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pappydaddy · 3 years

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Oblivious (r.b.)

A/N: Another request down! This one is another Robin request. It's a bit longer than the last one I posted, but it's a bit dry unfortunately. I tried to make it like my other longer fics, but I just felt like this is was meant to be this length. I threw in a funny scene in the end. Anywho, I hope you like it lovely anon💛, I really tried to do your request justice (I loved it btw).

P.S: Not proofread yet. I'm gonna go over all my fics in these upcoming fics to proofread and I will do this fic then

TV Show/Movie: Stranger Things

Pairing: Robin Buckley x Fem!Byers!Reader

Stranger Things/Robin Taglist: N/A

Requested

Warnings: Fluff, a parent being obvious, getting caught getting hot and heavy the backseat. Pretty short in length.

Note: Not proofread yet. I'm gonna go over all my fics in these upcoming fics to proofread and I will do this fic then

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation - my gif -

The cool night breeze rolled in through Y/N Byers’ open window as she and Robin laid in her bed. Late Summer nights spent in bed with her girlfriend were Y/N’s favourite. Having their legs tangled together, their arms holding each other close as they lightly traced random shapes on each other. It was true bliss in her eyes. “You think your mom is back with the movie yet?” Robin broke the comfortable silence with a whisper. Y/N shrugged, pulling her hand away from where it was playing with Robin’s short hair.

“We would have heard her car so probably not,” She answered, shifting as she propped her elbow up. Robin automatically rolled onto her back, gazing up at Y/N with big blue eyes that sparkled in the silver moonlight, the sounds of frogs and crickets filling the silent room again as they enjoyed the company of each other. “Steve is probably taking forever to lock up the store and she’s probably waiting for him to leave so we don’t start without him.” She hypothesized, looking down at Robin again.

Robin hummed, nodding as she pictured Steve fumbling around with his keys, trying each one to figure out which one locked the store door. “He can never remember which key goes to what. We should get him a label maker so he can label them.” She suggested making Y/N snort out a laugh, flopping on her back, untangling themselves from each other completely.

“Are we really going to be that couple that gives friends stationary for presents,” She asked, lulled her head to the side to gaze at Robin who shrugged, pulling a face that asked her why they couldn’t be. “Because those couples are the boring couple that never get invited to any parties people actually want to have fun at.” She answered Robin’s silent question.”

“Fair point.” Robin agreed just as Y/N’s bedroom door opened. The two girls pulled themselves up, looking at the door as Joyce popped her head in.

“Sorry to interrupt girls night, but Steve is here with the movies and I got the snacks, come on out to the living room.” She told them, leaving the door open as she disappeared down the hall, getting Jonathan from his room. Silently, the girls rolled off Y/N’s bed and shuffled out into the living room, being greeted by Steve and Will placing bowls of chips and popcorn on the coffee table that already had a display of soda and water sitting on it.

“Hey, Dingus,” Robin greets Steve as she brushed past him to sit on the couch. “Will.” She nodded at the younger boy, slapping hands with him in a greeting as he sat beside her.

“Hi, Robin.” Steve breathed out, taking a seat in the armchair, cracking open a can of soda, taking a drink. Y/N stepped over his sprawled-out legs, plunking herself down on the other side of Robin, her feet kicking up to rest on her lap comfortably.

“Where are the other kids?” Y/N wondered, looking over her shoulder at Steve as he sat his open soda down, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth.

“Dustin is sick, Max is busy being grounded, Lucas is sulking being Max is grounded, and Mike is at a family dinner with his grandparents,” Steve listed off the location of each kid easily. Making Robin laugh. “What?” Steve asked with furrowed brows as he grabbed a chip, crunching on it instantly before wiping his hands on his jeans, bouncing his knee.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that you’re such a mom.” Robin made fun of him, her hands resting on Y/N’s ankles as Joyce walked back in with Jonathan in tow looking like he just woke up from a nap, the pair sitting on the other couch.

“So, Steve,” Joyce started, reaching for two sodas, handing one to Jonathan. Robin reached over, collecting three and placed them in her lap. “What movie is first?” She asked as Y/N and Will each plucked a can from Robin’s lap, opening them at the same time, both cans hissing loudly.

“Have no idea, let Will pick-”

“Rawhead Rex!” Will interrupted excitedly, shocking Joyce since she obviously hadn’t picked that one up.

“Wiliam Byers, did you pick that up without me knowing?”

“No, please, I don’t like scary movies!” Joyce and Y/N said at the same time.

“Which is exactly why I didn’t pick any scary movies, mister.” Joyce told Will in a semi-scolding manner.

“Don’t worry, Y/N, I’ll protect you from the scary movie.” Robin looked over at her, her tone somewhat teasingly. Joyce cooed at this, tilting her head slightly.

“Aw, you two are so cute together,” She sighed longingly. “Wish I had had someone like that in high school.”

____

“I’m heading out for a date mom,” Y/N announced as she walked down the hall from her room, slinging her purse over her shoulder. Joyce opened her bedroom door, popping her head out just as Y/N was about to walk past, scarring her daughter. “Jesus mom,” She exclaimed, her hand flying to her chest as her heart tried to calm down. “You scared me! I thought you were in the kitchen!”

“Sorry dear,” She apologized, opening her door all the way and stepping out of her room all dressed up. Y/N furrowed her brows at her mom’s appearance. She was awfully dressy for a night home alone. Parting her lips as she followed her mother into the living room, she went to say something but Joyce interrupted. “You said you were going on a date, but I don’t see a car.” She pointed out as she looked out the window.

“I’m actually driving tonight.” Y/N explained before opening her mouth the ask her mother about her plans for the night.

“How progressive,” Joyce smiled, turning to face her daughter again, clasping her hands together. “I love a good feminist moment, you have fun on your date and tell me all about it when you get home.”

“So I can have the car,” Y/N asked tentatively. She had assumed that her mother would take the night to relax as this would be the first night in years she has to be home alone. Joyce nodded, looking at her daughter oddly as she tossed the car keys towards her from the bowl by the door. “You don’t have plans? You seem like you do.” Y/N pressed, not wanting to ruin her mother’s plans.

“Oh, I do have plans, I have a date.” Joyce confirmed as if it was nothing. Y/N sputtered, taken aback by this information and how nonchalantly her mother just disclosed it. She watched her mother walk into the kitchen as if it was any other day.

“If you have a date then you need the car, I’ll figure out how to work around not having a car right now-” Y/N rushed into the kitchen behind her, holding the keys out to Joyce who shook her head, pushing her hand away and cutting her off.

“No, I don’t need the car, he’s picking me up here, you go on your date with the car and have fun!” Joyce told her, grabbing Y/N’s shoulders and forcing her to turn around.

“But, this is your first date since Bob died. Do you want me to stay home in case you need to bail? What if something goes wrong and you can’t reach me or Hopper? What if this guy is secretly a mad scientist connected to the Upside Down? What if he’s just a horrible person-” Y/N rambled, fighting against her mother’s hold as she pushed her towards the door.

“Trust me, Y/N,” Joyce started, opening the front door as Y/N continued to ramble off scenarios that could possibly go wrong. “None of that is going to be an issue. I know this guy, you know this guy. He is perfectly safe and I will be fine. Besides, this isn’t even our first date.”

“Mom-” She tried to say something but was cut off by her own mother all but pushing her out of the house. She let out a shriek, stumbling along the porch.

“Go on your date, Y/N and don’t come back until your date is finished.” Joyce warned, closing and locking the front door. Her face was glaring at Y/N through one of the small windows at the top of their door, almost daring her not to go on the date. Huffing, Y/N turned on her heel and headed off to the car.

____

Joyce’s mysterious date had been pushed into the back of Y/N’s mind the second she saw Robin open her front door. Now, it wasn’t even a thought in her head, all her mind could focus on was the way she felt as Robin’s lips traced down her neck, pecking and sucking as they went. Airy moans left her mouth as she squirmed under her girlfriend, her nearly bare back rubbing against the cold backseat of the car. “Oh god-” She whimpered as Robin’s lips travelled lower, dancing dangerously along the cup of her bra, her fingertips just barely slipping under the underwire. “Oh god!” She gasped when her eyes fluttered open after seeing the flash of red and blue hues on her eyelids.

“Am I making you feel good, baby?” Robin pulled her lips from Y/N breast, looking up at her flirtatiously thinking her exclamation was from pleasure, not fear. Her face fell when she noted the wideness of Y/N’s eyes and flashing lights reflecting off her glistening face.

“That’s fucking Hopper,” Y/N hissed as they both scrambled to sit up, Y/N’s arms crossed over her bra-clad chest. They both tried to squint through the fogged-up back windshield, seeing two figures getting out of the car, the beam of a flashlight clicking on. “Shit, where is my shirt?” She panicked, looking around until Robin threw it at her.

“Duck,” Robin pushed Y/N and herself down as the beam of the flashlight swept over the back window. Grunting, Y/N tried to wiggle around and pull the shirt over her head as Robin watched the beam of light. “He’s looking in the woods, let’s crawl out the front seats!” Robin ushered her, letting her crawl over the console first.

“Something tells me we’re not gonna make it to the front seat,” Y/N trailed off as her eyes squinted at the brightness of the flashlight pointed right at her through the driver’s side window. “Hi, Hop,” She smiled, waving awkwardly. In response, Hopper simply pulled the backseat door open, revealing Joyce standing there, looking confused. “Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you were out on a date?” Y/N froze, her knee digging uncomfortably into the middle console.

“I am on my date, we were heading to the restaurant after the movie when we saw the car looking abandoned.” Joyce explained.

“Your date was with Hopper? You’re dating Hopper?” Y/N asked, shocked as she crawled out of the backseat, Robin following closely.

“You didn’t know that?” Robin asked her as if it was obvious.

“No!”

“Your date was with Robin?” Joyce ignored the two girls, her brows furrowed.

“You didn’t know they were dating?” Hopper looked at Joyce as he pointed his finger at the pair.

“No idea.” Joyce shook her head.

“You two are really oblivious. Everyone knew both of these things,” Hopper informed them with a laugh, earning two glares from Y/N and Joyce. “Well, anyway, we’ve got a reservation-”

“Wait,” Joyce interrupted him. “I thought you guys were just friends-” Joyce pointed to Y/N and Robin who both shrugged sheepishly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked her daughter, slightly embarrassed for not realizing and a bit let down that she didn’t tell her.

“I thought you knew.”

“Well, now that I do know, I want to get to know Robin as your girlfriend so would you guys like to accompany us to our dinner reservations?” Joyce asked, her eyes wide as she hoped her daughter would say yes. She always knew that she liked girls, but she had no idea they were dating.

“Only if I get to drill Hopper with questions to make sure he’s good enough for you.” Y/N playfully glared at Hopper, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Deal.” Joyce nodded firmly.

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johnsamericano · 3 years

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“Corruption. Epilogue.” w.y.h

A/n: I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY. I hope you'll still enjoy it, thank you for reading.

warnings: unprotected sex, dirty talking, corruption kink per usual, lingerie, that’s it.

corruption m.list.

“Mommy, where’s Mr. bear?” You closed the zipper of your suitcase, placing it on the floor and extending your hand towards your baby boy.

“Daddy already put it in the car, let’s go, he must be waiting for us.”

Your husband was leaning against the car, a pair of sunglasses hanging from the neck of his sweater. You gave it to him a few days ago, it matched with the one you and your son were wearing.

“Youngho, guess who’s coming with us?”

“Mr. bear?” He tilted his head to the side.

“Better.” He opened the door of the car, revealing your best friend, a big smile on his face.

“Uncle lele!” His little legs ran towards the vehicle, Chenle taking him into a bear hug as soon as he was close enough.

“Let me help you with this.” Your husband approached you, taking the suitcase from your hands to load it into the trunk. “I’m kinda nervous, I feel like your parents still don’t like me.”

“My mom likes you.” You giggled, hugging his waist tightly. “My dad still thinks you’re the teacher who seduced his little girl. And I mean, you kinda did.”

“But we’ve been married for more than two years, he should’ve warmed up to me at this point.” He whined desperately.

“Well, I mean, he appreciates you more ever since Youngho came around.”

“Are you suggesting that we need another baby for your father to like me? Cause I’m in.”

“Am I going to have a little sister?” Youngho’s small head peeked through the door as well as Chenle’s.

“Congrats you guys.”

“No! We’re not having another kid, I haven’t recovered from the last one.”

“But I want a daughter.” Lucas complained. “Imagine how cute Youngho would look as a big brother.”

“I’ll get you a female dog and that’s my final offer.”

“Declined. I’m sure I’ll convince you, my baby girl will be here in no time.” He said as you walked to your seats, closing the doors and putting your seatbelts on.

“There’s no guarantee that the baby will be a girl.” He started the engine, taking a look at the backseats to make sure Youngho was on his car seat.

“Even if it’s a boy, I’ll love him with all my heart. Just like I love that little monster in the back.”

“Aw, thanks dude.” Chenle answered.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

The trip continued between constant bickering from your husband and Chenle along giggles from your son.

“Alright, we’re here.” Lucas parked the car, turning to look at you with a nervous smile.

“Don’t worry, as I said, at least my mom likes you.” After unbuckling your seatbelts, you both exited the vehicle, opening the backseat doors to wake up the passengers.

Lucas gently picked up Youngho from his seat while you flicked Chenle in the forehead to wake him up.

“What is wrong with you?” He whined.

“Hurry up or I’ll lock you inside.”

Lucas waited in front of the door for you and Chenle to arrive, he was too scared to knock on the door himself.

Your mother received you all with a warm hug, specially Chenle, whom she had known from the moment he was born.

“You’re so big, Chenle. Come in, I baked your favorite cookies.” You scoffed at your mother’s behavior as she dragged him to the kitchen.

“Let’s go, my arms are feeling numb.”

You entered first at Lucas’ request, the smell of your favorite dishes making you smile. Your father was chopping some vegetables while your mother stuffed Chenle’s mouth with food.

“My baby girl is home.” Your father smiled widely before running to you and taking you into a bone crushing hug. “You should move here, we miss you.” He kissed your temple.

“Hello sir.” Your husband saluted politely, bowing slightly while he held your son tightly.

“Hello Yukhei.”

“Why are you two so tense?” Your mother, as laid-back as ever, continued. “Give each other a hug, come on, give me the kid.” She took her grandson from Lucas’ arms. “Go on.”

They awkwardly wrapped their arms around each other, the sudden sound of a camera taking a picture causing them to separate.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” You giggled, looking at the picture in your phone. “This is going straight to our family album.”

“Y/n.” They both whined at the same time.

“Wait, am I in that family album?” Chenle asked, mouth full of cookies.

“Mayhaps.”

“Show me.”

“Make me.”

“Oh, you two, stop it. You seriously are like brother and sister.” Your mother spoke a bit too loud, causing your son to wake up. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his small hands.

“Daddy?” Lucas noticed and immediately took him back into his arms.

“I’m here, kiddo.”

“Can we get Mr. Bear?”

“Sure, let’s go.”

You all stayed silent as he walked out, your mother finally speaking as you heard the sound of the door closing.

“He’s a great father, y/n.” You smiled to yourself, heart full of pride. “And You should stop intimidating him.” She pointed at your father.

“I am not intimidating him. I’m just making sure my little girl is with the best man.”

“That’s sweet dad, but we’ve been together for a long time. Hell, we even have a kid.” You dad huffed.

“Fine, I’ll try to be nice.”

Meanwhile, Lucas was searching for the teddy bear in the trunk while Youngho sat on the edge of it, his short legs dangling.

“You Wanna know what I asked Santa for this year?”

“I know. An iron man suit, a pet dinosaur and a little sister.” Of course, you were only able to get one out of three, despite Lucas insisting you could get him a sister too.

“I secretly asked him for one more thing.” He signaled Lucas to come closer. “I asked him for mommy and you to be together forever.” Lucas couldn’t help but smile at his son, taking him into his arms once he found the stuffed animal.

“That’s a very sweet petition, I bet Santa will make it come true.” He left small pecks all over his face.

“Stop!” He demanded between giggles.

“Why? You don’t like my kisses?” He teased, leaving a big smooch on his cheek. “Too bad, I’ll give you as much kisses and hugs as I can before you become an unbearable teenager.”

“I don’t ever want you to stop hugging me.”

“Why are you guys leaving me out? I want hugs and kisses too.” You came out of your house, jogging towards the two loves of your life. Your son grabbed your cheeks with his tiny hands to peck your nose.

“Give her one too, daddy.” Lucas leaned down to press his lips against your forehead. “On the lips, daddy!” Your son’s sudden demand had you blushing like crazy.

Lucas smiled while grabbing your chin to connect your lips.

“Alright, let’s go back in before your grandma starts yelling at us for not helping with dinner.”

(...)

“Oh my god, Chenle is that you? You look like a cocky rich kid.” Lucas laughed hysterically as he looked at a picture of you two as kids.

Everyone was dressed in the Christmas onesies your mom bought, you and her had a thing for matching outfits. Lucas looked adorable in it, the rain deer patterns making him look even more child-like than usual. Chenle, on the other side, looked like an elf.

“I look amazing, shut up.” He replied when you made a comment on his looks.

“Hey Chenle, why didn’t you spend Christmas Eve with your parents?” Your father asked.

“They went to China to visit my grandparents, but I had too much work here to go with them.” He looked a little down, but his frown was quickly replaced with a bright smile as your son sat on his lap to hug him tightly.

“Don’t worry, uncle lele. We can be your family too.”

Your mom entered the living room with her hands full of sweet treats.

“What are we gonna watch?” It was a family tradition to watch a holiday themed movie on Christmas Eve.

“Elf?” Your father proposed and everyone agreed.

You sat on the large couch, Youngho sitting between you and Lucas as you cuddled him. Chenle sat on the floor while your parents on a small couch.

Right after the movie ended, everyone went to their respective rooms. Chenle and Youngho decided they wanted to have a slumber party, so you and Lucas had the room for yourselves.

“You look cute.” You smiled, lacing your fingers behind his neck as you tiptoed to kiss those addicting plump lips. He placed his hands below your thighs to lift you up, smiling against your lips.

“Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You are literally the definition of cute.”

“Am I now?”

“Yes you are.” He kept smiling, suddenly starting to dance with you between his arms. “I love you so much that the mere thought of being apart from you again makes me want to jump off a building.”

“That’s not gonna happen.” You finally asked the question you’d been keeping for yourself for a few days. “Are you okay, Xuxi? I mean, ever since you came back you haven’t seen your family and maybe you’re feeling bad, so please know that you can talk to me about anything.”

“But I am with my family.” He didn’t miss the family that rejected him after choosing to give up the company. “You, Youngho, Chenle and your parents are my family, even though your father still doesn’t completely approve of me.”

“Are you sure?” You placed your hands on his cheeks, still uneasy.

“Positive.”

He kept holding you in his arms for a while more, simply staring into your dreamy eyes.

“Well, it’s past midnight so technically it’s Christmas already.” You got down on your feet. “Do you want your present now?”

“What do you mean? Isn’t it under the tree?” He tilted his head, oblivious to the true meaning of your words.

Your hands hesitantly reached for the front zipper of your onesie, slowly opening it to reveal a white lacy lingerie set.

“I know it’s not my style but I thought you’d like it.” You rubbed your arm awkwardly, standing there while he eyed you. “What do you think?”

“That we are gonna have to be extremely quiet to not raise suspicions.” He helped you out of the comfortable outfit, slightly raising your arms to take a better look at you. “My lord, we’ve done this so many times and you still blush?” You looked away.

“Don’t mock me!”

“I love that about you.” He placed his hands on your waist, pulling you closer to his body. “You’re just as innocent as the first time I made you mine.”

“I am not.”

“Really?” He rubbed a finger over your clothed heat, causing you to gasp. “Your cheeks look like the red lights in the Christmas tree.”

“X-xuxi.” You held onto his arms as he continued to pleasure you. “I was supposed to make you feel good, not the other way around.”

“But I like to make you feel good.” He slipped a hand into your underwear. “Shaved? Wow this must be a really special occasion.” He enjoyed the soft texture of your lips, tracing random patterns over the warm skin. “Let’s lay you down, hm?” You nodded, letting him carry you to the king size mattress.

He started to strip in front of you. Once the only piece of clothing left on his body was his underwear, he crawled up the bed.

“I love you so much.” His fingers started caressing you inner thigh, slowly creeping up until one of them hooked around your underwear, pulling it down.

He placed his hands behind your back, raising your torso to un clasp your bra. He pulled away the slightest to admire your naked figure, his eyes stopping at the scar crossing your belly. A product of Youngho’s birth.

“Is it ugly?” You asked, suddenly feeling self conscious.

“Of course not, baby.” He kissed your cheek tenderly. “Every single part of you is beautiful.”

Before you even had the chance to be embarrassed, one of his fingers was already moving in and out of you. You shut your eyes tightly.

“I need to prepare you first, angel.” You were as sensitive as ever, his long finger reaching for all the right spots. “Look at me when I’m touching you.” His harsh tone only added to your arousal. “That’s a good girl.” He cooed as soon as your big doe eyes met his.

He retrieved his finger as soon as he felt your walls convulsing around it, earning a small whine from you. He chuckled while taking his underwear off, proceeding to sit against the headboard with you over his lap.

“Don’t look so scared, this isn’t the first time we’ve done it.” Lucas smiled at your expression, eyes glued to his inflamed erection.

“Yes, but it still hurts when...you know.” Even after all those years you had a hard time dirty talking, and Lucas found it adorable.

“I’ll make sure you’re well prepared so it doesn’t hurt.” He placed you right above his length, gripping your hips to move your body back and forward. “You make the prettiest noises I’ve ever heard.”

“Xuxi, I can’t hold it back for longer.” You whimpered, hiding your face in the crook of his neck.

“Of course you can, sweetheart. Because you’re a good girl, right?”

“Yes.” Your nails started digging crescent moons into his back, trying your best to contain your orgasm.

“Lift your hips for me, princess.” With wobbly legs, you did your best to keep your body up while he aligned himself with your entrance. “Hold onto my shoulders.”

You did as he said, slowly letting him sink into you.

“It hurts.” His heart ached with your words.

“I know baby, just hang in there.” He hugged you, feeling like the first time you had sex. “Tell me when you’re ready.”

It took a while for you to get used to the stretch since it had been a while since the last time you had sex, but the pleasant feeling of being full soon replaced the uncomfortable burning.

“I’m ready, Xuxi.” He helped you bounce up and down his length, soft groans escaping his plump lips.

They looked so tempting, you couldn’t help but kiss them. He grinned into the kiss.

“You’re so pretty.” You murmured, cheeks completely red.

“You’re pretty too.” He kissed your temple, thrusting up. “My pretty little girl.” You couldn’t keep moving up and down, so you allowed yourself to take a rest. “Such a good girl.”

“Xuxi.” You tried your best to hold back the moans forming at the back of your throat. “Can I...?”

“Let go, sweetheart. I’m here.” Your body shook uncontrollably as pleasure took over every inch of it. You bit Lucas’ shoulder to avoid screaming from the intensity of your high.

Lucas came with your walls deliciously clenching around him. Thick ribbons of white cum painting your core as you both tried to regulate your breathing.

“You did so well.” He pecked your sweaty forehead. “Now let’s clean our little mess.”

(...)

The next morning, your son bursted into your room, waking you both up while screaming ‘it’s Christmas.’

“Come on, I want to open my presents.” He jumped into the bed and tried to lift your body.

“Come here, Youngho. Let mommy rest for a little longer.” Lucas took him between his arms, tucking him inside the comforter. His hair was a mess, the strands pointing to opposite directions as he tried to open his swollen eyes.

“But the presents.” He whined.

You hugged the little boy from behind, pecking his silky hair.

“Come on, I’m not tired. Let’s go open your gifts.” He squeaked exitedly while getting on his feet.

The three of you walked to the living room holding hands. Your parents and Chenle patiently waited for you to arrive.

“This little monster woke me up at like 5:00 a.m.” Chenle scoffed, causing Youngho to giggle.

“Sorry, uncle lele.” He let go of your hands, running to the tree to find his gifts. “There’s one for mommy.” He handed you a big box with your name written on it. “And one for daddy.” He kept putting aside his own gifts and handing everyone else theirs.

Everyone ended up with at least three gifts, even Lucas, who didn’t expect to get anything from your parents.

“You go first, honey.” Your son started ripping the Christmas paper to uncover his gifts.

“An Ironman suit!” He gratefully received all of his gifts, even the hideous sweater his grandma knitted for him. “Thank you, nana!”

Your heart filled with pride for having raised such a beautiful child. After Youngho was done, you all opened your presents at the same time. You asked Lucas to save yours for the last.

“Oh my god, Xuxi.” You covered your mouth at your recently opened present.

“It’s okay if you don’t like it, I can get you something else later.”

“I love it!” You couldn’t help but cry.

“Won’t you show it to us?” Chenle asked, trying to take a look at the contents of your box.

