hair with blue eyes, another was African-American with glasses, another boy had blonde hair and freckles, and one with brown hair with glasses.   

“Hey guys!” Demetria greeted.

The boys stopped and looked at her. “You guys playing basketball?” 

They looked at each other, confused and unsure what to say. She cleared her throat. “My name’s Demetria.” 

“I’m Travis,” the boy with black hair said. 

“I’m Jonathan,” the African-American boy said. 

“I’m Reid,” the boy with blonde hair said. 

“I’m Harry,” the boy with brown hair said. 

“Nice to meet you all,” Demetria said. “So what are we playing here? One-on-one or Horse?”

“Just some one-on-one,” Reid answered with a shrug. 

“You know how to play?” Harry asked. 

“A little. My dad was a high school basketball coach so he taught me a few things. Can I see the ball?” 

Travis passed her the ball. She dribbled it for a bit before shooting the ball into the basket. The boys stared in amazement, letting out some “whoa”s. 

“Alright, so who wants to be able to dunk a ball?” she asked. 

They all raised their hands. “That’s exactly what I thought. Ok so watch my hands.” 

She picked up the ball and demonstrated the throw with her hand. “See the way my hand curves, like I’m flicking my wrist? Try that.” 

Reid took the ball first. He dribbled the ball before throwing it up. The ball went through the basket. The boys cheered. 

“See? That was awesome!” Demetria said. She held up her hand for a high five which he reciprocated. “Alright, who’s next?” 

Harry went up and threw the ball, making it into the basket. 

“Way to go dude!” Demetria cheered, the two high diving. “Who’s next?” 

Jonathan went up and threw the ball, the ball circling the basket before falling off. Demetria caught it and threw it back to him, seeing the dejected look on his face. 

“You almost got it. Try again.” She smiled at him. 

He gave her a nod. He tossed the ball up, this time the ball landing into the basket. The boys and Demetria cheered. 

“See! You got it!” she said. 

They high fived and Jonathan passed the ball to Travis. Travis dribbled before the ball hit the back of the basket. The ball came back toward him as he caught it, tossed it again and then tossed the ball inside the basket. 

The other boys and Demetria cheered. 

“Ok, ok,” Demetria said. “Now you guys trying playing.” 

The boys then began playing one-on-one, Demetria coaching them and cheering them on. She couldn't help but feel her dad would be proud of her. Sure, she wasn’t an athlete, but she learned a lot from watching him coach from the sidelines all these years. 

She then saw Reid pass the ball to her. “Your turn,” he told her. 

She smiled. “Alright.” 

She dribbled the ball before tossing it into the basket. She grabbed the ball and said, “Who’s next?”

“What’s going on here?” 

Demetria turned around to see Bruce walking over. Her smile grew. “Just playing some basketball.” 

She watched as the boys’ eyes stayed on Bruce, wide in amazement and wonder. He acknowledged them with a warm smile before gazing at Demetria. 

“Tell me, boys, how she doing?” he asked. 

The responded, each voice overlapping the other. 

“She’s pretty good.” 

“She’s good.” 

“Pretty good.”

“Good.”

Demetria tossed the ball to Bruce as he caught it in his hands. “Let’s see you’ve got, Wayne,” she challenged playfully. 

“Those are fighting words,” he responded, dribbling the ball a bit. 

He turned his back to her and tossed the ball as it went into the basket. The boys cheered and clapped as Bruce turned to her, throwing his hands up. 

She folded her arms across her chest. “It was just a lucky shot.” 

Bruce looked over to one of the boys. “Can I have the ball, please?” They tossed him the ball. He showed it to Demetria. “Why don’t you try and steal it, Gallagher?” 

Demetria went over to him as he lifted the ball from her. She jumped, spiking it from his hands. Jonathan caught it and tossed it back to her. She went to shoot it into the basket when Bruce spiked it out of her her hand and picked her up swinging her around. 

“Are you kidding me?! I almost had it!” Demetria screamed. 

It was then something caught her eye. A figure watching them from across the street. 

“Hold on, hold on,” she told Bruce. 

He stopped, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?” 

“Give me a sec. I think I see something.” 

She walked toward the gate, getting a closer look at the figure. It was a caucasian male with a black baseball cap that said ‘Gotham Times’ on it and a tee and jeans with a bulky vest. Across his neck, a camera. 

“What the hell are you doing?” she called out to him. “There’s kids here!” 

The man reached up to his camera as she continued to get closer. 

“Stop it!” she growled. “Stop!

Bruce rushed over to her, pulling her away. “Demetria, don’t.”

She turned to him. “He’s photographing the kids! He can’t be doing that!” 

“Listen, we’ll take care of this when we get home,” he told her. “Right now, just ignore him. The more you go after him, the worse it’s going to be.” 

She ran a hand through her hair. “There has to be a line drawn, Bruce.” 

“We’ll take care of it home, alright?” 

She nodded her head. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” He kissed her forehead. “You were protecting the kids. It’s gonna be ok. We’ll fix this.” 

He rubbed her arms. “Let’s go back, ok?” 

“Ok.” 

She took one more look at the photographer before walking away. Bruce had a point, they were going to take care of it. 

She was going to take care of it. 

#bruce wayne x oc #bruce wayne imagine #batman #batman imagine #batman fanfic #the dark knight #the dark knight fanfiction #the joker #christian bale

[not-close-to-straight]

100% Professional (Final)

MASTERLIST

******************

A few weeks later 

"Hey hey, I'm not ready to say good night to you yet." Wade wound his arm around Peter's waist and tugged him closer. "Where are you going?" 

"I've still got a  piece to write for work tomorrow." Peter said reluctantly, and tossed his taco trash away. "And you've got that thing with Sam at like six am, don't you?" 

"I could definitely reschedule a fun run with Sam if you wanted to stay." Wade countered. "Especially since there's nothing fun about running at all. Whoever coined that phrase should be given a swift roundhouse kick to the face." 

"It's important that you keep appointments with people who are a positive influence in your life." Peter recited, clearly quoting the self help book Wade kept on the living room coffee table. "And I know I'm delightful? But Sam is a much better positive influence in your life." 

"Pete--" 

"Last night we ate Cheez Whiz until you coughed it out your nose." Peter pointed out. "And the day before that we watched six straight hours of reality TV because neither one of us could find the remote. Could have just turned the TV off, but nope. We watched six solid hours of reality dating." 

"Okay, yeah that was pretty bad." 

"We sucked helium and sang Christmas songs until we gave ourselves migraines." 

"Also bad." 

"Face it." Peter smoothed his hands down Wade's arms, lingering over the bulge of the former soldiers biceps. "We make the worst decisions together so you should definitely spend the morning with Sam, who consistently is encouraging you to get better and is always glad to see you at group." 

"I sort of hate that you're all supportive and encouraging me to better my self." Wade grumbled half heartedly. "You were much more fun when you were just rubbing me with oil and trying to catch a peek at my dick." 

"I resent the implication that I still don't try to look at your dick." Peter retorted and Wade only laughed. "Definitely fun run with Sam and then call me after wards. I'll work on your calves since I'm sure you're gonna be sore." 

"...really?" Wade hesitated. "You'd work on me?" 

"Why not?" If Peter noticed he was all but glommed onto Wade's chest, he didn't comment. If anything the pretty brunette only scooted closer, tangling their feet and hooking his fingers into Wade's belt. "If you're hurting, I'm gonna help you. I'm a trained professional, remember?" 

"I vaguely remember you being something like a massage therapist." Wade agreed. "Even though our marshmallow eating contest last week gave me a few doubts." 

"That's fair." Peter said immediately. "I wouldn't trust a professional who shouted chubby bunny with eleven marshmallows in their mouth either. That's perfectly valid. In fact, if you hadn't doubted my professional status after that I'd worry about you. And also--" 

"I fired my massage therapist last week." Wade interrupted, and Peter went very still. 

"What? Why?" 

"Because she's not you?" Wade asked slowly. "Is that an okay reason?" 

"It's not a real reason." Peter pointed out, but he didn't pull away. "Obviously she's not me, lots of people aren't me. But why would that matter? We pretty much decided that we could have a working relationship or a friendship but not both, right? So you got another therapist and we-- we are friends." 

"Is that what this is?" Wade took a chance and drew his fingers through Peter's hair, down to fit his palm to the back of Peter's neck and rub circles over his pulse. "Friendship?" 

"Well yeah." Peter shivered, leaning his head back into Wade's palm. "Right? Friendship. We hang out and we laugh and we do stupid things together when we're drunk. We've sort of moved on into holding hands and sure this hug is about eight minutes too long but--" 

"Can I kiss you?" 

"Please God, kiss me." Peter stood up on his toes and met Wade halfway, their mouths crashing together in the sort of kiss that was months and months and months over due, the sort of kiss that belonged in movies with dramatic storms and soaring musical scores, the kind that left two people gasping and melting, torn between undressing each other right there and maybe just wanting to linger in the innocence of this particular first. 

"Wade." Peter whispered when they finally parted. "Oh my god." 

"Yeah." Wade leaned back into dot a kiss to Peter's cheek, to brush his lips over the line of Peter's jaw. "Yeah, I know. It's about time, right?" 

"I think um--" Peter was blushing, biting at his lip and trying to inch closer so Wade would keep kissing him. "I think it was right about perfect timing for us, right? Seems like a long time coming, but we did it the right way?" 

"If you say so." Wade cleared his throat. "Kinda wish our first kiss wasn't in front of the taco stand though. Seems like I could have been more romantic than that."

Peter tried and failed to stifle a chuckle. "Tacos are super romantic, what are you talking about?" 

"Tacos are romantic, you're absolutely right." Wade dug in his pocket so he could actually pay the very patient taco guy. "We should eat and--" 

He shut up when Peter kissed him again. "Pete?" 

"I'm not ready to say goodnight to you." Peter said slowly, clearly. "But it's important that you do this run with Sam, and it's important that I get to work, so I'm going to go. You'll call me tomorrow so I can work on you when you're sore?" 

"I'll call you tomorrow." Wade nodded, leaning in to press their foreheads together. "For a purely professional massage. Definitely. Definitely will not try and grope my massage therapist." 

"You grope me and I'll charge you double." Peter threatened and Wade retorted, "What if it's just a little grope? I'll call it a tip." 

"I feel like your version of giving me a tip and my version of you giving me a tip are pretty different."  

"I dunno Pete, you've been horny for me forever. Pretty sure we're talking about the same tip." 

"Wade-" 

"SOMEONE TAKE YOUR CHANGE!" The taco guy shouted, obviously having overheard way more than he wanted, obviously fed up with Wade and Peter's weekly taco stop/flirty episode. 

"Keep the change." Wade waved the guy off. "Call it a tip. "

Peter choked on his food as he tried not to laugh and Wade stole just one more kiss. 

"I'll call you tomorrow?" 

"Please call me tomorrow." Peter's smile was hopeful, his eyes sparkling. "I can't wait." 

****************

****************

"How was the fun run?" Soleus. Peroneal Muscle Group. Gastrocnemius. Peter mentally recited the names of calf muscles as he worked at Wade's legs, desperately trying to distract himself from the fact that his friend-- boyfriend?-- was almost naked under the sheets. "Feel like a champ for finishing?" 

"I feel like hog tying Sam and beating him with a broom for making me do it." Wade grunted as Peter felt over a particularly tight spot. "He gave me this grand speech about how exercise is just as crucial to healing as therapy and mental exercises are, then he dragged my ass out there in the rain and forced me to watch him run in booty shorts. How is that healing?" 

"I feel like you probably didn't have to stare at him in booty shorts." Peter countered. Peroneal longus. Extensor digitorum longus. Achilles. "There had to be a thousand other places for you to look besides Sam's ass, right?" 

"The man's got a nice ass." Wade admitted and Peter grinned. "It was nice to finish, I guess. I've hit all these milestones in therapy but those are just check marks on paper. It felt good to check something off my list that not even healthy people do, you know? Most people will never run a marathon, and I did that today." 

"Yeah, I'm one of those people that will never run a marathon." Peter hesitated for a split second before sliding his hands up past Wade's knee to the back of his thigh. "I'd much rather watch from the sidelines and critique people's forms." 

"That seems hilariously judgmental of you." Wade tensed under Peter's fingers, then blew out a deep breath and forced himself to relax. This is a professional massage. "And you better start running because I signed us up for the city run this summer." 

"The one in July?" Semimembranosus muscle. Semitendinosus muscle. "That seems... I mean, that's like seven months out. Little far in advance to make plans, don't you think?" 

"It's not that far in advance." Wade hedged. "You uh-- you planning on going anywhere, Pete?" 

"I'm planning on being exactly here." Peter said softly, almost too softly, and to lighten the moment he added, "Charging you ridiculous amounts of money for hour long massages. I want to buy a car this summer, so this is as good a time as any to mention my rates doubled." 

"Doubled, huh?" Wade's laugh was pained as Peter dug his thumbs into a particularly bad knot. "Why do you need a car?" 

"I can’t take another month in Ye Olde Drug Makers Den, so I’m finally moving apartments." Biceps femoris muscle. "Unfortunately all the reasonably priced safer neighborhoods will require a sort of crazy commute and it'd be faster to have a car so I don't have to deal with the subway. Plus, Jameson is talking about having me travel, so I could write off the car as a business expense. It'd just be nice to have a choice in my transportation, I guess." 

"I got a car you can have." Wade forced out another one of those slow breaths when Peter moved even higher up his leg. "I couldn't drive after my injury but selling it always felt like I was admitting I was too fucked up to function. It's been sitting in storage for a couple years now." 

"Yeah? How much you wanna sell it for?" Peter paused again, reminded himself that he was definitely a professional and he could definitely handle seeing Wade mostly naked while kneading at his --gulp-- finely toned ass. They had kissed yesterday and it was fine, it wouldn't have any bearing on the massage today. It was fine. It was fine it was fine it was fine. 

Abductor magnus muscle. Gluteus maximus muscle. 

Holy shit, that thing was fine.

"How much do you want to sell the car for?" Peter tried so hard to sound casual just then, hoping the conversation would distract from-- from everything. 

"You can just have it." Wade shifted on the massage table, digging his fingers into the mat. "Doesn't um-- doesn't make sense for me to-- for me-- whew. Pete, uh maybe we should--" 

"You okay?" Peter paused, gave in to an entirely wicked impulse and spread his hands out over Wade's rear. "Is this-- this is weird right? After we kissed? It's weird for me to work on you. Should I stop?" 

"No, it feels good." Wade sounded positively strangled. "Feels good after my run and uh-- it's just nice that it's you but we can't-- I definitely can't roll over this time, ya feel me?" 

