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loudsuitlover · 4 years

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Doctor Harry XXVIII. Tercer movimiento: Lo de dentro.

A/N: Long ass chapter but lovely, I think. I hope you like it too <3 Every other part can be found here

BLUE’S POV

“Are you done?” I giggle as my mum keeps taking pictures of me in our garden.

“Yeah, I think so but I hope you send me some more with Harry at the reception.”

“I will.” I promise her.

I walk inside towards the kitchen and she follows me. It wasn’t really hard to find a dress for the wedding. Coco, Ollie and Marie offered to go shopping with me on Monday afternoon and we genuinely thought it might take all week to find the right dress but it didn’t. It only took a couple of hours.

I asked Harry if there was any sort of etiquette or particular dressing code but he just said apparently you can’t attend a wedding dressed in white and then I asked if he had any preferences in colour but then he just said what he wanted didn’t matter and to wear whatever I wanted. He wasn’t of much help but I wouldn’t have wanted for him to say anything different from that.

I have never dressed for anyone other than myself but I hope Harry likes my dress tonight. I chose a floor-length slip gown made of silk. It is a soft baby blue colour and so soft to the touch I think I could sleep on it. It’s backless too because I’m a sucker for backless shit and I hate bras so I don’t have a problem with going braless. I keep the jewellery and makeup to a minimum but I do wear crimson lipstick and my thin white gold choker. I wear Coco’s long bright grey fur coat and bright grey heels salon heels.

Harry did ask me about the colour of the dress but I guess that has to do with his choice of tie or handkerchief. I know it’s cheesy but it excites me that he would consider my dress so as to match me.

The bell rings and I get the door as I put on my coat. When I open the door, my breath catches on my throat as I’m faced with a very sexy, annoyingly handsome Harry that looks like a bright peaky blinder without the cap.

He’s wearing a fucking bright cream colour vest and cream colour jacket and pants and a baby blue silk shirt, matching my dress. The first few buttons of the shirt are unbuttoned so the almost looks like a handkerchief.

“Fuck.” He grins. “You can’t be prettier than the bride, Blue.”

I giggle and he leans in and touches my Hollywood style waves and lets them drop back against my chest. I knew he would appreciate the hair down.

“I thought you said you couldn’t attend a wedding dressed in white.”

He smiles.

“This is cream” he defends “and the bride knows what I’m wearing.”

“You look dreamy.”

“Let me see!”

My mum comes running from the kitchen and I feel the heat on my cheeks hot enough I’m sure they look like my lips at this point.

“Oh my God! You look like a brunette James Dean!”

Harry laughs but blushes and I giggle along with my mum like two teenage girl.

“Grasias, Alisia.”

I raise my eyebrows as I remember.

“Está aprendido español, ¿sabes, mamá?” (Did you know that he’s learning Spanish, mum?)

Harry smiles with his lips closed and my mum swoons.

“¿En serio?”

“Sí.” Harry nods. “No sé mucho pero entiendo algo.” (I don’t know much but I understand some.)

“Nena, cosételo.” (Baby, tie him up.)

I chuckle and pray to God he didn’t understand as I gently push him away from my drooling mum towards his car. He gets on the driver’s seat and doesn’t say anything else as he drives away.

“Are you nervous?” I ask him.

He sighs.

“A little.”

“I’m sure it’ll all be beautiful.”

“Yeah, it better be or else Gemma might kill some people.”

I laugh but think it to be true. I’m familiar with the term bridezilla and something tells me Gemma has a character. I guess we recognize each other.

There’s a small grey stone church with a big colourful rose window over the door at the top of a hill and Harry parks the car on an esplanade some meters away from it. When I step out of the car, I notice the ground is covered with loose small white stones that sort of look like snowflakes.

Harry is smiling, waiting for me to join him and only then I realize I’ve been gawking around. It’s such a beautiful place and I didn’t even know of the existence of this church. Then again I’m an atheist.

“I think you’re the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

“Creature?” I smile. “I knew you’d like my hair down.”

“Come here.”

His hands wrap around my waist through my thick coat before he pulls me to him and his lips press against mine. Thank God Coco had that fixer spray for the makeup so he doesn’t ruin my lipstick too much.

Inside the church, it’s warmer than I expected. Despite the stone on the outside, the inside is wood and I’m thinking the architects, whoever that was, did a good job with the insulation. There aren’t that many people on the church but I guess it’s normal for the bride’s brother to be one of the firsts to arrive.

The ceilings are so high it’s even hard to appreciate the reredos but it gives the chapel some sense of highness, even I, an atheist, feel closer to heaven. It’s the last hours of sunlight of the day and the winter can be heard outside in the form of wind and leaves but I still think it’s such a nice time to get married. It kind of feels as if they would be safe from the storm, because they’re together, and it also feels as if it doesn’t matter how’s the weather outside, it would always be warm if they’re together. I know, weddings really turn me into a softie.

Harry’s hand on mine guides me along a corridor on the left side of the church. I know in a church, the left side is the right side for us to stand, for it’s the side of sin and that’s where we belong. At the end of the corridor, a few very elegant people are gathered.

“Hey, son.”

A man with grey hair short hair and a gentle smile, a few inches shorter than Harry, gives him a hug.

“Hey, dad.”

He doesn’t look much like Harry and neither does his smile really for he doesn’t have any dimples and his lips are quite thinner but he’s got the same air of kindness about him and he transmits the same goodness as his son.

“This is Indie. Indie, this is my dad, Des.”

“Hello, dear.” He politely offers me his hand and I shake it.

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

He asks me how I’m doing and we start a casual conversation but I can’t help my eyes from drifting to Harry as he frowns and looks around. He really is nervous so I forgive him for abandoning me with his dad.

“Your sister is inside.” He answers his silent question and Harry’s eyes set on him.

“Do you think I can go in?”

“I think yes. She did kick me out but try your luck, son.”

He nods and gives me a look.

“You go.” I encourage him.

It’s way too intimate for me to be in there after talking to Gemma just the once. I don’t even know his mother.

“I’ll be fine.” I tell him.

“Yes, I’ll look after her.”

His green eyes set and travel between us both as if he was considering whether to leave me here or not. But after a few seconds he nods his head as if convincing himself and knocked and opened the door that hid her sister.

“Way to introduce you into the family, huh?” Des starts. “My son and his weird ways, I guess. It’s okay if you don’t remember everybody’s names.”

I giggle.

“I’m pretty good with names.”

“The thing is every young female in the family look alike. Even I get confused and they’re my sisters’ daughters.”

He starts telling me about the members of his family and asks me about mine and I tell him about my siblings and my parents. He finds our names very interesting, naturally, and tells me about how they decided on Harry’s name. I also learn his middle name is Edward.

I don’t know how much time has passed when Harry finally exits the room but his eyes are teary when he does and he’s holding a flute glass with what looks like a mimosa.

“I gotta go check on Michal.” He tries to sound unaffected but I smirk because I know better. “But my mum gave me this for you. She says it’s good.”

I smile and gladly take it from his hand as he turns to his dad.

“I tried sneaking one out for you, dad, but they said some shit about us men having enough with not having to do our makeup or something like that.”

I giggle and Harry smiles teasingly at me.

“That’s alright, son.” Des chuckles. “Thank you.”

Harry nods and like that he leaves us again and opens another door on the same wall. I think it’s beautiful that both bride and groom are that close together only with a wall apart. Des keeps the conversation going about my personal choices on Medicine, whether I like consultation over surgery and so on, until Adam joins us and shakes his head.

“Hello, Des. Long time no see. Hi, Indie. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I give him a smile.

It’s such a shame Marie couldn’t come but your grandparents’ golden wedding is not something one can say not to. I know she would have liked for Adam to be there but she understood his motive. After all, Adam is a part of the Styles’ family and that makes Gemma sort of like a sister to him too. Yet I wish Marie were here. I know for a fact we would have had so much fun and she would have been a cheerleader for me if I freak out at meeting so many important people to Harry in the same day.

“Where’s Harry?”

The moment he asks that, as if on cue, Harry comes out of the groom’s room and places a hand on my lower back. He sighs.

“Just making sure Adam wasn’t having a panic attack or climbing out the window, Gemma’s words not mine. I’m gonna tell her he’s not so she can keep it together.”

The three of us laugh as he rushes to her sister’s room now.

“I remember my wedding day” Des said “I have never been more nervous in my entire life, not even when my kids were born.”

“I don’t think he would climb out the window on this weather though.” Adam jokes.

I laugh with them but don’t say much. I’ll admit I’m nervous. I don’t know what to say to seem worth it of Harry. Thank his mum for the alcohol in this graceful mimosa.

“Alright” Harry says as he joins us “I look like the errands boy but now they want me to say hi to guests and show them to their seats. The things one has to do… Would you accompany me?”

I panic. He wants me to stand there and say hi to every single guest? But he looks so good… And I’m going to say yes.

“I’ll help.” Adam smiles.

“Thank you.”

The three of us say goodbye to Des who has to wait for Gemma to be ready since he’s walking her down the aisle and make our way towards the flowers arches that mark the aisle.

“My mum wanted to meet you already” Harry says “and she’s sorry she didn’t come out to at least say hi but her hair wasn’t done.” He smirks.

“Oh, no, that’s fine. She shouldn’t worry. It’s her daughter’s wedding day. I’m not the important one here.”

“I know.” He smiles. “But you’re the first girl I bring home and she’s excited. Let the woman dream.”

I blush as I look at Adam from the corner of my eye. He’s smirking before he stands on one of the narrow corridors on the sides of the benches and Harry and I continue walking until we stop and stand on the main arch.

“How was your sister?”

“Gorgeous” he states but he’s rather stern “and nervous. She made me go check on Michal because she was at the verge of a panic attack herself.”

I smile because I know he’s exaggerating. He always is and he looks down at me with a big smile.

“What did you and my father talk about?”

“Family, mostly. He also told me how your mum and him came up with your name, Eddie.”

His jaw clenches and he gives me a death glare but I just laugh at his reaction. Our conversation dies the moment the guests start arriving without giving us enough time to talk in between. I don’t know how many times he’s said this is Indie, my girlfriend but if I concentrate, I can hear him on my mind now.

“I wish there was some sticker or something we could stick on your forehead” He jokes “I’m Harry’s girlfriend.”

I chuckle but when I’m about to playfully swat at his arm, a blonde girl wearing a lilac gown indicates us to our seat and Harry guides me to the very first row. Oh, boy, where have I gotten myself in?

Less than a minute after we sit, his mother stands next to him. She looks even prettier than she does in the picture he’s got on his bedside table and even if she could be my mum, she intimidates me. She’s absolutely gorgeous, with lively green eyes and dark hair and for the love of God she looks so much like her son.

“Finally” she smiles at me “I get to meet you.”

“Hey, mum” Harry stands up from the bench and I follow suit “this is Indie. Indie, meet my mum, Anne.”

“It’s really a pleasure to meet you, darling. Unbelievably, you are even prettier than in pictures.”

Harry grins. Is he proud? I think he’s proud at his mother’s compliments to me. I smile despite the heat on my cheeks.

“Thank you. You look stunning too.”

“Thanks. Uh, here comes the groom!”

We all sit down and see Michal walking down the aisle with his arm intertwine to the one of a woman. I suppose that’s his mum. He smiles at Anne when he gets to us and then he takes his place on the altar and holds his hands together over his belt. He looks at the flowers arch with a big smile waiting for his lover.

A few minutes after, not making him wait too much, everyone in the chapel turns her head and down the aisle, we watch a stunning, very happy and extremely beautiful Gemma making her way all dressed in white; wheelchair included. Her dad walks on her side and their arms are intertwined and only when Gemma’s past us, three little girls dressed in white too come into view. They have spread flowers all over the floor after Gemma and one of them had actually been pushing the chair. They look like little angels.

Michal sits down on a white metallic chair adorned with white flowers, just like Gemma’s, and they both stare at each other and giggle and that’s when the bubble forms and everyone different from them two just gets to stare but we’re all out of it.

I hear the ceremony and as beautiful as it is and as gorgeous as the two of them look, my eyes keep drifting at Harry because he’s smirking the entire time and I have never seen him so handsome.

I cannot believe, out of all the people in the world, he chose me to sit next to him today. I am the first girl he brings home and there’s one part of me that feels so special but there’s another part who wished that wasn’t true because it makes me realize how hard it’s really going to be for this to work. After all, who stays with the first girl they bring home forever?

His green eyes set on me for a second and he smiles. The air is out of my lungs.

“Gemma, you are the smartest person I know but not even you could understand how incredibly lucky I feel to be here with you today and become your husband. I remember wanting to have, and sometimes making up, excuses to talk to you and now look at us.” They both giggle “You are my best friend, Gem, and you’ll always be so today I vow to change your name in my phone from ‘lady friend’ to ‘wifey’.” Soft giggles accompany Gemma’s through the chapel and Michal grins at her before continuing. “I vow to always appreciate your laugh, your smile, your caring nature and that face you make when I add too much chili to your nachos. I promise if there's only one beer left, I'll let you have it and to always make sure there’s Earl Grey on the cabinet. I promise to always love you without conditions or reservations, even when you make me watch the Bachelor, and to show it with care and consideration. I promise I’ll be patient, even if that means I’ll have to listen to how I should have gotten you ice-cream even if you said you were on a diet.” He smiles. “I vow to always remember these vows and to love and honour you for as long as I shall live.”

“Those were really great vows.” Gemma nods her head.

“Right?” Michal’s nose shrinks as he nods along with his almost-wife and everyone starts laughing. “I felt it, I felt like I owned it.”

“You really did, babe.”

They both giggle and just as fast as the distention of laughter have fallen upon us, a sort of intensity covers my shoulders but the smile is still on my face, and on Harry’s, when Gemma clears her throat.

“Michal, I had never believed in destiny until God gave me a second chance and ever since then I’ve always thought he didn’t let me go then because I didn’t yet know you.” I see Harry’s emotion on the way his shoulders tense and hear his breath getting stuck on his throat. I land a hand on his shoulder. “So thank God you took that gap year in Colombia.” And then he lets out something similar to a chuckle and I realize Gemma’s a master, much like her brother, for she knew she had dropped the mood and then masterly lifted it up again. “I have thought very hard about what to say today because I could never list all the things I love about you for I love your thoughtfulness and your kindness but also the way you weirdly get excited about pumpkin late and how your eyes crinkle when you laugh very had. And it’s for those things that today I want to vow that I will never forget that you are the love of my life and that in the darkest moments, I will always have a friend in you and you will always have a friend in me. From this day on, you will never walk alone. I mean, technically you will, but you know what I mean.” Michal shakes his head and laughs and Harry clicks his tongue at her sister’s dark humour but smirks anyway. “I vow to be your strength when you feel weak, to only fight you when you’re fighting yourself and to fight beside you for the rest of the times. I vow to pretend not to be annoyed when you pretend you don’t like The Bachelor and to listen to you when you talk about footie.” She takes a deep breath that can be heard through the church and Michal gives her a loving smile. “You know, when I was studying journalism with Chloe, before every presentation we would look into each other’s eyes and tell each other ‘I believe in you’ and even though we never really talked about what that really means, to me it meant ‘I love you and whatever happens out there, I’ve got your back’ so since words cannot do it, I promise to show you, for the rest of my life, how much I love you because Michal Mlynowski, I believe in you.”

Harry and I stand behind as the just married couple exist the church and I don’t say anything because I know he needs this moment to himself. His eyes are shut and he’s looking up with his hands on his hips. Respecting the silence, I wrap my arms around his waist and rest the side of my head on his chest and it takes him about a second to wrap his arms around me too. I feel his muscles relaxed until he’s as soft as his muscles allow him to feel and rests his cheek on the top of my head.

“You know you’re not alone, right?”

He doesn’t answer nor move so I pull away from him enough so I can look into his eyes. His eyes lock with mine but he remains expressionless.

“You’ve got me.” I offer.

My words change the pattern of his breathing and his eyes set on every inch of my face, as if he was looking for a tiny wound. After not finding any, his eyes set on my lips and even though he doesn’t say anything, I know that look. I’ve seen it before and I know what he wants so I tilt my neck back and press my lips against his in a tender, innocent kiss, letting a flood of butterflies loose on my belly and my heart. When I pull away, he presses a tender kiss on the tip of my tongue and then on my forehead.

“I know, baby.”

He leans down and kisses me again but since he was the one initiating the kiss now, he’s also the one taking control of it, and this time he deepens it and I suck his breath on my throat. My heart’s beating fast and I… I…

“You have no idea what you’re doing now” he whispers “but the only reason I managed to go through that without any artificial sedatives was because you were there.”

I swallow the lump on my throat. I really don’t want to mess up and I don’t think there’s anything I could say to him right now that would really hold the meaning of whatever it is that I’m feeling right now.

Dinner was surprisingly fun. I thought I was going to be awkward, always measuring what words I could use or what I couldn’t say around them and I genuinely thought the mood was going to be a lot more tense but Harry isn’t as bad around his family as I thought he’d be.

We’ve been casually talking and his mum Anne has proven to be the sweetest woman in the world, explaining Harry’s caring nature and his own kindness, and welcoming me in the family like I had been coming over to birthday parties and family dinners for ages.

Gemma and Michal are also quite funny, which I had already realized as they vowed, and I’ve found out Michal has a real talent when it comes about teasing Harry, which has been quite funny to me.

“Harry, I think it’s time.” Michal tells him.

I tilt my neck to give Harry a look but he just nods at Michal before he stands up. He makes his way towards a little stand I haven’t even seen before after taking a glass of champagne from one of the trays the waiters are holding and I watch him, completely hypnotised, as he smiles and runs a hand through his hair in front of the microphone.

“Hi” He clears his throat “Good evening, everyone. I’m Harry, I’m Gemma’s younger brother, even though I think you all know that and I’m standing here about to give a speech ‘cause she’s begged me to, quite simply.” Everybody laughs but he just raises his eyebrows and shakes his head as if saying it’s the truth. “Uh, when I was thinking about what to say tonight… So 30 minutes ago,” He knows when the laughter is coming so he stops and grins and my heart stops every time “I thought that, uh, I should really start thanking my sister; thank you, Gem, for making it so easy for me to be Mum’s favourite child.” Gemma laughs out loud and everyone joins her. “As most of you know, I’m a doctor, I’m an Anaesthesiologist and Gemma is… Gemma’s brave.” His sister laughs. “She was brave when she stood her ground and decided to study journalism even when most people would tell her no; she was brave when she learnt to live a new life, in a totally different situation and she taught me how to do that; she was brave when she started her own business but mostly she was brave when she agreed to marry Michal.” Michal laughs and nods approving his brother-in-law’s joke and I didn’t really know Harry could be so funny, except I did know. “It’s such a blissful, beautiful thing for me to see my sister trusting and loving someone so much, someone who loves her and trusts her just as much and who clearly married up” He grins and I love it because I can see the chuckle he’s holding back “and it’s also a wonderful thing to win a brother like Michal because… Michal, I love you, you love me, we love each other… Although” he stops to add some dramatism and everyone smiles in anticipation “we kind of are polar opposites. He’s funny,” his hand opened in the air points at the direction of the groom before he rests his palm on his chest “I’m smart. He’s athletic, I’m incredibly good looking” he chuckles and so does everyone else “but the thing we both have in common is Gemma and how much… It annoys us when she makes the whole family watch The Bachelor.” He chuckles. “No, but seriously, Gem, you’re my best sister and I love you more than I could ever say to you. Growing up, we didn’t always see eye to eye, I used to kidnap your dolls and ask you for ransoms and you didn’t let me use your karaoke but I can’t imagine my life without you and I know I wouldn’t be half the man I am if you hadn’t been there to show me what it means like to be strong, to be brave and to be kind. I was told recently that it shows that I was raised among women, and this includes you, dad” he jokes “because I am protective by nature and I think it’s true” his green eyes, amused, nervous and brave look at me for a second before they set on his sister “because, even though I’m younger, I have always been and will always be protective of you, Gem and I’ll protect you because I need you.” He clears his throat but I know it’s an attempt to get rid of the emotion clinging on his throat. “I have always admired you and I always will and I wish you and Michal the very best and a long, happy life full of love and joy because that’s what you deserve. Mum made me say that.” He grins at bride and groom and lifts his glass in the air and so do we all. “So let’s have a toast for Mr and Mrs Mlynowski and for all the good they’ll bring to the world. To Gemma and Michal, I believe in you.”

Bringing my glass to my lips, I still see Harry having a sip of his champagne. I tense up. That’s the first time I see him drink. He comes back to the table and hugs both his brother-in-law and his sister for the longest time and then Michal indicates we shall mingle around for a few minutes whilst they get dessert ready.

Harry rests his hand on my waist and gently pulls me away from the just married and towards the very centre of the hall. I politely decline yet another glass of wine I’m offered and the waiter walks away.

“You can drink in front of me, you know?”

“I know. I’ve done it plenty of times before.”

“I’m not an ex-alcoholic, if that’s what you think.” He smirks.

“That is not what I thought. You said you didn’t drink because you don’t like alcohol. You never said you had trouble with it.”

He nods his head slowly before he leans down until his lips brush the shell of my ear.

“My mother does.” He whispers. “The reason I don’t drink is because I’ve seen what alcohol did to my mum when she was indeed an alcoholic and I don’t want that for me.”

My blood boils. I get furious that he had to go through that too but then I look at him, and it’s like I realize I won’t help anybody with that anger, and then I feel cold that he’s dropping a bomb like this in the middle of a wedding and that he’s trusting me with this now. I give him a lips closed smiles.

“It looks like you enjoy dropping bombs at family reunions.” I joke.

He chuckles. And when a waiter passes next to us with a tray full of champagne glasses, he takes two of them and hands me one with a big smile. I take it and inevitable smile back at him.

“That was such a great speech you gave.” I congratulate him. “Funny, witty, tender… I enjoyed it.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t know you had such a way with words.”

“Yeah, I understand why you wouldn’t know that.” We both giggle at his comeback. “But… I actually write sometimes.”

“Oh, you do?”

He nods.

“Yeah, I started doing it as a thing in therapy. You know I had like this journal where I was supposed to write my own feelings and like elaborate on them as part of a bigger understanding… And now, I just… Still write sometimes.”

“Have you written anything about me?” I smirk.

A timid smirk escapes his suppression and he looks away from me. Oh, God; he has.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“You so have.”

I’m about to ask him more on that when a few young people join us. There’s the blond girl who told us to take our seats at the beginning of the ceremony, a tall brunette guy with short hair and a quarterback’s smile and a lanky guy with kind eyes but naughty smirk.

“Nice speech, Harry.”

“Funny.” The girl said.

“Thank you, lads. I think you all know this is Indie and Indie, these are Laura, Max and Liam, my cousins.”

“Oh, hi.”

“Hello there.” The girl I now know is named Laura smiled. “D’you know Mum and Auntie Sally have been talking about you two all dinner?” She smirks.

Harry shakes his head.

“I mean, even at your sister’s wedding, dude, you’re the one who makes the family talk.”

“Your mum and Aunt Sally don’t need a reason to gossip though. We both know that.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She giggles. “But hey, how are you holding up? I bet everyone is driving you crazy, coming up to you to talk, get to know you… Only Harry would introduce his first ever girlfriend in such a day.”

“She can take it.” He grins.

“It’s actually been quite fun.” I admit. “My mum’s Spanish and she’s got eleven siblings so-”

“Crap!” She says.

“Holy shit!” Harry chuckles.

“I’m used to big family gatherings.”

“For the love of God, eleven siblings are quite a lot of siblings.”

“Do they all also have many children?” Harry asks.

“Not all. I have 24 cousins.”

“What?” They all laugh and I laugh along with them.

We keep on talking and I learn a lot of things about Harry’s family, the big picture, but he also learns his fair amount about mine. We also chat with his grandparents for a while and they both are so sweet and British they make my heart swoon.

Harry’s Nana keeps insisting on him bringing me over some time for tea and biscuits for she still keeps of her silk clothes from when she was young and she wants to show them to me. She used to be a dressmaker and she used to design and sew her own dresses so I bet she’s proud of them. Her grandad just sits there and stares at her but he also adds some of the dresses he remembers and that just has me turning into mush. I love elderly couples what can I say?

We go back to our table for the wedding cake and I am so happy and excited I even have one and a half pieces. Harry and I shared the second piece as I talk with Anne about her mother’s dresses. She herself tells me about her wedding dress and it’s only when her eyes drop to my knee and she smiles that I notice her son has his hand resting there. I’m so used to our physical contact, that I think it would be easier for me to notice its absence at this point. My cheeks tinge pink.

The little angels that were throwing flowers after Gemma come running to our table with flowers crowns on their little heads and I recognize those curly locks, similar to Harry’s, on one of the little girls’ mane of hair. The must all be under 5 years old and they look so adorable I wonder how I haven’t noticed them during dinner. The tallest one blows on a bubble blower on Harry’s face and he tilts his neck back frowning jokingly and making the little one laugh.

“Oh, bubbles on my face, just what I wanted.”

He leans down, resting his elbows on his knees, so he can see the kids eye to eye.

“They dressed you up like little angels today, didn’t they? Then why are you still fighting to be the devil?”

“I won gold on my last gymnastics competition.” The little kid just changed the topic and Harry gasps exaggerating his surprise.

“That is very impressive, May.”

She nods her little head and I notice her eye drifting to me intermittently. She clearly doesn’t know who the fuck I am but I think she’s too shy to ask. Harry follows her sideways gaze until our eyes meet and then he smirks and leans down to whisper something at the little girl’s ear. Her mouth opens wide as she stares at me and I smile at her before I give Harry a look. He just smirks.

“She has got such long hair.” Little May says.

“She does.”

“Lucy, Lucy!” May tilts her neck so she can talk to younger little girl. “She’s a mermaid.” She whispers.

I look at Harry but he just grins.

“Why don’t you guys introduce yourselves?”

“My name is May and I’m 4.”

“My name is Lucy Ecran and I’m 3 and my mummie is called Angela and my daddy is called Finn.”

“We are sisters.” May explains.

Yeah, I figured that on my own the moment they started talking. I grin at then and offer they my hand and they shake it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, girls. I love your dress and your flowers. And congrats on the gold.”

“She really is a mermaid, Lucy.”

I suck my lips inside my mouth so I don’t laugh but before I can tell Harry to tell the girls the truth, a little boy dressed like a man comes running and tags May. She panics for a second but then her little chubby hands swats Harry’s chest as she yells tagged and runs away.

I was not expecting Harry to stand up from his chair and jog after the little girls but the two of them erupt into an adorable fist of giggles and the image warms my heart. I don’t know why I’m surprised, Harry’s so caring it makes sense these little girls would like him. He’s funny too and I’m sure he actually listens to them when they want to tell him stories about kindergarten or gymnastics.

“They love him.” Anne says.

Tilting my neck, I realize she’s also looking at them as they run around.

“Naturally.” I agree. “He’s sweet.”

Her green eyes, much like her son’s, lock with mine.

“I am so happy Harry finally found you.”

I swallow at the way she said that. Finally found me… As if he had somehow been looking… But I have to admit, sometimes I feel like we found each other too. I guess… I never thought I was going to find any other person ever again and yet, when we’re alone and I look at him and we I hear him breathing beside me on the bed, I just think… It kind of had to happen.

“I thought I was never going to say the day.” She smiles but her eyes are getting teary. “He’s been… Like… Gone, for a while.”

“How was he? Before the accident.”

She takes a deep breath. I don’t know her but I think my question caught her off guard.

“He was… He laughed a lot and he had all these plans; he could talk about the future for hours… He joked all the time too.”

“Well, he still has his fair amount of jokes.” I smile.

She grins.

“I guess he now has someone who laughs at them.”

“He’s great.” I nod. “I actually admire you for having raised such a wonderful, caring, kind man. I don’t want to take the credit away from him, after all, he chooses to be like that every day, but I still think the bigger part is thanks to you.”

“I’ve always wondered how he’d do in a relationship because, as caring and affectionate as he is, he’s also always had a very clear, very private inner world. He’s a private person, he’s always been, so I wondered… You know, if he would actually let someone really in. We’re very close, we’ve always been… He’s helped me so much, even when he was just a boy, but still sometimes I felt like there was always another part of him I couldn’t really reach.”