You pulled out a cement board with both your husband’s and your son’s hand printed on it. There was also an album below it.

“There’s more?”

“Just open it.” Everyone gathered around you, even Youngho sat on your lap, curious to see what the album had inside.

It took you a while to figure out what was on the first pages of it.

“Are these my college exams?” He nodded. “How did you...?”

“I found them in a box with all my teacher stuff, now keep going.” You passed the pages with nostalgia, meeting with memories from your past.

The album was filled with photos and significant documents of your life together, from the ticket of the takeout You had on your first date to a picture of you holding Youngho for the first time.

“Wait, that’s me!” Youngho pointed at the small baby between your arms.

“Yes, that’s you, sweetie.” You kissed his cheek while he kept turning the pages of your album. “Thank you, Xuxi. I love it.” He smiled widely. “Now you open mine.” You turned to face him with your son still on your lap.

He pulled out a smaller box, containing a pair of wireless earbuds he’d been ranting about for the past few months.

“Oh my god!” He smiled widely, his big hand covering his mouth. “I love them, thank you.” He gave you a big hug.

“There’s more.” You winked at your mom while he looked for his other gift. “Don’t judge, my mom taught me how to do it through facetime.”

“A pair of socks?” He stared at them, his gaze going back and forth from Youngho to the yellow, knitted baby socks. “They’re adorable, sweetie, but I don’t think they’ll fit him.”

“We’ll, thank goodness they’re not for him.” It took a while for his brain to process the whole situation, but when he finally figured it out, he let out the loudest scream you’d ever heard.

“We’re having a baby!” Everyone in the room covered their ears, except for your little boy, who joined his screaming.

“Am I having the baby sister I asked for?”

“Yes you are!” He lifted Youngho, smiling ear to ear with him.

“It’s the best Christmas ever!”

It was, indeed, the best Christmas ever.

#nct au #nct imagines #nct ot21 #nct smut #nct x reader #nct #nct 127 #nct scenarios #wayv #wayv smut #wayv x reader #nct lucas #wayv scenarios #wayv imagines #wayv lucas

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andavs · 2 years

Note

Can you elaborate in why you think chimney is gone this season? I miss him and I want him back😭😭😭

Definitely just guessing, but Covid.

You can’t really have Chimney without Jee-Yun, and because Covid is a thing, you can’t have Jee without putting a baby at risk. Even with everyone on the set vaccinated and the bare minimum of crew.

As far as I know, all of the Maddie and Jee scenes from the blackout arc were shot back in the spring when cases were falling. Since then, we’ve had the delta variant and cases rising again, and they haven’t actually shown Chimney holding Jee since. I think the closest he’s gotten was carrying her car seat in an open air parking garage, but otherwise she’s on her own in a playpen, in her car seat (outside, and not in the same frame as Chim), in a stroller (outside) where she could be replaced with a doll after of a quick closeup, and very briefly in the backseat while he was driving.

So if you can’t really show him interacting with his daughter, how can you have Chimney?

He’s taking time off work to stay home with Jee-Yun...but she’s always conveniently offscreen or six feet away. Okay, then what do you even show Chimney doing? Sitting at home folding baby laundry when his friends stop by, always while Jee-Yun is napping? It wouldn’t be very satisfying to hear him talk about adjusting to functionally being a single father and not see it beyond like, a few scenes of him and Jee walking through the park, or putting groceries in the trunk of his car. Getting lunch with Hen at an outdoor table with a stroller next to them.

Or he’s back at work and leaving her with the Lees while on shift. They have Chris stay with Carla, but that's Carla's job and Chris isn’t a baby being left with aging grandparents. (And the main plot of “Stuck” was Eddie trying to stop leaving him with an aging grandparent.) There’s a big difference between offering to babysit when Chim and Maddie need a break and taking on a baby for twenty-four hours at a time, multiple times a week. And that still leaves him talking about fatherhood, not really showing it.

So even though it sucks and it’s really dramatic (drama? In my drama?) that Maddie took off, it’s accomplished:

Giving Chimney a storyline that doesn’t have to be visible every week. We know he’s looking for Maddie even if he isn’t shown, we know he’s got Jee, they don’t have to keep putting a baby at risk to show us.

Setting up plenty of mystery to be explored once Maddie’s back without rehashing anything. No one knows where she’s been, and even if she’s been perfectly safe and getting treatment this entire time, it’ll be new to the audience in 5b. And we don’t know exactly where she is in her recovery; she could be just finding solid ground, or she could be doing pretty good and ready to jump back into things.

5.11 is called “Outside Looking In”! Chimney readjusting to the 118 that's bonded while he's been away! Hen and Eddie working together seamlessly now! Maddie feeling like she’s missed a lot with her daughter while Chim has been with her constantly!

I wouldn’t be surprised if the only time we see Chim in the Christmas episode is him finding Maddie wherever she is, or maybe just calling Buck to tell him he found her and she’s getting help.

Three months pass, he’s been home with Jee while Maddie was gone but now she’s back, and 5.11 is Chim’s first day back at work. Things are a little off, he and Hen both keep taking charge, then when he defers to Hen, he and Eddie keep bumping into each other. He misses Jee after spending every day with her for six months, he’s not used to Ravi being there all the time, they’re making references and jokes he wasn’t there for, it’s weird. (I demand a talk with Bobby since they cut the first one.)

At home, Maddie’s struggling a bit to fit the rhythm that Chim’s established with Jee. She’s been home for a while and following his lead, but now that he’s gone, she’s just a little bit off and Jee can tell and Jee is not thrilled with it. Maddie thought she had a handle on things, but this sets her back a little bit, so even though she did the hardest part of her recovery off screen, we still see her struggling and she doesn’t just come back happy.

#911 #i was on a roll but short answer: covid

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bqstqnbruin · 3 years

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Always be my plus one teaser

Ok, here we are with the first ~1k of always be my plus one, so hopefully y'all enjoy this

WARNING: mentions of child birth

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Christmas Day and the day after Christmas

December 21, 2021

“One fifteen means fifteen minutes before I have to clock in. Ten minutes before a twelve hour shift that I’m not ready for and don’t have enough caffeine for,” Anne muttered to herself, staring at her reflection through her car's rear view mirror. “But, fifteen minutes before getting to do something that I thankfully love, something that I enjoy doing.” No matter how long the shift in front of her, Anne had developed a habit of giving herself a pep talk before she got out of her car. “Whatever happens, you’ve helped someone.”

The last part wasn’t always true, knowing that there was the possibility that something could go wrong that she and the other nurses and doctors wouldn’t be able to fix. Lying to herself that everything was going to be ok was the only want to convince herself to go into the hospital everyday. Finally mustering up enough courage to get out of her car, she grabs her bag from the backseat, heading in for yet another long day right before the Christmas holiday.

The maternity ward where Anne worked never ceased to be hectic, the miracle of life happening at least once an hour. No matter how much Anne had studied in nursing school, nothing could have prepared her for the stress that could come from the job, the long hours, the potential for something so right to turn so wrong in a minute, the way nothing can go planned since the baby dictated all, the mess that comes with every birth, or the joy that results from a former patient sending her the occasional picture of a baby she helped deliver as they’re growing up.

“Hey, Tyson, come on!” comes from inside the open doors of the building, Anne not paying attention to who it was coming from, causing her to collide with a stranger, spilling her much needed coffee all over the both of them.

“Shit,” she says, not looking up from the brown splatter on what should be mint green scrubs. “I am so sorry.”

Standing in front of her was a curly haired boy, about her age, wearing what she was sure was a Colorado hockey jersey. Beyond that, she had no idea. “No, no, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Let me buy you another,” he offers, ignoring the persistent calls from his friends to hurry up.

Anne checks her watch: 1:19. “It’s ok. I don’t really have the time, I have to clock in in eleven minutes, and knowing the cafeteria or the vending machines, it would take a lot longer,” she says, trying to get by him. Before he can protest, she gets to the elevator that would bring her to her floor, thankful that it was ready to get her there without her having to wait. The doors start to close, only to be stopped by a hand stuck through them, the curly haired boy with the coffee stain down the front of him getting on the elevator with her. Anne gives him a confused look, begging him to explain why he was trying to make her late for her shift.

“If you aren’t going to let me buy you one now to make up for it, at least let me see where you work so I can drop one off for you.”

Anne rolls her eyes, unamused by the man in front of her as he attempts to flirt with her. “That would be nice, but the chances of me getting it before it goes cold are slim to none, so you need to suggest something else if you really want to buy me a coffee.”

“Let me get your number so I can buy you one when you aren’t working?” he asks, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. 1:25. “I’m Tyson, by the way.”

The elevator dings, signaling that they were on Anne’s floor, opening the door to nurses and doctors running around, expectant fathers who were probably kicked out of the delivery room for making the mom too nervous pacing the halls, grandparents trying to control younger children who had little to no idea what was going on as they waited in the strange building. Anne walks to the back room to drop her stuff off and clock in, typing her information into the stranger’s phone as he followed her like a puppy, his friend’s texts coming across the top of his screen asking where he went so they could leave.

“I’m Anne, and I’ve got to go,” she tells him, handing back his phone. There was no way he was going to text her, and it’s not like the coffee was that big of a deal to him. She could go to the vending machine down the hall and grab one during her break, or have someone else on their break do it for her if she needed it sooner.

“Can’t wait for our coffee date, Anne,” he says, winking at her before shoving his hands in his pockets and sauntering back down the hallway.

“Who is he?” her coworker, Jess asked, popping up out of nowhere. “He’s hot.”

“In more ways than one, apparently,” Anne jokes, “he’s also wearing my hot coffee on his shirt.”

“You didn’t,” Jess scolds her, turning her around to see the coffee that was spilled down Anne’s own outfit, knowing Anne’s tendency to be a little absent-minded as she gets wrapped up in her own thoughts. “Anne, you did.”

“Not on purpose!”

“DeFormicola?” Anne’s supervisor, Jackson, pops his head into the room just as she was clocking in, “We need you in room 414.”

“Saved by the bell,” Anne teases, walking down the hall to where all the noise was coming from, trying to throw on the appropriate clothing before she went into the room, struggling to get the gloves on as she entered.

“Ok, Erin, we’re going to need you to push,” one of the doctors says, Anne standing behind him as she watched the baby’s head crowning.

This was her favorite part of the job, helping the mother stay calm and trying to make sure that despite the child coming out of her, she was as comfortable as possible. Normally, she would be with the mom as soon as she came in, Erin clearly nervous as to what was going on. They had to be first-time parents, the dad going back and forth to Erin’s side and behind the doctor, looking mortified each time and clearly regretting what he was seeing.

“It’s a boy!” the doctor says, handing the new baby to a breathless Erin.

“A boy! A boy!” the dad yells, going out to the hallway, Erin clearly unamused by whatever antics he was going about.

“Don’t worry, he’s not the first one to do that,” Anne reassures her, knowing that something like that would happen at least five more times during her shift, hearing the father’s voice repeating the phrase. “I’m going to get him cleaned up and then get him right back to you, ok?” Anne asks, reaching for the baby as everyone else around her tries to clean everything else up.

“Be careful with him,” Erin warns, not meaning anything bad by it. She was definitely a first time mother.

“I will be,” Anne tells her, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket as she does. “So you have a name picked out yet?”

“We were thinking Matthew.”

Anne turns her head, smiling at Erin. “That’s a good name. My older brother is named Matthew.”

Erin smiles at her, the father finally coming back in, clearly overjoyed by the birth of their new baby. Anne hands him back to his parents, Matthew screaming his head off as they get wheeled into another room.

Anne goes over to the desk, sitting down where she was supposed to be for the start of her shift to do paperwork, but the uncertainty in the hour by hour of the schedule was not surprising. She pulls out her phone, ‘Maybe: Tyson’ coming up across her screen.

“He’s already texting me,” she alerts Jess whose head whips away from her computer to look over Anne’s shoulder at what message the mystery man could have sent her.

“He’s horny.”

“Jessica!” she squeals, wishing she was more shocked by what her friend had said. “Why is that always your first reaction to a boy sending a message?”

She shrugs, swiveling back to her own computer, “I’m normally right. What’s he saying?”

“He wants to know when he can buy me coffee.”

“Horny.”

“Enough.”

“You should date him.”

Anne turns to her, clearly unamused by Jess’s need to continue the conversation. “I don’t have to date anyone.”

Jess lets out a long sigh, Anne knowing that she was rolling her eyes. “I’m not saying you have to, I’m saying you should.”

“Ok, I don’t want to date anyone.”

“Oh, come on Anne,” Jess says, getting up and plopping herself on the desk in front of Anne, fiddling with the wire connecting the mouse to the rest of the computer. “You work in a maternity ward where people become parents everyday, and you haven’t even thought of finding a man?”

“You don’t have a point,” Anne tells her, not making eye contact with her.

“My point,” Jess says, leaning over to block Anne’s view of her computer screen, “is that you can’t be single forever.”

“Says who?”

“Didn’t you tell me that you were named after the patron saint of the town your grandmothers were from?”

Anne rolls her eyes, knowing where this was going. It was going in the same direction that this conversation always went in when she had it with her mom every single holiday. “All four of us are named after the patron saints of the towns our grandparents are from.”

“St. Anne is the patron saint of child care, grandparents and mothers.”

“She’s also that patron saint of unmarried women, so your argument is invalid, as usual.”

Jess takes in a breath to say something, cut off by Jackson calling for Jess to go into one of the delivery rooms. “Just don’t say no because you think you have to be single,” she advises as she walks away.

Anne leans back in the chair, rubbing her hands over her face. “This is how Christmas is going to go, isn’t it?” she asks herself.

#tyson and anne #tyson jost #tyson jost fic #tyson jost oc fic #colorado avalanche #colorado avalanche fic #i have no idea how to tag this someone help

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razorblade180 · 3 years

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Twin Snowflakes part 25: Date Night pt2

Atlas, city of dreams. It was a name post people overlooked and even more scoffed at. Still, it was a little hard not to believe the title from the way it looked; especially with the hundreds of lights illuminating the snow covered city. Veronica was no stranger to Atlas at night but she still couldn’t help but marvel at the sights passing by her window. They were almost as charming as the boy sitting next to her in the backseat, almost. Her mind still couldn’t believe this was happening. Veronica was going on a dinner date with Nick. How did that happen!? Well...she knew how it happened but it was still crazy! The situation wasn’t ideal but Veronica wasn’t exactly upset about it. Not in the way she had shown earlier. Veronica simply wished this event happened as a result of her efforts more than Valerie’s mistakes. Then again, all’s fair in love and war. If Valerie was going to be childish enough to hurt Nick, then that was all the more reason for Veronica not to pull her punches in winning him over. Not that she ever did, for the most part.

She looked over at Nick to see him sinking into his seat, eyes closed and body relaxed. “He must be more exhausted than he let on. She thought, listening to his breathing. He must’ve sensed Veronica’s gaze on him because his eyes opened seconds later. He caught the girl off guard by turning to her and smiling gently.

“Something on my face?” He asked.

His voice was a little deeper than before because of his short rest. The change made Veronica a little timid. “Uhh no. Hehe, your face is fine!” She uttered terribly. A snicker from Winter upfront made Veronica turn a little red. Her ears fell down as she realized how dumb that sounded. “I mean there’s nothing on it. That’s what I…yeah.” She really wanted to stop talking.

Nick sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry I drifted a bit. I took a nap when I got home but I guess I was a little more spent than I realized.”

“No worries. A smooth ride puts me to sleep all the time. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you go? Back at the manor your mom said you went to go talk to someone?”

“Oh, that…” he looked in the rear view mirror to look at Winter, who looked back at with a smile.

“The lady asked you a question. Don’t mind me. It honestly isn’t as big of a deal as you think Nicholas. No need to tiptoe around it with your mother, uncle, and I. We’re adults after all.”

“I know. I just...I don’t know, feel a little guilty if I wasn’t careful about it.”

“You are just fine.” Winter reassured him. “To answer your question Veronica, Nicholas likes to visit his grandparents' graves to pay respects and ponder.”

Her ears perked up. This was news to her. Well, not entirely. She had known Nick liked to pray. He’s done it for as long as she could remember. Anytime things were rough or really important, Nicholas could be found giving a small payer. It was only later did she put together that the habit must’ve been formed during his sister’s time in the hospital. Though not religious in the slightest, Veronica could understand praying in a situation like that, but for his grandparents…?

“That’s a little strange, considering you never met either and one of them wasn’t exactly…” She wanted to pick her words carefully but it was hard not to call Jacques a piece of shit. “Let’s just call your grandfather a not so good influence.”

“Heh, that’s certainly putting it lightly.” Nick chuckled, “I guess I do it because...I’m a hit afraid. For me, I can’t imagine anything worse than passing away and the people left behind, the world, it just forgets about you; as if you had no impact on life. I wouldn’t wish that fate on even my enemies. Also, my grandfather’s wrongdoings in a weird way made my mom the person she’d be to have me and Summer.” He smiled at his own weird logic. “Gotta at least be thankful for that, right?”

His reasonings were flawed in some manner but completely understandable to Veronica. “Same rules apply to your grandmother?”

“More or less. I know it’s a little odd.”

“Yeah but it’s also very much a thing you’d do. Always trying to bring someone peace, it’s like your day job at this point.”

Nick shrugged. “Can’t argue with that.”

Winter began pulling over to the curbside, finally reaching their destination. A well known set down restaurant called Blended, known for its many different cuisines that specialized in ingredients that involved purée styled cooking; hence the name. Winter watched Nick get out of the car to escort Veronica, only for the girl to playfully roll her eyes as she got out of the car by herself.

“Well at least she’s consistent with her spunky attitude.” Winter thought, actually approving of the act. “You two be safe. Nick, don’t give your mother a heart attack.”

“How would I? This is just dinner, not a battlefield.”

“Knowing you, anything could happen.” She gave a little smirk before leaving them to ponder that diss.

Nick was both flattered and insulted. “Anyways…” he held his arm out which Veronica happily grabbed. The two went off to make their reservation. Tonight was going to be nice. Like Nick said, it’s just dinner. What could happen? The inside of the restaurant blew Veronica away. Elegant marble tile, pearl white cloths over the table, mood lighting,crystal chandeliers scattered about like if they were as cheap as lightbulbs, and the most divine scents imaginable. They had only entered the front door and yet her nose could pick out an array of ingredients in the kitchen. Veronica hadn’t seen the menu but she already knew there was gonna be a steak in front of her before this night was over.

“You know my opinion of Atlas might actually go up depending on this food?”

Nick chuckled at her comment and went towards the counter where a blonde woman in a waitress outfit stood at the ready. “Hello. Schnee, reservation for two. The usual spot please.”

“Why of course Mr. Sch-” the waitresses eyes quickly caught attention to Nicholas’s plus one. “Umm, Mr.Schnee? You know we actually may have a table on the private upper level if you like?” She said with a smile, maintaining eye contact with him.

“No thank you. Too close to the smoking area. I’ll take my normal table, the one by the window.” He said calmly. Nick took a moment to look at her name tag. He hadn’t seen this one before. “Sophia, that’s a nice name.”

Worry crept up on the corners of the waitress’s smile. “If smoke is the issue then may I recommend-”

“Sophia.” He said again. “Is there a reason in particular that I can’t have my window seat?”

“Well...it’s...just….” she fidgeted her hands, doing her best to not look at Veronica and cause a scene. “.....Right this way sir.” Sophia grabbed two menus and quickly went to lead them before Veronica put a hand on the menus. “M-Ma’am?” She stuttered.

Veronica wanted a good look at her but the waitress would barely meet her eyes. All Veronica could get was a side glance and a worked up heartbeat. “Nick, what do you usually drink?”

“Uhhh apple cider?”

Veronica took the menus out of Sophia’s hands. “Cool. Sophia, he’ll have that and I’d like water. Seeing how it’s a usual spot we’re going, Nick could just lead me himself. Thank you. Nick, if you would?” Veronica said, grabbing his arm.

“Okaaaay?” Nick didn’t question her orders. He grabbed the menus from her and walked through the restaurant. It was past the time most ate, but several clanging plates nearby told him there were a few late customers; about three people every five tables or so. Seeing them was easy even with dim lighting, but that also meant they saw him. A few looked up before continuing their meals while others stared for a couple seconds, forcing him to awkwardly wave as he went by.

“Sorry, usually it’s emptier by now. I come at this time to avoid drawing attention of people who always got a thing or too to say about the Schnees”

“Or the company they keep…” Veronica added. Their table was on the right side a little more than half way towards the back, right next to a window that showed the snowy streets and dazzling lights. A real winter wonderland sight. No wonder Nick liked this spot. She finally sat down. “By any chance do you know the owner of the restaurant?”

“Dyle, what about him?” He opened his menu and began reading.

“That waitress felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. She really didn’t want us sitting here too. Care to guess why?” Veronica reached over and pressed the menu down with a finger, making sure that Nick saw her ears wiggle. “This is why I wanted a bow.”

“Point taken, but I remember saying screw anyway that has a problem with you. I’ve never known Dyle to have a problem with faunus by the way.”

“Was that because he showed that he didn’t or because you just weren’t paying attention?” Vee noticed the waitress walk over. Sophia once again avoided her gaze, in favor of Nick’s. She also made sure to place Veronica’s water on the table but handed the cider to Nick directly.

“Ready to order?” She asked.

Nick had noticed the treatment of the drinks and had been aware of the eye contact. He only wanted a little time to think about everything as a whole. He didn’t have Veronica’s hearing but he did notice the paleness of her skin. “Are you well?”

“H-Huh?”

“You’re pale. Sick, or spooked by anything?”

“Oh, I’m fine…” The woman fidgeted. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” Sophia quickly left the table.

At the same time, Veronica took a sip of Nick’s cider. “Well at least this place has good drinks. Be sure to ask for a second. I’d ask myself but you know, playing things safe around our jumpy friend.”

“Yeah….” Nick flipped through another page. “So there’s either one of two things happening right now. One, our waitress is scared of you, or-”

“A certain somebody wouldn’t want her serving us. Me, is what I should actually say. Gee, I wonder who?”

Nick couldn’t deny this was odd. “Again, point taken. However, it would be weird how many times Dyle has served my family, who actively promotes faunus rights. We’ve held meetings with your mother here before and other faunus.”

Vee always loved Nick’s simple logic, but boy was it not doing him any favors tonight. “Lesson time, my dear knight. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt of you not thinking critically with how tired you are at the moment.” Vee propped her arm on the table and rested her head in her palm. “We aren’t our parents. We’re just their brats. Adults know better than to pick on the pups when they’re around their source of income. Also, how many of those meetings were in perfect view from the street?”

Nick paused for a moment, then looked at the view. “.....None.” He closed his eyes, mentally kicking himself. “They’re up top and away from prying eyes.

“Out of sight, out of mind. Out of the way of any potential customers who may think twice of entering. Translation, private seating is a sweet way of saying it’s embarrassing to have you front and center.”

“Veronica, I didn’t-”

“Mr. Schnee!” A jolly voice called.

The teens looked to the side to see a husky redheaded man in a chef’s uniform and a hat as big as his handlebar mustache.

“Dyle.” Nick said, noticing Sophia turning ghost white a few feet behind him.

“How is the young heir on this fine night!? Craving our pastries again I bet! Oh ho ho ho!” The man patted his stomach at his one witty remark. His olive colored eyes shifted to Veronica. “My, my, where are my manners!? I’m Head Chef Dyle! Clearly Nicholas forgot his manners too for not introducing his partner in crime this lovely night. Though I guess there’s little need whenever you have credibility among the higher class? That and those lilac eyes, I’ve served a few times in the form of one fiery huntress who loves my steak! I assume your-”

“Yes, I’m her kid. To what do we owe the pleasure of the head chef himself coming to greet us?” Veronica said, hiding her attitude with fake jolliness.

“One of my little worker bees had told me one of my favorite customers was here yet again. Imagine my surprise to see him without his typical plus one. I tell you, that Valerie sure can eat until I feel a hole in my wallet! Ho! Ho! Ha! I crack myself up. Have you met her.”

“Occasionally. Sports art my thing. More of a cooking contest watcher myself. When I realized I get to try your steak I nearly jumped for joy!”

“Why thank you! Nicholas my boy, you sure bring a surprise each and every time, but you should know better. A table in the back near this drafty window at this time of year, and at night! Up your game. I’d be more than happy to let you two enjoy the comfiest seat in the building. Nothing sets the tone like the second floor. I can get you a private table right this second!”

If that wasn’t a slap in the face, then Nick didn’t know what was. Has this really gone over his head? Nick wanted to believe this was a classic case of misunderstanding, yet that felt inn accurate the longer Veronica looked at him. There was no anger, only a reserved look that poorly hid the fact she was uncomfortable. Nick stopped feeling sorry for himself, choosing to do what his family did best; put on the face that commanded respect. The face of Atlas’s most powerful family.