"Shit." Peter leaned over and rested his forehead between Wade's shoulder blades. "Wade, I promise I am actually a professional. I dunno what it is about you that makes it impossible to get through a session without skewing innuendo-ish--" Wade snorted a laugh and Peter smiled a little, leaving a feather soft kiss on Wade's back. "--but let me finish working on you and then maybe we can--"

"Come here." Faster than Peter was ready for, Wade rolled to his side and yanked Peter down for a kiss, crushing their mouths together and grabbing at Peter's side to keep him close. 

"Oh my god." Peter abandoned all pretenses of professional and shoved Wade onto his back, clambering up onto the table to straddle Wade's waist and to leave bruising kiss after wonderfully bruising kiss on the soldier's lips. "Wade, please." 

"Yeah baby boy, I've got you." Wade's hands were everywhere, dragging down Peter's back and grasping at his rear, digging into Peter's thighs and holding him still so Wade could grind up  into him. "I've got you, I've got you, I've got you." 

Peter's shirt probably tore as it was yanked off and tossed aside but nobody cared, and Peter cried when Wade surged up to seal his lips over a pink nipple, blunt teeth on sensitive skin making him nearly scream.  He got sweet sweet sweet revenge by worrying a bruise onto the curve of Wade's neck, not letting up until Wade was panting and swearing and tearing at his pants.

When Wade groaned in frustration over Peter's skinny jeans, the brunette laughed breathlessly and tried to climb off the table, promising, "Two seconds. Let me get these off and I'll be right back, two seconds and then you can have me." 

But alas, the massage table was not meant to hold the combined weight of two grown men, much less too grown men rocking the table back and forth and trying to get nekkid and just as Peter was climbing off to get rid of his jeans--

--the table wobbled--

--and cracked--

--and all four legs shattered--

--and an oiled up and mostly naked Wade dropped right onto the floor, toppling a half in-half out of jeans screeching Peter on top of him. 

Peter and Wade stared at each other, at the mess, at the broken table and the splotch of lotion all over the expensive carpet, and just when Peter was gearing up to apologize, Wade collapsed into laughter, full blown side splitting guffaws and after a stunned few seconds, Peter joined him. 

It felt good to laugh, good to release all the pent up sexual tension with some giggles, good to put a halt to the out of control moment with some hilarity. 

Wade was still wiping tears from his eyes a few moments later as he managed, "Alright, so all those smutty videos where the massage therapist gives a client a royal dicking down on the table? False, eh?" 

Peter wheezed for breath, inching across the ruined table to curl into Wade's side, holding onto him as he shook through a few more laughs. "That was terrible, oh my god. I didn't think it would actually break." 

"It's alright anyway." Wade hooked an arm around Peter's shoulders and pulled him tight, dropping a quick kiss onto his forehead. "Means we actually have to do this first time right instead of mid massage and in my living room, huh?" 

"I dunno." Peter kissed Wade back, wrinkling his nose teasingly. "We did everything else about this funky, might as well have funky first time sex too." 

"Funky first time sex." Wade deadpanned. "Be still my romantic heart. At least let me take you out to dinner, baby." 

"Tacos." Peter said promptly. "Go get tacos and I'll get this cleaned up and we can do funky first time sex properly." 

"Yeah alright." It took all of Wade's self control to peel away from Peter. Months and months they'd waited to get to this point and now they had to clean up broken massage table and try for dinner and-- 

"Why don't you move in with me?" he blurted before he could stop himself, and Peter's jaw dropped open. "You need a new place, I have a car you can drive and we're halfway in love so it's inevitable anyway. Move in with me." 

"...I think it's bold of you to invite me to move in before you know how I am in bed." Peter said slowly. "Um-- what if I'm terrible in the sack? Use teeth when there should be no teeth? What if I’m a total pillow princess and then you have to share your apartment and car with a highly unprofessional massage therapist who gives shitty blow jobs?" 

Wade tried to hide a smile. "You give shitty blow jobs, Pete?" 

"Well I mean--" Peter shrugged, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I guess you'll have to find out, right? No backsies though, whether you like the blowjobs or not, I'll be living here." 

"No backsies." Wade rubbed a hand over his bare scalp and nodded as if he wasn't ready to explode with excitement. "You wanna move in with me?" 

"I definitely do." Peter's eyes were shining. "But I'm about two seconds from jumping you again because I'm so happy, so go get tacos and get back so we can do this the right way." 

"I'll be right back." Wade promised, and ducked down the hallway to find his clothes. "Don't go anywhere, okay?" 

"I'll be right here." Peter kicked out of the last leg of his jeans so he was just in his shorts. "Right here. Hurry." 

Wade was dressed and out the door, nearly running for the elevator when Peter stuck his head out from the apartment and yelled, "And what do you mean, we're half in love? You better tell me you love me like a real man or the deal's off!" 

"No backsies!" Wade yelled back, grinning when he heard Peter laughing. "You're stuck with me now!"

***************

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE FIC!

***************

@ships-galore @ceealaina @izziebladez @cwar1864 @hausoffro @tonystarkisanangel @multishippinglife @girlnic @iam93percentstardust @paranormalmoonlight5 @igotloki @moosette05 @wayward-student-philosopher @kaz-brekkers-gloves @atomicfandombomb @1fuckingshitup69 @agentlokii @livewire28 @tulipsnbigcats @kimstark @alex-stark-rogers @bibbarnes @heeeyitskay @goindownshipping @quietgayguy @nanita90a @justaniche 

@chiby-chan @thanossucks @i-am-worth-it-25 @dan4thefam

#ncts fics #spideypool

[bbykpoper]

𝓢𝓽𝓻𝓪𝔀𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 🍓

Inspired by this post 🌼

Pairing: professor!jongho x student!reader

Index: Hongjoong // Seonghwa // San // Yunho // Wooyoung // Mingi // Yeosang

･*:༅｡

The early morning sun hit the windows of your small room just as the alarm on your phone buzzed underneath your pilow. A soft groan left your lips as you snaked an arm underneath it to turn of the annoying buzz.

“Wake up sleepy head.” The soft whisper reached your ears, making you stir under the covers. “You’ll be late to class.”

“I don’t wanna.” You mumbled out. 

“But you have to, otherwise I’ll throw you out of my lecture Miss y/l/n.” The soft voice chuckled and it was then that your eyes shot open and widened at the face in front of you.

“Welcome back to the world of the morning people Miss y/l/n.” The softest smile reached your eyes and you groaned into your arms as you looked over to your friends for help. “Come to my office after class.”

“Yes sir...” You huffed as he went on to continue his lecture.

“Why didn’t any of you kick me when I fell asleep?” Your soft whisper reached your seatmate.

“Sorry y/n, but you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t have the heart to.” She answered.

Lucy was the cute clueless blonde that ended up being friends with you after freshman orientation when she managed to trip over your foot on accident. She, just like you was a biology major and you guys were inseperable ever since. 

“I just really wanted to see you get embarrassed so I did nothing.” Your other seatmate snorted through her quiet laugh.

Phoebe was a girl who first befriended Lucy, also through an accident in the student cafeteria along the second semester of your first year. She was such a laid back brunette that you two naturally got along and stuck together in most of your classes.

“Wow, you just really like to watch me suffer don’t you?” You mumbled her way and breathed a sigh of relief as the lecture continued without another incident.

“I just find it amusing how you have this large ass crush on our ecology professor.” Phoebe commented, booping your nose as she picked up her books.

“Hey, Professor Choi is an attractive man. If I was straight I’d go after him too y/n!” Lucy added as comfort to you.

“Gee, thanks?” You laughed at these exchange. “I’m gonna go off now to get a lecture on my behavior and maybe later we can grab a coffee or something?” 

“Yeah, we’ll meet you at Sugarberry’s.” 

You made your way towards Professor Choi’s office, tightening the pony tail on your head and mentally preparing yourself to zone out on his speech and just admire the man’s beauty. Just as you were about to knock on the door, it suddenly opened and a young man smiled at you, excusing himself and leaving. You shamelessly stared after the tall blond man, releasing a breath you didn’t know you were holding as the shape of his backside came into full view when he readjusted his shirt.

“Miss y/l/n.” The stern voice of your professor drew your eyes to him only to notice how he was now standing right in front of you. “Please take a seat.”

He moved and you shuffled inside taking a seat in front of his desk. 

“How have you been Miss y/l/n?” He asked.

“Good.” You said. 

“Have you been getting enough sleep?” He chuckled when you blushed intensly.

“Sorry about that sir, I had a project due yesterday and haven’t exactly had time to sleep.” You admited with a really strong blush on your cheeks.

“Well Miss y/l/n, I would’ve liked it better if you listened to my lectures instead of sleeping in the middle of it.” He said looking over at his window. 

You being the curious little thing that you are peeked over to see the array of plants which were situated in his window, especially the one he was looking at.

“Are you growing a fennel in your office?” You giggled out loud when you noticed how his eyes widened in embarrassement.

“You know your way around plants?” 

“Yes, I am planning on working in the greenhouses when I get my degree. I really do like plants and growing them.” Your eyes lit up with love as you spoke about your dream. “Even back in my appartement, I basically grow anything and everything I can and get on my roommates nerves because some of the devil ivy reached the bathroom.”

You stopped yourself when you saw how the man in front of you watched you with so much softness and awe in his eyes that the blush which reached your cheeks, spread out to your ears, burning them in the process.

“Would you be interested to join me on a little excursion this Saturday?” He suddenly asked you. 

“An... excursion...?” You tilted your head and you suddenly spoke out. “As in a date?!”

“Oh God no!” He was really quick to deny that and it hurt you a little bit seeing him so quick to say no. “You are one of my best students, and I would like for you to join a small group of my top proteges this Saturday. We’ll be visiting the National Greenhouse and I think it would be a wonderful chance for you all.”

“Oh, I see.” You said, feeling the humiliation crawling up your neck. “Silly me.”

“Would you like to join?”

“Yeah, sure.” You slumped your shoulders. 

“Perfect.” He clapped his hands together in joy. “If you don’t mind I’d like to get your number so that I can add you to our whatsapp group.”

“Yeah, neat.” You took his phone and begrugdingly typed your number. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?”

“No, that would be all.” He smiled, looking at his phone. “See you on Saturday.”

･*:༅｡

“So what, now you’re going to this outing or whatever it is with like five other students and him?” Phoebe asked clearly pissed off. 

“Yep.” Is all that you could muster.

“But at least you have his number.” Lucy tried to lift your mood.

“But what does that even mean? Nothing.” Phoebe groaned. “She likes him for almost two years, is obvious around him as if she’s carrying a transparent that says ‘marry me’ and the only thing he does is allude to a date but end it as a social gathering for his proteges?” Her eye-roll didn’t go unnoticed. “A bunch of bull if you ask me.”

“Or maybe he is in a position in which he can’t openly ask you out.” A sudden intrusion of another voice made the girls look up and see the waitress come over with their order. “Men are dumb creatures and sometimes they simply need a push when it comes to feelings. My advice to you is to just simply tell him that you’ve liked him for so long and just see where it goes from there.”

“But what if he doesn’t like me back? What if this strains any type of relationship I have with him?” You asked the waitress in the cute and fluffy pink apron. 

“Then at least you’ll know what you’re dealing with and will finally get the chance to move on.” She shrugged her shoulders and thanked them for the money they left her for the drinks, walking back to the inside of the shop.

“You know, that girl actually gives good advice.” Lucy commented.

“Must be nice being in a healthy relationship.” Phoebe muttered out watching the girl inside the shop as she smiled politely to some other customers.

･*:༅｡

Saturday had come by faster than you had liked and you dreaded to leave the appartment. The greenhouse group had decided to meet up at the bus station 12 p.m. sharp and from there professor Choi will drive you guys down to the greenhouse and the tour will begin. 

And right now, it was 11.30 a.m. Your friends were over and had forced you to wear one of your many long dresses to fit in with the flowers you would see in the greenhouse. It was a soft green dress with a pattern of leaves spread out across it. You sighed for the umptenth time as Lucy had braided your hair in a loose fish braid and looked over at Phoebe who was admiring your roommates ability to ignore all the plants inside here.

“It will never stop to amaze me how you put up with all these plants Mina.” She said.

“It’s not that bad.” She smiled. “I have actually grown fond of them. And y/n takes real good care of them so I don’t mind them.” She laughed. “Plus they are a really good background for photos.”

Mina was a photography major who you shared your dorm with in your second year. You two bonded quickly and when you managed to finish the second year, decided that it’d be great to have your own appartment together. And here you were one year later. 

“How are you feeling?” Lucy asked you.

“Nervous. Meh. Disappointed.” You stated turning towards her. “I’ve decided to listen to the advice the waitress at Sugarberry’s had told me. I mean honestly, what could go wrong?”

“The rest of the semester will be pretty awkward if you ask me.” Phoebe nodded her head.

“Like it isn’t now?” You snorted. “I’m just getting tired of having dreamy eyes for my damned professor and being treated like a project for him.”

“A project?” Both Mina and Lucy asked.

“Well this is that isn’t it? His empowering our future or what not. I appreciate the fact that this will help me get my dream job but I literally can’t take this anymore.” You slumped down into the couch.

“Well you better because you have less than ten minutes to get downstairs and to the station.” Mina pointed on the clock and you groaned grabbing your bag and stomping outside of the front door.

“Oh dear, I hope it all goes well.” Lucy commented looking at the other two girls.

Honda Hitomi, Danny Wellbridge, Jackson Wang, Joana Clark. The rest of your outing group was already gathered at the bus station located in front of your appartment complex. You had joined them all just a few minutes before professor Choi pulled up with his car. Joana was the first to call shotgun and sat next to him, while the rest of you evenly pilled in the back. Danny and Jackson in the far back, you and Hitomi in the middle.

“Oh gosh I’m so excited to see all the insects there!” Hitomi squealed in joy. 

“I know what you mean.” Danny added from the back.

“I’m just happy about the plants. I heard they’ve updated their western exhibition and added some new types.” Jackson said.

“Really?” You turned to face him. You’ve seen Jackson around campus a few times before. He was the definition of a social butterfly and sometimes even hanged with Phoebe. But you never got the chance to personally get to know him before this trip. “Do you think there would be some rare types of flowers there too?”

“I don’t know. But it would be awesome.” Jackson said matching your enthusiasm. “Hey, you maybe wanna go together to look around?”

The conversation you two were having was caught by professor Choi and he observed you through the rear view mirror, a prominent scowl on his face.

“Hell yeah!” You nodded with a bright smile.