My eyes look away from hers. I can’t tell her that I’m worse than her son at that. I don’t know what to say so I just sigh and shake my head.

“Well, I… I think that’s… Good.” Anne’s eyes set on mine and I can’t believe I’m about to sort of contradict her on the first night we met. “I mean he doesn’t have to share everything with me.” I need to fix this. Come on, explain yourself, Blue. “I’m happy he shares whatever he needs or wants to, but if he wants to keep some things to himself, that’s cool too.”

The corners of her lips curl up in a lips closed smile and I feel relieved that she didn’t feel offended. I mean I never meant to, but some people these days, they take everything to heart…

“That’s a beautiful way to see it.”

I smile.

“I love the way his mind works, the way he thinks… Fascinates me and every time he shares that with me, I feel… Lucky and special and I think it’s a gift he’s giving me but he doesn’t have to.”

“Who doesn’t?” Harry runs a hand through his hair as he stands before us and his mum giggles.

“Did you catch her?” I ask.

“May? She’s a gold medal gymnast.” He frowns as if saying are you crazy?

I laugh and he smirks.

“I tagged Adam.”

The three of us giggle and in the background, we see Adam running after the kids. I think Marie would love to see this.

“Harry, dear.” Harry’s Nana reaches her hand to Harry’s waist and he turns his body and hold her hands to welcome her in our small group of three. “I wanted to come chat some more to Indie.”

Harry gives me a smile and helps his grandma sits down on his chair. Michal calls his name and he gives me questioningly look as asking for my permission so I frown and shrug and he reaches his now brother-in-law and his sister. His mother, his grandma and me start a conversation about books and I feel excitement takes over me as the three of us talk about Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath and Anne tells me growing up her mum and dad used to have this little library, on such small house, but that to her it always looked quite big and she wondered how it was possible for someone to read that many books.

My parents themselves read quite a lot. I don’t remember a single moment on the garden, being little and playing with my siblings that my dad wasn’t reading a book. He used to read them with a pencil too and he used to underline shit. I think I got that from him, all my copies are underlined.

Anne excuses herself to join her children and Harry’s Nana, Esme, tells me about her own experience, growing up and getting married and having kids, when all she was supposed to do was just that.

“And I was happy, I swear, I don’t think two people could love each other as Edward and I love one another but that is because he knows, you know? He told me, when we going to get engage, he said to me ‘Esme, I know you don’t love me now, but you will and that’s a promise’ and he was handsome, you know, he was very handsome but all I wanted back then was to have a voice of my own.”

“A room of one’s own, eh?”

She smiles.

“That’s right. And that’s what I got. I could do whatever I wanted, you know, Edward was just the guy who would support me, no questions asked. I think that’s why I did that many dresses. It was my own thing… And he loved them all.”

From the corner of my eye I can see Harry’s grandad surrounded by his family and yet his green eyes would look for his wife. They got married in 1950 and it just sounds so crazy to me that in that time, I mean it wasn’t that long ago, was it? Still women had to do as men told them.

One of Harry’s cousins, a pretty girl as well, for everyone in this family seems to be out of a magazine, joins Esme and me and Esme starts boasting off her granddaughter, much like she would do of Gemma or Harry, I’m sure.

I see Harry making his way towards me. He has been talking to his mum and I wonder whether she’s told him about our chat over him. I wouldn’t mind if she did, I think it would be nothing new for him.

“Blue,” he bows a little so I can listen to him better from my sitting position “do you want to dance?”

My lips curl up at the corners and I stand up. My eyes lock with his. He seems timid.

“Thought you said you didn’t dance.”

“Mum told me to ask you. Come on, I asked for this song.”

I roll my eyes but let him guide me to the dance floor. It sounds like a song from the eighties and it doesn’t surprise me but I don’t know what to expect when a very deep voice starts saying “Girl, you know we belong together. I have no time for you to be playing with my heart like this. You’ll be mine forever, baby, you just see.” But after that, a very beautiful, soothing voice takes the lead and I haven’t seen the singer but I know he’s black. We belong together and you know that I’m right.

Harry’s hands rest on my back, behind my waist, and mine intertwine behind his neck as we slowly move. I have never done this with him but my heart is about to explode. Why do you play with my heart? Why do you play with my mind? He doesn’t say anything and neither do I for I’m listening to the song he said he asked for and I feel like a tide untie inside my body. I feel the waves moving up and down and I swear I feel just like I do after we untangle from one another after our closeness. I am on my tippy toes at the edge of losing conscience, right in that place where so far he’s only got me naked, but right now, even though I’m fully dressed, I am feeling naked on everything that’s not clothes.

When I can't sleep at night without holding you tight

Girl, each time I try I just break down and cry

Pain in my head oh I'd rather be dead

Spinning around and around

“D’you know the song?” He asks me at last.

I shake my head and he just nods but his green eyes don’t leave me as his gaze undresses me.

“You introduced me as Indie to everyone.” My voice comes out as a whisper but he’s unfaced by it.

“That’s how everyone calls you.”

“But you call me Blue.”

His eyes look into mine but he remains silent and stern, his lips are closed and I know he’s not going to comment on that. Yet somehow I understand, not everyone gets to call me Blue and he likes it just as much as I do.

“Mum loves you.” He says out of the blue. “I can’t leave you now.” His eyebrows raised on his forehead but I swat his chest because I know he’s kidding.

“We should visit your grandparents one day.”

“You wanna visit Esme?” He smirks.

“And Edward.”

“Oh, so you wanna make sure I really don’t leave you, eh? Becoming Nana’s friend too… Should have known before I brought you in here…”

I roll my eyes and he just chuckles.

“You don’t have to worry, baby, don’t have to try either.”

“I like them.” I confess. “You have a beautiful family and your speech was beautiful too.” He smirks. “And… I mean… So are you. You’re beautiful as well.”

His lips, still closed, curl into a smile and I feel my face heating up.

“Thank you, baby.” He leans down and presses a chaste kiss on my lips. “Mum’s probably watching us.” His whisper sounds muffled against my lips and I chuckle.

“Do your cousins still think I’m a mermaid?”

“Now they think you’re the princess of the sea.” I give him a warning look but he swears to be innocent. “That was all Max. So are you having fun?”

“I am, yes. And you?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “I meant every word I said up there.”

“Guay.” I smile. “Me alegro.” (I’m happy for you.)

I tilt my neck back and capture his lips with mine and we kiss slowly and intimately, even though yes, his mum is probably watching and who knows who else but I can’t bring myself to care. When we pull apart, out of breath, he pecks the tip of my nose and smiles.

“I realized something today…”

My pulse accelerates and I swallow the fear and the anticipation of what might be to come but he just smiles and his green eyes burn into mine and he doesn’t say anything else. I don’t need him to. I know what it is.

I rest the side of my head on his chest and we keep dancing for Lord know how long. But after that slow dancing of ours, there comes some drinks and he actually drinks a little too and we end up jumping and dancing with his cousins and Gemma and Michal and I’m happy to see him like this.

I don’t know what time it is when Anne approaches the two of us with her coat on. Harry and I are resting our bags on the structure that holds the white marquee where the party is dying down.

“Here you are.” She smiles. “I was wondering, would you guys like to sleep at home tonight? You can leave whenever you want tomorrow but just so you don’t have to drive all the way back to Grad now.”

Harry’s eyes search for mine but I have nothing to say.

“Thank you very much Mum, we would really appreciate that.”

“Of course!” She smiles. Wow she really did want us to stay. “Go grab your coats, say bye. I’ll wait by the car.”

We do as we’re told and I walk with Harry towards his car. Anne’s standing next to the driver’s door and I almost smile. I don’t know why it surprised me that Harry lends his mum his car but for some reason I had pictured him to be some sort of car lover that doesn’t let anyone drive it. I wonder if he’d let me. The ride is silent and I take this time to myself. There’s nothing wrong with any of this. There can’t be.

I recognize the main road of Bellamond from last weekend. We pass the football field where Harry parked when we went to Tino’s and take a turn to the right. We drive past a school, an outpatients clinic and past a small park.

“Was that where you went to school?” I ask Harry.

“Yes.” He smiles.

“Is it still the same? I mean, was it like that when you were little?”

“How old do you think I am, miss?”

I throw my head back and laugh while he jokes about how there used to be dinosaurs when he went to school but for the rest of it, it’s pretty much the same. I imagine a little Harry with huge green eyes and curly hair walking inside school, when kids are so little their school bags are bigger than them. I imagine him having a cupcake on the recess for somebody’s birthday and eating a small sandwich with pickles the rest of the days.

“And we’re home!” Anne croons.

Stepping out of the car, I can’t really see much in the dark but I see a huge garden, carefully looked after, and a two floors house with a white door and white windows that contrast with the bricks.

“Your bed is made.” Anne whispers as we enter the house. “Now, I’m exhausted but you kids can have a cup of tea or something. I just… You will have to excuse me but I need my beauty sleep.”

“Sure.”

“Of course, Anne, thank you very much.”

“Oh, nonsense, this is your house.” She dismisses me. “Anyway, good night. Sleep well.”

“You too.” Harry smiles. “So… Do you want tea or water or milk or even… I don’t know, are you hungry?”

“No.” I frown. I’ve eaten so much I think if I roll up in a ball I might actually make one. “I’m good, thank you.”

“Okay.” He whispers. “Then let’s go to bed.”

He walks past me and turns on the light in the kitchen. The cupboards are white but the countertop and the household appliances are dark grey. Harry gets two glasses from the cupboard over the sink and fills them with water and asks me to turn off the light before we make our way upstairs.

I’m the one opening the door for his hands are full and when I enter his childhood room, I have a look around and feel my insides warming up. My house is a lot less personal. Even growing up, my Mum did the decorations of the entire house and even though she did it thinking of us and I loved my room, it still doesn’t feel as personal as this. There are posters from different bands and Elvis on the wall and he’s got a record player on the corner near the window. The room is painted a dark blue and even if it might make the space smaller, it also makes it cosier.

He takes off my coat and places it on his desk alongside his.

“I quite like your room.”

“You do?”

I nod at his rhetorical question and feel his hands over my ass. I tilt my neck to look at him.

“Come here.”

His hands fully wrap around my hips and he pulls me to him until my chest collides with his and he kisses me. His lips mould against mine and his tongue gently pushes inside my mouth. He smells so good… And fuck, this suit… Looks so sexy on him. This Peaky Blinder thing is really doing wonders to my sex thrive. I gasp and his hands grab my ass and I feel his nails sinking down the back of my thighs over my dress.

“H” I gasp “your Mum’s here.”

“My Mum’s passed out on her bed.”

His lips from my mouth to my chin and to the side of my neck and his warm tongue makes my skin cold when he moves away. He nibbles on my neck and his hands squeeze the flesh on my body through my silk dress. His touch is exquisite.

“She could hear us.” My voice comes out as a desperate moan, betraying me like a bitch, and I feel Harry smiling against my skin.

“Well, then you’d have to be quiet, won’t you?”

His mouth comes back to mine before I can answer and his hand, warm and big, cups one of my breasts and makes me moan on his mouth. His hands caress my legs, from my knees to my hips and the dress slips against my skin when he opens his fists.

His lips kiss my neck again. He knows it makes me fucking wet when he does that.

“I haven’t told you” I whisper “but you look so fucking sexy in this suit.”

His white teeth skim my skin as he grins.

“D’you like it?”

“You look like Tommy Shelby.”

He chuckles against my skin.

“And that turns you on?”

“Can you imagine if you were a Peaky Blinder?” I cup his jaw so he looks at me.

Fuck me, he is so handsome. I can feel the definition of his jaw on my hands and his eyes look so hungry and intense with dilated pupils against the brightest green I’ve ever seen.

“I would die.”

He frowns amused.

“Do you want me to be bad and rough?”

My cheeks tinge pink. No, I don’t. I like it the way he does it; gentle until he drives me crazy and then fast and hard and rough. My lips clench between my legs.

“I want you” My heart beats furiously on my chest “in my mouth.”

He doesn’t have any witty remarks to give me and that’s what I thought. Any other day, I would have teased him but he looks so fucking good and I can have him to myself now.

“You’ve been driving me crazy all night.” I confess.

I carefully lower down my hand from his shoulder to his chest and I feel his heartbeat, as fast as mine, and I love the way he’s looking at me. I touch him, I touch his chest and his arms and the buttons of his vest and he just lets me give me the same lustful adoration he’s given me plenty of times before.

I can say anything else because his mouth crushes against mine and he can posses me with one kiss and he does, his warm powerful tongue pushes my lips apart before it finds my own and caress it. His fingertips sink on my hips as he takes a deep breath through his nose and then his hands caress my belly until he cups both my breasts and squeezes them.

“Fuck, I want you.”

Still in my dress, I make a show of it as I get on my knees before him and his lips part. I unbutton his pants but keep the rest of his clothes on so I can see him and hooking my fingers on the hem of his pants, I slowly pull them down his thighs and leave him on just his boxers.

I love having him like this, all to myself, without saying a word or having control of the situation. He’s let me have the control for now and I know he trusts me like that. He doesn’t need to know what I’m going to do next. He just stands there and lets me have him and I feel fucking special for that.

I snake my hands under his shirt and caress his abs as I watch every seam of his jacket and the way it hugs his muscles. He is so fucking hot. I hook my fingers on his boxers and pull them down his legs so his hard, healthy, desperate cock is right there for me. I lick my lips before I hold the base between my fingers and lick a slow, timid stripe from the base to the line where the head begins. He gasps. I do it again.

“Please, baby” he groans “don’t play.”

Our eyes meet and I give him a little smile before I wrap my mouth around him and give him what he wants.

“Fuck.”

I feel his fingers tangling on my hair until his palm massages my scalp and I bow my head, slow and superficially at first, so he’s not yet reaching my throat, before I take him out of my mouth and lick him. His lubrication mixes with my saliva and always holding his base, I devour him like I’ve never devoured anyone ever in my life.

I want him and I want him forever and I know this might not be the most romantic time to realize that but that’s what it is. My yearning for him overcomes every other thought I might have in this moment and all I can think about, and all I am even, is just another part of him.

This time he doesn’t need to ask me to look at him because my eyes search him. I can’t take them off him. The sight of his manhood, this thick and close, drives me crazy so I think the fact that my eyes still look for him talks about how wonderful he really looks tonight.

Our eyes lock and I let my tongue out as I feed myself with him before I wrap my lips around him and suck. I feel him throbbing on my tongue.

“Fuck me, baby…” He groans. “You’re driving me crazy.”

Every time my tongue takes an extra slow lick he closes his eyes so I do it all the time because I love watching him and the way he grunts and moans when I suck him. I free him with a pop and pump my wrist instead, sucking his balls inside my mouth instead and his grip on my hair tightens.

“Shit.”

He’s fighting for breath and I revel on how vulnerable we both are right now. I’m keeling on the floor for him and yet he’s the one at my mercy. I lick him from the base to the tip and lick the crown of his hard on in circles. I smile when I look up at him.

“Fuck, you know perfectly fine…”

What I’m doing. I hold his thighs so I can use him as counterweight and leverage as I bop my head and feel his muscles tensing under my hand.

“Oh, baby”

I clench my thighs together trying to relieve some of the tension his grunts and moans are building on the lower side of my belly and between my legs and Harry places one hand on the wall beside him to support his weight whilst I bring him closer and closer to the climax with my mouth. I don’t take my eyes off his and I know that drives him crazy. His jaw is clenched when his lips don’t part and he lets out soft grunts. His hand moves from my hair down my cheek and his fingertips caress my upper lip.

“Fucking hell, love.”

I have all of him and I moan as he fills my mouth until I feel him on the back of my throat. I know when to stop so as not to gag and when I look up at him, he moans.

“I’m gonna cum, love.”

I nod my head while I keep on sucking and in a second, like he promised, he moans and I feel his hot cum on my tongue. I lick and swallow all of it whilst his thumb caresses my cheek lovingly and I lean my head on his head, revelling on his tenderness. When I get him out of my mouth, I give him a shy smile and he chuckles softly before he lifts me back to my feet. When I’m standing up before him, he wraps his arms around my body and pulls me to him in a tender hug almost unsuitable after what I just did to him. I hug him back and we stay like that for a few seconds.

Then his hand moves to the low of my back and he lays me on his bed but stands between my legs. His hands grab my thighs and pull my body to him until my ass is on the edge of the mattress.

“You look so fucking gorgeous in this dress, love.” His hand moves from my thigh to my belly until he cups my breast. “So fucking sexy.”

I desire him so bad it’s starting to hurt but he’s right there for me and I just have to be a little patient. He takes off my heels and then his hands caress my legs from my ankles to my hips, pulling my dress up with them. I moan when his fingers move my knickers away and he touches me. I’m dripping for him, I don’t think I’ve ever been this soaked and I feel like if he touches me twice I’ll combust.

He gathers some of my wetness on his fingers and slips two inside me and I moan and bite my bottom lip because I have to be quiet. I close my fist on his duvet and cling onto it while he thrusts his fingers slowly in and out of me.

I try to be as quiet as possible so only muffled strangled moans leave me every once in a while but I can listen my own wetness and Harry’s breathing. His other hand snakes up my torso and takes the strap of my dress off, exposing my breast before he wraps his lips around my hard nipple. He sucks and licks my breath and I arch my back and bite on my bottom lip. He’s taken off his jacket but it’s even sexier to see him with the cream vest and the blue silk shirt.

“That’s it, baby, you’re being so good, so quiet.” He whispers against my skin.

“Oh, Harry…”

I feel his hot hard on against my thigh as he keeps moving his fingers in and out of me. He hovers me and I hold onto his arm that’s moving his fingers inside me.

“Harry, please” I whisper “get inside. I need you, please.”

I don’t have to say it twice before I feel him filling me and satisfying my frustration. My hands curl around his biceps and he grinds his hips with a delicious, torturous rhythm and we both gasp and softly moan as much as we try to be quiet.

“You’re so beautiful.” He moans. “And you feel so good, fuck.”

I moan and feel my nipples hardening and the knot on my belly tightening and tightening and tightening. My walls flutter. And so does my heart.

“Are you close?” He whispers.

“Yes, fuck, yes.”

His lips cover mine and I feel my muscles tensing before I lose conscience for a couple of seconds. Harry keeps pounding over me trying to reach his own climax and overstimulating me. I moan and he kisses me so as to muffle my sounds. We could be heard but fuck, I think I’m gonna pee myself and if I pee on him I’d die from embarrassment.

“Harry, I-”

“Fuck, baby, you’re squirting.”

With another thrust he comes inside me and kisses me deeply but slowly, as if trying to calm me down. I have never felt like this before. I mean sex with him is always amazing but fucking hell I am exhausted, beyond consumed. I kiss him back and take deep breaths.

I’m not fully aware of the next few minutes, but I know he got me cleaned up and took my dress off for me before he took the rest of his clothes off and got in the bed with me. When I turn around, he’s grinning like a kid and I ask him what’s on his mind.

“I’m just thinking, teenage Harry wouldn’t believe this.”

I laugh.

“I’m serious” But he’s grinning when he rests his weight on his elbow next to me and hover my torso. “I can’t believe I just fucked someone as fucking gorgeous as you and that you’ve had me in your mouth and that you’ve fucking squirted. Jesus Christ, I think this was the best night of my life.”

I blush.

“That… Uh… That had never happened to me before.”

He grins.

“If only I had known about this Tommy Shelby fantasy of yours sooner…”

I laugh again but it’s harder and harder to keep my eyes opened so I rest my head on his chest and he hugs me.

“That had nothing to do with Tommy Shelby… It was all you…” I yawn. “I’d have you over him any day. I’d have you over anyone.”

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles one shot #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #harry styles and reader #harry styles love #harry styles news #harry styles new #doctor harry 28

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phati-sari · 4 years

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Arshi FF: Charade - Chapter 35

Chapter 34 // Read on FFnet // Read on Wattpad

Chapter 35: Constellation

Khushi

“—I’m here!” Mami-ji flounced into the study. “I asked Hari Prakash to make us some popcorn. Now we can watch.”

She settled on the sofa next to them, eyes already eagerly trained onto the screen. “Hello, hi, bye-bye. I’m eager to see who this Tanya is. In the precap last week she looked so good. All modern and beautiphool!”

Exchanging a look with her Jiji, who sat next to her on the couch, Khushi responded, “The actress is very pretty. I hope Sagar is nicer to her than he is to Muskaan.”

Jiji reached for the popcorn Mami-ji had placed on the table.

“Here, I think he was right to be angry,” she said. “She can’t just do whatever she wants without thinking about the consequences!”

Gasping, Khushi stole some popcorn from her sister’s hand, “It was a mistake, she didn’t know it was his house!”

“You just watch,” Mami-ji gestured at the screen. “You know how these serials go. She’ll vow to never see him again and end up working in his media empire as a receptionist, hello, hi, bye-bye.”

They subsided as the disclaimer came on the screen. Khushi returned to her phone, deleting two emojis from her message before pressing send.

“Payal?”

Just outside the sitting area, Aakash-ji held a shirt as he stared bemusedly at the television.

“Bitwa, what do you want?”

“N-no, Maa, I was looking for Payal.”

By now, Jiji had met Aakash-ji at the threshold of the room, “What is it, Aakash?”

They stepped away to hold a short, murmured conversation. Khushi looked at her phone in an effort to give them privacy, just as it lit up. The screen showed her message and the response:

Khushi: We’re watching Rabba Ve in the study, in case you come home and can’t find me. You should watch with us!

Arnav-ji: Very funny, Khushi.

Smiling, she quickly typed out a reply. He responded almost immediately.

Khushi: Aakash Jija-ji is here too, watching with us. Why don’t you ever join us?

Arnav-ji: What Aakash does in his marriage is his own business. I’m in the car, see you soon.

Jiji returned to her place on the sofa after a few minutes, the shirt and a needle and thread in her hands. Aakash Jija-ji flopped next to his mother after snatching up some popcorn.

“This is nonsense,” he interrupted a few minutes later. “Why are there so many shots of him walking dramatically? It’s taken him five minutes to reach his office and now he’s leaving again.”

“You just shut-up-iyai, Aakash-bitwa. This is no place for your logic, it’s a serial.”

Khushi heart swelled with gladness as she watched Aakash-ji exchange a contrite look with Jiji, who had to stifle a giggle.

The episode was almost over by the time the doorbell chimed. Khushi stood, waving away Jai Prakash-ji on her way to open the doors. Arnav-ji gave her a small smile as she took his laptop bag.

“How was your show?”

Khushi bounced, “It was good.”

They stopped to say hello to Di, who paused in her reading of a magazine to ask Arnav-ji about his day. And again to chat with Aakash-ji in the study.

“Do you really want me to watch it with you?” her husband asked when they were in their bedroom.

Khushi closed the door with a soft click, “No, I was just teasing you.”

He took the laptop bag from her and placed it on the table before taking her into his arms. She exhaled shakily as the tension she hadn’t realised was there left her body.

“I’ve been thinking about something,” he spoke softly. “Will you come back here with me after dinner?”

Khushi peered up at him, “Why?”

“Just come up here with me. It’s important.”

She stretched up to kiss his jaw, and whispered in his ear when he bent his head, “I told you last night: don’t tell me what to do.”

A laugh that lit up everything inside her. He was still smiling when he kissed her, slow and playful. He left her briefly to change and freshen up, and then led her downstairs with his fingers twined in hers.

Shyam-ji had arrived in time for dinner, much to Di’s delight. She showed everyone the tiny pink cap she’d knitted for her rajkumari as the servants set up the dining table.

“Chhote, look, isn’t it cute? I’m thinking of making matching socks.”

The cap looked even tinier in Arnav-ji’s hand. “This is nice, Di.”

“Rani Sahiba is so talented, don’t you agree Saale-Sahib?”

Arnav-ji didn’t reply, though his smile became strained. Di shoved good-naturedly at Shyam-ji as she spoke again.

“You know, the doctor said that it would be good if we played soft music for our rajkumari.”

“I can get you CDs,” offered Aakash-ji. “Payal and I are going out tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Di said brightly, “I’ll make you a list.”

After dinner, Arnav-ji sent her upstairs with a promise to meet her after a few minutes. Khushi climbed the stairs with her sister, who relayed a list of all the things she intended to buy the next day before mentioning a tentative plan to have dinner in Laxmi Nagar. Twirling in excitement, she promised to ask Arnav-ji and let Jiji know in the morning.

Inside their bedroom, she sat on the recliner to wait for her husband. He arrived a few short minutes later laden with blankets and pillows, which he took straight to the poolside. She locked the bedroom door behind him and followed, watching as he set all the blankets on the ground and arranged the pillows.

“You like the stars, don’t you?” he noticed her hovering. “Come, sit.”

She knelt on the edge of the blankets, something unsettled inside her. Arnav-ji reached up to tug her wrist so she fell against him.

“Arnav-ji … someone will see,” she tried to get up.

“What the—? Who will see?”

Khushi shifted nervously, “Mami-ji, you said she was watching with binoculars the other day.”

He made a sound of amusement and held her close, not speaking until she’d tucked herself into him.

“I spoke to her about that. I reminded her that I could have cameras installed all over the house if she was so concerned about what happened in my bedroom.”

“Arnav-ji!”

He was unrepentant, “She agreed that there’s no need for her binoculars.”

They spent a few minutes watching the stars, with him pointing up and naming a few constellations before telling her stories about them. When she accused him of making them up, he claimed the stories were quite famous in history. He stole a few kisses, let her steal a few in return, and covered them both in a blanket when she shivered.

“Khushi,” he began after a short silence, “a while ago you said there’s so much you still don’t know about me. I told you that all you had to do is ask.”

“I remember.”

“Well, then … ask.”

She shifted onto her elbow to look at him, “What can I ask about?”

“Anything.”

She started small. His favourite colour was red, as Di had once told her. His favourite subject at school had been science.

“Who took the photos,” Khushi gestured inside, “the ones on the walls?”

“Me.”

“You!?”

Arnav-ji kissed her soundly, his hand skimming up her side. “No need to be so surprised.”

It took her a while to catch her breath.

“What happened to Sim-ji and Pam-ji from the office? I haven’t seen them since I returned.”

His response was carefully measured, “They felt I’d treated Lavanya badly and asked me to find them new jobs. I did.”

“Oh.”

She fell silent, at first surprised by the loyalty shown by the women, and then not surprised at all.

They were her friends.

“Have you heard from Lavanya-ji? How is she?”

Arnav-ji tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. “That’s one of the things I wanted to speak to you about. I hadn’t heard from her in months but she emailed today. She wants to go into modelling and asked me to connect her with an agent.”

A burst of happiness for her friend. “That sounds great. Are you going to help her?”

“I wanted to ask you first. Does it … will it bother you if I speak to her?”

“No!”

Instantly, she knew she’d answered too quickly. Arnav-ji stroked his finger across her cheek.

“How about,” he said softly, “I tell you when I speak to her?”

Khushi smiled widely, “It’s okay, you don’t have to.”

He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip before dipping his head to kiss her. “She knows we’re married. Said congratulations.”

“Were there other women?” she blurted, “before Lavanya-ji?”

He froze on his way to kiss her cheek.

“Khushi, I want to answer all your questions but some of the answers will hurt you.”

She shook her head, “I’m not asking because it will hurt. I want to understand you. I want to know you.”

With a sigh, he turned onto his back and tucked an arm behind his head.

“Lisa. You met her on the night of the photoshoot.”

This, Khushi had suspected as soon as the woman had leaned in to sniff Arnav-ji’s cologne and run possessive hands over his suit.

“She seemed so …”

“… high strung?” Arnav-ji chuckled. “I know. We only saw each other a few times. She always made it into a bigger thing than it was.”

“That’s it?” Khushi asked, feeling a little better.

“And … Sheetal in college.”

Unlike when he spoke about Lisa-ji, the cadence of his voice indicated happy memories.

“At … Ha … Harv … ?” she tried to remember the writing on his jogging clothes.

“Harvard,” Arnav-ji said easily. “Yeah, she did her MBA with me.”

“MBA?”

“Masters of Business Administration.”

He seemed to relax as their conversation shifted away from his past relationships, and for the first time, Khushi realised how hard it’d been for him to speak about them. The fact that he’d still done it filled her with happiness. Scooting across, she rested her head on his shoulder and slid her arms around him. His fingers found their way into her hair.