“Dyle?” Nick spoke, dragging out the chef’s name like a sigh of boredom. Nick focused one the menu in his hands while giving the man an occasional glance with only his eyes. “Do you know why I come here? I’ll give you a hint.” He tapped on the window.

“The...view-”

“Nope.” Nick said firmly, closing his menu. “It’s the view and the respect I believed this place had for its customers. All of its customers, but tonight is making me think I believed wrong. You’ve never been this insistent whenever Valerie and I ate here. I gotta say I’m a bit concerned. Between your behavior and our waitress, I can’t help but feel like this has everything to do with my lovely date and her perfect features.”

“Perfect.” Veronica thought, bashfully folding her ears.

“Dyle, am I correct to reevaluate my beliefs in this restaurant. No lying now. I want your honest answer.”

The jolly man wasn’t feeling so jolly anymore. Dyle’s smile turned into grimace teeth and panicked eyes. “N-No! it’s just...just!” He looked around and through the window for any watchful eyes. “It’s business. Your family should understand th-”

“My family is no longer in the business of just caring about good business. Fail to understand that and you won’t have to worry about yours.” Nick stood up and finally looked at the giant of a man as best he could. He could see it, the resentment and frustration building within the chef. By all means who wouldn’t be upset when against a member of the most dangerous family name, blatantly throwing power around like if it actually earned. Nick understood the look. If Whitley taught him anything, it was that look does nothing but keep the hate alive. Flex power, but wield it generously.

“Dyle, I will choose to believe you are in fact a good man.”

“W-What?” He said, caught off guard by the tone shift.

“If this is strictly business then we’ll treat it like so. Now there isn’t any scenario where I don’t get what I want, but I’m more than happy to get what we all want. The first thing is you apologizing to Veronica. After that you will tell all your staff to refrain from enforcing whatever faunus rules you have given them; followed by creating the best steaks you can ever create for this table. Your work won’t be done though. I do expect a dessert that will blow our mind. It is only after creating such a grand meal with your hands that you can rest easy knowing that it will have a fairly generous contribution to its stability. Indefinitely.”

“You’re...going to invest here?”

Nick sat back down. “That depends on you. A pretty decent offer I’d say. Equality and a good meal in an exchange for financial stability. Is that good with you Veronica?”

“Hmmmm, I say we should sweeten our pot. An easy fix with an official change in this place's mission statement as a public service. One that states on paper that this restaurant is for all. This isn’t a compromise.”

Nick smiled. “You heard the lady. Is it a deal?”

Dyle stood, confused by the offer. By all means it was not expected or heard of. “So this is how a Schnee conducts business now?”

“This is how I do business.”

“Hmph! Then I guess it’s fortunate you have deep enough pockets to back it up.” The man removed his chef’s hat and bowed. “Please excuse my blatant disrespect, Mrs. Belladonna.”

“Apology not accepted, but a deal is a deal and who am I to not capitalize on it for my people? Just keep your end of the bargain and I’m satisfied.”

“Ma’am.” Dyle rose from his bow, swiftly exiting to the kitchen. Veronica took a sigh of relief. Finally the man was gone. Any longer and she would’ve said something worth being glared at.

“Sorry about all of this.” Nick said with a guilty look. “Didn’t expect this level of confrontation tonight. Here I was thinking I was taking you to a stress free spot in Atlas.”

“I don’t see why you’re apologizing. After all, you are the one who told me not to hide my ears. Screw what others think, remember?” Veronica gave him a comforting smile before getting another sip of his cider. “The occasional loudmouth or prejudiced jerk is nothing new. Still… thanks for sticking up for me. It’s usually me being the mouthpiece for others or myself. It’s nice not taking the lead.”

Nick propped his head up on his right hand “Glad to be of service.”

“I can see that. How’d you know the waitress was being forced and not racist herself?”

“I’ve never met my grandfather, but his handy work I’m too familiar with.” Nick said, staring out the window.

Veronica could tell she had walked onto a sensitive subject. Between him trying to avoid talking about the grave in front of his family, it was easy to understand what he meant. She wouldn’t press the issue any further. Now wasn’t the time to get heavy. “You know if you keep looking out the window like that, I might just faint from your handsomeness.”

Nick’s face turned red. He whipped his head around to see his date smirking at him. “Oh why you gotta tease me like that!? It’s embarrassing.”

Veronica could only giggle as the flustered boy did his best to hide his face. “That’s more like it. Just keep smiling for me. That’s all I need.”

xxxxx

While a dinner date had begun in the city, a house breakout had started half an hour later. Schnee Manor had gone quiet. Dinner had ended long ago and all adults had retired to their room. Summer couldn’t ask for more. The young huntress in training double checked her supplies before making the great escape. Black wig? check. Favorite pair of ripped jeans with a nice leather jacket; check and check. She put her guitar case on her back and looked in the mirror.

“And mom said no good would come from mentioning Bleiss? Well...I am sneaking out, so I guess she had a point.” Summer left her room and began carefully walking through the halls with her boots in hand. Can’t be too careful. Even the finest houses can creak. Thanks to Nick being out, the alarm wasn’t on. Escaping would be cake walk. All she had to do was pick an exit that wouldn’t be seen or heard. Pesky cameras and windows made that a bit more of a challenge.

“Mom and dad and probably still catching up with Blake and Yang, so I should probably leave through the-”

“Beautiful night for an escape.”

Summer whipped her head around to see Blake looking at her, arms folded and smiling. Summer’s face went pale. “Es-Escape!? Me!? No...I was just….”

Blake raised her eyebrow. “Just…?”

“Esssscaping- yeah I was escaping.” Summer held her head down in defeat. She really needed to get better under pressure. “How did you know?”

“I heard the sound of glyphs earlier when you said you were eating. Multiple glyphs, launching something outside and around the house. You know it might’ve been less suspicious if you decided to grab whatever you needed, and haul it back to your room normally? No way Yang or I would know if it’s out of the ordinary.”

“Hindsight isn’t always 20/20. Plus I like plans. This one appears to be a bust though.”

“Not exactly. I won’t tell if you won’t.” Blake winked.

Summer’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what? You’re okay with me sneaking out.”

“It won’t earn me any warm feelings with Weiss but it’s clear to everyone in and out of this house that you need an outlet. I do have some conditions however.”

Summer squinted. Now she knew where Veronica got her deal making skills from. “I’m listening.”

“First, cut your parents some slack and go to school every day until after the tournament. I heard you’ll fail otherwise.”

“Ugh, why does everyone want me to- okay, fine. I was planning on it anyway. Next one?”

“Please try and be Veronica’s friend.”

“I’m sorry, did you ask me the impossible?” Summer said, making Blake frown. “What!? It’s the truth. Friendship is a two way street and both lanes are closed.

“Listen, I know my daughter hasn’t been the nicest to you, and I know what I’m asking is completely selfish. However, I’m asking anyway. Maybe if she had actual friends to open up to, then things wouldn’t be so bad for her.” Blake sighed.

“Are you trying to tell me Mrs. Fashion designer with perfect skin doesn’t have a line of people trying to rub elbows with her?”

“Hehe, you’d be surprised… Besides, I figured you would know first hand people like that aren’t exactly friend material, Mrs. Teen Idol.”

Summer bit her lip. “Fair point, got me there.” She folded her arms and began tapping her foot. Blake meant well, but it really felt like she was asking Summer to move a mountain. Especially after the forest incident. “Really twisting my arm here.”

“Could you at least make a strong attempt? You both will be spending more time together after all.”

“Hmmm, fine.”

Blake squinted, “Strong attempt, Summer.”

“I heard you.” Summer turned her head away like the snooty rich girl regular folk saw her as. “Is that all?”

“One more thing.” Blake walked up to the young girl and placed her hands on Summer’s shoulders. “Never forget you’re not alone.”

“.....Yes ma’am. Thanks, I mean it.”

Blake rubbed Summer’s head. She’s grown since the last time they met, yet still oh so small. Not to mention a bit frail. Summer may have looked like her mother but Blake could see how much more gentle she was in comparison. Not that Weiss wasn’t a softie in her own right, but she also had an uncompromising defiance. Blake didn’t see that in Summer. Her defiance by all means could be compromised. With any luck and help, it wouldn’t be. “Okay, I’ve held you hostage long enough. Have fun and be safe. I’ll feel guilty otherwise.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be at my home away from home. If I don’t get lost in the music then I’ll definitely be back before midnight.”

“And if you do get lost in the music?”

“Make sure the bathroom window in the third hall downstairs is unlocked. Sneaking is easier at ground level. Bye now.”

Summer gave Blake a hug then rushed off out of sight. Blake couldn’t help but sigh. “Oh boy, maybe I’m the softie?”

xxxx

“Nick?”

“H-huh!?” The boy shook himself out of his daze. Veronica chewed another slice of steak while giving Nick a look of concern. Nick quickly tried to snap back to reality. “Something wrong with steak?”

“Oh something is definitely wrong, but not with the steak.” Veronica took a sip of her third cup of cider. “Maybe you can tell me what’s wrong? Nick you’ve been spacing out more and more ever since we got our entrees. Is a twin thing happening that I’m not aware of?”

“What? Oh, no, no it’s nothing like that. Sorry I’m just more out of it than I thought tonight.

Veronica nodded. “I see. Well… I guess that’s what happens when your crush hurts your feelings.” She watched Nick’s face turn from shock to guilt in no time at all. “You know it’s fine to talk about it right?”

“No it’s not. This is supposed to be a date and what kind of jerk complains about relationship stuff in front of somebody who has feelings for them? It’s not exactly dating etiquette.”

“Oh absolutely. Just thinking about another woman while there’s one in front of you is a real low blow. Frankly I am a bit bruised by it.”

“That’s why-” his words were silenced by the sweet taste of steak Veronica placed in his mouth.

“Let me finish while you chew on that, kay? Yeah my poor little pride is a bit bruised, but it’s not like I don’t already know where I stand when it comes to Valerie; much like how I know you’ve been doing well to try and set that aside. However, I’m here to tell you that’s flawed thinking. At least when you’re dealing with me. I’d much rather you talk about it with me than mentally check out whenever we’re together. So seeing how this dinner date is already far from conventional, let’s not beat around the bush a talk about the girl on your mind.”

Even though she was clearly being nice, Nick couldn’t help but feel like even more of a jerk! “It’s- it’s okay, really. We don’t have to make a big deal out of-”

“Ten minutes.”

“Huh?”

Veronica pulled out her scroll and set a timer. “It was your bright idea to have a ten minute unfiltered grace period between us. I’m calling in your ten minutes sucker. Deny it and I’ll never agree to doing it like you want.” She hit the timer. “Now spill your guts.”

His own system, used against him. Nick wasn’t sure if he should be happy Veronica remembered it, or upset. “Well played. Fine I’ll talk. Yes, Valerie has me lost in thought.”

“About what?”

“About a lot of things.”

“Nah uh, it’s something specific that has you upset. Might as well come clean now.”

“You’re really not gonna make this easy huh?”

“Nope! Tough love is tough, now speak.” Veronica smiled.

“Sigh, Val...made it seem like I was embarrassing to be around. That I stick my nose into everything. It’s not just her too. Summer said something similar to me butting in as well. The entire thing has been bugging me. Am I really that annoying to them?” Nick slouched in his chair. “Have been pushing them away?”

Veronica clicked her tongue. He opened up faster than she expected. “While I can’t speak much about you being embarrassing since I don’t think you are by any means; I can totally say you do make it your mission to be a helping hand in every situation. So yeah, you do butt in.”

The waitress came back and Veronica quickly gathered their dirty dishes to give to the actually nice woman. “All that being said, that’s nothing new Nick. You’ve always been like that. I’d say it’s actually one of your better qualities.”

“It is?” He said confused.

“Mmmhmm. I’ve never minded it at the very least. There’s a comfort in knowing there’s a helping hand in your corner. Plus it’s not like you blatantly ignore any request telling you to stop. You did give Valerie space when she asked for it after all. As for your sister, she’s all talk. I can tell just from reviewing footage and our short trip to the forest that Summer is quick to depend on you. If you ask me, she’s more annoyed at herself for that than she is at you.”

“I doubt it. They both gave me that same look of frustration. Especially Valerie. One minute she wants to be included whenever I’m in trouble but the next she’s telling me to take a hike. It’s pissing me off.” Nick rubbed his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. This entire thing felt like a complex math equation he didn’t know how to solve.

Veronica could tell by the look on his face how conflicted this made him. How conflicted Valerie made him. Needless to say, she was a bit envious. “Why do you love her so much?” She asked bluntly.

Nick’s face turned red. “Uhhh what?”

“I’m just trying to understand what makes her special. After all, Nicholas Schnee could have a girlfriend everyday of the week, yet he fawns over one. The same one since kindergarten. It can’t only because you’ve known each other for so long. What makes her special in your eyes?” Veronica knew she was practically asking to get hurt but she had to know. What was it that made Valerie different from her?

“D...Do I really have to answer that? It’s kinda sudden.”

“The clock has five more minutes on it and you have a girl willing to listen to gush over another girl. Money can’t buy you a scenario this sweet. Fess up.”

Nick took a long sip of his cider before taking an even longer breath. It would’ve been nice if he could do this for five minutes straight but that would be asking for too much. The only way out was through.

“It’s not the most complicated reason if you’re wondering. Growing up the way I have has had numerous blessings I won’t begin to look down on. Family, money, influence; all of that has been a joy. That being said, I didn’t really revel in being who I am as a Schnee until maybe four or five years ago. Everything I did or everywhere I went, a person would always watch what I would do. Nick is gonna go far. Oh he’s great at that, perhaps he’ll go pro? That sort of thing. Ice skating was just a hobby at first. I did it because it was relaxing and mom liked skating with me. I never paid attention if I was actually good at the moves I tried.”

“But...the people did?” Veronica asked, receiving a nod.

“I didn’t think much of it. I was only around seven perhaps? It actually made me happy. So what if a few people liked my routine? I was on the ice for fun and happened to win a medal. But then, as I kept on skating, a pressure started to form. More eyes started watching me. Waiting for the next medal, talking my skill up, muttering rumors about the contests I didn’t participate in, shaking their heads at my failures…they weren’t looking at me. Only my achievements and shortcomings. Ice skating stopped being fun, again. Mom was always quick to tell me to never pay them mind and eventually convinced me to take a break from it altogether. I could never skate again and she’d be perfectly fine with that.”

“Of course. She shared that with you as an outlet, not a sport. I think she knows better than anyone how cruel it is to make a child participate in performances just because they’re good at it.”

“Yeah, hehe, she really has the perfect playbook of what not to do with a child. It would be cool if it wasn't also sad. Anyways, the break was well needed. People eventually stopped talking and I skated in private. By then I’ve taken up some early combat stuff. Nothing serious. Fencing, a few things a bit more in the huntsman category but for more of sparring and building blocks of it all. Valerie had taken notice one day and got the biggest smile. Finally we can do some real horse playing! She shouted and cheered. Next thing I knew I was being driven to the gym with a hyperactive twelve year old who may have been a little too eager to hit her best friend.” He chuckled.

“And they say I’m feisty. So what? Did she hit you so hard you thought it was cool?” Veronica teased.

“N-Well it was cool, but that wasn’t the linchpin! We were having fun sparring. I was having fun. Learning how she did and showing me the ropes everyday was a blast, until one day I did something really cool I guess. Cool enough that people noticed; and kept noticing. People started talking again about what this might possibly mean for me and began watching my practices. I remember starting to feel the overwhelming stress build up again. It was frustrating thinking that this thing I do for me was about to be taken for the people again. I wanted to cry on the spot. Next thing I knew, Valerie had gotten on this platform to make herself taller and kindly told everyone that they were interrupting our training. To my surprise, they left. It only hit then that I’ve been so caught up in trying to avoid them or please, that I never once tried telling everyone to leave me alone. I asked Valerie how she could easily tell people that also expect so much from her to leave because they were in way. Why would I ever care about their input? I do what I want for me. They’re just along for the ride. S-”

BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ! Ten minutes had finally gone by. Veronica clicked her tongue. She reached to shut her alarm off when Nick reached for her scroll.

“It’s only right to finish a story this far in. Not much left anyways.” Nick shut the alarm off to continue. “As I was saying, Soon after that is when I began getting back into ice skating and really started participating for myself; figuring out my agenda in all things I did. Especially tournaments. That’s the gist of it. Like I said, silly.”

“No, I get. Valerie gave you back your enjoyment of your hobbies. Helped make a new lease on life. How could that not be a big deal? If anything it makes me irritated that you have such nice reasoning.” Veronica poked her lips out in a dramatically pouty way before turning head to the window. “Guess I should’ve figured as much. She did to you what you did for me. No wonder you like her. Still, I’m not phoning things in yet. Especially if those are the words she told you.” Veronica stopped herself from clenching the table cloth. “That hypocrite. Not caring about their input my ass…” Veronica let out a little chuckle. That was certainly informative. “Thank you for your honesty.”

“Yeah don’t thank me yet.” Nick put thirteen minutes on the timer and smiled. “I believe it’s your turn?”

Veronica’s pleased expression quickly turned to panic. “Wait, what!?”

“Why do you like me?” He asked without mercy. The flush on Vee’s cheeks was redder than wine. “Y-You can’t just ask a girl why they like you!”

“Oh but you can ask me about my romantic feelings without question.” Vee nodded shameless.

“Yep that pretty much sums it up. Besides it’s not like I asked about your feelings towards me. That’s embarrassing as hell.” Veronica watched Nick purse his lips and gave her a look that screamed “seriously?” It was enough to make her start combing her fingers through her hair and look at the coconut cream pie slice that the waitress somehow managed to put under her nose without detection. “I...specifics are bothersome to explain. Just understand that...Nick, you’ve…” she could feel her heart pound in her own ears. “You’ve given me a lot of strength, hope actually. In ways I can’t begin to explain. I’m grateful; dare I say blessed.”

Those words truly shocked him. It wasn’t everyday a term like that came from Vee’s lips. “Blessed huh? That’s a big deal coming from a nonbeliever like yourself.”

“And despite knowing that you still tell me how you pray for me. Not that I particularly mind that I’m in your thoughts regularly. Also it’s rude to just straight up say nonbeliever. I have beliefs. Now the feelings associated and to what the beliefs are is a different story. Thank you for the prayers nonetheless though.”

“Maybe one day you’ll pray for me, hehe.”

Veronica smirked. “I doubt any deity would heed the words. I’ll keep the praying business to the faithful.”

“Fair enough.” Nick took a scoop of ice cream off his fudge brownie and looked at the timer. “Seeing how you’re a bit resistant to tell me why you feel the way you do towards me, can you at least be frank with me by telling me why you’re so adamant about not getting along with Valerie or Summer?”

Very slumped over. “Of all the questions, you’re set on detective work?”

“This timer thing isn’t even meant for interrogation. I offered this as a way to vent without consequences but you’re the one who wanted to play twenty questions.” He finally took a bite of dessert. “Tough it out” He said, a warm smile on his face from the flavor.

“Sigh, guess I have no right to complain. I wouldn’t say I have any real personal grievances towards them, even though I have a few unpleasant memories of your sister harassing me when we were little.”

“We were five.”

“Well I was six and a hurt tail is still a hurt tail, but I digress. Those two, they’re not the kind of people I find myself liking very much. Summer always wraps individuals into her pity party by acting like she’s making a genuine effort, and then Valerie, sigh, there’s not a thing about her that doesn’t make me want to hit her. I know you like her and wouldn’t say she’s a bad natured person, but…” Veronica held her tongue before she overstepped. These were still Nick’s loved ones.

Nick on the other hand wasn’t satisfied. “Say it, what’s on your mind. Zero consequences remember?”

“You say that but it’s not like we’ll magically forget what we’ve said in this last twenty six minutes.”

“No, but I trust you won’t hold my words and secrets against me. Do you trust me? Good or bad, this is meant to clear the air. I’d be a hypocrite to not let you speak your mind after asking you to.” It was a bit brash but Nick reached for Vee’s hand and held it.

Veronica felt her own breathing slow down at the sight of Nick’s reassuring smile. Her eyes went to her pie to avoid his gaze. He was too disarming for his own good. It made her feel guilty for doubting, as well as relying on him the way she did.

“Valerie isn’t a good friend, not you and I, not your sister for that matter. Yeah she might help out because she’s a good person but she’s far too self centered in my opinion. I mean just take tonight for example. You’ve made plans with her that fell apart because everything you two do are on her own terms. What friend gets upset that another saved them in a training exercise, or uses a pet name that the other person doesn’t like!?”

Nick raised his eyebrow. “Pet name?”

“Summer hates to be called Princess, right? That could be a thing with me personally but with the way she gets so pissed about it I would think Valerie using it would be annoying. Yet she does it anyway. Like how she’s quick to try to act like she’s above something when she clearly isn’t. I-”

“Vee? My hand…” Nick winced, his hand being squeezed like a stress ball.”

“Crap…” Veronica immediately loosened up to look at it. Thankfully her nails didn’t dig into him but she did make his hand red. Veronica gently begins rubbing it in some pointless attempt to relieve the pain. “Sorry I… I shouldn’t lose my temper like that. Ugh I know better too. Maybe steak was a bad idea after all?”

Nick watched as Veronica became fixated on the light injury. Her ears had fallen down and the anger she had while speaking had vanished entirely. All she could do was rub his hand. “It’s fine, honest. I don’t even feel pain anymore.”

“You shouldn’t have felt pain at all. This is the second time I’ve hurt you.”

“Well...I did actively walk into a fight the first time. Faunus reasons or not, a person should expect to get whaled on a bit when breaking a fight up.”

Veronica knew Nick was trying to be nice and there was truth to his words. That still didn’t make her feel much better. “I guess there’s one thing Valerie and I have in common. We get you hurt for needless reasons that could be avoided.”

“Vee…”

“Hey, I know she makes you happy and I shouldn’t really try to persuade you to feel otherwise, but… I can’t help but feel like… if you were to ever allow it one day if you’ll look my way, because…Nick, I think I can make you even happier.” She gently held his hand with her trembling ones.

Nick couldn’t see her eyes but could see how the blush took over her. She wasn’t the only one. How could he not feel embarrassed when Veronica Belladonna, the most brazen girl he knew, was now currently holding his hand sheepishly while her tail swayed side to side. Thank goodness he had set a timer beforehand. The buzzer finally went off and Veronica snapped out of her trance, letting go. Rather than speak further, her pie became the scapegoat, getting devoured without interruption. Nick wanted to say something but even the work up to speaking made her face redder by the second. Besides, the timer hit zero. He had to respect the rules he made. A lot was learned within a short time.

“It’s been some time since we had a talk like that. Thanks, Veronica. I feel like I know you even better than before.”

“Just...eat your dessert, please?” She said, embarrassed beyond belief. How could she say something so compromising like that!? Claiming to make him happier than Valerie was bolder than she meant to be.

xxxx

The rest of dinner was pretty quiet. Both of them couldn’t think of any light topics to discuss after prying into feelings. It wasn’t awkward to speak but felt more, inappropriate, so to speak. Both desserts were finished and the chef had passed his taste test. Nick would keep his end of the bargain. However, the generous tip he usually left for all workers involved was purposely missing. The chef had lost the privilege entirely. The waitress would be in for a shock the next time she checked her savings. No need to punish those in the crossfire after all. Veronica and Nick left without saying a word to anybody.

The two of them walked down the sidewalk in the season's chill embrace. Veronica felt the chill winds creep down her thin dress. It felt colder than in the forest. Not even a single person or car was on the street! Nothing but an ever forming winter wonderland!

“Eugh! I know walking home was my idea but maybe I should’ve thought ahead?”

Nick chuckled. “Maybe so?” He took his dress coat off and draped it over her shoulders. “Better?”

“Yeah but you just got over being sick. You can’t afford to catch another cold.”

“Relax, I got sick because of stress. Temperatures like this are nothing to anybody who lives here. The cold is nothing in the face of a real Atlesian. It’s in our blood!”

“And central heating is in your budget. Speaking of which, shouldn’t that be on full blast in the winter!? I mean my goosebumps have goosebumps.” Veronica shivered.

Nick smiled. “I’m glad you asked!” He took Veronica’s hand and quickly rushed over to a building with an awning for them to be under. “There’s a reason I picked a reservation for today. It’s the night manual resets happen.”

“Manual resets?”

Nick nodded. “Yep! You’re right about it being super cold. The lack of people is a dead giveaway.”

“What’s up with that? I thought Atlas was a city that never slept? It’s like a ghost town now. Nothing but….actually…” Veronica looked around the streets, lamps, and every building. There were noticeable less lights. A far cry from the dazzling show she saw earlier through the window. “The heating system, it’s off.”

“Not entirely. A majority of buildings still have them on but yes, external heating vents get temporarily shut off and rebooted. It’s common in the winter since they have to run constantly. You didn’t think it was weird that it was snowing so steadily?”

“Now that you mention it, I guess it is. Everything was already covered in snow so I didn’t notice.”

