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havethetimeofyourstyles · 3 years

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Chapter Seven.

a/n: hello! this is the last chapter of book 1! thank you for the few who had read and left me nice messages and feedback, i truly appreciate it with all my heart. the next chapter will be posted in two weeks from now. also, please please please reblog and leave feedback for the content you’re consuming for free; it truly helps motivate content creators to keep posting. for now, enjoy this chapter <3

SERIES MASTERLIST | word count: 17.7k

warnings: sexual content, panic attack, and mentions of drug use (from minor character)

come talk to me about WTSGD! i’d love to know your thoughts!

June 2, 2018

Hot grainy sand seeped in between the crevices of their toes as they ran around, chasing one another while the hot sun shined brightly on their backs. An in sync laughter erupted through them as Luci had jumped on Harry, causing him to fall back on the sand.

They were a picture-perfect moment, simply consumed by one another that envisioning life without the other was pure torture.

June was the last month of her break before she was off to Singapore to film for Crazy Rich Asians. Throughout the entire month of May, she was booked between rehearsing with her acting coach and auditioning for this role. The entire process didn’t take as long as Ocean’s Eight since they’d given her the role within a week and a half of just auditioning for it. She was entirely surprised at how quick it was to make that decision, but Samantha had told her that her talent had gone a long way and they wanted her. Luci was absolutely thrilled, and she was at a place where she didn’t feel pressured or overwhelmed with the workload. Thea and Samantha were gems to work with; they both made sure and asked several times if she wanted to take on another project right after finishing her first one, and Luci realized why shouldn’t she? Opportunities aren’t usually thrown at her this fast, so she took the chance and landed the role.

However, taking on another role just meant she’d have to leave again, meaning she’d have to be apart from Harry. Luci, in a way, would call herself selfless to where she would give up her dream if her loved one asked her to; but she had the tendency to make impulsive decisions without consulting everyone that was going to be affected by her long but temporary absence. Such as Harry and her family. Her family, as she knew, would tell her to go for it and that she shouldn’t worry about them when she had another opportunity lined up for her. As for Harry, she hadn’t thought about the fact that they were going to be apart for another four or five months. She didn’t think about the fact that she was spending the majority of their relationship apart from him and in different time zones. She didn’t think about him when she immediately said yes to taking on another project.

The anxiety had crept up on her when she told Harry the news, and just like the supportive boyfriend that he was, he was absolutely thrilled and excited for her. She hadn’t matched his excitement, and that was when he knew something was wrong.

“Talk to me, Ci.” He rubbed her back comfortingly.

“We’re gonna be apart again,” she said sadly. “I don’t wanna do this.”

Harry took a deep breath. “Don’t wanna do…us?”

“No. I don’t wanna work if we’re going to be apart. I wanna stay with you.” Her eyes were filled with tears. Her voice was heavy as she felt like her throat was closing in on her. Harry saw and felt the ache she had felt in her heart. And all the same, it broke his heart.

“You have to do this job.” Luci looked at him with sad eyes, half hoping he wouldn’t have said that.

“But…”

“My love, do you realize what this could mean? That movie is going to be huge. Just imagine all the people you’d work with if you took on this role. Your name is going to spread like wildfire after that!” His tone was hopeful and supportive, everything she could ever want in a partner. “Please tell me you won’t quit this job. Your dreams are finally coming true, why stop now?”

“Because I wanna be with you.”

“You are with me! I appreciate you wanting to be with me because trust me, I really want you by my side all the time, but don’t worry about me, okay? You’re not going to lose me.” He shook his head, looking so deeply into Luci’s eyes as if he were engraving his words into her mind.

All she did was nod, not trusting her voice to mutter out a response. She trusted Harry wholeheartedly, with her entire life. Later that evening, she told Thea that she was one hundred percent committed to the movie.

They had about three weeks to spend as much time together before Luci had to leave again. Aside from Harry finishing up the school year and Luci having meetings every other day with her managers and some of the producers from the film to sign off on some contracts, they’d managed to make ends work. They made sure to make up for some lost time from when Luci was still filming for her first movie; they spent mornings sleeping in until one would wake up and tease the other, which would result into having a lazy and sleepy morning sex; they went on countless dates, and truly gotten to know one another without any distractions.

Harry insisted on going to Coney Island Beach, which Luci was always up for. Luckily, no one recognized her, interrupting their perfect day together. They spent the day hand-in-hand, chasing one another into the water, and laughing until their stomachs ached. After a tiring moment of running around and being goofy, they settled onto their beach mat as their chests heaved up and down. Water droplets rested against the ends of Harry’s hair as he looked at Luci, who was wiping off the sand that had stuck to her thighs as she was completely unaware of his stare.

“Tell me about your earliest memory.” Harry requested.

Luci smiled at the thought. “I was four-years-old. My family and I went to Mexico for the summer. We’d gone all over the country before so I have bits and pieces of all the cities we’d gone to.” Harry listened as she talked about her childhood memory. “I remember all of the kids clubs that our parents checked me and Nathan into. There was this one kids club in Cancun where it was The Flintstones themed, and we got to paint shirts with Bamm-Bamm on it—I still have that shirt till this day.” Luci reminisced on the recollection of the summer during her younger years.

Harry’s eyes widened. “Really? That shirt is, like, twenty-two-years-old now.”

“I know!” Luci laughed; a sound that was glorious to his ears. “I just can’t get rid of it. It’s really the only thing I physically have from my childhood besides all of the video tapes my dad took of us during that trip.” She sighed, reliving those moments in her head. “What was your earliest memory?”

“I was probably about five-years-old, but I remember my mum and dad got us a dog. We named her Bunny; although I think I named her myself because I was attached to her the moment we got her.” Harry smiled, and Luci giggled as she imagined little Harry meeting his dog for the first time. “She was a golden retriever, and was always the happiest. When we’d get home from school, Bunny would always be waiting by the door, and would follow me around the house everywhere; sit next to me while I was eating at the table, laid her head on my leg when I was watching TV, and would sometimes sleep with me—I’d just have to sneak her into my room because my parents didn’t allow it. We had to put her down, though, because she had some kind of infection. She lived a very good life. I hope she didn’t complain.”

Luci fondly smiled at him. She loved learning about tiny but significant pieces of Harry’s life, and it just made her love him even more than she already did. Love? The thought momentarily and internally freaked her out, but then she realized that those thoughts were correct. She loved Harry.

He was thinking the exact same thing she was, as if their minds were linked in a special way that they could only convey. Curling his lips in, he felt his heartbeat pick up into an erratic pace that he felt like it was about to burst from just looking at her. His stomach fluttered with butterflies, erupting into a cave of monarchs, suddenly feeling nervous. He blushed, fidgeting with his ringless fingers that felt dry from the grainy hot sand.

Was this what it felt like? He pondered in his head. He’d never felt like this before, never felt this feeling with his past partners. And he knew the difference quite well because when he looked back at his previous relationships, he saw a time frame that only fit into a certain moment in his life. But looking at Luci right now, he saw the entire world. The sun shined brighter when he thought about her. His every sated thought was consumed with her, and that thought scared him, but it was thrilling and exhilarating, leaving him wanting more.

“Luci.”

She looked up, flashing him her smile that he’d fallen for over and over again. “Yeah?”

Taking a deep breath, he spit out fire, “I love you. I think I have for a while now,” and made the spark ignite in her stomach.

Her eyes widened, speechless. And that was when Harry thought he completely messed everything up and ruined their domestic and happy routine. That was until she said, “I love you too, Harry. You make my heart beat ten times faster.”

“Really?” A sheepish smile landed on his face, and Luci thought he was the most adorable person she’d ever met.

Nodding, she scooted closer to him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Really.”

“You make me so, so happy.”

Just as they shared a loving and tender kiss under the sun, momentarily, all their worries went away.

When it was time for Harry to say goodbye to her, it never really got easier watching Luci leave. By the end of their paradise break where they’d spent days and weeks together nonstop, he had dropped her off at the airport and watched as she stepped onto the escalator on her way to TSA. The entire scenery and feeling felt somewhat familiar to him, but he still felt pain in his chest every time he had to go back home without her, where she wouldn’t be across the hall from him. It was like watching her leave for the first time all over again, as if his mind hadn’t quite grasped at the concept of being alone for another few months again after spending a few weeks together.

He only hoped it would get easier.

Luci had erupted a light inside of him that he’d never known was there before. He had spent years of being in the dark, years of not knowing where to go because that certain light wasn’t guiding him. But the darkness seemed to fade away ever since he’d met her. That beautiful smile of hers was the sun that seeped through the windows in the early morning. But when the source and power for that certain light was gone for months, miles away, then all electrical power goes out too.

Harry carelessly threw his phone on the bed, masking the urge to scream into agony. He pulled at his hair, inhaling and exhaling through his nose to keep him calm. His anxiety was bubbling up, and he felt his hands shake.

It had been a long week for him, and it started from Monday as it carried on to Saturday. On Monday morning, he was late for work; he slept through all three of his alarms that he’d set up the night prior, making sure they were at a decent volume. He woke up an hour later, rushing to get dressed for the day. As he was brushing his teeth, he spilled toothpaste on his white shirt as if he wasn’t late already, he had to change again.

Tuesday through Thursday were a mess for him; he wasn’t his usual self and he felt very off. It had gone to the point where his students had noticed and asked him if he was okay right as they were leaving for lunch. Of course, he told them that he was fine, but as soon as they left, he spent his lunch time crying, not getting a chance to eat his food.

On top of the horrible week, he hated giving quizzes on Fridays, but he had to anyway because after every story his class finished, there was a quiz—it just so happened to be on a Friday. As he was packing up, getting ready to leave, he made sure the quizzes were nice and stacked before he put it into his messenger bag, but the unfortunate perfect timing had occurred and his coffee spilled all over the papers, leaving a brown, wet stain on more than half of the quizzes. He wanted to quit right there, on the spot before he let his students retake the quiz all over again. He did his best keeping his composure until he got home, slamming the door and completely dropping all of his belongings on the ground, not caring about the mess.

Harry didn’t know what caused him to have such an off-putting mood, but the thought of missing a certain someone had lingered in his mind, screaming at him to conclude his breakdown.

All he wanted was to see her, talk to her, hug her—but she was miles away.

Luci had been hopping from country to country in Asia, filming and working for two months already; and within those months, she had only contacted him five times. Despite being together for seven months, he didn’t want to constantly text her, asking for her attention because he didn’t want to think he was needy. But this time, he really needed to talk to her.

Grabbing his phone that he threw on his bed, he dialed her number. He heard the phone ring once, twice, and a third time before he’d lost all hope that she wasn’t going to pick up. But then, the ringing stopped, followed by a soft: “Hello?”

Hearing her voice after a couple months made Harry let out a sigh of relief but was soon trailed with a few tears. Luci heard sniffles and soft cries, and she felt an immense amount of guilt in her chest.

“Harry? Baby? Are you okay?” The sound of his name on the phone didn’t do her beautiful voice justice. “H, you’re scaring me.” She sat up on her bed, way too big for just one person. The white and soft sheet surrounded her, and every time she woke up and fell asleep, she thought about Harry and wished to get lost and tangled within these sheets with him.

He sniffled, leading into a deep breath. “Sorry, I know it’s early over there-”

“No, no. Don’t be sorry. Are you okay, my love?” She asked concerningly.

“I-I don’t know. I’m just so overwhelmed and…” she heard him start to breathe heavily, and she only wished she was right across the hall from him to take him in her arms.

“Harry,” she interrupted. “I’m going to need you to breathe for me, okay? Slow and big inhales and exhales. Breathe with me.” Harry nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. He took a seat in front of the bed on the floor, propping his knees up so he could place his elbows on them as he leaned his head down in between his arms, making a small cave as he protected himself from any more overwhelming emotions and thoughts.

For the next minute or two, they breathed together on the phone, and it calmed down hearing her breath deeply. Luci held it together, not wanting to break when she was the one that was supposed to calm him down.

“Are you ready to talk about it?”

Harry gulped, closing his eyes before he told her about his week. He hadn’t talked to her for the entire week, so he didn’t spare any detail on his messy and awful week. Luci listened intently, not wanting to give her attention away from him even for a moment; she pressed the phone against her ear as she laid on her side, cuddling into her pillow and blanket as she pretended Harry was right next to her. Luckily, her call time was at ten a.m, so she had a good three hours to talk to him.

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do about these quizzes.”

“Hmm, let’s see. Like, all of them are ruined?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, you could be honest with them. I’m sure some of them hadn’t read the material, so they might’ve not done so well. So, you could tell them that they were ruined, and just give them a chance to catch up on their readings and study the material.” She advised. “I mean, it’s a quiz—it shouldn’t interfere too much with the teaching and schedule and all the grading, right?”

“Not really…” he answered, thinking about her suggestion, and it was a really great suggestion, might he add. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that. I’d feel absolutely horrible if I made them retake it. I didn’t even want to schedule a quiz on Friday anyways.”

“And that’s what makes you a great teacher,” she said genuinely.

“Thank you, Ci. And thank you for answering, I know things are hectic and our schedules don’t line up.

Plus the time-zones…”

Luci felt her heart sink, a frown etched on her face. She knew she wasn’t texting or trying to call him, and that’s where the guilt crept in. In a way, she felt like she wanted space, like she didn’t want to consistently check up on someone back home. But the more she thought about it, the more she felt terrible because she knew that Harry’s added stress was because she hadn’t spoken to him in a week. She ignored all of the incoming text messages, leaving them unanswered while being in a country she’d never been to before.

Her anxiety was also acting up because of how exhausted she was from flying from one place to another and the jetlag she endured. To add to her exhaustion, she was also overwhelmed with work, causing her to curl into a ball and ignore the rest of the world whenever she got some downtime.

“You shouldn’t have to thank me for answering, Harry. I-I’m sorry I haven’t been talking to you. I’ve just been swamped with work and being tired all the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk to you—it’s horrible, I know. Like, I genuinely hate myself for not wanting to, especially with how far apart we are,” she admitted. Harry couldn’t help but feel his heart crack a bit; he hadn’t expected her to feel or say that. He assumed that the time apart had left her itching to see him, just as much as he wanted to see her.

After a few seconds of silence, Harry was unable to put together the exact words he wanted to say because he was so thrown off by what she’d said.

“Harry, I’m sorry if I upset you. You have every right to be angry with me.”

He took a deep breath, shaking his head lightly. “I’m not angry. A bit hurt? Yeah. But I can’t control how you feel, and you can’t control how you feel either. Don’t feel obligated to speak to me, I know you’re busy and all…” His tone wasn’t enthusiastic, but could anyone blame him? His girlfriend just told him that she didn’t feel like talking to him for the entire week, maybe the entire time she was gone.

The switch-up was inevitable. This past week, Luci wanted space and Harry unspokenly gave her that space by not wanting to appear as clingy, but just when she’d disappointed and upset him, all she wanted was to be in the same room he was in, holding him tight.

“Anyways, you should get going.” Luci’s brows furrowed as she looked at the digital clock on the bedside table, reading 8:23 a.m.. “I’ll talk to you, uh, soon.”

And this time, when he unspokenly asked for space, she had given it to him.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” A small pout landed on her mouth. For a moment, neither of them wanted to hang up, not wanting to leave this conversation with such an awkward-filled tension that won’t be able to be fixed until later on. “Harry?” Luci spoke up right before he was about to hang up.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” She held her breath.

“I love you too, Ci. I’ll see you soon.” Harry hung up the phone as Luci let out the air she was holding in, but she still felt weight on her shoulders.

He was glad that he was able to talk to Luci and that she was able to calm him down with her soothing and soft voice; but that night, he still went to bed with a heavy heart, surrounded by the scent of her on his pillows that she’d left behind.

November 1, 2018

Harry was waiting by baggage claim, waiting for Luci with her favorite bouquet of flowers in his hands. His hands gripped the stems of the flowers, wrinkling the brown paper as he contained the shakiness.

It had been a little over four months since he last saw Luci, and nervous was an understatement. He thought that after the weird and awkward talk in August, things wouldn’t be the same and they were going to end things. But Luci was trying—they both were. She ended up talking to him and calling him any chance that she got, which wasn’t much, but it meant everything to Harry that she was trying. Plus, a little space never really did any harm.

His foot tapped against the polished floor, making a random beat with his boot. People brushed past him, reunited with their loved ones and friends they hadn’t seen in x amount of days; and when he saw the burgundy colored luggage with a black name tag tied around the handle, he knew she was home.

Appearing in slow motion, their eyes met and it felt like they’d been stunned by an electrifying force that compelled them together. Duplicate smiles were spread on their faces, never leaving sight of one another as they tried getting through the crowd of people who were exiting from the international gate. Once they were close enough, Luci held out her arms while Harry met her in the middle, wrapping his strong arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. Luci held him firmly, hands going straight to the bottom of his head as her fingers gently scratched the curls that delicately rested on the back of his neck.

She felt hot kisses on her neck and a happy smile against her shoulder that it felt like he was tattooing it onto her skin. Luci began to pull away, kissing along the side of his neck and to his lips, taking in and savoring the feel of his soft and pink lips.

They simply didn’t care that they were in the middle of the airport, in the middle of baggage claim where everyone could see them because who cared? They weren’t going to see these people tomorrow nor were they going to remember their faces, so they greeted each other in a long and soft kiss where they smiled against one another and held each other tight.

Pulling away, they both giggled before Harry handed her the bouquet of flowers that made her swoon.

“Welcome home, baby.” He pecked her lips once more.

She smelled the flowers, smiling into them as if she were a bee collecting pollen before she wrapped one arm around his neck, pulling him in for another tight hug as she planted a big kiss on his cheek, making him blush.

“I’m home,” Luci said once she pulled away. “Now, please, take me home.” She chuckled, dramatically sighing exhaustively as if she was going to sleep immediately when they got home.

Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side before he led her to the parking garage.

“Let’s go home. New York misses you a lot.”

After a long ride back to Brooklyn, their lips immediately connected right when they entered Luci’s apartment while Harry kicked the door closed with his foot, extending his arm back to make sure it was locked. She quickly but gently set the flowers on the counter, so she could put them into a vase later since she had more important matters on her hands.

As Luci was walking backwards, kissing Harry, he led her to her bedroom. She pulled away, walking past him as she headed for the bathroom before turning back around, facing him.

“What are you doing?” He asked breathlessly.

Luci swiftly removed her sweater, revealing an olive green sports bra. She then pulled her leggings down, kicking them off as she exposed her black cotton panties to him. Taking off her sports bra, she never disconnected eye contact with Harry, driving him wild as he started to grow in his pants. He brought his fingers up to his bottom lip, pinching it in between his fingers as she slowly slid off her underwear. She was completely bare in front of him, her clothes at her feet; Harry inhaled sharply at the sight of her naked, and Luci smirked at his reaction.

“I’m going in for a shower. Wanna wash off hours being on a plane.” She headed into the restroom without another word, leaving Harry standing stunned in the middle of the hallway.

“Does that include me too?” Harry called out.

She chuckled. “Hell yeah, baby. Get in here.” Her voice echoed from the bathroom as she started the shower. Harry rushed, taking off his clothes as the bathroom started to steam up from the temperature of the water.

When he opened the glass door, her back was facing the entrance of the shower as she tilted her head back, allowing the hot water to stream down the valleys and crevices of her body. Harry’s mouth was ajar, cock twitching as he watched her. He closed the door behind him as he stepped into the shower, wrapping his arm around her waist and catching her by surprise as she let out a squeal.

Her back was pressed against his chest, hands roaming around her wet body as he squeezed her breasts. Harry pressed a soft kiss against her shoulder as part of his head was getting wet. Turning them around, the water streams hit his back as he continued to kiss along his neck and shoulder, biting down at her skin. She let out a soft moan at the feel of his lips, extending her arm backwards so her hand was placed on the back of his head.

“Missed you,” she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder, exposing her entire neck. Harry couldn’t pass up the offer to wrap his hand around her neck, squeezing lightly as she slightly moaned.

“Mm, missed you so much more.” Luci turned her head to meet his lips, and she already knew she was going to get a stiff neck later on, but she didn’t care; she wanted to kiss him for as long as possible. His hands trailed down to her clit, making her gasp in his mouth as he started to rub the bud softly, circling his fingers around just like he knew she liked it.

The bathroom was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing, lips kissing, and the shower stream that was hitting their bodies and steaming the air, adding to their passionate tension from when they first were wrapped up around each other.

Harry pulled away, pushing her against the wall while he kissed her shoulder once more, and Luci loved it every time he did that; it was a sweet and simple gesture, but it had complete control to get her riled up. He trailed his kisses along her back, kissing down her spine before he stopped at the top of her ass, biting down gently; Luci held the tiled wall in front of her for stability. Harry slowly licked the flesh of her ass, making his way inwards to her core. His tongue teased and rimmed her hole, making her pulse.

“Harry…” she called out, and he playfully answered ‘yes’ as if he didn’t know what he was doing. She rolled her eyes, gripping the back of his head. “Don’t tease.”

“Alright, alright. Only because I’ve missed you so much and have been dying to taste you again.” He kissed her ass once more before he leaned his head down to lick up from her clit to her wet hole. He sat on his knees, not caring if his knees would ache.

He sucked and licked her clit before inserting a finger into her entrance. The sensation made Luci moan loud; her grasp on his hair tightened as if she was trying to pull the strands out.

“Fuck, baby,” she whined, throwing her head back as she closed her eyes.

Unexpectedly, Harry licked at her tighter and puckered hole, testing if she liked it or not; and he received a moan of ‘yes’ in return, so he continued licking her everywhere before her breath was staggered and she came on his tongue. Harry held her body tightly so she would slip from the water rushing on them.

He slowly turned her around, kissing her lips in a heated passion that could only be received from her. Once Luci regained momentum, she took his cock in her hand, slowly pumping as he rested his forehead against hers, hands on both sides of her cheeks as he breathed heavily. Her other hand fondled his balls, rolling them in her hand, and it was his turn to throw his head back.

As Luci stroked him, she kissed his chest, leaving a few hickies to his collarbones.

“You’re so fuckin’ good, holy shit.” She watched his every reaction; watched him bite his lip into agony, eyes shut closed, and hips unconsciously bucking into her hand. “Don’t wanna come right now.”

The main event was just a slip away, so she let go of him, and he’d already missed the feel of her around him. He connected their lips together; Harry bit her bottom lip as he slightly pulled at him, driving her crazy.

“Fuck me, please,” she pleaded, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him the closest he could get as she lifted one leg up, using her leg strength to rest it beside his hip. His cock rested against her stomach, occasionally twitching from the slightest friction it was getting from her skin.

He smirked. “Are you begging?”

She playfully rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m begging. So what? I want you to fuck me now,” she said sternly.

“Okay. Wait, need to get a condom-”

She pulled him back. “I've had an IUD for a few years now, and we’re not sleeping with anyone else, right?” She asked teasingly, and he shook his head. “Good because I wanna feel you bare. Need to feel you.”

“Fuck me,” he muttered under his breath. He grabbed a hold of himself, pumping slowly as he gripped the back of her thigh that propped against his hip. Running the tip against her slit, he collected her arousal and orgasm, making her shiver before he slowly slipped himself into her entrance.

Their mouths were wide open once he was fully in. The feel of each other as they were completely bare and raw was an unbelievable feeling that neither of them could decipher.

“So fuckin’ tight.” He was breathless as she squeezed around him, waiting for her to adjust to his size. She muttered a ‘please,’ and Harry started to thrust quicker. Her soft and wet walls hugged him tightly, making him groan louder as he leaned his forehead against her collarbones. Luci’s fingers raked the back of his shoulders

“God, H, you feel so good.” Her head hit the wall behind her, and Harry pulled his head out of her chest.

“Yeah? Tell me how good it feels,” he demanded. Despite having her eyes closed, she could practically see the smirk that landed on his face at the mention of how good he was making her feel. “Tell me, Ci. Look at me and tell me.”