“And that taught you to run a business?” she asked.

“The theory of it, yes. When I came back to India, I found it was much harder in practice.”

Under the cover of the blankets, she ran her hand under his shirt and sweater. He jumped a little — “your hand is cold!” — but trapped her fingers there when she tried to retreat.

“I’d used all the money I had just to get through college. When I returned I had next to nothing. Mami believed in me. She sold her jewellery, broke her FD, gave me everything she had. She was my very first investor.”

“Does this mean she owns some of your company now?”

“Everyone does. Di and I control it together, but Mami, Mama, and Aakash all have shares. Aakash gave some of his to Payal. I’ve put through some paperwork, you should have yours soon.”

He wanted to share his life’s work with her. Her heart seemed to swell with the warm and golden sense of belonging. Of rightness. Khushi flattened her palm against his stomach, murmuring a request so he shifted until she could kiss him. He groaned, flipping them around and deepening the kiss. When they came up for air, he was shirtless and her dori was undone and she’d made a mark on his shoulder. Her bangles lay in a neat column above their heads.

“Let’s go inside,” he whispered.

They made it there somehow, though she lost her dupatta along the way, and fell onto the bed in a tangle after closing the curtains. His kiss was hot. The rough tenderness of his touch undid her, a leisurely exploration that had her gasping his name. Never had she felt more treasured, more wanted. Arnav removed the overcoat of her outfit and tossed it onto the floor. He held her in place for another kiss, whispering her name against her lips.

She moved restlessly against him, her hips rolling towards the hardness she could feel pressed against her thigh. He groaned, his hand slipping from her nape, down to her hips, and lower to curve over her bottom. She sucked in a breath when his stubble scratched her skin. An apology mumbled against her neck, his hand angling her so they fit perfectly.

When he traced his fingers lightly over her lips, she remembered the clench of her body as he’d taken her fingers into his mouth. Desire coiled hot and tight in her belly and made her brave enough to tilt her head so his fingers slipped between her lips. A low, taut moan escaped him. Then he turned her into her front with gentle hands. Straddling the backs of her thighs, he dragged the zipper of her dress down. Khushi curled her fingers into her pillow, feeling her breath catch. His hands traced up her spine, unsnapping her bra when he reached it.

“I don’t think you should wear this to bed,” his touch was warm on her skin.

“Wh-what? Why?”

“Less for me to take off.”

She heard the smirk in his voice. Her giggle turned into a moan as he settled on top of her, the heat of his chest on her almost-bare back. When she turned her head to ask for a kiss, he gave her one. It was deep, slow, and made her toes curl as her body throbbed with wanting him. The kisses moved to her nape and then down her spine. She made a soft, desperate sound, feeling as though everything inside her was melting.

Almost without permission, her body arched towards his, and he took advantage to slip his fingers inside the dress and around her ribs. A hand on her breast. She fell forward with a small cry, trapping it there.

“I like you like this,” Arnav spoke in her ear as his hand moulded her. “All mine.”

More kisses, his mouth moving over hers in time with the movements of his hand. And when she thought she couldn’t take much more, he moved away.

“No,” Khushi tried to sit up.

“Take off the dress,” he murmured.

He helped her undress, tugging at her clothes until she was left face down on the bed with nothing but his body covering her. He was still mostly clothed. Another kiss, his tongue inside her mouth as his hand slid under her to resume its play on her breast. Her hands clenched into the sheets. She felt utterly at his mercy, trapped under the heat of him as he had access to every part of her body. But she also felt safe, surrounded by his strength.

By the time he stroked his hand downwards she was almost quivering with need. It was natural to lift her hips a little to give him room. He didn’t hesitate. Her gasp became a moan as he slid a finger down her centre. And then back up, all the while whispering into her ear. All the words he didn’t say in the daytime now spilled out of him, words of love, of adoration.

Arnav’s fingers dipped even lower, breaching her for one breathless second before stroking back up. It was agony. He did it again and again, teasing, playing, sliding his finger deeper each time before retreating, and chuckled at the frustrated sound she released.

“We’re working on your patience, remember?” a kiss to her shoulder.

But the next time, he stayed. Kissing her deeply, he did something that made her frantic. She stopped thinking, pleasure burning like wildfire in every cell of her body. It was different from the night before. Tighter and hotter and just more. When her pleasure crested she muffled herself in a pillow, feeling wave and after wave of sensation crash into her. It turned the world red.

When she came back to herself he was still astride her, lazily stroking his fingers down her back.

“You okay?” he asked.

Khushi hummed, trying to turn, and smiled when he rose just enough to let her. He placed her hands on his chest after nibbling each finger in turn and shuddered as she ran her nails down his body. A kiss, tender and possessive and full of desire. A renewed tension twisted inside her as he ran his hands over her body and his mouth followed.

He seemed to get distracted by her breasts, lingering as he took a long, slow taste. His hair felt soft against her fingers. She accidentally pulled at it when she felt his teeth, causing him to groan. He asked if she liked this or this, or maybe this, and with each whispered question, each thrilling demonstration, the frenzy in her body built. His fingers became urgent on her hips and thighs.

“Again?” he spoke against her lips when she arched into him.

Something in her tummy swooped low at his question. She nodded, and Arnav shifted so he could press directly against her. He’d gotten rid of his pants without her noticing, and the material of his underwear did nothing to disguise the scorch or shape of him. He seemed to lose control, his hand plumping her flesh before he sucked a peak into his mouth. She cried out when he rocked, her hands locking onto his shoulders.

He returned to her lips, “Hold on.”

Then he moved, each circle of his hips causing stars to explode behind her eyes. She forced them open to find him looking down at her, eyes ablaze and mouth slightly open, his hair falling across his forehead. The muscles in his shoulders bunched as he moved. It was the unprecedented intimacy of it that did it. She reached the cliff and hurtled over it again, her mouth shaping his name as pleasure rippled within her. He continued to press against her, speeding up as he pushed once, twice.

“More,” he groaned into her hair.

Khushi ran her teeth over the jagged pulse in his neck and bit down. He shuddered, swearing, and froze for several long seconds. His breath was harsh against her ear as he seemed to collapse, feeling heavy, as if — until now — he’d been careful not to let her feel his full weight. Heart still racing, she stroked a hand through his hair until he stirred, taking her with him as he rolled onto this back. His stubble was rough on her skin as he pressed lazy kisses wherever he could reach.

“Give me a moment,” he spoke softly, “and then we’ll get cleaned up.”

There was a pressure in her chest, as if she couldn’t contain the happiness she felt inside. Khushi fought a yawn, “Okay.”

#ipkknd #iss pyaar ko kya naam doon #arshi #ipkknd ff #arshi ff #iwrotethis #mine #ff: charade

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masked-buffoon · 3 years

Text

Chapter 3: The Sweet Appeals (Part 1)

Warnings: murder, torture, cruelty, parricide

Author notes: I have a single thing to say, which is, do not read if you feel uncomfortable with very explicit violence... Enjoy!

I had taken only five henchmen with me to complete the task. According to my memories of the mansion, there was no need to have more. The domestics would easily be taken care of, not to mention the owners. They would be wiped out immediately, were we all to enter with machine guns. However, revenge, when killing the enemy was implied, could only be done once. It was a moment I had to savour like a once-in-a-lifetime dish, ephemeral minutes which would become a memory as soon as I would be done. I had to do it properly to enjoy myself. Torturing people was supposed to be a job. Killing them as well. Yet, I was heading toward a cold-blooded murder guided only by desire and bloodlust. I would never be able to justify these actions as "working", but I did not care. That would be a unique experience. Besides, shooting at everyone blindly was an option I could not use, not when I had dared stealing a vial of poison in the pharmacy of the Port Mafia. There was something I had to do in that mansion, other than taking lives.

There was a residential area near the harbour. The mansion was situated there and even had a pretty view on the ocean. It could have been a bliss to just climb to the balcony and have tea, contemplating the sun crashing against the horizon in the end of the afternoon, accompanied by the seagulls' cries and the dying rumours of Yokohama. The silence would fall upon the sea, and the night would take over, calm, imposing. And the moon would soon reflect itself along the waves. I glared at the peculiar balcony, darkly. There were some pleasures in being rich I had never experienced. Only the rotten side of fortune had I known and wanted to eradicate. While these people were feasting and enjoying their life of leisure in a mansion where empty rooms were warmed up, hundreds of men and women and kids starved in the freezing cold of winter. It was unforgivable.

I demanded the men to wait for me outside, for I had a plan which would allow me to enjoy these people's last moments the best. In front of the heavy doors which had violently closed behind me a year ago, I swallowed a pain reliever and knocked, calmly, trying to put on my most friendly smile. It was rather difficult; I had long forgotten how to use my facial muscles. The mansion opened only a few seconds after, onto the familiar butler who had taken care of me during my entire childhood.

"Ojō-sama...!" He exclaimed, nearly choking on his breath "I can't believe it... You're alive..."

Emotions took over him and he wrapped his arms around me to pull me into a tight hug. To me, he had been like my own father, and I knew the feeling was reciprocated. I let myself enjoy these seconds of human warmth, having been deprived for so long.

He had almost made me quit that terrifying mission. Almost.

"You must want to see your parents." He said after a moment "You grew a lot...! Although, you don't seem too well, I am delighted to see you again, ojō-sama..."

"Thank you..." I smiled at him.

I was unused to such sincere words. From him, they were even more precious. He had been the one to teach me words and numbers, the one who had secretly introduced me to my little sister, who had brought meals for me, who had used his own money to buy me decent clothes. Everything a normal child could experience, he had given to me, as much as he could have. I felt extremely grateful to him. Even so, none could say for sure I would not kill him. Everyone needed to be eradicated, and although it made me flinch to think about murdering him as well, I had no choice at all. He would most certainly call the police, and to avoid such a disturbance... Why, ending him was the only way.

"Your family is in the living room. Do you want to give me your coat, to make yourself comfortable?" He suggested me.

"I'm not planning to stay too long..." I declined his offer "I just happened to pass by, so I thought I could at least greet them. I hope they've forgiven me..."

"What for, ojō-sama?" The butler frowned "You did nothing deserving of being thrown away. You are part of this family... I, for one, will never forgive the master for abandoning you."

"Thank you... Again..." I felt tears in my throat "You... You've always been there..."

"Of course..." He patted my head "I am not one to turn a blind eye on such a lovely child... Are you sure you won't remove your coat?"

"Most certainly..." I shook my head, regaining my composure "I feel... Safer, with it."

"As you wish, then."

Indeed, removing my coat would reveal my holsters and would deprive me of the precious pain relievers. The elder man went into the room, surely to announce my presence, then the doors opened on my little sister, whose smile made my heart melt. I thought it had been frozen and made hard by my life in the underground organisation, but the little ray of sun she was could have touched it. Tightly, I held her against me. Truly... I could never harm her. She was the only being I would have regrets killing, along with the butler. I wondered if there was a way to keep him alive... But I would have plenty of time to consider such matters. For the moment, reuniting with those people was my priority.

"Onē-chan! I thought I would never see you again!" Ruriko-chan wrapped her arms around my neck "I was so sad..."

"It's alright... I am there now..." I muttered, patting her hair "You've grown... Do you eat well?"

"After your disappearance, she refused food for a month..." The mother approached me, uncomfortable "She was hospitalised and saw a psychiatrist... Fortunately, she could recover..."

"Is that so...? I am sorry, Ruriko-chan..." I gave the woman a meaningful glance.

"Come on...!" The fat pig whose blood ran in my vessels exclaimed "She was merely quibbling and being difficult about food...! Don't be sorry for being abducted!"

Abducted? Oh, so that was the story they had told her to explain why I had vanished from the mansion. What if I told the truth...?

"I was not..." I let go of the twelve years old girl a moment to face the father

"I was not abducted, but tossed out of the mansion. Have you forgotten?"

"Oh... Oh, well..."

"Tossed out...?" My sister asked.

"It means that your father chased your sister away from home..." The woman explained, much to my surprise.

"Why...?"

"Because I was a hindrance." I huffed "But also because I tried to kill him. Well, I suppose I was not completely innocent... Let's be honest, nonetheless; that was just an opportunity to get rid of me, wasn't it? Whatever... It's all in the past now...! I have learnt forgiveness after all..."

"Well... Let's drink to forgiveness, then...!" The man was suddenly quite uncomfortable "Would you like to have tea with us? The chef prepared some pastries, too..."

"With pleasure, then." I smiled, sickly sweet.

We all sat around the table, where lovely cakes were displayed for us to eat. Since I was there, I made myself comfortable and enjoyed the sweetness as much as I could. After all, some sugar would not hurt. And I had not eaten properly for months.

"Is there something you want? I can ask for it." The man suggested.

"I am fine, thanks for your concern." I chuckled.

"Onē-chan, onē-chan! Tell us what you did, then...! I want to know how you managed to live...! Is it like in adventure books?" Ruriko-chan asked.

I wiped away the cream on her mouth with a towel. The woman blemished and darted her eyes from me — as always, anything about me made her uncomfortable.

"It is very different from books, but I'll tell you my story." I said "First, I was very lonely. I didn't know how I could survive, all alone in the streets, without any money, food, clothes... I happened to end up in the slums of Yokohama. It is a place with many homeless people, just like I was, but it isn't somewhere I'll ever take you. There, I met thieves, who taught me how to steal so I could eat."

"That's so cool...!" Her eyes sparkled "So, you can pick up locks like they do in the movies...?"

"I can." I laughed "But the thieves were unlucky... We wanted to rob a jewellery, just like real burglars, but we were caught... And everyone died... The owner of the shop was a powerful mafia, and I was nearly killed, too, but I ran away so fast they could not catch me!"

"Woah...! You're stronger than the bad people...!"

"Of course I am... I am your big sister, after all..." I took a sip of tea, relishing in the parent's horrified expressions.

The father only seemed to realise what had been the consequences of his act, while the mother... Well, the mother was trembling, face down. I could not quite see if she was crying or not. Not that I cared.

"What happened next?"

"Next...? Mmh... I left the shallows to live in the streets. I thought I could pickpocket people, you know, stealing their wallet. That's what I did. Then, I met someone, a very nice man." I recalled.

"Is it thanks to him that you are there...?"

"You could say that, I suppose... He and his wife took care of me for a moment. They were nice people, and they had a little girl who reminded me of you." I poked her nose "One day, they dressed me up, and we left..."

"Where did you go...?" The woman finally spoke up, out of breath.

"All the people you meet in the streets don't bear good intentions... I learnt that when I found myself in an underground auction. It's a place where they sell illegal goods, like pieces of art, slaves... I was sold, too. My new owner was an old man."

"... How did you escape...?" Ruriko-chan frowned.

"At first, I didn't. He tried to rape me in his car, but I threatened him with his gun and forced him to free me. In fact, I killed him and his chauffeur, then put the car on fire and washed in the river." I stated calmly, as though such events were normal.

"You... You killed them...?" My sister sounded less impressed "That's horrible...!"

"Right? It was only the start of the horrible path I chose." I put a piece of cake in my mouth "Afterwards, I met a strange cat, which somehow guided me to a man. He is the one who took me in and gave me a job. His name is Dazai Osamu."

"Is he a good man, onē-chan...?"

"Oh, he isn't. But your sister isn't a good person either. She makes a living by blackmailing and murdering people for the Port Mafia, under the orders of Dazai-san. She does the best she can in order to buy pain relievers which relieve nothing at all. That's the kind of life I have. That's the kind of life your parents gave me." I glared at them "Thank them, for turning your sister into a criminal."

"Yōko, it was never my intention —"

"Shut up." I demanded the father, curtly "Even if it wasn't your intention, you abandoned your then fifteen years old daughter in the streets. It isn't the behaviour expected from a parent... It isn't how you treat your children...! But whatever was done is in the past... Today, I came for one thing; working."

"W-What...?"

"Why, one way or the other... You offended the Port Mafia... Which requires to be executed."

I stood up to lock the door, then shoved the key in my pocket before turning toward them.

"No one leaves this room. Alive, at least." I gave them my most wicked smile.

"How can you — No! Let me out!" The man ran toward me.

I punched his stomach, so hard he coughed and fell down onto his carpet.

"Your wife and daughter were threatened to death and you think about yourself only. Pig." I spat on him, kicking his face harshly "I shall take care of you first."

"Why?! Why did you come??" He cried loudly.

"Why? It seems the Boss is displeased with you. That's why."

"But I didn't do anything!!" He squealed, covering his head.

"Are you saying the Boss is arbitrarily suppressing you?" I snarled "Even he seems more righteous than you. At least..."

I crouched down to pat his cheek, my gestures frighteningly soft. Ah, he was so weak, completely at my mercy. I could break his neck, cut his jugular and ruin his face, he would not be able to do anything. Was this power? Strength? Was that how Dazai-san felt when he looked down at me?

I brusquely slapped his face, taking pleasure in this violent act. I had always, deep inside, dreamt of doing this.

"Thanks to you being a jerk, I will live!!" I cackled, repeatedly kicking and beating him "I will live!! Live!! And you will die, by the weakling's hands!!"

He was spitting blood by the time I was done with him, and his entire face was reddened by the bruises I had inflicted him.

"Why did they send you...?" His ordinarily smug voice was reduced to a murmur.

"They did not." I hummed, rejoicing in seeing realisation in his eyes "I requested to come."

"Yōko onē-chan! Why do you do that?" Ruriko-chan sobbed in the mother's chest.

"Because..." I exhaled, retrieving some of my sanity "I saw and lived things I wish you will never experience... Because of those people's fault. I know what hell is, I know what suffering, yearning is. I hope you will never count the days left to survive."

"That's not true!! That's not true!! Mother didn't want —"

"What did she do when that pig threw me out?!" I barked angrily "This woman was never good at anything but darting her eyes away from my pain!! Don't talk about things you don't understand... When you witness but do not act, it's the same as being an accomplice!"

I suddenly pulled out a gun and shot at the man, who was aiming at me from behind. It only wounded his hands, making him drop his gun. Fortunately, there was no stray bullet.

"Y-You..." His eyes fell onto his missing fingers.

His scream echoed in the entire mansion, and I noticed the other covering my sister's eyes and ears to prevent her from seeing the scene.

"This is troublesome..." The inner pulses of violence came back "I originally wanted to torture you in the crudest ways I know of, but you leave me no choice but to suppress you. Or perhaps..."

A mad idea crossed my mind, and my face was darkened by the cruelest smirk. I walked toward him, and grabbed his valid hand without any delicacy, to put a gun into his hands.

"You seem to value your life a lot more than others'. Perhaps can I let you stay alive if you shoot your little girl? Mmh~?"

"How can you —"

"I may be a monster, but then, you are far worse than the lowest garbage on earth." I glared at him "Besides, thoughts do not betray... If you understand my words~"

"I have to do it! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

Absentmindedly, he walked toward his wife and daughter, pointing the barrel toward them.

"Husband, you can't do that!" The woman jumped toward him, taking the gun into her hands without fearing he could press the trigger.

I looked away, opening my box of pills to relieve the forming headache. All this noise, the ruckus and brouhaha, had my head banging loudly, and I, for once, wished I was not there. The woman's behaviour was particularly disturbing; why would she take action for Ruriko-chan while she... To me... I did not understand her, and could not hear her thoughts... Never had I been able to.

"Mother!!" The strident scream of my sister broke my thoughts as a gunshot resonated around us.

As expected from such a situation, the pig had accidentally shot his wife, right in the middle of the chest, as they were fighting. I sighed heavily. One was done.

"Mother!! Mother!!" My sister ran to the woman, whose body had fallen to the ground.

Blood was quickly pouring onto the expensive carpet, and when I realised the same liquid ran through my vessels, I felt nauseous. This was... My attention was drawn toward the man when he disgustingly headed toward my sister, the gun pointed right toward her head. She shut her eyes tightly, but the hit never came. I had taken him down first, with my second gun.

"It is the end befitting you, cowardly bastard." I cursed.

Ruriko-chan was crying, and crying. I could not even distinguish her sobs from her hiccups, and her face was soaked by tears. I crouched down next to her, and took her in my arms.

"No!! Are you going to kill me too??" She fought back, but I did not let go of her.

"I won't." I promised "Now, listen to me, attentively, if you want to live."

"H-Huh...?"

"I am not alone. I have a squadron, and they are waiting for me outside. However, they will kill you if you don't follow my instructions." I pulled out the vial I had stolen "This will stop your heartbeat during an hour or two. You will look as though you are asleep, and they will think you are dead. You are going to hide behind the couch, and nobody will find you there."

"Why should I believe you?!" She protested "How do I know you aren't trying to kill me?!"

"Because you are the only family I've ever had." I admitted, sincerely "I did not come here to kill you, but to kill them. When you grow up, you can do whatever to me, but now, you have to listen to me."

I took her hand and brought her behind the couch, where I made her lie down.

"It is odourless, and colourless." I opened the vial "And painless."

"When I grow up, I'll make sure you rot in jail!" She glared at me and drank the liquid.

"You know..." I stroked her hair as she slowly fell asleep "There is no meaning in this life, yet we can't help going on, desperately clinging onto whatever mean we have to survive. However, if you have a purpose, you can keep going on, more easily..."

"What is yours...?"

"That's the point..." I cracked a gentle smile "I don't have one..."

"It's a pity... Be prepared to be arrested... For your crimes... I'll see that you are..." She whispered, her eyes closing.

"I'm looking forward to that..." I checked her pulse.

None. I stood up, and pushed the couch so no one would be able to see her, even if they entered. Casually, I shot the doorknob to exit the room, forgetting about the key, but on the way out, I heard someone talking.

"Yōko...-chan..."

The woman was still alive!

"Still yearning to live? Your time's up, though." I hissed.

"I will die, anyway... But I... Thank you, for Ruriko-chan..." She feebly said.

"I did it for her, not for you." I defended "The bullet didn't touch your vitals, that's why..."

"Before you kill me... You have to know..." Her hand extended toward me, but I did not take it "The name of your ability..."

"Oh, I've long forgotten it." I huffed "Any last will?"

"It is The Sweet Appeals..." She smiled "I only desire that my daughters... Can have a good life..."

She died from haemorrhage. I lowered my gun, and barged out of the room, angrily.

"Don't say that after abandoning me, you silly woman!" I mumbled, passing in front of the servants' horrified look.

"Ojō-sama, what's wrong...?"

Upon seeing the butler's face, I almost burst into tears, but I held back my need to fall into his comforting arms and pointed my gun toward him.

"I... I did something horrible..." I barely muttered, voice trembling "I... I killed them... All..."

"Ojō-sama..." He exhaled, hugging me nonetheless "It's alright..."

"I-Is that so...? You... Aren't going to call the police...?"

"Of course, I'll have to, but —"

The bullet landing in his forehead stopped him from ever finishing his sentence and he fell down onto the floor. I regained composure. It was the right thing to do, after all. I could never go back now. Once I was out, I whistled, giving the signal to my men.

"No one leaves as long as a soul is alive in there." I ordered and stayed at the door.

The maids were all killed without any hesitation, their screams of fear and agony mixing perfectly well with the noise of the machine guns. Wordlessly, I emptied the box in my mouth, swallowing all the pills I had left, but it did not relieve my headache. However ecstatic I had felt earlier, there only remained a weird emptiness in the pit of my stomach. I could not find the satisfaction I had looked forward to when receiving the order to kill my family, and I disliked this frustration.

At least, I could have erased my past and my regrets to fully focus on my days in the Port Mafia.

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12 notes · View notes

punkscowardschampions · 3 years

Text

Edie & Liam

aleeunayzhun: anyone else think the ‘monster’ addition was totally unnecessary and has taken away from what was a mildly intriguing ARG concept beforehand?

aleeunayzhun: 🙄 back on the trail for a new rabbithole to fall down

level26: Yeah, axed it for me

aleeunayzhun: the paranormal route can be alright if it’s done right but usually it ain’t and then it’s a cop-out, PM definitely didn’t think where they were going with this

aleeunayzhun: the ones that rely on the real world but twist it are always scarier to me, no one ever has the balls to stick with it, to not throw in some bullshit ghost jumpscares to get the idiots with

level26: creepypasta is where it ends up with barely no exceptions

aleeunayzhun: mhmm

aleeunayzhun: and no one has shanked their mate over anything on there in time

level26: got a few I’ll volunteer if the next 🐇 is more of this or promo again

aleeunayzhun: If one more shitty band thinks throwing out some binary or morse code makes them any less shit, I’ll join you

level26: dednah tfel neve t'nia ylbaborp yeht

aleeunayzhun: imij erew yeht hsiw yeht

level26: 👅💔🍆💔🎸💔

aleeunayzhun: 💔 they reckon hot groupies hang about on reddit

level26: trolls are their groupies, they can only be fuelled by edgy r/hate 🤘

aleeunayzhun: awh, r/hate is only a degree away from r/love after-all

level26: just like that, a plotline that’d be less crap than [whatever this ARG we’re slagging off is called]

aleeunayzhun: not gonna start my annoying beg promo in here quite yet but how hard was that, really

level26: us both being spam bots is still a better twist than the monster did it

aleeunayzhun: Привет, дорогая, хочешь увидеть мои сексуальные фотки? Hажмите ссылку СЕЙЧАС! [‘Hello dear, do you want to see my sexy pictures? Click the link NOW!’ And a link to god knows what lmao]

level26: NO soundcloud rapper link?! 💀 what an r/cockblock

aleeunayzhun: how’d you guess 😏

level26: my paranormal powers kicked in, clicking that link must’ve leveled me up

aleeunayzhun: advert for communism? 🤔🤫

level26: find me and my sick beats on r/motherrussia

aleeunayzhun: MK Ultra is definitely taken by about 1000 other shit DJs

aleeunayzhun: and is the poorly executed plot of several other ARGs I’ve also given up on

level26: KM Extra is my personal fave shit DJ, really doing something

aleeunayzhun: the fact I genuinely know who that is 😷😷

level26: I noclipped into his set at [somewhere she would have heard of even if she’s not been] talk about an eldritch location

aleeunayzhun: you must’ve felt like the only player in a crowd of NPCs 🧟‍♀️🧠💀🧟‍♂

level26: close enough to the review I would’ve left

aleeunayzhun: I’ll leave it

aleeunayzhun: I know the coordinates

level26: I’ll 👀 out for it

level26: you on moscow standard time or one of the other 10?

aleeunayzhun: I’m the Russian spy, I hack you, comrade

level26: ❤️ tôi cũng cam kết với chính nghĩa cộng sản ❤️ [with some link to the Communist Party of Vietnam because we’re saying we’re as committed to communism]

aleeunayzhun: [links to the Communist Party of Ireland to be like obvs we have both worked out we’re actually from here

level26: cracked the code, like, full props to KM Extra

aleeunayzhun: Only in Dubo would that shit fly

level26: they’d eat his head off outside the pale, yeah, galway’d be having none of it

aleeunayzhun: what they got but a bunch of rocks though

level26: easy pick for the murder weapon

aleeunayzhun: you’d never get far enough in the guinness factory to drown someone in a vat 💔

level26: could do if you got a job as manager and closed for essential maintenance

aleeunayzhun: 💡

aleeunayzhun: won’t do no harm to the taste

level26: iron boost if he’s bleeding heavily when he goes in

aleeunayzhun: delicious and nutritious

level26: ARG coming soon from guinness

aleeunayzhun: bastards better give credit

level26: they can have it, we’re not short of ideas

aleeunayzhun: and you ain’t heard nothing yet

aleeunayzhun: not making it that easy for the wannabe PMs with none of their own

aleeunayzhun: 🔐the real ones

level26: fair play, given enough freebies out in this thread

aleeunayzhun: 🤐

aleeunayzhun: [later on though definitely some way to contact her privately but in a way that you’ve got to work it out of course]

level26: [at least then we can switch to y’all’s names ‘cause I can’t think of a username for the life of me lol]

Edie: [You can add it later and change it, it’s fine lol]

Liam: 🔓

Edie: 1 🔑 for 1 💎

Edie: Suitably impressed

Liam: if I knew anywhere that loaded a 💎 into the gun I’d be off but what’s impressive about a swollen and green ear

Edie: Impressive, no; but good footage for the game? Absolutely

Liam: I’d do it here to have time to mess about with all the lighting and angles

Edie: you’re 🎥

Edie: not enough have actual artistic merit so fair play

Liam: but thinking about it, recording the conveyor belt of a trainee stabbing holes in screaming babies ears all day could have some merit to it, maybe I should get myself up

Edie: you can buy anything and everything from bezos

Edie: live your dreams

Liam: putting my dreams on tape would be worse than the monster reveal

Liam: cheapest jumpscares and effects

Edie: not to mention outing yourself to the whole thread, not just me

Liam: how many teachers would crawl out the woodwork if there was a mass reveal

Edie: to offer you the school’s stellar mental health services

Edie: the one nurse phoning it in

Liam: find my dad lurking on the thread too, that’d be a trip

Edie: unexpectedly wholesome

Edie: I’ll start hiding caches where my dad hides his stashes

Edie: unintentional rhyme

Liam: bars 🎼

Edie: @ KM Extra

Liam: Fachtna to his ma who thinks he’s a saint

Edie: Oof

Edie: ARG concept no. ? the horror of the Irish language

Liam: my ma would be 😱 if I went and hugged her for not doing me that wrong

Edie: not the audience we aim to 😱 really

Liam: too easy

Edie: almost as easy as your name to spell and say

Edie: you even from here 👽

Liam: wouldn’t take enough working out to set you as a test, records are basically lying about

Edie: nothing relating to school is a challenge

Liam: just getting that nurse to give a shit

Edie: if she reckons she’s 👀 it all…

Liam: front row of our intended audience

Edie: splash zone

Liam: she’s never off her phone, spy like you won’t have no problem hacking it

Edie: her nudes = actual monstrosity

Liam: dunno what Mr Doyle sees in her

Edie: yeah, he’s such a looker himself, like

Liam: his wife used to be pretty fit

Edie: don’t matter when she explains how and why people cheat

Edie: psychobabble gets ‘em off every time

Liam: if they taught psychology nobody’d be off each other or learning anything then

Edie: sounds like any other standard schoolday

Liam: that's what they’re getting up to in your class, is it

Edie: as cliche as the monster, yeah

Liam: 🔥🏫

Edie: hear hear

Edie: got to make the endless fire drills worth it one day

Liam: can’t miss me standing in line or not

Edie: then I won’t

Liam: next false alarm I pull

Edie: + 💎

Liam: + 👀

Liam: dont have to hate every cliche

Edie: not the good ones

Edie: all about how you use or misuse them

Liam: can you overuse eye contact

Edie: I can

Liam: I can make a kubrick stare work however many takes you wanna do

Edie: you don’t think I’m a one-take 🌟

Liam: I’ve not shot you

Edie: 🤯🔫

Liam: I’m not a one-take 📷📹

Edie: is that a brag for not suffering from premature ejaculation?