“Most snow melts on contact but there’s no getting past it during the cold season. Heater or not heater, you’re gonna see snow fall.”

Veronica breathed on her hands to warm them up. “So why come out when the heaters are off if you can see snow whenever?”

“Because I’m not here for the snow. There’s only one thing Atlas gets to really witness whenever the heaters come back on, because the reboot forces the heaters to come back on at full blast.”

“What would-” Before she could finish, Veronica witnessed it first hand; the sudden burst of heat that washed over her body as the orange glow of heaters returned to pale white city. The previous atmospheric silence had been broken. Pit pat pit pat pit pat pit. The familiar brought Veronica’s attention to the streets. Right before eyes like magic, suddenly and seamless, the winter wonderland turned into rain. Lots of rain.

Any and all snowflakes melted before pitter pattering on the pavement. Rain was nothing new to her and neither was Atlas at night for that matter, but a rainy night lights in the city of Atlas? That was a different story entirely. It was if she was in a new kingdom altogether, the way the lights shimmered on the water in the air and on the ground. Atlas somehow went from looking like a snow globe, to a chandelier.

“Woah~” Veronica was floored. She extended her hand out. The feeling of frigid rain contrasted against the warm so much it made her jolt. “Ah! Man that has a bite to it!” She laughed.Veronica stepped out from the awning.

Nick, shocked by her actions, quickly grabbed her hand. “Hey, your dress!” He shouted with agency. Veronica did not bother with his words. Instead she pulled Nick into the rain with her as she laughed.

“Hahaha! What’s a little water!? I love the rain!! Between the heaters and a pour like this, I’d say this is more refreshing than the showers back home.” Veronica’s grin widened. She took hold of Nick’s hands and began swaying. “Come on, dance with me!”

Nick let himself get strung along into Vee’s antics. He caught her guard by pulling the two of them into a ballroom stance and began to waltz.

Veronica’s ears wiggled. “Oooo look at you Mr. Casanova, taking the lead like that.”

“You’re pretty upbeat for a cat in the rain.” He teased.

“Jokes on you, panthers love water, and people from Menagerie love the ocean. I do have a surfboard after all.” She leaned back to que Nick to support her back. Veronica dramatically stuck her leg out to do an over the top dip before Nick brought her back up, pulling her close.

“Nice moves.”

“You’re not the only one who has to learn etiquette. Gotta stay on my toes for the public too. Pretty easy with a tail for balance.”

Nick chuckled. He waltzed his cheeky date back over to the awning near a heater as she continued to laugh. “I could’ve sworn minutes ago you didn’t want me getting sick?”

“Well someone bragged about being one with the cold.”

“I didn’t say all that now. I’m surprised someone complaining about the cold gets excited to dance in the rain.”

“Yeah well…” Veronica moves even closer to Nick, until there’s virtually no space between them. “I feel pretty warm right now.” She said, looking up into his eyes. Maybe it was the heater, the cold rain, or the warmth from his arms now wrapping around her, but it made Veronica warm to the point of feeling dazed. It couldn’t just be her. Not when Nick’s face was its own shade of red. The two let the sound of rain surround them yet again. The smile Veronica had slowly shifted into an expression of longing. She was so close to him right now. Closer than she’s ever felt. His warmth, his cologne, his lips…; Veronica’s body couldn’t help but lean forward. Right...until…

Beep! beep! The sound of a car horn made both jump out of their skin. They looked to the street to see their waitress waving joyfully.

“Thanks for the tip!” She said emotionally as she drove off.

The surprise brought Veronica back to her senses to see Nick’s face flushed and embarrassed. As well as conflicted. Like how he was back at Penny’s lab. Veronica felt the weight of her actions hit her like a tank and quickly took a step back.

“Sorry! Silly me, hehe. Here I was telling you that I wouldn’t be too forward or force anything, then I pull this! Talk about embarrassing huh?!” There wasn’t a bone in her body that didn’t want to find a hole to hide in. How could she get lost in emotion again!?

Nick frowned. “Ver-”

“It’s fine! Totally my bad.” She could feel her own heart start to race from her recklessness. “Tonight has been nice. We should probably start heading back before-”

Nick took Veronica’s arm and shut her up by kissing her cheek before wrapping his arms around her tightly. Her body went a little stiff before eventually hugging him back.

“No date is complete without a little intimacy, right.” Nick said, doing his best to kill the tension. “Sorry things got weird. I should’ve spoken up. It’s not like I would’ve been upset.” He admitted. “I just...you know. But I hope this is okay at least?”

Rejection is nothing new. Veronica was ready for the sting. However, Nick’s words didn’t sting at all. In fact, Veronica could only find herself hiding her face in his shirt, enjoying this comfort. Her heart stopped racing and she felt calmer than she had all night. This wasn’t rejection. Not by a long shot. A to be continued perhaps?

“This is perfect.” She said, holding her crush closer. “Stay just like this for your date. At least for a few more moments.”

Nick smiled. “As you wish.”

Veronica may not have Nick’s attention like how Valerie does, but at this moment, Veronica had Nick focused on her and her alone. He was hers right now. Veronica couldn’t ask for more. This definitely was an unconventional date, clumsy and hardly what anyone would call romantic. Veronica would cherish it all the same.

xxxx

While the sweet sound of rain soothed one duo, another couldn’t hear it all, it being completely drowned out by applause with bubbling excitement. Tonight may be one of the coldest nights for Atlas, but for a warehouse in Mantle filled with young adults, passion burned in the form of a young woman in black about to conquer the stage with her guitar and vocals. Summer was ready to vent. While Eliza carefully observed from afar.

If she wasn’t here then she might not have believed it. With those clothes and confidence, Eliza was sure she was watching a stranger.“Summer Schnee, you and your brother are one surprise after another.”

The singer grabbed a microphone and looked out to the many eyes ready to cut loose. “ALRIGHT EVERYBODY LET’S MAKE SOME NOISE!”

Summer screamed, receiving nothing less than twice the excitement back. No time was wasted in playing how she played less. Tonight was her night. Problems could wait until tomorrow.

#rwby #rwby twin snowflakes #nicholas schnee #summer schnee #blake belladonna #winter schnee #eliza marigold #veronica belladonna

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mcwriting · 3 years

Text

The Marriage Project (7)

IT’S FINALLY HERE! MY FAVORITE CHAPTER OF THIS SERIES!!! Consider it a little Christmas gift from me to y’all :) there’s plenty more to come, but I loveee the vibes of this one so much

Story Masterlist

Word Count: 3491

Warnings: Some language but I’m pretty sure that’s it

% approximately the end of the 2nd week of October %

You stood on the Holland’s front porch Sunday afternoon holding a rust red jumpsuit over one shoulder and your volleyball bag on the other.

It was nippy out, probably 50-something fahrenheit, but you’d tucked your long sleeved jersey into some black sweats and tossed on your letterman. You had decided to wear your favorite jersey, which was black except for the stripe down each sleeve in your school colors and the white words and number on the torso.

Since you were taking pictures, you straightened your hair again and put on some light makeup to complete the look.

Paddy opened the front door, looking star struck.

“Oh, hey Paddy. How are you?”

He stared up at you, flustered.

“I, um. Good?”

You gave a big smile.

“Good to hear. Mind if I come in? It’s kinda cold out.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.”

He stepped out of the way and shut the door behind you. Inside, Tom was running around frantically, grabbing various clothing items and stuffing them in a bag. He noticed you as he passed by.

“Hey, y/n. Sorry, just trying to get all my football stuff together. It just came out of the dryer.”

You watched in amusement as he rushed back and forth. Nikki came and stood next to you.

“I love my sons, but they can be a real mess sometimes,” she joked. “Let's go put your things in the car while he gets himself together.”

You set the bag in the back of her SUV and hung the jumpsuit hanger on a loop to prevent it from wrinkling. You were talking in the garage when Tom burst through the door, a duffel bag on his shoulder.

“Okay, sorry. I couldn’t find one of my cleats,” he explained, tossing his own bag in the back. He didn’t yet put on his uniform since the pads would get uncomfortable, so Tom just wore some jeans and a tee for the ride.

“Y/n, do you want to hop in front? I’m sure Tom wouldn’t mind,” Nikki said, raising her eyebrows at her son.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind either way.”

“It’s fine. We can just switch on the way home,” Tom replied. You found it odd that he didn’t press but assumed it had something to do with his mom standing nearby.

With that, you loaded up and started the hour long drive. The time passed quickly as you conversed with Nikki, telling her about your plans for after high school. In the backseat, Tom dabbed a little bit of his mom's foundation over the still-discolored parts of his cheek.

Eventually, you got to a small neighborhood and pulled up to a cute cabin. As you and Tom retrieved your things from the trunk, an elderly couple appeared on the front porch.

“Hey, mom. Hey, dad,” Nikki began, hugging them. She gestured to you, “This is y/n. You might recognize her from Tom’s soccer games and some academic things, she’s on the girls team and very smart.”

You blushed at the compliments.

“Why, yes, I have seen you. It’s nice to meet you, dear. Just call us grandma and grandpa,” Nikki’s mother said as you were shaking hands with her husband.

She walked up and enveloped you in a hug. As you awkwardly wrapped your own arms around her, you looked over her shoulder to find Tom shrugging sheepishly at you.

She pulled away, holding you at an arm's length.

“Well you are just the prettiest thing, aren’t you?” You blushed at her kindness and thanked her. “Now what are we all doing standing around out here? Come on in! I made cookies while you were on the way so they’re still warm.”

She ushered everyone in, Tom holding open the screen door for the group. Tom directed you to a spare room to set down your bags and hang your jumpsuit while Nikki got her camera things together.

You were sat around the dining room eating cookies discussing the afternoon’s timeline. You and Tom would take your sports pictures, then everyone would eat around five, and then you’d go back out in regular clothes for golden hour at around six.

After a few minutes, Nikki finished getting her lens ready.

“Okay. Tom, why don’t you go put on your football uniform and meet us down at the dock. Y/n, do you need to get anything else for your volleyball pictures?”

You answered yes, walking with Tom to the room to grab your volleyball shoes and ball. You were waiting to take off your sweatpants until you got outside for two reasons: it was cold, and you felt weird about walking around his grandparents’ house in only spandex shorts.

The dock wasn’t far, you could see it from the top of the wooden staircase built into the side of the hill the cabin sat on.

You and Nikki conversed as you walked down, discussing ideas of poses and where you’d stand.

You shimmied out of your sweats once you got to the dock, draping them over a metal chair covered in dead leaves. The cold air gave your legs goosebumps, but you sucked it up. You were just glad you’d remembered to shave your legs above anything else.

Nikki directed you around some trees, had you toss your hair over your shoulder, and took a few pictures with you in your letterman. It had been about 15 minutes when Tom came down in his football gear, helmet and ball in hand.

“Oh, perfect. Tom, would you mind tossing some leaves for me? I have a neat idea for a shot.”

She had you stand in front of the water and palm the volleyball as Tom sent a handful of leaves in the air around you. You tried a few with a serious expression and some while laughing. After a few more shots that included you sitting on the dock, she had Tom jump in next to you.

“Okay, y/n, I want you to stand with the ball on your right side like that, and then Tom, get on her left and hold the helmet by the facemask,” she pointed around, guiding you. “Good! Okay now y/n, put your weight on your left leg and Tom, raise your chin. Serious faces people!”

There were clicks and flashes as she continued to direct you in slightly different poses. One cool shot had each of you palming your respective sports balls in front of you.

“Okay, are you good with those, y/n? Is there anything else you want in your jersey before I start working on Tom’s?”

You shook your head and gestured for her to move on with Tom’s pictures. By now your legs were used to the cold, so you refrained from putting your sweats back on, instead just standing behind Nikki watching Tom model like he’d been doing it his whole life.

Oh right… he has

His mom and he worked together well, as if they were reading each other’s minds.

You studied the way Tom looked. After all these years, you’d never really looked at him intently enough to see the way he filled out his uniform so well.

His biceps bulged when he moved his arms to flex for a couple shots, and the tight pants and pads around his legs gave the illusion of massive thigh muscles. As you looked back up, his necklace caught your eye.

He hadn’t tucked it in completely, instead letting it dangle over his jersey, the red “ruby” glinting in the afternoon sunlight. You smiled at the fact he’d left it on, then looked down at your own hand. You’d forgotten to take yours off, too.

Would it be noticeable in the pictures? Was there a possibility family members would start asking if you’d secretly gotten engaged when you eventually shared the shots online? Maybe, but you decided it wasn’t a big enough deal to worry about. Some had already pestered you Friday at dinner.

You didn’t realize how long you’d been out there when a cowbell began ringing from above you.

“Oh! That’s mom. Dinner must be about ready. Let’s head back up. I think we got enough, Tom,” Nikki explained.

She started heading up the stairs as you grabbed your ball and sweats, and Tom was waiting for you at the bottom, holding his jersey and pads so he was only left in a compression shirt on top. He started up a few steps ahead of you.

Woah. His ass looks really nice in those pants was the first thought that popped into your head when you looked up. Oh wait. Shit, what am I saying?

You tried to avoid looking as you continued up the hill. By the time you reached the top, Nikki was already entering the house and Tom was again waiting for you. You passed right by him when he spoke up.

“You’re really gonna go in the house like that?”

You stopped and turned back to face him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you really want to walk into the home of my elderly grandparents with your ass hanging out?”

Right. The whole point of the sweats.

You set the volleyball down while you pulled them on.

“Now I’m not going to say that I minded the view or anything but-” you slapped him in the chest before you tugged on the waistband, hopping a little to make them sit just right and tightening the strings, then picked your ball off the ground.

“Don’t be talking about my ass that way! Nasty.”

“Sorry, sorry, I had to say it.” He put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Well if you’re gonna say that, then I’m allowed to do this,” you said, right before giving him a light slap on his own butt and darting to the house.

“Ohhh, I’ll get you for that!” he cried, following you in.

You were both chattering as you entered the dining room, where Nikki and her parents were setting up the tableware.

“Alrighty, we have some roast chicken and potatoes and green beans tonight. Hope you all enjoy!” the older woman said before sitting down. The smell made your stomach growl quietly.

You all made up plates and chowed down. Tom’s grandpa sat at the head of the table, with his wife and daughter on his left, and Tom and you on the right.

You and Tom were talking about school things when his grandma addressed you.

“So, y/n. How long have you and Tom been dating?”

You furrowed your brows, then looked between Tom and her, an awkward tension filling the room.

“Um, grandma… she isn’t my girlfriend,” Tom said for you. You gave him a light squeeze on the thigh to signify thanks.

“Oh! Oh my goodness I had no idea! You two just seemed so close that I just assumed you were together. Sorry about that!”

You talked a little bit longer as you finished dinner, but now things felt a little uncomfortable.

What were we doing that seemed couple-y? Could they see our little spat outside?

You took your plates to the kitchen before heading back with Tom to change into your other clothes. Since it was already almost six, you both just changed in the room, backs to each other.

You slid out of your sweats and tugged off the jersey, leaving on the spandex shorts under your jumpsuit since they didn’t show through. It was sleeveless, so you needed to change into a different bra. You glanced behind you quickly to make sure Tom was still turned around.

He was, but he was butt ass naked. You turned back towards the wall quickly, eyes wide. You assumed it had to do with the fact he wore a jockstrap under his uniform, but dear God did he have to take off everything at once?

You were scarred to say the least.

You ripped off one bra and fumbled to put the other one on before sliding the shoulder straps of your outfit on all the way. By the time you were done, Tom was at least wearing jeans and tugging on a white tee.

You finally slipped on some wedges and refixed your hair in the mirror.

“Ready to head down?” you asked.

“Why don’t you go on without me. I’ll be down here in a few. I need to restyle my hair,” he explained, sliding his own letterman jacket on.

You accepted that and headed back outside and down the steps where Nikki was waiting, shooting pictures of the lake.

“Oh, I love that color on you, it compliments the autumn theme well,” Nikki said as you began taking pictures. Eventually Tom appeared, too. He had another shirt in hand for when he was done with his letter jacket.

You let them take those pictures real quick, and then Tom changed, buttoning up a flannel that’s colors matched your own outfit. You were sitting on the dock balcony posing when Tom appeared next to his mother, who noticed the coordination immediately.

“This is amazing! Tom, go stand in front of y/n and cross your arms, and y/n, drape an arm over his shoulder… uh huh just like that… yes that’s good!” she directed you.

Tom helped you hop down after a few different shots and you went to stand with Nikki as she took more photos of her son.

The sun was setting quickly, so she was about to call it a night.

“Okay, you two, I just need you to get together for a couple final pictures. Act like you like each other for at least a few minutes.”

You couldn’t help but snort as you stepped up next to Tom, him putting an arm over your shoulder as your arm snaked around his waist. She was taking pictures when Tom muttered out the corner of his mouth,

“Your hand’s a little close there.”

Knowing exactly what he meant, you slid your hand down his back, resting it on top of his butt.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you feigned innocence.

He gave you a look that said “I’m onto you,” so you did what any rational person would do in that scenario.

You squeezed his buttcheek.

It must have scared him or tickled or something, because he about jumped from his skin, jaw dropped.

“Oh I’ll get you for that now!” he exclaimed, picking you up and tossing you over his shoulder.

You squealed and laughed and kicked your legs as one hand traveled along your waist tickling you. In the chaos, you didn’t notice the rapid clicks of the camera shutter. He kept you off the ground for a few more seconds before finally setting you down carefully.

“Rethinking that now?” he asked, eyebrows raised in amusement as you stared up at him, pouting.

“I’d do it again just to see your jaw hit the floor honestly.”

He rolled his eyes when some lights around the deck kicked on, not adding much brightness to the darkening sky.

“Well that looks like our cue to wrap things up. The lights going up the stairs won’t be much better, and I don’t want anyone to fall,” Nikki explained.

Once again, she headed up first, leaving the two of you somewhat alone. Now that it was dark, the air made you grab your upper arms and shiver.

“Here, put this on,” Tom said, holding up his letter jacket.

“Oh, I’m fine. It’ll only take a minute to get to the house.”

“No seriously, you look like you’re freezing. Plus, I won’t have to carry it,” he joked.

You rolled your eyes and snatched it from his hand, sliding your bare arms into the sleeves. His jacket was at least a size bigger than yours, so it basically swallowed you. He chuckled.

“Come on. I don’t want you getting lost up the stairs since you’ve practically disappeared under my jacket.”

He put his hand between your shoulder blades, guiding you to step ahead of him as the darkness began to set in.

You’d changed back into your sweats and put on a tee and your own letter jacket and were now loading up Nikki’s car to head back home.

After walking back to the house, you had all sat around and visited a bit longer until realizing it was half past nine and there was an hour’s drive ahead of you.

“Come back anytime, dear. You were a real delight,” Nikki’s mom said, squeezing you into another hug.

“Thank you, grandma. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Will you be at Tom’s senior night here in a few weeks? I’d love to see you there,” she said, holding your hands in hers.

“Yeah, I always try to go to the games. I’m hoping to be on homecoming court this year, too, so fingers crossed.”

“Oh, sweetie, if they don’t vote you queen, I’ll personally come count the votes myself,” she joked, shaking her head.

You laughed and after final goodbyes, climbed into the back seat, expecting Tom to go up front. Instead, he slid into the other side of the back row.

“You can sit up front, Tom. I’m happy to stay back here,” you explained, showing that you’d already buckled in.

“Oh it’s alright. I’ve already sat down, we can both stay.”

You again found it odd that he was willing to do so, but didn’t push the matter.

Having spent most of the afternoon with Tom’s family, you hadn’t looked at your phone much as not to seem rude, so you immediately began responding to snaps and scrolling through social media.

Tom, on the other hand, was watching Tiktoks.

“Hey, watch this,” he said, unbuckling his seat belt and sliding into the middle spot next to you, refastening himself in.

“You could have just given me your phone,” you said, eyebrows raised.

“Like I could trust you with that.”

He handed over an AirPod and you watched together, laughing. He continued to scroll through his for you page while you looked on.

After a while, your neck became strained, so you resorted to leaning your head on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything, instead only tilting his cheek to rest on your head as you continued in silence.

A little bit later, he left the app and went to Spotify, turning on a playlist containing songs with soft beats that made you sleepy.

You didn’t realize how tired you really were until you were being shaken awake by your nemesis, sitting up straight in realization of what happened.

“Hey, we’re about to pull into my neighborhood,” he whispered. You just nodded in response, trying to compose yourself.

Nikki pulled into the garage and you began collecting your things from the back.

“Y/n, would you like to stay in the guest room tonight? It’s almost eleven and I wouldn’t want you to feel unsafe going home.”

You thought about it for a moment before realizing you had no extra clothes and well… Tom.

“Oh that’s alright, my house is only 10 minutes away. Thank you though,” you told her as the three of you entered the home.

Nikki said her goodbyes and disappeared up the stairs for the third time that day, once again leaving you and Tom alone.

“Why don’t I walk you to your car?” Tom offered, opening the front door. You unlocked the car and Tom opened the back door for you to set your things in it. You were about to leave when something popped into your mind.

“Thanks again for clarifying to your grandma earlier. I didn’t want to break her heart but I wasn’t sure how to let her down nicely. She seemed so excited,” you explained.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure she would have asked any girl the same question. But she really did like you, grandpa too. He doesn’t quite show it like her.”

“That’s sweet. I enjoyed hanging out with them this evening, and the food was incredible.”

“She does make some of the best food you’ll ever eat, but you should taste grandpa’s grilled steaks. Those are a real treat.”

“Well, you’ll have to bring me again some time. Oh, and thanks for letting me use you as a pillow in the car. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

You knew your face had turned pink, but you could see Tom’s redden as well.

“Don’t mention it. I actually ended up sleeping for a little bit, too.”

A silence fell around you, so you eventually said your goodbyes and hopped into your driver’s seat.

You watched in your rearview mirror as Tom stayed standing on his sidewalk until you had driven a few yards off, eventually meandering back to the house.

There was a familiar flutter in your stomach as your lips turned up into a smile.

Maybe he’s not as bad as I always thought.

A/N: omg I’m so happy to finally post this y’all have no idea. Hope you enjoyed! As always, feel free to send asks about anything or just say hi!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series taglists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Story tag list: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe, @stxfxniexreads,

#The Marriage Project #tom holland #tom holland story #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #paddy holland

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nuggets-and-french-fries · 4 years

Text

Taking Chances: Chapter Eight.

Note: I want to say an absolute huge thank you to @cilldaracailin @softeggsy and @hitmeonmytspot for helping me with this chapter.

I hope that you all enjoy this!

===

A few days later, Taron was doing better and that was all thanks to Tina and her willingness to stay with him and Mikey.

It had been hard for Taron to let his family in after everything, but if the last few days had taught him anything, it was that he had to let people in and that it was ok to accept help when you needed it and boy did he help.

The man had asked his mother to take Mikey to school while he went to finally visit his in-laws. To say that he was nervous was an understatement. He hadn’t seen her parents since Kate died because it was simply too hard.

Today was the day for change, not only for his sake but for Mikey’s as well.

“It’s good to see you my boy. It’s been far too long.” Dave said as he opened the front door to see his son-in-law.

Dave gave Taron a hug and pat his back.

“Something smells good.” Taron said nervously as they broke apart.

“Jennifer’s been baking all morning. She wanted to have morning tea all ready for when you arrived.” Dave said, walking into the kitchen with Taron behind him.

“Look who's here.” Dave announced.

Taron stood in the doorway with his hands nervously tucked into his pockets, not knowing how the woman would react after all these years

Jennifer turned around and warmly embraced her son-in-law.

“Don’t look so scared. Come give me a hug.” She said, holding her arms out ready for the embrace she was so eager for.

“I’m so sorry for everything.” Taron apologized as his voice cracked.

“No need to be sorry. I can’t imagine how hard it was but I do wish that you had called us more often. We’ve missed out on our grandson growing up.” Jennifer replied as she broke the hug.

She could see the tears in his eyes.

“Oh my dear boy. I’ve missed you.” She said, embracing him one last time.

“I’ve missed you.” Taron replied.

The adults visited for a while before Jennifer decided to go and get a couple things that she knew Kate would want Taron and Mikey to have.

“Thank you for coming and thank you for the pictures of our grandbaby. He’s one beautiful kid and that’s all thanks to you.” Dave said as he pat Taron’s shoulder.

“Thank you for allowing me to marry Kate.” Taron responded with a small smile.

“It was clear to us that the both of you were so in love. She chose well, just as we knew she would.” Dave answered.

Jennifer soon rejoined the men and presented Taron with boxes made special by Kate.

“Thank you for everything today, I really do appreciate it all.” Taron thanked, giving his in-laws a hug each before heading back to the car.

Two hours later, Nicola was sitting in her car trying to think of what to get Taron as an apology for treating him so poorly.

“What do I get for him!” Nicola groaned out loud.

“KFC’s always a good choice.” Kate said from the backseat.