Her eyes fluttered open, meeting his dark jaded eyes. “So good. Could feel you everywhere.” Her words came out in between her breaths, moans, and Harry’s thrusts.

He kissed her. “Tell me more. Tell me everything”

“I’ve missed you inside of me. Thought about you everyday. I would touch myself before I went to bed, and it didn’t help.”

Harry gripped her thigh hard, sure there were going to be bruises forming tomorrow. “Why didn’t it help?” He asked, picking up his pace.

Luci inhaled sharply as she cried out. “Because no one could make me feel good. No one but you.”

“Hmm, that’s right, baby. Only me. Such a good girl.” The tip of his cock brushed against her special spot, and she rolled her eyes back in ecstasy. He repeatedly hit that spot, linking his hands behind her neck for leverage.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Her brows furrowed, biting her lip. Harry leaned down to suck and kick her tits, and Luci felt him slap one of them, making her get the idea of slapping something else, so she said, “Slap me, baby.”

Thinking he meant her ass, he swatted one of the cheeks hard.

“No.” She paused, bringing his hand up to her cheek. “Slap me.” Luci kissed the inside of his hand.

His eyes widened. “Baby…” his thrusts slowed down, and Luci was right on the edge. He knew they talked about it the first time they had sex, and the first few times they had sex, he was testing out the waters on spanking, to which she absolutely loved feeling that certain type of sting.

“Please, want you to.” She looked at him with pleading eyes. “Wanna feel it burn.”

He debated in his head. “You’re sure?” She nodded, and he knew she could do better. “Words, Luciana.”

“Yes, I’m one hundred percent sure. I’ll tell you if it's too much. Just wanna try it out.” She confirmed. The pressure in her stomach felt like she was going to burst, so she started to buck her hips, moving herself on him, making him groan.

“Okay. We need a safe word…just in case.”

“Mango.” Was the first thing that popped into her mind; it was also her favorite fruit.

Harry chuckled. “Alright, mango it is.” He started thrusting again. His hand caressed her cheek as he brought his lips to hers, placing a sweet kiss to her luscious lips. “I love you.”

“And I love you, too. I trust you.”

Those words brought him reassurance, that she trusted only him to do this with, and that made him feel so much better about doing it. He nodded, continuing to fuck her into oblivion. Her eyes began to close and he felt her squeeze around him, making him jolt.

“Hey, look at me. Want you to look at me when you cum.” Her eyes quickly opened, looking deep into his eyes that drove her crazy. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful. So, so beautiful.” Not too hard, he slapped her cheek, making her head swing to the side before she brought it back to look at his face. She had a sly smile on her face, as if she were the villain who would laugh every time the hero punched them. The impact had made her wetter, more eager to come.

“Again.” She demanded, and he complied, slapping her twice more before she told him that she was coming.

“That’s it. Such a pretty girl. Look at you cumming for me.” He kissed her forehead as he slammed his hips into her.

Luci was spent, putting her full weight on the tiles, holding onto Harry’s shoulders, depending on him to keep her up; he wasn’t going to let her go, not ever. He wasn’t going to let her fall because he would catch her over and over again.

“I’m gonna cum…” A throaty moan was released from his mouth.

She grabbed his face, pressing their foreheads together as she said, “Please, cum in me. Want it.”

With her filthy words, Harry let out a harsh breath as he filled her up with his warm spurts of his pleasure, hips jolting as he rode his high out. He quickly kissed her, tongues swirling together as they swallowed each other’s moans.

“Fuck, you’re so good to me.” He mindlessly breathed out. His cock slipped out of her once she brought her leg down to the ground, making her gasp in sensitivity. Soon, she felt the result of his pleasure trickling down her leg, and Harry was sure that was the hottest sight he’d ever seen.

For a few moments, they held one another under the shower—thankful the hot water hadn’t been used entirely while they were fucking. Harry pulled away, cupping her cheeks as he looked at her.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, and she nodded. “D-Did I slap you too hard?”

Luci shook her head. “No, no. It was perfect, thank you.”

He chuckled, softly rubbing his thumb against her soft cheek that he’d hit a few minutes prior. He placed many kisses to her skin, like he was subsiding the stings with his affection. “Learn more and more about you everyday; whether we’re having sex or not.”

“Hmm, I love you.” She kissed his neck, causing him to wrap his arms around her waist tighter.

“I love you more.”

Finally, they were together again.

November 3, 2018

A stunning red cape-gown dress by Ralph Lauren sat perfectly on Luci’s body as her makeup artists were putting on the finishing touches to her glam.

Today was the premiere for Ocean’s Eight, and nervous was an understatement. She’d been looking forward to these types of events since she was a little girl; watching movie premieres on the television, hoping and dreaming to become someone who walked the red carpet. Time flew by quickly because her dreams were about to come true. All she was missing was her boyfriend.

After their reunion sex in the shower, they called it a night by eating some takeaway from Tasty plates. While her legs were resting on his thighs, she’d asked if he wanted to attend the premiere with her as her special guest. His answer was understandable, but she’d just wish he was next to her to calm her down.

“Luci, please don’t take this the wrong way. I support you in everything that you do, you know that. I-I just don’t know if I’m ready for that. The thought of standing in front of cameras just makes me sick and nauseous. I don’t know…” She understood well, and saw where he was coming from because frankly, as she was getting ready for it, she could be sick any minute.

She told him that it was completely okay, and proceeded with their night.

“And done.” Her stylist, Jacqueline, announced, topping her makeup off with a dust of powder. “Luci, you look amazing.”

“Thank you all so much. Best glam team ever.” The five people in the room clapped and praised her words. A security guard escorted her out to the car that was waiting in front of the hotel, ready to take her to the premiere.

Once she got into the black SUV, her driver greeted her. “Hello, Ms. Suki. I’m Philip. I’ll be driving you around today.”

“Hi, Philip. How are you?”

“Doing very well, Ms. Suki. How are you?”

“Oh, please call me Luci. But I’m okay—a bit nervous, if I’m honest.”

“It’s an exciting time. You’ll do great.” Philip provided words of encouragement, which she was thankful for. Luci learned that Philip was from Spain, and had been living in New York since he was ten. She asked if he missed Spain, and he answered with. “Sometimes. I was quite young when we moved, so I didn’t really know any better. But the one thing I do miss is my family and how they speak—I didn’t know I could miss someone’s accent so much until I learned more about my culture. And here, I wasn’t surrounded by that. I’ve missed my abuela calling me ‘Felipe,’ which is my actual name.” Philip pulled up to the curb where there were countless media people with large professional cameras that were flashing brightly. Philip had definitely distracted Luci’s nervous thoughts as she hadn’t realized they were at the premiere already until he parked and dropped her off. “Goodluck, Ms. Luci. I can't wait to see the film!”

Someone from the outside of the car opened the door for her, and before she stepped out, she said ‘goodbye’ to her driver. “Thank you for driving me. I wish you well, Felipe.” She gave him a smile, trying her best to perfect the accent; Felipe looked at her with an appreciative smile, holding his hand to his heart. He hadn’t heard anyone say or try to say his real name ever since he moved, and for that, he will be forever grateful and honored to have met Luciana Suki.

Camera flashes relentlessly went off in front of the Ziegfeld Theatre in midtown Manhattan. Luci balled her hands into fists as she stepped onto the blue carpet, the cameras directed towards her. She looked at Thea, who had met her at the premiere since she was her plus one, and Thea gave her an encouraging nod before Luci took a deep breath and walked in front of the white backdrop that had a large picture of the cast portraying their character in front of it. Shouts of direction were thrown her way, asking her to give their camera a big smile, and the only thing she felt was overwhelmed at everyone shouting at her, but she masked her emotions well. She was an actress, afterall.

Harry was watching a live stream on his laptop, and he clapped to himself once he saw Luci step foot onto the carpet and in front of the cameras. He thought she looked absolutely beautiful, and he’d told her so when she sent him pictures of the entire look, saving them to his phone. He smiled to himself as he watched her, and he noticed a certain expression of uncomfortableness, making his smile vanish quickly. With a worried expression, he watched until she made it to the end of the red carpet, meeting with some interviewers, waving at fans who didn’t know who she was, and into the theatre. He let out a deep breath, glad that she was able to get through the media portion for the premiere, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty.

On cue, his phone began to ring, and he saw that it was his mother, so he answered with an unenthusiastic tone.

“Hi, mum.”

“Harry, hi. How are you, darling?” Anne asked, cup of tea in hand.

“I’m doing okay. How are you?” He tried picking his mood up from off the ground for his mum, but he wasn’t successful at it.

“I’m doing great. We miss you. Now, do you wanna tell me how you’re really feeling? Could practically feel your mood all the way over here.” Anne tried making a joke to pick up the mood. “Does it have to do with Luci?” Harry had mentioned Luci right when she’d move in across the hall. From then on, it was like he couldn’t stop talking about her; the moment they became friends and when they started to hang out more with one another, to when he asked her to be his girlfriend—he never missed a phone call with Anne when he didn’t mention her. Of course, he told her about her career and how she was making her way up the ladder; Anne was quite excited about that because she would get to watch her movies, but then she put the pieces together and figured out that only meant Luci was apart from her son.

Harry took a deep breath, sighing. “Luci’s at her premiere right now, and I was just watching the live stream for it. She looked so beautiful.” Harry never failed to mention how gorgeous she looked, and it made Anne’s heart smile. “Two days ago she asked me if I wanted to join her for the premiere, and I said no. I said no, mum!”

Her brows furrowed. “Why’d you do that?”

“Because I was nervous to be in front of the cameras. I knew I’d have to walk the carpet with her because she’d want me to, but just thinking about it, I don’t know if I’d be able to handle it. But watching the live stream just a few minutes ago, I saw how nervous she was; she didn’t have anyone beside her. It’s her first premiere ever, and I wasn’t there because I put my feelings before hers because I was selfish.” He felt an immense amount of regret in his chest as he started to cry. Luci wouldn’t get a ‘first’ premiere again, and he missed the chance to be with her, to celebrate a huge accomplishment.

Anne’s heart sank at the sound of him crying. “I’m sure she won’t be too upset at you because she seemed pretty understanding of it.”

“Of course she did—she had to. Things were weird at one point when she was in Singapore, and she’d only just gotten back home two days ago, so I doubt that she wanted to argue. I…I just feel so bad.”

“Well, the only thing that would fix it would be to talk to her. Tell her you’re sorry and how you feel. You’ve got to communicate with each other.” She advised.

The art of communication between them wasn’t entirely horrible; for one, it was difficult to communicate as it was when Luci was always working and in a different place with a fifteen hour time difference. Two, they were in a new relationship—no matter if they’d been together for ten months, they were still a new couple because they’d been separated and apart longer than they were physically together. So, they were still learning and figuring out how to do that with each other.

“Okay. I will…” he agreed.

Moving on from that topic, Anne told him about work and the cats, and how much she missed him. He told his mother that he’d see her on Christmas, which she’d been ecstatic about having her two children in the same house again.

“Maybe you could bring Luci?” Anne subtly slipped in the idea to him.

Harry chuckled. “I’m not sure. She goes back home for Christmas.”

“Alright, just a suggestion. Make sure she knows that she’s welcomed.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her.”

After bidding each other goodbye for the past ten minutes, they finally managed to get off the phone after a few more conversations.

Now, all he had to do was wait for Luci to get home and hoped she wasn’t mad at him.

It was around eight in the evening when someone knocked on Harry’s door. He was cooking a later dinner for himself as a spontaneous idea had entered his mind to make homemade pasta. So, his hands were covered in flour, and he was lucky he had an apron on because his clothes would have flour all over it.

Washing his hands, he headed for the door, wondering who could be knocking right now. When he opened the door, there she was: his Luci, standing in a beautiful red gown as she held her clutch in her two hands in front of her stomach. Her hair, makeup, and composure was absolutely stunning. She held herself with grace, with poise.

He was stunned. “Luciana…”

“Hi, Harry.” She smiled. His eyes raked up and down her body, completely stupefied by her beauty; the contrast of feeling intimidated under his stare only ignited a sense of confidence for how he was looking at her. “Not gonna let me in?” Harry quickly moved to the side, opening the door wider for her as she nonchalantly walked into his apartment as the train on her dress trailed after her.

A smirk landed on her face knowing Harry was looking at her as she walked in, and that ultimately boosted her confidence. He waited until the material of her dress was fully inside and not within the door’s swinging motion so it wouldn’t get caught under the door.

She turned around, facing him and his eyes never left her. “How are you, my love?” Luci had a smile on her face that Harry would never get over; it permanently remained in his dreams.

From what Harry could tell, Luci wasn’t mad or disappointed; she looked delighted and relieved to see him.

“I’m doing better now that you’re here—and not that I’m complaining whatsoever, but isn’t the afterparty still going on?” He wondered.

“It is. I only stayed for an hour or two. I’d rather be here, though.”

Harry blushed. “I’m glad you’re here. You look…fuck, Luciana, you look absolutely beautiful.” He rubbed his forehead as if her beauty had completely overwhelmed him, made him feel lightheaded.

Luci was going to get changed before she knocked on Harry’s door, but she wanted him to see her in her gown, and his reaction and all the sweet compliments were totally worth staying in her dress.

“Thank you, H. That’s very sweet.”

“How was the premiere?” He asked; Luci took a seat on his couch, taking off her shoes before she propped them up on his coffee table as Harry followed, sitting right next to her. He grabbed her legs, bringing them across his thighs as he began massaging her feet, up her calves, and trailing up thighs—close to her inner thighs. ��

Luci shifted, getting comfortable, wanting to clench her thighs together with how good his hands felt on her. “It was good! I was pretty nervous, but I had fun. It’s, like, kinda weird watching myself on the big screen. I don’t think I would get used to that.” She chuckled, leaning her head on the back of the couch. “I should get the professional pictures tomorrow, and maybe we could put them in our scrapbook?”

Harry nodded. “I’d love that. I’m glad you had a good time.” He smiled softly before he went completely silent, stopping the movements of his hands. Luci could tell something was bothering him and had been for a while now.

“Hey.” She reached over to touch his hand. “Talk to me. You look like you have a lot on your mind.”

“I was watching the live stream of the premiere, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” Luci’s brows furrowed in confusion. “I-I should’ve been there with you. I mean, I was completely selfish for not being by your side for your first premiere. I was thinking of my own feelings and how I would feel being surrounded by the chaos when I didn’t even think about how you might’ve felt. And I regret it so much. I’m so sorry.”

He brought her hands to his lips, pressing multiple soft kisses to the inside and back of her hands; Luci slightly frowned, shaking her head.

She placed her hands on the back of his neck, placing a kiss on his forehead. “No, no. It’s okay. Hey, I’m not mad. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“But…you’re supposed to be mad.”

“I’m not supposed to be anything besides yours.”

He nodded as his heart fluttered at her words. There was no look of annoyance or worry about how he politely declined her invitation.

“Just know that I regret my decision on not going with you.”

“It’s okay. There will be plenty of premieres—hopefully—but for now, it’s in the past and we can’t change that.” Harry let out a breath of relief. “Now, what are you making? I wanna join in.” She changed the subject to a much lighter one, hoping to get his mind to stop putting blame on him. Harry pushed his tears back, leading her to the kitchen, and she was excited to see the rolled out dough on the countertop. She clapped, telling Harry that she was going to get changed.

She came back in a pair of white pajama pants that had little chicks on it and a black sweater; her makeup was wiped off, jewelry was taken off and put away safely on her side of Harry’s bedside table. He looked at her in awe—the same look he had when she was dressed and glammed up; his look for her would never change.

Tears and worries had been forgotten as they rolled out the pasta dough, making different kinds of shapes and sizes. They played the ‘Mamma Mia!’ soundtrack—since that was Luci’s go-to soundtrack since the movie was a “cinematic masterpiece” as she should say—singing and harmonizing They opened a bottle of wine and raised their glasses to love and more opportunities.

November 5, 2018

“Okay, since your birthday is in three days, and I can’t keep a surprise to save my life…I booked us a dinner reservation in the evening.”

Luci looked up from the November issue of the Vogue magazine that she was mindlessly flipping through. Her eyes lit up. “Really? Where?”

“I need something to surprise you with, so you’ll know when we get there.” Harry kissed her cheek. Pouting, she gave her best puppy eyes. “Not gonna work, baby, but nice try.”

Her face switched back to neutral. “Fine. You’re lucky I love you.”

“Yeah, I know you do,” he teased.

“I really do.” She put the magazine down on the table in front of her, climbing on his lap. “Like, a lot.”

“And I love you more. Now, how about I give you an extra and early birthday gift?” He asked, rubbing his hands down her back and to her ass.

Her hips slightly grinded down on him, causing him to fidget. “Oh, yeah? And what would that entail?”

“Let’s go to the bedroom and find out.”

Before she got the chance to answer, he unexpectedly ran to the bedroom, dragging her along as she squealed. Their smiles hadn’t disappeared from their faces, and they were hopelessly happy and in love.

November 8, 2018

The school bell rang, making everyone pack up their belongings as they headed out the classroom door. Usually, Harry would stay back and get some grading done, but today, he had errands to run before his date with Luci for her birthday. He’d been so excited since the moment he told her that they had plans, which he was lucky that he hadn’t spoiled the entire evening right then and there.

For her birthday, Harry had planned to take her out to a nice restaurant—not too fancy since fancy wasn’t really their vibe, but it was nice enough that they needed to dress up. After their meal, he planned to take her to the arcade where he would win her an arcade ring from one of those claw-machine games—that ate people’s quarters quickly—were almost impossible to win anything from, but he was determined. The arcade ring could scare her away as she may think it would be the next step to their relationship but it wasn’t anything too serious because neither of them were ready for that nor had it been discussed. He’d love to marry Luci, though, if he was being honest. They hadn’t even been together for a year, but he just had a certain feeling in his heart that she was the one—a feeling he hadn’t felt all of his life and in his past relationships.

After their arcade shenanigans, Harry would take her to a café that closed later than usual, where they would share a Danish to satisfy their sweet tooth, and have coffee or tea that would make them wired so they would have to stay up to have romantic and sweet sex; and in between rounds, they would eat the birthday cake Harry bought her.

He had it all planned out, and he was eager to see the excitement and surprise on her face.

Putting his folders and belongings into his bag, he said goodbye to the last student who was walking out of his classroom. With a big smile on his face, he rushed as he was packing up, seeing as he was in a time crunch. He closed his door and made his way down the hall before he was stopped.

“Hey, Harry! Wait up.” Harry turned around, seeing Carina jog towards him as her heels clicked against the ground.

“Hi, Carina. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight? My friends and I are going to this bar, and they have live music there, so I figured you’d be interested in that.” Her hands locked behind her back as she briefly looked down at her feet before looking up with hopeful eyes.

“Oh, uh, thank you for the offer.” Carina had the face of rejection…again. “But today is my girlfriend’s birthday and we’re going out tonight.”

“Right, got it. Girlfriend.” She stated. If Carina was honest, she didn’t Harry had a girlfriend, and she felt like her constant invitation to hang out made her look dumb.

“I’m sorry. I should get going.” He started to back towards the exit of the school as he waved.

“Yeah, have a good night. If by some miraculous reason you change your mind, call me. We’ll be out all night. You can even bring your girlfriend.” Despite the fact that she’d gotten rejected three times and there was a girlfriend in the picture, she’d kept her hopes up. She was just going to stand on the sidelines, and somehow, one day, Harry would stop playing the game and join her.

“Uh, sure.” He waved once more before heading out. Without much thought to Carina’s invitation, he carried on to his schedule and he stopped by the stand-up shop on the sidewalk that was close to his school to buy Luci’s favorite bouquet of flowers. He saw that the ones he’d given her when she arrived home a week ago were still alive and fresh, but she mentioned that she wanted to put some in her bedroom—to brighten up her room. So, no harm in getting another bouquet of flowers. The vendor who owned the shop had noticed he was a regular, which he was grateful for, and told Harry that his lady must be a very lucky one since he’d always made sure to get her the same one. But Harry quickly countered that he was the lucky one.

Next, he stopped by the bakery to buy her a birthday cake. Last year, he hadn’t gotten one for her and she ended up blowing candles from the bowl of ice cream they ate later that night, so he figured a proper birthday cake would top it off. He’d pre-ordered the cake a few days before—a small circle cookies n’ cream ice cream cake, enough to fit both of them. He bought the numbers ‘2’ and ‘7’ and had the baker write ‘Happy Birthday, Luci!’ in red frosting—her favorite color.

When he was finished with everything he needed to do, it was nearing four-thirty and the train ride back to home during rush hour would be dreadful, so he headed back home. He was glad the bakery shop had given him a brown paper bag that was big enough to put the cake in because he couldn’t risk the train suddenly stopping and having the cake fly across the subway cart.

It was five-thirty when he opened his front door. Their reservation was at six-fifteen, so he needed to get changed and properly ready for his girlfriend, and then he’d knock on her door.

A black button down shirt sat perfectly on his torso as the top two buttons were undone, showing his cross pendant, a peek of his tattoos, and the-barely-there but growing chest hair. He wore cream colored pants that fit him perfectly, flaring at the bottom and stopping at the perfect length to show his black Gucci boots that he’d been eyeing for a while and saved up for. He messed around with his hair; it had grown much longer and he hadn’t cut it since last year, but it showcased his curls impeccably.

Taking out the cake, he lit the candles up, placing them out the empty spaces around the writing before he carefully took the cake and flowers across the hall, knocking on her door.

He waited a moment before knocking again, and even then, he didn’t hear the familiar shuffling inside that always made him chuckle because Luci hated making him wait. After waiting for another minute or two, he knocked once more before he walked back inside of his own apartment, blowing out the candles before setting them on the table. He grabbed the spare key that she gave him and walked back to her door. He was starting to get worried now, and all he wanted to know was if she was okay because who knew what could have happened inside her apartment. So, he unlocked the door and let himself in.

“Luci?” He called out, slowly walking through the hallway. He took a glance at the main portion of the apartment, but it was empty. He then made his way to her bedroom and bathroom, and there were no signs or traces of the birthday girl. Furrowing his brows, he wondered where she could be. Harry took out his phone and called, texted, and sent her voicemails at least ten to fifteen times each.

He sat on her couch waiting for Luci to walk through the door, saying that she was sorry for being late. But as the minutes and hours went by, she didn't show; there were no texts or calls—nothing. It was nine at night when he decided to go back to his apartment. He waited for her for four hours, and the only thing that he was thinking about at the moment was: she forgot or she didn’t want to spend her birthday with him. Either one was fine, all she had to do was shoot him a call or text, and then he wouldn’t be so mad or annoyed.

The ice cream cake was melting on the table as it’d gone through hours of not being supervised by the cold freezer. He thought about just throwing the entire thing away, but then he remembered the hard work the bakers had gone through to make this cake, so he stored it in the freezer and wiped down the table before grabbing his phone, finding the person he wanted to contact and hit call.

“Hello?”

“Hey. Are you still out?” He asked.

“Yeah, we’re at Cherry on Lafayette in Soho.” The person on the other side of the call said, smiling, glad that Harry was going to join them.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

Harry didn’t have a clue as to where Luci was, who or if she was with anyone, or if she was okay. All he wanted was for Luci to be okay, that’s all that mattered to him. Perhaps also an explanation as to why she hadn’t shown. But if she was going to be out all night, then he would too.

With that, Harry grabbed his keys and headed out.

Happy Fucking Birthday Luci.

It was 1:15 a.m when Harry turned the corner of his hallway. He wasn’t sure if going out was the best idea in the world. His mind seemed to be on auto-pilot, as it had the control to rile himself up, making him angry at his failed plan to make Luci’s birthday special to anxiety-driven thoughts that made him insecure, wondering if he did or said anything wrong to her that caused her to not want to spend time with him. He stood outside of his door, leaning his forehead against the doorframe as he fished for his keys in his pocket; at the same time his phone buzzed.