Liam: do you need that reassurance

Edie: I don’t know

Liam: I’ll think about other unsexy shit if your eyes start getting to me too much

Edie: Ha, yeah right

Edie: just don’t think about the 🔥

Liam: 🚒 buzzkill

Edie: 🚓 cockblock

Liam: 🚑 scene stealers

Edie: 🛸 out of here

Liam: before you can get stuck there as a 👻

Edie: Purgatory is preferable to that place forever

Liam: stay alive and it’s simple to get out of 🏫

Edie: I’ll leave my bag behind

Edie: 1st rule and only, really

Liam: don’t really need a pile of textbooks

Edie: I doubt that’s what you carry

Edie: I know I don’t

Liam: I can get more of what I do and I bet you could too

Edie: Bars

Liam: 😏

Edie: You’ve promo’d him a lot if you ain’t him

Edie: KM, like

Edie: bit sus

Liam: you said you know who he is, you know I ain’t

Liam: maybe I love him or some gay shit

Edie: none of his tracks sound like love songs

Liam: guess he don’t love me back

Edie: Oh honey

Edie: lock him in when you set the fire

Liam: he can keep spitting out those fuck yous til the end

Edie: dedication ✊

Liam: and +++ for morale

Edie: what a lad

Liam: love triangle is a cliche too far, take a deep breath or something

Edie: bit possessive

Liam: directors are dicks

Edie: and the heartbroken

Liam: yeah, couldn’t be kind to you if I wanted

Edie: I’ll survive

Edie: you’ve given me the heads up, I’ll give you the 👀

Liam: respect killing me with your 👀 and taking him for yourself

Edie: who could blame me

Liam: my ma as I’m dead, like

Edie: true

Edie: i’ll avoid her at the tescos

Liam: 🛒 dash

Edie: got a selection of my own

Edie: [picture because the random crap you would have in the barns lmao]

Liam: [a picture of one he stole at some point that’s on fire or been blown up or whatever]

Edie: 👏

Edie: what else can we 💥

Liam: got any barns you don’t use

Liam: or 🚜 stuff

Edie: loads

Edie: if you’re lucky, I’ll leave another 🔑

Liam: got another ear to put a 💎 in, luck’s gonna run out beyond it

Edie: sounds like some gay shit, you should

Liam: 👌

Liam: [pics when we’ve done this because of course we have, casually raiding either your mother or sister’s jewellery stashes here like]

Edie: Oh

Edie: actually looks kinda sick

Edie: you’re welcome then

Liam: I’ll send the footage when I’ve edited it

Edie: I look forward to it

Edie: I can’t give you any clues

Liam: what makes you think I need em

Edie: [idk how to differentiate but clearly the clue to where you live needs to be much harder to find and then decode lmao]

Liam: [awkward when he blatantly already knows where you live]

Edie: [do not even need to do the work, whoops]

Liam: [convincingly pretend you are though please]

Edie: [thank god he’s not a murderer even if he is a stalker, just giving out this info willynilly]

Liam: [not your stalker, it’s FINE]

Edie: [oh dear oh dear]

Edie: I’ll know when you work it out

Liam: yeah, I’ll show up 📷📹🌾

Liam: or send a 📦💣 if you wanna take things slow

Edie: you decide

Edie: I’ll shake all the packages extra hard

Liam: cancel the real 🐇 I thought about

Edie: animal cruelty is lamer than bed wetting

Liam: never even tipped a 🐄

Edie: they’ll appreciate it

Edie: anyway, if you did, punishment is letting them kick you in the face so you lose in the end

Liam: head injury’s a win if I get caught for the 🔥🏫 or being seen staring in your window

Edie: 😍🤤 just serial killer things

Liam: pretend I didn’t say KM’s gonna be my 1st victim

Edie: I’ll never feel special otherwise

Liam: you don’t feel special knowing I cracked your code

Edie: if anything, it makes you look smart and me not smart enough

Liam: you’re smart enough that I wanted to

Edie: I’m not going to ruin it with a cliche jumpscare now

Liam: me either, you’re smart enough too to see me coming

Edie: and you’re tall, so I hear

Liam: dunno where from, my dad’s not

Edie: he’s definitely your dad?

Edie: I may as well accuse your ma because I’m already avoiding her for the whole killing you thing

Liam: don't act like it which probably means he is

Edie: ha, real talk

Edie: I think you might be taller than mine

Edie: he’s 6’2

Liam: ha, I am

Edie: you’re the tallest person in school, possibly town

Edie: definite 👽

Liam: taking their time parking the ufo and picking me up, typical dad

Edie: did they forget ET or leave him here on purpose

Edie: he was fucking annoying

Liam: if I looked that much like a ballsack I’d understand

Edie: 😂

Edie: least you’d get to get fucked up with baby Drew Barrymore

Liam: baileys on cereal does taste sick, always down for that

Edie: yum

Edie: what do your fingers look like

Liam: [a video of his hands from lots of angles like hello]

Edie: hot

Edie: you can call me Elliot

Liam: or just call you instead of home

Edie: 😎 so smooth

Liam: what’s my ma gonna say, get back, talking to you is smarter

Edie: I’ve got time to set up the voice distorter so you’re not disappointed by the lack of crEEEEeeeEPpPPpyyyyYy vibes

Liam: and I’ll have loads of time to hear how you sound without it when I stake your house out

Edie: I’ll be sure to be loud

Edie: and not chat total inane shit with my family

Liam: you got your own room

Edie: technically not

Edie: but there are other rooms and places to crash in, when I wanna be alone

Liam: there’s my excuse to zoom in creeEEPpILY close 👀 when you’re not

Edie: very awkward and even ruder if you confused me for my sister

Edie: no one’s done that for ages

Liam: how were they ever doing it

Edie: we’re both the white ones, they just didn’t know which was which

Liam: can’t be a hard code to crack, not gonna be confusing you for anyone

Edie: good

Edie: it was pretty annoying

Edie: and I’m already your second victim as it is

Liam: partner in crime, or groupie to mine if you’re not getting actively involved, but still standing at the end

Edie: hope you’re writing some of these down

Edie: ‘cos I’m not gonna be your groupie

Edie: got my own scores to settle, own havoc to wreak

Liam: don’t need to write down I don’t want you to die, I’ll remember

Edie: it rhymed though

Edie: I’ll steal your lines then

Liam: write as many songs about me as you want, be your groupie til I get 🛸✌️

Edie: [send your music links because you ain’t]

Edie: give me a sec to do yours but pretend any of these are about you

Liam: this is you

Liam: serious

Edie: yeah

Edie: if I was gonna lie I’d have done that a few steps ago

Liam: I’m gonna lie they’re all about me

Edie: that’s what serious meant

Liam: it meant I’m impressed and you’re downplaying how smart you are

Edie: you can be my hypeman and overplay it

Liam: [does by uploading this edited ear piercing escapade with whatever song of hers we like and fits the vibe playing in it, giving her credit because we’re not a heathen and also putting on his stories that he’s listening to these tracks and hyping them how you can]

Edie: [so 😍 over this but trying to be chill somehow and somewhat even though we’re extra af anyway]

Edie: maybe I do wanna be your groupie

Edie: what do you want from me

Edie: like, I owe you and I want to give you something too, ‘cos

Edie: talking to you IS interesting

Edie: and not just because I could be talking to my ma or someone else really boring instead just ‘cos you are

Liam: [for real though her views would definitely go up cos the vibe is he knows loads of people through his sister but also through his weird vids and the raves and stuff he goes to now too so]

Liam: all I want’s to keep talking to you, for as long as you’re into it

Liam: people don’t unless we’re off our faces, like

Edie: my notifications are popping off rn

Edie: I know what you mean though, everyone’s too scared to say or do anything when they don’t have something to blame it on, like being stupid or weird or whatever the fuck actually matters

Edie: more than being bored and alone

Liam: dunno what they’re more scared of, what they wanna ask or how I’m gonna answer, least I know what the topic’ll be

Liam: every convo I have is a loop

Edie: all anyone ever cares about and knows is the headlines

Edie: as if there aren’t countless hours minutes seconds before and after the big events they all 👀 and 👂

Liam: work out sweet for you as a headliner

Edie: Getting them to talk about what I’m doing instead of whatever my parents and the rest of the fucking fam did or do is the goal

Liam: with me hyping you up, no bother, keep knocking out hits and I’ll promo em with no trace of binary or morse code

Edie: and you make films

Edie: I wasn’t sure if you were pissing about at first

Edie: every other person in that thread is an aspiring filmmaker so

Liam: did put me off for a while

Edie: Yours aren’t going to be bad Blair Witch ripoffs though

Edie: I can say that much without seeing

Edie: even the stuff you’ve sent today is dope

Liam: do you wanna see

Edie: yes

Liam: [link her cos I doubt all the weird shit is just there chilling on your insta or whatever]

Edie: [just casually watching all of this nbd]

Liam: siht ekil kool annog weiver ruoy

Liam: или, может быть, это

Edie: hoặc tôi có thể làm như thế này [‘or I could do it like this’]

Edie: si ffuts ruoy kniht i looc woh edih annaw tnod i tub

Liam: ba mhó an spraoi é a cheilt agus a lorg go pearsanta [hide and seek would be more fun in person]

Edie: If you’ve worked out where I live like you say

Edie: be fair and count to 100

Liam: you reckon you made it that easy do you

Liam: be cool if you added some 00s to that and gave me a fair chance

Edie: no, you could still be anyone

Liam: someone to be scared of, yeah I probably am

Edie: Do you want me to be scared of you

Liam: nah

Edie: Good because I’m not and I never promised I was a 🌟 so

Liam: 🤩 with or without promises

Edie: How have I never spoke to you before

Edie: so weird

Liam: I wouldn’t have known what to say to a girl like you

Edie: You seem like you’re coping fine to me

Liam: from behind a keyboard I can cope with anything

Edie: You’re not afraid of me either

Liam: not yet

Edie: What do you think I’m like?

Liam: smart, creative, nice to talk to and look at

Edie: then you’ve got nothing to be afraid of

Liam: I’ve got nothing, that’s bang on

Edie: I’m not trying to take anything from you

Edie: but I could throw those compliments back to you x 10000

Liam: you don’t like possessive, I ain’t gonna tell you what to do

Edie: I didn’t say that

Edie: you could claim better than a soundcloud DJ though

Liam: been waiting to hear that compliment specifically

Edie: 😏

Edie: You look like you’d be a fuckboy

Edie: that’s what I thought

Edie: you’re that good-looking

Liam: if I was the game’d be making you think I wasn’t, which is kinda where we are

Edie: True

Edie: so I’m that dumb or you’re that good, what are we going for?

Liam: you’re smart enough to play dumb, I don’t think I can aim for god tier puppet mastery of anyone’s emotions

Edie: I can see the appeal of that

Edie: closing you eyes to thing you don’t wanna see, to see the things you do

Edie: but mine are wide open

Liam: I ain’t mad, there’d be no appeal to yours being closed, unless you drop bars in your sleep too

Edie: you’re gonna find which window is mine and find out, yeah

Liam: wake you up before you name drop KM as it’s MY thing

Edie: that’s your man, I can respect it

Liam: exclusivity is a + for you then, I’m taking notes

Edie: I don’t really know

Edie: everyone’s lame

Liam: I’ve been there, yeah

Edie: I can’t fake enthusiasm for the sake of it

Liam: it’s a shite idea, doable or not

Edie: I don’t intend to

Edie: 🤞

Liam: can’t think why you’d have to

Edie: I won’t make you promise

Liam: what’ll you make me do

Edie: I want you to show

Edie: and be real and not just go ghost after this

Edie: but I don’t know if you will and I know you might

Liam: be a short afterlife, we don’t get american summers

Edie: we both got the capabilities, but I can promise not to stalk you if you like

Edie: if you want to stick to usernames and anonymity

Liam: not working out where you are to prove I can and a face in the window haunting wouldn’t even impress any dads lurking on the thread

Edie: Alright but I’d be more inclined to keep a secret if you asked opposed to all the dads

Liam: I wouldn’t wanna keep anything we do secret

Edie: Yeah?

Liam: if this is a scam I’m falling for everyone’ll see why and if it’s not I’m gonna document everything

Edie: I won’t ask for your credit card details even once

Edie: This is… different

Edie: isn’t it

Liam: you can have my ma’s, you’re avoiding her and the big tescos

Liam: I don’t know what this is, I wasn’t expecting you at the end of any of those links

Edie: It IS the least she could do

Edie: If I had a guess, you weren’t it

Edie: Even though you mentioned Dubo, it isn’t that small of a town

Liam: ha, how livid you’d be if I was another american coming here for the culture

Edie: not close enough to st patrick’s that I was worried

Liam: how did you feel

Edie: I thought no way it was you at first

Edie: and then I couldn’t believe it was you

Edie: and then that I should’ve known you sooner

Edie: what about you?

Liam: I still can’t believe it’s you, I would’ve tried to chat to you sooner if I knew this is how it’d go

Edie: I’m glad we are now

Edie: and I’ve not fucked it up

Liam: if the small world’s not fucked it up, you won’t

Edie: like you said, be shit if you were in America

Liam: be crap if you were anyone else from school, like you said

Edie: If it was anyone else from school

Edie: this convo would be well over by now

Liam: it’s the longest I’ve had for years

Edie: It’s all so surface level, right

Edie: fuck that

Edie: I wanna know more about you, I don’t care if I shouldn’t just say that

Liam: what do you wanna know

Edie: Hmm

Edie: Do I only get the one question?

Edie: Because I’ll think more carefully if so

Liam: nah, there’s no limit on it

Edie: Cool

Edie: so how was your day, and what were you doing just before you went on the forum?

Liam: [send her a video of some rave or whatever you were at because it’s summer bitches]

Liam: + 3-4 hours sleeping

Edie: Lucky

Edie: where’d you sleep and where’s the weirdest place you’ve got + 3-4 hours sleep before?

Liam: [send her some of the blooper-esque stuff you cut out to make it look more fun than it is, cos we know you’re usually bored]

Liam: home, I can’t 💤 in random xD places but I could call your dad short and maybe have him in a fight

Edie: that’s hot

Edie: he could’ve been there and you coulda tested that theory

Edie: but I wanna be there when you do

Liam: you’d have a shite view from the stage with lights blinding you, can’t let on how talented you are while we’re there

Edie: 😶

Edie: he’s not old so it’s not on a par with animal abuse lameness

Liam: and if I get carried away you can stop me

Edie: can I

Edie: + skill points

Liam: 🎶 works on monsters

Edie: have to find a way to get you home before the 💤 hits

Edie: so cute 🥺

Liam: mine or yours

Edie: 😳

Edie: I’ll protect you while you sleep, see if you can at mine

Liam: I can’t if you’re 👀

Edie: that might be a problem

Liam: how long can you not blink for

Edie: [send a vid of an attempt]

Liam: can I keep this

Edie: ‘course

Edie: use it if you can

Liam: when you write a song about me it’ll need a vid

Edie: I’ve started

Edie: I think by the time you find me, it’ll be done

Liam: people who don’t know you are gonna think I edited your eyes that colour

Edie: hashtag they’re real 😏

Liam: the girl who said she had an operation as a kid’s the real you

Edie: 😂

Edie: they were going rouge and I’ve repressed those memories

Liam: what were you doing before you logged on

Edie: not at a rave, sadly

Edie: I was masterminding a sabotage though, trying to anyway

Liam: don’t leave it there giving me no details

Edie: it isn’t even bad ARG plot worthy

Edie: but my sister has her gross boyfriend over and I need to ruin their fun, obviously, because they are unbearable

Edie: easiest way to do that is make them babysit the twins because there’s nothing fun about 9 year olds

Edie: so I convinced ma to go out on a date, but I still need to get my brother out the way and he’s a massive nerd who never goes anywhere so I’m stumped

Liam: we could have fun with it, gotta be a route to go down that’s not just ripping off the shining again

Liam: a nerd how, he’s on mastermind and his subject is _

Edie: 🪓 is just a prop, honest

Edie: bones, not in a cool way

Edie: History, all that old shit

Liam: [obviously find some kind of obscure af exhibit or book signing or something that he’d potentially be interested in and send her the deets because sleuthing is what you do boy]

Edie: OMG but genuinely

Edie: you are too good at this, I’ll have to keep you around

Liam: stashed with the 🪓

Edie: if you fit

Edie: He’ll actually go to this, for sure

Edie: 🐓🚫

Liam: keep what you figure’s useful and chop off the rest 🧩🧟

Edie: 😋

Edie: what an offer

Edie: and I do need to keep busy so I can’t be asked to step in

Edie: not that I’d say yes

Liam: busy like with a 🧭

Edie: go on

Liam: [god knows what scavenger hunt he’s sending you on gal that he apparently just has ready at the drop of a hat but here we are]

Edie: [live your best nerd lives]

Liam: [really hope these clues aren’t something he was gonna torment your sister with, because no thank you]

Edie: [lmao i hope it wouldn’t translate so easy ‘cos imagine]

Liam: [it definitely wouldn’t but a hardcore blag happening here regardless, I like to think you were actually coming up with this for her while you were pretending to work out her address that you already know]

Edie: [that’s a solid shout ‘cos yeah that is a thing lol]

Edie: [definitely sending you the demo of this song at the end as a prize because we’re beyond 😍 now]

Liam: [likewise even though he’s trying to downplay how 😍 he is to himself rn because it’s so weird that she’s Rio’s sister and that he actually also likes her in her own right so we’re fully !?]

Liam: [nevertheless trying to think of something creepy but cool he could send to her house so she knows he knows where it is and that we think this demo is amazing obviously, maybe it’s lots of other people’s shit musical endeavours like KM that we’ve set on fire and otherwise destroyed in creative ways like you’ve slayed the competition gal since cds and tapes are back baby idk]

Edie: [I wonder if I can find something like that to post hmm to pinterest I go]

Liam: [love the visual of you just sneakily dropping off a massive box of melted plastic without anyone seeing you]

Edie: [you’re clearly good lmao, I was thinking we could do a convo with Billie between this and the next one though]

Liam: [good idea boo, I’m up for that]

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amphtaminedreams · 4 years

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A/W 2020 Fashion Month: Before Vogue Went Blank

Hi to anyone reading,

I’m sorry this post is so late! I really have no excuse apart from all my mental energy being taken up by shooting and editing my Euphoria lookbook up until now and me being too much of a lazy, nap-loving twat to face the mammoth task of a fashion month review; honestly, by the time it’s done, it’s like a dissertation-level amount of characters, so let’s say the final push to get this out is in sympathy with all my 3rd year friends I started uni with finishing their ACTUAL dissertations.

Things have got scary since I originally started saving the photos for this post, and the world has been turned upside down. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen since the Spanish Flu, Italian Vogue’s April cover was blank. As I’m writing this, 26,000+ people have died of coronavirus in Italy, the worst affected country behind the U.S in terms of sheer numbers ( though quick update: as I post this, I’m pretty sure our incompetent prick of a PM has made sure we’re up there too). Proportionally, the actual death rate is even higher, along with a handful of other European countries. There have been some complaints made about the cover and it’s supposed “lack of imagination”; all I know is that in a country whose death toll accounts for 10% of worldwide coronavirus deaths, something of a visual silence feels appropriate.

That being said, for me, writing is one of the only things giving me a sense of purpose right now. Yeah, surprise surprise, working in a grocery store isn’t all that fulfilling. Who would’ve thought it? So what better time to reflect on a time when all the rich people of the world were going about their lives as usual and sitting front row at fashion week rather than crying on Instagram live to their millions of followers about how trapped they feel in their 10 bedroom mansions.

I’ve got to say, this year’s A/W offerings were a lot better than I expected, mostly due to the fact that I’m not generally a big fan of winter fashion; it’s hard to be disappointed given my preconceptions! There’s only so many knits and coats and jeans you can see before it begins to get a bit tiring, and I expected that to be reflected in the presentations. Fortunately, even the brands which are known for their bohemian, Coachella-esque collections generally managed to translate that into something recognisable and consistent on the runway whilst actually being weather appropriate. Of course, there were a few disappointments-I’m sure if I say one of them begins with D, you can guess which brand I’m talking about-but that was more than made up for by the standouts. Gucci in particular was my 2013 Tumblr wet dream and the Moschino show was what I can only describe as a live continuation of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, though I’ll stop with my praise there and wait til I get to actually reviewing before I go overboard with kissing Alessandro Michele’s ass. And on that note, in chronological order, I’ll get one with the reviews! First up, Acne:

Continuing on a winning streak when it comes to catering to my personal preferences (if someone tries to tell me designers don’t care about my personal preferences I’m going to whack out that “just found out the world doesn’t revolve around me, shocked and upset” Marina Diamandis tweet), Acne once again channels futuristic hippy commune living in a dystopian wasteland. I know, those are very specific personal preferences

I love the shredded hems and the burnt velvet, the rawness of it all, and the baroque/your-nan’s-wallpaper patterns are actually a surprisingly nice touch. I imagine if Giselle from Enchanted had to make her dresses out of a thrifty goth’s curtains rather than an upper-middle-class New Yorker’s, they’d look something like this collection. You’ve even got the odd bit of classic fresh Scandi tailoring in there with the oversized coats and blazers which holds it back from being a bit TOO flea market. Plus, the renaissance painting detailing on the black leather-look coat is a stunning detail as well; I’m so glad it seems this trend is here to stay, why wouldn’t I want random nude bodies all over my clothes?

As for the styling, I can’t get enough of the tousled hair. As an eternally tired person who can't be arsed to pick up a brush most of the time, I feel represented. Along with the outfits, it says “I’m an art student/transient painter in the 70s living in a city loft who smokes a lot of weed and does acid on the regular” and that is a life worth manifesting.

Alberta Ferretti was dreamy, and a perfect example of how to translate the bohemian aesthetic of their S/S show to A/W. Somehow despite the furs, ruffles (pussy-bows under tailored jackets and knits/generally heavier pieces always looks really chic imo), tulle, metallic tapestry style prints and chunky jewellery, it all still looks very effortless, like a natural continuation of what we saw last summer; the typically masculine structure of the oversized suits with the ornate patterns and the accessories lends to the careful navigation along the line where maximalism and minimalism meet, the looks as practical as they are decorative. Picture it: you work some high-flying, powerful job in the city, commute on a motor cycle and roll up in one of these suit sets. This collection is for the edgy businesswoman who is completely comfortable telling all the twattish males she works with where to stick it and I want to be her.

The evening gowns are, of course, stunning too. In this analogy where I am a powerful businesswoman and not a pushover who works at a grocery store right now and only beefs with rude customers, I would be wearing one of them to the boujie work Christmas party. The ruffled dresses remind me of something Valentino would put out with the colour palette and the ruffles, and whilst we’re on the topic of colour palettes, this one is beautiful. The lilac and hot pink is SO right.

Though predictable, Alessandra Rich is just as much of a treat as usual, the first brand you’d go to if you were styling a throwback it-girl, Chanel Oberlin in Scream Queens if it took place 30 years earlier. Reminiscent of an amalgamation of vintage Chanel and Versace, there are so many cute details I love here, from the white tights with the black heels and the double breasted blazers to the gold chainlink belts and the pearls. The tartan suits with the shoulder padding are very Heathers, the prints the best of your mum’s 80s wardrobe, and nobody else out there is doing bows as well as this; these are the outfits that prissy bitch wears in the cartoons of my childhood that turn out to actually be quite good fashion inspo 15 years later, Trixie Tang from Fairly Odd Parents I’m looking at you.

This girl was the blueprint.

I think someone like Lilly Collins or Daphne Groeneveld would be an ideal fit for any of these looks, or Lana Del Rey if she wanted to stop serving us middle-aged suburban soccer mom and took us back to those H&M ad campaign days. Lana stans please don’t come for me for saying that, I am one of you; I say this because I love her. It’s all altruistic.

Whilst I admittedly didn’t love it as much as last summer’s, I really enjoyed the Alexander McQueen collection too, plus I had a better idea of what to expect this time round; no, we’re not gonna get a repeat of the Plato’s Atlantis show but we do always get some beautiful pieces. Again, like with Alberta Ferretti, this seems like a natural continuation of what we saw in the summer, just with adjustments made for the colder, darker, and altogether moodier months. A/W being the gothier older sister of S/S, it seems right that a lot of the looks turn their back on the ethereal, almost fairy-like feel of what we saw before and embrace the vampier side, reds and blacks (the ultimate Bratz Rock Angels colour combination), plenty of dramatic structures and formidable suit sets. It’s punk but it’s classy, and even with the lighter pieces, we’ve got the grunge inspired harnesses on top to contrast with the elegance and effectively, toughen the whole look up, something Gucci does well too.

The patterned suits with the clunky boots in particular are very cool and I need a gun metal grey heart detailing harness, but undoubtedly the MOMENT of this collection is Adut Akech in what appears to be a silver chainmail dress. She looks like an Amazonian goddess, and whilst I could never dream of pulling something like that off myself, I could happily admire her in it for hours.

There wasn’t much to get excited about at Altuzarra. The collection was very elegant for sure and the feathered belts are cute but it was all quite pedestrian and nothing new-the only detail I really like is the cut out on the second dress from the left, 3rd row down.

As for Anna Sui:

I’m not altogether sure why I wanted to review it. A lot of the outfits as a whole are a bit messy, and not in that avant-garde, expensive-looking Margiela kind of way, just in a “how many fabrics can we possibly get on this model” kind of way. Plus, the styling seems weirdly outdated-a lot of the jewellery looks like the kind of thing you’d see if you searched “gothic choker” on Ebay and ordered the results from low to high, and the makeup and hair in particular is very 2012 Tumblr fashion blogger. Backcombed hair and red lipstick? We’ve got a Zoella thumbnail on our hands.