It wasn’t long before you all made it to the National Greenhouse and were at the entrance waiting for your guide. You evaded talking to professor Choi, directing your full attention to what Jackson was talking about, fearing that if you did speak with him now you’ll loose all your courage to confess later on.

“Students, this is Jeong Yunho. He’s an old college buddy that’s in charge of the Japanese garden in the back and he’ll be our guide today.” Professor Choi spoke up cathing all of yours attention.

“Please call me Yunho.” The man with the pale blue hair smiled at you all and waved. “I’ll give you the main tour and then I’ll let you wonder about on your own. I feel that that way you all will go where your interests pull you.”

The tour was wonderful and you and Jackson managed to bond over every neat little plant you could find. Hitomi and Danny gushed so much when you guys ran accross a caterpillar and you then commented on something stupid drawing Hitomi in and befriending her quickly. The tour had come to an end when you reached the center of the greenhouse area and Yunho turned to them all.

“You are free to go off now, but I’d like it if you went in pairs as to not getting lost. These place is large and it’s quite easy to turn the wrong corner.” He said nodding to professor Choi. “The greenhouse closes at 7 p.m. Have fun. I need to get back to work.”

“Thank you.” You all said in union.

“So, where do you want to go first?” Jackson asked as Danny and Hitomi scurried off towards the insect exhibition. 

“How about visiting the South European-” 

“Mister Wang you should go with Miss Clarck. Your interests seem to be the same and it would be best that way.” Professor Choi cut you off.

“But me and y/n agreed to go together...” Jackson stated.

“Yes, but this is a better suited pair.” He said with a cold smile which made Jackson look at you for help. “Shall we Miss y/l/n?”

This was your chance!

“Sure.” You nodded and looked at Jackson. “I’ll make this up to another day.” You added apologetically and went off after professor Choi.

“So where are we headed?” You asked him.

“A surprise.” He winked at you and it made you blush.

On the way to this ‘surprise’ you have left the greenhouse and moved on to more of a garden scape further back and it just made your heart stop at the beauty of it.

“The interesting fact about the National Greenhouse is that the Botanical Gardens are just a bit behind them, and this is in fact where Yunho works.” Professor Choi stopped and placed a hand on your shoulder pointing in one direction. “See, he’s right over there working on a bonsai tree.”

All the blood rushed up to your ears at the close proximity between you two. The whisper of words made your stomach churn and your legs weak. You needed to get this crush off of your chest soon, otherwise you’ll be stuck fawning over him forever. 

As he guided you towards a small garden a flower caught your eye and you stopped getting a closer look.

“A youtan poluo.” You breathed out in a whisper. “And jade vines.”

“That’s right.” He smiled at your shinning eyes. “Welcome to the rare flower exhibit.” He chuckled. “Surprise.”

You looked around and noticed many more which you’ve only seen in books and on the internet. It was a magnificent sight to see and just the aromas which surrounded you had your head doing summersaults.

“I overheard you and Jackson talking in the back while getting here and I remembered Yunho telling me how they’ve updated their rare flower collection, so I thought you’d be happy if I brought you here.” You looked over at this man and his shy sunshine smile. And you’ve decided. It was now or never. “I was right wasn’t I?”

“I like you.” You stated, looking right at his eyes. Professor Choi looked dumbfounded an at a loss for words. The fast blinks were matching his rapid heartbeat but he was unable to form any words. “I’ve liked you for well over two years now professor. All those times you showed sympathy to me and ignored the fact I fell asleep in your class, or those times you would shyly smile when you noticed I was staring at you regardless of where we were. I know you figured this out already. But I just had to tell you.”

“I like you professor Choi Jongho.”

You looked at him with hope in your eyes as he stood there processing this information you had thrown at him. It felt like the minutes were going by in an eternal stupor of movements, his facial expressions changing as he came in terms with what just happened. You were scared, shaking and nervous. You really didn’t know what to expect. But surely you were not ready to get rejected.

“y/n...” 

It was clear by the tone with which he said your name and the tears welled up in your eyes. Gosh, you were dumb weren’t you.

“Yeah, I figured.” You stated with a sad smile on your face. “It’s okay. I don’t expect anything from you. I was dumb to even say these things to you.” You sighed and gripped your dress for support. “I think it’s better if I go home now. Thank you for bringing me here today and showing me these flowers.” The tears were now feely falling from your eyes, you unable to control them. “It really did make me happy.”

You ran off without stopping. Not when he called after you. Not when you viciously passed by a worried Jackson. Not even stopping to look at the bus number that had just stopped and getting on it. You cried in the back, not caring about all the stares you were getting from the old ladies. 

It hurt. Your heart really hurt.

By some dumb luck you had actually gotten on the right bus and made it back to your appartment complex, you made your way to your appartment and to your room, ignoring the worried roommate who was more than ready to throw hands with a grown ass man. You crawled into your bed, disregarded your plants and just wallowed in your self pitty for the rest of the week.

･*:༅｡

It’s been a whole week and you haven’t left your room except to shower ever since. Jackson and Hitomi had been blowing up your phone, worried after you had just ran out without a word. But you turned off your phone after the fifth call request from Jongho. He had tried calling you that night but you had fallen asleep and the next day when he did call you you cried more getting an earful from Phoebe. 

Hell, you dreaded leaving your room just because you knew Phoebe would make you attend all your classes and yell at you for being M.I.A. for a whole week. 

“She still hasn’t come out of her room?” Lucy asked Phoebe as they both collected their things to leave class. 

“No. Mina leaves food out the door and y/n eats once a day just so she doesn’t die.” Phoebe sighed. “She even neglects her plants Lucy! She never does that. Not even when her grandma died.”

The two were just about to walk out of class when somebody approached them. Lucy’s eyes went wide while Phoebe took on the stance of a dog with rabies. It was apparent he wasn’t welcome.

“Hello girls.” Professor Choi spoke up. 

“No offense, but we don’t want to talk to you sir.” Phoebe grumbled out.

“I know, but please hear me out.” He sighed in defeat. The two looked between each other and Lucy urged Phoebe to let the man talk. “I didn’t get the chance to answer y/n properly and she hasn’t been to my class this week. I’d like for you two to help me so I could talk to her and clear up this missunderstanding.”

“What missunderstanding? Her feelings aren’t a missunderstanding. They’re valid and came from the heart!” Lucy was quick to say.

“I know. But my answer was a missunderstanding.” He said sincerely.

Phoebe caught on pretty quickly by what he meant and narrowed her eyes while she got up in his face. She pointed her insex finger in his chest and harshly jabbed at it.

“I got my eye on you buckeroo.” She stated threateningly. “I know how to hide a dead body.”

Jongho gulpped as he, for the first time, took notice of those fierce eyes this girl had. He nodded furiously, almost cracking his neck. Phoebe pulled back and headed for the door, followed by a confused Lucy. Even Jongho looked defeated as he assumed they were leaving.

“Well? Do you want to talk to her or not?” 

Mina stared at the plate full of food which she had left this morning. It was late afternoon now and she had just come back from her lectures but the plate was untouched. You haven’t left your room at all. 

“y/n.” She whispered out as she knocked on your door. “You need to eat. I don’t want you getting sick...”

No answer. Just like before. She sighed and cast down her eyes as she picked up the tray. A sudden knock on the front door drew her attention and she went to open it, revealing Phoebe and Lucy with an unexpected addition.

“Her room is the one in the corner of the living room.” Phoebe said as Jongho took of his shoes. “He needs to talk with her and I thought you might want to hang with us while he does.”

Mina looked up at the man and nodded, understanding the need for privacy.

“If you manage to get in can you make her eat? She barely had a proper meal this week...” She handed him the tray of food.

“I’ll make sure.”

They left and Jongho went over to your door, noticing how it hand a small potted plant hanging off it. It was cute, something which really suited you. He knocked a few times but there was no answer. With a brave heart and hope that you hadn’t locked you door he tried the knob, happy when it opened. 

The inside of your room was covered in darkness, streetlights seeping in through the large windows. Potted plants were in the window and Jongho noticed how they seemed to be lacking water. He took it upon himself to relive the plants of their thirst, leaving the tray of food on your desk. 

“Go away Mina. I don’t want to eat.” The bundle of sheets spoke and caught his attention. 

It seemed you had made yourself into a taco, some hair sticking out to indicate where your head was. He sat down next to you and placed his large hand on your head.

“Your roommate left a while ago.” He spoke up, catching you off guard. “Before you yell at anybody, I asked your friends to bring me over so that I can talk to you. And I’d like it if you listened to me first before throwing me out.”

Your body stiffened but you kept quiet. You were yet again on the verge of crying but were trying really hard to control yourself.

“I was surprised back at the botanical garden when you confessed your feelings for me. A lot of emotions went through my head and I was dumbfounded for any type of answer at first. I thought how it was wrong for one of my students to fall in love with me, how I should have stopped this crush you had the minute I caught on it... but I just couldn’t do that. I noticed you the first day you had walked into my class, the way your hair swayed with every small movement of your head, how you would soak up every bit of information I gave you like a sponge, even the way you’d chew your nails when stressed.” He sighed when he noticed you calming down and peeked out the covers. “I have liked you since day one y/n. But I though it was wrong and I couldn’t bring you in a situation where you would be involved with your professor.” He chuckled. “To be honest, I would have confessed when you graduated.”

“Really?” You crawled out from underneath the sheets.

“Really.” He nodded with a smile.

“But what does this mean for us now?” You asked, sitting up and letting the covers reveal you whole.

It was only then that Jongho noticed how your hair covered your bare shoulder. The tanktop you were weating hugged your body closely and the booty shorts did not help his eyes to not wander down your bare legs. 

“We can try to make this work. You only have one more year ahead of you. As long as we don’t make it obvious I’m sure we’ll survive.” He stated a deep blush covering his cheeks.

“Are you sure?” You asked with a furrowed brow not understanding why he was suddenly so flustered. But then you noticed how his eyes wandered down your body and suddenly you got self concious. “Are you sure that it won’t be-” You pinned him down onto your bed, stradling his waist. “-troublesome for you?”

Jongho gulped and you brought your face closer. It was too cute not to tease him seeing how he got so flustered he began fumbling with his words.

“It may be troublesome if another man come up to you but I think I can handle him.” He said, his face suddenly turning serious. With as much as little effort he flipped you over, so now the positions were reversed. “Just as I can handle you.”

You held your gazes steadily as he lowered his face, mere inches from your lips. But nothing lasts forever. Especially when you don’t eat properly for a week.

Your stomach grumbled loudly and you blushed at the sound. You were hungry, and he knew it. He laughed and pulled you up, bringing over the plate of food Mina had left him.

“I think that it’s best you eat first. And then we’ll figure something out.” 

You nodded shyly as you ate slowly, enjoying the comfort he gave you with his caring nature.

･*:༅｡

The early morning sun hit the windows of your small room just as the alarm on your phone buzzed underneath your pilow. A soft groan left your lips as you snaked an arm underneath it to turn of the annoying buzz.

“Wake up sleepy head.” The soft whisper reached your ears, making you stir under the covers. “You’ll be late to class.”

“I don’t wanna.” You mumbled out.

Jongho chuckled as he climbed into bed with you, messing up the sheets even more. He peppered your face with kisses as giggles left your mouth and you finally cracked open one eye to look at him. 

“Did you water the plants?” You asked him, noticing how he had some dirt on his cheek.

“Yeah. Mina asked me to model for her for her graduation project just as I was doing it.” He said, wiggling under the covers so he could hug you. “She wants to portray love.”

“Yeah, she told me last night that she was inspired by us while we were planting strawberries on the balcony.” You reached out to kiss him. “I told her I’d do it, but that she should ask you too.”

“Well good because I answered yes.” He smirked kissing you back. “I’m glad you confessed when you did. Because otherwise I couldn’t be apart of something so wholesome.” He smiled wide. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You answered matching his smile. “I’m just glad I listened to that waitress’ advice. Because you really wouldn’t have been a part of something so wholesome!”

#ateez imagine #ateez #choi jongho #ateez reactions #ateez fic #strawberry

[daydreaming-away-reality]

Hearing Your Voice

Zen x Reader | ☁️ | 2.6k | Soulmate AU

You tapped your fingers on the desk, doing your best to stay quiet while in the study room. With the beautiful melody playing within your head, it was hard. Especially when the singer sounded like he had the voice of an angel. 

Doing your best in trying to study, you couldn’t help but breaking into a smile and pause when you recognized a tune of the song.

I heard him sing this yesterday too. 

Trying to study was hard. Not because the content was hard to grasp - no, you could have all the material down with a bit of reading and some flashcards - it was hard because you were always conflicted. Part of your brain would tell you school is important and as a university student, you had to work hard towards your future. The other part of your brain however, would be loudly screaming, hey, that song sounded familiar! We’ve heard that somewhere before, but where?! 

Most of the time, you were fine. You would just study with the music playing in your head. There were moments when your heart would chime in and remind you, we’re still looking for our soulmate, (Y/N). Then studying was a challenge.

The song you could hear in your head? That was your soulmate singing. Even though you grew up hearing the voice of your soulmate singing, you were never able to find them. 

Every few weeks, or months, your soulmate would have a couple of songs that he would be constantly singing. Kind of like the most popular songs of the season caught on loop by the radio stations. However, whatever songs your soulmate was singing was never these pop songs. 

You were a lucky one, you knew that much. 

You had friends who would be complaining about their soulmate’s choice in singing because it would be the overplayed pop songs. There was only so much one could take of the same song all the time after all.

On the other hand, shower singing stories were hilarious to hear about.

Moving back to your story...

Personally, you didn’t sing too much. Not unless you were certain no one but your soulmate was listening. Your soulmate probably heard you humming most of the time though. It was hard not to hum along to his beautiful singing.

Staring at your study notes, you shook your head.

This was going no where.

Just as you closed your notebook, someone tapped on your shoulder. Startling, you turned around and pulled down your - not plugged in - headphones.

“I had a feeling you weren’t studying,” Yoosung said, looking at you with an amused smile. “Listening to your soulmate again?”

You gave him your oops, you caught me smile. “Yeah. He’s always singing.”

Yoosung’s eyes darted around the room, then he leaned forward and asked, “You want to get out of here? Grab some food?”

You flashed him as thumbs up and packed up your stuff. Tailing after the blonde haired boy, you were greeted with actual sunlight for the first time in a few hours.

“It’s so bright out,” you whined, shading your eyes as they adjusted. 

Yoosung laughed. “Vitamin D is good for you! You’re going to be a troll like in LOLOL if you don’t see the light of day, (Y/N).”

You huffed, faking indignation. “I am not a troll! I’ll show you how a troll would beat you up if you call me that again.”