Nicola hit her steering wheel a couple times before agreeing with her inner voice and went to KFC.

“At a girl.” Kate praised with a wide smile.

It didn’t take Nicola long to get everything she needed for the apology but then it dawned on her, where in the actual hell did this man live?

Just as she stepped out of the food place, two women walked past her talking about a house with blossoming rain lilies out front.

“They were always my favorite.” Kate replied.

Nicola smiled to herself. She remembered driving past that house once as she took a shortcut to work one morning.

“He’s not long home but he’d appreciate the chicken. Save him from almost burning the house down again.” Kate giggled.

Because there was hardly any traffic, Nicola made it to the house quicker than she thought she would.

“Here goes nothing.” She said as she set the food down and knocked on the door.

Nicola took a step back and waited for an answer.

“Can I-” Taron began before realizing that no one was there.

As he went to close the door, a gentle breeze picked up and rustled the plastic bag.

Taron looked down and saw the take away bag.

He smiled to himself as he bent down to grab the food.

“Thanks mam.” Taron said, loud enough for Nicola to hear.

She coyly stepped forward and Taron’s smile immediately fell from his face.

“Before you say anything, please hear me out?” She asked, nervously fiddling with her fingers.

Taron could hear the genuine tone in her voice.

“I was making tea.” He replied.

Nicola shrugged.

“No, it’s ok. I don’t want to interrupt. I just wanted to drop that off as an apology for how I’ve treated you.” The woman responded.

Taron nodded friendly.

“Come in.” He said, standing to the side.

The woman slowly walked into the house and stood in the entryway awkwardly. “Ok.” She said.

“Can I take your jacket?” Taron asked as he came back from the kitchen.

“Yeah s-sure.” Nicola stuttered.

Taron hung up her jacket and led her to the living room.

“I’ll be back with the tea.” He said.

Nicola smiled in response.

“Take a seat, I’ll only be a minute.” He continued before walking away.

Sitting down, Nicola felt nervous and on edge, not knowing what his response would be to what she had to say.

She wanted to offer her help but with not knowing his name and knowing that the name Taz pissed him off, Nicola decided it was best if she just stayed quiet and tried to get her thoughts in order before he came back.

“Thank you for being willing to hear me out. I really do appreciate it.” Nicola said as Taron placed the tray of tea down on the coffee table.

He gave Nicola a tight lipped smile.

“Be strong Nicola, you’ve got this.” Kate whispered as she watched from the other end of the room.

“How do you take your tea?” Taron asked as he doctored up his own cup.

“Same as you.” She said with a smile.

When he was done making up her tea, he passed her a cup and sat down.

“So, the real reason I came here was to hopefully start over.” Nicola admitted.

“Go on.” Taron said, waiting for her to continue.

“Can I be honest with you?” Nicola questioned.

Taron shrugged defensively.

“You were right, I have been a bitch but-” She began before Taron rolled his eyes.

“There’s always an excuse, isn't there?” He sassed.

Nicola looked down and bit her lower lip.

“I know there isn’t a reason for you to believe anything I say, but I’m trying to explain myself. I know that I was awful.” Nicola replied, looking up at him.

“The first time I met you, I had literally just been granted custody of my little sister and it was a really rough morning. I was annoyed and I took that anger out on you.” She explained.

Taron quirked his brow.

“And that’s the truth is it?” He replied.

Nicola lightly scoffed.

“Why would I lie, I’m not like that.” She answered.

“When I was 3, my grandparents were granted custody of me because my mother was and still is a drug addict and would sleep around almost all the time. It got so bad and she’d leave me on my own for long periods of time.” She explained, running the tip of her thumb around the rim of the cup.

Watching her, it became clear that she was being truthful. Taron still remained defensive but respected her for opening up to him.

“When I heard that my mother was doing that again to my little sister, I knew I had to give Jasmine a chance at a better life but to do that I had to move from my one bedroom flat to a two bedroom and then had to fight my mother on everything.” She finished.

Taron closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“I know I’ve acted like a bitch but I’m really not. I know I’ve been awful to you and there is no excuse for that. I guess I just wanted you to know that I’m a nice person under all of that.” She explained.

Taron nodded.

“And I know that the way that I handled our last meeting wasn’t right and I feel so guilty. I had no idea that you were married and had I been in my right mind, I would have just slapped you and walked away.” She chuckled slightly.

“I’m not married.” He said, shocking himself as well.

“But you’re wearing a ring.” Nicola pointed out.

“I mean I was married but not anymore. She died.” Taron answered.

“Shit, I feel even worse now.” Nicola said.

Taron surprised himself by laying a hand on top of Nicola’s.

“Please don’t feel bad. To be honest, you calling me Taz took me by surprise. My wife used to call me that and I hadn’t expected to hear anyone else use the name.” He explained.

“Right, I get you. I’ll make sure I don’t do it again. Sorry.” She promised.

“Don’t be sorry. You couldn’t have known.” Taron replied, slightly warming to her.

Before either of them could say anything else, Pickles took his chance and climbed up Taron’s leg.

“Hello you.” Taron greeted, scooping up and petting the furball.

“Who’s this cutie?” Nicola asked.

“This is Pickles.” Taron introduced.

Nicola giggled.

“Pickles. Cute name.” She said.

“My son picked the name.” Taron stated.

“Does he like pickles?” Nicola questioned.

“His favorite tv show is the Rugrats.” The man said with amusement

“Let me guess, he likes someone from the pickles family?” Nicola wondered out loud.

“Yeah, Stu apparently reminds him of me.” Taron answered sadly.

“You can say no but you look like you could use a hug.” Nicola noted carefully, really not wanting to undo her apology and make him feel uncomfortable again.

“How about we just start with names.” Taron replied, not feeling quite ready for any kind of intimacy from another woman.

Nicola smiled.

“Sounds good. I’m Nicola.” She said warmly.

“Taron.” He replied.

“Nice to meet you Taron.” Nicola said.

“Nice job Pickles. You’re a good ice breaker.” Kate said as the feline walked past her and toward his food bowl.

Back at the nursery Mikey and Jasmine were busy painting when Ivy marched up to them ready to paint herself.

“Let me know when you’re finished Ivy.” The assistant teacher said as she finished securing Ivy’s paint smock.

“How are you two doing?” The teacher asked, looking at Mikey and Jasmine.

“Good thank you.” Jasmine answered for both of them.

The teacher nodded and went back to the other kids that were playing on the play set.

“I need it.” Ivy said as she snatched the blue paint brush from Mikey’s hand.

“Hey, I was using that.” Mikey whined slightly.

“But I need it.” Ivy replied, painting a flower.

Mikey frowned and pouted.

Jasmine rolled her eyes.

Mikey went to grab the brush back but Ivy was faster and connected her teeth with Mikey’s upper arm; biting him hard.

Tears immediately grew in the little boy’s eyes and cried.

“You’re mean.” Jasmine shouted before walking over to where the assistant teacher was breaking up another fight.

“Excuse me?” Jasmine said as she pat the teacher’s leg.

“Yes kiddo?” The older woman replied.

“Ivy bit Mikey and he’s crying.” Jasmine explained, making Miss. Jameson roll her eyes.

“Thank you for telling me. Let’s go.” Miss. Jameson said.

Jasmine and the teacher quickly walked over to Mikey and saw Ivy trying to bite him again.

“Ivy Howell. That’s quite enough thank you.” Miss. Jameson lectured.

Ivy jumped.

“Both of you inside now.” The woman said calmly.

Ivy went inside first and Mikey followed with Jasmine beside him.

“Jasmine, can you please stay with Michael?” Miss. Jameson asked.

The little girl nodded, got her friend a tissue and gave him a hug, being careful of his arm.

Standing in the kitchen with Taron, Nicola looked at her watch and saw that it was time to pick up the kids.

“Thanks again for the chicken.” Taron said.

“Thank you for listening to me.” Nicola replied with a smile.

“Well I suppose it’s time to get the kids.” Taron announced, putting the freshly washed tea cups back in the cupboard.

“I don’t mind picking them up and bringing Mikey back here. If you want.” Nicola offered.

“Thanks but that’s ok. I’ll get him.” He replied.

“To save petrol, do you want to maybe, go together and get the kids?” She asked.

Taron thought about it for a few seconds.

“I have two car seats.” Nicola offered.

“Sounds good.” Taron answered.

Both of them headed toward the school to get Mikey and Jasmine.

“So, two car seats?” Taron asked as he looked in the backseat.

“Jasmine’s very indecisive and likes switching sides every time we use the car. One came with her and I bought the other one after being told that I had to.” Nicola explained.

“Interesting.” He replied, looking out the window.

“You can find something you want to listen to on the radio.” She suggested.

“No, that’s ok. The silence is nice actually. It beats having to listen to nursery rhymes all the time.” Taron said.

“Oh my gosh I know. All I seem to hear is the bloody paw patrol theme song. It drives me crazy.” Nicola added.

“Definitely.” Taron mumbled, making Nicola smile for the millionth time.

When they arrived at the nursery building, Jasmine spotted them and ran out to them.

“Mikey’s crying.” The little girl said.

Both adults hurried inside and went straight to where Mikey was still trying to calm down.

Nicola saw Miss. Jameson holding an ice pack on Mikey’s arm and saw red.

“Wait here. You, come with me.” Nicola said, pointing to the assistant teacher.

Both Taron and Jasmine looked at each other. They could hear how angry she was.

“Hi buddy.” Taron said calmly, kissing Mikey’s forehead.

Mikey reached for Taron, wanting to be held.

“What happened?” Taron asked the little girl by his side, knowing that Mikey wasn’t going to answer.

“Me and Mikey were painting and Ivy snatched the blue paint brush. She bit him when he tried to get it back.” Jasmine explained and Taron too saw red. This wasn’t the first time that the child had caused problems.

“Can I see it Mikey?” Taron asked his now calm son.

The little boy shook his head from its hiding spot in the crook of Taron’s neck.

“How hard did she bite him?” The father asked.

“There wasn’t blood but you can see teeth on his arm.” Jasmine answered.

Taron nodded and rubbed his son’s back, letting him know that it was going to be ok.

“Do you think we should go over there?” Taron questioned.

Jasmine looked over at her sister and saw her and how angry she was.

“Up to you.” She answered, shrugging.

Nicola, finally having had enough, stormed back to her sister and Taron.

“Go get yours and Mikey’s things please.” Nicola huffed.

Jasmine hurried off.

“M-mr. Egerton, we need you to sign t-this.” The teacher stuttered, feeling very nervous around Nicola who had her brow raised in warning.

“Something needs to be done about this child.” Taron remarked as he took the pen from Mrs. Graves.

“I think I got it all.” Jasmine said as she returned just as quickly as she left.

“Thank you Jas.” Nicola replied, taking Mikey’s bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

Taron finished signing the form and shot the teacher a warning glare before leaving with Nicola and Jasmine in tow.

“Right, which side are you sitting on?” Nicola asked as they approached the car.

Mikey looked at his dad with confusion.

“Nicola and I both came to pick you and Jasmine up.” Taron assured his son, not knowing how Mikey would feel after what happened a few days ago.

“Mikey can choose first.” Jasmine said, hoping to make her friend smile.

“Behind my daddy.” The boy mumbled.

“Alright.” Nicola said, getting her sister settled in while Taron got his son comfortable.

Once everyone was settled, Nicola drove off.

The kids were quiet in the backseat, Mikey falling asleep from all the crying he had been doing.

“How about we get some food. I’m guessing that little one of yours could eat.” Nicola suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Jasmine piped up with excitement.

“How’s the little man doing?” Nicola asked her sister.

“Sleeping.” Jasmine answered simply, looking out the window.

“I can’t believe that child. Honestly makes my blood boil.” Taron commented gruffly.

“Mine too.” Nicola replied, turning down a very familiar road for Taron.

He didn’t want to let on but he had a feeling that Nicola was going to his aunt’s cafe.

“You ok if we eat here? I heard the food was really good.” Nicola questioned as she parked.

“Mikey loves it here, plus people are right, the food is really good.” Taron responded, trying not to let his smirk show too much.

Nicola got Jasmine out of the car while Taron woke his son up.

“We’re going to see aunty.” The father whispered, hoping that the woman didn’t hear him.

He wanted to see Nicola’s reaction when she realized who he was. She clearly had no idea.

“I want pickles.” Mikey said before a yawn escaped his lips.

“You can see pickles when we go home.” Taron replied.

“Ok, let’s go.” Nicola said, all four of them crossing the road.

Just as they reached the door, one of the waitresses saw Taron.Taron quickly put his finger on his lips and glanced at the two women behind him.

The waitress nodded and went on with wiping a table.

“What do y-” Nicola said as her eyes landed on a huge movie poster.

Thank goodness the cafe was pretty much empty, which was odd for the time of day it was and for the fact that people seemed to flock to it.

“Why are you on there?” Jasmine asked for both herself and a very speechless Nicola.

Taron smiled and Nicola turned to look at him.

“Yeah, why are you on there.” Nicola questioned, slightly miffed.

Mikey lifted his head from Taron’s shoulder and looked at the women.

“He’s in movies.” Mikey answered as if it was no big deal.

Nicola’s jaw dropped and Jasmine just stared at Taron.

“My aunt owns this cafe, that’s why the posters are on the wall.” Taron admitted.

“Cool.” Jasmine said.

Nicola on the other hand was still silent.

Mikey giggled at the look on her face.

This was the last thing that Nicola was expecting.

===

Tag List: @sarahegerton96 @softeggsy @jobanan23 @hitmeonmytspot @cilldaracailin @hauntedflamingo @superthiccthighssavelives @aberystwythboy @stronglyobsessed @holdmeclosertinytaron @rocknrollmadden @dogmom2014 @fuseburner

#dad!taron #Single Father #taking chances #its just pickles

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winchester90210 · 4 years

Text

The BH 90210 Rewrite. 1x15: Palm Springs (AKA A Fling in Palm Springs)

Rewrite Masterlist

Read the previous chapter here!

Chapter Summary: The gang heads to Palm Springs for President’s day weekend.

Warnings: swearing probably, lots of fluffy feelings, mentions of sex.

Words: 2,900

My work is not to be reposted and/or edited without my expressed written consent. (Reblogging is fine and encouraged!!!)

Feedback is incredibly appreciated!

A/N: Hope everyone enjoys this week’s episode! We are going to be skipping the next one but Laverne the gum-chomping waitress WILL make an appearance at some point in the series, so don’t worry. Next week the reader moves out with Brenda and deals with Class President election!

“You’re really gonna stay and work all weekend?” You launch yourself backwards onto the kitchen counter, the cold marble against your legs, “Kelly says anybody who’s anybody goes to Palm Springs.”

“You’re talking to Kelly again?” Your brother cocks an eyebrow at you as he cuts himself a brownie, stuffing half of it into his mouth.

“Well, no… Kelly told Brenda who told me— but what does it matter?” You steal the brownie pan from his other hand, and place it out of his reach, “Just because it’s from a secondary source doesn’t mean it’s not true. It’s a ritual. Like the geese flying south or something.”

“How do you expect to get there? It’s not like you have a car, or a bike, or can afford a plane ticket.” You stay silent for a moment, then give him a pleading, rosy smile. “Oh, no. No! You’re not taking Duke to Palm Springs.” Duke was Eric’s beloved cherry red ‘48 Ferrari. It was given to him on his eighteenth birthday, previously loved and adored by your father, and his father before that and blah blah blah.

“Please? I always take good care of it!” You beg, “I’ll even fill up the tank when I get back! What is it, a dollar per gallon?”

“Sorry. No way. You’ll have to ask Brenda,” he shrugs stubbornly, reaching around you and swiping the pan while you're preoccupied with the argument.

“I can’t! She’s riding with Kelly!”

“Then ask Brandon— look, this isn’t my problem, Y/N/N. Either find another ride or don’t go.”

“It has the original interior, the original grille work. It’s gorgeous,” Brandon enthuses, slipping his hand under your shirt and to your sides as you both lie in the backseat of Mondale, mid make-out session. Well, you were making out. Until he decided to stop it to talk about that car he wanted. Like guys often do. “and it’s only twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“Twenty-five thousand? Brandon! No wonder your dad won’t buy you that thing. Dads are cheapskates, It’s just a fact of life.”

“Dylan‘s dad bought him a Porsche.”

“Babe, Dylan’s dad is facing a grand jury indictment,” you stifle a giggle as you pop a button off of his shirt.

“But my dad knows how hard I work,” Brandon grumbles, “And to top it all off, last night Nat told me that I can’t go to Palm Springs this weekend with you, and all of my friends because his sister is sick and now I have to work all weekend. But hey, you don’t hear me complaining, do ya?”

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“Hey there!” You’re greeted almost immediately by Brandon upon entering the Peach Pit, who’s over at the far end of the counter with a little blond boy. “What a nice surprise. I thought you’d be in packing mode for your trip… but knowing you, you packed early, didn’t you?”

“Always do,” you nod, taking the seat in front of him. You hand Brandon a modest wad of cash and kiss his cheek, making him smile. He mumbles a thanks as he stuffs it into his pocket and hands you a menu.

“Hey… do you ever get the feeling that the entire world is flying in first class, and you’re stuck with a folding chair in the baggage compartment?” He takes your hand in his, leaning over the counter.

“Never,” you deadpan. He studies your face, causing you to giggle into his shoulder.

“Liar!” He laughs genuinely, his eyes crinkling at the edges,“you total liar!” He straightens himself out, “This is Curtis.” He gestures to the adorable little boy beside you, “the hangout king of Beverly Hills.”

“It’s a free country, I can hang out if I want!” The little boy whines.

“Hey, hey, relax, sport. No one said you couldn’t… but does your mom know how much time you spend here?”

“She’s the one that brung me! I told her the food’s not that good," Curtis criticizes, mowing down a plate of greasy french fries.

“See what I have to put up with to make a buck?” Brandon teases, grabbing a plate of food from the kitchen and dashing off to deliver it to a table. Once he’s gone, Curtis turns his stool to you.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Oh! Well, uh… no. But he’s… not not my boyfriend,” you waffle. Curtis narrows his eyes, confused. “Look, it’s complicated, kid."

“You give him that friendship bracelet he’s wearing?”

“Yeah, actually… he told you about that?”

The kid dodges your question, chewing on the straw of his drink, “Why aren’t you wearing one?”

“It's a long story, Curtis. Certainly one you don't have time for, okay?"

"I got plenty of time."

You couldn’t ride with your brother, you couldn’t ride with Brandon, there’s no way in hell you’re riding with Steve… that left one option. Brenda, Kelly, and Donna.

“Donna,” Kelly giggles, “we’re not going to Europe. You don’t need three bags!”

“Kelly, I have to dress according to the guys we meet. I mean— high school guys, college guys, grad school guys, dropout guys— you cannot dress the same for all guys. No,” Donna shakes her head disapprovingly, like she just dropped a fashion truth-bomb on all three of you. To be honest, though, she kind of did.

“I guess she has a point,” you laugh, propping yourself up against a locker, “Bring everything.”

Then Steve saunters over, in his usual confusingly patterned button-down, an agitated look spread across his face. He nods down to the innumerable bags on the floor.

“What, are we going to France?” He scoffs, only taking a moment before continuing, “Will you guys come on? There’s gonna be a lot of traffic on the roads." Gee, wonder what’s making him so delightful this afternoon.

“Hey gang!” Oh no. David Silver? What was he doing here? “Are we going to have a blast or what? Huh?” We?

The rest of the group is just as lost as you are, exchanging silent looks of terror to the person next to them. Steve takes note of this and clears his throat.

“There’s been a uh, slight change in plans.”

“It’s weird, I mean I want to be with Dylan and everything, but part of me just wants to get it over with. Like I’m the last person that hasn’t done it yet." Brenda confides uneasily as you all stand against Kelly’s convertible, waiting as the tank fills up.

“Brenda… you are,” Kelly replies.

“No you’re not!" You assure her, "Look, Bren, you’re really gonna like it… I think." Ha. Like you know any more than she does. Donna nods in agreement.

“Yeah, totally… probably. Maybe? I—“

Kelly cuts Donna off, “Listen, who would you rather be with? Dylan McKay or David Silver?”

“Bren, Dylan’s a wonderful guy. You’re gonna have a great time! And you brought protection, so there’s nothing to be worried about!” You place a soothing hand on her arm.

“Right!” Brenda smiles, “I mean, I care about him, he cares about me, it’s gonna be great, right?”

“My grandparents collect anything they can get their hands on,” David guides the four of you, sans Brenda plus Steve, as you wander his grandparents' house. It’s definitely nice, definitely big… kinda smells like patchouli and sunscreen in the best way. “When I was younger I used to travel with them but my dad’s mad at them about something so I don’t see ‘em much anymore.”

“What’s he mad about?” Donna asks.

“Well, my grandparents like my mom and think it’s, y’know, bad he wants to divorce her... Come on,” he waves you all over to him as he escapes through the back door, “I saved the best for last.” You reluctantly follow behind him, your shoes clacking down the concrete steps and into the depths of his backyard. It was gorgeous— a huge pool, palm trees, brick-lined lounging areas. You could get used to this.

“Dude, we are definitely styling out here in this little desert oasis,” Steve grins, “David, I always knew you had potential.” No you didn’t.

“Thanks, Steve,” David begins to venture further back, “but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Look, if anyone gets in the mood, you climb up this little terrace here to this hidden nook and nobody will bother you.” You step up another flight of brick-lined concrete stairs and through a small patch of greenery, to be met with a cute little private hot tub… with people in it.

“David?” The old woman gasps, clutching her small champagne flute.

“Grandma?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” The senior man, presumably (and hopefully) his grandfather groans.

“It was an amaaaazing trip!” David’s grandmother raves, pouring pretzels into a glass bowl as the group is gathered around the kitchen island.

“It was indescribable,” his grandfather agrees excitedly, “we would dance every night under the stars.” He pulls Kelly from her stool, picking her up and spinning her around as if they were about to tango.

“Ooh! Can somebody pull the ice cream?” His grandma asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Donna smiles.

“Triple. Chocolate. Chip. I mean, If we’re gonna do it, we should do it right.” Steve chuckles politely at the woman, though he looks like he wants to put a gun to his head.

“Well, I’ve never seen so many old fogies on one boat in my whole life. I mean, a floating rest home is what it was!” His grandpa laughs heartily, getting ice cream bowls from the cupboard,

“Oh, Henry, that’s not so. But hey, one day we woke up on the boat and we both said ‘Let’s go home!’” Funny. That’s exactly what you were thinking. “I mean, we missed our little house in the desert.”

“We sure did,” Henry smiles happily, grabbing his wife’s jaw gently and planting a big smooch on her. “And lucky for us, we would have missed you if we didn’t cut our trip short!”

“Uh, well you guys must be really tired. Huh?” David chuckles awkwardly.

“Oh, we’re exhausted!” The woman nods, “but hey, who cares? I am so excited to see you! And to finally meet some of your friends! Hey! Why don’t we all stay up late, chow down on the snacks, and get to know each other?” Oh, joy.

“This way ladies,” David’s grandma guides the three of you upstairs, her hand on your shoulder. “You’re gonna go up these stairs, down the hall, first door on your right, and you are gonna love it.” You hop up the steps with Kelly and Donna, bags in hand.

“Did you guys hear her?” Kelly starts, opening the door to the room and throwing her bags on an empty bed. Hey, she acknowledged you. That’s a start. “She said she was gonna invite all the cute guys from the neighborhood over to the pool tomorrow!”

“Steve is not gonna like that,” Donna

“Oh, who cares?” Kelly snickers, “I wonder how Brenda’s doing.”

“‘Oh! Dylan, what beautiful eyes you have!’” You joke, throwing your hand to your forehead and bowing backwards.

“‘Oh, Brenda, you are so exquisite!’” Donna joins in, giggling.

“Barf.”

You splash your feet in the Silver's pool, crowds of people surrounding it. Overwhelmed by the vast amount of new people, you're off by yourself, kicking the water around, staring at your feet.

"You know, there's room on this raft for two." You look up to Steve, lying back on a giant inflatable alligator. Ugh, if only it was a real one.

"Why don't you ask your new girlfriends?" You point behind you to the two girls, who you could only think to describe as biker babes, lounging together. Porcelain white skin, spiked black bikinis, way more makeup than you need for a pool party. "They look pretty interested."

"Can you imagine what it would be like if you were interested? You know, me instead of Brandon?" You feign a gag, shaking your head.

"I don't really want to, Steve," you cringe dramatically as he chuckles, "but thanks for getting that thought haunting my dreams forever. Really appreciate it."

"Remember—" He wags his pointer finger at your face, eyes narrowing lightheartedly, "I saw you first." He puts his foot flat against the concrete wall of the pool, kicking off, but as soon as he's far enough— he guffaws. Of course he laughs at his own jokes.

"Dylan, hi!" You practically leap over to him in the foyer, your damp feet leaving faint footprints on the cold floor. "So?"