When the collection did go down the bohemian route though (and when that route wasn’t a failed attempt at what Etro does a lot better), there were a few nice pieces and prints. I mean you really can’t go wrong with a teal fur trimmed coat.

Ashish, on the other hand, took their aesthetic from a similar era and did it a lot more creatively and kookily; this collection looks a lot more deserving of being on a runway. The prints are so loud and costume-y that at times the garments risk looking like something you’d wear at a decades themed dress up party, but they’re saved by understated and much more commercial silhouettes, plus some gorgeous hair and make up. On the whole, very groovy, unintentional disco queen, despite the few risks that didn’t quite pay off.

Next is a brand I always look forward to. In the words of Myrtle Snow:

BALENCIAGA!

Seriously though, if any brand knows how to blend costume and high fashion, it’s them. They take over-the-top, almost absurd silhouettes and turn them into theatre. This year we’re taking it in the direction of Phantom of the Opera, I guess? Dracula? The Woman in Black? An off-broadway production of Harry Potter where Snape is the protagonist? Whatever the direction of the collection is, I live for the dramatics of it all. Demna Gvasalia got these models walkin’ down the runway like they’re members of the Volutri, which is a reference you should all understand given the renaissance Twilight is having online atm.

Straight off the bat, I adore the staging, and all the models are exquisite-the theme of the show was climate change, and I always love when there’s a story behind the presentation of the clothes. I can’t imagine how amazing this must have been to witness in person, though I’m guessing equal parts mystical and intimidating. There are so many things I love here: billowing coats, cinched in waists, the pattens that are sprinkled sparingly in amongst the black, and the bloody shoulder pads that almost run PARALLEL to the model’s necks. This is really a collection that Myrtle Snow would be proud of and brb whilst I get rid of my padlock necklaces in favour of putting whatever meagre amount I can get for them on Depop towards a Balenciaga padlock belt (as if, lol, I don’t even think selling my soul would cover it).

And then there’s Balmain, which isn’t always the fashion critic’s favourite, but which I do tend to like.

I mean there are some really good takeaways here-though the 80s inspired suit, as wearable as they are, can get a little repetitive, they are staples which here seem to pave the way for Olivier Rousteing to try something new for the brand. The moulded breast plates (reminiscent of the Tom Ford one Zendaya wore though I’m not sure which came first!), for example, along with the Matador-style capes and the flowing silk dresses are the most glamorous incarnation of Lara Croft one can possibly imagine, probably just as equally suited for a Roman goddess as they are for an Assassins Creed style action heroine. And yes, I am aware of the fact that Tomb Raider and Assassins Creed are two separate games, okay! I just don’t know enough about the visuals of either to firmly plant this collection in the camp of either one, so I’m going down the crossover route with it!

Not to say there weren’t any bad choices-I omitted a good portion of the looks that were shown; there were definitely pieces that I found to be a little tacky, particularly a recurring chain print which has got to be one of my least favourite patterns out there. Overall, though, it’s gonna be the richly coloured art-deco prints, the wet-look boots and the gem-encrusted scorpion brooch which stick with me, so I’ll let it slide.

Bottega Veneta was very meh; even of the looks I picked out, there are a lot I’m now looking back at and wishing I hadn’t included. Some of the men’s pieces are nice, sure, and I feel like one of those vaguely sick, victorian ghost looking male celebrities everyone obsesses over (Timothée Chalamet and Dane DeHaan I’m looking at you) would make those suits on the second row look fine af, but it’s mostly the womenswear that I’m here for and on this occasion it wasn’t great. A couple of the coats are nice and that’s about it. Like I really had to act as if the tassels weren’t there on a lot of the clothes and go from there because I really don’t like them in this context and if I was to veto looks purely on one of the garments having tassels, there’d be nothing to show or reference when giving my opinion on the show. They were EVERYWHERE. In a summer collection, done right, they can be a nice detail but here they just feel unnecessary and if I’m being honest, are quite ugly.

Thank god for Brock taking the sour Bottega Veneta tassel taste out of my mouth. Never a let down. Literally, everything they put out sends me into a daze of imagining I’m in some romantic drama wearing one of the pieces, in a man’s idea of “no makeup”, running round in a field looking forlorn and windswept because my ghostly lover has-

Okay, you get the picture. I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, but it goes something like that, right? If not, lets just say envisioning myself in any of these catapults me straight into some period drama where I’m born into wealth and sit by my mansion window looking sad all the time and writing poetry and lusting over some stuffy upper-class man I can’t have and who is probably played by Colin Firth because I’m pretty sure that’s what happens in most of them (about to enrage my future English lit undergraduate sister with that line).

Nobody does modest, muted sexy to such a masterful degree. I mean, when Maison Marigela did face veils I was just mildly afraid, but here they’re subtle enough that they’re quite beautiful and almost other-worldly, acting as some kind of boundary between this world and the past that Brock aims to recapture through its designs-the red lip popping out from underneath is a perfect touch too. I don’t like it AS much as the summer collection but I would say that’s solely on the basis of the more autumn/winter appropriate colour scheme and the heavier fits, which is just a personal preference. I mean, I’m usually not a fan of empire waistlines at all and Brock even manages to make that work.

Burberry this season was a real mixed bag, mostly due to the styling. There are some really gorgeous, London back alley vintage shop looking pieces, especially the 70s style coats, reminiscent of outerwear a slimy record exec would've worn back in the day repurposed by someone like Alexa Chung or Zoe Kravitz or whichever effortlessly cool woman it is we all want to be-also the private boy’s school rugby gear looking shit is classic Burberry and I’m a fan of that, even though it’s not the most inventive or exciting. I just don’t get why there had to be SO much ill-fitting plaid over ill-fitting plaid. Again, like with Bottega Veneta, I thought the menswear was a lot stronger; whilst I wasn’t really wowed by anything, it seemed a lot less forced, whereas a few of the womenswear looks gave me the vibe of a design team desperately grasping onto some ill-conceived ideas of street style and relevancy.

The design team at Carolina Herrera for example, know their niche. They never try to be something they’re not, always sublimely preppy and pretty and predictable-when it comes to target market, the bag is reliably secured. Laid- back princess dresses never get old for those constantly “summering” in one expensive coastal town or another, for the rich American moms attending charity galas and the Spencer Hastings and Blair Waldorfs of the world; women with glossy hair and fresh faces who act as if they woke up looking like that polished but are actually anal as hell and take 2 hours to get ready and would NEVER, I repeat NEVER, shit in a public toilet.

Yes, I managed to worm toilet habits into a review of a Carolina Herrera collection. I’m sorry. Enough with the pearl clutching.

Next is Celine:

I mean, when there are THIS many looks, it’s hard not to find something you like, and though VERY predictable and verging on lazy when you’re putting out the same shit every collection, Celine’s aesthetic is so similar to my own ideal style, it’s hard to be mad at it. That being said, a lot of the pieces, as per usual, came across as cheap YSL knock offs; the overall outfits are cute, but the more you look at the details-it particularly pained me to include a metal bow belt and an ill-fitting velvet skater skirt but I liked the rest of the outfits-the worse it gets. Please, PLEASE someone drive it home to Hedi Slimane, I’m begging you: QUALITY NOT QUANTITY. I get what he’s going for, 70s hipster Jane Birkin is a vision I can very much get behind, but not when it seems to be so rushed.

With the men’s looks, you can get away with it a lot more; when so much of menswear is so plain and unchanging, the slightest hint of Mick Jagger is enough to make a outfit edgy. But even then, I still feel like we’re seeing a load of variations of the same outfit. There are always some pieces that catch my eye, this time round the capes and the velvet blazers, and I would wear most of these things, sure, however I don’t think the combinations SHOULD necessarily look like something I’d personally put together; a runway collection is supposed to be aspirational and cutting edge, not pedestrian (entirely intentional self-drag, lol). Also, side note, the lack of diversity really bothered me. 111 looks and not one of these models has a body type that is naturally achievable for most people. It’s 2020 for fuck’s sake. I’m tired.

SO, let’s liven things up a bit with the Central Saint Martins collection, a breath of fresh air in terms of diversity (though a few more plus-size models would be nice):

As a former University of London student, I hate to heap praise upon them. If you’ve studied in London as well, you’ll know CSM students are ANNOYING. I mean, I’m sure they’re lovely as individuals but you can’t fully understand the meaning of the word pretentious until you’ve seen a group of them at a Uniqlo Tate Late. That being said, they are very good at what they do and I’m so glad that Vogue Runway includes them; this is what Off-White thinks it is, and really it makes sense that a bunch of current fashion students are able to come together to present one of the most experimental and forward-thinking shows of this season.

And let’s talk about the RANGE. From catsuits worthy of comic book heroes to dresses Twiggy would’ve worn in a 1960s editorial, every subgenre of fashion has been fully delved into here. Whilst we’ve got the adrogyny of the suits and suspenders combo and kitschy gender-bending co-ords David Bowie would be proud of, at the other end of the scale we’ve also got models walking down the runway dressed like wood nymphs or some other kind of siren-like creatures. There’s looks that wouldn’t be out of place in a Gucci or Come Des Garcons collection but at that same time would be equally at home in a Berlin techno club.

Honestly, credit where credit’s due-it was a really interesting show and I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Chanel was quite literally the polar opposite of the CSM show.

Very blah.

It’s crazy because before you properly get INTO fashion, Chanel is like the epitome of style. And then you do, and you see the runway shows get lazier and lazier (with some exceptions) every year, and you realise that same prestige that had you aware of Chanel at the age of 7 or 8 is literally all that’s keeping the brand going at this point. I’m not saying the collection is flat out ugly, a lot of it’s cute, but you’re CHANEL for fuck’s sake. Yeah, I like the crucifixes but SCALLOPED HEMS!? No. I do NOT recall travelling back in time to witness Primark’s Spring 2013 collection on the runway and I am NOT having it.

It’s not at all surprising that a lot of the time newer brands Charlotte Knowles (above) tend to be more interesting than those more established-and yes that was a Chanel indirect if the transition wasn’t obvious.

With no room to rest on laurels or reputation, everything has to be bolder and smarter and more distinctive and most importantly, has to appeal to its target market with the fervour of an L.A sign spinner. I only found out about Charlotte Knowles because of a Vogue article citing her as Bella Hadid’s new favourite brand to wear, and once I saw the collection, it was clear why; daringly modern, slick, and edgy is both her street style (say what you want about her as a model but her outfit game is unbeaten) and Knowles’ USP to a T. If Dion Lee, Off-White, GCDS and Acne had an orgy, this would be the result, and that is a GOOD compliment.

Next, Chloe:

Not a huge amount to say, to be honest. Low-key, wearable, and cute. Like Emma Roberts’ Nancy Drew if she did an autumn exchange program at the Sorbonne and studied art history, libraries and coffee shops on the weekdays and galleries and protests at the weekend. On reflection, that definitely makes this collection sound more exciting than it is but there are some effortlessly beautiful pieces here. The 4th row in particular is full of stand outs-the vest with the watercolour faces on with the shirt underneath is perfection, and the burgundy suit with the saffron ruffled collar peeking out from underneath is adorable and not at all reminiscent of the Ronald McDonald inspired nightmare that any combination of red and yellow tones should theoretically be.

As for Christian Siriano, I see why people hate it, I really do. I understand that it seems kinda unfair to have it show the same week as Brock and Rodarte and Oscar de La Renta. We’re talking 2 very different kinds of quality here. BUT, at pure face value, his clothes are FUN, plus Coco Rocha will always have a special place in my heart as someone who lived on The Face and America’s Next Top Model and every show that could possibly give me an unhealthy body image ever.

Like are you telling me you wouldn’t wear these dresses to a party!? Live a little. They just need tailoring...which ideally would be done BEFORE the model’s walking down the runway in it but...you know...can’t have it all.

Christopher Kane is a show I always look forward to.

I would say his designs are the only thing that make geometry look fun but I’m going to expose myself and admit that would be a lie because I actually found geometry really fun. Trigonometry was my shit, lol.

He is a designer who perfectly demonstrates that juggling interseasonal consistency and taking risks can be done. There’s always something DIFFERENT about his collections, fresh and subtly experimental. There are occasionally a few misses, sure, but I’d rather that than for a brand to keep playing safe, plus he never goes too far in the opposite direction either; no going weird for the sake of weird. I don’t like it AS much as the summer collection but it’s mostly because of the more muted, autumn/winter appropriate colour palette.

Comme Des Garçons? Too weird?

Never.

Honestly when it comes to a CDG collection, I have to really shift my perspective to appreciate it. I’m not looking at fashion presentation, I’m looking at a moving piece of experimental art. I know, it’s a stretch. But you know you’ll never be bored by one of their shows. Not gonna lie, this specific collection crossed the line into plain ugly a couple of times for me. We had padding so extravagant it looked like several models were walking round with Ikea pillows stuck to their chest and headdresses reminiscent of the kids’ game Headbandz. In amongst that though, we did get some gorgeous veils like the ones seen above and the shoes and socks combo is actually quite wearable.

I’d say Dilara Findikoglu is the cut-off point after which things get a little too avant-garde for my personal taste, and it hovers over that cut-off point flawlessly; despite the other-worldly elements of her collections, they remain somewhat grounded by nods towards conventional fashion that allow the beauty, be it inner or outer, of the wearer to shine through. Comme Des Garcons garments undeniably have character but they tend to swallow up any trace of the individual underneath, whereas the character of Dilara Findikoglu garments seamlessly merges with the wearer and in turn elevates both to something transcendent and ethereal. If the Pussycat Dolls got transported into a rugged, post-apocalyptic future, they’d scrape together these outfits to perform in, I know it; the energy of the collection, with the body jewellery and the frayed cut outs and the chalk white faces, is very warrior princess, just as raw and intimidating as it is hot as fuck, and I want that energy in my life. Along with a Dilara belt, of course. I would wear her name like a badge of honour anytime she wants. Dilara, pls pls let me be part of your tribe. PLEASE.

Anyway, this is where I thought I’d cut things off, so as to end on a positive note. You know what that means: Dior is coming up. I feel bad knowing my first post was defending Maria Grazia and yet here I am now, looking at the bar down on the floor, but I mean, you never know; maybe girl is doing this on purpose and one day she’s gonna come out with a Gucci level quality show like a phoenix from the ashes.

If you got this far, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING even if you’re just here for the pics. Part 2 will be covering some of my most anticipated shows from Elie Saab, Fendi and Etro to Gucci and Moschino, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs, and everything in between. Yes, the shitty ones too.

I’m plowing through all the material as quick as I can so I hope to get the next post up really soon, and yes-you can count on the overwhelming sense of needing to be productive pushing me into fulfilling that statement.

Thanks again and I hope you’re well!

Lauren x

83 notes · View notes

baekchelor · 4 years

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ａｓｈｏｒｅ[iii]

pairing: bodevan cash x reader genre: Doctor! AU, Romance, Angst summary: After a fall out with your fianceé, and an opportunity to chase your dreams, you embark into a medical mission trip to Namibia where you run into self-taught doctor Bodevan Cash. Love ensues. word count: 3.8k

❝the sea beckoned to me, and all reality was lost —swept away in the entrancing song of the tide. ❞ ―meredith t. taylor

TWO ｔｗｅｌｖｅｄａｙｓ

◄ ｐｒｅｖ

Bodevan's eyes looked like the morning sky every day after the first one you met them. Per diem, Bo's mood was bright as the sun too, although you did notice the tears confined on his bottom lid once ―when he concluded nothing else could be done and called 20:16 as Moharerwa's time of death. Bo summoned you to the OR after practising the caesarean section, as the doctor responsible for keeping Moharerwa's baby alive. Meanwhile, you were transporting the newborn into the incubator, Moharerwa went into cardiac arrest, and despite all his efforts, Bo couldn't keep her alive.

She did, briefly, meet her son, and the few minutes were enough to announce his name was Bodererwa. She thanked Bo and expressed her gratitude by naming her infant with the first two syllables of Bodevan's name.

Baby Bodererwa wasn't the only patient under your care. You treated an Irish girl who suffered from nausea and developed rashes. Rellian (Bo's younger brother) and you bonded over an uncanny case of seizures, muscle weakness and vision loss, you later diagnosed as Tay Sachs Disease. Tjiruru, a Himba man on his forties, came in with an acute case of Hepatitis C. Later, Tjiruru brought his sister, who two weeks ago, at Henties Bay's clinic, was prescribed with azithromycin for bacterial pneumonia. Bodevan figured out the medicine killed pneumonia's bacteria and caused other bacteria (that usually lives in a symbiotic relationship with the body) to produce toxins AKA Tjiruru's sister illness.

On day eight, you met, for the very first time, Danny Dupont. He was from Australia, with Kiwi heritage, and the reason why Bodevan got himself a kind-of-nurse.

Danny was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, which caused his heart to fail. He came to Namibia because he didn't want to spend the rest of his days trapped in a hospital, waiting for a heart transplant. During a Safari across the Skeleton Coast, he fell in love with Peera, his tour-guide. Peera became Danny's reason to live, so he accepted to spend most of his days laying on a hospital bed if it meant he would win more time to enjoy alongside Peera. So she asked Bodevan to train her as a nurse, and Danny requested Bodevan to treat him. Now Bodevan has an Organ Donation Program running on the Himba village so, in case of any death, he can get a heart for Danny.

Today, Peera will host a "western" Birthday Party for Danny. It will be held at the hospital because Danny can't leave his cot, but Reillian will microwave a cake in a mug for him ―he saw the receipt somewhere on Pinterest―, and Bodevan managed to buy a few candles and balloons.

Also today, you're running late for your rounds. Dr Gandy video called early this morning, not to inform you about old patients, but to have breakfast with you. It was 2am for Ethan, but he ate pancakes and orange juice, the same receipt he asked room service to bring to your cabin, with the bacon crisped just like you like it, and with blueberries marmalade instead of syrup. You talked bout your medical experiences in Namibia, and that he will keep the Hamptons' beach house and Harper will have the pent-house in Soho. Ethan also said he misses you like crazy.

Guilt substituted the sugar in your coffee, souring the moment, and making clear that you wish you could say the same to Ethan. And you did, of course, you did, you lied. Truth is, Danny and his heart transplant, Bodererwa and his chances of survival, and every patient you've treated so far, keep your mind busy to the extent that, when you collide on bed, the only thought on your mind is to finally be able to rest.

Or so you tell yourself. Considering that dreamland and the pillow talk with your subconscious revolve around a particular wonderful being named Bodevan Cash.

"Morning!" all smiles, you greet as you walk into the teepee. You've grown to love the place.

"Morning, Intern!" and you've grown to love the nickname he calls you. Bodevan is teaching you about surgery, and yoga, and Hambi language, and about why the globe's entire population should be Maoists.

The boy is erudite. He was homeschooled, and his parents did a hell of a great job. To the point, Bodevan received college acceptance letters from numerous Ivy League schools. "I've got something to show you. Come here."

Bo hands you a pile of old letters. Right away, you know what they are, and you can't help but stare at each of them with your mouth agape.

"Holy Cow," your wide eyes travel to meet his. "Why didn't you go to any of this? Harvard is the best school for medicine out there."

"I never pictured myself as a Doctor," he says, while you check the charts for today patients. "I just wanted to go to college, be a normal guy. But when mom died, well...life has a funny way of trampling dreams, huh?"

"Yeah, it does," you murmur softly. "Sometimes, I just feel as if life controls me, instead of it being the other way around."

Bo looks at you knowingly, but careful of his own words, "Why do I get the feeling you're talking about your marriage?"

"I love Ethan. I'm just... if you've asked me what I wanted to do at my twenties, I would answer joining Doctors Without Borders, not getting married," you answer quietly, surprised at what has just left your lips. Hearing the inner thought that had been plaguing you for the past months being said out loud unnerved you.

"Was he upset about your trip here?" asks Bodevan.

"No. He encouraged me to do it, he even paid the ticket. I guess only because I was upset about him being married before. I know Ethan. He did this to erase the guilt from his system, to try to indulge me," you tell, fiddling with your white coat.

Bo eyes you in surprise, startled, "I-I didn't know he was married."

"He is married. They'll sign the divorce papers in two days. He never really told me, I just found out because his wife made an appearance at the hospital we both work at."

Bo remains silent for a while.

"I'm sorry. I have no idea why I'm telling you all this," you intervene awkwardly, suddenly feeling ashamed. He probably thought you were an idiot for sticking with a man who blatantly lied to your face. And you were likely making it worse by ranting on about your fiancé whom you swore a thousand times before that you were madly in love with.

But Bodevan just smiles. "No, it's alright. It helps to let things out. But if I were you, I'd tell him how I felt. If you're going to be spending the rest of your life with him…"

You sigh. He is right.

"Forget about it. What about you?" you pipe. "Any significant others?"

"N-no," he is all shy again, averting his blue orbs to the floor, as far from you as possible, and stuttering.

"But I assure you, he has ladies lining up for a shot," Peera quickly meddles, grinning. She's grabbing serum and a needle from the cabinets, probably for Danny.

You raise your brow, teasing, "Oh? Even with that 70's hairstyle?"

Peera gasps, clutching her chest dramatically. "I'm offended! I think it looks quite sexy on him, or so I heard..."

You giggle as the girl wiggles her eyebrows, Bodevan flushing red.

"I was kidding. It does," you confess.

"D-Does what?" asks Bodevan.

"Look sexy."

For a second, you don't quite realize what you'd said. But as Bo smirks, a bell goes off in your head. You feel your cheeks burn and you hastily look away from him, embarrassed. What is wrong with you?

You clear your throat, gaze hiding from Bo, "I should start my rounds."

These past few days were what you could only describe as confusing. And you had a feeling the confusion started when you accidentally told your mentor that his eyes looked like the morning sky.

It didn't help that during one of your night shifts, you dozed off on his shoulder, only to wake up sensing the weight of his head resting on top of yours, his breath on your hair, your lips near his neck.

It didn't help that over your clumsy attempts of getting into crow pose, you noticed how lovely his crooked smile was, and how when he chuckled, his eyes crinkled up at the corners.

And it certainly didn't help that you woke up to skies as clear and blue as Bodevan's eyes.

Nevertheless, you kenned something was seriously wrong when Bodevan touches your hand, and you actually feel sparks fly ―although that's medical impossible and you are a doctor, you should know. Or that when he, for some miracle, looks you in the eyes, your heart somersaults ―another impossible medical matter. Or that when he leans in to whisper some of his intellectual jokes that most of the time, you don't understand, goosebumps wash over your skin.

Something is happening, something is definitely happening, you just refuse to admit it to yourself.

At downfall, Peera and Danny urged you out of duty so you could go back to the cabin and get changed. With pleading brown eyes, Peera asked you to wear something special. She's been saving money for a while ―turns out Bodevan not only built a miracle in the middle of nowhere. In like manner, he helps the Hambi to sell handicrafts and jewellery at a souvenir store―, and the past weekend, Rellian drove her all the way to Henties Bay to buy a beautiful emerald dress. Therefore, you stopped by the hotel boutique and used Ethan's credit card to buy a gown made by a fluttering pink fabric.

When one of the hotel vans dropped you off at Bo's clinic, you're welcomed by the melody Bodevan and Danny are crafting through their guitars. They are singing Guns N' Roses' Patience, and although the one with the good voice is Danny, you can't seem to drag your attention away from Bodevan. He is wearing a suave, intricately patterned mustard jacket, buttoned low so that his chest peeks through. You hate that he looks so good in it.

A wide smile spreads across your features as you cheer for both guys once they've strummed their last chords. And then, the smile is stolen away when a tall, leggy blonde [you've never seen before] is suddenly leaning next to Bo, a flirty smirk on her lips. The girl whispers something to his ear, Bodevan goes beet red but nods anyway. To your annoyance, he follows her to the drink station Peera put together ashore.

Bitting down on the inside of your cheek, you watch Bodevan lean close into her, turning on the charms he ignores he posses. You force yourself to turn away, squeezing yous lids shut to get rid of the disappointment that is dawning your heart.

Why the hell are you getting this affected by him? He is your mentor, your peer. You've known him for a grand total of six days. Most importantly, you are engaged.

A hand carefully resting on your shoulder, pulls you off your thoughts. You turn, only to come upon Peera. "Her name is Elise. She's been trying to get in his pants since he fixed her sprained ankle a week ago."

"She hasn't managed," comments Rellian, handing you a red cup filled by what you presume to be wine. Chardonnay. 80's music blasts from the speakers shove over Bodevan's desk, and Rellian offers you a hand, "Do you want to dance?" His voice is bright and warm, and his enthusiasm washes over you. It is challenging to pint-point him as the angry teenager Bo told you about.

"Absolutely," you take his hand easily. "I should warn you, though, I'm not very good."

"That's fine. We'll take it slow." Rellian's grin is so inviting that you can't be worried about your poor dancing skills, so you happily follow him out to the beach. The song is an upbeat one, which suits his mood.

"It seems you've fully recovered from Bodevan breaking your heart a couple minutes ago," he jokes

"It's a shame he didn't do any damage," you shoot back, obviously kidding. "If I was heartbroken, I wouldn't have to dance with you."

Rellian laughs, "I'm glad you're as funny as everyone says you are. I hear you're my brother's favourite, too." It sounds as if it is common knowledge. "And that your engagement is troublesome―"

"I wouldn't call it troublesome," part of you is sick of people saying that. Another part yearned for it to be different, although you know people speak the truth. It is troublesome. Sighing, you confess, "Ethan lied to me. He is married, about to get divorced but married still. We' have been engaged for over a year, and I just found out about it a month ago."

Rellian stops dancing for a moment, shocked at what he's just heard. He quickly picks back up, studying your expression for a moment. "I didn't realize that was what was going on," he says softly, apologetic. "I mean, you know I want my brother to get the girl, but I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks," you shrug. "I feel stupid more than anything."

Rellian pulls you in a little closer, yet keeping a respectful distance. "Trust me, Intern, any man who passes up the chance to be with you is the stupid one."

"Bo just passed me up..." <<Oh my god. What is wrong with you?>>

"That's how I know," he replies, followed by a thread of giggles. On cue, you glance over Rellian's shoulder and find Bodevan dancing with Elise.

Seven glasses of wine have paved their way through your system, Rellian keeps throwing jokes as you swing your figures to the beat of the music, when you hear his voice beside you, "My lady?" Rellian freezes in the spot, a knowing smirk appearing on his features. Complicit glances are exchanged, and finally, you turn on your heels to find yourself face to face, lip to lip, with Bodevan Cash. "May I have this dance?"

That feeling, that indefinable something, courses through you. As dejected as you'd felt, as embarrassed as you'd been, when Bodevan offers that moment, instead of to Elise, you have to take it. Because the song is slow, and it is Guns N' Roses, and the waves are crashing on the shore...And you're drunk.

"Of course."

Bodevan, clearly drunk as well, entwines your hands together and walks you near the seaside, where the water can dance as well, underneath your feet. He doesn't seem uncomfortable, or as if he fancied to dance with someone else rather than with you. On the contrary, Bodevan holds you so close you can smell his cologne and feel his stubble against the skin of your cheek.

"I was wondering if I was going to get a dance at all," you comment, trying to sound playful. Bodevan succeeds to pull you even closer.

"I-I needed to drink up my courage, so my second-thoughts are over. Now I'm brave enough to enjoy the rest of the night with you." This time you can blame it on the alcohol, but as both always do near each other, the two flush furiously. Sometimes Bodevan's words are like single lines of novels or movies. After dating Ethan for so long, it is weird to flirt with a guy that turns beet red on the cheeks, shy to speak bluntly. Ethan does it without an effort, he always speaks his mind, whether to compliment or with the sole purpose to hurt. They are poles apart. In every way possible. Bodevan didn't go to Dartmouth like Ethan did, Bo acquired his vast knowledge out of countless books. Still and all, he is as good a doctor as Ethan Gandy.

You are kneen on different and too stubborn to accept it, but the racing on your pulse betrays you.