The boy shook his head quickly. Although he was ranked 2nd in game, he didn’t want the risk of losing his loot by being beat up. He worked hard to earn those super rare weapons.

Way back during first year courses, you had met and became friends with Yoosung through LOLOL. You weren’t obsessed with the game as much as he was, but you did well enough to rank within top ten with a bit of effort. Nowadays, getting through your courses was your priority. LOLOL was a fun break though, when you found the odd break.

“That’s what I thought.”

“You still play LOLOL?”

“Not as much as you - but yeah.” 

“We should team up sometime!”

You laughed. “Do you even study at all, Yoosung?”

“Sometimes!”

As the two of you stepped into the cafe near campus, Yoosung paused and turned to look at you.

“You said your soulmate is always singing right?” he asked.

You nodded, wondering where he was going with this. 

“Maybe he works in the music industry,” Yoosung mused. “Like, behind the scenes? As a producer?”

Hearing this, you paused and thought about it. Could that be a possibility?

“Maybe,” you murmured. “I’ll look into it.” 

Yoosung gave you an encouraging smile. “You’ll find him one of these days, (Y/N). Don’t worry about it.”

You hoped Yoosung was right about this. 

As you were walking back to your own apartment, a poster caught your eye.

Daydream: The Musical

Tickets now on sale!

The poster showed a shadowy figure surrounded by colourful nature and city scenes. Your eyes skimmed through the cast absentmindedly, as you didn’t recognize any names.

Starring: Julie Kim, Zen, Soobin Park...

Lingering in front of the poster, you decided that, it looked interesting. Pulling out your phone, you hastily took a picture so you could look further into the details of the musical later. 

“Dinner,” you recalled suddenly. You needed to eat but you also needed to study still. Well, can’t study on an empty stomach. Deciding to grab something light to snack on now and throw together some leftovers later tonight, you went in search of the local bread stand in your neighborhood.

Your eyes lit up when you spotted the vendor.

Excitedly moving towards them, you missed nearly colliding with the tall man in a hat walking the same way. Stumbling, you felt a strong, steady hand on your back, helping you regain your balance.

“Oh, sorry,” you squeaked out. “And thank you!”

How did you miss this guy? He was pretty tall and stood out - his features were really handsome too. Could he be a celebrity or something? He definitely had the looks for it. You were definitely not staring.

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” he replied. “Go ahead, ladies first.”

“T-thank you!”

You stepped up in front of the stall, knowing exactly what you were going to get. Hearing the man’s footsteps behind you, you decided to thank the kind stranger from saving you from an embarrassing fall.

“Two goldfish bread - separately wrapped, please!”

“Coming right up! Done classes for the day?” the owner asked.

You bobbed your head as you handed over the payment. “Yeah. Not done studying though.”

“Ah, must be rough. Good luck on that.”

“Thank you,” you chimed back. as you accepted the bread. Turning around, you held out one bag for the handsome stranger behind you. “And thank you for saving me from tripping earlier.”

“No, no, I couldn’t -”

“I insist!”

He accepted with a grateful smile. You swear, he sparkled in the light of the sunset.

“Thank you then.”

You returned his smile with your own before heading off.

Time to prepare for the upcoming exam.

Your week had flew by rather quickly. With exams and some other assignments being all crammed into such a short amount of time made you feel like you lost a few years on your life. 

Sometimes you wondered why anyone would choose to suffer.

Yet, here you were. And all you had to do was attend post secondary. 

Your soulmate seemed to be busy all week as well. The sound of his voice singing the same melodies over and over were in the back of your head the entire time. He had such a soothing voice that you were certain that he was the one who was keeping you sane.

Finally gifted with free time, you decided to make the most of it.

Browsing around on your phone, the picture of the musical poster caught your eye once more. Noticing the showings aligned with your newfound freedom, you decided - why not?

Searching up the link for the theater, you looked around the website and then bought a ticket. 

A sense of excitement and anticipation filled you. It’s been a while since you did anything fun. This would be a worthwhile experience.

Settling down into your seat at the theater, you couldn’t help but glance around. The place was relatively busy despite it being a weekday evening. Looking over the pamphlet that was given to you at the entrance, all the cast and crew were listed.

Your eyes skimmed over it, not recognizing any of the names except for the few you’ve seen on the promotional poster. Perhaps it would take a more theater experience before you would become familiar with any of them.

The lights began to dim and the chatter died down as music became to play. Ensuring your phone was silent, you made yourself comfortable. The moment the musical started, you were swept away in awe of the performance. 

Experiencing a musical live felt different from watching a movie. It was so much more... uplifting. You were absolutely enchanted by the musical. 

When the male lead became to sing his part however, that was when things felt strange to you. It felt like you were hearing an echo of their singing. None of the other actors and actresses had that effect. It took a moment, but then it dawned on you. You’ve heard this before, nights before.

It was your soulmate.

They must be singing this song too.

But when every note, pitch and pause matched the ones on stage, you had your suspicions. 

After intently watching the male lead sing though, you soon drew to a new conclusion.

That was your soulmate on stage. 

You continued to watch in silent surprise as your soulmate danced and sung their way across the stage. His red eyes had swept over you briefly in passing, but you could see the passion blazing. It was clear he loved his career. 

Once the musical ended with thunderous applause, you immediately pulled out your phone to do some research. Since you had chosen a seat near the middle front, you knew it would take a while before you’d be able to get out.

Doing a search for ‘Zen’, with the words ‘musical actor’ hastily typed afterwards, you soon found a plethora of information about your soulmate. Zen had a dedicated fan base that loved his every production - there was even a section about his unknown soulmate. An interview caught your eye. It was dated for a few months back, but a quote from your soulmate made you pause.

“I’m really focused on my career right now - it took a lot of work to get to where I am today, but I’m happy to be here.”

He was good looking, hard working and dedicated. You knew your soulmate would be perfect, but you never expected this. Zen was basically the ideal guy. 

Seeing the theater emptying out, you stood and walked out.

Sure, you had been super excited to meet your soulmate after spending late nights listening to singing, but after seeing this article, you had a feeling that he might need more time. 

Zen was a busy person with a lot going on in his life. With how popular he was now, you didn’t was to disrupt anything at the moment. You would give him the opportunity to seek you out when he was ready.

Zen had nearly faltered in his singing the first time when he had heard his soulmate humming along the tune he was singing. Listening to the tune and timing of the song, they were definitely doing it alongside with him.

He remembered his eyes searching the audience hopefully. Wondering who might his soulmate be. That first night... he wasn’t able to identify her.

Nor the second, third or fourth.

When he had heard her humming the second time he was performing, he was certain that his soulmate was in the audience and made the effort to come see him perform. She must have known who he was. 

Zen had lingered around after shows, hoping to see his soulmate. Hoping that she would reach out to introduce herself and he could become her knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet. It never happened though.

Regardless, it made him happy to hear her humming alongside him when he performed. She was supporting him.

He knew he was a busy person. Perhaps his soulmate knew that and kept her distance. What she didn’t know though, was Zen was dying to meet her. 

He always wanted to make the effort to go find her, but never had much to go off on. His soulmate was a rare singer, so he never knew where to start.

Now that he knew though, he was constantly searching.

He noticed someone over the past few times with (H/C) hair that sat near the middle of the theater. The girl’s smile seemed to brighten when he showed up on stage. It was possible that she was another one of his fans, but at the last showing, she had tried very hard to step out of room quietly and his soulmate had stopped her soft humming at that moment too.

Zen felt certain about this. 

She had to be the one.

Having finished another showing for the day, Zen tried to slip out quickly to catch up to his soulmate. Making sure not to be rude, he thanked his co-stars, staff and director before taking off. She tended to linger around a little longer, being almost the last person out. There was a chance Zen could catch up to her and he was going to take it.

Catching a glimpse of (H/C) hair, he instinctively moved towards it. 

The figure seemed to have sensed him coming, because they turned around and (E/C) eyes met his.

Stopping only a few feet away from her, Zen could see the glimmer and recognition in her eyes as she looked up in awe at the musical actor. 

“Great performance again tonight,” you said softly.

Finally hearing your voice in real life washed away any doubts Zen might have had. 

It was you.

“Thank you,” he breathed out. He could feel his heart pounding with excitement. “It’s... really you.”

Seeing how lost for words he was, you decided to speak up.

“Hyun Ryu, right?” you asked. When he nodded, you broke into a smile. “I’m (Y/N) (L/N). Nice to finally meet you, soulmate.”

The biggest smile broke out on his face as he engulfed you into a hug. His tall stature didn’t bother him as he nuzzled into your neck. While you should have been startled, you weren’t. Knowing this was your soulmate, you felt safe being held in his arms. You relaxed and returned his hug. 

“(Y/N)... I’ve been waiting for you,” Zen murmured. He pulled back a bit to look at you. “I want to get to know you better. Would you like to grab something to eat together?”

“Sure!”

“Okay, I know this great goldfish bread place -”

The two of you stopped, a distant memory resurfacing. Zen grinned fondly at you.

“ - I’ll treat you this time, though, princess.” 

With all the lost time between the two of you, finally being together felt natural. Like finding an old friend and being able to catch up without any awkward moments. 

Your soulmate was your perfect match and with Zen you knew that you couldn’t be happier. Just as much as you loved to listen to him inside your head, hearing his voice in real life and getting to be by his side made life all the more wonderful.

The two of you finally found you happily ever after.

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger imagine #zen imagine #zen imagines #zen x reader #zen #hyun ryu #x reader #reader insert #imagine #imagines #hearing your voice

[omg-imagine]

⊱ Forget Me Not (7/15) ⊰

Pairing: Keanu Reeves x Reader

Summary: After you wake up from a coma and realize that your memories from the last five years have been erased, Keanu works to bring back what you have lost.

Words: 3.6k

Warnings: None

A/N: So sorry for the delay! I was super busy and wasn’t able to finish writing in time to post yesterday. Anyway, it’s sort of filler chapter this week but definitely one of my favorites to write so far. 

Also, we’ve reached the halfway point of the story and things will start picking up in the next few chapters! There may or may not be smut in an upcoming chapter and if I do end up writing it, I’ll give a heads up in the warnings. 

Again, thank you so much for the lovely feedback and I hope you enjoy!

Part 6

Staring up at the ticking clock on the wall, you silently counted the hours that have passed since Keanu had gone to the Arch office to take care of a few business matters. It was the first time he has left you home alone, and truth be told, he was a bit more worried than he should have been. You, however, were adamant that he went ahead, not wanting him to neglect his responsibilities in favor of babysitting you.

After finally convincing him that you can handle being by yourself, Keanu left, slightly reluctant but keeping his promise of not allowing circumstances to interfere with his life. Once he arrived, you had received occasional text messages from him, replying to each one sincerely just to give Keanu some peace of mind. He was sweet for checking on you, and you couldn't really blame him for his overprotectiveness. You knew that it would come to pass when everything goes back to normal.

Or, so you hoped.

Even though you were glad that Keanu was working again, you couldn't help but miss him. Despite only being away for nearly six hours, the silence in the house was getting to you. You've kept yourself occupied by doing a couple chores around the place. Every room was spotless by the time you finished cleaning, leaving you with nothing else to do for the rest of the day.

Frankly speaking, you were beginning to feel a bit stir crazy being stuck inside. Sure, you've done grocery runs with Keanu and go on long walks with him around the neighborhood every morning, but you had yet to explore what Los Angeles had to offer. You wanted to check out the popular tourist spots, see the famous Hollywood Sign with your own two eyes, and hit up the shops on Rodeo Drive. Maybe even hike a trail at Griffith Park or drive down Sunset Boulevard where towering palm trees flanked the street.

You were just about to text Keanu and ask what time he was coming home when you heard the deep, rumbling sound of his motorcycle outside as he parked on the driveway. Swiftly, you hopped off the couch, dashing out of the front door just in time to catch him swing a leg over the saddle before dismounting.

As you approached Keanu, you couldn't stop yourself from staring as he took off his helmet, running a free hand through the length of his dark, disheveled hair, unaware of your presence. Unzipping his black leather jacket, you watched as he pushed back his sunglasses onto his head, revealing his rich brown eyes. 

Obviously, you were very attracted to him. And to this day, you wondered how a man like Keanu chose you over anybody else.

"You okay there, Y/N?" Keanu asked after turning his head and meeting your widened gaze. He chuckled under his breath as the heat rose to your cheeks, realizing that he had caught you gaping at him.

"Uh, y-yeah. Yeah, of course," you stammered, covering up your embarrassment with a shy smile. "How was work today?"

"It was productive," he answered with a nod. "It's actually a good thing that I went today because there was an issue with getting parts to make a client's bike, but it all worked out in the end. Sorry for leaving you home alone. You must have been bored, or maybe grateful that you got a break from me."

You laughed at his attempt at adding a joke in there. "Honestly, I was extremely bored. I did some vacuuming and laundry around the house and a bit of light reading afterwards. But I'm happy you got work done today. Imagine what your client would say if he found out you weren't available because you were too busy watching over your girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Keanu repeated as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Isn't that what I am to you?" you inquired, slightly nervous. Not because of Keanu's reaction, but of the word that slipped out of your mouth. It was the first time you admitted out loud that you were Keanu's girlfriend, and it made it somehow feel a little more real.

"Yeah," he spoke, his eyes lingering over your features. "You're my girlfriend, but you're so much more."

You smiled sweetly at Keanu, silently exchanging affectionate glances with him until you found your voice again. "Can we go out and do something today?"

"Like what? Do you want to go to a park or see a movie?"

Suddenly, an idea sprouted in your mind. "I want you to take me to where we had our first date."

"Our first date?"

"Yes," you nodded eagerly. "I know you told me the story about it, but now I really want to go see the place for myself."

"It's Saturday, Y/N," Keanu pointed out. "It's going to be busy there. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Ke. It's gonna be fun," you giggled. "Be right back, I'll grab the car keys."

Quickly leaning up to kiss him on his cheek, you sprinted back inside the house, almost tripping over your feet from the excitement rushing through your veins. You missed the look of amusement on Keanu's face, however, as he watched your retreating figure, a smile tugging at his lips.

---

The traffic, although currently better than most days, was still horrendous. You had taken at least two naps in the car only to wake up and find out that Keanu had only driven five miles each time. Not even the calming sight of the blue Pacific waves on the right was enough to keep you distracted from the torturous wait.

"How much longer?" You asked him with a whine.

"According to the GPS, we still got 25 minutes to go," Keanu replied, briefly glancing at you. "Funny enough, you were also this impatient years ago. You hated traffic, and you were practically begging me to exit the highway and do this some other time."