Taking it out, he knew it wasn’t Luci, but it was Jeff.

Did you get home okay?

Typing back, he replied with Yeah, standing in front of my door right now. Thanks for tonight.

Of course, man. Anytime. Goodluck with Luci.

Harry didn’t reply anymore. Instead, he put his phone away and took out his keys.

Jeff had invited Harry out for drinks with their other friend, Mitch, but Harry declined, telling them that he had plans with Luci. But since those plans didn’t pull through, he joined his friends from uni, which wasn’t the smartest idea because all he did was drink his feelings away and he hated doing that. He had ranted to Jeff and Mitch about how his night did a complete one-eighty as he hadn’t expected to be sitting at the bar with his friends but instead, in bed with his girlfriend.

Jeff was Harry’s best friend, and he was his first friend he’d met when he was at UCLA, and they both had the idea to move to New York after college, so they did it together. A year into living in New York, Jeff had met Mitch, and they’d got along so well that Jeff decided to keep him around as a friend and introduced him to Harry. All three of them had been a group of three for two years, and they’d been lucky finding one another.

Another pair of shoes had walked down the hall, making Harry turn his head to see who was coming.

And in a gorgeous evergreen dress that landed above her knees, Luci was walking down the hall. If it was any day or any situation, Harry would have bedroom eyes, undressing her from head to toe before pulling her in for a kiss. But it wasn’t, and he was annoyed and pissed.

Luci was fiddling with her keys as she giggled to herself once her eyes were set on Harry. His brows were furrowed as he watched her, and she didn’t seem to care about the extra presence in the hallway—let alone, the fact that it was her boyfriend.

“Where’ve you been?” Harry asked in a quite demanding tone. Luci scoffed as if she was annoyed, and Harry was shocked that she was the one that was irritated.

“Harry, not now.” She hadn’t even turned around to face him, not even to apologize for not showing up; she just continued trying to find the right key and keeping herself up on the poorly chosen heels she’d worn for the night that made her heel blister.

“Not now? The fuck you mean ‘not now?’ Did you forget we had plans?” Luci turned around, and Harry could clearly see that she was drunk—not to the point of knocking out, but it seemed like she was coming down from being at that point because she clearly managed to get back home in one piece without someone helping her. “Where’ve you been, Luci?” He asked once more.

“I’ve been out.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he said sarcastically. “Where?”

“Went out with Nina to a club somewhere in Manhattan. Had a few…a lot.” She chuckled at the memory of her night.

“Did you get my calls? My texts?”

“Harry…I get you’re my boyfriend, but I don’t need to tell you my every move.” Luci rolled her eyes, huffing. Her drunk mind was going against all respect she had for the man in front of her. “Seems like you’ve been out too, but you don’t see me questioning you.” She pointed at him.

The disappointment in his face never left. “I get that, and frankly, I don’t want to know your every move. But I told you that we had plans. The least you could do is call me to cancel, but no, you stood me up.” He tried to hide the sadness in his voice but it was transparent. Luci clearly heard it quite clearly, making her heart sink. “I understand that it’s your birthday and you could do whatever you want, but if you didn’t want to spend it with me then you could’ve just said so; if you weren’t gonna make it on time, you could’ve just said so.” He paused, taking a breath. “I-I was standing in the hallway for ten minutes with a cake, and waited for you inside your apartment for four hours.”

Guilt was suddenly thrown at Luci as she looked down at her feet and curled her lips in. Tears had glossed over her eyes, but she denied them to stream down her face because she didn’t deserve to cry, she didn’t deserve to act like the victim in this situation. She kept her eyes to her feet and hands; she couldn’t even look him in the eye or else she'd let out a loud sob.

“Harry, I’m sorry…” she started, testing her limits as she looked up at him. “I should’ve called.”

“Yeah, you should’ve,” he said sternly. There was an awkward pause, neither of them not knowing what to say. Harry was exhausted from overthinking and all the emotions that had gone through his head, but it gave him a piece of mind knowing that Luci arrived home safely and in one piece, so he didn’t have any other reason as to why he should be standing in the hallway. “I hope you had a good birthday.” Was all he said before he walked back inside of his apartment and shut the door, not giving her a chance to respond.

Luci sighed, letting out the sobs that she’d been holding in before she knew that she’d made a big mistake.

November 21, 2018

Luci opened her door to her family, greeting her excitedly. They hugged her tightly before pushing past her and inside of her apartment. Beatrice and Ren had asked Luci if they could stay at her place for Thanksgiving, and Luci wasn’t going to say no to that. They’d arrived a day before so her parents could prepare dinner as they didn’t want to rush for tomorrow. Luci had gotten them all of their groceries that they needed for the dinner, insisting that she’d buy it at the beginning of the week since the stores would most likely be packed the closer it got to Thanksgiving.

“I’m so happy you’re all here,” she told them. Beatrice looked up from the cutting board, smiling brightly.

“Well, Ana, if we hadn’t come here, you had to come to us.” Nathan stated jokingly, putting her arm around her shoulder.

Luci was happy Nathan wasn’t working during the Thanksgiving week and was able to join their parents on the trip. She’d missed all of them being in the same room; Luci had visited them before she left for Singapore, but it was only a brief day where Nathan wasn’t able to see her, so she was ecstatic her brother was there with her.

“Yeah, and it’s fun being in a star’s home.” Ren teased.

Luci giggled, shaking her head at the joke. “Barely a star, Pa.”

“Are you kidding? You definitely are a star! Already filmed for two blockbuster-hit movies all within a year. You’re moving up, Lulu.” Ren’s encouraging words made her smile; she always admired how her father was always so uplifting and optimistic.

“I agree, Lucky. And there’s many more opportunities to come, I can tell you that.” Beatrice pitched in, not looking up from the vegetables that she was chopping with the sharp knife. Luci smiled, grabbing the small piece of carrot that she cut up before popping it into her mouth. As a mother could read their children’s minds, Beatrice noticed that Luci wasn’t herself. Usually, Luci would be very talkative and interactive when she was with her family, but now, she was quiet. “You okay, Luci?” Her mother asked.

The only reasonable thing she could do, while Luci didn’t want to ruin their night, was to tell her mother a little white lie.

Luci nodded. “I’m fine, Ma.” Deciding not to press her daughter any further, all Beatrice did was nod, taking her word for it but she’ll ask once more when the time was right.

In all honesty, Luci wasn’t fine, which was obvious given her and Harry’s situation and the place that they were in at the moment. Ever since that run-in the night she got home from her spontaneous birthday adventure with Nina and some friends, he hadn’t talked to her much. He’d talk to her when he had to, when he didn’t have a choice; and it was quite hard to avoid your neighbor, especially a neighbor who was always looking through the peep-hole for your whereabouts and knew his exact schedule.

She missed Harry, and she didn’t know how long his disappointment for her would last.

The Suki family gathered around Luci’s coffee table, eating their traditional Thanksgiving foods; they shared laughter and stories. When Luci moved to New York, she was so afraid of being alone without her family, but she came to realize that the reunions were always so exciting and fun because they talked like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“Luci, is Harry coming by?” Ren asked. Luci had told them about her and Harry’s relationship when they’d been together for two months. It was during a group FaceTime when Luci had just woken up and was getting ready to leave for work. She was groggy and half asleep, as it was already noon on the East Coast—telling them that she’d visited Harry for his birthday, which caused an uproar. They were supportive nonetheless.

At the sound of Harry’s name, she gulped, taking her time to chew and swallow her food before she answered her father. “Uh, no, I don’t think so,” she responded, which wasn’t technically a lie because she didn’t know of Harry’s whereabouts.

“Ah, that’s too bad. We’d love to meet him properly. The last and only time we met him was at your first show last year, and you two weren’t even together yet! Crazy how time flies by, but anyways, he was a nice guy—would love to have a chat with him again.” Luci pointed her eyes at Ren, knowing what that chat could entail. “What? I’m not gonna corner him. I won’t hesitate to do so, but so far, he’s treating you well, so I can’t complain.”

He’s treating me well, but I hadn’t been treating him the same, Luci thought to herself.

On cue, there was a strong and loud knock on the door, which startled the family. Luci looked around with wide eyes before she got up from her seat and headed towards the door. Looking through the peep-hole, she saw Harry, which was a surprise.

She opened the door. “Hey-”

“What is this?” Harry interrupted. Luci stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. He held his phone up to her face, and she scanned the article. Her eyes progressively widened as she quickly read it.

Presented on his phone was a thread of text messages from some woman that had sent Harry pictures of her and Nina on Luci’s birthday, dancing on the tables of a bar in Tribeca. There was another picture of her and Samuel; she had her head thrown back, laughing at something that he said but she was too drunk to remember. Another picture was when Samuel leaned into her ear, whispering something that she hadn’t had a clue about. If she was being completely honest, the pictures looked intimate; they were in close proximity because of the loud music and she noticed Samuel’s eyes sparkling as he looked at her.

Harry’s face was neutral and emotionless, but the fact that he showed no reaction or emotion only terrified her more because she knew behind the inexpressive face, he held anger inside.

“Where did you-”

“It doesn’t matter where I got this from. Now, tell me…what the fuck is this?”

“Harry…please let me explain.”

“I’ll give you five seconds to start explaining or else I’ll lose it-” The door behind her opened, revealing Beatrice.

“Harry!” She exclaimed, as if she hadn’t heard the loud voices from inside the apartment.

He immediately put his phone down, and if he wasn’t so shy in front of cameras, then he’d definitely hit the nail in the entertainment industry because he was quick to put up a front and mask his emotions that Luci was amazed at how fast he was able to do that.

“Beatrice, hello. It’s nice to see you again.” He smiled.

“We were actually just talking about you! Luci mentioned that you weren’t stopping by.” Luci closed her eyes; she loved her mother, she really did, but she really needed her to not talk.

“Did she?” Harry asked, amusing her.

“Yeah. Did you want to come in? We have plenty of food.”

Despite all feelings against Luci at the moment, she was still his girlfriend, and the last thing he wanted to do was be rude in front of her family. So, he told Beatrice ‘yes’ before walking past Luci and into her apartment.

It felt like it’d been ages since he was at her place—the unfortunate event of playing the waiting game. The air felt different, and for a momentary thought, it didn’t feel like home, but he assumed he’d only been thinking that because of everything that was happening between them.

Ren and Nathan greeted him excitedly, like the universe was listening to their conversation and had decided to bring Harry to Luci’s front door. Harry helped himself to a plate of food as his mouth watered at the aroma and sight of homemade food before joining the bunch on the couch.

They all chatted quite well; there were no awkward moments in between. Ideally, Luci would’ve loved this moment if it were any other time. Seeing Harry communicate and laugh with her family should make her heart swoon, but her heart didn’t have the ability to do that, as of now, because all she was thinking and worried about was Harry’s reaction and how he felt when he saw that particular article.

“Harry, I’m assuming you already saw Ocean’s Eight?” Nathan asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, I did. Luci’s…great, isn’t she? Like, proper talented. No wonder she was casted so quickly for her second movie.” Even though he held an ample amount of irritation towards her, he would never talk badly about Luci.

Harry looked at her, sitting beside him, finding her eyes already looking at him with a small smile on her face as if she was thanking him for always saying kind things about her; he turned away quickly before she got any ideas.

After a few more conversations and a pie for dessert, they all decided to call it a night. Harry thanked them all for letting him be the addition to their Thanksgiving dinner, and Beatrice had told him that he was welcomed any time for the November holiday, even though he didn’t celebrate it.

“I’m gonna walk him out.” Luci announced, but no one really listened as they cleaned up.

They headed out her door before Harry walked into his apartment, not bothering to close the door because Luci was following him. Finally, they were alone and had time for a decent conversation. Nerves crept onto her skin because all she could think about was how this conversation could end; they could talk it out and he would eventually forgive her, or he could break up with her and that would be the end of Luci and Harry. And for the first time, she hated the butterflies that erupted in her stomach; she hated the nervous feeling she felt in her chest; she hated the pounding of her heart as she looked at Harry because they were bad nerves, not the ones that made her feel giddy.

“I’m gonna give you a chance to explain. I don’t want to let this slide nor do I want to assume anything, so you’re going to explain everything that happened that night because the least you could do is that.” Harry crossed his arms as he spoke; the sight was intimidating.

Luci nodded, understanding. “Okay.” Harry didn’t say anything else, he sat on his couch as he waited for her to begin; Luci took a deep breath in. “So, Nina texted me and told me to go to her place for some day drinking because it was my birthday and she missed me, so I agreed to go. She texted me at noon and I got there around one, and there were a few other people there—already wasted. I didn’t know what the occasion was because I doubted those other people knew it was my birthday.”

“Other people?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, Samuel and some of Nina’s friends that I don’t know.”

“Samuel as in that guy you used to be with?” Harry also couldn’t forget about that time he saw both of them in the hallway, watching Samuel kiss her cheek. Without him fully knowing, he was jealous; he hated how much that simple gesture affected him.

Luci gulped. “Yeah. He has a girlfriend—Daisy, remember?” He inhaled, nodding. “I was surprised he was there, too—I didn’t know he was gonna be there. Anyways, we started drinking for hours, I’m pretty sure. I’d completely lost track of time because of how drunk I was already. But I knew it was late because it was already pitch black outside. Everyone wanted to go to a club that night, and I said ‘yes,’ but before we left, Nina and her friends were up in her room doing lines, and they offered me…”

Harry furrowed his brows concerningly. “Did you?”

“No, no! I didn’t. That part I remember because I didn’t want to be involved in that stuff. So, I sat back and waited for them. I must’ve fallen asleep for a little bit because Samuel woke me up and told me that we were leaving.”

Throughout her and Nina’s friendship—Luci didn’t think they were that close as Nina thought they were—she wouldn’t have guessed that Nina was using. But she figured that was the reason why Samuel was there, to provide them with a stash. It was quite a shock to Luci, even in her drunken state. Nina’s friends had continuously asked Luci if she wanted to try it, to go up into the bathroom and line it up on the cold counter by the sink, but Luci declined, telling them that she was okay and that she would wait for them. Paying no mind to her, they all went upstairs; Luci heard laughter coming from the second floor along with slight moaning after each line. She put herself to sleep, which her drunkenness helped; and for what seemed like hours, Samuel had woken her up and they left for the club.

“Okay, so the picture of you and Samuel? What’s that about?” Harry questioned.

If Luci could remember every single word from that conversation, then she would gladly tell him, but she doesn’t; she only remembered bits and pieces of that night before she went home. But she did know that nothing but a friendly chat occurred. “We were just talking, I swear. Nothing else happened. I remember he was apologizing for how he left things and he was telling me that he was happy about all the opportunities that I was given, and he talked about Daisy; that was it.” She paused, waiting for Harry to respond, but he stayed quiet. “And then I went home, realized that I missed our date and I was so mad at myself, and I know I shouldn’t have been annoyed or acted like a bitch to you because I had no right to act like that because you didn’t deserve it. I’m so sorry.” She apologized genuinely.

Luci had been beating herself up over what she did, and Harry noticed. He was good at reading her mind quite well, reading her like a book. He knew that she didn’t regret going out because she missed going out freely with her friends, but what she regretted was not going home earlier so she could make it just in time for their date; she regretted not contacting Harry, telling him that she was out or that she was going to be late so he didn’t have to wait for a night of anger and loneliness. He knew that much. If she hadn’t been so regretful, then this situation would’ve turned out very different, but she simply made a mistake, and Harry wasn’t going to let her beat herself up over that. People make mistakes. It happens.

“Okay…” He simply said. Luci looked dumbfounded over his words and how he felt. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” She let out the biggest breath of relief before wrapping her arms around his waist, laying her head against his chest. It’d been a very long two weeks since she was in his arms, since she’d heard his heartbeat close to her ear, and she never wanted to go a day without them. Luci had missed Harry; although he thinks he missed her more.

She tilted her head up. “I’m so sorry.” Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s okay.” He rubbed her back in reassurance, kissing her forehead. The slightest touch of his lips on her skin made a chill run down her spine; the familiar electric force had shocked her in the best and relieving way.

They stayed in each other’s arms for a while, not letting go of one another as if they were compensating for the time that was lost when they weren’t in each other’s hold, time that was wasted. After a while, Luci lifted her head up again, exhaustedly looking deeply into Harry’s eyes; he could see how tired she was since she hadn’t gotten a decent amount of sleep since their argument.

“Can I sleep here with you?” She asked hesitantly.

“What about your family?”

“They’re okay. I slept on an air mattress anyway because Nathan took the couch.” Harry slightly smiled at that. He loved how she was so selfless when it came to her family. He could tell just how much love she had for them just by simple gestures and how she admiringly talked about them.

“Okay, let’s go to sleep.”

He led her to his bedroom as they both climbed in under the sheets, pressing their bodies close to one another as a way to warm each other up. Their hearts were beating incredibly hard against their chests that poured out so much love, never once stopping the overload. They looked at each other, admiring the other’s features that they had memorized. If someone had asked them to draw a portrait of their significant love, they would draw each other with perfect precision.

“I love you. I always will.” Luci said within the midst of appreciating one’s art.

“I love you too.”

They quietly and slowly drifted off to sleep. Luci was the first to meet her slumber, and as Harry watched her as he scratched her head, watching the way she would deeply inhale and exhale, he then fell asleep.

That night, their sleep was undistracted and peaceful, and one of the best night’s rest they’d ever gotten within the past two weeks without the knowledge of the storm that was coming.

December 28, 2018

The indescribable bliss and love had lasted for thirty-six days until shit broke loose again.

For thirty-six days, Harry and Luci laughed, made love, spent their days together, and simply enjoyed the other’s presence. Their argument was long forgotten and in the past; Harry had forgiven her for everything she’d done and said that night on her birthday, and all was good again.

They were separated during Christmas; Harry went back home to Manchester as Luci went to Massachusetts. They considered spending the holiday with one another, but it wouldn’t have worked out since Harry’s family was in a completely different country. Luci, a person who can’t stand not seeing her family during the holiday, was thinking about going to England with Harry since he’d told her so many times that Anne would love to meet her and Gemma in person, but he couldn’t take her away from her family. So, he told her that there will be another time to do so, just not during a busy time.

Despite the time off, Luci was getting calls from Thea and Samantha, asking her if she’d want to work again in the next year, which Luci said an obvious yes to, so they booked her an audition for a television series that was about solving crimes and detective ethics; the first episode for the series was airing in the Fall of next year. She’d have to film throughout the end of Spring and going into the Summer, but it wasn’t as hectic and fast paced as a film production, thankfully.

Both Harry and Luci had decided to go back to New York just a tad bit earlier than when they’d usually leave for the holidays. Luci was excited to see her boyfriend again, and Harry? He couldn’t say the same.

Some random thought in his head told him to check his emails when he was waiting for his luggage at baggage claim. He mindlessly scrolled through the unopened emails that mostly included the subscriptions for his streaming services, his favorite clothing stores since he had a habit of shopping online way too much, and random stores that he never bought anything from but typed in his email anyways to get a free coupon for a percent off of something. But an email that caught his eye was from one he couldn’t recognize—most likely a pseudonym to reach him.

The email read: Might wanna check this out with a link that took him to a well-known media site, The Mass, that was known for twisting a celebrity’s word around. Not thinking of it too much, he read the headline that contained Luci’s name. He smiled a bit as this was the first article that was ever released of her. Just as he was about to send her the link, he kept scrolling, scanning over every word that was stated in the article. His smile had disappeared within every sentence that he read. His brows furrowed as he processed the words he was reading. And his heart sank throughout the entire article.

He put his phone away, grabbing his luggage that had circled around at least twice, and headed home. Harry tried to stay calm throughout the entire trip back home but his mind was swirling with unwanted thoughts, betrayal, and doubted love.

As he stood in front of his door, the door behind him had swung open, and before he got the chance to turn around, a pair of familiar arms were wrapped around his waist.

“Hi, my love. I missed you.” Luci’s hands rubbed up and down his chest, missing the feel of him. He hadn’t said anything, not one greeting. Instead, he turned around, making her grip on him loosen as he looked down at her. She was smiling, clearly clueless as to what he was feeling at the moment and oblivious about the article that was published about her.

Luci tiptoed to reach his lips before giving him a kiss. Just through that kiss itself, she knew something was wrong; he didn’t even kiss her back, which only pained both of them.

“Are you okay?” She asked. There was a bit of silence; the only thing that could be heard was Harry’s heartbeat that was pounding through his ears. “Hey, talk to me.”

Taking a deep breath, he started, “It took you thirty-six days for you to mess it all up again.”

Brows furrowed in confusion, Luci pulled back slightly. “What are you talking about?” She asked softly.

“Did Thea not tell you about the article that was published about you?” She shook her head, and Harry took a deep breath; he didn’t like that he was the one that had to inform her about it. “Someone sent me an article that was published on The Mass. It was an interview that took place after you filmed for Ocean’s Eight.”

Fuck.

A sudden realization hit her as she remembered the things she said in that interview—none of them were necessarily bad, but she did lie and say that she didn’t have a boyfriend when Harry was waiting for her at home.

The interview with Audrey had completely slipped her mind. She thought it would have been posted after the premiere, or even after filming was finished, but there was no story or article on her for months on end, so she’d forgotten about it and thought that it was completely dropped.

Her guess was that since her name was being put out there after filming for two big films, more people would want to read up on her. And she was glad now that people were more likely to search up her name on the search engine, but she really wished a section of that article didn’t exist.

“When did that interview happen?” He asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Luci took a deep breath. “In April.”

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing the skin between his eyebrows before he opened his eyes. “April. We were together in April. In fact, we never stopped being together. Why would you say you didn’t have a ‘lover’ or a boyfriend?”

“I…”

“Do you not want to be together? Is that what this is?” His tone was overbearing as it started to become more stern as he kept pressing.

“Of course, I want to be together-”

“Because it really seems like you don’t. Fuck, Ci. Do you even love me?”

“Yes! I love you!” She raised her voice, interrupting him as she wasn’t giving him a chance to speak. “How could you even question that?” Her eyes were filled with tears with how overwhelmed she was. “I love you so fucking much that it hurts. You’re everything to me, Harry. I want you all the time; I knew that from the moment I met you. So don’t doubt my love for you ever again.”

There was something attractive about declaring your love to someone so passionately in the middle of an argument that it almost made the other person want to rip their clothes off and fuck them in the hallway. That’s what Harry was thinking about right now, as inappropriate the timing was. Rage filled Luci as she proclaimed and spewed out her love; Harry, her love for Harry was her extreme joy.

“I don’t understand how you could say something like that, though.” He sighed, crossing his arms.

“I didn’t think this is what you wanted. You do realize that my name is spreading? And once they find out about you, all they’ll do is want pictures of you, even when I’m not with you! Is that what you want? Because I don’t. That’s a huge invasion of privacy that I’m not willing to share. No matter how much I love you, I don’t want to share you with the world.”

He nodded, understanding her words. But he felt a bit overwhelmed at the moment, and just needed time to breathe. “Okay. Just…just give me some time. I’m kinda overwhelmed with everything.”

Luci sighed sadly, but there was nothing she could do; she wasn’t going to deny him the space that he requested. “Alright.” She watched him open his door before entering, turning around to face her. “I love Harry. That’s going to change, I hope you know that.”

“I do.” He nodded. “Goodnight, Ci.”

Closing his door had, in a way, represented putting his guard up. He had been living freely with his guard down for a little more than a year, and this situation and the one prior had scared him a bit, so he needed to take some control in his feelings and his life; and if putting one guard up out of the four, then so be it.

Luci had spent the night alone, which was the exact opposite of her expectations when reuniting with Harry. She cried into her pillow, regretting every bad decision she made that had caused pain to him.

She then realized that he never said he loved her back, and he always said it back.

December 30, 2018

Luci didn’t have a clue as to how she survived the two weeks that Harry was mad at her because it seemed like the day and a half she was living through seemed much longer.