"You look lovely, Intern. Much too beautiful to be on the arm of someone like me."

"Someone like you? This has been perfect, Bo."

"Agreed," he giggles. "Let's do this next year. Danny will have a new heart by then."

You look at him. Next year?

"Would you like that?"

"I won't be here next year, Bo..."

He stops dancing. "Why wouldn't you?"

On a dime, it hits him. Thank God, because you don't really want to say out loud the reason why this won't happen next year, at least not with you present, is that you'll leave in a couple weeks, get married and never come back. Despite the words ain’t articulated aloud, you know Bo has heard them, and you know he espies the water welling up in your eyes and how hard you're trying to hide them.

"Intern."

You gaze down at the wet sand. The water suddenly feels cold.

"Intern, look at me," he says gently. "I'm such a nincompoop. I had just discerned tonight is all we have and I-I misused half of it by dancing with Elise." His voice is hoarse, frustrated. "I thought you felt secure in your standing." What? You are missing something here. Bodevan sighs, not relieved, but hugely nervous. The following words are said as his ocean orbs are settled elsewhere, anywhere, but your face. "Honestly? From the beginning, I've really only looked at you, wanted you." Bodevan manages to meet with your eyes, and his gaze is emotional, and blue and so deep that it overcomes you. So, for a moment, you duck your head. "I'm having a hard time accepting that you will leave... It's fine though, you'd be surprised how infrequently I get what I truly want."

You've treated with patients for years now, you've been trained to tell when they lie, how they're really feeling, find out their buried truths. And you can tell Bodevan is hiding something, some sadness he isn't prepared to share. But he shakes it away and resumes the talking, starting to sway to the music again. "But we have tonight, haven't we?. . ."—Bo looks at your eyes. Unwavering. —"There's only you, and me, and this beach. Tonight."

It takes you a moment to attain the correct rhythm of your breath and heart. You could understand the feeling— that it is unlucky, a kick in the ass from fate. Deep, deep inside you, you feel like that daily as well.

"We do," you whisper into his neck. "We have tonight." His lips are at your ear, kissing your earlobe. The arm resting on his back draws him nearer, and he mimics the action until you're physically closer to each other than you'd ever been.

You jump over a wave, and a chuckle bursts out when you turn around and notice Bodevan chasing you out of the sea. The level of alcohol is higher in your system, and your fancy dress is soaked by saltwater.

Bodevan runs faster, and as you're about to reach the back entrance of the teepee, he reaches for your hand, dragging you against his chest.

Before you can speak, he has you up against the wall, his body covering yours entirely. Bo is breathing heavily, panting, and you're just as breathless, not only because you'd just run like a madwoman. Bodevan's proximity to you and the way you can literally feel his chest rise and fall against you with his unsteady breaths is making your brain melt —even though you know, that is medically impossible too.

“What's wrong—”

He hisses and brings his hand up over your mouth. You halt, your breath stopping as you hear Peera and Danny's grunts and moans and pants.

With a crimson streak across his cheeks, Bodevan shuts his eyes and swears softly, not removing his hand from your mouth. You keep very still, trying to stay calm by breathing in and out through your nose.

"How do we proceed?"

"The hotel van will pick me up soon."

The pants grow fainter, but you're still able to hear Peera moaning Danny's name. You don't want to disturb them, or announce your presence outside, mere meters away from they having sex. This is their special night, and who doesn't enjoy a dose of birthday sex?

Bodevan doesn't let go of you for another 5 minutes. He just stands there like that, his forehead pressed against yours. Only when you are blinded by the lights of the van approaching, he quickly drops his hand.

"Peera and Rellian will take over tomorrow. We both have the day off. So see you M-Monday."

You swallow, "Do you want to come with me? I have wine in my cabin's mini bar—"

"Alright," mutters Bodevan, shaking his head at his very own embarrassment. "I-I would love to."

"Okay."

He smiles.

Breathless. That's how you'll describe your symptoms at this precise period in time. And you had been standing still for the past 15 minutes.

Why is he making you like this?

You catch his eyes widen in surprise as you grab his hand and lead with to the insides of the van. You greet the driver and set off.

After you’ve reached Shipwreck Lodge, and you fidget with the keys to open your bedroom door, you remember Elise and their shared laughter, their noses almost brushing as they talked, and how Bo dismissed the whole thing. Uncertain about the weird feeling stirring in your stomach, you say, "So you really don't like Elise, huh? She must have been upset to see you running away with me like that..."

Bodevan raises his eyebrows, "Oh, it's no problem at all. I don't care about her. A certain other girl caught my eye, you see. And I can't ignore her. Not when she robs my attention with every small detail."

Your heart hammers in your chest. "Oh. Good for you."

Bodevan shakes his head. "Not really. She's engaged."

You almost believe he will talk further, because of the way he glances at you, his eyes sparkling with things unsaid and his lips parted. Or maybe he is about to kiss you...

But he just drags his stare back to his converse, and you grab two cups and pour white wine, hit play on your Guns N’ Roses playlist and invite him to sit down with you at the edge your mattress.

You aren't sure how long you lay there, talking to him. At some point, your eyes start drooping, as are his, and you fall asleep like that beside him, bodies over the undo bed, feet tangled together, and your hair sprawled across his chest. Without even noticing that at some moment during the night, your engagement ring fell from your finger, leaving it empty.

ｎｅｘｔ►

#sorry for taking longer than usual #IT REALLY IS HARD TO WRIT E BO #ashore #ashore:two #George mackay #George mackay x reader #bodevan cash #captain fantastic #1917

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alternativewinxcontinuity · 5 years

Text

Driven Mad Driving Lessons at Alfea bring an issue to light. Stella Centric, Winx friendship Centric Surprise angst with a happy ending.

Palladium tapped his classroom's board, and a list scrawled itself down one side.

“Alright girls, it's second semester, which means that-”

“Driving!” Whooped an excited blonde fairy, and Palladium sighed.

“Yes Stella, driving lessons are now in session.” The professor pointed to the list on the board, “I've broken you up into smaller groups and scheduled you all on different days, please check your times carefully and report to the training tracks for your lessons.”

He fixed a meaningful look at Stella, who giggled nervously.

“Don't worry professor, I'll do way better this year.”

Palladium sighed, “please do, I doubt even your father will be happy to replace another training vehicle.”

Stella sniffled as she sat in her bathrobe, Bloom brushing her hair. Flora handed over a cup of floral scented tea, which Stella accepted with a quiet 'thanks'.

The door of the Dormitory opened and the rest of the Winx entered.

“The good news is that it can be fixed,” Musa answered before they could ask.

“I've volunteered to help with the repairs,” Tecna added, “but the damage is mostly aesthetic.”

Aisha stepped forwards and knelt before the miserable princess, “how are you doing?”

Stella sobbed, “I just don't know what happened! Everything was fine and then! Then... boom!?”

Aisha put a comforting hand on her knee, “well, this is what the practice is for.”

“I know but...” Stella sniffled again, gratefully accepting the tissue Bloom handed her. “This keeps happening! Last year was even worse!”

“Oh, we know,” Musa said, “they showed us the pictures.

“It does seem odd that Stella's so bad at driving though,” Flora commented.

“Oh, I know!” Bloom said, “what if we asked professor Palladium if we could use the Magical Reality Chamber instead, that way if something goes wrong, at least we won't have to worry about a real car.”

Tecna considered the idea and nodded, “the simulation should be easy enough to program, and it would be... more efficient.”

“Yeah...” Stella said in a lacklustre tone.

With a gentle hand Bloom pulled Stella's head back as she leaned forward so she could look her friend in the eye. “Hey, what's wrong?”

Stella let out a heavy sigh, “I just... I'm starting to feel like I'm cursed. I know driving shouldn't be this hard, I know I can do it, but every time I try...”

“Huh,” Flora said, “it's not like it's outside of the realm of possibility.”

“We can look into it at the very least,” Aisha agreed, and Stella looked at her friends in surprise.

“Really? You... you don't think I'm just... making things up for attention?”

Musa snorted, “Stella please, we know you, you don't need to make things up to ask for attention, why would you make shit up about this?”

“Stell'?” Bloom said, concern in her voice when Stella didn't immediately reply. The blonde hunching in on herself instead. “Who said what?” Bloom asked in a tone that made it clear someone was about to make her shit-list.

Stella shook her head, “It doesn't matter.”

“Bullshit,” Bloom said as she moved to sit next to her friend, “in the words of a very wise witch: 'if it matters to you, it matters.'”

“What witch said that?” Aisha asked.

“Pheobe Halliwell, she's a good witch from an Earth show,” Bloom answered before turning her attention back to Stella, “and this seems like it matters to you.” The rest of the Winx made sounds of agreement.

“Tayla, my dorm mate last year, we were, well, knowing you all now I can see we weren't friends, but we were kind of friends, at least, kinda?” Stella made a face as she tried to decide what to say, but Bloom slid an arm around her shoulders and Stella realised she could tell them everything.

“She acted so nice, she had this thing though? Where, in the lead up to asking me for a favour, she'd start laying on thick with the compliments? And you know how I like to keep my closet arranged?”

“In that alleged order that doesn't make any sense, but you definitely know where everything is supposed to go?” Musa asked.

“Actually,” Tecna said, “it does have a specific logic to the sorting... it's just not one most people would use.”

Stella gave a small smile which slipped quickly from her face, “right, that. I kept noticing clothes move or disappear, and Tayla would always say she didn't know anything about it, or that my clothes were probably in the laundry or... and my jewellery too, my books, everything, kept moving, or vanishing for short periods, and my perfume kept running out way too fast. And the thing is, it was usually around the time Tayla had a date with someone.”

“You think she was stealing your stuff to wear to her dates?” Flora asked.

“Yeah, I do,” Stella admitted. “But she had this one dress she always wore to her dates, she's a serial dater, no boy twice, kind of deal, but I just... got this feeling. And it wasn't like my stuff would go missing on the day of the date, or even just for the duration,” Stella shook her head. “Sometimes it was a day, sometimes it was almost a week, but after the date my things would come back. Never on a set schedule, so I couldn't prove they were linked. I told Griselda once, but, well, nothing came of it.”

Bloom's embraced tightened around her friend's shoulder.

“It's weird though,” Stella continued, “after that I kept noticing people refer to me as 'scatter-brained', like, I don't have info-graphic charts but it was suddenly from nothing to really frequent, and not in that, I heard a word now I'm hearing it everywhere kind of way either.”

“If there was no evidence to pin the theft,” Musa said, “she might have tried to throw Griselda off the scent even further by saying you were 'scatter-brained' and just kept misplacing things.”

“Maybe threw out a few mentions here and there to the rest of the school,” Aisha added.

“I...” Stella hesitated, but Bloom's arm was around her, safe and secure, and her friends were on her side. “I wouldn't put it past her. Every time I started doing well at something, or I started getting along with someone... it was like someone sabotaged me, I suddenly couldn't find my pens, my schedule was full of errors, just here and there and always so slight I didn't notice until I showed up for something and was late. And there was Tayla with a spare pen, or notes for the things I missed, or to tell me the boy I liked wasn't worth it if he didn't want to wait for me.”

“That's really creepy,” Bloom said, her mind connecting things in ways she hoped were wrong. “Was she like that with the driving lessons too?”

Stella shuddered so faintly Bloom only knew because she was holding her.

“Yeah,” Stella admitted, “I'd run the curb or hit a post or something would run in front of me, it was like the car was fighting me. Palladium never seemed to notice, and whenever I told Tayla she'd laugh it off, tell me I was 'being dramatic' or 'looking for attention'. When I told her I was worried about failing to qualify for my driver's license she said I was a princess, I could just have a driver take me everywhere, if she was in my shoes, that's what she'd do. She told me I was lucky like that.”

Stella paused as something occurred to her, frowning she went on, “she said that a lot know that I think about it. Mentioning how lucky I was to be a princess, what she'd do if she we in my shoes.”

“Bloom?” Flora asked, and everyone turned to the paler-than-should-have-been-possible ginger.

“Bloom, what is it?” Stella turned to her friend more fully.

“I... I don't want to freak you out,” Bloom said as she tried to swallow back a wave of bile, “but you know how I mentioned Pheobe Halliwell before? Form the Earth show?” The Winx weren't sure where she was going but nodded anyway, because they did remember Bloom mentioning it mere minutes ago.

“Okay, so the show follows three sisters who happened to be good witches, only the oldest gets this cool job and she gets an assistant or something, I haven't seen it in ages, I can't quite remember, but... and oh God I hope I'm wrong to relate this to that but, the assistant becomes obsessed with the eldest sister, she wants to be the eldest sister, to the point where she steals her clothes and wears them and kidnaps her at one point so she can literally take over her life and replace her.”

“Oh,” Musa said faintly, “and there was me thinking this bitch was trying to make Stella reliant on her for 'normal' stalker reasons.”

“Okay,” Aisha said sternly before they could all start freaking out. “Where is this girl now? I don't recognise her name.”

“She dropped out of Alfea,” Tecna said, a device in her hand, information scrolling rapidly across the screen. Stella nodded, seemingly aware of that tid-bit of information. “Looks like she moved to Solaria with her family and applied to join the Royal Solstice Academy.”

Stella whimpered, “I was supposed to go there after I got myself kicked out of Alfea.”

“I'm sorry,” Flora said with a frown, “'got yourself kicked out'? It wasn't about a new shade of pink then?”

Aisha frowned, not having been around to hear about Stella blowing up a lab.

“So why come back then?” Musa asked.

“My parents really wanted me to be an Alfea girl,” Stella said, pulling her hair into her hands to give herself something to do with the nervous energy. “I didn't want to, and they agreed to put me into Solstice, but then my friend Varanda was supposed to go here this year, and while she was on campus for tour, someone mentioned that Tayla had left the school not long after me, and Varanda mentioned it to me because 'hey isn't that weird, both dormies left around the same time.' So I thought I'd be okay to come back.”

“Well I'm glad you did,” Bloom said, colour returning to her face ad she cuddled her best friend.

Around their lounging area the rest of their friends agreed.

Except for Tecna who had gone very still.

“Stella,” and that was all it took for them to realise there was bad news. “She transferred back at the start of this semester.”

Kiko leapt onto their table, and made a small shriek of protest, swiping at the air like he was fighting off an enemy.

“Kiko's right,” Flora said, “we can stand by and do nothing, this girl has to be stopped.”

“Can't let her follow you around forever,” Aisha agreed, “we need to take this to Griselda and Faragonda and make sure they understand how serious we are about this.”

“But last time...” Stella's protest trailed off as Tecna fixed her with a look.

“They know us now, they trust us and our opinions, if we set everything out for them, even they can't deny there's something not right going on.”

“They'll need evidence to do anything about it though,” Musa said with a scowl.

“So we make a plan,” Bloom said, “we figure out how to prove something is happening. Griselda herself taught us a lot about battle tactics, Tayla is the enemy, waging guerrilla war fare on us. So... how do we track down our enemy?”

Stella looked nervous as she made her way to the car, Palladium waited patiently beside the vehicle.

“Are you alright to do this?” her asked.

Stella nodded, “let's do it, the worst they can be is wrong.”

Palladium hummed quietly in agreement as they got in the car.

As always, Stella ran through all her checks and gave a wave to the Winx Club who were sitting in the waiting area for their turn. Bloom waved back and gave her a hand sign, which Stella returned with an 'understood'.

Pulling out onto the training road, Stella double checked the road and her gauges.

'All clear,' she added some speed, keeping a close watch on everything. The road ahead was clean and clear as she turned into a corner-

The car slid, the air cushion between vehicle and ground warped like the car had physically hit some kind of oil slick. The body tilted, and Stella tried to correct, but the vehicle refused to respond.

'CRUNCH!'

Stella could hear ringing in her ears, a glance at Palladium told her he was rattled but alright.

Magic swirled around Stella as she sought any trace of magical interference she could.

'There,' she didn't bother to undo her seat belt, her form collapsing into a sparkling ball of energy she raced after her prey.

The invisibility spell was good, but not good enough to fool her.

“You made me look quite the fool last year, young lady,” as she drop the glittery form and returned to her normal body, Griselda reached down and clamped a hand around the girl's wrist, breaking the invisibility spell as she pulled Tayla from her hiding place in the bushes.

“Huh? But you?” Tayla looked confused, stammering excuses as Griselda dragged her away.

“I should have taken Miss Stella seriously last year when she came to me, but you hide yourself well enough to get away with it.” Griselda said, the anger evident in her voice. “I do hope you realise that your little curses with the school vehicles could bee seen as an attempt at murdering a member of the Solarian Royal Family.”

Judging by Tayla's sudden wailing, she had not realised.

two months later

Stella was crying as Palladium handed her the certificate of completion. She'd done it, at last, she could now apply for a Dimension wide driver's license.

Behind her the rest of the Winx were cheering loudly, when Stella returned to them, Bloom swept her into a fierce hug.

“How does it feel?”

“Like freedom?”

“Well then,” Tecna said, breaking up the jubilation, “shall we change into something more comfortable so we can head to the lecture hall, I have the show set to play, and I just got a text: the food has arrived!”

“Show?” Stella asked, she'd been aware they were getting celebratory food, but she hadn't heard about any show.

“Oh, yeah,” Bloom shrugged, “you remember that show about the good witches I mentioned? I got the DVDs, and Tecna managed to make them compatible with the lecture hall projector. I finally get to share all my favourite Earth movies and shows with you all!”

“Ohh! Do they have any fashion shows?” Stella asked as she let herself be pulled along.

“Oh, my mum mentioned something new called 'Project Runway' that you might be interested in?”

“That does sound like my kind of thing,” Stella grinned.

They had to restart the show only ten minutes in when other students heard about the screening and asked to join in. Rapidly the lecture hall filled with students in pyjamas, bringing blankets and pillows and all kinds of snacks, some of which were technically contraband.

Not that the teachers did anything about it as they sat up the back sipping also technically contraband beverages.

Snuggled in a cuddle pile at the front, Stella felt cherished, and so lucky to have found her friends. As they'd been changing in their PJ's and collecting their blankets, she and Aisha had shared a silent moment as they placed their certificate of completion on the bench.

As princesses, they were always going to belong to their people, their own wants and needs a secondary concern, but this, the ability to drive, to take control and get where she wanted under her own power? It was freedom in a way every girl felt.

As the trio of sisters came together on screen, Stella quietly thanked the universe for every drop of luck, good or bad, that had brought her to this point. (That had brought her home.)

#winx #winx club #winx club stella #Winx Alt Con #oh my god the screen refreshed at random as I was editing this 2700 word fic #Stella-centric #bullying #this was supposed to be fluff but I wrote angry #fanfic #fanfiction #I was meant to be finishing off another project but this happened

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reject-princess97 · 5 years

Text

Harry Styles

I've been here, in LA for five months and two weeks and in the time I had met up with an old friend, started dating that old friend and then gotten engaged to said old friend.

Before you jump ahead of yourself you should know a few things about him.

1st: his name is Harry, and he is 24 years old. I am the same age as he his. Only a couple month younger.

2nd: I met Harry when I was 7 years old and I moved onto the same street as he and his family and I became fast friends with him and his sister.

3rd: His older sister is my best friend.

4th: Harry was in a very big boyband and when he went touring around the world we lost our way, I used to have a huge crush on him and when he left I told me he felt the same but then he got to busy to deal with a relationship so we broke up. It was mutual, we just didn't have time with each other. After that we only spoke when he visited his family and even then we didn't say much.

Jump to about seven and a half months ago when I found my boyfriend in bed with my mum, which is not surprising she was always a dick and she was never home. She was always out partying, drinking spending the weekend high of her tits with some junkie who was looking to sleep with her. She shacked up with my boyfriend, in my house, then kicked me out. She then began dating my Ex and I moved in with Gemma until a found a new place.

Not long after that I got an opportunity to spend six months in the states, LA to be exact, working on my Photography. I packed everything I needed, said goodbye to Anne and Gemma and took off to LA.

Two weeks in and I was happy to be away from my bitch of a mother and Ex, but I missed my family with Gemma and Anne so I did the only thing I could think of at the time. Call Harry.

We met up for coffee and then became really good friends again until I began feeling things for him again and I began to distance my self. Harry noticed and wouldn't let me go until I told him what was going on. I told him and next thing you know we're dating.

The last night Harry and I got talking and some how, I don't remember exactly, he asked me to marry him and I said yes, we decided to just do it, without our family because if we did they would talk us out of it and we didn't want to be turn apart by people who didn't quite understand. So here we are, Harry and I, stood out side of the city hall, waiting nervously, for our names to me called.

I sat there, my hand in his, feeling like I was about to throw up, me knee bouncing up and down and I watched as people walked past. Before we had even woken up properly, Harry and I were out the house and shopping, for everything we would need. I bought a nice white skater dress and a pair of blue converse...because I swore I wasn't getting married in anything BUT converse. I had on a necklace my dad had bought me when I was 12, before he died and I also had on a bracelet I had borrowed from Gemma a while ago.

So I had something Old, Something new, something borrowed and something blue. Next stop was a jewellery shop, where we bought a couple silver rings and Harry insisted on buying me an engagement ring that matched.

We then headed home where we changed and then headed back out, this time to the city hall where Harry had managed to book us and appointment to get married.

"Hey, you OK?" Harry asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked up into his big green eyes and somehow I felt all my nerves wash away. I smiled and nodded, leaning up and kissing his lips.

"I'm about to marry you, I'm so much better than OK." I told him as I pulled away.

"So, you're not having second thoughts?" He asked. I saw worry and panic flash behind his eyes and I shook my head.

"No, Harry, no second thoughts, no cold feet, nothing but excitement and love for you." I reassured him.

"Is this not what you want?" I questioned. He let out a sharp, loud laughed.

"Ha, this is what I've wanted since I was 7 years old and you moved into the house down my street." he informed me.

"Really?" I asked, feeling a little shocked. He had told me about his crush on me growing up, Like I said before, we dated for a few months after he felt for tour with One Direction.

"Yeah, my mum used to make fun of me for it." He chuckled.

"Are we doing the right thing, not waiting for our family I mean?" I asked when I noticed Harry's smile fade a little at the mention of his mum.

"We are, we love each other and that's all that matters to me." He told me as he kissed the back of my hand. I was about to answer when our names were called.

"Styles/Y/L/N"

"That's us." I smiled as we stood up.

We walked towards the woman who called our names and she led us into a big ass room that wall pretty empty. Just a table and a woman stood at the end in a smart black suit and black heeled shoes.

"Hello, my name is Emma Black, I will be marrying you two today. Is there anybody else coming today?" She asked as she reached her.

"No, just the two of us." Harry smiled, tightening his grip on my hand just a little.

"Well, let's get started shall we." She grinned and opened the book in her hands.

"Today, we are gathered to celebrate the love you two share for each other and to allow the eyes of the law and god to see the love you to share as you are bound together in matrimony." She read then looked up at the two of us. "If it's OK with you, I would like you to read your vows." She gestured to Harry.

"OK, well, as this was a pretty quick decision, I didn't really right anything, so i'm just gonna tell you why I want this." He spoke, taking both my hands in his and turning me to face him.

"I love you, I have done since I was 7 years old. We drifted apart and I think that was what we needed to because when we found each other again, I got to fall in love with you all over again and remember why you made my heart skip a beat every time you smile." as he spoke my eyes filled with tears and I guess one fell because he wiped it away with his thumb as he continued.

"There have been other people in our time apart and I like to think that the reason it didn't work out with any of them is because we belong together and we were destined to be here. We belong together and when we return home and tell my mum we got married she'll be happy and cry...and my sister will kill us." He chuckled making me laugh to.

"I love you Y/N so much and I am so grateful that you said yes and after today will be spending our lives together. We will have our ups and downs, we'll fight and make up and I'll make you angry and upset but I will always remind you, everyday, that I love you and I always will."

"Miss Y/L/N, your turn." Emma smiled and I nodded.

"OK, well, that's gonna be hard to top." I chuckled "But six months ago, I felt my life was over, My boyfriend cheated on my with my mum. My dad was gone and the only people I had to turn to were Gemma and your mum. Then something great happened. I got an offer from my job to spend six months in LA and I took it. I packed my bags, said bye to Gemma and your mum and I took off. I felt lost after I got here, I didn't know anybody and I hated that I had nobody close by to talk to. Then I remember you. My childhood best friend. The boy who moved away to become a big star.

"When I called you six months ago I just needed a piece of home. Somebody I knew to talk to and for my life to start looking up. But I got so much more. I got my best friend back, I fell in love and now I have a husband who I will love and cherish forever.

"We have a hell of a journey ahead of us and I can't wait to share it with you. I love you Harry with all my heart and if when we get back to England and Gemma really does kill us, I'll die happy knowing I got to spend these last six months with you and my last days married to you."

"OK, Guys, that was beautiful. shall we continue?" She asked and we both nodded.

"Ok, Harry do you take Y/N to be your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to love her when times are tough? Do you promise to keep her safe from harm and make her happy any way you can? Do you swear to always be there for her when she needs you and be honest and truthful for as long as you both shall live?" Emma asked.

"I do." Harry grinned as he slipped a ring onto my finger. Another tear fell from my eyes and he wiped them away as Emma began again.

"And Y/N do you take Harry to be your lawful wedded Husband? Do you promise to love him when times are tough? Do you promise to keep him safe from harm and make him happy any way you can? Do you swear to always be there for him when he needs you and be honest and truthful for as long as you both shall live?

"I do." I whispered as I slipped the ring on his finger.

"Well then, by the power vested in me, by the State of California and the United States of America, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations you my now kiss your spouse." She smiled taking a step back.

I didn't even have time to think before Harry had his arms around my waist and had pulled me into a kiss. I chuckled against his lips and I kissed him softly but passionately. We pulled away and smiled at each other and turned to Emma who cleared her throat.

"I just need you to sign these papers and you can leave." She smiled. We smiled and we signed the papers. Harry asked her to take a few photos of the two of us and she did so before congratulating us again and we left after saying our thank you.

We walked out of the City Hall and we headed home.

"We did it, we got married." I smiled up at Harry as we walked to our apartment, that was a few blocks away.

"We did. Are you happy?" He asked me.

"The happiest." I grinned as we entered our apartment building.

"Good." He smiled.

"What about you, are you happy with the wife you chose?" I grinned as I stopped at our door and unlocked it.

"The happiest." he grinned back as he bent down and kissed me, sweeping my legs up and picking we up off the ground. He carried me through the door and kicked it shut.

"Welcome home wife." He smiled as he kissed me. He pulled away and smiled wide.

"God I love saying that, Wife, you're my wife, I love you wife." He smiled as he walked into the apartment and towards the bedroom where he placed me gently in the bed.

"I love you too husband." I chuckled as I lent up as kissed him softly as he lay me down on the bed when we...well you know what we did.

*Two Weeks Later*

It had been two whole weeks since Harry and I said 'I do' and last night we landed back in the UK. We hadn't told anybody about the wedding yet, mainly because we hadn't actually seen anybody and because we were just enjoying ourselves before we came home to tell everyone and have our heads chewed off by Gemma and Anne.

Last night Harry decided to stay at my place but this morning he left early to go see his mum and sister before we tell them and now I was stood outside his sisters house ready to see everyone.

I took a deep breath and smiled, this is gonna be the first time I'd seen my best friend in six months and a lot has changed. I cut my hair and dyed it, from blonde to a dark Brown but that was just after I left so she'd seen it on Skype but not in real life, face to face. I got my nose pierced and I got contacts. OH and let's not forget I got married!

To her brother.

"Honey, I'm home!" I called as I entered my best friends house. It was quiet so I dropped my bag by the stairs and kicked my shoes off, the blue converse I had gotten married in to be exact. "Gemma, you home?" I called when I got no reply. "Harry!"

"In the kitchen!" Gemma called back and as I entered I spotted Harry sitting on the counter, a huge smile on his face. Gemma was starring at him, she looked like she was pissed off.

"Hey, what's up Chuck!" I said as I walked in and jumped on the counter next to Harry, smiling softly up at Harry as he watched me.

"You will never guess what happened to my doofus brother while he was in the states!" Gemma sighed as she turned to me. I looked up at him and shrugged, he shot me a sly wink and a huge grin and I chuckled.

"What's he done this time?" I asked, knowing full well what he had done, I'd done the same.