"I'm not surprised," you shook your head as you cracked open the window, allowing the fresh ocean wind into the vehicle. "Why couldn't we just have dinner like a typical first date?"

"This was actually your idea back then," Keanu recalled with a small chuckle, making you roll your eyes. "But like you said before, it's going to be fun when we get there."

"If we get there," you sighed deeply.

"Hey, don't be like that. It's just traffic, you'll learn to tolerate it eventually."

Laughing, you glanced back at Keanu. "I sure hope so, or else I'm moving back to New York."

A few minutes went by, and you were too busy staring out of the window to notice Keanu suddenly switching to the right lane until he called out your name.

"What is it?" You said, watching him point at an upcoming mile marker.

"That's the exact place where we met for the first time."

As he said those words, the car slowly passed by the small green sign with a printed digit. Turning your head back to look at Keanu, you noticed that he was smiling adoringly, not at the spot he had mentioned, but instead, at you. Seeing it made your heart flutter, and you thought about how funny the universe worked. It had brought two strangers together nearly five years ago, resulting in a seemingly perfect love story.

Keanu's voice drew you out of your reverie. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing serious," you told him. "I was just wondering again how life could have been different if I hadn't met you."

"And what do you think it would be like?"

You pondered for a moment, comparing the life you could remember with the one you had now. Even though you still felt a bit lost in this new world of yours, you couldn't recall the last time you were this happy, safe, and loved.

Facing forward, you gazed at the stretch of highway before you. "I think it would have been lonely."

---

You were twelve years old the last time you visited a boardwalk by the beach. Your parents had surprised you with a trip down the shore just before school started, and you stayed one night at a cheap motel that was only a block away from the water.

You remembered all the funnel cakes they bought you, the games they spent a lot of money on just so you could win a stuffed toy. You could still hear the clickity-clack of the wooden coaster, and how much you both enjoyed and feared the thrill of riding it. And at the end of the day was the firework show, which became the most memorable part of the trip.

As Keanu guided you up the wooden walkways, you felt a sense of nostalgia as you glanced around the Santa Monica Pier. It was a lot bigger than the one you've been to and had far more people exploring the boardwalk all throughout. Standing by the entrance, you could already see the ferris wheel and the rollercoaster just to the side of it. You felt like a little kid again as you looked around, not knowing exactly where to start.

"If we're doing this like our first date, we should have a round of water race," Keanu suggested, offering you his arm to which you happily took it.

"Lead the way, Reeves."

Arriving at the booth, you and Keanu took a seat at the two vacant spots before he handed the game operator $10 to play. You glanced at your side and realized that you were playing against three children who looked as though they had more experience than the both of you combined.

"Oh god, I don't want to lose to ten-year-olds," you whispered with a light-hearted laugh. "I suck at this game, are you at least any good?"

Keanu arched his brow with a slight grin. "Are you kidding me? I'm better than you."

Playfully punching his shoulder, Keanu then shot you a wink before the operator announced that the game was about to start. Gripping on the metal handlebars, you shut one of your eyes and aimed your gun at the target in front of you. At the sound of the bell, you pushed down the trigger, the stream of water hitting the target directly, and you quickly glanced up to see what place you stood.

"Gee, Ke," you chuckled after seeing how he compared to you and the other players. "I thought you were good? Those kids are beating you!"

"I didn't say I was good. I said I was better than you," Keanu smirked as the buzzer went off, signaling that someone had won, and it was neither you or Keanu that did.

"Well, you still got beat by a little kid. What's your excuse for that?"

Keanu got off the stool, pulling you up on your feet as well. "You were distracting."

"Distracting?" You scoffed playfully. "What did I do that got you all distracted?"

"You sitting there pretty was enough to make me lose focus," Keanu revealed.

"So, what do you want me to do? Stop being pretty just so you can win?"

Shaking his head, Keanu reached down and grasped your hands in his. "You can never stop being pretty, no matter how hard you try."

Walking further down the Pier, Keanu stopped when he reached a booth where a Shoot the Star game was set up. Convinced that he would be able to win you a prize by playing, Keanu slid a bill across the counter to start the game, picking up the BB gun before aiming it at the paper star.

"You sure you got this, Ke?" you questioned him.

"Of course, I do. Watch."

One by one, Keanu shot out every bit of the red star off with a high degree of precision, his skill coming as a shock to both you and the man tending the booth. Out of one hundred pellets, he only had to use about thirty of them to completely obliterate the target faster than you had seen anyone else do. His head turned slightly, a sly smile plastered on his face as his eyes met yours.

"Where the hell did you learn how to shoot like that?"

"John Wick boot camp," he simply responded. "What prize do you want?"

Picking out a brown, fluffy teddy bear hanging in one corner of the display, After it was handed to Keanu, he then presented the toy to you. Smiling, you accepted the prize, not even caring that the stuffed animal was poorly made, and some of the seams were unraveling. What mattered was that it came from him.

"You know, I haven't seen any of the John Wick sequels," you noted as you two began walking away, hand-in-hand. "We should watch those when we get home tonight."

"Anything you want, sweetheart," he said with a gentle squeeze of your hand. "Anything for you."

You and Keanu played a few more games together, learning how competitive he was when it came to versing you and others. He was stopped for a couple of occasions to take pictures with his fans. It warmed your heart, seeing the way he interacted with them, especially with the younger kids. He was so kind to them, so attentive and caring. You could understand why everyone fawned over him.

And it was for the same reasons why you were falling for Keanu.

Falling. Was it too soon to say that? You weren't sure, but all you could think about now was the way he held your hand and how he smiled so brightly at you, making you feel like you were the only person he could see. There were no other words to describe the feeling other than falling.

After a quick bite, you led Keanu towards the ferris wheel, something you had been looking forward to riding the second you arrived at the Pier. Once inside a passenger car, the wheel slowly began to turn, moving clockwise as the world below grew smaller the higher you rose above the ground.

The silence that fell between you was far from awkward. Instead, it was peaceful and comfortable. You were aware of how close you were sitting beside Keanu, feeling his heat as it radiated from him. He put one arm around you, drawing you even closer to his body. Leaning against him, you rest your head on his shoulder as you took in the beautiful scenery outside. At some point, the wheel stopped at the very top, your cart softly swaying to the gentle wind blowing against it.

"You okay?" He asked, shifting his eyes to look at your face. You didn't notice your grip around his arm had tightened.

"I am. Just a little scared of heights, that's all."

"Don't worry," he murmured as you tilt your gaze upwards. You saw how he was focused on your lips, and if you leaned in just enough, you could almost…

The wheel suddenly moved again, the sound of the hydraulics causing you to jump as the ride began its slow descent back to the loading dock. You were disappointed at missing your chance to kiss Keanu, wanting nothing more than to finally feel his lips on yours.

"Hey, you want to see something amazing?"

Smiling broadly, you then nodded. "Sure."

The sand between your bare toes was soft and warm to the touch. Each fine grain was colored with a golden hue, and it sparkled underneath the setting sun. Eventually, you and Keanu neared the edge of the ocean, the cool waters lapping at your feet with every languid wave washing up to the shore.

Carrying your shoes in one hand while Keanu held the other, you continued to walk down a quiet section of the beach. The breeze blowing from the tide tousled your hair as the briny smell of the air invaded your nose. 

You could almost taste the salt on your tongue.

"Let's stop here," Keanu halted his steps after picking out a spot close to the shoreline, but far away enough so that the water didn't reach you.

Carefully, he lowered himself onto the ground, pulling your hand down to have you do the same. You settled in between his legs, your back pressed against his firm chest as his arms wrapped around you. You felt Keanu rest his head against yours, his scruffy beard tickling your skin as you release a contented sigh.

The sun above began to dip behind the horizon. It cast an orange haze over the ocean and painted the skies majestic shades of red and pink. The last of its rays gave off a gentle warmth, bidding farewell to let the night take over. Craning your head up, you saw Keanu’s soft smile, his face aglow by the waning light as he appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.

You were able to get your phone out and take a quick snapshot of him, the small giggles that escaped your lips breaking his stare.

"What are you doing?"

Shrugging, you tossed your phone to the side, landing right next to where your shoes laid on the sand. "I took a picture of you."

Keanu chuckled as his head moved closer. "Why?"

"I want to relive this memory one day," you explained. "Thanks for the second-first date. I really had fun today."

"Do you remember…?" He trailed off, but you knew what he was asking.

"No," you sighed sadly. "It's okay, though. Because now I have this to look back on while waiting for the old ones to come back."

"Okay," Keanu added, his eyes boring into yours. "I had fun today, too."

"Good. I'm glad."

A beat passed, and once again, you found yourself staring at his lips, which were only mere inches away from yours.

"I love you, you know?" He blurted out, catching you by surprise. Of course, you knew that he loved you, but hearing him say it outright felt different. "You don't have to say it back now, but I want to remind you that I still do."

Strangely, those three words were right there at the tip of your tongue. You could say it, but something was holding you back. Was it fear? Uncertainty? Perhaps it was all too soon for you.

"Tell me about our first kiss," you murmured, your gaze unwavering.

"I told you that story already, remember? We were at the overlook and—"

"No," you interjected with a shake of your head. "Tell me how it felt."

Keanu darted out his tongue to lick his lips, his breath softly fanning your face. "When we kissed for the first time, it was like time stood still for those few seconds. I was nervous during the whole thing because it had been a while, but being with you, I realized that there's nothing to be scared of. It sounds cliche, but I felt sparks while kissing you. After that, I never wanted to let you go."

You stayed silent. Instead of speaking, you let yourself lean into Keanu. Your lips brushed against his tentatively before you pulled away, your eyes flickering up to see the pleading look on his face.

He wanted it as much as you did.

Your gaze lowered, and again, you placed your lips on his, although this time, they stayed there. Eyes fluttering close, you kissed Keanu gently and sweetly as he brought his hand up to tenderly cup the side of your face. It was everything you had imagined and more. 

But eventually, the two of you broke apart to breathe, severing the connection. Right away, you wondered when your next kiss would be, believing that if it was already this good, it could only get better from this point on.

"That was…" Keanu mumbled, nearly breathless.

"Amazing," you finished for him as he brushed a strand of hair away from your face and stroked your cheek. "I don't know what else to say."

Pressing his lips to your forehead, Keanu then sighed happily. "You don't have to say anything else. I already know."

With one last smile, your attention returned to the vast ocean and the disappearing sun, the taste of Keanu's lips lingering on yours.

For one, fleeting moment, you thought that you could stay this way forever.

---

Walking back to the car, Keanu couldn't help but grin with you by his side. He was on cloud nine after today's adventure. Even though you still couldn't remember anything, he loved how he was reliving these moments again. He never realized how long it truly has been since you had both enjoyed yourselves.

Opening the car door for you to climb inside, his cell started to ring, echoing throughout the parking garage.

"Who's calling?" You curiously asked as Keanu stood with one hand holding the door.

Fishing out his phone, he suddenly froze when he saw the caller ID. 

It was Molly. 

Keanu eventually knew that she would try reaching out to him after he had told her of what happened to you. It came as a shock to him that it took her longer than he had expected. But he didn’t want to deal with it right now. 

He still wasn’t sure when he’ll be able to.

"It's just spam," Keanu said, the lie smoothly rolling off his tongue. It was becoming too easy for him to do that, lying.

Without a second thought, he turned off the screen and placed the phone back inside his pocket. Jogging to the driver's side, he took one deep breath in and out before opening the door and sliding inside.

Just for tonight, Keanu wanted to hold onto something he hasn't felt in a long time. 

Happiness.

And he didn’t want her ruining it.

Part 8

Taglist: @penwieldingdreamer​ @fanficsrusz​ @toomanystoriessolittletime​ @awessomness​ @meetmeinthematinee​ @ringa-starr​ @ficsnroses​ @iworshipkeanureeves​ @keandrews​ @greenmanalishi​ @feminine-machinegun​ @lussdew​ @allie1804-fan @flaminasteroid 

#keanu reeves #keanu reeves x reader #keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves imagine #keanu reeves x you #my fics #reader insert #rpf

[snowdice]

Gaps in His Files (Part 1) [Relabeled; Refiled Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan/Patton

Characters: 

Main: Logan, Patton

Appear: Remy

Summary:

Logan Berry has learned many things the last 10 years: a lot of math and physics, a bit of humility, and how to be a hero being just a few. Through his education, his experience teaching, and his exploits as the superhero Bluebird, he’s changed in a lot of small and large ways. He has recorded these changes in well-organized documents and files. He’s even had to create two new file designations: a red one for files about his moonlighting at Bluebird, and a light blue one dedicated to his boyfriend, Patton.

When Bluebird is targeted by a memory device and all of those 10 years of progress suddenly disappear, Patton Sanders and Logan’s extensive files are left as his only resource to get those memories back. But what is Patton supposed to do when there are clear gaps in his files? And what does he do when he is one of them?

This is set 25 years before Sometimes Labels Fail though it’s story is completely independent of it and it is not necessary to read that one first.

Notes: Superhero AU, memory loss, past child abuse, past child neglect, unhealthy ideas about ones place in relationships, emotional suppression, self-deprecating thoughts 

There are a few background stories for Logan and Patton’s relationship that are also unnecessary to read, but expand their backstory a bit. They can be read before or after this story. Coffee Shop Meet Cute and Coffee Shop Incident Report deal with their first meeting, The Things We Never Mentioned talks about how Patton figured out Logan was bluebird, and Logan’s 25 Step Plan to Ask a Boy Out is how they started dating.

Logan woke slightly colder than he should have been with a presence in his bed that had not been there when he’d fallen asleep. He squinted at said presence in the dim light of his bedroom. “You are a blanket thief,” he informed the sleeping form as he carefully brushed a bit of hair out of his face. He stirred a bit, pressing back against the touch with a soft sound. Logan glanced over at his bedside table and quickly reached over to turn off the alarm that was set to go off in 4 minutes. Then, he turned his attention back to the bed invader.

“Patton,” he called softly, leaning forward to brush a soft kiss across his brow. He puffed out a breath in response and shuffled closer, still mostly asleep. Logan smiled. He appreciated Patton in any state, but sleepy Patton held a special place in his heart. He started peppering kisses down his cheek to his jaw causing his nose to twitch as he started to stir. “Good morning dear.”

“Uhm nuh humba na ha.”

“Ah yes,” Logan replied seriously, “a compelling argument.”

He was still not quite in the waking world, but he was conscious enough to recognize the mocking. He whined and slapped Logan’s shoulder softly. Logan took that as a cue to roll on top of him and lean forward to kiss his neck.

“No,” he whined and wiggled. “Annoying.”

“Annoying huh?” Logan asked into his neck. “Big words for someone guilty of breaking and entering.”