He shakes his head, brows furrowed ever so slightly, "So?"

"How'd it go?" You raise your eyebrows excitedly.

"How'd what go?"

"With Brenda!" He groans at that.

"Don't ask."

"Well, it's too late, I already did."

"What's with you girls?" Oh, this should be good. "You see a guy with another girl and you immediately think they're sleeping with her?! What is that?! I mean, every time a female customer goes into the Pit-- do you lose it at Brandon?"

"Can't say I do. They usually want him. But thankfully it's not the other way around… look, if this is about the other Walsh-- and McKay, it better be, or else I have questions-- just talk to her about it. Have an adult conversation."

"Easy for you to say, you're dating the king of good family values. The kid's a Hartley House episode."

You open the fridge in the kitchen, helping David’s grandparents scoop out ice cream. You fidget with the scoop in your hands before setting it down. After a devastating loss of Charades, you had to comfort your friends with ice cream. It was the only option, really.

“How do you guys do it?” They both look up from the bowls to stare at you. “The whole long-term relationship thing,” you clarify. “It’s just so… scary.”

“You’re right,” Henry nods, “It’s very scary. Trusting someone, with your heart, your intimate feelings. I mean, before we got married, Adele broke up with me seven different times. Running for the hills was our solution to every problem. Giving yourself to that person— trusting that they’re going to cherish you, to value you and every intimate part of yourself— that is the hardest thing.”

Adele jumps in, “And you have to accept each other for who you are. For every flaw and every perfection, you have to let the other person be who they are. But when you do find the person you can really be yourself with, who you can have fun with, and fully trust… it is the greatest feeling in the world.” She takes the scoop from in front of you and begins scooping. “Who is he? It’s not David, is it?”

You giggle, “No. No, it’s not David. His name’s Brandon, he’s—“ you can’t stop a grin from slowly breaking out on your face, “He’s great. He’s kind, and considerate, and totally crazy about me... but it’s still scary, y’know? My last relationship didn’t exactly end on great terms. And if I barely even liked the other guy but I was still totally obliterated by it ending… I can’t imagine how I’d feel with Brandon. I’ve never felt this way about anyone in my life. I guess you can imagine how much of a major scare that is, huh?”

“Seven break-ups, sweetheart. I can imagine.”

"He even set up a meal plan for the kid! I can show you the security cameras if you want to see them," Nat indulges. You never thought you’d say this, but you were thrilled to be back in Beverly Hills. You missed your own bed, the Peach Pit… the cute waiter at the Peach Pit. And you’re thrilled to be eating something that isn’t ice cream.

"Oh, don't you dare! I cannot handle any more of that guy being good with kids or else he's gonna get me to procreate with him-- and nobody wants a bunch of little Walshes running around here," you snort, stirring your water mindlessly with the straw. Nat shrugs as he picks up an order.

“I could use the extra help!” As per usual, he booms out in laughter, walking away with the plate of food.

“What’s he so happy about?” You twist your head to the kitchen and you’re faced with your overtly-paternal and charitable lover.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just you fathering a sweet little homeless boy for the weekend,” you have to halt yourself from fawning over him. He’s probably the only teenage boy that would tolerate a little kid, let alone help them out like he did.

“He told you about that?”

“You mean how you not only befriended the little boy, but fed him for free, and made sure that his whole family would stay fed until they got back on their feet? Yeah, he might’ve. I mean I laughed, I cried— it was the feel-good story of the year, B.” He smiles at his feet as he ties his apron around his waist.

“I really missed you this weekend, Y/N/N.”

“Well, I’m here to stay now,” you smile as he kisses the top of your head.

“I’m a real lucky guy, you know that?”

“That’s funny. I was about to say the same thing.”

Taglist: @be-patient-be-good @mpmarypoppins @bevelyhills90210 @blueoz @harleylilo88 @princess-ghost-alien @hueycat2004 @l4life @keepcalm-and-beyou @palefiregiver @bitch-imma-head-out

#beverly hills 90210 #90210 #bh90210 #bh 90210 #rewrite #brandon walsh x reader #brandon walsh #brenda walsh #shannen doherty #luke perry #dylan mckay #beverly hills 90210 imagine #beverly hills 90210 x reader #brandon walsh imagine #kelly taylor #david silver #donna martin #jason priestley

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beautifulweird0 · 5 years

Text

Parental Pain: The Strength of Our Children

I was seven years old with 27 dollars to my name after my 7th birthday. Family members from Florida to Alabama where my roots lay sent money in cards that I made sure to read even as young as I was…

My mother wasn’t there for my birthday that particular year. My memory isn’t the best so I can’t even recall what was wrong to make her absent for my annual birth date; she usually was there for my birthdays. Anywho, I was just going to let my money sit in my furry, pink, clear purse on the door of my bedroom. I knew my brothers nor grandparents were going to dip into it.

Some days go by and my mom finally comes ‘home’. I was so elated that she came back that when she asked to borrow my money I gave my 27 dollars to her without a second thought. Pretty dumb right?

My mother sounded like she really needed it and promised she would give it back.

My 27 dollars I was going to build up...or spend at the corner store was gone. Never really thought much else about the situation until I came across a meme that called black parents out on ‘borrowing’ money from their children…

Ain’t gone lie, a sista’ was thinking like, “Damn...I’ll never do my baby like that EVER.” I don’t care if I have to sell pictures of my feet.

Moving forward, my mother is a MUCH MORE dependable person now but I told my 2 cents to raise awareness on the dysfunction a lot of us were raised in.

I wish I would ask my son for HIS money with my grown ass! If I take any money from my son ever it's going to be put up FOR HIM and HIS future. I have some 2 dollar bills in the stash for him right now so he can see what a 2 dollar bill looks like; maybe he will pass them down to his kids, who knows...

I haven’t been through as much as I have seen. I learned a lot from watching others and their situations play out.

Nothing ever went past me and if it did, that’s because it’s in my nature to want to see the best in people. I’m not dumb, I do dumb things sometimes but I let my heart blind me and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

When my mom came to me, I remember her looking so tired. Her smile was worn, her eyes were glassy. Didn’t know what to make out of her honestly. All I felt was that I had to be strong and help her out. Ain’t that something? Not one hair in my armpit and I felt obligated to help my mother financially. Sometimes in my life I had to tuck my parents in; fed them even. The friends I had in college used to call me “Mama Aysa” jokingly but man…

I ain’t give a damn how tore up I was, how many shots I threw back or what I blew on. My antennas was up and I kept note on each homegirl. I knew who was in the kitchen, who was in the bathroom, and I knew who stepped outside. And know when that Uber pulled up we were all outside linked together even if we didn’t look put together.

My father...had a terrible drinking problem. I remember when my little sister and I went to stay with him for a weekend. I woke up the next morning wondering where my father was. My little sister was still asleep so I went to the back bedroom to find my dad sleeping on the hard, carpeted floor, an empty beer bottle in hand. The sight almost made me cry. To see your parent in a low place messes with your spirit no matter the age.

Knew I couldn’t leave him like that so I took my pillow and laid it gently under his head after taking the beer bottle out of his hand. When I went to put my blanket over him he woke up, thanked me with a kiss on my hand then went back to sleep.

I could go on and on. I’m not recalling any of this to blast my parents; they had parts of them that were unhealed from their childhoods. I love them so dang much!

Their wounds is something I didn’t see back then but I moved according to my Granny always saying, “God pays attention to your actions; you can't change nobody.”.

Yes Granny, you can’t change a soul but roles also shouldn’t flip.

My heart goes out to the children who have to play the parental role or hold their tongues to spare the toxic egos of their parents.

Let’s dive a little deeper shall we?

It’s crazy how children are made to feel like they have to be strong for their parents when it's the parents that messed up in the 1st place. That’s like crashing the car and blaming the person in the backseat. Yes we should definitely support family in time of need but let children be children! The lack of this produces adults who are unhealed. There's many flaws within lack of accountability , that nobody questions in our community. I can only speak for the black community because I’m a black woman and though I may not have grown up in a household where you get popped in your face for questioning a situation, I know it's common in many other black households.

Parents...it’s not your child’s fault you are broke. Nobody told you to ride that thang into the sunset or not wear protection. Hustle harder.

Parents...it’s not your child’s fault you can’t go to thirsty Thursday. Get you a glass of wine and down that mug after you put the baby to sleep.

And please...I can’t stress this enough. Tell your children sorry. It doesn’t matter if they’re a baby, I tell my son sorry whenI lose my patience and he’s currently 10 months old. The objective is to get into the habit of doing so so that ego doesn’t stop you when they are able to communicate orally.

At work yesterday, I was on the phone with a lady for over an hour listening to her life story after canceling her reservation. She’s been through a lot and put her children through a lot concerning men and her finding her way. I was in agreement with this lady I never met in my life, until she said something along the lines of, “They need to get over it…”.

Now why can’t it be, “I understand how my children feel and if I could go back and change what occurred, I would but I can’t. I hope they can grow healthy and heal from what happened…”, and so on? The ego on these toxic ass parents KILLLLLLLLLLLLLL ME!

How dare you try to dictate and subconsciously invalidate what you put your children through because of your piss poor choices? Mind you she said it was times her daughters jumped on a man for beating her. HER DAUGHTERS came to her defense when her head was knocked between the washer and dryer and that’s what you say about what they face?

I simply cannot.

I’m not passing judgement on nobody because I don’t have my shit together either WHATSOEVER. But damn, if we want the black community to move forward we have to call each other out ESPECIALLY when it comes to these babies. I’m so passionate about kids because their love is so freaking pure but they are defenseless.

The fact that children feel the need to step up in trauma they didn’t create says a lot. Because I’ll say this in the defense of these parents; they are hurting too.

That’s why it’s important for other members in the family to step up. It forreal takes a village to raise ONE child. Don’t get your ass on Facebook talking shit about Aunt Bertha who watched your child(ren) for the free 99 because you’re mad she told lil Jimmy to eat all his peas.

When shit hits the fan, you're going to need the support of other family members. I promise you that my baby. To decide to bring a child into this world is a decision that isn’t to be taken lightly. Can never stress enough how serious this parental role gets. And to keep it a buck 50, about time most of us have a baby we won’t be even 80% prepared no matter the age. Way of the world- or...choices for a better term.

My family jokes about how protective I am over my baby boy but I can’t afford for him to hurt like I did. And I damn sure won’t allow anyone else on this earth to hurt him, not on my watch.

That would break my heart more than anything else in this universe to know that he would be screwed up due to my actions. Nope. Can’t stomach it and won’t because I’m trying to heal from my demons before he’s old enough to talk and correlate what’s going on.

I want to protect my son from what I can but also raising a black boy, I know that sometimes he has to fall on his face. I know that sometimes I have to be firm and not eager to pick him up when he cries. Mommy won’t always be there to kiss his booboos. But shid, mommy won’t be the one inflicting those wounds either.

Give your children a childhood they won’t have to heal from. Sometimes you’re going to trip up. Sometimes you are going to lose your cool or whatever the case but your kids will turn out fine as long as they always see you trying and loving them.

I never speak on what my grandparents could have done better because their downfalls don’t come to mind. Their love and effort comes to mind because that’s what I’ve seen. When I speak to other associates who are parents as well I tell em, “keep it real with your baby and they will keep it real with you.”.

I’m looking forward to the days I talk to my son about women and what he wants to do in life. But I will also communicate with him that I may not be having the best day, please be patient with your Mama and in advance I apologize. If my son comes to me about me hurting his feelings or embarrassing him, I will apologize and I will listen to him. Never talk down to him but build up my seed.

Too many men walking about here wanting to love, wanting marriage but don’t know where to start because their mothers never said sorry or talked down to their own sons like the man that hurt them.

Too many women walking around here wanting a husband and family but are scared to submit to a good man because they always heard the bitterness spewing from their mothers mouths. Or their fathers are everywhere but in their face...

Children are mainly defenseless, the very last object they should be associated with is a shield...

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izzy-b-hands · 4 years

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London By Night, Chapter One

The sequel to You Send Me! Freddie and our FtM trans reader finally home in London, with a bit of time to spend before the 1979 European tour begins!

And yes, another Sam Cooke song as the title. I’ve got a theme going now lol.

NSFW right away in this one, just a moment of it. There’ll be more later, I promise lol.

A note that I did touch on a sore point in my own life, re: alcohol for comfort around family. It’s just a brief short paragraph, but I wanted to note it so it doesn’t come as a triggering surprise for anyone (even writing it made me want a drink, tbh, but I’m trying really hard not to lean on drinking rn for comfort of any kind.)

My love to all who read/like/reblog!

“So?”

Despite the long, turbulent flight, Freddie was smiling at you.

“I like it.”

He laughed, and motioned for you to follow him down the airport halls. “Just from here, you’re certain?”

You nodded. “It’s...busy. Really busy. Busy enough no one seems to give a shit who we are or what we’re doing. I never got that back at home.”

“No, certainly not,” Freddie tutted, and you knew he was thinking on how the trip back to your home town had been less than ideal. He’d been recognized more than once, and not always treated kindly as a result. It had made an already not fun trip even harder to deal with, and now it made you all the happier to finally be in London.

“I am sorry about all that mess,” you sighed as you tried to keep up with Freddie, slipping around crowds of people, ignoring the heads that turned at hearing Freddie’s voice. “They could have at least made Christmas and Boxing Day decent...”

“Don’t even think on Christmas again; we don’t need to remember that,” Freddie said, reaching back to tug you through a particularly rough thicket of people. “As far as I’m concerned, our memories were fortunately wiped of that day. We know they existed, and that we lived through them, and that’s all we need to know.”

You nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

It had been a shit show, frankly. You grandparents had certainly not been sick to death, only struggling through some difficult colds, and couldn’t figure out why your mother had demanded you home. As fantastic as it had been to know they were fine, it meant the holiday had gone as “usual” for your family, which meant tears, tantrums, complaining, at least one person stomping off mid-way through present-opening, and you working to drink yourself into a stupor to get through it.

If it hadn’t been for Freddie, you might have drank yourself blind, but thanks to his bright idea of getting away from it all under the guise of ‘showing him about town’, there was some escape.

“I do want to remember the park,” you said as you followed him to a waiting car. “That was a good few hours, and at least the day we spent in New Orleans was lovely.”

That had been your last day in the States, and where you had flown out from to London. It hadn’t been nearly long enough, but for a moment of refreshment and happiness, it had been good.

He smiled. “Those parts we should remember. Everything else, forget it. And if my family asks-”

“We had a perfectly fine holiday and my family are definitely not the weirdest near-psychopaths you’ve ever met,” you chirped as you tried to arrange yourself and your luggage in the backseat of the car.

He rolled his eyes as he joined you. “I don’t know about psychopaths...manipulative and self-centered, for sure.”

“Either way, your parents don’t need to know about that,” you said, and started to lean in for a kiss, then stopped.

The driver watched you both via the rear view mirror, a scowl on his face.

“Just a random driver hired,” Freddie whispered, shooting you a glance that read ‘be careful.’ “Not one of our usual employ.”

You nodded, and sat back in your seat, watching the scenery of the city flash by as the driver sped down the streets.

“Still like it?”

“I do,” you replied. “I’ve always wanted to live in a bigger city. I can’t wait to go out and see it, any of it. Even just your garden!”

“No garden yet, unfortunately,” he sighed. “But soon. I’ve got my eyes on a few nicer places, and now that I have the money-”

He shrugged. “Why put off living somewhere decent, hm? Not that there’s anything wrong with a flat, I mean, only-”

“Not everyone wants to live in a flat forever,” you interrupted. “I know I wouldn’t. And how long have you all been struggling to find and afford nicer housing? You deserve it, all of you, to be in something better. You’ve worked hard for it.”

“You’ll still find the current flat impressive?”

“As long as it’s yours, yes, I will,” you giggled. “Am I to assume mine is just as good?”

“Of course,” he said. “With all the room a one bedroom can give you.”

“In other words...”

“Don’t have too much stuff, and don’t ever actually look at how ‘big’ it is,” Freddie sighed. “If you can manage that, you can pretend you don’t feel like an insect trapped in a jar.”

The car pulled up in front of a frankly beautiful building, and you followed Freddie out of it and to one of the doors into it.

“Now, I should let you know,” Freddie started. “We’re actually still waiting on the current tenants to finish moving out of your place, apparently. I don’t know all what happened, John has more details since wrangling this all went through our office, but in the meantime I thought you could...”

He stopped, and for a minute you saw one of his other sides, the shy Freddie that hung back at times during parties, happy to stick to you and the rest of the guys and be open and fun with you, but less interested in immediately pulling any spotlight towards him.

“If you want to, I should say. I mean, I don’t know where else you’d go, and I really should have told you this sooner, and I apologize for not doing that and-”

“Love?” you interrupted him. “If what you’re trying to say is that I’m staying with you, then I’m thrilled.”

He grinned. “Good. It’s a bit tight, of course, since it’s usually just me. But it’s a roof over your head, at least.”

It was small, but it was beautiful. Decorated gorgeously, with various bits and pieces you were sure Freddie had picked up in the market. Despite how little time there would be to spend there before the next tour would start, it felt like a home.

“Mary is just nearby us as well,” he said. “We’ll have to pay her a visit in the time we’ve got.”

“It goes fast, doesn’t it?”

He nodded grimly, taking your luggage from you, only to toss it by his in the bedroom. “We’ve got till...ah, I should check and make sure I’m remembering right. Seventeenth of January, I think?”

“Think that’s it,” you mumbled, walking back to the bedroom to search your bags for your copy of the upcoming itinerary.

“You’re the first one I’ve brought in here that hasn’t immediately started snooping around like you own the place,” Freddie was behind you suddenly, and you turned from your bag to look up his long legs. “And the first one I didn’t have to prompt to take off your shoes in the house. I appreciate that.”

“You know my family some now,” you said. “They don’t let shoes on in the house either. I’m in no rush to pick up wearing them in as a habit either. And this is your room, I’m just crashing here. It would be wrong of me to start...god, just going through your things? What is wrong with people?”

He shrugged. “I’ve asked the ones that did rifle about my wardrobe and closet, but none have ever had a good answer for that.”

“Well,” you said, and stood up, draping your arms around his shoulders. “I won’t be doing anything of the sort. If I should need to find something, I will be asking you, thank you very much.”

“Your mother raised such a polite boy,” Freddie sighed. “Shame she isn’t more proud of that.”

You winced, as the memory of your mother’s cold reception of you and Freddie during your time home came rushing back. “Let’s not think of her anymore. Not now. Not until the next American tour, maybe.”

“As you wish, my prince,” he said, and grinned at your blush. “I think I’m going to keep calling you that. Look at you!”

The nickname had come about after a long night in your hometown, trying to be quiet after you’d sneaked into the guest room your mother had insisted Freddie stay in. You had talked long about how the chance to move finally, and with him to London no less, made you feel like a prince in a fairy tale. Finally found by the rest of the kingdom, ready to take your proper place on the throne. Even if, in this case, the throne was merely being able to be with Freddie and continuing to work for Queen.

“You can’t call me that in front of the guys,” you giggled. “They’ll have a field day with it.”

“No, I won’t use it in front of them,” Freddie agreed. “But that’s because it’s just for us.”

“I like that.”

“As do I,” Freddie said softly. “Now, what if we show you around the place a bit?”

You frowned slightly. “I mean...I don’t want to be rude, Freddie. But from stepping in, you can see-”

“You’ve not had a tour of the bed yet,” Freddie interrupted with a cheeky smile. “Or should I make you wait for that? Shall I create more stops on the tour first? Maybe we ought to head out to a pub first, wander around and let you explore. Then, if we have time, we could tour the bed.”

You pressed yourself against him, and kissed him hard. To make up for the interrupted kiss in the car, for the many kisses you had to hold back while in your home town.

He kissed you back just as hard, but he let you down gentle onto the bed, and watched you yawn. “You should sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“You say that now, but have you ever traveled out of the States?”

You shook your head.

“Your body needs to catch up to the time change,” Freddie said. “So tell you what. We’ll save the in-depth tour for sometime tomorrow. For now, let me give you the quick tour of the bed.”

You watched as he stripped off his shirt, unbuttoned his trousers and tossed them in a corner of the room once they were off. His eyes followed your hands as you undressed yourself, and you wanted to yell at yourself for being as tired as you had tried to pretend you weren’t.

“Here,” he murmured, and motioned for you to lay back on the bed. “Rest.”

Your hands roamed his shoulders, taut and strong, as he moved over you, then against you, his lips at your neck.

And then a yawn.

“Is my tour guide going to fall asleep on me, literally?” you giggled.

He pressed his forehead against your shoulder. “Possibly.”

You moved gently, until you were both laying side by side, hips close, legs intertwined. Your head rested against his shoulder, and you begged your eyes to stay open.

But it was as if the chance to finally rest, to not be traveling, running, doing, constantly had flipped a switch. There was no fighting it, especially as you listened to the slowing of Freddie’s breath, his arms around you dead weight as he slept.

You stared down the clock for a bit, just visible on the bedside table when you looked past Freddie, until your eyes shut again.

#text post #LeeH writes #freddie mercury x reader #freddie mercury x male reader

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hunnywrites · 5 years

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Sixteen Candles: Part Three

Summary: It’s the day that Vivian has been looking forward to nearly her entire life: her sixteenth birthday. But between her sister’s wedding overshadowing her big day, and praying that her crush Billy Hargrove will finally notice her things aren’t going too well for her. If she can just survive the under the sea dance at her school and avoid the really weird and creepy Tommy H her night might be salvageable. Maybe.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

Sarah, Kevin and Vivian’s parents had left for dinner about twenty minutes ago. Since Enzo’s was the nicest, or really the only nice restaurant in town, they were hoping it would impress Kevin’s snooty parents. It probably wouldn’t. Now Vivian’s grandparents were left in charge. Which meant they would be eating dry meatloaf for dinner and her grandma would remind them over and over of the dangers of underage drinking and premarital sex. Vivian almost put her fork through her eye.

She hadn’t gotten a dress for the dance. She had been holding out until the last minute hoping that her mother would decide against forcing her to go. Instead Sarah lent her a dress that she didn’t want anymore because it was “totally out of style” and wouldn’t be caught dead in. Vivian didn’t really get why. It was a cute dress. It was a deep red, velvet dress with a Bardot neckline that stopped just above her knees. It was a little bit ill fitting. Sarah was practically waifish and Vivian had wider hips and a bit more of a fuller figure like their mother. The dress ended up showing off that “nice little figure” her grandma had told her she had a little bit too much for her liking. But if she threw her leather jacket over it it wasn’t so bad.

Her hair had won the battle of Vivian trying to tame it. She’d cut her curly red hair about a month ago to her shoulders, hoping that it would make it easier to manage. It didn’t. She guessed it made her look cool. Casual. Like she didn’t really care that much. Plus, after Carol started pounding on the bathroom door and threatening her, she didn’t really have much of a choice but to give up.

Now it was time to wait for Tommy to show up to drive them to the dance. Carol was back in her bedroom getting dressed and singing loudly and very off key along with Madonna to Burning Up. Vivian was in Sarah’s room, standing in front of the full length mirror hanging on the back of her door. She didn’t feel like she was sixteen. She didn’t look any different than when she had been fifteen. But had she ever felt different after her birthday? Had she always been too wrapped up in all the cake and presents to notice?

She let out a soft huff and turned to the side. She felt ridiculous in Sarah’s dress. Like she was trying too hard almost. There was a brief moment when Vivian wondered if Billy would like it. Maybe that was the change. Worrying so much about what a boy thought of her. Or catching herself day dreaming way too often about all the things she wanted to do with Billy that always made her cheeks grow all hot. And then there was being faced with the fact that absolutely none of those things would happen in a million years. Vivian let out a groan. Growing up sucked.

“Girls! Thomas is here!” Vivian rolled her eyes at the sound of her grandma’s voice. No one called Tommy H Thomas. It made him sound way too mature when really he had the mentality of a thirteen year old. Carol poked her head out of her room and yelled down that she would be out in a minute. Which in Carol speak meant more like ten. Vivian reluctantly made her way downstairs to the living room where Tommy was waiting by the front door. He gave her a slow once over and grinned at her. Vivian suddenly felt like little red riding hood trapped in a room with the big bad wolf.

“Lookin’ good, Viv. That a new dress?” Vivian plopped down onto the couch and instinctively turned her body away from Tommy. She hated having to be alone with him.

“Uh, not really. It’s actually Sarah’s.” she tugged at the end of her dress in an attempt to cover up a bit more of her legs. Tommy didn’t hide the fact that he was looking at them. Vivian had never understood what Carol saw in him. They’d somehow been together since Vivian was in elementary school. It made the fact that Tommy almost relentlessly hit on Vivian any time Carol wasn’t around that much creepier. Of all the boys in Hawkins to be interested in her, why did it have to be Tommy H?