"He got married!" She yelled. "Like he actually said 'I do' to some stranger." Gemma told me, Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"She isn't a stranger Gem, in fact I've known her for years." He told her. I watched as she shrugged.

"And I know for a fact you will love her...like a sister." Harry smiled as he jumped off the table and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around his sisters shoulder and moved her until she stood in front of me I grinned at her and waved "in fact now she is your sister." he gestured to me and I winked at him.

"What are you talking about Harry?" she asked, confused. "Why are you winking and him, Y/N?" she looked at the two of us as if we were crazy and I laughed.

I stuck out my left hand and Harry grabbed it and smiled, kissing it softly and walking over so he was stood in between my legs. Still holding my hand he turned so his back was leaning on the counter where I was and pulled his arm around his shoulder, he held it with his left and showing MY wedding ring and his to his sister who was watching.

"OH MY GOD...YOU MARRIED MY BEST FRIEND!!!" She yelled once she finally clicked.

"AND YOU, YOU MARRIED MY BROTHER!" she yelled pointing at me.

"Surprise?" I said but it came out as more of a question. She stood there in shook, quite for a second.

"How the hell did this happen? You go away for six months and you come back married, to my brother?" She asked. "what the hell?" she didn't look angry, mostly surprised.

"Well, I ran into his while I was in L.A. and by 'ran into' I told him I was in town and we grabbed coffee. I need someone I knew as I missed home too much and I knew Harry was in town so I called him." I told her.

"I asked her out on a few dates as friends and one night we got drinks afterwards and we drunkenly confessed our love we decided we would start dating." Harry continued. "That was what your third or fourth month in LA?" He asked and I nodded.

"How did that end in marriage?" Gemma asked.

"Well, we were chilling at my place and got to talking, I figured since we've known each other of over 17 years we already know most of the stuff other couples usually learn when dating so I kinda just skipped over the whole dating part and asked her to marry me. She said yes and the next day we were stood in the City Hall getting married." I told her.

"I'm sorry Gem, I know you're probably pissed at us. But I promise we talked this over so much before it happened. It wasn't just a spare of the moment thing, we really thought about this before we did it."

"Why didn't you just wait and get married here, with the family?" she asked us. now she looked sad.

"Because we were worried that our families would find a way to talk us out of it and we didn't want that to happen." Harry spoke up.

"Why would we do that, I have always wanted you two together, this is amazing news it just sucks that you got married with out us there." She told us. Before we could say another word there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Harry called as he grabbed my legs, wrapped them around his waist and ran towards the door with me on his back.

"HARRY WHAT THE HELL!" I yelled gripping tight to him as he took off, scaring the crap out of me.

He didn't answer, he just let out a laugh as we reached the door. He opened the door to find Anne stood there, she looked shocked at first, probably at the sight of her daughters best friend on her sons back.

"Mum!" Harry grinned. He finally released my legs and I jumped down as he hugged his mum.

"Harry, I thought you were coming home next week?"she asked, pulling out of his hug.

"I decide to come home with Y/N" he told me.

"Are you two together now?" She asked pointing between the two of us Harry nodded and she let out a happy cry as she grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

"Yeah, they're about as together as two people can be." Gemma told her as she walked passed us.

"And how that?" Anne asked, confused .

"Mum, don't kill me, and just remember how much you love Y/N before I tell you this." Harry said as he took his mums hands and guided her into the kitchen where Gemma was. I closed the door and followed behind, nervous about how she's going to react.

"Tell me what?" She said suspecting the worst.

"Well, you see Y/N and I we've know each other for so long and we know everything about her and I've been in love with her for so long, remember you used to tease me about it when we went round to her house with her dad?" He started.

"Yeah, I used to joke that you were both in love with each other and that you were gonna get married and have a baby. Y/N's dad would join in too."

"Yeah, well it's not so much a joke anymore." He smiled. He moved to stand by me again and wrapped his arms around my waist once more.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Harry and Y/N got married while in LA." Gemma spilled. Anne's eyes went wide as she looked at me and her son.

"I don't understand." She said.

"Mum while in LA Y/N and I met up and we started dating and we got to talking and long story short we ended up in the city hall and we got married." Harry explained.

"OH MY GOSH REALLY?" She smiled wide. We both nodded and she dove at us, hugging us tight.

"Oh I'm so happy for you two." She gushed.

"Really, you're not upset at us?" I asked surprised.

"God no, why would I be unhappy?" She asked.

"Because we got married, without you." Harry guessed.

"Are you happy?"

"Well yeah, I married this amazing girl and she agreed to marry me." Harry smiled as he looked down at me and held a little tighter.

"Then is doesn't matter to me that I wasn't there as long as you both are happy." she smiled.

"Thanks mum." Harry smiled as he hugged her.

"Thanks Anne, and I promise anything big happens ever again I will personally tell you first." I grinned.

"You better, I already missed my sons wedding I don't want to be missing any thing else." She grinned.

"You're gonna hold that against us forever aren't you?" Harry asked.

"No, just until my first grandchild is born." She smiled.

"Seriously Anne, we only got married two weeks ago." I told her she just shrugged.

"Well firstly, you're part of the family anyway but now you're married to my son, I think it's OK for you to call me mum." She told me.

"Whatever you want mum." I grinned making her laugh.

"Mum, are you being serious about the first grandchild thing?"I asked and she nodded.

"Yes daughter in law, I am very serious." She winked.

"Well then, we best get working on that wife." Harry grinned wide.

"Later Husband, we are visiting your family and they do not need to hear about your plans for baby making." I joked when I saw Gemma wince a little at the mention of sex.

"Seriously, if you're going to be talking to each other like that, you can leave." She sulked.

"Yeah, if we get kicked out we can get on with the baby making." Harry joked as he stood up.

"gross, how about no, you will not defile my friend like this." Gemma cried as she stood up and dived on me.

"She's my wife...I've already defiled her, many many times." Harry told her. Gemma screamed and held her hands over her ears as she stood up and ran out of the room.

"Seriously what have married into?"I asked as Anne laughed.

"Welcome to the family Wifey." He smiled as he lent over and kissed me softly.

"You two are cute." Anne gushed as Harry and I pulled out of the kiss.

"Yeah we are." I smiled over at her. "Mum."

Masterlist

#Harry styles #imagines #one direction imagines

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upthenorthmountain · 6 years

Text

A First Time For Everything

Happy birthday @kristanna!

For you I have a story! Or the first part of one. I started this waaaay back in April, after Charis was talking about the idea a lot and I just started writing. Then I was ill for months and then I picked it up again and here it is! I hope you like it.

Big thanks to @karis-the-fangirl as always x

Rating: MA, 6462 words (I KNOW)

A First Time For Everything

“Hi, are you Anna?”

She turned, prepared to deny it if necessary, but the man asking looked, well, normal. He was six-foot-something, blond with brown eyes, wearing a nice shirt and jeans, and he was smiling.

“Um, yes?”

“I’m Kristoff. Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure, of course.”

“Lindsay sent me your picture,” Kristoff said as they sat down in the corner of the bar, “So I knew who I was looking for.”

“She said you’ve - done this before?”

“Few times, yeah.”

“So it’s okay? Do we, do we go to yours, or -”

“Hey. Anna.” She looked up, and caught his eye. His gaze was steady, and she took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I think we have a drink together,” he said, “And then we can decide what we want to do. Okay?”

She nodded.

“And if you’ve changed your mind, then that’s cool,” he said. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

Anna took a drink to steady herself. “Can I ask a question?”

“Of course, yeah.”

“How do you get into - this line of work? Oh no, not work, I don’t mean work, I mean -”

He laughed. “I know what you mean. It’s a fair question. OK. Well you know Lindsay’s my ex?”

“Yes, of course.”

“We were together a couple of years, and then we kinda grew apart so we split up but we stayed friends. And she was my first but I wasn’t hers, but she said a few times that she wished I had been because her first experience was, not good. I mean not awful but, yeah. She didn’t really enjoy it.”

Anna nodded. Kristoff was so matter-of-fact that she was quickly forgetting to feel awkward; she’d spent most of the day psyching herself up to come tonight, convinced it would go terribly and wondering why she was bothering, but it was fine so far.

“So after we broke up,” Kristoff continued, “A few months after, she rang me up and she said she had a friend who was complaining that her virginity seemed to be scaring the men away, and she asked me if I would sleep with her because, and I quote, ‘I know you’d do a proper job.’ Obviously I said no,” he added quickly. “Because, what the hell, but then I did agree to meet her friend for a drink and I thought….”

“What the hell,” Anna said. Kristoff smiled.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “And I guess I did do a proper job, because she recommended me to her cousin, and I suppose at some point I got a reputation.”

Anna nodded solemnly. “I’ve heard that can happen,” she said.

“Right. I suppose it probably all sounds really weird,” he said. “It all made sense at the time.”

“A little weird,” Anna said, fiddling with the stem of her wine glass. “I mean, I was just complaining to Alison - I don’t know if you know Alison - I didn’t expect her to actually come up with a solution! But I told her, you know, and she said, you need to speak to Linds, she knows a guy.” Kristoff laughed.

��How many times have you done this?” Anna asked.

“You are number five. Will be number five. No pressure.”

“I’m not going to change my mind. Once I decide to do something, I do it.” She drained her drink. “Your place or mine?”

-----

You’re so innocent, Anna, Henry said. It’s sweet, but it’s hard on me, sometimes. Having to teach you everything about how the world works, show you everything. It’s a heavy responsibility, knowing I’d be the only man you’d been with. And I don’t want you to wake up one day and realise you missed out.

Hadn’t she always done everything he wanted? Always agreed with him, had her hair done the way he liked, wore the jewellery he gave her (even if, privately, she found the earrings too heavy, the necklaces too showy). Didn’t she deserve the thing that she wanted? A ring. Jewellery, again. But this time she’d be happy to let him choose it.

She wanted to be married. It wasn’t about his money, it really wasn’t; she wanted the security, she wanted to know that he’d chosen her, someone always on her side, forever. That was what she wanted. Forever.

This was just a blip. She just needed to do this, rid herself of this pesky virginity, and she’d get him back.

-----

They went to his place.

Anna felt her nerves coming back as they walked down the street, and the only way she knew to get over them was to talk over them.

“This is a one-off, right?” she said.

“Hmm? Yeah. It’s not, like,” he smiled at her, “An ongoing course.”

That made Anna laugh. “You don’t have a syllabus? No powerpoint?”

“Just the practical.” He unlocked his front door. “Do you want another drink first?”

“No, I’d better not. Complete lightweight,” she explained. “Two drinks and I’m tipsy, three and I’m under the table.”

“Okay, fair enough.”

The front door to the flat led into an ordinary-looking hall. As Kristoff shut the door behind them, Anna fell silent, unsure what to do now. She didn’t know how these things - got started. “Where’s your bedroom?” she heard herself say, then froze, afraid he was going to laugh at her.

But he didn’t; just smiled, and said “It’s right here,” and leant past her to open a door. Beyond it, sure enough, was a perfectly ordinary bedroom, with a neatly made bed and the bedside lamp already lit.

He waited behind her, and Anna took a deep breath and a few steps forward. This was fine. She was in a man’s bedroom, a man she’d just met that evening, and it was fine. Lots of people did this all the time, and she even had references. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her shoes. Her heart was drumming.

Kristoff opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but after a second he closed it again and walked over to sit next to her. Anna’s head burst with a million questions - should she undress? Or did he want to do it? Or should she undress him? Or maybe it would be quicker if they didn’t, maybe she should just lie down and -

Her train of thought was thrown from the track by the warmth of Kristoff’s hand on the side of her face. She jumped slightly - not quite a flinch - and he paused, still; then leant in until his lips were a breath away from hers.

It was Anna that closed the gap, in a sudden movement that was almost jerky. She was so used to kissing Henry, it felt strange - this was different, so different, warmer and softer and she didn’t know what to do with her hands, it felt strange leaving them in her lap, when he was running his fingers through her hair to cup the back of her head - should she do that? She put one hand hesitantly on his shoulder.

But maybe it felt more like she was pushing him away, because Kristoff withdrew, moving his own hand down to her arm. “Relax, Anna,” he said. “If you’ve changed your mind, it’s okay.”

“I haven’t. I’m fine. I am!” she said at his sceptical expression. “I am, I want - this, I want…”

He was still looking at her, thoughtful. “Tell you what,” he said.

“What?”

“How about we lower the pressure a bit - go into the lounge and watch a film or something, see how we get on. It’s barely nine, we’ve got plenty of time.”

“Watch a film?”

“Sure, sit next to each other, kiss a bit if we want, see what happens.”

“...okay.”

He stood and Anna followed him through to his living room, which was also very tidy. Kristoff sat on the sofa and picked up a couple of remotes; once he’d brought up the Netflix screen he held out one of them to her, and she sat next to him to take it. “Whatever you like,” he said. “Nothing too gory.”

“Or too girly?”

“Whatever you like. I have sisters, girly doesn’t bother me.”

Anna scrolled down until she found a rom-com she liked, an old favourite. She hesitated on the selection, but Kristoff put his hand over hers on the remote and pressed the OK. “Sure, why not.”

He leant back and put his arm out. Anna shuffled across to him and let him pull her closer.

----

“Anna.”

“Hmmph?”

“Anna. Film’s finished. Let me walk you home.”

Anna blinked, puzzled. No, the film was only partway through, they were only at the scene where….although she’d got a bit distracted, because Kristoff kept kissing her, and it was nice, very nice once she got used to it. And then at one point she’d sort of snuggled up next to him and it was very cosy and now the film was over and also she seemed to have drooled on his t-shirt.

“I can’t go home,” she said. “We didn’t, you know.”

“It’s late, you’re obviously tired. Come on,” he said, standing up, “Where did you leave your shoes?”

“In the bedroom. Where we should go, because, I came here on a mission, and I shaved my legs all the way up and everything, and I want to get it done -”

“Anna, come on,” Kristoff said. “It’s not some horrible ordeal to get through, okay? If you’re not ready today, that’s fine. I’ll walk you home.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?” He left the room and returned with her shoes. She put them on.

“For - leading you on. And, um, for falling asleep on you.”

“You’re always allowed to change your mind,” was all he said.

-----

He walked her home, but neither of them said much - it was only a short walk, anyway. When they parted, Anna said “Thanks anyway. Even if it didn’t work out.”

“Well - if you want another try, give me a bell,” Kristoff said.

“Really? You didn’t find it - frustrating?”

“We didn’t really get far enough for that to be a problem - and, sure. You’re gorgeous,” he said, as if it was a simple statement of fact. “Think about it, okay? Up to you. Goodnight,” and he walked away.

-----

“Hello?”

“Hi, Kris - um, you know you said if I wanted to try again, I should phone you?”

“Sure.”

“Are you still - interested?”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” And she hung up, and rang the doorbell.

“I’m ready,” she said when he answered the door. “I’m ready this time. Honest.”

Kristoff put his hands in his pockets and looked her up and down. “If you say so. Come in, then.”

Anna went through and shut the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes and, determined, walked straight through to the bedroom. Kristoff followed her, his hands still in his pockets, an expression of mild amusement on her face. Anna sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him. “Come on, then.”

He sat next to her. “Why the sudden enthusiasm?”

“Just - you know.”

“Do I?”

“Want to get it over with.”

“That’s extremely flattering, thank you.”

“Don’t you want to?”

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he looked her up and down in a way that made her blush; then he cupped the side of her face with his hand, stroked his thumb over her cheek, and kissed her.

She was a bit more used to kissing him, this time. It felt more natural, and she could relax into it and enjoy it. After a few minutes, Kristoff pulled away and climbed up properly onto the bed; he held out an arm to her and she followed, then let him gently pull her down until they were lying facing, his arm around her. He kissed her again.

It was nice. He was so warm, and solid, and while he certainly wasn’t holding her down, his hand against her back was almost comforting, almost safe, and she didn’t want anything else but to be lying here kissing him. She wriggled closer.

Kristoff slid his hand down her back and stroked her bottom over her jeans for a minute, then he moved it back up again and slipped it under her t-shirt. The warmth against her bare skin made her shiver pleasantly, and after a second he moved his hand still higher and brought it round to the front.

Then three things happened, one after the other. Kristoff ran his thumb inside her bra cup and over her nipple; Anna reflexively bucked her hips against his, and felt the hard ridge of his erection against her thigh; and she gasped and let out a moan against his mouth.

And it all felt so good but also it was too much, and her body had never wanted anything this badly, and as she realised that she gasped again but this time her reflexive movement was away from him. She pushed him away and sat up, still out of breath and her heart racing.

“Sorry,” Kristoff said. “Shit. Sorry, Anna.” He sat up and ran a hand over his hair.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry. I’ll be okay, just - just give me a minute.”

“Okay.” They sat in silence for a minute.

“Anna,” Kristoff said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Okay. I know you’ve never actually had sex before, but - what have you done? I mean, you’ve kissed someone before, right?”

“Oh, yes, of course.”

“Okay, good.”

“I was with Henry two years! Of course we kissed.”

“That’s what I was thinking, right.”

“But not kissing like that, you know. With hands and things.”

“Really?”

“Yes, he was always - very respectful, you know.”

“Never went for the boob.”

“No! No.”

Kristoff looked thoughtful for a minute. “And you didn’t want him to?”

“I - I don’t know.”

He looked at her. Anna was looking down, twisting her hands together. Kristoff cleared his throat. “Tell you what,” he said, “I was about to make dinner. Would you like to join me?”

“What? Really?”

“Sure. Be nice to have some company.”

“Okay. Yes. Thank you.”

Kristoff stood and walked over to the door. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think you can be perfectly respectful and put your hand on someone’s…well, anywhere.”

-----

“So what do you do?” Anna asked, following him through to the kitchen. “Like, for a job.”

“I’m an electrician.”

“Oh, cool.”

“New builds, mainly.”

“Do you have all your certificates and stuff.”

“Well, I’m legally required to, so, yes. Come here.”

Anna had sat down at the table, but now she stood obediently and came over to the counter. Kristoff put a chopping board and knife down in front of her, then handed her an onion. She looked at him. “Chop it up,” he said. “Spag bol okay?”

“Oh, yes, lovely.”

Kristoff got out some pans and started taking things out of cupboards and the fridge. Anna looked at her onion. She didn’t want to admit to never having chopped an onion before. The brown skin needed to come off first, right? How hard could it be.

The doorbell rang. Kristoff looked puzzled, and went to open it; Anna listened to him having a conversation, then he came back through to the kitchen accompanied by a young woman. “...it’s in the big cupboard, I think,” he said. “Ah, Anna, this is Katja. My sister. Our mother wants to borrow a dish -” he opened the cupboard, rummaged for a moment, and pulled out a serving dish - “so she’s sent Kat. Kat, this is Anna.”

“Oh, goodness, I’m sorry, Kris!” Katja said. “If I’d known you had a date I’d have come another time.” She took the dish and hugged it, grinning at them both.

“It’s not -” Anna started, turning back to her onion, sure she was blushing. Kristoff had frozen with his mouth open. Katja flapped her free hand.

“Oh, well, whatever you call it - I’ll get out of your way, don’t worry.” She leant comfortably against the edge of the worktop. “It’s so nice to see, though, how long has it been since you’ve had a girlfriend, Kris? Or even been out with someone -”

“I don’t tell you everything I do,” he muttered, taking jars off the spice rack and lining them up. “I thought you were leaving?”

“Oh, I am. I am. How did you two meet?”

“Friend of a friend. Goodbye, Katja.”

“Mm. Well.” Katja sighed, stood upright and took one half-step to the door. “It was lovely meeting you, Anna! Perhaps we’ll all see you again sometime -“

Kristoff put one hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle push back out to the hall. “Give my love to our mother, when you see her and discuss this two-minute encounter in extravagant detail.”

“Oh, Kris, why are you always so -” The door shut. Anna fiddled with the handle of her knife. Kristoff came back into the room. “Sorry,” he said. “She’s just, you know. My whole family is like that.”

“Friendly?”

“Don’t know when to shut up. Is that onion done?”

“Um, yes.” She pushed the chopping board towards him. The onion looked pretty mangled to her eyes, but he didn’t comment, just lifted the board and slid the pieces into the hot pan.

“And now she’ll go straight to Mum’s,” he continued, “And describe you and what we were doing, and they’ll talk about it all evening and have us married off by the time they part. They all refuse to believe that I’m quite happy living by myself. When I split up with Lindsey it broke my mother’s heart. She’s obsessed with me Finding Someone. An actual woman in my flat after 7pm will drive her into a frenzy.”

“It’s fine,” Anna said. “I don’t mind - I mean, if she does think it’s a date, it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“I suppose not.”

“You can always just say it didn’t work out or we split up or whatever.”

“Yeah.”

She watched him cook. He looked tense, and she couldn’t bear the silence. “How long have you been single?”

“You know Lindsey.”

“Yes, but - you haven’t had a girlfriend since then? But that was years ago!”

“Mmhmm.”

“Linds is married.”

“Sure is.”

Now he looked even tenser. “Well, I’m sure you’ll meet someone soon.”

“I’m not looking, but thanks.”

“Really? But -”

“Anna, leave it, okay? I’m no good at relationships, I’d rather just be - me.” He stirred the saucepan, his jaw set. “I know that’s what you want but not everyone is built for that.”

“You’ve done it before - okay, okay, I’m sorry,” she said at his expression. “It just sounds - lonely.”

“Not everyone is the falling-in-love type.”

“Of course they are, everyone can fall in love -”

He sighed. “Of course they aren’t. Look, I was very fond of Lindsey - don’t tell her I said this, because I said I loved her, but I never really knew what I was supposed to mean by that. I was very fond of her and I liked spending time with her and I enjoy sex. But I don’t do falling in love. That’s just how I am, you don’t need to try and persuade me.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

He turned back to his saucepans and apparently the conversation was over.

-----

hey kris

hey what’s up

you not busy? at home

yes and yes, why?

The doorbell rang. When Kristoff answered it, Anna was standing there with a determined expression on her face. “I really mean it this time,” she said. “Honest.”

He stood back and let her in, taking her coat. “You know the way,” he said. “On your back, knickers off.”

At Anna’s face, he added “That was a joke. Can I get you a drink, or...”

“I’m good. And I can’t take my knickers off, because I’m not wearing any.” She plumped down on the side of his bed and grinned at him.

“Was that a joke?”

“Why don’t you come here and find out.”

He stood watching her, arms folded.

“I worked it out,” she said. “I worked out what the problem was.”

“And?”

“Oh, god, usual stuff I guess.I felt bad. For liking it? Because I felt like I shouldn’t. Because I’m a, a nice girl.”

“I didn’t realise you were brought up in the 1950s.”

“I know, I know...but. Once I realised that was the problem, it stopped being a problem! You know?”

“I guess.”

“I mean it. It is the twenty-first century, I am a grown woman, I am allowed to enjoy this. I will enjoy it.” She fell onto her back, arms above her head. “Come here and deflower me.”

He didn’t say anything, and Anna was about to sit up and argue her case again; but then suddenly he was on the bed, right above her, holding himself up with his hands on either side of her shoulders. Her heart thumped alarmingly.

He held her gaze for a long moment, then flicked his eyes to her lips and back up again. She closed her eyes a second before he kissed her; a deep, intense kiss, that was only broken when he pulled back a fraction of a centimetre to murmur “Ready?” against her mouth.

Anna wasn’t sure she could speak and she only had space to give the tiniest nod. She kept her eyes closed as he kissed her, again and again, his body still hovering a centimetre above her own.

When he shifted his weight onto his side next to her she must have tensed up slightly, because he said quietly “We’re just having fun, okay?”

“Mmhmm,” she managed, as he kissed her neck.

“And if you’re not having fun, at any point,” he murmured right by her ear, “You just say and we’ll do something else. Okay?”

“Okay…”

He kissed her again, then leant back further to pull his t-shirt off over his head. It was the first time either of them had actually removed any clothing and Anna felt herself blushing - to cover it, she pulled off her own top, and threw it on the floor. Kristoff looked her up and down, and now she was definitely blushing.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said.

“I bet you say that to all the girls.”

He shrugged. “Only the ones that are beautiful. Now,” he said, hooking a thumb under the waistband of her jeans, “let’s see if you were telling the truth.”

She hesitated, expecting him to undo her trousers, but he didn’t. He just ran his thumb under the waistband, and when he didn’t find anything underneath, he grinned at her and pulled her closer to kiss her.

Kissing felt even better with her bare skin against his. She let him unclip her bra, and wriggled her arms out of the straps; then was surprised when he rolled away, but it was only to shed the rest of his clothes and rummage in his bedside drawer.

Anna watched him, not sure what she should be doing, not wanting to stare but at the same time not knowing where else to look. She shrugged her bra off completely, then remembered her socks and pulled them off as well. Kristoff found what he was looking for, put the condom down on the bedside table and shut the drawer. He smiled when he turned back to her.

“I hope you’ve at least had an orgasm before,” he said.

“Yes, but not - in company. And it’s okay, we can just….”

But he was already kissing her again, and flicking open the button of her jeans as he did so. Anna shivered, and he moved to draw her body against his, keeping her warm as he pushed her jeans over her hips. She wriggled and kicked the trousers off. She could feel his erection now, hot and hard against her thigh, and when he moved his hand to her breast she moaned loudly and involuntarily against his mouth.

He gently pushed on her shoulder until she was lying on her back. “Okay?” he said, and she nodded. “How about now?” he said, sliding his hand over her thigh and between her legs, “How’s that?”

“Good,” she managed. “That’s - um, a bit lower -“ Anna stopped - she was being rude, she shouldn’t correct him - but then he did move his fingers a little lower, and she gasped. Kristoff smiled. “Relax,” he said softly, “We’re having fun, remember?”

Anna tried to nod, but she couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think of anything except his hand between her legs - his mouth now on her nipple, his tongue stroking - Relax, she told herself. She clutched at his shoulder, blindly, and he looked up. “Okay?” he said.

“Yes - yes, please, don’t stop -”

He didn’t, but he did move a little so that he could hold her at the same time. She buried her head in his shoulder, trying to muffle the sounds she knew she was making, and when she came he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head as her breathing slowed.

Then he moved away, and she couldn’t think why, until she saw him reaching for the condom packet on the side. Oh, yes. That. She bit her lip.

He must have seen, because he said “We can stop now, if you want.”

“But that’s not fair.”

He shrugged.

“And anyway, I want to,” she added quickly. Because she did - and not just, any more, in the sense of wanting it to be done. She was curious, and also...she just wanted to. She didn’t need to analyse it. She settled herself comfortably on her back and reached out an arm to him.

He kissed her again, gently, and and she felt herself relaxing into it. She closed her eyes and wrapped an arm around his neck, and let him gently move her legs so that he could position himself above her. She kept her eyes closed as he carefully guided himself into her - and then stopped. “I’m okay,” she said firmly before he could ask, and he huffed a laugh and started to move again.

And it was - nice. It didn’t hurt, and it felt somehow satisfying, almost. Anna shifted her hips to get more comfortable and Kristoff groaned in her ear. “You’re amazing,” he muttered. “God, I’ve been thinking about this for so long, ever since I saw you -”

“Really?”

“Of course.” He paused, breathing heavily, and she felt him throbbing inside her. “I didn’t want to pressure you into coming back, after the first time, but god, I wanted you -”

He wrapped an arm around her then, and pressed his lips to hers, and she felt him thrust against her three, four more times. Then he broke the kiss to groan and bury his head in her neck, and she felt him throbbing deep inside her and realised that she liked it. She was suddenly fiercely glad she’d come back tonight and that she hadn’t given up.

After a moment Kristoff kissed her quickly on the lips, then gently withdrew and sat on the edge of the bed. Anna lay there, thoughtful, while he dealt with the condom. Did she feel any different? A little. Did she feel older, wiser, more mature? Not really.

“I guess….I should go,” she said, “Shouldn’t I.”

“Mmm.”

“I should get dressed.”

“If you don’t want to catch cold, yes.”

“But now I’m sleeeeeepy.” She pulled at the duvet underneath her. “I’ll just have a little nap.”

“Come on, Anna,” he said, standing up and reaching for his trousers.

He dressed quickly, said “I’ll let you get on,” and went out of the room. He was smiling, perfectly friendly, but Anna felt a little let down. She found her clothes and dressed.