They hadn’t spoken since their reunion that turned into an argument, leading to Harry being disappointed in her…yet again.

Her anxiety was sky-rocketing; perhaps, that may be because she’d messed up twice already, so her thoughts had been on edge as they told her that this was the end—that he was done with her shit. She held so much love for him that she hoped that he didn’t see it as the end of the road—Luci didn’t know if she could handle that heartbreak, even though she was the one who caused him some pains and aches.

He doesn’t deserve that, he never did.

You don’t deserve him, her subconscious told her. Rolling her eyes to herself, she tried to push the negative thoughts out of her mind as they were driving like it was a race track, making her head hurt. The knock on her door had taken her out of her own head.

When she swung the door open, Harry was standing on the other side. He gave her a small smile—not the smile that he usually greeted her with, which she awfully missed very much, but it was a smile that was shown because he didn’t want to make it clear that he was disappointed.

“Hi, H.” Luci greeted softly.

“Hey, uh, are you busy?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ve got time for you.” Her words didn’t mean to come out in a flirty way, rather she meant them well and clearly.

“Okay. Do you wanna go to our spot?” He asked hesitantly. Harry had to encourage himself to even knock on her door, and he hated how tentative he was; that’s your girlfriend, for fuck sake, he had told himself.

“Yeah, of course. Let me just get my things.” Luci was always up for a trip to Coney Island; the spot that they made theirs. The spot that held so many memories and the most significant memory that beach held was the start of their love for one another.

Sure, it wasn’t the best idea to visit the beach during the wintertime, but neither of them cared enough to think about the temperature or if the soft grainy sand was covered in snow; they just needed to be in that specific place with one another.

The ride there was a quiet one—not so much peaceful as their minds were running haywire, but they’d managed to get to the cold beach without saying a word. They simply fell into an in sync step, walking side by side as their glove covered hands were stuffed inside of their own coat pockets for extra warmth when Luci would usually hold his hand inside of his pocket and cuddle up against each other as they walked through the cold.

Settling on the familiar spot on the snow covered sand, they stood a foot apart with their arms crossed as they watched the ocean crash onto the shore. Warmth radiated off their bodies due to the tension and nerves that coursed through their veins, which suddenly made the cold bearable as they stood next to each other. The only thing that was heard was the sound of nature, the sound of Mother Earth’s specialties that had surrounded them into a bubble of stillness. The silence was deafening.

Luci loathed the tension-filled silence; it definitely wasn’t her favorite thing when it came to her relationship with Harry. She had approximately three moments with him that included nerves filling her body; when she was in Singapore and told him that she didn’t feel like talking to him; the unfortunate event on her birthday that was entirely her fault; and the event that they’re going through now, yet again, her fault. She tried her very best to never get that certain feeling again, but she felt like a failure in doing so. And the only way they were going to fix it was by getting vulnerable, getting real; she’d felt like she did a very poor job with communicating on her end, and she was going to try to fix it.

“Someone had once told me that I was unlovable,” she started. “They said those words right to my face, and you could imagine how shocked I looked when they said them. They’d told me that the reason why I wasn’t in a real relationship all my life was because no one wanted me; they didn’t even look twice when I walked past them. No one was interested in me.”

She sighed, looking at Harry from her peripheral vision, and he still had his sight facing the water, but she knew that he was listening intently.

“And that’s hard coming from a family that was filled with so much love and respect for one another. It was a different reality than what I was used to. My parents make it seem so easy to love me, even though I’m a pain in their ass, but they never really complained about all my wants. When that person told me the harsh reality, I pushed people away. Whoever got close. Even when people had asked me out and seemed like they were interested in me throughout the years, I pushed them away and rejected them because I didn’t want to endure the pain that was inevitable.”

Turning her body towards him, she was shaking from the cold but also the ability to be vulnerable in front of her boyfriend for almost a year.

“Harry…” she called out softly. He looked at her, completely facing Luci. “I’m sorry for everything. I truly am. I’m sorry for pushing you away, and for not being here enough. I’m sorry for taking your kindness for granted and for making you doubt my love for you. You don’t deserve any heartache, and I promise, I’m still trying. I’m still new to this relationship stuff, so please be patient. I will spend forever trying and trying, trying to make you happy.”

Her words almost made a sob rip out of his mouth, but he contained his emotions well. Luci was cold, pouring out apologies and begging her for his forgiveness; she was new to vulnerability.

“I know I made a mistake—several of them—but I’m trying. If you…don’t want to be with me, then that’s understandable; I won’t blame you because, yeah, I haven’t been that great of a girlfriend to you and you deserve so, so much better; and I am sorry I couldn’t be that person to make you happy.” Her voice trailed off, cracking. Harry’s heart nearly broke at the sound of her voice as he tried to contain his emotions. “But miraculously, if you decide to forgive me, then we could work everything out. We’ll still grow and learn new things about each other, and it’ll be good from there, right?”

The sound of hope in her voice rang in his ears, and he couldn’t dare to listen to the heartbreak if he were to call it quits, which was a shock to hear her say that because she must’ve thought he was ending it for good; that thought made him sad. An abrupt flashback pounded in his brain as he remembered the happy memories they had with one another. A simpler time before the rain.

Just last year, they were in this exact same spot, watching the sun go down with one another in their arms. But as of now, they were standing a foot apart from each other, instead of sharing a kiss at how their relationship had made it through an entire year of ups and downs; they were unsure of their next move.

They had kept one another warm in the cold weather that breezed through them, but now, it seemed colder than usual. The air had wrapped its coldness around them, engulfing them into a hug.

Why didn’t the sun setting come with a warning sign to let them know what kind of storm was coming for them? It felt like their worlds had washed away into a whirlwind of displeasurable emotions; one they’d hoped they were strong enough to break through the storm.

Quite early in their relationship, they knew their relationship was going to be something special; they knew it was going to be one that was worth all the pain they’ve endured in the past; they knew it was the long haul that would last. The one obvious question that had run through their head like it was plastered on the big screen and written on the whiteboard was: how did everything go downhill so quickly?

He loved Luci with his entire heart. Sure, she’d made a few mistakes, but who hasn’t? They still had some issues to work out, such as communication and trust aspects of their relationship. But he wasn’t ready to let her go, and he really wasn’t planning on it. So, he said:

“We're gonna work this out.”

that’s the end of book one!

please come and talk to me about your favorite scenes and moments, and your thoughts and feelings! thank you so much for reading <3 book two will be posted soon!

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles ff #harry styles fic #harry styles x oc #harry styles series #harry styles writing #harry styles au #boyfriend!harry #teacher!harry #actress!oc

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hamiltonimagines · 3 years

Text

Best Partner I Could Ask For

Pairing: Daveed x Reader

Request: “something sweet with Daveed. Like we're in a movie together?” - @hj-creates

Word Count: 1.7k

“So how’re you feeling? You nervous” Daveed asked me.

Daveed and I were about to be on the Ellen DeGeneres show to promote a new movie that we both starred in.

Over the course of filming, Daveed and I become really close. He was a really good friend, and that was important when you were working long days together.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little nervous. This is my first time on a talk show” I told him. “You are going to kill it and I’ll be right there with you” he said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

Then, I heard Ellen announce “Please welcome Y/N and Daveed”. The audience started to cheer and applaud. Daveed gave me a smile, before we walked out.

We walked around the corner and waved at the audience as we walked to the couch. We got to the couch and Daveed motioned for me to go in front of him.

I walked in front of him and gave Ellen a hug. Then I stepped back and she gave Daveed a hug. Then, we all sat down.

“Hi Y/N, Daveed, how are you guys?” She asked. “We’re doing good, thank you for having us” Daveed said, knowing I was a little nervous. “Yes of course. So, you both are in a new movie called See You at Lucy’s. What is it about?” Ellen asked.

“Well I play a woman named Lucy who owns her own diner. She lives in a small town and she meets this rich business man, who happens to be passing through the town. His name is Eric, and he is played by the wonderful Daveed Diggs. And they both meet and they fall in love” I explained. “Oh that’s really sweet. So what was it like working together on this movie?” Ellen asked.

“Y/N was an absolute wonder to work with. If you haven’t seen any of her work, you need to go watch it right now. She is seriously one of the most talented actresses I know” Daveed complimented. The audience awed and I looked over at Daveed and smiled at him.

“He’s being too kind, not only is Daveed such a good actor. He’s just a really good person, we worked really early mornings and late nights on this movie. There is no one I would rather have around. Anytime that I was getting tired or frustrated, he was always there to make me laugh. He was seriously the best partner I could ask for” I elaborated. Daveed put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a short side hug.

“Alright, so now on to the more juicy questions. The people want to know, are you dating?” Ellen asked. I froze up, I wasn’t prepared for this kind of question. I totally had a crush on Daveed, I could feel my cheeks heat up. I hoped Ellen wouldn’t notice my panicked expression though.

“What people Ellen?” Daveed asked, skillfully dodging the question. “Everybody, now stop avoiding the question” she replied and the whole audience cheered.

“We are not dating” Daveed answered, simply. It was the truth. “What about you Y/N? Do you agree?” She asked me, hoping that I would slip up.

“No, Daveed’s right. We are definitely not dating. Why do you all want us to be dating?” I asked the audience, giggling to myself. “Well maybe because of this photoshoot” Ellen said, and then a photo came up on the screen. We both turned around to look at it and we both froze in our seats.

A few months ago, Daveed and I had to do this photoshoot as promo for the movie. One of the scenes in the movie, was us hanging out at Daveed’s characters pool. So we had to take some photos in the pool, that they were going to use for some of the movie posters.

We had just taken a bunch of funny and goofy photos. We had one where I was sitting on Daveed’s shoulders in the pool. There a few of us both jumping into the pool. “Alright, we need a romantic one now” our director had told us.

“What do you want us to do?” I asked our director. “How about you both hold each other and pretend like you’re leaning in to kiss?” Our director suggested. We both gave the director a thumbs up.

“Alright come here love” Daveed jokingly said, opening his arms to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, while we were standing in the pool. I placed by hands on his shoulders. We both leaned in slightly.

It wasn’t hard to pretend like I was in love with him, I had had a crush on Daveed since we met at the auditions.

“This looks awkward, how about you actually kiss and we’ll take the photos as you’re leaning in. It’ll look more realistic” our director told us. We both nodded and I took a deep breath. “It’s okay, it’s just me” Daveed said, making me giggle.

We both leaned in and slowly connected our lips. We hadn’t done any of our kiss scenes for the movie, so this was our first kiss. It felt magical, I tried to ignore the fact that there was a whole camera crew watching.

Daveed cupped my face and kissed me. I could feel him smile as we kissed.

Then we pulled away and we both had cheesy grins on our faces. I was about to say something to him, when our director yelled out “Okay, we got the shot. You guys can go dry off”.

I was majorly disappointed, I was hoping to get to kiss him again. I figured we would talk about it, but we never did.

Now, looking at the photo that Ellen had, clearly our director had decided to take a photo while we were kissing, as opposed to as we leaned in.

“Care to explain?” Ellen asked us. “That was a shot for the movie posters” Daveed said, trying to act nonchalant. “Really? You seem to be enjoying yourself, you have a big ole smile on your face in this picture” Ellen said, smirking.

“It’s because we’re professional actors” I lied and the audience started laughing. “Keep telling yourselves that. So what was each of your favorite moments from shooting this movie?” Ellen asked us. I was so glad that she changed the subject.

“My favorite was definitely Y/N’s birthday. She didn’t want anyone to know that it was her birthday, but we all found out anyway. And we all decided to prank her. So I was acting out a scene with her and I went completely off of the script. She was so confused and we had our director in on the prank. Y/N was trying to go along with it, and it was hilarious” Daveed said, chuckling to himself.

“That was so embarrassing. My favorite wasn't from the actual shooting of the movie. But Daveed and I started this tradition where every Friday night, after filming, we’d go to Daveed’s trailer and watch a movie” I said. “Oh yeah, watch a movie” Ellen said, doing air quotes when she said “watch a movie”.

The audience started to laugh again. “No” I said, embarrassed. “To be fair, we did actually watch movies” Daveed clarified. “I don’t believe you. Look at her face, she can’t even keep a straight face” Ellen said.

I felt so embarrassed. I buried my face in Daveed’s chest and he put his arm around my shoulders. I could feel his body shake as he laughed. “She’s got something to hide” Ellen said.

“No I don’t, I swear” I said, pleading with the audience to believe me. “We’ll see if the people believe you. Thank you guys for being on the show today. We’ll be right back with our next guest” Ellen said, doing an intro to the commercial break. The crew started to fix everything so it was ready for the next guest.

Daveed and I both stood up and gave Ellen hugs again. “You guys can tell me, are you guys actually dating?” She asked, now that our microphones weren’t on. “No, we’re not. Sorry to disappoint” Daveed said, laughing. “Well thanks for coming, I’ll see you guys soon” Ellen told us. We both said goodbye and walked backstage.

We got back to our dressing room and sat down on the couch. “Hey can we talk about something?” I asked Daveed, nervously. “Yeah of course, what’s wrong? You seem nervous” he said, placing a hand on my thigh to calm me down. “The kiss” I said, simply.

“Are you worried about the picture? I know we thought it was supposed to just be us leaning in, but I think it works good for the poster” he explained. “No, I mean I agree. It’s just...that’s not what I wanted to talk about” I said. “Well what do you want to talk about?” He asked me.

“We kissed” I said, not knowing how to put it into words. “Yes we did, I remember” he said, chuckling. “We never talked about it” I said, uncomfortably. “Well we’re talking about it now, so what do you want to discuss?” He asked.

Daveed was such a good guy and he always knew how to make me feel comfortable.

“Daveed, I like you. I don’t how else to tell you. But we kissed and I was about to tell you, that day in the pool and then the director said we were done. And we never even got to talk about it. I thought the kiss was pretty special, but I feel like you didn’t have that same reaction. And once we’re done with promo, I still want to hang out. I don’t want to just never talk again, after this movie is out. You’re an amazing person and I don’t want to lose you” I told him.

“It was special” Daveed said, sincerely. He cupped my face and leaned it and connected our lips. It was slow and sweet. He tasted like spearmint. We pulled away and Daveed interlaced our fingers. “I promise that you will never lose me” he said, sweetly.

“Wait, so you like me too?” I asked, still in shock. “I thought the kiss gave that away, but yes Y/N, I am head over heels for you” he said, smiling.

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hattywatch · 3 years

Text

T. Jost - Dog Day Afternoon

A/N: No one asked for this. It’s just a small meet-cute. It’s been a while, be gentle!

“Nooo. No!” A gentle tug on the leash brings the labradoodle back to your side, “We do not poop on lawns in this neighborhood, mister!” You’d be absolutely mortified to be caught bagging up poop off of the pristinely manicured lawns in this community, so you bend down and give Cooper a satisfying scratch behind his ear and let him gently tug you towards the end of the block.

He’s one of your favorites, so well behaved and affectionate when you visit him. His humans are out of town for the weekend, and you stop by a few times a day to exercise him and give him his meals. If someone had asked you when you were in high school if you saw yourself picking up after people’s dogs to pay your bills you’d be confused to say the least. But, the fact of the matter is you’ve opened your own business with five girls working for you, and you rarely have to deal with humans on the day-to-day, so it’s actually kind of a blessing in disguise.

This particular gated community has been your bread and butter as of late, full of well-to-do families who don’t take vacations, they holiday. It’s a marked difference. They’d pay anything to have their treasured pet pampered in their own home and not stuffed into some grimey kennel with 20 other dogs. The best part is they all talk, so you’ve been able to turn 1 client into 15 in only a month. Cooper was the one that started it all.

You’re nearing the end of the block, coming up on the grassy park that caps the cul-de-sac when Cooper finds a street sign to relieve himself on. You have one headphone in, so you don’t quite hear the heavy footfalls before you see the men jogging up beside you.

The blond one is broad and shirtless, he looks like Thor incarnate. His running partner is younger, with curly hair and biceps that strain the sleeves of his t-shirt, which is damp with sweat. Of course, it’s at this time Cooper finds a patch of grass to poop on and you wish you could throw yourself into the picturesque lake to your right as you start unrolling the bags you keep in your pocket. The men smile as they pass though, everyone in this town is polite to a fault.

______

Three days later you haven’t given them much of a second though.

Today you have Daisy, whose dainty name would be more fitting on a dog half her size. The dopey husky can hardly control her own body, tail smacking against you as you try to get her harness on before you lead her through the streets which are starting to become familiar.

Daisy lives 5 doors down from Cooper, and it really is so convenient, allowing you to maximize your profit with minimal travel time. She’s still being leash trained, so you grab a handful of treats and shove them into your pocket and hope that “heel” is something she can be coerced to learn. Today you wind your way past the park, up and down the curving streets, intent on this being a “walk,” not a “pull,” like Daisy seems to prefer.

You pass your favorite house, stark white with a red door and a blooming rose bush on either corner of a wrap around porch. The porch swing is occupied by a pretty blonde woman holding a small baby. She looks up as Daisy barks and you smile and give an apologetic wave. The woman smiles back and you see the beautiful, blond man from the other day hop out of the truck in the driveway.

He smiles and waves at you as well before walking up to the porch and kissing his wife and baby, sitting down next to her on the swing.

It warms you up to your toes to see that this couple isn’t too jaded by the beautiful home they have and the affluent community they live in to enjoy the little things.

Daisy barks again and you see that she’s making herself at home at the edge of their driveway, and you grimace before grabbing the bags from your back pocket. The couple doesn’t seem to mind and gives you another wave when you pass by, intent on getting Daisy back to her house so you could move onto the next client.

______

On Sunday, your only day off, one of your girls calls in sick, so you throw on some leggings and flip-flops and drive over to walk a fluffy pomeranian named Precious.

She’s a demon.

She’s yippy and aggressive from the moment you walk in the door. She can, however, be plied with treats, so you arm yourself with a handful and hope you can tire her out so she’ll be easily swayed back into her crate without too much chaos.

She lives across the street from that white house with the red door you love so much, so at least that’s one plus on Precious’ side. You get to admire the home from close up. Making your way down the walkway trying to control the spawn of dog-satan, you catch a glimpse of a shiny new jeep parked outside.

The driver looks familiar, he’s handsome… And he’s staring right at you, which is awkward, as you’re pretty much still in pajamas and Precious has not stopped her shrill yapping since she’s been put on her leash.

“Hey there,” he’s not talking so much to you as he is talking to the ball of fluff dragging you down the walk.

“Oh, I wouldn’t pet her, she’s a bit cranky this morning,” you tell him while he’s mid-squat. He shoots back up and smiles and you finally recognize him. The curly haired friend who was running with the blond from earlier in the week. He’s more handsome up close and it’s making you a little antsy.

He laughs and it suits his boyish face, “Fair enough, I’m pretty crabby when I have to wake up early on the weekend too.” You smile and try to pull Precious closer to you, lest she start nipping at his ankles.

The red front door across the street opens, and that golden couple steps onto the porch. They wave at you and you wave back, smiling tightly, a little uncomfortable trying to pay attention to the beautiful man in front of you and the little fluffy ball of rage between you.

When he notices you waving, he looks over his shoulder and waves ridiculously back to them as well, a big goofy grin splitting his face, “Is it okay that I park here? I can move if it’s not.”

“No, no, go ahead. No problem at all,” you smile genuinely this time. He says thank you and holds his hand out, “Tyson, by the way. I’m Gabe’s friend,” he thumbs over his shoulder at who you assume to be Gabe.

Still nodding, you give him your name in return before blurting, “Yeah, I think I’ve seen you around here before,” before you can shut your stupid mouth and he smiles impossibly bigger.

Gabe, who you have identified as the blond dad from the house across the street helps you save face when he shouts, “Tyson, c’mon we’re going to be late,” as he remote starts his truck from the front door, bouncing his tiny baby on his hip.

Tyson ducks his head at being called out and smiles one last time before waving and heading to a waiting Gabe, “See you two around.”

Gabe gives you a big grin as he backs out of his driveway and passes you and Precious, still huffing at your feet at the delay in her walk. You walk her the opposite way they drove off in, not trying to encounter any more broad chests and pretty faces before you’ve had your morning coffee.

______

Friday is a busier day, you have 6 walks back to back in your new area, plenty of families going on a long weekend trip for memorial day weekend. You start your day off with Cooper, followed up by Daisy. They’re getting used to their routes with you and their walks are enjoyable. The next four are with Rocky, Lucy, Maggie, and Duke who are all newer clients.

You’re up to Lucy when you pass Gabe’s house for the first time. There’s music coming from the yard and a few extra cars line the sidewalk, so you assume he’s hosting a party. If you look for a familiar, shiny jeep who could blame you?

It isn’t there though.

You’ve almost forgotten about it by the time you’re walking Duke, a tiny little yorkie who is veritably ancient in dog years. He still has some pep in his step though, and you shuffle through your playlist to find some appropriately happy music for the occasion as you turn a corner.

With your head down, thumb scrolling skillfully through your favorite Spotify playlist, you jump when you hear the sound of a horn. Duke gives a little bark and you look up to see who the offending party is.

Tyson’s body is half out of his window waving, where his car is parked on the corner across the street.

He hops out and walks over to you, peering at Duke with a little confusion.

“You could probably save yourself some time if you walked all of your dogs together. How many do you have?” He laughs and starts squatting down to Duke’s level while looking up at you for permission to pet.

“This one’s friendly, you can pet him,” is what you say, because your brain is starting to lose higher functioning the more his shorts creep up his bent legs, revealing the thick, muscular thighs underneath.

Once given permission, Tyson becomes the equivalent of a floppy golden, all sunshine smiles and praise for Duke. “Who’s a good boy?” he coos as he holds Duke’s head in his big hands, simultaneously rubbing under his chin and the top of his head.

He stands up and turns his smile on you, which makes your stomach swoop a little bit, not that you’d admit it. “You should come to Gabe’s house when you’re done walking all of your dogs. He’s having a little party; he said he invited all the neighbors.”

“That sounds nice,” you begin, knowing you shouldn’t and can’t., “but unfortunately I have some more work to do this evening.”

The smile on Tyson’s face doesn’t falter when he shrugs, “Okay, maybe next time.” He bends down to Duke one last time and uses a higher-pitched sweet voice to say, “See ya, buddy!” before standing up and jogging back over to his idling truck. He hops in and waves before driving back towards Gabe’s house.

Duke looks up at you, unimpressed, “He’s cute," you sigh. The yorkie just wags his tail and tugs you over to a maple tree to do his business.

______

It’s a week later when you’re trying to coax Precious down the driveway that you see the pretty blonde walking towards you smiling with a stroller. You know she’s Gabe’s wife, but she’s waving to you in a way that says she wants to talk and you wind the leash around your hand so Precious doesn’t get any ideas.

“Hi! You’re (y/n) right?” she waits for you to nod and say ‘that’s me’ before continuing, “Oh awesome! I’ve heard so much about you from the neighbors. I’m Mel, I live over there,” she points to the house with the red door that you know to be hers, “We have plans Friday night and we need someone to come and take Zoey out. Would we be able to book you?”

She looks ecstatic to have run into you so you pull your phone out and check your calendar, “Let’s see, I will actually be in the neighborhood around 7, and I’m free around 7:45, does that work for you?”

“Ah! That’s perfect. We’re just so excited, because it’s the first time we’ve been out since the baby,” she beams down at the little girl in the stroller, “Mom and dad need a night out, ya know?” She’s smiling so brightly and she’s so sweet, and you don’t know, but you do get it somehow.

You type her name and address into the calendar on your phone, “I’m sure. You guys totally deserve it, babies are a lot of work!”

Mel laughs, “I had no idea just how much work! But thank you so much for fitting us in. The sitter will be there with her, so just knock and they’ll let you in and show you around,” her eyes are lit up and you’re actually excited to help her get a free night out with her husband, “I’ll text you and just save my number and we can work out all the details. I just have to get her home to feed before she starts fussing! Thank you again.”