Tommy moved closer to her and perched on the arm of the couch. “Hey, how come you don’t have a date to the dance?” usually Vivian would have some sort of biting remark. Sarah was always telling her that she was much too comfortable being sarcastic. But with Tommy she kept the comments she wanted to say to herself and kept things as short as possible. He wasn’t entirely bright enough to understand sarcasm. Or much of anything. Usually he would just seem to think she was flirting back and it would be impossible to escape the conversation.

Plus, she didn’t really want to open the can of worms that was wondering why no one had asked her to the dance. “...I just didn’t want to go with anyone, I guess.” she finally said with a shrug.

“Oh...well, that’s okay. You wanna be my date? I’m sure I can juggle you and Carol.” that grin was back. Vivian didn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“How about you ask Carol how she’d feel about that arrangement?” Vivian asked, fluttering her eyelashes with a sweet smile. Tommy’s grin fell. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by Vivian’s grandmother walking in. Tommy nearly jumped up from the arm of the couch.

“Would you like something to drink, Thomas? Are you hungry? I made meatloaf. The girls weren’t really hungry so there’s plenty left over.” they were plenty hungry. The meatloaf was just awful. Vivian almost hoped Tommy would accept her offer.

Tommy only smiled what Vivian assumed he thought was a charming smile. “Oh, no thank you ma’am. My mom made a pretty big dinner so I don’t really have room for meatloaf.” he patted his stomach.

“Consider yourself lucky. A dog wouldn’t even eat that meatloaf.” it was Carol. She came practically stomping down the stairs in her strapless, light pink chiffon dress that she had begged and pleaded with their dad to buy her for the dance. Vivian usually felt self conscious next to her older sister, but she felt even more so now. Carol looked like she had just stepped out of an issue of Cosmo.

Their grandmother frowned over at Carol. “Now, young lad-”

Carol rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “We gotta run, grandma. Don’t wait up. Mom says curfew’s at one,” that definitely wasn’t true. The girls had a firm eleven o’clock curfew on weekends. But Vivian kept her mouth shut. Carol grabbed Tommy by the arm and pulled him towards the front door, Vivian close behind. Their grandma followed with a reminder of the lovely talk they’d had at dinner. The three teens practically bolted for Tommy’s car.

“God, she never shuts up!” Carol groaned. “No sex before marriage!” she said in a crude, mocking voice. “Jesus doesn’t like tramps! Please.”

“Don’t forget that story about her friend Judy and how her grandson died from drinking a beer at a highschool party.” Vivian laughed as she slid into the backseat. Carol threw her head back and let out a cackle like laugh.

“That’s right! He’s not even dead! He got shit faced on tequila shots and got a dui and his dad sent him to boot camp!” if it was one thing Vivian could bond with her sister over, it was what an absolute fruit loop their grandmother was.

Tommy was grinning again. “You know, she’s a little too late with that no sex before marriage thing, Car.” Vivian’s nose scrunched up in disgust. So not what she wanted to hear. Ever.

Carol let out a loud snort and shoved Tommy’s shoulder. “Shut up, ass.” and just like that, the sisterly bonding was over. For the rest of the ride to school Vivian ceased to exist to Carol and Tommy. Which was pretty alright with her. Especially when it came to Tommy.

The Hawkins High gym had been transformed into an under the sea fantasy. Well, as much of a fantasy as the dance committee had been able to pull off. Blue lights hung high above the students dancing and mingling, giving them all an odd and almost otherworldly pallor. Silver streamers hung from the doorways, food tables and sporadically from the gym’s ceiling mimic what Vivian assumed to be seaweed. In one corner there were large cut outs of crudely drawn sea creatures along with a mermaid and merman as a photo op for the students and their dates.

Carol quickly dragged Tommy over to have their photo taken. “Oh, see ya later, sis! Have fun!” Vivian muttered to herself as she made her way over to the bleachers where Robin was sitting and looking bored. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” she said with a heavy sigh as she sat next to her best friend.

“Likewise,” Robin said with a grin. “I dig the dress. It’s gonna be hard for Billy to ignore you in that.”

Vivian rolled her eyes and waved a hand at Robin. “This so isn’t for him. I didn’t have anything to wear so I had to borrow it from Sarah. Tommy hit on me while we were waiting for Carol to finish getting ready,” she pulled a face. Robin and Vivian both looked over to where Tommy and Carol were posing in front of the photographer for their dance photo. They both groaned. Vivian scanned the room quickly. “...Have you seen Billy?” she asked casually.

Robin smiled and shook her head. “Not yet. I’m imagining Cheryl’s gonna turn up fashionably late. You want some punch or something?” Vivian only shrugged. Robin patted her knee and stood up. “Be right back.” Vivian watched Robin head over to the snack table and let out a sigh. This was probably gonna be a long night. And adding the fact that she was going to wait around for Billy like a little puppy definitely wasn’t going to help.

“There she is!” Vivian groaned. Her night just kept getting worse. Tommy had spotted her. He was dancing along to the music and headed her way. Carol wasn’t anywhere in sight. “Been lookin’ for ya, Viv!” he took her by the hands and pulled her to her feet. Vivian watched in near horror as Tommy continued to dance in front of her.

“Uh, Tommy? Where’s Carol?”

He didn’t stop dancing. “She went to the bathroom with Cheryl. Come on, girl! Don’t leave me hangin’! I love this song!” he took Vivian’s hands in his again and tried to get her to dance with him. Vivian harshly pulled away from him. She didn’t really know who she was more embarrassed for. Tommy and his awful dancing, herself for having to be seen with him, or Carol for thinking Tommy wasn’t an absolute creep.

“You know, I’m not really much of a dancer. Maybe you should just go find Billy or something,” she took a step back from Tommy hoping it would keep him from grabbing her again. “Have you seen him anywhere?”

Tommy was still dancing. “I think he’s outside having a smoke,” Vivian thought that she hid her disappointment, but apparently not as well as she thought. Tommy grinned at her. “You sweet on Hargrove, Viv?”

Vivian felt her cheeks burn. “Of course not. I didn’t even...I gotta go find Robin.” she rushed around Tommy and disappeared into the sea of dancing teenagers.

A few moments later Billy waltzed back into the gym. He shoved the sleeves of the black blazer he was wearing up his arms and gave an unimpressed look around the gym. Susan had given him the blazer right before he left to pick up Cheryl. It was his dad’s. “It’s a dance, Billy! You have to look your best for your date!” she had said, running into her bedroom to fetch the coat.

Cheryl hadn’t really cared about what he was wearing. She spent the entire drive fixing her makeup and bitching about how her parents refused to buy her the dress she had wanted because she had failed two classes that past semester. As soon as they arrived at the dance Cheryl and made a beeline for Carol and the two had run off the the bathroom. Billy headed back outside for a smoke and to sneak a few swigs from the flask he’d stashed on the inner pocket of his blazer.

When he’d made his way back inside Tommy was dancing over by the bleachers. Alone. Billy rolled his eyes and walked over to him. “They’re still not back yet?” he asked, scanning the crowd for Cheryl and Carol.

“Nah, man. I bet they’ll be gone for awhile,” Tommy finally stopped dancing and looked at his friend with a mischievous grin. “You’ll never guess who was asking about you, dude.”

Billy let out a heavy sigh and shoved his hands into his pockets, his fingers playing mindlessly with his lighter. “I give up.” he said with a bored tone.

Tommy threw an arm around Billy’s shoulders and turned him towards the snack table. Vivian was standing by the punch bowl with Robin. She looked good. Amazing, actually. But with the way she kept pulling at the bottom of her dress and shifting uncomfortably showed that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with all the new attention she was getting. Billy watched on with an amused look.

“You think you can maybe talk to her? Get me an in?” Billy frowned and looked over at Tommy.

“...The hell are you talking about? Aren’t you with Carol?”

Tommy looked around to make sure that no one was listening. He grinned wickedly. “I don’t see her around, do you?”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Christ, Tommy. You’re even dumber than I thought.”

Tommy frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You can’t try to fuck your girl’s sister. They tell each other about that kinda shit. You need to get some tact, man,” not to mention he was fairly certain that he would see pigs flying before Vivian ever agreed to willingly sit in a room alone with Tommy. There was a moment when Vivian turned and met eyes with Billy from across the gym. Her lips twitched. Like she wasn’t sure whether to smile at him or not. The corner of Billy’s mouth turned upwards in a smirk, and Vivian’s cheeks turned a deep pink before she turned back to Robin. “...I’ll see you later, Tommy.” he patted his friend on the shoulder and started off towards Vivian.

“There you are!” Billy stifled the groan he wanted to let out at the sound of Cheryl’s voice. He stopped in his tracks, turning to face his date with a thin smile. “I was worried someone might’ve stolen you away,” she said with an overly sweet smile. Cheryl straightened out the front of Billy’s blazer before she placed her hands on his chest. “Carol told me that Tommy’s having a party at his place after and I said we would go.”

Billy could think of about 900 completely awful things that he would rather do than go to a party with his friends. “I’m not really in a partying mood. I gotta get to the pool early tomorrow.” he lied.

If looks could kill, Billy would be dead. Cheryl’s hot pink nails dig ever so slightly into his chest as she glared up at him. “Well, I already told Carol that we would go. And it’ll look bad if I go by myself. So you’re going to come with me, and you’re going to have a good time.” she said through her teeth.

A mistake that Billy had made early on with Cheryl was deciding not to argue with her. It gave her the sense that he was a pushover that would do whatever she wanted. That she had power in the relationship. Usually it was just easier to do what Cheryl said. No matter how much he hated it. It was never worth all the dirty looks and all of her bitching. “...Whatever, Cheryl. We’ll stop by for a few minutes. I’m gonna go have another smoke.”

He didn’t care that he was ditching her. He didn’t care about the way she was calling after him in that fake, sweet voice that she used in front of other people. He wanted to get away from her. Away from this stupid under the sea dance.

He shoved the gym door opened and collided hard with someone on the other side. “Christ, watch where you’re goi- oh, Billy!” it was Vivian. The door shut loudly behind him, and the two were left out in the quiet hallway.

“Sorry…” he muttered, fidgeting with the lighter in his pocket. Vivian waved him off and adjusted her dress. He couldn’t help but give her another once over. “I like the dress.”

Vivian’s hands went still as she looked up at him. She blinked a few times. “...What?”

Billy chuckled and motioned to her outfit. “The dress. It looks good on you. You get it for your birthday?”

He expected her to blush again. To freeze up like she usually did when he complimented her. Instead she rolled her eyes dramatically and scoffed. “No. I didn’t get shit for my birthday. My family forgot all about it.” there was a shocked look on her face almost like she had said something she shouldn’t have.

Billy raised an eyebrow. “They forgot? How’s that possible?”

“My sister’s stupid wedding. I keep telling myself that I’m over it, but every time I bring it up I get pissed off all over again,” she shook her head. “It’s not really a big deal. Anyways, having fun with Cheryl?” there was a bit of bite in her voice that made Billy smirk down at her.

“Tons,” he said cooly. “She told me Tommy’s having a party at his place after the dance. You should come. Bring Robin. We’ll call it your birthday party.” that shy look of hers was back. Billy couldn’t help but smile.

“I don’t know…” she scrunched up her nose. “I’ve kinda had my fill of Tommy for one night. Robin and I were gonna head to the movies and see Red Dawn,” Billy honestly wished he could join them. “Maybe next time.” she offered. He knew that was a lie.

Billy smiled slowly at her and nodded. “Yeah, maybe next time. Well, I guess I’ll see you around Birthday Girl.” Vivian tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as her cheeks turned pink again. Her lips twitched again, like she was fighting to keep her cool. She mumbled a “bye” before rushing back into the gym. He knew that Vivian thought he couldn’t see her now. He placed a cigarette between his lips as he watched her hurry across the dance floor towards Robin.

She was talking to her friend animatedly and pointing back to the gym doors. Robin looked on with an amused smile at her friends ranting. Billy let out a short laugh and lit his cigarette. He didn’t really know why he was so interested in Vivian. Aside from her obvious good looks, Vivian was a good girl. Billy had never really liked good girls. Maybe Cheryl had made him realize it was time to try something new.

He decided once he was sure that she was home from the movies that he would call her and ask her out. What could go wrong?

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

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detroitbecomeyandere · 5 years

Text

His Muse

You hummed to yourself as you climbed into the car after loading up the easels into the back, today you were making a delivery and getting to meet The Carl Manfred. Usually he sent his android out to buy supplies but something must have come up because he placed an order for delivery. You glanced at the backseat filled with two new easels and several large canvases, then again his android wouldn’t have been able to walk all of it home anyways. That was probably why you were asked to deliver it.

You pulled up to the driveway and rang the buzzer, “Uh hi? This is y/n from Bellini’s Paints? I’m here to drop off the delivery.” You leaned your head out the window and waved at the small camera you could see pointed at the car. The gate swung open and you pulled up into the driveway. You looked around in awe, it was a beautiful house. You were so busy staring at the house and yard you almost missed Markus walking up to you.

You gave a laugh as you waved at the android, his sweet smile always brightened your day. “Well if it isn’t my favorite customer!” He returned the smile and opened the car door for you to climb out before he turned and started to pull canvases out of the backseat.

“Y/N, you know Carl’s your favorite customer. Not me.”

You laughed a bit as his response. “True, but it’s not like I’ve ever met him. Have I?”

He shook his head in response before looking at the supplies in front of the two of you. He bit his lip for a moment before looking up at you. “Well, if you don’t mind helping me take these in you could meet him?”

You both began to pick up the supplies and walk inside, idly chatting between yourselves. Most days you would forget Markus wasn’t human, he acted so human. The only thing that always stood out to you was his kindness, that level of sincerity and compassion seemed inhuman to you. You followed behind Markus, trying not to just stop and look around in awe of your surroundings. You did however stop in your tracks as he led you in to a beautiful art room. The walls were glass and showed the backyard, you could see different paint cans everywhere and could only marvel at what looked like an artists dream room. A mechanical whirl caught your attention and you turned to see a large hydraulic lift slowly lowering down a man. Markus walked over to him and detached it from the wheelchair the man was sitting in.

He rolled over to you, looking up at you with a crooked grin and bright blue eyes. “You must be the girl Markus has told me so much about.”

You gave a short laugh, he knew about you? “I must be?” You turned to give Markus a questioning look. “I can’t imagine there’s much for him to say about me?”

Carl looked over his shoulder at Markus who just gave a quick grin and resumed putting away the supplies, quickly walking over to you and relieving you of your packages. “Just that you are a thing of beauty.” He looked you up and down before he wheeled around you in a circle. You resisted the urge to turn with him. “You should come back here after work. I would love to paint you.” You felt your face flush at his words, you weren’t used to someone showing you such attention.

You opened and closed your mouth a few times, trying to think of a response before you just shut it and nodded your head. Carl watched as Markus led you back outside. He wheeled after the two of you and waved at you before watching you back up out of the driveway.

The rest of the day felt like it passed by in a blur, you felt your chest constrict when you clocked out and left the building to see Markus standing there. “I’m still in my uniform though?”

Markus looked around at the different shops. “Do you live nearby?”

You gave a half shrug, “Enough? I mean it’s not like an hour walk or anything.” You untied your apron and took off the ball cap, wrapping up the apron and then shoving it into the hat. Markus watched and waited as you shoved it all into your bag before you looked at him with a small smile. “Right, to my place for non work clothes then I guess we’re taking the bus?”

“Lead the way.” In just under a half hour the two of you were standing outside of your apartment, you were trying not to breathe heavily from the brisk pace you had walked at. Part of you didn’t want to admit that you did live almost an hours walk away from work. You felt like he would disapprove. Which was a dumb thought, androids didn’t have emotions or opinions. They couldn’t give you the judgemental look Markus was currently giving you. He just raised an eyebrow as he watched you try to catch your breath without gasping for air. “Don’t put yourself out on my account.”

He just sassed you. You unlocked the door and tried to take deep breaths through your nose. You felt proud of yourself for not flipping him off. His next words did make you flip him off though, “It’s rather… small.” He looked around the place, taking in the coffee table cluttered with homework from several classes, the stack of laundry you were supposed to fold last night but got caught up doing homework instead. He looked up to see you flipping him off. “That wasn’t supposed to be so offensive, I apologize.”

You finally put down your hands and you shrugged, “I’m a broke-ass college student. Just be glad I don’t have 5 roommates. Thankfully the job pays well enough for me to afford rent on my own.” You paused and tilted your head, “Well- jobs. Just so you know, it’s a good thing you caught me on a weekday. Weekends are spent cleaning houses of rich snobs who don’t trust androids.”

He glanced around at the books and papers out on the coffee table. “You’re studying AIs and Robotic Engineering?”

“Yup! I’m hoping to be the next Kamski!” Markus found himself smiling at the way your eyes lit up at the topic. “But first, lemme go find my nice clothes. I think I have some stuffed in the closet.” Markus went to follow you to the bedroom when you turned and stopped him by putting your hands up. “Alone. I will go and get changed alone. You can wait out here.”

Markus walked back to the living room as you closed the door, he looked around the apartment. It wasn’t messy, just cramped. In fact the most mess you seemed to have was the homework all over the coffee table. Markus sat down on the couch and began to fold your laundry as he waited for you. He heard the door open and close and turned to see you in a nice blouse and slacks. “You’re touching my laundry.”

“It seemed the only thing you needed help with. Should I have left it?” You nodded and then just shook your head at him before slipping flats on and running your fingers through your hair. He stood up and looked over your clothes, walking around you in a circle much like Carl earlier. “Is that a corset you’re wearing under that?”

You patted down the shirt, wondering if it stuck out somehow. “Should I take it off? I like how I look in it.”

“It’s fine. We should head out now.” The two of you walked over to the bus stop, you turned and gave a small frown at Markus as he stepped into the Androids only section. You walked further back so only the line separated you two. He didn’t say anything, just gave you a confused expression as the two of you stood in the bus.

The two of you stood in silence as the bus took you to Lafayette Ave. When you reached the stop Markus turned to walk off the bus and you hurried after him, still trying to not stare around in awe at the house. Markus guided you back into the same art room you had seen Carl in before. He turned away from his current painting to give you a smile.

“Come on, let’s go to a different room. I’ll just get a sketch of you tonight, you never want to rush a work of art you know.” You smiled politely and were led into another room. You couldn’t help but gaze in wonder at the tall bookshelves. “You act like Alice in Wonderland with the way you’re gazing about.”

You felt the heat rush to your face, “Sorry.” The word tumbled out of your mouth and you nervously smoothed down your shirt as you looked around some more. “I guess I do feel a bit like her. I’d never imagine myself in a place this nice in a million years.” You walked up to a tall stuffed giraffe, your hand pausing just an inch from it before you changed your mind and stepped back.

“It’s alright to be curious. Could you sit on the couch? Markus hand her a book. Thank you.” You smiled at Markus as he handed you a book, an actual hardcover book . You glanced over at Carl, “Don’t sit so stiffly doll. You can relax. Sit like you usually do and hold the book open.” You slipped off your shoes and curled one leg under you before opening the book, taking a moment to just take in the old book smell. You closed your eyes and smiled, thinking of the books your grandparents used to have. The ones your parents had when you were just a kid, before they started moving around and switching everything to digital for the convenience. After a moment you opened your eyes and felt your face heating up again. Carl was quietly looking up at you as he sketched, but Markus was looking at you in wonder. He probably didn’t understand scent memory or how sentimental humans could be. Then again, as he walked behind Carl and watched him sketch you, you felt yourself smiling because maybe he did understand sentiment.

You started to read the book, just listening to the sounds of the fire crackling and the sound of his pencil going over the paper to your side. Occasionally he would wheel his chair over to a slightly different spot and continue from there. After a little while you glanced up from the book and jumped a little when you saw Carl was sitting much closer to you. He just gave you a warm smile and resumed his work. “Could you move and sit on the longue?” You closed the book and put it down before standing up and walking over. “Now turn your head and look out the window. Just over your shoulder. Like that.” You stayed in the position, placing both hands on your lap and thankfully not twitching when Carl reached over and pushed your hair back behind your shoulders. If it had been a younger man you would have said he was flirting with you. Soft lingering touches were how he positioned you perfectly before being satisfied with the position.

After what felt like too long he spoke again, “Done for tonight. I’m sure you must be famished. Would you like to stay for dinner?”

You almost said no out of instinct but thought of what was even in your pantry at the moment. And since you couldn’t recall and it was another few days before your next paycheck you knew you shouldn’t turn down a free meal. “Sure thing Carl.” You stood back up, brushing down your shirt again. The two of you enjoyed a pleasant dinner together, Markus was playing piano while the two of you talked. You found yourself telling him about your studies and how you tried to balance two jobs and school at the same time and how you wondered how you still managed to stay sane with all of that.

He frowned a bit when you told him about your second job and how you hated it but you really didn’t have a flexible enough schedule to afford a better second job. “This could be your job.” You froze, wondering if you heard him correctly.

“What.” You grimaced at the response, but it sounded unbelievable.

“Quit that job, take less time at Bellini’s, spend more time studying and focusing on what’s important to you.” He reached over and grasped your hand with his own, looking up at you with a soft smile that just asked for you to trust him.

“I- I don’t know what to say.” You really didn’t, you just met him today and he wanted to hire you as a model? You pulled your hand back from his gently and looked down at your figure. Self-deprecating thoughts filled your mind and you bit your lip to keep from saying them.

He just smiled at you before picking his cutlery back up. “Say you’ll think about it at least.” You gnawed on your lip as you thought about it. Your thoughts went back and forth on the issue, it couldn’t hurt to take him up on his offer. Could it? He seemed like a nice old man. Harmless even. He was very sweet and really, who would pass up an opportunity like this?

You nodded to yourself as you made up your mind. “I will then Mr. Manfred.”

“Call me Carl y/n.”

—

Sugar Daddy Carl is 😩💦👅🤤👌🏻

Always a pleasure doing business with you, Rook!

•Mod Kylie•

#submission #birooksun #detroit become human #dbh carl #carl manfred #carl manfred x reader #mod kylie #his muse

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wizardessheart-sideb · 5 years

Video

youtube

A new episode is out! it’s very short but we talk about Rex’s release, my suffering bc my desk is wobbly, and a timeline for seasons 1-5.

All my videos have subtitles, but here’s transcription under the cut for the low bandwidth squad.

HEWWO

Hello everyone, welcome to Royal Magic Academy Radio, a podcast about Wizardess Heart. I’m your host, Mari. We don’t have too much to talk about, so we’re gonna be goofing around and stuff. But anyway, let’s get on with the show!

GAMING NEWS

God, I'm gonna sound like a fuckin' beauty blogger, but literally like, I'm sorry, I don't know if my mic's gonna pick it up, but... literally one of my neighbors is like... sawing right now? Um... Ugh. You would think living out in the country I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing, and yet here we are. Okay, so anyway, game news. We finally got Rex’s route, which released on Friday. *Beat* Yeah, that's it. *Laughs and there's rattling noises going on in the background*... ugh. I'm in a new recording space right now, so I'm like... Usually I move a lot while recording, and like, I'm just leaning on my desk and everything's like, making noise. Ugh. Okay, anyway. We haven’t gotten any new events besides Rex’s route. As I’m writing this script Tuesday morning, I’m just starting chapter 9 and I’m enjoying the ride for the most part. I dunno, it’s kinda complicated but I’ll talk about it whenever Rex is Darling of the Month, which he probs won’t be for a while since Amelia has June and I already have people planned for July and August.

ANIME EXPO

Solmare also gave another update on Anime Expo. They talked about having their booth full of promo materials for their new game, Obey Me!. It honestly sounds super interesting, but from how they’re talking and the booth concept art they released, it looks like the whole thing is gonna be geared for the new game. Which. I don’t know, I’m kinda mixed about. I’m looking forward to Obey Me!, but I hope they have more stuff for the older games and they’re just not saying it. If I recall, they didn’t really say they were gonna have those face cut-out things with the CGs, but that was a part of their booth. I’d say I’d hope those come back, but I’m like the least photogenic person ever so. Yeah idk. Not gonna lie, all this new stuff going on with Shall We Date makes me think I should just make a SWD blog or podcast or something. Probably just a podcast, since I don’t care about the other games enough to keep a real-time news blog about them, but there’s definitely interesting things going on.

ROUTE REVIEW

Today we’ll be talking about the New Friends of Amelia spin-off since Amelia doesn’t have a route for me to review. Yet. Please Solmare let me date Amelia BLEASE.

Let me set the scene for you: it’s late June. I’ve been pulling several all nighters trying to get ready for Anime Expo. I’m ready to die because I’ve had to handsew almost all of my Sol Maiden!Liz cosplay and I just finished major fixes to my Persona 5 cosplay. My mom and I are leaving my grandparent’s house and heading back down to our house. I’m in our car, sitting in the backseat, planning to sleep on the drive so I can pull another all-nighter. I’m exhausted, but I always check the game at 6, so I decide to do it. And I’m surprised at getting a new spin-off. I’m also irritated because I’m in my car and I can’t exactly report on it. So I’m looking through, loving the new character designs, loving the aesthetic, loving the avatar items.