“No breaking,” Patton complained, “I have a key!”

Logan hummed in response. “When did you get here?”

“About 4am,” he mumbled.

“Hmm,” Logan said and gave him a slow kiss on the lips. “I’ll close the curtains when I get up.”

Patton’s legs wrapped around his waist and he yawned. “Thanks.”

“I am going to have to get up pretty soon dear,” Logan pointed out.

“No,” Patton whined, “snuggles.”

“I think my students may not be happy if I do that,” he said.

Patton snorted. “They would too.”

“Well, at least my supervising professor wouldn’t be happy.”

Patton just grumbled and snaked his arms around Logan’s neck before pulling him down for another long kiss.

It took much effort for Logan to pull himself back. “This is entirely unfair,” he said, fingers tracing patterns over his cheeks. “You are far too adorable to resist.”

Patton giggled which was even more unfair and Logan surged forward for another kiss, though it was a quicker peck this time.

“And yet you resist me,” Patton said when he drew back again, a finger tracing his brow.

“Duty calls,” he responded.

“Yeah,” he replied softly.

“I love you,” Logan said. The hand on Logan’s shoulder clenched into the fabric of his shirt.

“I love you too,” he said, a bit of a shake to his voice before lunging forward to kiss him thoroughly once again. Logan was breathless by the time they finally drew apart.

“I do have to go now,” he said regretfully.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, and released his grip on Logan’s shoulder.

Logan regretfully pulled himself from the warmth that was Patton and stood. He went to his window and pulled the curtain to darken the room before going to his closet. The suit he’d picked up from the store yesterday was front and center, and he touched the outside of the white plastic covering it with a soft smile. Then he grabbed his outfit for the day. When he turned back around, Patton had already closed his eyes and curled himself around an extra pillow. Logan paused and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek before going to change and get ready in the bathroom.

Once he was dressed, he entered his kitchen and his eyes immediately found the note on his countertop. Don’t forget to eat breakfast! :) <3 was scribbled in Patton’s messy scrawl on one of Logan’s sticky notes. Logan puffed out a laugh and went over to start the coffee machine. He reached for his coffee cup and caught sight of another sticky note inside it. Don’t ignore me. >:( it read. Logan shook his head and went about organizing his school supplies in his bag. He pulled out his planner to check his schedule for the day and another note fell out. Logan…

“Fine, fine,” Logan said aloud and walked over to his cabinet to grab the loaf of bread there. A note was taped to the top. Thankyou! <3<3. “Absolutely incorrigible,” he said fondly. He gathered up that note as well as the other three while he waited for the bread to toast and stuck them in his pocket. He spread peanut butter on his toast and poured himself a cup of coffee before taking his breakfast and his planner into the extra bedroom he’d converted into an office.

There was a pen sitting on his desk out of place and Logan bit his tongue in agitation, picking it up and sitting down on his chair. He took a bite of his toast and opened his planner to his to do list for the week. The calendar next to it had his class schedule in black pen, his personal appointments in green, and his study schedule in dark blue ink. His Saturday had been blocked off from 3pm to 11pm with a lighter blue inked pen. He went to check off one of the tasks he’d finished last night, and nothing happened.

“I’m going to kill him,” he told the empty room before rolling his chair over to the trashcan to throw out the empty pen. It clinked against the two already in the trashcan. He swore Patton had the latent superpower to summon inkless pens and the more time he spent at Logan’s apartment, the more accumulated despite Logan’s best efforts. It was a source of endless torment for Logan but still a small price to pay for his boyfriend’s presence.

Once he’d grabbed a functioning pen from its place in his pen holder and finished editing his weekly task list (Though there were a few important exclusions in this week’s list in fear of prying eyes. He would have to remember to call the photographers to confirm between his first and second class without a note to remind himself.), he reached into his pocket for this morning’s notes. He glanced up at a spot on the far wall that was too high for him and, more importantly, Patton to reach without buying a ladder. Well, at least, it would be too high for Logan except for one important fact. He flicked his finger and a small hidden door slid up. The contents of the secret compartment shot into his hand with barely a mental nudge.

He opened his desk and found the stack of different colored paper he kept there. He flipped past the dark blue and red to get to the pieces of light blue paper in the exact shade of the cover of the binder he held in his hand. He selected one of those pages and used the hole puncher on his desk to prepare it to go into the binder before he carefully arranged the notes from Patton on it in chronological order. Then, he pinned each of them down with pieces of tap and wrote himself quick notes next to each to remind himself of where he’d found them. Once finished, he turned to the binder. He touched the cover with a large amount of fondness and a bit of mortification because honestly, he couldn’t believe he was still doing this.

He’d started taking notes on Patton the moment they’d met in a coffee shop over three years ago. Later he would learn that Patton had just gotten off of a long shift at the hospital and was utterly exhausted, but all Logan had known at the time was that a strange man bumped into him and would have spilled an entire cup of hot coffee on him if it hadn’t been for Logan’s own quick reflexes. Unfortunately, those quick reflexes had not been of the physical variety; he had accidently used his powers to stop the cup and its contents in midair. He’d turned wide eyes to the stranger, dreading a reaction. There weren’t exactly many supers with telekinesis who lived in the state after all, but he’d just said “good catch” as though he hadn’t noticed Logan’s attempts to ruin his own secret identity. Logan hadn’t known whether or not to believe him when he acted as though he’d seen nothing, worried about who this man could be and what he could be planning. (Patton would later tell him that Logan probably could have floated into the coffee shop upside down and kicked Patton in his face, and he wouldn’t have noticed that day.) So, he’d written up an incident report for his red files with all the details he could remember and then resolved to keep an eye on the man in case he was lying and plotting to take action against Logan (he hadn’t been). And well, he had certainly ended up keeping an eye on Patton.

Later the binder had become a cumulation of frankly embarrassing records of his crush along with a failed list of steps to get a date (failed because while executing the third step, Patton had asked him out.) Then, once they’d started dating, it had been a sort of crutch, filled with hypothesizes and observations about Patton as though he were some sort of science experiment. Logan had never had any type of romantic relationship before (barring the two embarrassing incidents where his parents attempted to set him up with dates for school dances). He’d vowed when he first put on a mask that he would never date anyone who did not already know his superhero identity. The nice Catch-22 was that Logan had never told anyone that he was Bluebird. Then Patton barreled his way into his life with no regard for Logan’s emotional walls. Logan had been going in blind and the binder had been his way of dealing with the confusing, though wonderful, feelings.

He was better now, more settled, and more comfortable with the peculiarities of sharing so much of your life with another person. Now he only really referred to the binder for specific, important events. Other than that, it was used more like a scrapbook anymore. Logan had trouble throwing away things Patton gave him.

He flipped to the correct section of the binder and placed the page with this morning’s notes in it. His finger traced the smiley face and heart on the first one. Then, he flipped to the back of the binder briefly, tapped the baggy hanging there with his finger, just to double check, before closing the binder and replacing it back in the hidden compartment with his powers.

He drank the rest of his coffee and packed his bag before leaving to get to his 8:30 am class on time. It was Tuesday now. One more normal day today and three more after that.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #logicality #tsss #superhero au #memory loss #past child abuse #past child neglect #emotional suppression #self deprecation #gaps in his files #labeled universe #relabeled; refiled #adriana writes

[senlinyu]

Draco/Hermione: accidentally gets pregnant

“My mother is speaking to me again.”

Nothing.

He cleared his throat. “She sent a note yesterday asking how I was.”

Hermione was still staring absent-mindedly out of the window.

“I wrote back—and she asked if I’d come to dinner this Tuesday.”

Still nothing.

“I intend to decline, unless she extends the invitation to you as well.”

The hollow at the base of her throat dipped and she looked at him suddenly. “You should go.”

He stared at her. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yes. You should go. They’re your parents.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Right. They’ve also refused to speak to me since I informed them that we’re dating. Which seems like a pertinent issue.”

She studied at him. The tines of her fork tapped lightly at the edge of her plate. “Where—where do you see us in a year or so?”

Draco shifted uncomfortably at the change of subject. Hermione had very specific ideas about the pace of relationships; they should progress with grave intentionality. He’d only just managed to convince her to let him have a drawer in her flat.

“I don’t know. If it keeps going well, maybe l’ll have two drawers by then.”

She didn’t appear to notice the joke. She gave a short nod and looked down at the peas on her plate as her fork chased them from one side to the other.

“Is everything alright at work?” He eyed her carefully, trying to pin down exactly what seemed off about her. She nodded without meeting his eyes.

She was bothered about something, but as far as he could tell it didn’t seem directed specifically towards him.

Was he forgetting an important date? Not her birthday. They’d been “officially” in a relationship for one month and three weeks and two days. Prior to that they’d dated for five months and some odd days, which he didn’t think was traditionally celebrated. No major events in November for either of them insofar as he was aware.

She didn’t generally make him guess if he’d done something to upset her. He’d been an excellent boyfriend lately—if he did say so himself. He hadn’t even done anything to get back at Weasley for turning him into a giant canary at the excruciatingly uncomfortable ‘Weasley Dinner’ that he’d attended with Hermione last Friday evening.

She was still chasing her peas around her plate.

“What’s wrong?”

Her fork stilled but she didn’t look at him immediately. The tip of her tongue darted out and she wetted her lips before looking up.

“I—“ she started, then she froze, her mouth still ajar. She swallowed and set her fork down before squaring her shoulders.

She was going to break up with him, he realised with shriveling horror.

No wonder she thought he should go have dinner with his parents.

She didn’t want him anymore. He had too much to make up for and their relationship was interfering with and creating too difficulties throughout her life.

He felt his throat close as the blood drained from his head.

“I’m—pregnant.”

“What?” The question escaped him before he’d even processed that he was forming words. He felt as though he’d been bracing himself to be stabbed in the heart then instead been clocked in the head. His entire mind came to a screeching halt. “What?”

“I’m pregnant.” Her brown eyes met his bewildered gaze for a moment before she looked back down at her plate. “I found out earlier today.”

Draco abruptly had approximately five hundred thousand questions.

Pregnant? How was she pregnant? She was definitely, borderline religiously, taking contraceptive potions.

Draco had never thought about fatherhood beyond the abstract conclusion that he was not planning to be interested in it for a good long time.

Hermione was pregnant.

He stared at her dazedly. “H-h-How?”

Hermione pressed her lips together. “Contraceptive potion has an efficacy of about ninety-nine point two percent. Which means there’s still a point eight percent chance of getting pregnant. So if there are a hundred witches using it for a year, there can still be the possibility of a pregnancy occurring.”

“And that’s you…” he said slowly.

Her nostrils flared as she inhaled. “That’s me.” The base of her throat dipped and she looked down at her lap and was silent for several seconds. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. They gave me a prescription for a potion.”

Draco swallowed and resisted the urge to reach out and drain his wine glass. Despite his daze, he had a very clear sense that he’d never be able to take back whatever he said next.

As petrified as he was at the very concept of fatherhood, he was even more terrified that he was going to misstep and break the very fragile trust he had managed to build between them.

He opened his mouth and then closed it again. He wanted to loosen his collar, but her eyes were wide and locked on him. She sat carefully watching him.

She reminded him of a frightened wild rabbit. When he was growing up, there had been hundreds of them on the estate. They’d freeze and watch him with their dark eyes, barely moving, ready to sprint away and vanish in an instant if threatened.

He inhaled and leaned forward, extending his hand. Her hands were in her lap, so he rested his fingers on the table near her.

Her dark, intelligent eyes grew wider as they darted between his hand and his face.

He exhaled slowly.

He’d already been done for long before he’d managed to get her to agree to even have a drink with him. Just a drink had required weeks of deliberation on her part.

She’d had a very long list of rules and requirements specifically engineered to keep their relationship’s progress slow and it had worked aggravatingly well during the initial few months.

Things had accelerated somewhat when they’d agreed to tell people that they were in a relationship. Draco’s parents had been incensed and his father had threatened to disown him. The Weasleys and Potter has been about as pleased one would expect, and were unveiled in their displeasure and skepticism.

The first month had not been pleasant. However, the upside of Hermione refusing to speak to Potter and Weasley for being “complete idiots” and Draco openly toeing the line of becoming a blood traitor and following in the footsteps of his aunt Andromeda, was that their social life was largely non-existent.

Which—now as he thought about it, probably had something to do with the situation at hand.

“What are you thinking of doing?” he asked.

She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and he could see the tips of her teeth gnawing at it.

She always had a plan for things. Post-war, the life of Hermione Granger was meticulously plotted out.

Her colour-coded calendar had evenings marked for company, for projects, for reading. They were currently having lunch on the one lunch break each week that she was available to have lunch with him. She volunteered during three out of her five of them, and another day was marked and reserved for maintaining collegial relationships with friends and coworkers.

She had a one year plan, a five year plan, a ten year plan. Possibly others.

She always knew exactly what to do.

“I don’t know. I feel like I should just know what I should do—but I don’t—“ She drew a sharp breath. “We—“ her voice wavered and faded.

The corners of her mouth twitched and her eyes moved away from his face. She was quiet for a moment. He watched her shoulders tense and her whole body appeared to contract.

She was going to keep the pregnancy. He was almost positive. She wouldn’t have been so uncertain if she was instinctively leaning towards termination. She probably would have already picked up the potion.

She was going to keep it and she knew that the choice would annihilate half her plans and most of her calendar, and obliterate her intention of having their relationship indefinitely progress at the temperate speed of a sloth.

Her fingertips appeared at the edge of the table and slowly turned white as she gripped it.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet—but—“she swallowed visibly and her voice become tight and businesslike,”—obviously this wasn’t in either of our plans. Our relationship is very new and we don’t have any idea of what could have happened in the long run if things hadn’t been derailed like this. I wanted you to know about the pregnancy, but I don’t expect or want you to think that this makes you obligated or committed in any way.”

Draco’s hand twitched. “What?”

Her eyes flashed with stubborn determination. “I’m perfectly capable of having a child on my own—if I decide to. I don’t want you—staying involved with me because you have some antiquated sense of obligation and believe that you have to make honest witch of me now. I just—“ her voice wobbled as she inhaled, “I would rather know right off if you don’t want to be involved—it would—be easier for me if we could conclude things amicably in that case.”

Draco stood up abruptly, walked around the table, and then stole a chair from a nearby table. He sat and took her by the shoulders, turning her so that he could look into her eyes.

“Hermione—“ he said, his hands running down her tense arms.

“Hermione…” he said again, his hands reaching up and shaking somewhat as he captured her face. His fingertips traced her cheekbones and along her jaw.