She’s a whirlwind when she types your number into her phone with fast thumbs, but she has her timing down, because you can hear the baby starting to whine as she crosses the street to her house, right on schedule.

_____

When Friday comes you finish two walks and end up on the porch of the big white house with the rose bushes flanking it. You knock three times and step back to wait for the sitter to let you in.

Surprisingly enough, Tyson opens the front door.

He’s smiling, like always, with his right eyebrow raised in confusion, bouncing a giggly baby in his arms. She’s in a pink onesie, covered in what looks like mushy carrots, and Tysons white shirt doesn’t look any better.

“We weren’t expecting company, were we, princess?” He nuzzles his cheek across the top of the baby’s peach fuzz head and she squishes her eyes shut, babbling happily.

“I’m not really 'company' perse. I’m just here to walk Zoey,” you rock gently from foot to foot, hoping he’ll let you in and you can get your job done without looking like a total fool.

"Don't you have enough dogs of your own?" He laughs but steps aside to let you through the front door, the inside of the house is just as nice as the outside.

"Oh. Those aren't mine," you pull a biscuit out of your pocket and click your tongue, trying to coax Zoey out of her hiding spot under the kitchen table. "I'm just the dog walker." Zoey crawls towards you ok her belly, unsure and skittish.

"That's a good girl, c'mon mama." Tyson hands you her leash off of the back of a kitchen chair and you can feel his eyes on you as you snap her harness together.

He nods, bouncing foot to foot, keeping the baby happy, "That makes more sense. I thought you had like, 6 dogs. Gabe told me I was an idiot." You look up and his face flames, luckily the baby chooses that very second to spit up onto the burp cloth slung over his shoulder.

"Oh no, baby girl," he coos at the infant, rubbing her back soothingly. "I'm going to take care of this, don't leave without saying goodbye," he winks and walks through the kitchen, leaving you in a whirlwind, Zoey whining at your feet.

"Let's go girl."

_____

If you didn't know better, you think, as Zoey noses along the bushes down the block, distinctly uninterested in doing anything at all, you'd think you were being set up. Except you don't really know better.

You think back to the mischievous glint in Mel's eye was she stopped you for your number and Tyson's surprised face when you showed up, apparently unannounced, at the door.

The more you think about it the more flustered you get, not dressed to woo a potential suitor, and more likely than not, coming back with a bag full of Zoey's poop isn't really the way you prefer to meet men.

You dig into your pocket for some chapstick and maybe stop in front of a tinted car window in an attempt to curtail your hair into something halfway cute. It's a lost cause.

Zoey walks listlessly at your side, she's well behaved, but clearly has no business to do, so you head back to Mel and Gabe's house. She looks excited as you make your way up the porch steps and barks at the front door.

Tyson steps outside and shushes her softly. "Shh girl, please. I just got the baby to sleep."

"Do you want me to bring her into the back until she calms down enough to go inside?" You wrap the leash around your hand and pat the top of Zoey's head.

"Nah," he pulls the baby monitor out of his back pocket, "I was going to sit on the porch for a little anyway, it's nice out. Want some coffee?"

You say okay and sit on the porch swing waiting for Tyson, not entirely sure how life has led you to this moment on the pretty wrap-around porch of the house with the red door.

He comes back out and shuts the door quietly behind him before handing you a cup and sitting next to you on the swing. You're quiet for a pause, but then you giggle into your mug.

"Did you really think all those dogs were mine?" Tyson looks up at you, smiling goofily back over his own mug.

"Yeah, I totally did. Told Gabe I was going to see if his pretty neighbor needed help walking all of her dogs. Mel finally figured out it was you and they had a good laugh at my expense." His feet are solid on the porch rocking you back and forth while Zoey dozes in front of you.

Your ears warm at the compliment. "Thanks."

"I don't have a dog or anything, but maybe I could get your number in case I wanted company for a walk? What's your schedule look like?" You let your leg slide towards his on the swing so your knees knock.

Smiling and pulling your phone out of your pocket, you hand it over, "I think I could squeeze you in."

#tyson jost #tyson jost imagine #tyson jost fanfic #hockey imagine #hockey fanfic #nhl imagine #nhl fanfic #writing #avalanche fic #avalanche imagine #i just really think josty is so cute

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animezing-fandoms · 3 years

Text

Willow

Masterlist

Relationships: Nalu

Warnings: Blood, injury, stabbing (basically there’s a fight and injuries are sustained but it’s not graphic detail) Implied/referenced lemon. Abusive parents (Jude’s a real bad parent in this AU)

Summary: During a job with team Natsu, Lucy gets hit in the head and wakes up in a dream where she's a princess who runs away from home to be with her lover, the half-dragon half-human Count Natsu Dragneel.

A/N: So I had this wild dream one night about nalu and decided to write it as a fic. I hope it isn’t too crazy! And yes I also incorporated some lyrics from Taylor Swift’s Willow. Enjoy!

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

“I am seriously starting to regret taking this job with you guys!” Lucy wails.

She was currently on a job with Team Natsu. The job seemed simple enough on paper. They just needed to find a rare crystal in a forest. Sounds easy right? Well, the client forgot to mention that this forest has weird clearings that need to be crossed in order to get to the crystal, and giant killer eagles that attack you when you’re in the clearings!

That’s why Lucy was currently running for her life, heading for the tree-line. She dares to look over her shoulder and instantly regrets it when she sees one of those eagles swooping down towards her.

Before it can grab her, Natsu kicks it with his fire dragon’s claw and then scoops Lucy up in his arms bridal style and they leap into the tree-line as another eagle swoops by, just missing them.

Natsu looks down and sees Lucy breathing heavily with her face buried in his scarf.

“Lucy are you okay?” He asks her softly.

At the sound of his voice Lucy turns to look at his face and blushes.

“Y-yeah I’m fine.” She replies softly.

As her fear began to fade a new feeling was arising. Well it wasn’t entirely new. She’d felt this before. A warm feeling in her chest and butterflies in her stomach. She felt like this whenever she was close to Natsu. And she knew what it meant, she had felt it before whenever a cute guy got close to her. But Natsu wasn’t a potential boyfriend? That ship had sailed after she got all dressed up to meet him in the park to dig for holes instead of a date.

He clearly doesn’t think about her in that way. And even if he did, she never would have known from the look on his face.

So she shouldn’t think of him that way either. He could be really annoying sometimes. Breaking into her apartment, wrecking her plans. And yet, sometimes at night with her head on the pillow she could feel him sneaking in.

He was like some mythical thing. And not because he was created as a demon, was taught dragon slayer magic and time traveled 400 years to be with her now. To be with her now...

As she looks at him she wishes she could know what he’s thinking.

There’s one prize I’d cheat to win.

“Oooo Lucy’s blushing!” Happy teases pulling Lucy from her thoughts. “I think she’s in lo-“

“Shut it cat!” Lucy retorts before Happy can finish.

“I agree with Lucy. Now is not the time for jokes.” Erza says seriously as Natsu sets Lucy down. “We have one more clearing to cross before we can reach the willow tree that holds the crystal.”

“Another one!?” Lucy exclaims. “We can’t find some other way around?”

“Unfortunately we can’t.” Erza says. “Our only option is to run for it and fight too if need be.”

Lucy looks past the tree-line to see the large willow tree on the other side. It would be a long, dangerous sprint. She takes in a shaky breath then exhales when she feels a warm hand slide into hers.

She turns to see Natsu smiling at her. But not with that goofy grin he usually wore. This time, he was smiling at her softly with an endearing look on his face, as if he was looking at something precious. Her heart was pounding and she could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Don’t worry Lucy. I won’t let any of those birds hurt you.” He promises.

Lucy smiles back at him.

“Thanks Natsu.” Lucy says.

“Alright now let’s go fry up some chicken!” Natsu shouts and runs into the clearing.

“Natsu wait!” Wendy shouts after him.

“That idiot! We were supposed to come up with a plan together first!” Gray exclaims.

“Well it’s too late for that now!” Erza says with a frustrated sigh before drawing her sword and following him.

Lucy figures that Natsu’s plan was to draw all of the attention to himself, so that the rest of them could sneak past. And that would have been a good plan if they weren’t in an open clearing. There was nowhere to hide and now they were all spread out. And there were more birds this time too!

What’s worse is that these birds were quicker. Lucy knows that if she slows down to summon a spirit, she’d surely get picked up and carried away! And she was definitely having a few close calls right now.

I thought Natsu said he would protect me? She thinks to herself as another bird swoops low.

Lucy was almost at the willow though. Just right through those branches and then she’d be safe!

But she was so focused on getting there that she didn’t see the branch hanging down from one of the other trees in her path! And as soon as she made it there, she smacked her head on the branch and everything went black.

—————————

When Lucy awoke, she was laying under the willow tree all alone, her companions nowhere to be found.

As she rose to sit up she found that her head was in no pain from getting hit, like she had never hit it in the first place. And the killer birds were nowhere to be found either.

She gently brushes the leaves off of the long purple skirts of her corseted dress as she tries to remember what she was doing out here in the woods.

“Did you rest well Princess?” A familiar voice asks and Lucy smiles.

“Virgo!” She exclaims, happy to see her face.

Suddenly her memories of how she wound up in this situation came flooding back to her. She, Princess Lucy Heartfilia of the kingdom of Fiore was betrothed to a man she did not love by her father who cared little for her happiness. So she ran away with the help of her most trusted maid Virgo, to a place where she knew she would be safe. The territory that was home to the man she truly loved. Thinking of him made her chest feel warm, yet she could not picture his face at the moment. Nor his name.

“Wait for the signal and I’ll meet you after dark.”

Those were the instructions he gave Virgo. She waited for the signal. A dragon flew over the castle, casting a dark shadow over it to give she and Virgo cover as they escaped.

And now it was dark. She was in the place. But her man was nowhere to be found.

“Have we made across the border to the Dragon’s Forest yet Virgo?” Lucy asks eagerly.

“We should have, if that is the Dragon’s Roar River.” Virgo says, pointing at the rushing white-water river that was behind them.

Lucy couldn’t begin to think of how they managed to cross it. But she wasn’t as interested in figuring that out as she was about another matter.

“If we’re really in the forest then he should have known I’m here and come by now. Unless I was napping for a shorter time than I thought...” Lucy says.

“Hmm...well it could be the second river further up ahead?” Virgo says and looks ahead. “Perhaps we should continue to move inward onto his territory, just to be sure we’re in the right place.”

“I agree.” Lucy says and brings herself to stand, brushing the dirt off of her skirts.

Then fear grips her heart as she hears horses whinnying nearby, followed by men’s voices shouting.

“No...” She mutters as she turns to see a carriage followed by a group of soldiers crossing a bridge over the river.

A few of the soldiers ahead of the carriage began to approach with their spears drawn.

“There’s the princess! King Jude, we found her and the traitorous maid!” The soldiers shout as Lucy and Virgo turn to run away.

As Lucy desperately hiked up her skirts to run away, she regrets not changing into a different outfit. These large skirts definitely weren’t made for running away from danger in the woods. But once she and Virgo had discovered what her father’s plans for her were, there was no time to change. They had to leave immediately to get to the one person Lucy knew could protect her. And as the soldiers surround her and Virgo, and her father approaches them, Lucy hopes that he’ll come soon.

“Daughter, have you gone mad!” Lucy’s father, King Jude exclaims.

“I could ask you the same thing!” Lucy bravely retorts.

She may be surrounded by soldiers and facing the man who had been controlling her life since she was a child. But if he was going to lock her away in the castle and force her to marry a man she didn’t love, then she won’t succumb to that fate without a fight.

“You’re saying I’m the one at fault!” Jude exclaims. “You snuck out of the castle on the night of the ball being held to announce your engagement because you trust in the counsel of some lunatic maid over that of your own father! And now I find you here with that maid trespassing on dragon’s territory! And you think I’m the one who’s mad!”

The anger behind his words made tears sting at the corners of Lucy’s eyes, but she wouldn’t back down from this fight. She couldn’t. There was too much at stake.

“What kind of father would ignore the happiness of his own daughter and make such a huge decision for her without even asking her what she thinks!” Lucy exclaims.

“Because a father knows what’s good for his daughter!” Jude replies. “And a good daughter would obey her father and do what’s best for her kingdom!”

“It’s not what’s best for the kingdom! It’s what’s best for you!” Lucy retorts. “The royal families you wish to make alliances with only care about their own wealth! They don’t care about the citizens of their own kingdoms much less ours! I could never marry someone like that!” Lucy shouts.

“What the hell are you all doing in my forest!” A voice shouts from somewhere in the trees.

Gasps of fear erupted amongst the soldiers while Jude’s face pales. Virgo cracks a small smile and a look of relief washes over Lucy’s features as the figure of a man drops down from the trees.

This was no ordinary man though. Even though he wore the typical noble attire for a human man, he also had large maroon dragon wings sprouting from his back, and two matching horns pointing up from the spiky pink hair on his head. He even had matching maroon scales on the sides of his face and trailing down his neck. Most people were terrified when they looked into his bright reptilian green eyes. But Lucy felt something very different. She felt warmth, and love.

“Natsu...” she sighs in joy and relief.

“Lucy.” Natsu replies with the same warmth in his voice.

The warmth in his voice makes warmth flood through her chest. No matter what world they were in, Natsu would always be her knight in shining armor.

He holds out his arms for her and she moves to go to him but her father grabs her arm and yanks her back.

“Hey! Let me go!” Lucy protests and tries to yank her arm back but her father only pulls harder “Ouch!” She yelps.

Upon seeing his damsel in distress Natsu’s soft demeanor immediately changes into something more reminiscent of the beast he resembles.

“Get off of her!” Natsu roars.

He charges forward at an inhuman speed, right past the guards and yanks Jude’s hand off of Lucy’s arm, not caring to be gentle with him at all, causing him some pain as he takes Lucy into his arms and hugs her.

“Are you alright?” Natsu asks her softly. “Did he hurt your arm?”

“Just a bit when he grabbed it. But I’ll be alright now that you’re here.” Lucy replies and rests her head under his chin, taking comfort in the warmth his body provided.

Natsu holds her in his arms and gives her a light squeeze as he rests his cheek on top of her head.

“You’re safe with me. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” Natsu swears and presses a light kiss to her forehead.

“And yet you dare hurt me, her father?” Jude asks Natsu angrily, making him frown. “The King that your father is loyal to!”

“The Dragon King Igneel doesn’t swear loyalty to humans. He’s only loyal to his friends, and mine. And you’re no friend of his.” Natsu growls back.

“But I made a deal with him! I let the dragons live in this forest in peace without any humans trespassing on your land and give you the noble title of Count to represent the dragons in our kingdom and in return the dragons protect us from invaders. We have an agreement, your father is loyal to me, and therefore as his son you should show me some respect!” Jude declares.

Natsu can’t help but smirk and laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Jude asks.

“You clearly misunderstood the purpose of the deal.” Natsu says. “The only reason my father protects your kingdom instead of burning it to the ground is because your daughter lives in it.”

Lucy smiles as Natsu gently nuzzles his face against her head before continuing.

“I’m half-dragon half-human. Igneel fell in love with a human woman and through some source of magic they found he was able to have a child with her but she died giving birth to me. So I stayed with my father’s people, the dragons. They were the only ones that accepted me. The humans all thought of me as a monster and when I was a kid they would chase me away when I would go into their towns looking for desserts and other treats I could smell from the outskirts of town. And because of the death of my mother my father is very protective of me so he’d burn down any village that treated me poorly. Then one day we came to Fiore and it was the same story as the other kingdoms. I got chased out of the markets and somehow wound up in the palace gardens to hide. Then that’s when I met Lucy. The first human I’d ever met who wasn’t afraid of me. And to this day, the only human who’s treated me with kindness. That’s why Igneel agreed to protect Fiore. Because it’s where my new best friend Lucy lived.”

“So the only reason Fiore isn’t ashes right now is because King Igneel wanted you to be able to have play dates with my daughter?” Jude asks.

“Yep.” Natsu replies. “If we burned the place down then my Princess would cry. And I can’t have that.” Natsu says.

“Your princess?” Jude asks. “You think she belongs to you?”

“She doesn’t belong to anybody she’s a person not an object!” Natsu retorts.

“That’s where you’re wrong! I’m her father so she belongs to me!” Jude replies.

“Not anymore!” Lucy shouts back, finding her courage now that she was with Natsu. “Count Natsu Dragneel and I are in love and he won’t let you take me away from him to marry me off to someone else!”

“He was going to do what?!” Natsu exclaims and growls at Jude.

“He was going to sell me off like a brood mare to some horrible prince so I came here to run away with you so we can be together!” Lucy explains.

“I’ll never let my daughter marry a monster!” Jude yells.

“Natsu’s not a monster! But you are!” Lucy retorts.

Jude smirks and nods his head.

Then a loud smacking noise comes from behind them and Lucy and Natsu turn around to see that one of the guards slapped Virgo in the face.

“Virgo! No!” Lucy exclaims and turns back to her father. “Why would you hurt her?”

“Because I can’t hurt you at the moment. So your dear little treasonous maid will bear the punishment for your disobedience instead.” Jude explains.

“You’re disgusting!” Lucy replies reflexively but then regrets it when Virgo gets hit again.

Natsu frowns as he notices Lucy starting to cry so he turns to the soldiers with a frown.

“Virgo duck!” Natsu shouts before breathing fire at the soldiers.

They scream as the flames hit them and Virgo gets free of them. Lucy runs over to hug her.

“Virgo I’m so sorry!” Lucy apologizes.

“It’s alright princess! It wasn’t your fault!”Virgo says.

Natsu smiles as Lucy embraces her friend. Happy that she wasn’t crying anymore. Then he grimaces as he feels a shooting pain in his side.

He turns and sees Jude holding the sword that just stabbed him.

Virgo gasps when she opens her eyes and sees what happens. Then Lucy turns and her heart shatters.

“Natsu! No!” She wails.

“Don’t worry Lucy I’m fine.” Natsu says and grabs the sword in his hand and pulls it out of the wound with no pain whatsoever.

The look on Jude’s face was priceless.

“I’m half-dragon. You should’ve aimed for my head if you wanted me dead you moron.” Natsu says.

Lucy giggles at the fact that Natsu called her father a moron.

Jude brings the sword up to swing at his head and Natsu just plucks it from his hands and throws it away, hitting some poor soldier in the helmet and knocking them out.

Virgo and Lucy get grabbed by soldiers again so Natsu breathes fire to get them free. But while he’s doing that a few more soldiers stab him in his back and stomach.

“Shit will you guys just quit that it feels weird!” Natsu exclaims and fired up his fist to take them down and that’s when one soldier gets a lucky stab in Natsu’s chest too.

“Princess you and Natsu need to get out of here!” Virgo urges. “He’s strong but he’s also outnumbered!”

“I know but what about you?” Lucy asks. “My father will kill you for helping me, I can’t just leave you here!”

“Don’t worry! I’ll be fine.” Virgo says as she picks up a sword and grins.

Lucy smiles, feeling reassured that Virgo would be able to handle herself and she runs over to Natsu.

“Natsu!” Lucy says as she runs towards him and he takes her into his arms. “Let’s get out of here!”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Natsu says.

And the next thing Lucy knows she’s being lifted into the air with Natsu.

————————

As they fly over the trees, away from the willow tree and deeper into dragon territory Natsu notices that Lucy is surprisingly unafraid.

“I thought you were scared of heights?” Natsu asks.

“I can’t see how high up I am if I’m only looking at you.” Lucy replies.

Natsu can’t help but kiss her.

————————

When they finally land at the Dragon King’s den, Igneel is there to greet them.

“Greetings great dragon.” Lucy says and curtseys for him.

“Lucy! How lovely it is to see you again!” Igneel greets. “I had a hunch that you were the reason Natsu was out today but I had no idea he would be bringing you to our den.”

“Natsu why have you brought her he-Natsu?” Igneel asks.

Lucy turns around and gasps. She hadn’t noticed before because it was dark but now that they were under the light of the moon…there were red stains on his clothing and he looked paler than usual.

“Natsu your wounds! I thought you said they weren’t serious?” Lucy exclaims as she runs over to him to inspect his injuries closer.

“I lied so you wouldn’t worry over me until we were safe. If I had said something sooner then you would have panicked and it would’ve slowed us down and then we would’ve never gotten out of there.” Natsu admits and Lucy cups his cheek and Natsu leans into her touch.

“Who did this to my son?” Igneel growls.

“My father and his goons.” Lucy answers with gritted teeth, her rising anger matching that of the great fire dragon behind her.

“And why would they dare do such a horrific thing to betray me?” Igneel demands.

“Because I was protecting Lucy.” Natsu says hoarsely and groans as Lucy sets him down into a more comfortable position on the ground. “King Jude was being cruel to her, he was going to try to take her away from me and give her away to someone else so he could expand his fortune. So Lucy fled here to find me so we could be together, but the King and his soldiers caught up to us and we had to fight our way out.”

Igneel watches with concern as Lucy tears off strips of her dress fabric to soak up the blood on Natsu’s wounds. But there were multiple wounds, and she only had two hands.

“Then they will pay for this!” Igneel declares. “I’ll burn them all!”

“No! Please spare Fiore!” Lucy urges. “The citizens have done nothing wrong. Please don’t let them suffer just because of their King’s wrongdoings!” Lucy begs.

“I understand.” Igneel says. “And I agree with you. I apologize for being quick to jump to violence but after losing Natsu’s mother, all I’ve ever wanted is for my son to be safe. And when you have powers like mine that allow you to burn away anything that troubles you well, it’s easy for that to become the default response. But after Natsu met you I realized that there are other humans like his mother that don’t see dragons as monsters that need to be slain.”

“I’ve never seen your son as a monster. I met him after my mother died from illness and he brought such joy into my life by being my friend. And now he’s grown into the man I love. When I’m with him, I know I’m home. Anywhere else is hollow. And so with your permission I’d like to take his hand, wreck my father’s plans, and make Natsu my man.” Lucy says and smiles at him and Natsu smiles back.

A look of pure joy spread over the dragon’s features and he looks at the lovers before him.

“Oh Lucy I know how much my son cares for you. He’s already told me of his intentions to make you his mate so yes of course I approve!” Igneel says. “But first we should really treat Natsu’s wounds.”

Lucy gasps. She was so caught up in the euphoria of being able to marry the man of her dreams that she completely forgot he was bleeding internally.

“Oh my goodness! I completely forgot! Natsu I’m so sorry you must be in so much pain right now!” Lucy rambles and Natsu can’t help but smile at how cute she looks when she was worried over him.

“It’s not that bad actually. I’ve had worse.” Natsu says with a shrug.

“In this tower over here is where Natsu lives.” Igneel says and gestures his head towards an old stone tower on the edge of the clearing. “You’ll find some medicine in there that the dragon Grandeeney made to heal any wounds that a dragon or half-dragon might sustain.”

“Thank you. I’ll take care of him right away.” Lucy says and puts his arm around her shoulder and leads him inside.

—————————

As Lucy and Natsu sat on his bed together, Lucy takes note of how amazing this healing dragon’s powers must be. This medicine was a miracle. His wounds had stopped bleeding the instant she put the bandage with the magic salve over them.

But other thoughts were crossing her mind. As she dresses his wounds in the dark room lit only by candle light, Lucy can’t help but feel a bit aroused. He was shirtless and her hands were all over his muscular torso, and she couldn’t help but take note of the strength those muscles conveyed. She wonders if he feels anything either.

The silence starts to feel deafening so Lucy decided to ask a question that’s been on her mind for awhile.

“Natsu, now that we’re betrothed I think I should ask you, how do dragons get married?” Lucy asks.

“They don’t.” Natsu says simply.

“Oh...” Lucy asks unsure of how to respond. “But I thought you told me once that dragons mate for life.”