And honestly? It’s still one of my favorite spin-offs. I adore Scarlett and Augustus, I’m always down for Amelia getting more content, and of course, I love that it’s the beginning of Amelia’s love story. Both sides of the spin-off are great and honestly, those avatar items are still some of my favorites and ones I have my avatar wear often because they’re so pretty.

I honestly really regret not screen recording it, because I would love to reread it. Since I was in the car, I’m impatient, and I never have space on my phone, I didn’t screen record it and now I think the only people who I know have it are Ceragon Dubs. But yeah. It’s a favorite spin-off of mine and it’s just all around fantastic.

THEORY

So today’s theory is going to be a possible timeline for seasons 1-5. I’m not touching season 6 and on because. Hell no. But anyway, I’ve done some digging and thanks to in-game details, I have a solid timeline. Day 1 of the pre-Night Class seasons starts on February 18 and day 12 is February 29.

From several routes, we know by the time the MC starts classes, school’s already been going on for a while. Then in Luca’s route, one of the journal entries talks about the school uniform and ends it with saying, "The summer uniform is also incredibly cute, but I'll introduce that some other time!" That implies the uniform we always see on sprites is the winter uniform.

Now, schools with separate winter and summer uniforms usually switch to the summer one starting June 1st and wear them until September 30th, so we know this isn’t when any of the stories happen. So the time frame is October 1st to May 31st, when students wear winter uniforms.

And then Sigurd’s route tells us it’s a leap year and in a couple of days’ time, Sol Felia will happen. This is said to happen only on Leap Days, which is February 29th. So working back from that day, which in Sigurd’s route happens on Day 12, that makes day 1 February 18th and the day of the happy ending March 1st.

BYE BYE!

So there we go! Not a lot of stuff happened this week, but that’s to be expected. So thanks for coming along with me on today’s episode. Next time, I’ll be reviewing another Amelia spin-off and I don’t know what else I’ll be talking about. If you have anything you’d like me to talk about, let me know either in the comments or on my tumblr. Social media info is in the description box, and that’ll do it for me this week! This is Mari, signing off.

#wizardess heart #wizardess heart+#shall we date wizardess heart #shall we date wizardess #rmar

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birooksun · 5 years

Text

His Muse pt.1

Read on AO3! (Written for @thesexmetalbarbie)

“Y/N, you know Carl’s your favorite customer. Not me.”

You laughed a bit as his response. “True, but it’s not like I’ve ever met him. Have I?”

He rolled over to you, looking up at you with a crooked grin and bright blue eyes. “You must be the girl Markus has told me so much about.”

You gave a short laugh, he knew about you? “I must be?” You turned to give Markus a questioning look. “I can’t imagine there’s much for him to say about me?”

The rest of the day felt like it passed by in a blur, you felt your chest constrict when you clocked out and left the building to see Markus standing there. “I’m still in my uniform though?”

Markus looked around at the different shops. “Do you live nearby?”

He glanced around at the books and papers out on the coffee table. “You’re studying AIs and Robotic Engineering?”

You patted down the shirt, wondering if it stuck out somehow. “Should I take it off? I like how I look in it.”

“It’s alright to be curious. Could you sit on the couch? Markus hand her a book. Thank you.” You smiled at Markus as he handed you a book, an actual hardcover book. You glanced over at Carl, “Don’t sit so stiffly doll. You can relax. Sit like you usually do and hold the book open.” You slipped off your shoes and curled one leg under you before opening the book, taking a moment to just take in the old book smell. You closed your eyes and smiled, thinking of the books your grandparents used to have. The ones your parents had when you were just a kid, before they started moving around and switching everything to digital for the convenience. After a moment you opened your eyes and felt your face heating up again. Carl was quietly looking up at you as he sketched, but Markus was looking at you in wonder. He probably didn’t understand scent memory or how sentimental humans could be. Then again, as he walked behind Carl and watched him sketch you, you felt yourself smiling because maybe he did understand sentiment.

After what felt like too long he spoke again, “Done for tonight. I’m sure you must be famished. Would you like to stay for dinner?”

“What.” You grimaced at the response, but it sounded unbelievable.

You nodded to yourself as you made up your mind. “I will then Mr. Manfred.”

“Call me Carl y/n.”

#my fanfiction #yandere dbh #detroit become human #carl manfred #detroit become human Carl #dbh markus #yandere Carl

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themarchblessing · 6 years

Text

DULCE VIDA

SABRINA

Grabbing the scissors I sat down on the floor of the nursery cutting into these packages. I ordered some more stuff for the baby last week and it’s finally arrived so I’m super pumped to see all of her clothes in person.

My nausea had subsided greatly meaning I don’t have morning or evening sickness as often but the feeling is still lingering around. Now it’s more so certain smells that really bring me to my knees versus adjusting to a new baby. We got our house set up on the outskirts of Brooklyn which means that Izaiah technically should be going to a new school but Brian and Ravyn both play a big part in why he’s still at the same school. Izaiah had an amazing summer. Corey and I tried our best to get his travel bug going and I think we did an okay job. The further along I became in my pregnancy it made certain trips difficult to bear but I pushed through for our son.

Corey’s parents, Hassan and Carla, even came to visit a couple of times during the summer months. They also took Zay on vacations without Corey and I but that’s alright. I was happy to see Zay bond and interact with his other grandparents. They are all so smitten with each other.

Corey finished putting together his gallery which is by far the coolest I’ve ever seen. He really did his thing with the designing and I swear it’s the cutest thing to see him in his zone when he’s there. Since we relocated he had to close down his two smallest labs and put in a decent sized one in his gallery. I had never been to his other laboratories but when he finished with this space I got to see everything and I was so amazed. Brian helped him out a great deal which was stress off of Corey’s back and music to my ears.

Speaking of my handsome fiancée I wonder when he’s coming home with our baby boy.

“Aw this is such a cute onesie..” I gushed holding up the soft outfit in the air. Most of what I ordered from Childsplay Clothing is little t-shirts, pants with booties attaches to them, baby crewnecks, and simple shit like that. I’m putting my best door forward to be more prepared for when my daughter arrives than how I was with Izaiah. Saying that in relevance to their clothing. Placing the opened boxes aside I set the clothes I’ve taken out and grouped them together by color and style.

“Mom!” I heard Izaiah yell out suddenly.

“Nursery!” I called, opening up another box to see what’s inside here. “Oh this is what you’re coming home in baby girl. No question.” I smiled in certainty loving how soft this two piece set is. The top and pants are cream with a lavender block of color around the wrists and ankles.

Footsteps coming closer earned my attention to see Izaiah walking in the door holding what I take is food. The closer he walked I felt my stomach growl at the confirming smell that my baby got me food. I kid you not, being eight and a half months pregnant has made me eat so much. I crave food all the time and I get it all the time. When daddy isn’t here I spend so much time in the kitchen cooking for myself. And to think I slowed down on time in the kitchen when that’s all I ever did with my mother growing up. But to be honest I take full advantage of Corey being such a good cook. He loves it and so do Zay and I. I do try to give him breaks sometimes so he doesn’t get sick of it.

“Hi baby, how was school today?” Placing more of the clothes in the piles I kissed Zay’s cheek, making room for him to sit with me.

“It was alright. We got you food.” Zay set the bag down away from the clothes taking out what looks a sandwich and then he pulled out what appears to be soup. Oh my boys know me so well. The first four months of my pregnancy were a battle. Constant nausea, dizzy spells and a lot of napping! But once I made it to 28 weeks, I was able to move throughout the day without feeling so out of control. The foods I’m eating nowadays have a lot to do with the morning sickness. I try to eat very light and very simple. Every meal I consume has ten ingredients or less that won’t possibly upset my stomach, per my decision. “What did you do all day mom?” Izaiah removed his sneakers and joined me in opening up the remainder of the boxes.

Unwrapping the sandwich and not wasting any time digging into it, I stretched out my legs. “Well after I did the laundry, cleaned up the entire house, took a bath, and made like twenty pancakes, I didn’t do much else. This stuff came to the house finally so I’ve been working on this.” I explained, finishing one half of my sandwich.

Izaiah shook his head in silence probably at the fact that I ate this turkey sandwich so fast. I must admit I did demolish this pretty quickly and while talking. “Where’s your dad?” Eating the other half I thought about if I wanted to eat the soup as well but decided not to.

“He’s downstairs. Want me to get him?” Zay began to stand but I ushered him to sit back down. He and I continued to open up the mail. With his help I managed to get the baby’s room in order to completion. Corey and I finished decorating due to how excited we are to meet this little girl of ours. The only thing that I hadn’t gotten around to until today was organizing her clothes.

Once we finished I helped him with his homework. Night fell and that’s when the hunger struck. Corey was downstairs in the kitchen, per usual, Izaiah was getting cleaned up in the bathroom. I got my shower in for the night and just as I was leaving our ensuite to go and change I felt myself step in something wet. Stopping in my tracks I looked down at my feet seeing liquid running down the side of my leg.

There’s no pain but I don’t understand why my water is breaking. I made an advance to move but I felt paralyzed. By the grace of god I looked up to see Izaiah staring at me with his t-shirt halfway on.

“What’s wrong, mom?” He walked closer as he situate his shirt on his body.

“I think my water just broke. I want to sit down but I can’t move. Please help me.” I begged. I reached for his hand. Zay held onto my hand and walked me back into the room over to the bed.

“Sit down.” He ushered. I twinged with pain doubling over. My hand caught the bed spread in time so I had some leverage to keep me from falling.

“Go get..” I breathed not able to get the words out. My mind is racing and my heart is doing the same. I’m not expected to have this baby for another two or so weeks but the pain that’s now hitting me is unbearable.

“Dad, I know.” Izaiah helped me sit down then he bolted for the door. “Dad!” He shouted descending the steps loudly. I can’t hear if Corey is responding. “Come upstairs, mom’s water broke!” Just then I heard something crash and both of the boys running.

I managed to get to the closet and get out a pair of shorts and a bralette. With some strength I changed into this simple outfit.

“Bri?” Hearing Corey’s voice I walked into the bedroom and stood by the bed. He rushed over to me guiding me to sit down. “Your water broke this early? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’m not due for another two weeks. I started having contractions though, heavy ones. They faded so I don’t know if these are the warning or the real thing.” I explained looking up at him.

Going to the ER is the route we decided to go with. Zay was getting dressed, Corey pulled out the hospital bags and loaded up the car. I threw on a flannel not bothering to button up. It gets hotter by the second, the contractions came back and drew closer together every few minutes. Maybe I am gonna have this baby early.

“Sabrina?” Corey called out in distress. I met him in the hallway carrying my small duffel bag on my arm. “You ready?” He asked. The stress in his face is making me feel bad. Of course I didn’t plan to have my water break this soon but what’s done is done. We prepared for the birth last month together with my doctor but not this soon.

Setting my bag down I wrapped my arms around him hoping to decrease his anxiety. “Breathe Corey, everything is gonna be fine.” Funny how I’m encouraging him to relax when I’m the one about to have a baby. He laughed at my tactics and hugged me back. The warmth of his hug and the security I feel helped to ease my mind. I’m seriously so blessed to have such a great guy like Corey. I feel like I say this so much but it’s only the truth.

“I love you Sabrina, I love you so much for everything.” He muttered, rubbing my back underneath the shirt. His lips on my neck soothed me all the more.

Smiling at his will to keep me at peace I told him I loved him back. We left the house in a hurry. Izaiah was holding my hand from the backseat and rubbing my right shoulder to help take some of the pain away. I practiced the slow breathing techniques I was shown in my classes the whole ride to the emergency room. Eventually I rolled my window all the way down to bring in more fresh, cool air. When we arrived at the doors Corey came around to help out.

“Zay stay with your mom.” He said handing the small bag to him. Corey went off to move the car while Zay and I walked into the hospital. The strongest urge to cry hit me full force almost bringing me to my knees. “Mommy!” I heard him distress. For a minute I didn’t feel him holding me anymore. But when I looked up I saw him wheeling over a chair for me to sit in.

I sat down still uncomfortable in my own skin as I began to go realize that I’m definitely having this baby tonight. I’m still not prepared for this mentally but clearly my daughter is ready to come out and give us her grand introduction. Zay pushed me over to the counter where a nurse seemed to writing or typing or something.

“Miss? My mom needs her doctor.” Zay approached the counter making his presence known boldly. The woman stood up and took one glance at me before paging someone. Corey met up with us and took over pushing me towards a room that the nurse directed us to.

Everyone and everything moved so quickly. The only person that seemed to move slow enough for me to keep up with was myself. Corey was talking to a different nurse most likely asking about why my water broke so soon. Izaiah was trying to help me get comfortable in this hospital bed. Time seemed to speed up too. A man walked in wearing a doctor's uniform. He gave me a run down on what he was about to do. I fumbled with my necklace listening to him tell me that I’m fully dilated and I’ve got to have to my baby right now or else.

Another man walked in dressed the same holding what looked like the shot for an epidural. The second he was in reaching distance of me I snatched the shot from his hands and snapped it in half. Launching it across the room away from my boys I glared at the doctor. “Do not come near me with any drugs. Don’t!” I warned, pointing my finger at him. The strength I possess right now is unmatchable by anyone. I’m not in the mood to be messed with or pissed off.

A hand gripping my wrist scared me. I jumped when I turned to see it was just Corey. I switched up my voice quick. “Please don’t let them give me drugs Corey. I don’t want any.”

Corey kissed my forehead gently, “I won’t.” He promised sincerely.

“No matter what?” I challenged.

“No matter what.” He nodded.

“Okay Sabrina it’s time.” My doctor walked in making me feel relieved that I don’t have the men in here helping me to deliver my baby. She and two other nurses in the room worked in a pace that was easy to monitor. I can’t handle fast paced movement. Not at a time like this. Izaiah was sitting in the chair waiting on standby in case he was needed paying close attention. Corey was dressed in the traditional gown keeping a tight hold on my hand.

You can guess what happened next right?

***fast forward ----- two months***

Rinsing the suds off of me I followed through with my hair, braiding it back out of my way. Peering to my right through the window I sighed just watching the small waves get picked up by the wind. The water transitioned into bigger waves that crashed against the shore violently. The sight made me gleam. I can’t believe I get to wake up to a view like this every single day now. Hearing that familiar hiccup I looked to my left grinning at my baby chew on her own fingers. Her eyesight bounced off of everything in the room before finding me. Ending my shower I filled up the tub with warm water that would satisfy me and not burn her skin.

I used her baby wash as bubble maker and added in the oil my doctor said was safe to be on her skin. Bringing Elle into the tub with me I laid her against my chest and washed her back using the sponge Corey just got for her. Because I had changed her right before I got in the shower and I’ve learned her routine I knew she wouldn’t go again for a while. After I got her backside I pushed my legs up to wash the rest of her. The look of surprise on her cute little face filled with me so much laughter. I guess she didn’t expect to get off my shoulder so soon.

“You are so funny, my love. Just like your brother and definitely just like your papa.” I snickered. The day after we brought Elle home from the hospital Corey had movers come and pick up the furniture from the house. I had no clue what was going on but I got the picture when he, Ravyn and Brian began packing up our personals. At the time we still hadn’t decided on whether or not we wanted to move. But Corey being the sneak that he is, had a plan all ready to go. I still hadn’t decided on where I wanted to go and Zay didn’t care either way. To my surprise Corey bought us a beautiful home on a slight hill along the coast of Panama. Punta Paitilla to be exact. We love it here!

The weather is beyond perfect and better than California. The views are spectacular, the air is so fresh, the amount of vegetation is unbelievable and the coziness of this city is wonderful. Not to mention the economy is at its peak. Corey and I owning our first home together with our beautiful babies has had me on cloud nine ever since we signed the papers. Our realtor was amazing too. She really worked with us to get a fair price and that made me so happy. Izaiah is in love with the new house as well. He loves being so close to the beach. He’s made friends with just about every kid who lives within a mile from us, in our area. He actually enjoys going to school these days.

Corey is working from home in the basement on some days. He wanted to be closer to us. I stopped working altogether since Elle is so young and she needs me around the clock. Being a stay at home mom isn’t all that bad. With Corey being here most of the time I get the extra help from him more than I anticipated. And I get to play house on a constant loop with my man which helps to add to my happiness.

Elle is such a sweet and quiet baby. She’s much quieter than her brother was way back when but she favors him in character. The bond that she has with her brother and father make me cry happy tears. Corey and Zay are in total infatuation with Elle, as am I. When we first settled back in New York Corey was petrified to be alone with Elle because he feared he wasn’t prepared for a newborn. Every time I would try and leave the room he would beg me to stick around or he would just follow me. Every single time. Bathroom trips included. His explanation for wanting me around so much in the beginning is because he didn’t want her to get hurt on his watch. I did everything that I could to ensure him that nothing would happen to her if they were alone but he was so paranoid.

That faded and now two months later he’s a lot more at ease with not always having me there. He still prefers to be in my line of vision which is perfectly fine. And me? Well I don’t have the words or the time to tell anyone how much I like being a new mommy again. I didn’t realize how much I missed the baby stage until I had my daughter. It’s a pleasure getting help from my boys when I have to change Elle, bathe her or just spend time with her. They enjoy doing those simple tasks alongside me to learn what it is that I do with her.

Placing Elle back on my chest I laid my palm flat on her back to hold her still. She was gazing out the window just like I was. Everyday we do the same thing. Our morning routine is simple yet very relaxing. I wake up when Elle wakes up. And since she sleeps by our bed I know when it’s time to get the day started. I go through my own morning routine at the sink while she sits on the bean bag. After that I get in the shower, get out and draw a bath for her and I. Once she’s all clean we sit in the tub admiring our view. At times she might get hungry while we were in the bathtub and other times she won’t. I have yet to force her into eating. I wait until she’s ready, no matter where I’m at.

“My sweet baby.” I murmured. Kissing the top of her head repeatedly I crossed my legs. Shortly after I heard movement downstairs I drained the bath of water, getting out to dry off. Setting her down on the towel spread across the bed I wiped her down and put a cloth diaper on to start off today with.

“Lori..” I heard Corey coming down the hall.

“In here babe..” I said, retreating to the bathroom to grab the lotion for her and the one for myself. Going back to finish Elle off I saw Corey backing into the room. He had a tray in his hand covered with a beautiful spread of I’m guessing my first meal of the day. Shaking my head promptly and grinning from ear to ear I sat down turning Elle over on her stomach to lotion her back and legs.

Corey sat the tray down and took over what I started. He instructed me to dry off so I could go on and eat before my food gets cold. I did as he said without any argument.

“Where’s Zay at?” I said in between forkfuls of pancakes.

“Outside with them boys from up the street. They came down here and knocked on the door asking if he could come out this morning. How was your bath? You miss me?”

Catching his hint and his side eye I playfully, softly kicked him. “You play too much,” I chuckled. “Yeah I missed you. Where’ve you been all morning? You usually stay up here until we go in the bathroom.”

Corey silently begged for some of my food so after he got that he took Elle into the closet. “I had to finish boxing up that stuff for my mom. I sent it off so I’m hoping she’ll have it by next week. She needs it by Thursday. What you want to wear today baby?” He asked from inside the closet.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t really have anywhere to go. Oh no wait, we have to go to the market. I need to get a few things for dinner this weekend. Brian and Carli are still coming right?” Picking up my mug I began slowly sipping down my tea careful not to burn my tongue like I always manage to do so at some point during breakfast.

Corey appears with a my sandals, a white tank top dress and a sweater draped over his arm. “Yeah they’ll be here Friday afternoon. I think they come in at like two or three.” He explained while laying my clothes out for me.

“We have to call and make sure that bed is gonna be here by tomorrow. Or else they’ll be sleeping on the floor. Here..” sliding the tray over to him so he could finish my omelets like he nevers passes on I stood up and finished getting myself ready.

“It’s coming tomorrow. I already talked to the dude this morning. How do you smell so good after baths with mommy?” Turning over my shoulder to see him goofing off with Elle I lotioned myself down.

Afternoon came quickly. Izaiah stayed behind with his friends while we hit the market to finish gathering supplies for our big weekend. Since moving here, our friends and family have been begging to fly out and visit. Now that our house is all set up we planned the visit and did a round of calling to our loved ones. Our parents, Brian and his girl are coming to stay with us. We’ve got the space which is great because I would’ve been sad if we couldn’t accommodate our company.

We came back to the house, I fed the baby and rocked her to sleep. Corey and I squeezed in two rounds of love making that we got to fully enjoy. We didn’t have to rush this time and that’s what made it all that it was. Fucking fantastic. I was even blessed with the opportunity to lay up under my husband once we were done.

Instead of waiting for Elle to walk to have a big wedding we had a small ceremony with her and Zay. However we did agree that once Elle is a little older we would do it all over again and have our family and friends there. His reason for wanting to marry me so quickly was due to not wanting to hide my new ring any longer. And that thing is jaw dropping gorgeous. I wear the proposal ring on my right hand and my wedding ring in its rightful place. They’re special enough to wear together all of the time.

“I like being married.” Gushing over the details of our miniature wedding I kicked my feet up on the table. If we stay here for a long time I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view from our backyard.

Throwing an arm behind my back Corey leaned away from me taking countless pictures of myself and Elle who was doing absolutely nothing. All she can do is look around regardless of her not understanding where she is.

“You mean as in being married to me or just in general?” He quipped with a little attitude. A sly smirk spread over my face tempting me to feed into his reach for me to tell how I feel about him.

“Both. I never put any thought into marriage. Like whatsoever before you came along and popped the question which took me by complete surprise by the way.” Raking my nails through her hair I squeezed my arm around her just a tad.

“I mean..what can I say? I was tryna keep up with you and your spontaneous ass. You never once shown yourself to be the predictable type Lori. But nah then again I’ve taking you by surprise our entire lives. Always felt like you deserved that and more.” Playing back the first time confession I looked next door seeing Izaiah play some unknown game with the kids who live in that house. “Would you believe me if I said I was nervous to ask you and on your birthday for that matter? A huge part of me thought you were gonna say no before I even came up to the room. No one knew about me wanting to propose so I didn’t have anyone to give me that last minute push so I just went for it.”

“That would’ve been one hell of a turn down.” Corey and I had a rich laugh. He, just like I, were no doubt reminiscing over that night but with a different outcome. “Where do you think we’d be if we never hooked up at Brian’s party?” I asked seriously. Not once have I let it cross my mind on where I’d be in life without my husband. I never wanted to until now. We’re settled and comfortable in our life and our marriage so I think it’s safe to speak on this. Turning to my right I swiped my thumb over his cheek. I swear I have the sexiest man in the whole world. When I think about who Corey’s father is I get all weird inside. Only because I feel like I just complimented Hassan in ways I shouldn’t.

But if we’re being honest here, Hassan passed his looks down to his only son.

“To be honest with you baby, I don’t know. I don’t want to know where I’d be without all this.” In reference to everything he’s speaking of Corey outstretched his free arm.

“Only God knows. I like being with you. I thought it would be just a little weird with us being a couple. Take out the sex. I’m talking about everything else that comes with a relationship. A long time ago I pondered on what it would be like to be Corey Howard’s girlfriend and once it actually happened I was just like..” pausing to look at our baby I took her off of my chest to find her once again nibbling on her fingers. She smiled at me, those deep set impressions of dimples in her cheeks are a sight to see. She’s such a beautiful little baby. A perfect mix of Corey and I. For a two month old she’s smart and a surely a charmer to everyone she meets.

“She wouldn’t be as perfect as she is if it wasn’t for you. You know that right, baby?” Corey moved in closer to me palming the one side of my face to kiss all over the side he was closest to. The tickling sensation of his wet kisses made me squirm.

“Touché papa, touché.” Laying my head on Corey’s shoulder I passed Elle to him since she was eyeing him heavily. Anytime her daddy comes around Elle forgets about anyone else but Corey. “Clearly she thinks you’re just as handsome as I do.” Holding her hand I closed my eyes to soak up this moment. There was a pause and then I came to realize something. “I’m glad you made that switch.”

“Where did that come from?” Corey threw an arm around my shoulder keeping me snug and warm.

Opening my eyes back up I checked on Izaiah smiling to see him full of joy. He must have felt someone staring at him so when he turned to make eye contact with me he waved. I waved back seeing him and his friends go inside the house.

Focusing on Elle I cuffed her sleeves so she wouldn’t chew on them. “I really don’t know. Just thinking about all that we’ve gone through together, expanding our family and seeing how great of a father you are touches me in a way I can’t explain.” I have to confess. For a long time I was so mad about what happened. Overtime is when I learned to appreciate Corey on a different level.

In full confession, I wouldn’t be where I am in life nor would I be this happy if we never drunkenly hooked up last year. I also wouldn’t have my little girl. In the end that switch changed Corey’s life for the better and it surely did for mine.

#the march blessing #short story

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