“Hermione, I am in love with you,” he finally said. “I was in love with you before anyone knew we were dating. I was in love with you before we slept together. I was already pretty nearly in love with you before you agreed to get a drink with me. If you keep this pregnancy, I will still be in love with you. Whatever you do—for the rest of your life—I’m in for. Wherever you are—and whatever you’re doing, that’s the only place I want to be. Alright?”

#dramione #draco x hermione #hermione x draco #senlinyuwrites #asks #prompts #anthology collection

[selfwriting-sugarquills]

Heat in the rain pt. 3: One of those job things.

(Oof, we’re getting into the fluff now! Also, slightly unrelated but: I have a headcanon that the twins drink an absurd amount of coffee, that’s all - Hope you enjoy it! xxx) 

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 

Description: Reader decides they should get “one of those job things” (points if you get the reference- well I did use the gif so it shouldn’t be hard lol), and heads out, while she’s gone Fred urges George to confess his feelings. 

Warnings: None, just a load of fluff

Word count: 2257

 It was ten-thirty am on Sunday when the twins shuffled out of George’s bedroom looking tired. You were already sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea while reading a newspaper, before you sat a stack of three other newspapers, all open on the same pages, 

“Morning,” Fred yawned, scratching his hair lazily, he beelined for the fridge whilst George headed for the kettle, making himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip and sat down beside you, 

“What are you up to?” He asked, his voice gravely and sleepy, he rubbed his eyes as he squinted at the pages, 

“Are those job articles?” He asked, scooting closer to you, you smiled at him, 

“I figured I should get a job as well, make some money, get back on my feet” You took a sip of your tea, Fred pulled out his wand and behind him, eggs started cracking themselves into the heated pan on the stove, some potatoes leftover from yesterday were being chopped by an enchanted knife and bacon was separating itself from the pack and placing itself delicately onto the pan as well, popping and sizzling with the eggs, 

“You know, Y/n, if you wanted a job, you could just ask us,” Fred said, pouring himself some coffee as well, “Yeah we’d be happy to let you help out with the shop,” George added, eyes glancing up from the newspaper he’d stolen from your pile, 

“That’s sweet, guys but I couldn’t work for you, I’m already living with you for free,” You said, “It wouldn’t be fair be take from your pay as well,” You pulled the newspaper a little closer to you, 

“besides,” You pointed to the newspapers, “There are some pretty good jobs out there, I think,” 

Fred walked over beside you, looking over the black and white pages, 

“Like what? window cleaning?” Fred asked, grinning, “or dog walking?” he broke into a laugh, 

“Well, I wasn’t gonna pick those,” You said, slapping Fred gently on the arm, 

“Madam Malkin’s is hiring,” George said, pointing to an article in the newspaper he was reading, “That might not be too bad,” He added, grabbing a pen you circled it, 

“Thanks, George,” You said, giving him a smile, “You’re welcome,” He answered, sipping his coffee, “But if everything fails you better apply at the shop,” 

“Or just apply now, you know we’ll hire you immediately,” Fred said, scooping some eggs and bacon onto a plate, “Out of the question!” you said, downing the last sip of your tea and standing up, “But I have to head out now, I have to write a killer resumé without mentioning that I have zero experience,” you explained as you headed towards the door, collecting your jacket, George stared at you tying your shoes, 

“And you can’t do that here because?” He said, drawing out the last word, you beamed up at him slightly mischievously, he didn’t let it show, but something inside his chest squirmed when you looked at him like that, “Because,” You said, mimicking the way he’d said it, “you two won’t be working today, which means you’ll be here,” You tied a scarf around your neck as the two twins stared at you, still not getting the point by the look of their faces, “and I have learned from years of trying to study with you two that you can’t be quiet for more than five minutes, so: I’m going to a more quiet place,” finally, you grabbed your bag. 

Fred frowned a little, then said, “Fair point,” smirking behind his coffee cup. 

“What about breakfast?” George asked, 

“I’ve already eaten, I was up at 7,” You said, causing them both to gawk at you like you’d grown a second head, 

“Okay,” Said Fred, swirling the coffee around in his cup with a frown, looking like he was trying to solve a riddle, “Why?” He then asked, looking up at you, 

“Believe it or not, Freddie, some of us like to get up before noon,” 

“Us meaning you and all the roosters in England, I suppose,” Fred laughed, George joining in, 

Chuckling a little as well, you opened the door, 

“Enjoy your Sunday!” You yelled behind you as you stepped out onto the stairs. 

*** 

Walking down Diagon Alley, you glanced at the storefronts as you passed them by, taking in the fresh winter air. It was a busy scene, which wasn’t unusual, however with Christmas coming, it was even more crowded than usual. You walked for a while, trying to find somewhere that would be quiet enough for you to work out your essay, you’d figured a library at first, but you didn’t feel like walking all that far, you stopped in front of a small café, looking through the windows, something about the warm lights, plants and the various other small trinkets drew you in. 

Stepping inside you sighed quietly as you were taken out of the cold and instead stood in the warm, coffee-filled, air. A woman behind the counter greeted you, then moved on to make someone else’s drink, you eyed the menu hanging on the wall for a bit, then something caught your eye, a small note was stood on the counter, 

“Looking for baristas to work Wednesday-Sunday, 

if interested, please ask after Beatrice.” 

“Can I help you?” The woman behind the counter said, you glanced at her name tag and saw that she was the Beatrice mentioned on the note, 

“Uhm yeah, I’m looking for a job and I was wondering if you’re still hiring?” The words slipped out of your mouth almost automatically, Beatrice’s lips split into a warm smile, 

“Sure, when can you start?” She asked you blinked, 

“Erh, don’t you have to interview me first?” You asked, Beatrice, grinned even wider, “I probably should but truth be told I hate job interviews, too formal,” She explained, “How do you like your coffee?” She asked. You took a moment to think, this was all happening very fast, however, Beatrice had that kind of warm, welcoming energy about her, so you decided to go along with it, 

“Uhm, can you make me a flat white, please?” you said the first thing your eyes saw on the menu, your voice still slightly timid, “Sure thing,” Beatrice said, beginning to scoop some coffee powder into a small cup, you noticed how she didn’t use magic to prepare the coffee, she looked up at you and seemed to notice your slightly questioning look, 

“My mother was a muggle, she owned a coffee shop too,” Beatrice pulled what looked like a small lever, “-and even after she married my dad she swore that coffee tasted better when it was made by hand, even if magic is faster,” She explained, a look of fondness in her brown eyes, “And I have to say that I agree,” She chuckled a little, pouring some milk into the cup and handing it to you, “There you go, now let’s go over there and we can talk a little, not an interview though, just a conversation,” She said, chuckling again at the last bit, you smiled as you followed her to a comfortable corner of the café. 

***

In the shop, the twins were in the very back of their store, having been bored upstairs, so now, they were stacking boxes onto shelves and unboxing others, placing their content onto a small cart, meant for restocking the shelves in the storefront, 

“So,” Fred said, opening a box, 

“So?” George said, stacking a few boxes on Wonder Witch onto the cart, 

“Are you gonna tell her how you feel soon?” Fred asked frankly, George paused, put down the boxes and spun around meeting his brother’s grinning face, “What do you mean?” George said. He knew exactly what Fred meant.  

“C’mon Georgie, you’re not still pretending that you don’t love her, are you?” 

“I never pretended anything,” George said, sulking a little, 

“Oh sure,” Said Fred, a smirk growing on his face as he turned around and opened another box, “And you two never left the yule ball early to snog in the common room either,” He said, the immediate silence from his twin told Fred that he’d struck gold, 

“How do you know about that?” George’s voice asked Fred, who still had his back turned to him, Fred strained not to laugh, 

“I have my sources,” Fred said mysteriously, still stifling a laugh, George went back to the pink boxes, then regretted doing so. He knew damn well that those products were inspired by you, as you’d given them the idea for it at breakfast one morning, he remembered clearly how he and Fred had been exhausted from trying to come up with new ideas, and for the first time in a long time, with little luck, he still remembered how his stomach had done a somersault when your e/c eyes met his and asked, 

“Why don’t you try and make something for girls? like, colour changing mascara or something?” You hadn’t been trying to look pretty when you’d said it, mouth half-full of toast, but to George, you’d looked so gorgeous as you sat there, bathed in the morning light, streaming in through the big windows in the Great hall, he’d had to stop himself from leaning over the table and pressing lips to yours, 

“I don’t think she feels that way about me,” George heard himself say, his eyes still fixed on the boxes, 

“If she didn’t then why did she agree to ditch her actual date to the ball, sneaking off to snog you?” Fred asked, glancing at his brother, who still seemed fixated on the boxes, Fred came to a halt as well and turned to face his brother again, 

“George, I’m pretty sure there’s a reason she came here, and I’m pretty sure that reason revolves around you,” Fred said in an unusually quiet manner, “The worst that can happen is that she says she doesn’t like you in that way, and even then, she’ll still be your friend,” 

“We don’t know that” Said George hopelessly, Fred took a step towards him, 

“We do know that, George, otherwise she wouldn’t be here in the first place,” Fred clasped a hand onto George’s shoulder, “You just have to buck up some courage and grow a pair,” He said, George looked at him, looking a little too beaten down for Fred’s taste, “And then what?” He asked quietly, causing Fred to laugh, “Tell her, mate.” 

***

Exiting the café you felt positively euphoric, Beatrice turned out to be the nicest, calmest and most charming person you could have ever imagined as a boss, during your talk she’d introduced herself as a single mother of a young son, who was starting pre-school soon, hence why she needed some extra hands, who loved everything coffee related, though her secret obsession was baking, she’d laughed when she’d told you how much time she spent watching muggle baking shows, besides owning the shop, she’d always wanted to go on a tour of France, visiting various hotspots for cuisine and wine. When it had been your turn to speak, you’d told her everything, feeling safe in the little nook of the coffee shop amongst pillows, blankets and flowers, she hadn’t spoken when you’d told her about your whole situation with the war and your parents, she’d simply put a warm, soft hand on top of your own as a tear slipped down your face. All in all: She’d proven to be a fantastic person. You were pretty sure, as you turned a corner, heading towards the twins’ shop, that meeting her and getting the job there was the universe trying to make up for the many misfortunes that had hit you in the past half-year. 

Walking into the flat you were met by George, who seemed to be doing some of the accounting work that came with owning the shop, he glanced up at you and gave you smile, 

“How was writing?” He asked as you shrugged off your coat, “Well, not that great, since I didn’t write a resumé at all, however,” You said, walking up to him, “I got a job instead!” You announced, beaming at the redhead who looked at you with raised eyebrows, “Really? that’s amazing!” He said, standing up to hug you, “I know! I start on Tuesday,” You said, wrapping your arms around George. 

There was something different about the way he hugged you, you thought, it was… slower? softer? You couldn’t really name it, but something in the way he held onto you so gingerly compared to the way he used to hug you (which you’d once described as trying to hug a bludger coming at you with full speed, same went for Fred) however he also kept his arms wrapped around you for way longer than he’d ever held onto you, well safe for one time, you blushed as you remembered suddenly all too well how the yule ball had played out for you, the feeling of George’s lips pressed against your own, his hand steadily placed on your waist, the other on your face, softly caressing your cheek with his thumb - It all came to you as he held you, his head resting on top of your own, you felt your cheeks burning. You didn’t say anything. 

What you didn’t know was that George’s mind was also racing, fleeting memories of you smiling at him, quickly touching his hands and arms to get his attention in class, hugging him tightly after winning a quidditch match, the way your hair looked in the sunlight as you came running onto the pitch to congratulate him and, of course, you kissing him in front of the fireplace in the common room, the feeling of your soft lips engulfing him, making him lose all sense of time and space. 

Fred was right, George thought,  all he had to do was tell you.

__ Taglist: @lilcutekittykat​ 

#the most unrealistic thing about this isn't even the magic #it's the fact that the reader wakes up at 7 on a Sunday #what an absolute madlad reader is #george weasley x reader #fred weasley x reader #weasley twins x reader #weasley twins #Fred Weasley #fred lives #George Weasley #fluff

[anotherdayinchuckletown]

They’re Funny That Way, Chapter 1

Hey, guys! How’s it going? I’ve been writing for about ten years now, but this is only the second ever fic I’ve shared anywhere, so I’m super nervous!!!  

This is basically my take on a Harley Quinn origin story tailored to the universe of Joker (2019).  It’s going to be Harley like we’ve never seen her before, with lots of Arthur, lots of Sophie, lots of original characters, and lots of twists and turns.

I’m SO beyond excited to finally share this with you guys, and I hope you all enjoy! Please like, comment, reblog if you do so that I know if you guys love reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it!  This fic is also posted to my AO3 account (https://archiveofourown.org/users/marie_deneuve), so you can also read it there if you’d like!

Without further ado, heeeere we go!!

Chapter 1

 The apartment building at Eleven-Forty Anderson Avenue is an eyesore situated in the midst of a likewise ugly city called Gotham. A pimple on a face only a mother could love. A pariah among pariahs.

Management has long since stopped caring about its maintenance, leaving it a patchwork of leaking ceilings, cracking foundations, and broken windows haphazardly boarded shut. Even the most seasoned resident of Gotham City would quicken his pace when passing the telltale archways which separate the apartments from the rest of the city.

Sophie Dumond is currently doing her best to avoid saying any of that out loud.

“It’s really not that bad,” she lies. “Definitely a far cry from where you’re living now, but once you get used to it, it’s not the worst.” Although she is on the phone, she looks down at her shoes anyway, so as not to look her guilt in the face. A crack in the tile beneath her feet stares back accusingly.

“Really? My brother told me his appliances never work, and the maintenance crew is impossible to reach,” the voice on the other line replies skeptically. It belongs to another young woman by the name of Emma Boulanger – Emma Scott, actually, ever since her marriage – who has been Sophie’s best friend since the two of them met in elementary school. She is also the godmother of Sophie’s five-year-old daughter, which was an unpopular decision she had been made to justify more times than she would have liked (honestly, though, her sister could call her if she ever became less of a pretentious bitch).

This phone call marks the first time Sophie has heard from her in one month, two weeks, and six days. Not that she’s been counting or anything.

It’s just strange not to talk to her, as she’s always the first to know of any big changes in her friend’s life. Emma is certainly the first to know about changes in Sophie’s life as well. She’s there when they both open up their letters of acceptance into Gotham University, whooping and cheering and dreaming of finally, finally leaving this shithole, getting glamorous jobs in the big city. She’s there when Sophie is curled up on her bathroom floor, crying and clutching a positive pregnancy test, wanting the best for the child growing inside of her, yet fearing she would never be able to provide it.