“They do. Just not in the way humans do. Dragons don’t really have an official ceremony or anything like humans do.” Natsu explains. “When two of them decide they want to become a couple they just…mate.”

“I see.” Lucy says as she dresses the gash on his left pectoral.

The tension that was already starting to build between them had now fully crept it’s way into Lucy’s mind as Natsu mentioned mating. She had been thinking about doing this with Natsu for a long time. She does want to marry him after all, so she already found him attractive. But now, she had run away from her home, and the rules that came with it. She and Natsu had already promised themselves to each other with words, why not follow through with actions as well?

“Well, weddings take a long time to plan.” Lucy begins to explain as she gently lets her fingers trail down his torso after setting the dressing. “And even if we were to have a wedding, it would probably be just your father’s clan anyway, since my father would sooner plot your murder than hand me over to you as a bride. He may even be plotting something to steal me away from you sooner rather than later. So instead of waiting for a wedding…” Lucy says, moving her gaze up to look into his eyes. “I think that we should just get married now. The dragon way.”

Natsu takes in a deep breath when he realizes what she’s asking. What she’s offering him. And Lucy could tell by the tent forming in his pants and his breaths becoming heavier that his primal instincts were starting to awaken. But Natsu kept himself in check. Sure he’s had these thoughts about Lucy before but only when he was alone, leaving him to deal with those urges on his own. But now she was right here and moving closer to him, with dilated pupils and his brain was screaming at him to just tear off her dress and claim her now. But he holds back. Because this wasn’t just some fantasy, this was real. This was Lucy, the love of his life and before he accepts her offer he has to be sure it’s what she wants.

“Lucy are you sure that’s what you want?” He asks.

“Yes I’m sure.” Lucy says “We are in dragon’s land after all. And I’ll be living with your father and his clan. So I want to do things their way.”

Natsu’s arousal builds even more as she takes his hand and places it at the top of the corset that was keeping her ample chest confined while her other hand slowly trails down his abdomen.

“I love you Natsu. And I want you to claim me, if you want me too.” Lucy says.

Natsu searches her face for any sign of unease or reluctance, but he only finds the same emotions he was feeling for her. Lust and love. And as she places her hand over the bulge in his pants, all doubt leaves his mind and he lets his primal urges take over as he cups her cheek to speak to her.

“Lucy my love you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Of course I want to claim you as my mate.” Natsu declares before tugging at the bow on her corset.

Lucy gasps as she feels the garment loosen before Natsu seals his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss as she unbuckles his belt and they proceed to undress each other, and make love not long after.

——————————

That morning when Lucy woke up she was still naked in bed. She follows the sunlight streaming in from the balcony, and sees her clothes scattered on the floor.

Lucy felt goosebumps form on her skin as she remembered the warmth of Natsu’s touch from the night before. His hands hands were strong and felt rough against her soft skin, just like the parts of his body that had scales, and the contrast felt divine. He caressed every part of her body with his hands, and then re-traced his path with his mouth which had only aroused her more and encouraged her to explore his body as well, wanting to know him as intimately as he knew her as they consummated their love and became one.

Her father couldn’t marry her off to anyone now. Natsu had claimed her for himself last night, and she loved every minute of it. She was his, and he was hers. Mates. And Count and Countess to the human kingdom, and prince and princess among the dragons.

And right now her Prince was standing on the balcony, still naked as well. They were deep in the woods after all, it’s not like any passers by would see them. But then he turns around when he hears her stirring in bed.

“Good morning my princess.” Natsu says and smiles.

“Good morning my prince.” Lucy says and smiles warmly back at him.

He comes over to her and leans down to place a gentle kiss to her lips.

“Did you sleep well?” Natsu asks.

“Yeah. I slept great.” Lucy says. “The bed was so warm with you in it.”

“Well duh, fire dragon.” Natsu reminds her and Lucy giggles and kisses him again.

Then Natsu’s expression turns serious.

“Before you woke up, my father talked with me. He still wants revenge for what your father attempted to do to me, and what he attempted to do to you too.” Natsu says.

“Oh…” Lucy says.

She looks down at the blanket in-between them as she tries to think. On one hand she certainly agreed that something needed to be done about her father. But on the other hand, he was her father.

“What does he want to do?” Lucy asks.

“He wants to remove your dad from power.” Natsu starts. “And let you take his place.”

Lucy perks up and looks at Natsu who was smiling with pride.

“So I’d be Queen of Fiore?” Lucy asks.

“Yep. And we don’t have to kill your dad. We can just lock him up in the dungeon or something.” Natsu explains.

“Then you’d be my King?” Lucy asks.

“King Consort, since you’re the one with the power but yeah.” Natsu says with a shrug.

“That sounds great.” Lucy says. “Except…You and your father like to travel sometimes, go to other lands to train together…If I’m Queen then I won’t be able to come with you.”

Lucy looks away sadly but then Natsu cups her chin in his fingers and tilts her head towards him.

“You’ll never be alone again.” Natsu says and gently cups her cheek. “You’re the love of my life, and I promise we’ll always be together Lucy.”

He leans forward and kisses her.

Lucy closes her eyes and melts into the kiss.

——————————

When her eyes flutter open she sees Natsu’s face and smiles warmly.

“Oh Natsu…” she sighs dreamily.

Natsu frowns at her.

“Uh, Luce you’re looking at me funny. Are you okay?” He asks her with a frown.

“Hmm…” Lucy hums in confusion. “Of course I am! I’m with you my…” She explains until she notices his horns are missing, and that there are no scales on his body either.

She reaches forward and feels the blankets and realizes she’s no longer naked in the expensive large bed she was in before, but wearing her pajamas while in a bed at the infirmary in Magnolia!

“My…what?” Natsu asks, wanting her to finish her sentence.

“My…idiot!” Lucy shouts and kicks him in the stomach with her foot.

“Ouch!” Natsu yelps and doubles over in pain.

“Yep! She’s fine!” Happy says cheerfully from the other side of Lucy’s bed. “You really had us going there for a second Lucy, I was worried that that bump on your head might have made you go crazy!”

Lucy reaches up and feels that there are bandages wrapped around her forehead. And she winces slightly in pain as she touches the injured spot and remembers reality. She must have hit her head pretty hard in order to have envisioned Natsu as some sort of romantic Prince.

“Honestly, I’m not too sure I’m entirely sane.” Lucy says.

“That would explain why you kicked me.” Natsu grumbles.

“Want me to do it again?” Lucy growls and Natsu yelps in fear.

“Nope! I learned my lesson, please don’t hurt me again!” Natsu pleads.

“Maybe I should still go get Porlyusica?” Happy suggests. “I mean, she’s mad at you now, but when she woke up she was looking at you like she was in love.” Happy teases.

Lucy frowns at Happy but at the same time can’t help but blush as she remembers how she felt about the Natsu she met in her dream. I mean there were obviously some differences between the two of them. But now that she thought about it...there were a lot of similarities too. The Natsu from her dream may have been more obviously romantic but most of what he was saying to her and the way he was looking at her...the real Natsu did all of that too. And she loved him for it.

And then it hit her...did she love Natsu?

“I’m sorry Lucy.” Natsu says softly and looks into his lap. “I said I’d protect you and you got hurt.”

“Well, you said you wouldn’t let the birds hurt me. And I got hit by a willow branch. So you didn’t break your promise. You’ve never broken any promise to me.” Lucy assures him.

Ever since they met in Hargeon, he had been the major catalyst for the events in her life. Both good and bad. And this job was no different.

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind.

“I know but still, you got hurt because I was so busy keeping those birds away from you that I didn’t notice that damn branch.” Natsu pouts.

“It’s not your fault. I should have been watching where I was going.” Lucy says.

“If I was with you you wouldn’t have had to worry about that. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I know that ever since Tartaros you get upset when I do that.” Natsu says and Lucy’s heart skips a beat.

So he really did notice how his year long absence had affected her...Who would have known? Certainly not Lucy. He really paid attention to her feelings like that?

“And I don’t like it when you’re sad. It makes me feel weird, like I want to fix it and make you happy again as soon as I can. It’s easy when I can just punch whatever’s bothering you until it goes away. But it’s different when I’m the one that hurt you. It makes me feel worse because I never want to be the cause of your pain. I want to be the one that takes it away, or even better prevents you from getting hurt in the first place. All I want is to keep you safe and make you happy. But I failed...”

The more that you say, the less I know.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Only the lovers in the books she reads say things like this. Maybe he wasn’t as dense as she thought? Did he know what love was? Did he love her?

“Instead of fighting for you I should have just been with you. I made a mistake and you got hurt. But I won’t make it again. I’ll be more mindful of you the next time we’re on a job.” Natsu says. “I swear I‘ll protect you next time.”

“Natsu...we’ve been doing jobs together for years. Nothing ever goes the way it’s supposed to.” Lucy says and holds out her hand for Natsu. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Wherever you stray, I follow.

Natsu smiles and it warms Lucy’s heart as he takes her hand.

“Promise that tomorrow you’ll wreck my plans again by taking me on some wild adventure?” Lucy asks.

“You bet!” Natsu says and flashes her his signature goofy grin.

That’s my man.

#nalu #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nalu fanfic #fairy tail #victorian au #royalty au #dragon natsu dragneel #dragon natsu

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hippohead · 4 years

Text

Happy New Year

Pairing: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel Rating: General Audiences Words: 2071 Summery: This is a Halloween fic. I promise.

Read it on AO3

- - - - -

The thing about being Rachel Berry’s best friend is, it’s a learned skill.

And Kurt had put in the work. He had looked past the diva-esque antics and the obnoxious Broadway tunnel-vision and the steamrolling, and underneath he had found the Rachel that he loved. The Rachel who would bring him a cup of tea when she knew he was feeling down; the Rachel who pushed Kurt more than he wanted her to but knew he needed it; the Rachel who was kindness and cared – a lot. And it was worth it, for the most part, to have learnt the skill and to have let her into so many parts of himself.

Except for when it wasn’t.

“You’re being pushy,” he warns, and he knows his tone is sharp enough that it would stop most people. Rachel isn’t most people.

“Kurt,” she says just as sternly, swinging around the doorframe of the bathroom so that she can look at him while she continues her delusional lecture, “I just think it’s time that you admitted it.”

He adjusts his cat ears because they’re already giving him a headache. He knows he should have thought of a more original costume idea but time means nothing when he’s juggling NYADA and exams and showcases and auditions and the diner and friends and- god, he’s exhausted just thinking about it all. If all he could pull together for tonight was a pair of black jeans, a tight black long-sleeve, and a pair of cat ears – well, he thinks that’s quite reasonable considering. “There’s nothing to admit.”

Rachel steps out of the bathroom fully now, her makeup finished and her bob wig firmly in place. “How do I look?”

Kurt breathes a small sigh of relief at the change in topic, finally. “You look like the perfect Fanny Brice.” And she does, but the snarky part of him wants to note that she also could have been a bit more original with her outfit. Rachel dressing as Fanny for a costume party? Groundbreaking.

She walks past him, almost dancing, and sings, “That’s because I am the perfect Fanny Brice.”

Kurt sips at the cider that some of Rachel’s older friends from NYADA had left at the loft after their last party and waits for her to come back from her bedroom. By the time she does – a small purse looking like it’s stuffed with emergency night-out supplies slung over her shoulder – he's already feeling a light buzz twirling through his bones. “What time are the others getting here?”

Rachel checks her phone, “Any minute now.” And then, because she’s the worst and unrelenting and incapable of letting anything go, she says, “I think you should tell Blaine that you have feelings for him tonight.”

“Oh my god, Rachel. I do not have feelings for Blaine.”

It’s the easiest lie when he’s saying it to Rachel, because it usually gets her off his back for a little while. There’s something complicated about the lie when he tries to convince himself. And it’s a lie he’d never say in front of Blaine, because saying it in front of Blaine means removing the maybe in their friendship. It would be Kurt clarifying boundaries he doesn’t want and making a possibility disappear that he always wants there.

And so he doesn’t know who he’s pissed off – karma or fate or the stars or whoever it is that controls the strings and the moments and time – because Blaine, Sam and Mercedes have pulled the door open to the loft just in time to catch his last sentence.

His back is to them but he heard the slide, and he glares at a very guilty, meek-looking Rachel. She bites her lips as if that’s an apology and then clears her throat, “Hey, guys!”

“Hey!”

Kurt turns around at Mercedes’ voice, and her eyes are big and wild and trying to communicate things with him that he doesn’t have the ability to decipher right now. She’s dressed as Christina from the Candyman music video, and she’s pulling it off effortlessly. He wants to tell her that but the air feels too weird to speak into. Sam is dressed as some Star Wars character he doesn’t know the name of and Blaine-

“Are you... a pumpkin?”

There’s an odd look on Blaine’s face and Kurt can’t figure it out. He lifts his eyes once he realises that Kurt’s question is obviously directed at him - the only one dressed as a pumpkin - and nods, “Yeah. I am.”

Well, it’s good to know that Blaine can be dressed as a pumpkin and still look adorable. It’s desperately unfair, really. Almost as unfair as the fact that Blaine just heard him rather decisively utter the words, I do not have feelings for Blaine.

Sam clears his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence that’s settled over everyone. “Should we get going? We’re already going to be late getting to Elliott’s.”

It’s enough to remind everyone that they’re close friends and long past the point of standing in awkward silences, so they bundle up in coats and make their way towards the subway station.

Rachel finds a moment to whisper a quiet, “Sorry,” in his ear once they're on the train. He wants to question her about it – if he was telling her the truth, then there would be no need for an apology. Blaine hearing him say those words wouldn’t be an issue. He wishes she’d just believe him, for once, but then he glances over at Blaine laughing at an impression Sam is doing, a smile growing on his face despite himself, and he realises how transparent he is.

Why doesn’t Blaine?

- - - - -

Kurt is definitely avoiding him.

He’s actually a little impressed. Elliott’s place is on the smaller side, so there’s not a lot of places for Kurt to be where Blaine isn’t. Yet he’s somehow managing to pick the perfect moment to slip to the bathroom, or to claim he needs a little air, or to gesture wildly at his empty cup as he starts to weave his way to the drinks.

“What’s up with Hummel?”

It’s Santana. She’s dressed as Xena Warrior Princess and he’d questioned her about it when they’d arrived – it didn’t seem like her kind of thing, or too stereotypical for her to buy into. She’d set him with an unimpressed stare and said, “It’s Lucy Lawless wandering around with her wife and beating up mediocre men. What about that isn’t my thing?” And, well, fair enough.

“I don’t know,” but he does know. “I think I’ll go see if he’s okay.”

Santana just shrugs, as if her initial question was as far as her concern was going to go, and Blaine starts to move through all of the capes and bright colours and masks. There’s a part of him that doesn’t really want to find him. That means saying things like It’s okay that you don’t have feelings for me and Just your friendship is enough and Let’s just forget about it. The reality is that he wants more than a friendship, but he doesn't know how to risk the friendship to get to somewhere else. And this, this is why he thought they had an unspoken agreement to never clarify what was happening. Because at least if they were living in a limbo that felt sort of hopeful and perfect, the door was closed but not locked.

Tonight, Kurt had keys and he used them.

He finds him in the kitchen by himself, nursing a gin and tonic. “Kurt?”

“Oh.” He looks a little scattered and – weary? “Blaine. Hi.”

It sort of hurts, the way he says that, like he wishes Blaine wasn’t there or looking for him or near him. Kurt’s never sounded like that before. “Can we- can we talk about before?”

He sees the panic move through Kurt’s eyes and almost backtracks, but he can’t do this; can’t exist in the world with things being awkward between them. And he can’t even really understand why they’re awkward. There’s so much unpacking to do about that, but for now he just wants to reassure Kurt.

“Okay.”

It’s a small reply but it’s enough for Blaine. “I don’t really know why things have been a little weird, but I just want to- I don’t know, I guess. Figure out if we’re okay.”

“I lied.”

He’s suddenly very aware of his heart and that it’s in his chest, beating, faster than usual. “What do you mean?”

“I lied to Rachel.”

There’s some sort of plea in his rushed words, like he wants Blaine to hurry up and understand and put him out of his misery. So Blaine tries to hurry up and understand and - "Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Kurt deflates a little and looks down into his drink, “I’m sorry I’m being weird and all over the place. I’ve been trying so hard to be careful with our friendship, and now I’ve just ruined it.” And then, because Blaine still hasn’t said anything and the silence is stretching out in a suffocating way, Kurt says, “Gin makes me sad.”

“I’d be lying, too,” because he’s finally remembered how to speak.

Kurt squints at him, “What do you-”

“If I said I didn’t have feelings for you.”

It takes a moment, but the smile spreads onto Kurt’s face and it’s delicious and adorable and they’re both just standing in the kitchen, looking goofy and happy and risking it all.

“That’s a very stupid and roundabout way of saying- well, I really like you, Kurt.”

Kurt puts his glass down but doesn’t make a move towards Blaine just yet. “I really like you, too. Like, a lot.”

Blaine hums and lets that soak past his ridiculous pumpkin costume – he’s still not entirely convinced that orange is his colour despite Sam’s constant reassurances that it is – and into his skin, bones, being. He decides to be the one to close the gap a bit, moving towards Kurt and enjoying how heavy the air is, how he almost has to wade through it.

“Can I kiss you at midnight?” he asks.

Kurt giggles and it’s silly and Blaine wants to hear it again, and again, and again. “It’s Halloween, Blaine.”

“Mm,” he murmurs, not really sure why Kurt’s clarifying that. They’re both in costumes and there are fake cobwebs covering every surface – of course it’s Halloween. He starts to fiddle with Kurt’s cat ears, “It is.”

“Kissing at midnight is a New Year's Eve tradition.”

“Oh?” and he knows that somewhere in his brain, but he feels like he deserves to be forgiven for forgetting the specific details of which tradition belongs to which holiday because Kurt is very, very close to him and his eyes are sparkling and all he wants to do is kiss him. And so he does, or tries to-

“Wait!”

Blaine pauses, confusion riddling his eyes because were they not on the same page? But Kurt doesn’t move away. Instead, he keeps them in their tight spot together and pulls his phone out of his back pocket. Blaine can’t really see it and he tries to ask what Kurt is doing, but he just gets nicely shushed.

And then, triumphantly, Kurt holds his phone up to show Blaine what he was waiting for – the clock in the corner of the screen clicks over to 12:00 and Blaine gets it. Now he kisses him. It starts off sweet and he tastes like Halloween candy. He’s already addicted to the sugar and he starts to lick along his bottom lip. Kurt gasps a little, opening his mouth for Blaine, and that’s when their bodies shift, too. Kurt’s back is pushing into the bench and he’s trying to worry about whether or not he’s hurting him, but Kurt is somehow getting his hands under the pumpkin’s fabric and sliding at the skin on the small of his back. He’s struggling to find that compassion now when all that matters is kissing Kurt, Kurt's back be damned.

And then suddenly he’s not kissing Kurt.

Because Kurt has pulled away to drag in a breath and there’s an impossible grin on his face and a depth in his eyes that wasn’t there before and it means more, more, more. “Happy New Year, Blaine.”

“Happy New Year, Kurt,” he repeats. And then he laughs because he thinks they’ve just made their own holiday tradition, “Happy Halloween.”

#klainetober #klaine fanfiction #klaine #kurt x blaine #glee #i wrote this!#just something short and sweet because i felt like doing a little something-something

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older-brother-kit · 4 years

Text

TSMC ch. 4

Hey everyone, sorry that it’s been a while! All the fighting amongst the TSC fandom (and stuff going on irl) kind of brought my motivation down, but Ash motivated me yesterday so here’s the newest chapter!

You can find chapter 1 here on tumblr and here on ao3, and you can find chapter 3 here on tumblr and here on ao3! For those that need a refresher, this is a Parent Trap AU with Herongraystairs, the children being James, Lucie, Mina, and Kit.

Here's the chapter on ao3! Please let me know if you enjoyed <3

Chapter 4: Is This Legal?

James had never been more confused in his life. The idea of his mom marrying two people at the same time was crazy enough, but the idea of Lucie and Mina being his sisters? He had no idea how to feel about it.

“I have a mom!” Lucie shrieked, and James winced at the high volume.

“I have a mom,” Mina whispered. “I have --another dad?” She turned to look at Lucie, and Lucie turned to look at her.

“I have another dad,” Lucie said, and stood up. Mina stood up with her.

They grasped each other’s hands and started jumping up and down in excitement. “Yes!” they shouted, grinning from ear to ear. “We’re sisters!”

“Um,” James said. “I’m lost. How is this possible?”

However, he knew that they were right. The two girls had seemed familiar when he’d first met them, especially Lucie, and if he compared them to his mom he could see the similarities. Lucie and Mina have the same eyebrows, he thought, and was tempted to find a mirror and look at his own eyebrows to see if his matched.

“They met and fell in love, duh.” Lucie said, once she and Mina had finally sat back down. They were sitting close together, still holding hands with wide smiles.

“No, I mean, marry two people. I didn’t even know you could date two people at once.” James shared. He could feel his head spinning, and was glad that he was sitting down. James read a lot of books, but nothing could have prepared him for his life to turn into what could be the plot of one.

“Oh, I know!” Mina said enthusiastically, gesturing to the picture of her dad. Our dad? “My dad says that he’s poly, which means that he can fall in love with more than one person at once. Your mom and Lucie’s papa must be poly too. Then they all fell in love with each other and married.” she explained. “Dad told us about it when Kit said that he liked both girls and boys.”

James thought about it. “I guess that makes sense.” he said. He didn’t know that being poly was a thing, but he knew now, and the idea of having two dads was really cool.

Lucie nodded with vigor. “That totally makes sense. I can’t believe I have two other parents out there!”

An overwhelming urge to cry hit James all of a sudden, and he put his head into his hands.

“James? Are you alright?”

He’d never had a dad before. James remembered being in school, and hearing people talk about their dads so casually. My dad is taking me fishing this weekend, my dad drove me to an amusement park, my dad picks me up from school. James had tried not to think about his dad growing up, because whenever he asked his mom got a sad look on her face. He never wanted to make his mom sad, so when he was little he learned to stop asking.

And yet… there was always a part of James that longed for his father. He wanted a dad, desperately, so much that sometimes it physically hurt. He knew nothing about his father, but he loved him. He used to wonder if his dad was out there somewhere, and if he loved James too. If he thought of James as much as James thought of him.

Now, James didn’t have one father, but two. He was happy, so happy that he could burst, but that also meant that there were two people to worry about. What if they met him, and they didn’t like him? What if he disappointed them? For all he knew, they didn’t want a son who’d rather read a book than dance at a party. Maybe they didn’t want a son who was shy around strangers, a son who usually had trouble making friends.

Maybe they didn’t want a son at all.

“James!” Lucie yelled directly into his ear, and James jumped a solid three inches.

“What?” he asked, his heart pounding. If he got scared that easily, he wondered how bad it would be when he watched his first horror movie.

“You were kind of zoning out there,” Mina said, frowning. “Are you okay?”

James took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah, it’s just that I have two dads now and I never thought I’d even have one. It’s kind of a big deal for me.”

Lucie laughed good-naturedly. “It’s ok James, we didn’t expect this either.” She hesitated. “Honestly, it’s scary to think about meeting my other parents.”

Mina nodded in agreement. “Me too. I want to meet the both of them so badly, but it makes me nervous when I think about it.”

It was calming, sitting on the bed together and listening to how he wasn’t the only one who was worried about what the future held.

James laid down with his back to the bed, his legs dangling off the edge. Lucie and Mina -his sisters- did the same. “What are they like?” he asked quietly.

“My papa is amazing,” Lucie said proudly. “He’s super smart, but he can be really goofy and he makes a lot of funny jokes.”

James smiled. “My mom can be like that, too.” he said. “She’s really smart and loves books like me, and she always stands up for me no matter what.” He turned his head to Mina on his left. “What about you?”

“My dad is the best,” Mina said immediately. “He’s the nicest person in the world, though he can be cheesy sometimes. He’s smart and has a job that keeps him busy, but he always seems to have time to spend with me and Kit.”

Lucie jerked her head up. “Wait a minute,” she breathed. “If you’re my sister, does that mean Kit’s my brother?” James hadn’t considered that, but liked the thought of having an older brother.

Mina paused, then sat up. Lucie sat up as well, and James groaned but did the same. “That’s right!” Mina exclaimed. “Oh you’ll love him, I just know it! And I’m sure he’d love both of you.”

They all looked at each other excitedly, and James smiled. It was still nerve-wracking to think about, but he couldn’t wait to meet the rest of his family.

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

Lucie was pretty sure that Thomas didn’t believe them until they pulled out the torn pictures as proof. Not that she could blame him, because honestly? The fact that Mina and James were her siblings was insane, and it was still sinking in.

Lucie wasn’t really a fan of autobiographies, but this was a crazy enough discovery that she was tempted to write one.

Not that she was unhappy about it, because Lucie couldn’t be happier. She had siblings! Her new friends turned out to be her sister and her brother, and she had an older brother back in California that she had yet to meet. Lucie also had two other parents, and she couldn’t wait to meet them.

“So,” she began in the middle of dinner, and everyone at their table glanced in her direction. “How do we get our parents back together?”

James looked shocked at the question. “Back together?” he asked. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“I don’t know if that will work,” Thomas said, stabbing a piece of macaroni and cheese with a fork. Christopher was stacking his noodles on top of each other to build a noodle tower, and Lucie was silently wondering when Thomas would notice and put a stop to it. “Aren’t they already with someone new?”

“No!” Lucie spluttered, nearly choking on her food. “No way is my dad dating someone! He’s never dated anybody.”

“Maybe he’s going on secret dates,” Christopher suggested, and Thomas turned to look at him. He noticed the macaroni tower and sighed, using Christopher’s fork to topple it before telling him not to play with his food.

“He’s not.” Lucie said vehemently. “I would know if he was.”

“My mom doesn’t date either,” James announced. “Just so you know.”

Everyone turned to look at Mina, who looked surprised at the thought. “My dad doesn’t date.” she said. “He wouldn’t be dating someone.”

Lucie clapped her hands together, feeling the excitement run through her veins. “Perfect,” she grinned, with almost too much joy. Thomas, who was sitting across from her, slowly scooted his chair back. “Then they have to still have feelings together. Trust me, I know these things.”

“It’s true,” James chimed in, and when everyone looked at him he blushed. “It’s just, that’s how it works in books.” he mumbled.

Lucie considered mentioning that she liked to write, but the moment passed. Her head quickly filled with strategies on getting her parents back together. “We have to make them see each other again,” she said. “Telling them we know we’re related might not be enough.”

“What if we swapped places?” Mina suggested. “We go to a different parent after camp is over, and then they’d have to meet up to put us back with who we’re supposed to be.”

“That would never work,” James pointed out. “We can’t switch flights, our names are on the tickets.”

Lucie frowned. “Aww. That could’ve been really fun.”

“I could change that,” Christopher said casually. “I could change the names on the flights.”

The whole table stopped talking and looked at him.

“You can… change the tickets? How is that possible?” James asked, baffled.

“Oh, you know,” Christopher shrugged, and then chewed through a mouthful of macaroni. The ten seconds Lucie had to wait before he swallowed and continued was agony. “Get a computer, hack a website or two to change the names for the flights, find a printer to print out the new tickets. Simple stuff.”

Thomas was staring at his cousin in horror. James and Mina had their mouths open in shock, and Lucie was speechless.

“Is he serious?” James whispered to Thomas.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Thomas whispered back.

“Christopher,” Mina cleared her throat. “How smart are you, exactly?”

Christopher looked up from his food, a confused expression on his face. Lucie got the impression that his entire part of that conversation had been on autopilot. “What do you mean?”

“This is perfect!” Lucie beamed. “With your help, we can swap places and get our parents back together!”

“Oh no,” Thomas muttered. “Please no, I can only handle so much-”

Christopher blinked. “Thomas, is something wrong?”

Lucie laughed, rubbing her hands together gleefully. “This is too good!”

Her parents had no idea what would hit them.

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

Mina had never stolen something before, but just this once she didn’t mind doing it. They needed a computer for Christopher to use, and deep in the counselors’ cabin there was a locked box filled with everyone’s electronics. Christopher had mentioned that he’d originally brought a laptop that had been taken when he first arrived at camp, and Mina was now on a mission to find it and take it back.

Originally Lucie had volunteered to go, but Mina knew something that the rest of them didn’t --Mina knew how to pick a lock. Kit was an expert and had taught her years ago, and Mina was happy that she could finally put those lockpicking lessons to good use.

Since Mina was going to be the one to get the laptop, the others were going to make a distraction. She didn’t know what the distraction would be, but she figured she’d recognize it when it happened. Currently she was hanging around outside of the boys’ counselor cabin, waiting for the opportunity to sneak inside.

“Christopher, no!” a voice yelled.

Mina turned to look and saw Christopher holding a burning torch in front of the cabin, James by his side and holding a megaphone. Mina knew she should be concerned about Christopher and where he got a torch from, but she was more interested in how James managed to get a megaphone.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” James deadpanned. “Welcome to Christopher’s new experiment, where he tests what can and can’t catch on fire.”

All of the counselors in the cabin ran outside immediately, and James tugged on Christopher’s arm to lead him away from the cabin. Mina took that as her cue and ran inside the cabin, trying to erase the worrying image of Christopher with a torch from her memory. She looked around and couldn’t see anything that looked like the box everyone had to put their electronics into, but then crouched down and looked underneath the beds.

Underneath the bed on the far right was a clear box filled with electronics. “Yes!” Mina whispered, smiling. There was a lock on the box, but Mina took out a hair pin and got to work. It wasn’t long before the box was open, and she went through the contents trying to find Christopher’s laptop. Mina paused when she saw an orange laptop with a few weird stains and what looked like a burn mark on one side. That’s the one, she thought. She quickly grabbed it before closing the box, putting the lock back on, and pushing it under the bed. Christopher and Thomas had described the laptop for her, but Mina probably would’ve guessed that it was Christopher’s laptop anyway due to all the damage it had.

“Fire!” she heard Lucie yell from outside. “The fire’s gone, there’s no more fire!”

That was Lucie’s way of signaling Mina to leave before she got caught, and Mina quickly shoved the laptop under the back of her shirt before running out the back door and walking around the cabin to stand next to Lucie. One of the counselors was scolding Christopher, the torch extinguished and by his feet. Christopher turned and waved at Mina and Lucie happily.

“Did you get it?” Lucie asked quietly.

Mina nodded. “Yeah,” she replied. “Let’s go before they notice the weird shape of my shirt.”

Lucie raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything, and they both speed-walked to the gazebo that they’d agreed they would all meet at. Thomas was already there, and soon enough James and Christopher ran in.

Thomas stood up at once. “Christopher,” he said nervously, “Please tell me you didn’t get kicked out of camp.”

Christopher shook his head. “No,” he said. “But they said they were going to call my parents.”

Thomas paled. “Aunt Cecily is going to kill me.”

“I do have some good news,” Mina said excitedly. “I’ve got the laptop.” She quickly transferred it from her lap to Christopher’s, and Thomas did a double take.

“I thought they locked all the electronics up?” he asked.

Mina smiled proudly. “I picked the lock.”

She and Lucie high-fived, and James looked impressed. As Christopher opened up the laptop and got to work, Mina couldn’t help but keep smiling. She had originally gone to camp just to have the camp experience at least once, but everything had gone so much better than she could have ever imagined. She had two more siblings, two more parents, and two more friends --four more friends if she counted her new brother and sister.

James leaned over Lucie to look at what Christopher was doing, resting an elbow on her shoulder. Lucie made a face, and Mina laughed. Lucie quickly brought her elbow up and rested it on James’s shoulder instead.

“I’m older,” Lucie declared. “So I have to be the one to lean on you.”

James looked offended. “What? No, I’m older.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t the two of you twins? You’re the same age.”

“Twins,” Lucie said. “That’s right, I forgot about that. We have the same birthday and we’re the same age, so we have to be twins.”

Mina waited for the but that she was sure Lucie would use.

“But I bet I’m the older twin,” Lucie finished smugly.

“I bet I’m the older twin!” James said, his eyes narrowed, and Christopher breaking the law was forgotten. Now this was a show.

“How about this,” Mina interjected, clapping her hands to get their attention. “If you’re so sure, whoever is wrong owes the other person a favor. We can just ask one of our parents.”

That seemed to satisfy both Lucie and James, and Mina spent a while talking with them and Thomas before Christopher told them he was done.

“Christopher that’s amazing!” James praised. “I can’t believe you actually did it.”

“Now we just have to print out the new tickets,” Mina said. “So, we have to find a printer.”

“There’s one in the office building,” Thomas added helpfully. “I’ve seen it before when I went in there with Christopher, once.”

Mina took a second to think before speaking up. “I can probably sneak in there, too. That one might not even need a distraction.”

Lucie fist-pumped the air. “Yes!” she cheered. “It’s all working out!”

Mina smiled at the enthusiasm. We’re doing it, we’re actually doing it! Camp was almost over and soon enough Mina would be on a flight to London to meet her other dad. Her papa, as Lucie called him.

They had already decided who would go where. Mina would go to Will in London, Lucie would go to Tessa in New York, and James would go to Jem in California. Thomas and Christopher had also promised to keep in contact with them all when camp was over, which Lucie appreciated. She knew James was especially happy about it, since he had told Mina and Lucie that his mom had sent him to Camp Clover for the sole reason of getting James more friends. Their plan was coming together, and Mina couldn’t be happier. With how far they’d gone to do this, nothing could stand in their way.

After all, what could go wrong?

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

Alright that’s it for now, but fun fact: Next time we get 3 new POVs, and we also finally see Herongraystairs again! Those things may or may not be related ;)

Tag List: @idontgetit-whydoihavetosaymyname @ineedadrinkorsleep @zzoyalantsov @girlwhohatesstuff @anxiousbookenthusiast @sankalina @themostawesomehuman @hands-dripping-ink @panicatwallmaria @immortal-enemies @booklovingelephants @bookishgeekygirl @livia-dovehallow @cortqnq @christophers-lemon-tarts @thenameskarr-parkerkarr

A lot of people have changed their usernames so some are probably wrong, but correct me if they are.

Let me know in a reblog/comment/tag if you’d like to be added to the tag list!

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whitestaghere · 4 years

Text

I'm here - Edmund Pevensie x reader (Chapter 7)

Hiii!! And I'm back once again! So I thought I'd end this book by chapter 10. Don't want to keep it too long too. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter ❤️ thank you for all the support! Appreciate it a lot <3

Y/n's Pov

Waking up in the morning, I felt my heart leap with joy. I'm finally going home! It's going to be a while to actually find my way back, but I'm sure I'll find it.

Though... there was that one thing that came shooting back into my head.

The previous night I went to bed rather confused. Edmund and I hadn't exchanged our usual good nights. Instead, he left the room as soon as he was done with dinner.

Maybe he hates me.

Oh how I hope that's not what it is.

Just thinking of it pained me.. for the first time, I was genuinely happy meeting good friends. I forgot all about my bullies and the tough times I had at school. And Edmund.. I felt like I could finally be myself, and that was all because of him.

Truth is.. I fell for him.

I wish I could tell him that, but either way I'm afraid. I don't want to ruin what we have right now. But a part of me wants him to know how I truly feel.

Suddenly I remembered the little smile he gave me before he sat down for dinner.

Flashback to the night before

"What's taking them so long?" Lucy furrowed her eyes curiously.

Susan shrugged.

All that was running in my head was if Edmund was okay. I left him hanging there. Without even asking if he wanted to talk about it. I ran a hand through my hair letting out a sigh of frustration.

Lucy looked at me worriedly, "y/n? Is everything alright?"

Smiling at her reassuringly I replied, "yeah, yeah Lucy.. I'm okay.."

Suddenly Peter came running in laughing.

"PETER!" I heard Edmund shout, coming in right after him. The two letting out strings of laughter.

Lucy and Susan exchanged confused glances, "what took you two so long?" Susan glanced back and forth between them.

"Oh nothing..." Peter sent a wink in Edmund's direction to which Edmund returned a rather disgusted look.

Taking their seats, Edmund gave me a soft smile and sat right in front of me.

I guess he's okay?...

And we proceeded on with dinner.

End of flashback.

Just picturing his smile gave me butterflies, even though I wasn't sure what he hid behind it.

I really hope he'd visit me when I go back. I'll miss being under the same roof with him of course. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.

I got up. Adjusting my clothes, I went up to the door. Opening it to reveal Susan, "Good morning y/n!"

"Good morning Su!"

"Big day huh?" she grinned at me, to which I returned a shy nod. She let out a hearty laugh in response, "well, go wash up.. breakfast will be ready in a bit."

I smiled at her, "okay Su.." I watched her close the door behind her, only soon after to hear someone knock once again.

Opening the door I was greeted by.. oh here comes the butterflies.

Edmund.

For a second I felt like time stopped. Ahhh. What is he doing to me?

My cheeks began to heat up. This was not anything new of course. He always had this way.. to make me blush by just the littlest things he did.

I began to observe every little detail. His dark brown hair, wet and slightly tousled. He was wearing a striped blue and white shirt, clad in blue jeans. His lips soft and a peachy pink. A soft smile delivered from them.

Getting captivated by his chocolate brown eyes, I smiled unknowingly.

Edmund broke the silence clearing his throat, "y/n?"

"Hmm? Yeah?" I replied, still stuck admiring him, in my own little world.

"Like what you see?" he smirked.

I snapped out of my thoughts. Did I hear that right? He was smirking, and that was not making things any better honestly. I let out a nervous laugh, averting my eyes, "umm y-yeah I mean no! I mean no, yes ah... you I.."

God why was I stammering so much?! There was nothing I wanted at that moment, more than to just go back to admiring him. I felt the blood rush upto my cheeks.

He chuckled, "good morning y/n."

I stood there for a second processing what he said, "oh yeah, g-good morning Ed.." he laughed. My smile dropped a little. Why was he acting like this?

This didn't go unnoticed by Edmund, "is something the matter?"

This is your chance, ask him y/n.

"Hmm? Y/n?"

"I-I thought you were mad at me.." I whispered but it was enough for him to hear.

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Umm.."

"Well?" he raised an eyebrow.

I took a breath and began to ramble, "I just... Iwantedtotalktoyoulastnightbutyouleftsoonwithoutsayi-

He took my hands in his chuckling, "slow down love."

Looking at our latched hands, I couldn't stop the little smile forming on my face, "I'm sorry.. should-should I repeat that?"

He shook his head, "I know.. I'm sorry for leaving abruptly like that. I just, I had a lot in my head at that moment." Letting go of one of my hands he placed a hand on my cheek ever so gently, "I wasn't mad at you love.."

A sense of relief washed over me. Suddenly I felt a stinging pain on my cheek.

"Ouch! ED!!" I whined, he squeezed my cheek. He burst out laughing and I could only pout at him in response.

Soon enough his laughter was replaced by a smile. The smile that I absolutely adored. He stood there, staring at me.

"What is it Ed?" I stiffled a laugh.

No response. He just stood there, with a smile still plastered on his face. For a second I forgot that he had a hand on my cheek until I felt the other come up in result, cupping my face.

"Umm Ed? A-a-are you?" my throat began to feel awfully dry. Clearing my throat I tried again, "are you okay?"

He came a little closer to me.

I wanted to back away, but my body kept refusing to move. So I stood there, literally stuck in that position.

"Y/n I..." he gently bit his lip, eyes fluttering down to my lips for a millisecond and back to my eyes. He leaned in a little closer.

I felt like I could melt at the close proximity. Wanting to close the space between us, I leaned in too. Our lips just inches apart.

My eyes fluttered close.

That was it.

In just a matter of seconds, his lips were brushing against mine. I felt like a million fireworks just got lit up inside of me. Sparks of electricity, I felt like I was on cloud 9. It was like a dream come true.

His hand moving behind my head to push me closer, deepening the kiss.

"Ed, Peter's calli-" I heard a familiar voice, her words stopping halfway only to let out a squeal right after.

We pulled apart at once, looking everywhere but at eachother. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes and he looked so flustered. Me being on the same page as him.

Lucy stood there wide eyed with a huge grin on her face.

"What was that Lucy? Peter called? Oh yeah okay!!" Edmund ran out of the room in just the blink of an eye.

I was blushing furiously. My fingers touching my lips unconsciously. I missed the feeling already. Lucy ran upto me squealing, pulling me into a hug, "oh my gosh y/n!!! I KNEW IT! YOU BOTH LIKE EACHOTHER!"

Laughing I hugged her back. Her enthusiasm was just so adorable.

"I'm soo happy for you both!!" she pulled away from me, eyes literally sparkling with joy. "Are you both like.. a thing now?"

"Umm well honestly, I-I'm not sure Lu.."

Her smiled faltered, "what do you mean you don't know?"

"Well everything just happened so fast."

"You didn't confess your feelings?"

I stood there in silence for a while, "no.."

She intertwined our hands together, "well, he'll have to after that." she widened her eyes kind of in a look of realisation. "Oh no! It's probably my fault.. I'm sorry for walking in like that.."

"No, no Lu! Of course it's not because of you," I gave her a reassuring smile which she glady returned.

"Well, I must say you're lucky.." I tilted my head at her in confusion. "Ed doesn't really express his feelings like that at once. The fact that he's more positive when he's around you is just.. it's amazing. I can tell he likes you a lot."

"R-really? You think so?"

"I know so! And you should be knowing that by now too. Especially after what happened just now," she giggled.

I turned away blushing.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast!"

Edmund's Pov

"I kissed her."

"YOU WHAT?!" Peter looked at me with a mixture of shock and amusement.

"I-I-ah she must be hating me now!" I ruffled my hair furiously.

"Of course not Ed..." Susan said rather calmly. She was surprised at first but claimed that she 'saw it coming'. Except not me kissing her like that. "If it's anything, I sure she's just as happy as you right now.."

"I don't know what came over me.. I couldn't hold back. I just.."

She was there.. she looked so adorable all flustered. Her lips looked so plushy I just couldn't resist. I really wanted her to know how I felt, being too shy to actually tell her how I feel.

As if reading my thoughts Peter spoke up, "you wanted to show her how you feel.."

I glanced at him immediately. He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "You love her," he said rather cheekily.

Trying to give him a nasty look, I failed. I just couldn't stop smiling at the thought of hearing her say she feels the same.

"Well, now that she knows something about how you feel.. you should confess to her before we take her home.." Susan said looking up from her book.

"You think she'll say yes?" my thoughts flooding with multiple possibilities.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"She didn't pull away did she?" Peter laughed. I just groaned shaking my head, covering my face in embarrassment.

"Well, if she didn't.. that's a good sign." I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up to see Peter smiling at me, "trust me, she likes you.. I'm pretty sure everyone in this house knows that by now." Well that was.. reassuring.

Though obviously Lucy saw it with her own eyes.

"Bold of you to make that move though."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I frowned at him. Susan stiffled a laugh while Peter shrugged giving me a goofy grin.

"Ughhh..." I looked away. Smiling to myself, I touched my lips. That was amazing.

Oh my gosh. Is this getting cheesier each chapter or is it just me? 😂

Edmund :- yes I agree, you are making me look cheesier than I seem.

Author nim :- oh you.. shush!

Edmund :- getting mad now are we?

Author nim :- *ignores*

Edmund :- you can't ignore me!

Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! How do you think Ed would confess to y/n? Stay tuned to find out! Love you all and stay safe ❤️

To be continued... <3

#chronicles of narnia #edmund pevensie #king edmund #edmund x reader #edmund pevensie x reader #edmund pevensie imagine #peter pevensie #susan pevensie #lucy pevensie #prince caspian #narnia aslan #narnia

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palindromeadams · 4 years

Text

Talking to The Moon

Hello! Sorry about the almost year break...

I’m working on the continuation of Zodiac’s Brew as well as another fic but this one is one that I’ve been working on the longest so I wanted to get it done!

Feel free to send any constructive criticism!

I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!

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It began when Natsu was 4. Igneel and Grandine were headed to the office when they passed their son’s room and heard laughter. They looked at each other with smiles on their faces, after a long bout of giggles followed by a muffled conversation. They assumed that he was either talking to his stuffed dragon, or maybe he had made his first imaginary friend, but they were surprised when they peeked into his room. Standing atop his toy chest their pink-haired son seemed to be in a deep conversation with the moon.

“And then I grabbed that ice princess’ clay and I smushed it! He made the funniest face! I wish you coulda seen it!” Natsu laughed, “Metal breath tried to steal my clay, but before he could, I shoved Elsa’s clay into his face!”

More laughter, before it cut off abruptly and his face screwed up into a pout.

“But Luuussshhhhiii they started it! Gray drew all over my dragon picture and Gajeel kept snoring when I was trying to take my nap!”

The boy continued to argue with the sky as his parents slowly closed the door, smiling.

“Our boy has a really active imagination, eh Iggy?” Grandine asked as the parents returned to their trip to the office.

Igneel let out a laugh, wrapping an arm around his wife and kissing the top of her head. “He gets that from you dear. I didn’t have any imaginary friends, but if I remember correctly, you had at least 20.”

Light laughter followed the couple down the hallway as they went to go finish some work in their office.

Natsu looked at the moon with a goofy grin that split his face, “I’ll always be here for you Luce, I promise. All you have to do is call my name and I’ll be there.” He said, raising his pinky up to the sky, “I pinky promise!” The sound of tinkling laughter could be heard by those that were listening close enough.

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Six years passed, and Grandine and Igneel would still pass by their son’s room at night, hearing him talking away. Every time they peeked in, they would find him standing by his window, smiling up at the moon. One night, in the middle of his tenth year, he stopped. The couple was used to one, maybe two, nights a month that his son wouldn’t talk to his friend. This usually happened on the new moon. However, after a week of not hearing anything, they were confused as to why he had stopped.

During dinner, a little over a week after the nighttime chats had ended, Grandine decided to broach the subject with her son. “Hey Natsu, why don’t you talk to the moon anymore? Did something happen?” She asked.

Natsu’s brows pinched together, his nose scrunched, an angry frown formed on his face. The two adults shared a look, something had happened.

“I was tellin’ Lisanna about Lucy at lunch. The stupid stripper overheard and started telling everyone.” He stabbed a piece of broccoli, angrily shoving it into his mouth. “Then iron mouth said that havin’ imaginary friends were for babies! But Lucy ain’t an imaginary friend! She's a moon sprite! It ain't my fault she can only come down when she gets older.”

He huffed and crossed his arms. “Then Levy said that there ain’t no such thing as a moon sprite. That the moon wasn’t livable cause it had no atmosphere or water, and somethin’ about vacuuming. I tried to tell her about Lucy and I described her and everything, but they wouldn't believe me!” Angry tears welled up in his eyes, “So I stopped talkin’ to Luce cause she ain’t real. There's no such thing as moon sprites or magic. I was a baby for thinkin’ otherwise.”

Grandine and Igneel looked at each other. Grandine looking pointedly at Igneel to get him to say some fatherly, encouraging advice.

Igneel let out a sigh. “You know Natsu, it doesn’t make you a baby for having someone that you can confide in. Even if other people can’t see them the way you do.” He placed a reassuring hand on Natsu’s shoulder, before ruffling his hair. “If you want to keep talking to Lucy because she makes you happy, do it. Magic is real kiddo, even if your friends don’t believe it, you do. That is what is important.”

“Really?” Natsu asked hopefully.

“Yup! Magic is all over the place! All you have to do is look for it. You are one of the lucky ones. You were able to befriend one of the beings that can control it.” Igneel gave a goofy grin. “I would have preferred you making friends with a dragon, but I guess a moon sprite will have to suffice.”