That’s why it’s so odd when Emma’s twin brother is the one to mention in the hallway one day that his sister has filed for divorce. And furthermore, that she’s returning to Gotham to live with him until she gets back on her feet.

“Like I said, Emma, it’s not perfect,” she relents. “But hey, at least it’ll be nice to hang out again. It’s been way too long.”

“Yeah, it really has! I moved, what, almost two years ago?” Emma’s voice brightens marginally, and Sophie can nearly see the lopsided grin spreading across her face, so familiar is she with every tic, every tell, every minuscule inflection to her words. “Metropolis is boring as hell, by the way. I almost miss Gotham - call me crazy.”

Sophie huffs, knowing full well that Emma is playing it cool - trying not to let on how much she dreads moving back to a city she called a living, breathing prison for so many years. Best to keep things lighthearted then. Empathize with her, acknowledge her feelings, but never, never pity her. “You’re definitely crazy, Em,” she shoots back, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly does it for you, the enormous rats or the graffiti dicks?”

An almost imperceptible chuckle filters through the receiver. “Well, no one ever really escapes Gotham, do they? I figure I might as well develop a little Stockholm Syndrome.”

Sophie doesn’t immediately respond to the bleak sentiment. It’s simply a joke, of course, and as a matter of fact, very on-brand. But there’s enough truth to it to cause a momentary lapse in the lightness of their conversation.

Sophie has found gradually that Emma was right growing up. Gotham truly seems less like a place and more like an entity. It has a certain way of taking, taking, taking from a person, and when that person has nothing left to give, taking just a little bit more. The citizens meander like restless spirits, doomed to wander to and from their low-wage jobs for eternity. The air is heavier out there, tugging their faces down into sour expressions, aging them prematurely. A reflection of their surroundings.

Sophie often wonders if she looks the way they do.

If Emma notices the shift – which she certainly does, she always does – she politely ignores it. “I guess beggars can’t be choosers… It was nice of Eddie to let me stay with him on such short notice.” Fondly, she adds, “He may be a bit of a shithead, but he’s a good brother.”

Before Sophie can stop herself, she laughs aloud. “No comment. We do live on the same floor, you know.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Do you two ever hang out?”

“Not particularly.” Sophie doesn’t dislike Eddie – quite the opposite, in fact. She always chalks up her lack of chemistry with him to simply having nothing in common. He and Emma share nothing but a birthday, a head of golden hair, and a pair of striking ice-blue eyes.

Rapid footsteps make their way into the foyer, breaking Sophie out of her reverie. “Mommy, look what I drew!”

Muttering a quick “hang on a second” into the receiver, she turns toward the source of the sound, and a sheet of paper is practically shoved in her face from below. She is met with a mish-mosh of various shapes and colors, one large brown figure taking precedence in the middle of the page.

She smiles warmly. “Wow, that’s very good, Gigi! What’s that a picture of?”

The artist beams with pride. “It’s the roach you killed in the bathroom yesterday!”

Son of a bitch.

“Can we put it on the fridge, Mommy?”

Blinking owlishly, Sophie scrambles for a response. They really don’t teach her this shit in those parenting books she sometimes finds at Gotham Central Library.

She settles on, “Honey, you already have so many nice ones up there, I just can’t decide which ones to keep! Let’s put this one away for now, and I’ll think about it, okay?” She offers her free hand to take the drawing so that she can accidentally misplace it later.

It does the trick. “Okay!” her daughter chirps, proudly handing over her portrait. Encourage, then swiftly change the subject – a motherly sort of manipulation that works in everyone’s favor.

“Holy shit, I haven’t even asked about Gigi yet!” Emma exclaims. “God, she must be getting so big! She starts Kindergarten this year, right?”

“Yeah, in the fall. And she comes all the way up to my waist now, isn’t that insane?” Unmistakable pride colors Sophie’s response.

“That’s so awesome! Did she miss me at all?” comes over the receiver as Gigi simultaneously begins an onslaught of “who’s that, Mommy, who’s that?”

“Miss you? Are you kidding? Listen to this.” Sophie crouches next to her daughter, holding the phone away from her ear, but nearby so that Emma can hear. “Gigi, your Aunt Emma’s on the phone. She’s coming to live here again soon, isn’t that great?”

The resounding shriek is a good indicator that she agrees. And that Sophie is going to have to bring the neighbors another gift basket so they don’t complain about her to the landlord.

“Can I talk to Aunt Emma, Mommy? Can I, can I, please, please, please?” Tiny, impatient hands grapple for the phone as laughter pours in from the other line.

“Come on, if I let you talk to her now, we’ll be stuck here forever.” A quick glance at the clock reveals that it’s nearing eight o'clock. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for bed soon?”

Gigi wrinkles her nose in distaste, and Sophie cuts her off before the complaints can begin. “No arguments, Gigi. Go start your bath – I’ll be there in just a minute.”

She receives a defiant huff; nevertheless, Gigi stomps her way to the bathroom, and Sophie waits for the sound of running water before she returns to the previous conversation.

“So anyway, Eddie tells me you’re holed up in a hotel room until the weekend. I’m guessing that Daniel didn’t take the…the breakup news very well?” she asks, somewhat cautiously. Talking about Emma’s husband – now ex-husband – is a mixed bag, even back when they were dating.

“You could say that,” Emma responds sheepishly. “It wasn’t pretty, let’s leave it at that. I thought it would be best for me to get out of the house right away, give him some time to himself.”

It makes Sophie nervous that she is skirting the question, but then again, Emma’s in a vulnerable position at the moment. And she’s rarely one to talk at length about her own emotions in the first place – she’s much more of a listener.

Sophie would like to ask what she means by “it wasn’t pretty”, but decides against prying. She would also like to ask why she ever married that jackass in the first place, since their relationship had been obviously strained from day one. It was always as if the two of them were tightrope walking over a volcano – bubbling quietly, boiling and threatening to swallow them both whole. The smallest change in the wind, the most harmless comment about Daniel not picking his towel up off the floor could send them tumbling into the inferno. She supposes one of them finally fell.

Something about that man has always creeped her out, but she gave up voicing her discontent with him after about the thirtieth time Emma brushed her off. She won’t say “I told you so”, since she wouldn’t want to belittle whatever pain Emma is going through. Still, she can’t help but feel a little relief – that doesn’t make her a terrible friend, right?

All of this can wait, though. It can wait until they’re seeing each other face-to-face again. Until Sophie isn’t on a strict time limit. She needs to wrap up the current conversation quickly because if she doesn’t, she could possibly be dealing with a flooded bathroom shortly. Five-year-olds do not generally care about the cost of repairing water damage if it seeps into the downstairs neighbor’s ceiling.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, with…you know…everything.”

“Of course!” Emma reassures her. “I’m perfectly fine. Like I said, I’m looking forward to being home. Honestly.”

Sophie is not convinced, and frankly, it sounds like Emma is not either. She wonders if her friend has been checking in on the worsening condition of their hometown from Metropolis. The homeless population is growing by the day, and the working class is becoming more and more restless due to low wages and poor working conditions in the inner city. Rumor has it that sanitation workers are chief among the dissatisfied, and a garbage strike is all but guaranteed by winter.

So much she wants to say. So much she can’t say. “That’s good. I’m happy for you.”

 _______________________________________________________________

Emma remembers around this time last year taking a trip to Paris, France. She saw the premiere of a musical there called Les Misérables – it was based off of her favorite book by Victor Hugo, so naturally, she begged and begged to go.

And what a payoff! The show was spectacular, from the costumes to the stage design to the music. Oh, the music! Despite being there with her then-husband, she had the most fun she’d had in years, letting the melancholy chords turn her as light as the air and the lyrics carry her far, far away in the wind.

Even more than the music, she was captivated by the plot. She could practically feel the plight of the poverty-stricken citizens. One of the opening scenes depicted the starving masses singing of their grief over the way they were snubbed by the wealthy, left to rot in the streets.

That is the scene Emma finds herself stepping into today. Only this time, she is not a passive observer, watching the events unfold without being affected. From today on, she is one of the characters.

From the moment she arrives in downtown Gotham City by taxi, the tension claws at her with icy hands. It digs into her ribcage with each glare aimed her way, even in the mild September breeze. She knows she sticks out like a preacher at a Pride parade in her obviously expensive skirt and heels. It’s not like she had time to go digging around her closet for something more appropriate that night she left her house.

Handsomely tipping her driver, she climbs out of the car and rushes underneath a set of archways and inside the apartment building where she’ll be living for the foreseeable future. She doesn’t look very closely at it from the outside, so desperate is she to get off the street and away from whatever the hell that smell is.

Emma uses the opportunity to finally look around a bit, taking her surroundings in with narrowed eyes. The lobby is dimly-lit, with no color to it whatsoever. The walls are painted a chipped-up brownish yellow, which could have been white many years ago. It reeks of mold, to the point where the smell outside might be the lesser of the two evils.  

Leaning carefully against the nearest wall, she mutters, “Not that bad, my ass.” From her purse, she retrieves her recently-purchased copy of a new novel titled Jumanji, and she waits.

And waits.

And waits.

And waits.

…

…

…

Emma’s eyes snap open - she hadn’t consciously closed them to begin with. She realizes with embarrassment that she almost fell asleep standing up. God, she’s more exhausted than she thought. How long has she been standing down here anyway?

“I’ll be home from work around four; I just need a little time to tidy up before you head over,” Eddie had said on the phone the night before. “I’ll meet you in the lobby and walk you up at six, okay?”

“That works,” Emma had replied. “As long as you’re actually there at six.”

“Hell’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve never exactly had a reputation for being punctual.”

“Jesus, Em. You think I’m gonna leave you hanging out down there alone?”

“We’ll see.”

Shutting her book, Emma checks her watch.

Six forty-five. That fucking flake forgot.

She groans, pushing herself languidly off the wall and scanning the room for assistance. No one at the front desk - in fact, there hasn’t been anyone there since she arrived, making her wonder briefly if she’s even in the right building.

Her eyes next land on the myriad of mailboxes against the opposite wall, closed off from the rest of the lobby by rusted wrought-iron bars, most likely to protect the postman. She walks through the open gate tentatively, and upon closer inspection, each mailbox has a sticker labeling the residents by apartment number. Bingo!

It doesn’t take long to find what she’s looking for. On the eighth floor, perfectly spelled out for her, she sees both S. Dumond in 8B and E. Boulanger in 8H. Why not visit the one who didn’t leave her stranded for an hour first? She could always call Eddie on Sophie’s phone anyway - the asshole probably smoked a joint as soon as he got home and passed out on the couch watching Magnum, P.I.

She heads for the elevator and presses the call button. As it whines slowly and almost menacingly down the shaft, she hears someone softly trudging along behind her, the very first sign of another life in here. As she enters the elevator, she politely holds the door open, and makes room for the clown getting on after her.

No, not a silly person. An actual clown. Painted face, red nose, neon green hair and all.

Of all the weird people she might expect to see in a place like this… Not even two hours in Gotham, and the evening is already shaping up to be quite the roller coaster.

Emma can’t help but stare as the doors shut and the clown punches the button for, coincidentally, the eighth floor. She settles into the far corner as she discreetly analyzes him. His posture, his defeated gait, the pitiful expression underneath his painted-on smile… His aura permeates the entire space, seemingly enough to weigh them both down, causing the elevator to drag slowly up the shaft like molasses, screeching all the way.

This is without a doubt the saddest clown Emma has ever seen. And she’s seen Pagliacci.

Around the third floor, there’s one long, particularly loud screech. Emma’s heart leaps to her throat as their ascent suddenly comes to a complete halt, and the lights in the tiny elevator space flicker on and off once. Is a three-story drop enough to kill a person her size? She prays that this isn’t how it ends - in this dingy elevator, terrified, with no one but a fucking clown. A clown who hasn’t moved an inch this entire time.

Thankfully, after a few seconds that seem to drag on for a lifetime, they start to slowly crawl up the shaft once more. Emma breathes an audible sigh of relief, and the clown seems to finally notice her, tossing a quick look of sympathy in her general direction.

Once she’s certain she can speak without her voice quivering, she does so. “Does…that happen often?”

Her voice really gets his attention. He whips his head around so fast she almost worries his little hat will come flying off like a frisbee. He blinks at her once, then twice, as if processing the fact that she is addressing him. For a split second, it looks like he’s going to say something.

Then, remembering himself, he simply shrugs bashfully. Emma lets out a breath she doesn’t realize she’s been holding.

She notices the decorative red flower adorning his lapel, one of those prop flowers that’s actually a tiny water gun. Smiling in a way that she hopes is charming instead of ill-at-ease, she points to it. “I, uh…I like your flower. It’s very pretty.”

The clown tilts his head curiously. After a beat, he wordlessly reaches up and into his bright plaid coat, holding said flower slightly out toward her. Offering for her to come closer, to lean in and smell it.

Emboldened, she grins, shaking her head at him. “No way, mister. I know how that trick ends.” She’s kidding around with him, but she really can’t afford to get her clothes wet right now; she only has the ones on her back, after all.

Still, his lips at last curl upward, a real smile that reaches the lights of his eyes. And it’s then that Emma can see the color in them, an enchanting seafoam green that inexplicably draws her in, pulling her away from the corner and toward his side. He watches her carefully and intensely with an expression she can’t quite read. When he turns to face the doors once more, it’s not without keeping her settled in his periphery.

Most people would probably be a bit nervous being…examined so thoroughly. However, Emma finds his mannerisms endearing in an odd way. She’s never cared much for clowns before, but this one doesn’t seem so bad.

They ride in comfortable silence for another few moments. When they reach their destination, Emma is the first to exit.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely taking the stairs from now on,” she says.

The clown nods in response as he exits behind her, giant red and blue shoes flopping comically over the threshold.

The hallway is a bit noisy, voices of the residents drifting through the paper-thin walls like a mist, creating a fine haze over everything. The walls are just a touch too close together, making Emma claustrophobic and urging her to get to 8B as quickly as possible.

Not wanting to come off as rude, she introduces herself. “I’m new to the building, by the way - my name’s Emma. It’s a pleasure.” She extends a hand to shake.

The clown does return the gesture, but not before staring her hand down for an abnormally long period of time. And his grip through the rough material of his gloves is so soft and careful, it’s as if it’s barely there.

She’d honestly like to chat with this fascinating new neighbor of hers a bit longer, but instead, she pulls her hand away, settling for a polite nod and a cheerful “good night”.

She does not look back to see that the clown’s unwavering gaze follows her all the way down the hall.

#joker 2019 #Joker (2019) #joker #arthur fleck #sophie dumond #harley quinn #my fic #joaquin phoenix joker