Grandine smacked her husband’s shoulder before the family started laughing.

Natsu gave his signature grin, moving to put his plate in the dishwasher. He made a quick glance out the window and up at the moon.

“I guess I should go and apologize to Luce for ignoring her.” He said with a sigh, “I hope she wasn’t cryin’... I hate it when she cries.”

Natsu ran his fingers through his hair, mumbling, “ Course she was cryin’ dummy, this is Lucy. The biggest crybaby in the solar system. Cried cause she thought she forgot my birthday, but it was the middle of December. ”

Grandine and Igneel looked at each other with a smile, glancing back at their son in time to see him sprinting up the stairs, slamming the door shut behind him.

They could hear the window slam open, and hear him shout, “LUCY! I’M SORRY FOR BEING A BUTT AND IGNORIN’ YOU FOR A WEEK! I, NATSU DRAGNEEL, AM THE BIGGEST JERK IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM!” He paused, as if reluctant to continue, “AN EVEN BIGGER JERK THAN THE POLAR PEST OR METAL MOUTH!”

The couple looked at each other, before bursting into laughter at their son’s antics. They really hoped that he would continue to have this imaginary friend for a little longer.

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Four years had passed since the night of the Dragneel’s talk, the now 14-year-old boy was still talking to his moon sprite friend every night he could. Igneel and Grandine were sitting in their office, finishing up some last-minute paperwork, when the sound of their son’s laughter reached them.

“Hey Grandine, don’t you think Natsu is getting a little old for imaginary friends?” Igneel asked, looking over at his wife.

“I don’t think there is such a thing as being ‘too old’ for something when it comes to the imagination.” She replied, typing away at her computer. “Besides, talking to her brings him joy. All I can hope for is that Natsu is happy and healthy, no matter what he does.”

Igneel sighed, “I know, but don’t you think that this could cause issues in the future? What if he doesn’t want to hang out with his friends anymore? Because he wants to talk to a figment of his imagination? He already refuses to do sleepovers or any overnight camp, don’t you think that having it could be detrimental to his future?”

“Natsu hangs out with his friends every single day that he can. He invites them over to hang out, he goes over to theirs for homework and video games. He is a perfectly normal teenage boy that just so happens to have a friend that no one else can see,” Grandine huffed. “I don’t know why you’re bringing this up all of a sudden, nothing has changed since you encouraged him a few years ago.”

“Natsu is going to be starting high school in a few months. Then in a few more years, he’ll be graduating. I don’t want him to be bullied in high school because someone finds out that he still has an imaginary friend. He’s already picked on enough as it is because of his hair, but talking to someone that doesn’t exist? Insisting that they do? Deeney, they’ll think he’s crazy!”

“Natsu hasn’t had any issues with bullying or being picked on since elementary school. The kids that he goes to school with have known him for years! He’s no more at risk of being picked on as Gray or Gajeel are!” She argued closing the top of her laptop and glaring at her husband.

“He’s going to a new school! Magnolia high isn’t just these kids that we’ve known since diapers. There are going to be students from at least three more middle schools, and they’ll have no clue about Natsu! They’ll pick on him because he’s different, giving them more fuel for the fire will only make things worse,” Igneel argued.

“You honestly think that Natsu will just stand there and let himself be picked on? You’re talking about the boy that decked a kid for making fun of Lisanna wearing cat ears! Even if he did, do you think that his friends would just let him be bullied? NO! If Natsu hadn’t already; Gray, Gajeel, and Erza would punch the poor kid that thought picking on Natsu was a smart idea!”

Igneel sighed and ran his fingers down his face, “I don’t think that physically, Natsu would be in danger… Deeney, I’m just concerned about our boy.”

Grandine gave a small smile, before setting her laptop down. She walked over to her husband, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Our boy will be fine Iggy,” she soothed. “There isn’t anything wrong with having an active imagination or imaginary friends. He will grow up to be a smart, strong, and happy young man that will succeed in everything that matters.”

She kissed her husband’s forehead, patting his back lovingly. The couple turned to look at the door when they heard a soft sound from that direction. They looked at each other questioningly, before shrugging and getting ready to go to bed.

When the couple had finished, they walked quietly to their room, passing by the now silent room of their son. What they didn’t know was that Natsu had overheard most of their argument.

The boy was now lying in his bed staring at the ceiling. Thinking of ways that he could prevent his parents from worrying, while still getting to talk to his best friend. He decided that night that he would wait until his parents were asleep, before talking to Lucy. Natsu let out a long sigh, turning on his side, trying to get some sleep.

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Two years after Igneel and Grandine’s argument, Natsu and Gray pulled into the parking lot of the campground.

“C’mon Frosty! Let’s grab our gear and set up camp before everyone else arrives! Then we can get straight into the activities!” Natsu said, hopping out of the driver’s seat happily, before running to the trunk to pull out the camping equipment.

Gray let out a loud groan, slumping out of the passenger's seat. “How the heck can you be so freaking happy at 7 in the morning flame for brains? You didn’t even stop for coffee on the way here. I can barely function.” Gray said groggily, shuffling to the overexcited teen.

“Cheer up ya pervy popsicle! We get the whole weekend to ourselves! No parents, no responsibility, no work! Just relaxation and fun with our friends!” Natsu cheered, dragging out the tents and sleeping bags. He walked over to the fire pit, dumping the items next to it.

“Hey squinty eyes, I bet I can set up the big tent before you can set up the two smaller ones!” Gray said, grabbing the 14 person tent and throwing Natsu the four and two-person tents.

“Oh, you’re so on droopy eyes!”

The two boys pulled out everything from the bags, laying them out on the grass.

“Ready.”

“Set.”

“GO!”

They both yelled, before throwing themselves into setting up the tents.

By the time their friends arrived, Natsu and Gray were arguing, covered in grass and dirt stains.

“Why am I not surprised that these idiots are fighting already?” Lisanna sighed, pulling out her duffle from the back of her sister’s car.

“Because they are MANLY!” Elfman said, coming up behind his sister and grabbing his own bag, along with the large food-filled cooler from the back.

Gray and Natsu were in charge of bringing the tents and sleeping supplies. This left the food and drinks to the Strauss siblings. This way, it would reduce the number of times the two would argue.

“It's because we’ve known those two since they were in diapers. Their relationship hasn’t changed over the years,” Mirajane replied, slipping in between her siblings. She grabbed her duffle, along with the smaller cooler.

“Those two could argue about practically anything for hours! Yet they still won’t get tired of it.”

The sibling trio laughed, heading towards the fighting pair. After locking their car, they went to see what started this disagreement.

“There’s no way you finished before me flame breath! You were still putting on a rain cover when I was done!” Gray argued, fists clenched by his sides, glaring at the pink-haired boy in front of him.

“That's not true fruit of the gloom!” Natsu yelled getting into Gray’s face, “I finished, then turned around, and you were still securing one of the stakes!”

The boys continued arguing when the siblings reached them.

“Hey, Natsu! where do we put our stuff?” Lisanna asked.

Natsu continued to glare at the dark-haired boy in front of him, “Bags with clothes and stuff go into the four-person tent. Coolers and other food things go in the two-person,” He said, before Gray launched himself onto him, the two boys beginning to roll around on the grass, fighting.

Lisanna's facepalmed, letting out a disappointed sigh. “Why do I still hang out with those two.”

Mirajane put a reassuring hand on her little sister’s shoulder. “Because those two boys will protect their loved ones with everything they’ve got.”

“That better not be fighting I hear,” A menacing voice called from a red car that had just pulled into the parking lot.

The two boys froze mid-battle, fists still raised. Their faces paled, eyes wide. They quickly scrambled to their feet, pushing the other down.

“We weren’t fighting at all!” Gray said unconvincingly. His hair was sticking up more than usual, and there was mud on his cheeks, grass stains on his outfit, or what was left of his outfit anyway.

“Aye!” Natsu agreed, his own appearance matching closely to Gray’s, but with more clothing.

Erza strolled over to the group, Jellal trailing behind her, his arms filled with bags full of who knows what.

“Gray your clothes,” Lisanna said, returning from dropping off her bags.

“What? I was just wearing them!” Gray exclaimed, searching for his missing clothes.

The small group laughed at their friend’s antics.

“Looks like we’re still waiting on Gajeel, Levy, Cana, Juvia, and Wendy.” Jellal said as he returned from dropping off Erza’s things in the tent, “Have you heard anything from them yet?”

Gray returned with all of his clothes on, “Juvia, Wendy, and Cana are headed up here together. I got a text from Juvs a few minutes ago saying that they were close.”

“Iron breath picked up Levy, so they should be here soon,” Natsu said, lacing his hands behind his head. “What should we do while we wait?”

“You guys could play capture the flag while I finish setting things up,” Mirajane offered. “I’ll lay out the sleeping bags, then start getting lunch ready.”

“Thank you, Mira!” The rest of the group yelled, splitting into their normal teams and running off into the forest.

The sun had set and the group of teens sat around a roaring fire laughing and telling stories. They had all eaten their fill of Mirajane’s cooking and a few were still roasting marshmallows.

“Okay, what is one thing about another person here that you’ve always wanted to know?” Lisanna asked, taking a bite of her s’more.

“I’ve always wondered why Elfman always says ‘MAN’ or ‘MANLY’ after everything,” Wendy said looking over at the said man.

The group looked confused for a second, realizing that they hadn’t really given it much thought, it was just something that Elfman had always done. They all looked over at the man who sheepishly smiled rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well when I was a kid I met this teenager that helped an old lady cross the street and he looked down at me and said ‘The manly man is one that always helps out others.’ so I guess that it just stuck…” he chuckled.

“Well, I sure wasn’t expecting that,” Gajeel grumbled before looking over at Natsu. “Whatever happened to that moon bunny that you went on about for years. It seems like one day you just stopped.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that! What was her name again? Laney? Lacey?” Erza asked looking up at the sky, where a full moon looked back.

Natsu looked up with her with a soft smile on his face, “Her name is Lucy, and she’s a moon sprite, not a bunny” he let out a sigh before looking at his hands, conflicting feelings flashed on his face. Should he tell them the truth, or should he lie to make them get off his back?

He took a deep breath, they were his friends no reason to lie to them, “She told me that on the first full moon after she turned 18 she would be given the choice to either stay on the moon and keep her magic or come down to earth and become a human. “he looked back up at the moon, “She said that she was going to choose to come down to earth, she doesn’t have anyone there that really cares about her. Her mom died about 6 years ago and her dad is a dick, she’s always wanted to meet you guys ‘cause of all of the stories I’ve told her.”

He chuckled, “I stopped talking about her because my dad was afraid that I would be bullied because of it, so I figured I would just wait it out and keep her to myself until she came down.” His voice took on a tone that the group had never heard from him, it was soft and full of love, “I can’t wait until you guys can finally meet her. She’s amazing and you all would love her.”

The group looked at him in awe, they didn’t think that Natsu still believed in this Lucy girl and he talked about her with so much love.

Gajeel snorted “So you still believe in this bunny girl ey, fire hazard.” he let out his signature laugh, “I’m surprised you still believe in those baby things.”

The air around the group went tense as the soft smile that was on Natsu’s smile morphed into a scowl then his face went blank.

He stood up, glared at Gajeel “This is the other reason why I never brought it up because you would be a dick and I really didn’t want to have to get pissed off again. I thought you had grown up in the years since you’ve made fun of me before Gajeel, but I guess not.” Natsu said his voice sounded cold and hollow, the opposite of how it was a few minutes before. He turned his back on the group and walked into the forest.

The group was in shocked silence, Natsu hadn’t even taken a swing at Gajeel like he usually would. In his place though the normally timid Juvia punched his arm.

“The hell waterwoman!” He growled rubbing his shoulder.

“That was a real jerk move Gajeel! He trusted us enough to tell us that and you made fun of him!” She scolded.

“What you think he’s tellin’ the truth about some bunny girl living on the moon with magic that will just appear one day?”

Juvia glared and punched him again, “It doesn’t matter if Juvia believes it or not! Natsu does and he’s our friend so we should be nice and supportive of him! Either he’ll realize one day that she isn’t real, or she’ll show up one day and we’ll get to meet her! Natsu has always been supportive of Juvia’s thoughts and beliefs and has never once made fun of something that you guys cared a lot about. Natsu has always been able to tell what was really important to us and respected that.”

Juvia let out a frustrated noise, “Ugh! Juvia is very upset with Gajeel, but she is going to find Natsu and apologize.” She stood up and stomped off in the direction that Natsu had disappeared to.

When Juvia caught up to Natsu he was sitting atop a boulder in the middle of a clearing staring up at the moon. He let out a sigh before burying his hands in his hair.

“I should have known they wouldn’t believe me Luce, but a part of me hoped that they would. They would love to get to know you and become friends with you especially Levy, she loves books as much as you do. And you and Erza would bond over shopping and all that girly crap and even though Juvia is shy at first as long as you don’t fall in love with Gray you too will get along.” He said ending with a small laugh. “I wish they could talk to you now. You can’t use any of your magic to like visit them in their dreams and threaten to curse them if they’re still dicks?”

Natsu paused as if he were listening to someone and let out a laugh making Juvia jump. “Only, you would say something like that Luce. Thank you though, I really appreciate you sayin’ that.” He gave the moon a dopey grin that had Juvia smiling along. She looked up at the moon and gave it, sorry her, a smile.

“What? Someone’s here?” Natsu murmured before turning around and locking eyes with Juvia. Walls seemed to go up around his expression and it turned blank.

“What do you need Juvia, I’ll be back at the camp in a few no need to worry about me.”

Juvia took a deep breath and walked into the clearing, “Will you tell Juvia a bit about Lucy? She must be pretty great if she’s got you smiling like that.” She smiled at Natsu then looked at the moon, “Juvia is sorry to be interrupting your conversation with Natsu, Lucy but our friend was being a bit of a jerk about you, but Juvia wants to get to know you better before Juvia gets to meet you in person in a few years.”

Natsu’s mouth was agape and his eyes were wide in shock, “You believe me?” he whispered in disbelief.

“Of course Juvia does Natsu. Natsu has no reason to lie to Juvia and Natsu believes Juvia too.” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Can Juvia sit down while you tell her about Lucy?”

Natsu, still in a state of disbelief, shifted over to give her space to sit. He shook out of his shock and gave Juvia a face splitting grin before he started to rant about Lucy, how they first met, and almost everything that he learned about her, occasionally being interrupted by the moon sprite either correcting him or having him translate what she was saying to the earth girl.

The trio talked until the sun was close to rising, “Lucy has to go now Juvia, she thanks you though and is glad that you two can be friends. She said that you can talk to her anytime and she’ll be listening even if you can’t hear her back. All you have to do is say her name while looking at the moon and she’ll be there.” Natsu smiled at the blue-haired girl, “Thank you for believing me Juvia, you’re a really great friend. When Gray gets his head out of his ass he’ll realize how great of a girl you are and you guys will start dating. You’ll be a great influence on him.”

He gave Juvia his signature grin before giving her a hug, “If you ever need me to do anything Juvia,” He said then pushed her back lightly gripping her shoulders looking at her seriously, “ And I mean anything Juvia like if you want me to beat up Gray because he doesn’t compliment your hair one day, I’ll do it.”

Juvia let out a string of laughter, “Okay Natsu, Juvia will do that, but Juvia will probably not have you beat up her beloved Gray-sama anytime soon.”

Natsu laughed and nodded, “Got it Juvi. Let’s head back to camp so they don’t think we got attacked by wild animals or abducted by aliens.” He slung his arm over Juvia’s shoulder and the pair began their walk back to the camp.

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Two years and a couple of months had passed since the camping trip and Natsu had moved out of his parent's house and into an apartment. He had been saving up for this apartment for over two years. It was a cozy little two-bedroom apartment, and it almost felt like home to Natsu. It had some hand me down furniture in the kitchen and living room from his parents, but he had made sure to buy nice beds for the two bedrooms and decorated the walls of one with pictures of him and his friends while the other was simpler with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling laid out to match the night sky in summer.

Natsu took a deep breath as the sun began to set. Tonight was finally the first full moon after Lucy’s 18th birthday, meaning that in the next hour he would finally get to meet his best friend and crush of over 14 years. He had already started pacing and feeling nervous. He had triple checked everything to make sure that Lucy would feel comfortable at his place, he had cleaned and made sure the fridge was stocked but he still felt like he was forgetting something important.

He picked up his phone and dialed the phone number of the girl that had become his closest friend.

“Juvia! She’s going to be here soon and I think I’m forgetting something and I don’t know what it is! I cleaned the house and the fridge is full. Her room is set up! I don’t know what it could be! I just want everything to be perfect for her first day here!” Natsu rambled.

“Natsu. Take a deep breath. Are you dressed?” Juvia’s voice was calm on the other side. She was used to him freaking out about this by now, he had been in a panic these past few days not knowing what he should do to make Lucy comfortable on Earth.

Natsu looked down and saw that he was still in his boxers with chibi dragons. “Shit. I thought I had put on pants.” He scrambled to his room, his phone echoing with Juvia’s laughter.

“Everything will be okay Natsu. You’ve known Lucy for 14 years. Juvia is sure she would be happy if you still lived at your parent’s place. She’s Lucy, you know her.” She reassured him, “And when she's all settled and she feels up to it Juvia would love to get to meet her too.”

“You could come over now Juvi, Luce would love to get to see you, she talks about you a lot,” Natsu said as he buttoned up his slacks. He had decided to dress up a bit to try to impress Lucy a bit.

“Juvia is fine Natsu. This first meeting is something that you two deserve alone time for. Have been waiting for this for over 14 years. Juvia can wait a few days, but don’t hog her for too long. Juvia needs to shove Lucy’s existence into Gray and Gajeel’s face for being pricks about her growing up.”

Natsu laughed, “Thank you Juvia. I’m so excited to see her but I’m also fucking terrified. What if she decides not to come down and stays on the moon, or what if she regrets coming down and she wants to go back but she's stuck here forever…” his thoughts began spiraling into a negative space that it really only went to during the night after his talks with Lucy.

“Natsu! Shut up and get out of your head!” Juvia scolded.

“Wow never thought I would hear that.” a deep voice echoed from Juvia’s side of the phone.

“Shut up Gray.” She snapped. The sound of a door was heard closing behind her before Juvia’s voice softened, “Natsu, you know that Lucy doesn’t break her promises and she promised that she would come down to Earth, and you know how much she’s rambled on about coming down here and getting to meet us, but mostly you.”

Natsu could feel his cheeks warm as she continued, “Especially you Natsu, you’re her oldest friend and probably first and only love. Mavis knows how much you love her.”

Natsu sputtered at her bluntness, “Juvia! You can’t just say that!”

“Why not? It's the truth, you talk about her with the same fondness that Gajeel does about Levy, Jellal does about Erza, and that Juvia does about Gray.”

Natsu’s face was probably the color of Erza’s hair, “I know that, but you don’t need to say it out loud. It’s embarrassing.”

The moon’s light began to shine brighter into Natsu’s living room from the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. “Shit Juvia she’s coming. Oh, Mavis what if I screw things up. No no no this is Luce everything will be okay.” He said teetering off into a mumble before he took a deep breath. “I’ll message you later Juvia.”

“Have fun Natsu!” Juvia said before she hung up.

Natsu slipped his phone into his back pocket and watched as the moon’s glow began to get brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. He turned his head away to protect his eyes then looked back to the silhouette of a girl standing on his balcony. He scrambled to the door and locked eyes with probably the most beautiful girl he had seen. She had hair that was as golden as the stars, her skin was as pale as the moon itself, and her eyes, Mavis her eyes, were a warm chocolate brown that seemed to hold galaxies in their depth. The girl smiled and Natsu felt his heart stop before he could get his body to work and give the girl a smile in return.

Natsu slid the door open and immediately embraced the girl. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to give you a hug Luce.” He could feel tears prick the edge of his eyes. He felt his anxieties disappear, he was finally holding Lucy in his arms. She was real. She wasn’t a figment of his imagination or an imaginary friend, she was a moon sprite that gave up her powers to live with him.

He heard sniffles and could feel her shoulders shake. “I would guess as long as I’ve wanted this too Natsu,” Lucy said as she hugged him tighter.

Natsu let the tears that he had been holding back go as he nuzzled into the top of her head.

“You’re finally here. You’re really here. I’m never fucking letting you go.” He said in disbelief and she let out a watery laugh.

“I would hope not Natsu because I’m not letting you go either.”

The pair stood outside in a hug until the sound of Nastu’s stomach interrupted them.

“Shit. Stupid stomach I just fed you. Shut up so I can keep hugging Luce.” He pouted and gave the girl another squeeze.

Lucy giggled, “We should probably head inside so we can talk about stuff and get some food.”

Natsu sighed before he lifted up the girl and walked them into the house. Lucy let out a surprised squeak before she laughed at his antics, “You can let me go Natsu I do have two working legs you know.”

“Nope, I said I was never letting you go and I’m not. You’re stuck with me forever now. No takesies backsies.” He said plopping the two of them down on the sofa readjusting so Lucy could be more comfortable.

“You do know that I’m not going anywhere right? We’re together forever now, even if we aren’t attached at the hip. I promise I won’t leave you, and you know that I never break my promises.” Lucy said with a sigh pushing back on the boy’s chest to get a better look at him.

He was just as, if not more, handsome than Lucy thought he would be. His tanned skin and vibrant pink hair were a strange combination but it suited him so well. His sharp green eyes seemed to go on forever and his smile was something that Lucy wanted to see forever. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again and watched as panic washed over his face.

“Shit whats wrong Luce? Did I do something to upset ya? I’ll let you go if you’re starting to get uncomfortable!” he rambled not wanting to make the former sprite feel pressured into doing something that she didn’t want to do.

Lucy let out a watery laugh, “It’s nothing like that Natsu. It’s just that I’m so happy to finally be with you.” She sniffled, “I never thought that I would be able to do thing but with your help I really did it! I love you so much Natsu.”

Natsu’s eyes widened before they softened into what can only be described as a look of pure adoration. His hand slid up the side of Lucy’s cheeks wiping away the tears that fell. “I love you too Luce. I love you to the moon and beyond.”

Lucy leaned down and Natsu leaned up and the two met in a soft kiss. They parted and gave the other a soft smile. Natsu pulled Lucy gently back until their foreheads touched, “Thank you for existing and for giving up your powers to be here with me.”

Lucy smiled, “You’re a lot better than the ability to make lights turn on at will, I can tell you that much.” She joked before pecking his lips lightly, “I will miss being able to fly but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me.”

Natsu laughed, “I’m sure I’ll think of something, if not I’ll get Juvia to help me. Oh! Before I forget can we take a picture to send to Juvia? She’s been wanting to see you.” he said scrambling for his phone while trying to not let go of the girl.

“Of course! You’ll have to take me to actually meet with her in person soon! I wanna see her! And all your other friends too, but Juvia first because she believed you about me.” She pouted, “The other ones were dicks and I can’t wait to shove my existence in their faces!”

He laughed again before opening his phone up and going to the camera app to take a selfie. When the pair felt the picture was good enough (i.e. when Lucy thought the picture was good enough) they sent it to Juvia. Natsu then threw his phone to the other side of the couch and the pair snuggled up together and began talking about their plans for the next week.

A few blocks away Juvia’s phone lit up with a notification from Natsu. She looked away from the movie that she and Gray were watching to look at the message and let out a squeal before shoving her phone in Gray’s face.

“Juvia told you, Gray! Juvia told you for years but you never believed her and Natsu!” She cheered as Gray pulled the phone away from his face and his jaw dropped.

In the picture, Natsu was sitting next to a pretty blonde girl that he had never seen before, the text below read ‘Luce says hi!’

#fairy tail fanfiction #fairy tail #nalu fanfiction #Nalu #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia

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