When she went through into the hall, Kristoff came out of the living room. “You okay?” he said.

“Yes, sure.”

“Just thought we’d better get up before we fell asleep.”

“No, you’re right. I should be getting back before it gets too late.”

“Do you want me to walk you home?”

“No, I’m okay. It’s only half a mile, and it’s not late.”

She walked over to the door and opened it. “Bye, then.”

He smiled. “Bye, Anna.”

Kristoff shut the door behind her. Anna stood on the pavement for a moment, before giving herself a little shake and heading for home. Anyone watching would have seen me go in and then come out a while later, she thought. They wouldn’t know what happened. They wouldn’t know I’m a woman now. Then she had to laugh at herself for being so ridiculous. She didn’t look any different, or she didn’t think she did; she felt a tiny bit sore, maybe, but the fresh air was waking her up out of her post-coital sleepiness.

She took her phone out of her pocket and quickly typed a text. Definitely a proper job. Thx for your help x

He replied a few seconds later. No problem. Take care

And that was that, she supposed. Problem solved.

——-

Henry handed her a glass. “To us,” he said.

“To us,” Anna said, and sipped the champagne. She took another surreptitious glance at her left hand. The ring was as bright and sparkly as she could ever have imagined.

He’d already had the ring, when she came back and told him what she’d done. She didn’t tell him all the details, of course; she’d described it more as a brief fling, insisted that it had made her more certain of what she really wanted. And he’d already had the ring, ready.

It was strange, though, being back here with Henry. Part of her seemed to be looking at him with new eyes. This is what you’ve wanted for years, she told herself firmly. Be happy.

But suddenly she couldn’t think what to say. She drained her champagne flute instead.

“I’ve got work in the morning,” she said, “So I’d better get going soon.”

“You know you don’t need to worry about that,” Henry said. “Once we’re married you won’t need to work.”

“I know.”

“You could give it up now if you like. Move in here.”

“Really?”

“Yes, of course. You can have the blue room.” He smiled at her indulgently. “It has a lovely view. I’ll make sure you have everything you need, my darling.”

Anna opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. Why wouldn’t she sleep in his bedroom? But obviously he didn’t want to, or he’d have suggested it. Surely when they were married…

Then she looked around the room, and noticed something she hadn’t before. There was no sofa, or anything resembling one. All the chairs were for one person only. Each person sitting by themself, individually, not touching. When was the last time Henry had touched her? She couldn’t remember. He hadn’t even put the ring on her finger - he’d waited until she took it from the box and put it on herself.

Henry cleared his throat, and Anna looked up. “Perhaps we should go there now,” he said, “And you can show me what you learnt - while we were apart.”

He leant down to kiss her, and Anna lifted her face to his obediently. She knew how to do this, now; she could do it. It was easy.

-----

ONE MONTH LATER

It was funny. When Kristoff had suggested meeting at that bar, she’d been pleased because it was just round the corner from her flat. But that meant, of course, that she found herself walking past it all the time, and it had started to give her - a little pang, almost. That had been fun, hadn’t it? The whole thing. And now it was irrevocably in the past. And the future was looking pretty bleak.

She’d worked late. It was half eight by the time Anna was walking along the road the bar was on, and as she was its door ahead of her it opened, and two people came out, chatting.

One of them was Kristoff, and her heart leapt into her throat. And the other was a young woman, and her heart sank back down again into her boots.

You are number five. Will be number five. No pressure.

Anna stopped. And then started again, because she needed to walk down the road here, and it was silly to hide. What did it matter who he was with, and why? Maybe it was a friend. Maybe it was his sister - no, as the couple walked under a streetlight ahead of her she could see that it wasn’t Katja. Anna thought a bad word, and then told herself off.

She kept walking, steadily. Kristoff would turn right, here, to get to his flat, and she would keep walking straight on, and he wouldn’t even see her. She was concentrating so hard on this that she almost walked straight into him.

Kristoff and the woman he was with had stopped, for some reason, right by the bus stop. He saw her and said “Anna!” with a smile, and then she had to stop too, and say “Hi,” and this was so awkward. The last time he saw her, almost, she was naked in his bed.

“So this is Anna!” the other woman said, stepping sideways to hold her arm out into the road. “Hello!”

Kristoff rolled his eyes. “Yes. Anna, this is my sister, who I’m sure has heard all about you.”

Anna felt a brief surge of anger. She didn’t care who he was with, or why, she didn’t, but there was no need for him to lie. “I’ve met your sister,” she said.

“He has two. That was Katja, I’m Heidi. And here’s my bus! Lovely to meet you,”

“And you,” Anna said automatically. Heidi smiled at them both and boarded the bus. Anna and Kristoff stood in silence as it pulled away.

After a moment Kristoff coughed. “I heard you got engaged,” he said. “Congrats. That worked out, then, glad I could help.”

“Oh, no,” Anna said. “Well - yes, I did. But we broke up.”

“Really, already? I mean, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay - well, I’m mean it’s not okay, but it’s for the best. I realised - it wasn’t what I wanted. I tried, but - well. I gave him the ring back and everything. So, yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“The problem I have now is that I gave notice on my flat and the landlord found new tenants right away, and I have to move out in two days and all my stuff is in boxes and I’m going to be sleeping on my friend’s sofa and it’s not great but, you know. I’ll find somewhere new, I guess, though I’m not having much luck….I don’t know why I’m telling you this, I’m sorry…” She rubbed at her eyes, then looked up in surprise - Kristoff had put his hands on her shoulders, and she could feel the warmth of his hands even through her winter coat.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but this time there was more sympathy in his voice. “It must be rough.”

He was standing so close. Anna wondered if, if she leant into him, he would hug her, and then realised with a shade of alarm that what she really wanted to do was kiss him.

“Um,” she said. “Maybe, if you’re not busy, we could go back to yours, and...or is it still a one-off…”

“A one-off. Sorry.”

“OK.” She sniffed. “Sure.”

“But if you want, we could - just hang out? Watch a film or something?”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t want to impose…”

“I’m the one who offered.”

“Oh, so you did.”

They walked down the street together.

“You’ll find somewhere,” Kristoff said. “Somewhere even better, I bet.”

“Thanks. I hope so. It’s just, you know. And he didn’t even seem that bothered?” Anna added. “I was like, I’m really sorry Henry but I don’t think I can marry you, and he was all ‘oh okay fair enough, thanks for letting me know’.”

“Right decision, then.”

“Oh, I know it was the right decision...you know when something is just suddenly obviously the thing to do?”

“Sure.”

“Elsa always says - that’s my sister - she says I act without thinking but that’s not true, I just think quicker than her so I act quicker. But, maybe I shouldn’t have acted so quickly before, when I gave up my flat….oh, I don’t know. What’s done is done.”

“Can’t you live with your sister? Is she not local?”

Anna smiled. “She’s not local, no. She’s a microbiologist and she’s in Antarctica over the winter.”

“Antarctica? Really?”

“Uh-huh. Something to do with ice and bacteria and goodness knows what.”

“Wow.”

They’d reached Kristoff’s flat and he unlocked the door and let them in. “Have you eaten?” he said.

“Yeah, I had something at work. Why, are you going to cook for me again?”

“No. But you can make some toast if you want.”

“I’m good.”

Anna sat on the sofa. Suddenly she felt exhausted. Maybe she should just have gone home.

Kristoff say down next to her and picked up the remotes. “What do you want to watch?”

“Don’t care.”

He gave her a look, then pressed buttons until he’d selected the film they’d been watching before. “You missed most of it,” he said.

“I guess so.”

The film started. All Anna could think about was when they’d watched it before, when she’d been full of anticipation. When she’d been looking forward, to getting what she wanted out of life, to love and marriage and happiness. Now she didn’t have anything. Or anyone.

Her mood must have shown on her face, because Kristoff lifted his arm and waited for her to move underneath it. He was such a good hugger.

“It’ll work out,” he said quietly. “Things generally do.” Anna sighed and snuggled up further against his chest. Kristoff lifted his hand and gently stroked her hair.

“S’funny,” Anna said into his jumper.

“What is?”

“I had it all wrong. I thought being in love with someone would be - like this. Warm and safe and comfortable and not having to - perform, all the time. But it wasn’t. I was wrong. Kristoff?”

His hand had stopped moving on her hair, and when she looked up he was staring at the ceiling. After a second he blinked and focussed on her again. “Nothing,” he said. “I think - these things can be complicated. You don’t always feel the way you’d expect to.”

“Maybe the person I am now is different from the person I was two years ago, and we want different things.”

“Sure, probably.”

“Or maybe I was wrong all along.”

Kristoff said nothing, just started stroking her hair again. When Anna also stayed silent he said her name softly, and realised she had fallen asleep.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

#kristanna #fanfic #fanfiction #sara #you get the banner again because you get it every year #actually remembered to save it in my tumblr folder this year so maybe next time I won't have to go searching for it

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nochuobsessed · 7 years

Text

Reign || Pt 01

Reign Masterlist

Word Count: 3k

Groups: BTS, EXO, Blackpink

Au: Royal

Pairing: ??? x Reader

Genre: Angst | Fluff | Smut | Au

Warnings: None in the chapter

Summary: Your life was fine, until your older brother, who happens to be the King, decides to alter your life.

"Your Highness, it's time to wake up."

You sighed as you opened your eyes to face your families servants. All dressed exactly the same.

"His Majesty has requested to speak to you," one of your handmaidens explained, as you hopped out of your bed.

"It must be important if he's asking for me before court takes place," You said, "Will my ladies be here soon?"

"Already here!" One of your ladies, Jisoo shouted, as the four beautifully dressed girls entered your room.

"Jisoo! Not so loud she just woke up," Another, Rosé said, "How was your sleep Y/N?"

"It was fine," You said, "You must've heard that my brother has asked to speak to me."

The handmaidens had started to get you into your dress for the day, a beautiful long dress, cream in colour.

"Yes," Jennie, one of your other ladies said, "We've been asked to accompany you."

"Oh thank the Gods," you said, smiling, "He only summons me like this if it's bad, otherwise he'd just barge into my room."

"Maybe not," Lisa said, walking over to you to start braiding your hair, "You yelled at him last time he did that."

"Only because he wasn't announced," You said, laughing as you face your ladies.

Jisoo, Lisa, Rosé and Jennie were assigned to you back when you were 12. Over the 5 years that the five of you have been together, you've all become the best of friends, which makes their job a lot easier.

"I wonder if he's finally getting married," Jisoo said, as she and Jennie started to find your jewellery, "He's been King for a while now, and not only does he not have a Queen, but he has no Heir."

"But he does have whores, let's not forget that," Lisa said, making everyone laugh.

"They're not all whores," Jennie added, raising her eyebrows at Lisa.

"I'm sure he has many illegitimate children unbeknownst to his knowledge," You say, raising your eyebrows at your reflection in the mirror, "Just think of the nieces and nephews I have..."

"You do realise that by him not being married and not producing an heir yet, if anything was to happen to his Majesty-"

"Yes Rosé, I would become Queen. But I have no intentions on ruling over this Kingdom," You said, standing up and walking over to your crowns, "I'm sure Samuel can handle it if it comes to that. Maybe Jihyun or if it comes to it, Jina, but let's hope my brother keeps his health."

"What about the Kingdom of Kim? Their King has no Queen," Jennie said, "Quite a nice Kingdom too-"

"Let's change the subject," Jisoo said, smiling awkwardly at you and your company, "Are you ready to talk to your brother?"

Taking one last look in the mirror, you nod, "Let's see what he has to say."

Walking down the corridors with your ladies, the five of you notice more people than usual scurrying about.

"You'd think it was Summer Solstice," Lisa said, "Maybe we have visitors?"

"Prince Samuel might be back," Rosé said, "He is due to arrive any day now."

"Whoever it is, they must be important," Jenny said, "look!"

Your ladies run over to the nearest window, with you following close behind.

"That's a lot more guards," Jisoo said, "And some of them are from the Kingdom of Kim!"

"How can you tell?" Rosé asked, "They all look the same."

"Jisoo knows a lot about the Kingdom of Kim, I would trust her," Lisa said, winking at Jisoo.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Lisa and Jisoo said in unison.

"I don't mean to rush you, Y/N," Rosé said, "But your brothers men are coming this way."

"You Highness!" One of your brother's guards said, as the group of them bowed, "We mean no disrespect, but we're on a tight schedule."

"It's not even midday yet but we're on a tight schedule?" You asked, as you return to making your way to the Throne Room.

"You obviously haven't been told much then," said Baekhyun, your brothers Deputy, "There's a very important group of people here."

You looked at Baekhyun, as he gave you a small yet comforting smile.

"Probably just friends of Mother's," You said, "Baek, what do you know?"

The large group, now surrounded by guards, continued down the hallways, with more maids and servants appearing within the minute.

"I know you're not going to be pleased," Baekhyun said, "I'm not happy about it either."

"Oh dear," You say, biting your lip, "It can't be that bad, right?"

"It is," Baekhyun whispers in a low tone, "For the both of us, it won't do us any good."

You had reached the end the of the hall. You and Baekhyun shared a worried look.

"Alright then. Announce me."

The big double doors that lead to the Throne Room open, as you shared a concerning look to your ladies.

"The Princess Y/N, and her ladies."

The throne room was massive, and coated the gold. The pillars led up to the rounded ceiling, decorated with stone snakes, your Kingdoms sigil. Engraved in the walls above the Thrones, was the Kingdom of Park's motto.

We will not be poisoned.

You felt slightly more confident after reading the motto. Your father had always chanted it to you before he died.

Your kingdom was represented by the snake. Snakes cannot be harmed by their own poison. Therefore you and your family would not be brought down, as you can only you bring down others and their kingdoms.

You walked in, to find not just your brother's throne and the empty Queen's throne, but six others on the level below the Park Thrones.

"You're right, she is beautiful," One of the men sitting on a throne said.

"I would never lie about my darling sister," King Jimin said, standing up and taking your hand, "Y/N, how are you my dear?"

"I am fine, your Majesty," You said, "And who are these, men in front of us?"

"I'll let them introduce themselves, although you should know some of them," King Jimin said, nodding towards the six men.

The first stood up. He was dressed in the finest clothes, much like the rest of the group. The crown on his head indicated that he wasn't a Prince. He was by far one of the most beautiful men that you had ever seen. But then again, all the men in front of you were.

"Princess Y/N, I am King Seokjin of the Kingdom of Kim," He said, taking your hand and kissing it, "It is an honour to meet the beautiful sister of a good friend."

"Thank you, your Majesty," You said, curtsying, "I do not know why you or any one else is here, but it is an honour to have you in the Park Court."

"Thank you," King Seokjin said, before sitting back down.

The next to stand was the man who had called you 'a beauty' earlier. He had a dark look to him, but it was also wise. He was pale, you thought, but that was probably because of how dark his hair was. His throne was dark too, with a sliver crow at the top, his families sigil.

"Princess, I am Prince Yoongi of the kingdom of Min," He said, kissing your hand like the King beforehand, "I do hope that we'll get along."

"I have no doubts, Prince Yoongi," You said, curtsying and offering a warm smile.

He bows, and returns to his throne.

"Princess Y/N," The next said, standing up and walking to you, "I am the Hope and Angel of the Kingdom of Jung, Prince Hoseok."

Prince Hoseok had a very positive vibe to him. Whether it was genuine or not, you had yet to decide. His smile could probably light up the whole castle

"Well I'm absolutely thrilled, Prince Hoseok, that you're able to speak so truthfully about yourself, as I have heard many great things about you," You said, curtsying and smiling.

"Thank you, Princess. Every kingdom knows of your beauty, and your kindness. I am grateful to be able to witness it first hand," Prince Hoseok said, returning to his Throne with a bow.

As the next stood up, your brother whispered in your ear.

"You're doing great so far, darling."

You took a deep breath and nodded, as the next kissed your hand and smiled at you.

He was tall, and he held a knowledgable look to him. He was easy on the eyes, you thought. You had heard about him, he was nearly a legend for his philosophies, and at such a young age.

"I am Prince Namjoon from the Kingdom of Mon. Others may speak of your beauty, but I have heard many things of your intelligence. Maybe we could take a walk and have a discussion about that?"

You let out a small laugh, and curtsied, "Why of course, Prince Namjoon. I would be delighted."

He smiled and returned to his throne.

The next to stand up was smiling the whole time, "Princess, I am the Prince Taehyung of Vee. I, don't really have anything else to say..."

He was cute, that was for sure. Beautiful, he would easily catch your eye even if he was a peasant. You had heard that he was kind, kinder than most royals. Always ready to help anyone and always putting others first.

"That's quite alright," you said, "I often find myself in the same situation. I'm sure we'll find time to talk later?"

"Yes, that would be lovely," Prince Taehyung said, bowing and walking back to his throne.

"And last, but definitely not least, the Prince Jungkook from Jeon."

Prince Jungkook was mesmerising. He was the type of Prince that fairytales were about. He was gorgeous, he was kind. You had met briefly when you were children, and he helped you escape some Nobleman's mean children. You hadn't forgotten.

Jungkook stood up and walked towards you, kissing your hand whilst keeping eye contact.

"Princess, I have looked forward to meeting you. I uh, hope we can get to know one other," He said, bowing.

You smiled and curtsied back, "Yes I'm sure we will."

He returned to his throne, keeping a smile hidden on his face.

"These are my sisters ladies, Lady Jennie, Lady Lisa, Lady Rosé, and Lady Jisoo," Jimin announced.

Each of your friends stepped forward and curtsied when their name was announced.

You noticed that King Seokjin had kept his eyes on Jisoo the whole time, so you made a mental note to mention it to her later.

"Now brother," You said, walking towards him so that you may stand next to him, "Why are we gathered here? It's not a festival or holiday. Jieun hasn't mentioned visiting in any of her letters, and Samuel's return from training wouldn't cause this, neither would Jongdaes..."

"Well, darling sister," Jimin said, smiling, "You are going marry one of these men."

"Excuse me?" You said, shock evident on your face.

Marry? You couldn't. Sure, you were 17 which was the perfect age, but to say this out of the blue infuriated you.

"It's about time, you're of age, not that that matters in our Kingdoms. They're all looking for a potential bride and have all reached out to me about you," King Jimin said, pacing, "So I invited them all here to the Park Court, so that you may get to know them, and choose one to marry! Isn't this exciting?"

"No, it's really not," You said, "Do I get a say in this?"

"You get to choose which one of them, but you must choose one," Jimin said, smiling at you.

"Right, well," You said, "I will see you all later, maybe."

With that, you stormed off, your ladies quickly following after you.

"I am terribly sorry for her reaction," King Jimin said, trying to ease the company in front of him.

"It was inevitable," Prince Yoongi said, "You hadn't told her anything nor are you giving her a choice in whether or not she is to marry."

"I agree," Prince Taehyung said, "What if she has a lover? Someone inside the castle she dedicates her love to?"

"She doesn't," King Jimin said, "Not that I know of. She knows she's not allowed to."

"That's cruel," King Seokjin said, "Anyway, enough of this talk. Is the offer still on the table or can I return to my kingdom?"

"Yes," King Jimin said, "You can each spend time with her, and after 2 months she can decide which one of you she wants to marry."

"And if she chooses none of us?" Prince Namjoon asks.

"She will," King Jimin said, "I have no doubts that one of you will be the one to win my sisters love."

"Love, such a word thrown around but little mean it," Prince Jungkook said, sighing.

"And what would you know about love?" Prince Hoseok asked, leaving Jungkook to be silent, "Nothing, so be quiet-"

"Hoseok, you be quiet," King Jimin said, "Jungkook is right. I haven't told you the last part of the deal."

"And what would that be?" Prince Namjoon asked.

"If my sister chooses you, you must both love each other," King Jimin said, "Only then will you have my blessing to be wed."

"Right then," Prince Hoseok said, "May the best Prince win."

Everyone nodded, until King Seokjin spoke up.

"Wait, aren't I a King?"

"I will ask the servants to show you to your rooms. I should talk to Y/N," King Jimin said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That would be a wise idea, one of your very few wise ideas," Prince Yoongi said, rolling his eyes.

"You are kind, Prince Yoongi," Jimin said, giving him the biggest fake smile he could, "Servants!"

"Yes, your Majesty?" One of the servants said as the rest gathered in front of him.

"Show my dear... friends, to their rooms," He said, "I will talk to my sister."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Everyone had left the room, so the king decided to find his sister, before his attention went to someone else.

"Jimin, may I ask you something?" Prince Jungkook asked, pulling the King aside.

"You just did but yes, go ahead," Jimin said, smiling at the young Prince.

"If it was found that the Princess had a lover inside the castle, what would happen?" He asked.

"It doesn't concern you," Jimin said.

"But it does," Jungkook said, "If I am to win her heart, how am I supposed to do so when she could be in love with this person that she sees everyday?"

"Right," Jimin said, "Well, if I find out anything, he or she will be exiled or hanged for treason. This alliance between my kingdom and her future husbands kingdom will do us very good."

"That will be greatly appreciated," Prince Jungkook said, "I'll leave you to talk to the Princess."

Jimin nodded, as Jungkook followed one of the servants.

"Park Y/N! Tell your guards to stand down!"

King Jimin was outside your door, constantly knocking and asking for you. You had told the guards not to let him in, which they obeyed, ignoring the fact that as the King, Jimin had a higher rank than you, which meant that he could tell the guards to let him in. However you had grown up with the same guards since you were 9, so they were accustomed to your sibling quarrels.

"I'll go talk to him if you want, Y/N," Jennie offered, as you were still not wanting to talk to your brother.

"Yes, go ahead," you said, "He strangely listens to you, so what harm could it cause?"

Jennie shared a glance with the other ladies, before opening the door, and pushing the King away.

"What is your problem, your Majesty?" Jennie asked, glaring at the King.

"I need to talk to her, it's not even that bad of a situation!" Jimin said, taking off his crown and running a hand through his hair.

"Not for you. what is this, some sort of alliance in the making?" Jennie asked.

"No, it's not," Jimin said, not making eye contact, which was a clear tell that he was lying, "I simply wanted to strengthen the bonds between the kingdoms. Jeon and Jung are on their way to a war cause by a petty fight between their Princes."

"So Y/N marrying one of them will strengthen all of them?" Jennie said, as Jimin held out his hand for her, "Also I know you just lied."

"Well, my dear," Jimin said, as they began walking, completely forgetting about you and the rest of your ladies, "They'll all fall for her, and when she chooses one of them, they'll all still love her, meaning none of them will want her to be in harms way?"

"Right," Jennie said, "So Y/N is supposed to get the heirs to the Seven Golden Kingdoms to fall in love with her?"

"Only six of them, as my kingdom counts as one," Jimin explained.

"I have another question," Jennie said, "Why exactly are we outside your chambers?"

"Well," Jimin said, opening the double doors, "You haven't visited me in a while."

"Well done, you noticed," Jennie said, "I'm not one of your whores, or your mistress."

"That doesn't mean, that you should avoid me," Jimin said, stepping forward towards Jennie, and backing her up against the wall, "And I'm offended that you think I have a mistress."

"I'm one of your sisters ladies," Jennie whispered, as Jimin drew closer and closer towards her, "We can't be anything."

"I'm the King of Park," Jimin smirked, "We'll be whatever I want us to be."

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busterdiamond · 7 years

Text

Already Dead

1 I sit, clutching a small canvas bag, as tightly to my chest as my strength and space will allow. It is my only possession in this place. The bench is wet from the rain and the station platform is so crowded that the pressure I feel from the people around me makes it difficult to breath. I feel so afraid. Real, all enveloping fear. I scan the exit from the ticket office again. Still no sign of him. The train is due at any moment. The woman sat next to me moves closer to make way for someone else to sit and I glance across to make sure our new companion is not him. It is another woman. I let out a small involuntary gurgle. The tannoy booms “The next train arriving at platform 3 is the …….” It is my train pulling in so I stand and move nearer to the track. I feel the cold of the moisture from the bench seeping through my trousers against the backs of my legs and the brim of my hat flutters in the wind as I approach the platform edge. The back of my hand brushes against my own rough stubbled cheek as I reach for my hat to stop it blowing off and I am shocked at how abrasive it feels, like a course grit sandpaper. The carriages swish by, gradually slowing until one stops almost in front of me and the doors open. It surprises me when the woman who was sitting next to me on the bench pushes by me quite aggressively and gets onto the train first. I want to tell her not to be so rude, but I don’t want to draw attention to myself. As everyone jockeys for position I find myself being forced further back into the carriage and it occurs to me now that if he were on this train, I would have no chance of escape. The doors close against someone’s bag then open again. As they do he climbs aboard. I recognise him instantly and he looks straight at me. No nod of recognition, no sneer or smile. He looks away and into the rest of the crowd. I can’t believe that he hasn’t recognised me, but he continues to look into the crowd, searching. I feel sick with it all and the crush of people is so claustrophobic I want to cry out. As the train pulls away I decide to move further down the carriage and exit from the doors at the back when the train stops at the next station. The tightly packed commuters obstruct me, but I am insistent and quietly determined. After a minute or so I find myself in front of the rear doors. As the train slows I look out onto the approaching platform. Bond Street. Not my stop, but close enough. I can walk the rest of the way. The carriage lurches as the driver applies the brakes and I stumble against the wall of the train and the man standing next to me puts out his arm to steady himself. I am quite literally horrified when his hand goes straight through me and smacks, palm first into the wall. He pulls his arm out of me again and the train door opens. I almost fall out of the train onto the platform and as I do a small child runs into me and onto the carriage. Through my legs like they were mist. I turn to try and make sense of what has just happened and the childs mother walks through me in the same way. It is at this point I realise that I am invisible. My would be assassin hadn’t recognised me because he hadn’t seen me. I am probably dead already. 2 Malcolm Tewksbury bought a newspaper and a packet of pipe tobacco from the little kiosk on the Embankment just opposite The Savoy Hotel. It was 7.30 in the morning, but the sun was struggling to break through the dark clouds and occasionally waves of misty rain blew across the Thames into the faces of people making their way into work, turning the pavements into shiny grey mirrors. He stopped and sat on the river wall and instantly three or four pigeons settled near his feet. Opening the little paper pouch, he pulled at the fibres of tobacco leaf and pushed them into a small briar pipe that he always carried with him. He lit the pipe and sucked until a little fire glowed in the bowl and then let the smoke out of either side of his mouth and nostrils into a big cloud around his head. He shook the newspaper straight and read the headlines for the morning which he noted was September 12th ,1971. No mention was made of the robbery from the day before. Nothing. He rustled through the rest of the newspaper, fighting to keep it from turning in on itself in the breeze. Not a word had been written about the heist. He smiled to himself and closed the paper, folding it so that it would fit into his jacket pocket. Puffing at the pipe a few more times he stood and turned toward Westminster. He could see Big Ben from where he stood. He checked his watch, 20 minutes to walk to parliament square. He would be able to do that easily. **** When the robbery had first been presented to him as a possible job, he had dismissed it out of hand. He preferred the kind of steal that was in and out. Quick strike, make a lot of noise, threaten everyone, take the money and run. Of course, he didn’t do any of the dirty work himself. Planning was everything in his book. He planned the job, employed the right people and took his cut. He had never been in prison. He’d had a few close shaves, but he always made sure he was so far removed from the action that nothing could ever be proven. ‘Circumstantial’, he liked that word. This robbery had been different and difficult and because the target had been safety deposit boxes, no one was quite sure how much money could be made at the end of it. That was part of the thrill too. It was a Lloyds Bank and it was in Baker Street, so the pickings were likely to be good. Safety deposit boxes were also a good bet because rich people put things in them that they didn’t want the authorities to know about… lots of cash, gold and jewellery. The difficulty was having enough time to empty them and leave the bank before the police turned up. He organised the meet at his sister’s house. She went to Bingo on a Wednesday evening. The four men sat around the table. All of them drank tea from large white mugs. They had been over the possibilities and talked around the job for almost two hours. Fresh tea had been made. “We’ll need a whole weekend to empty that lot.” said Jarvis. Tim laughed. “it’s a bank 3 Barry, they ain’t going to stand by while we empty the bloody boxes.” Barry shrugged his shoulders, “if we can’t spend a bit of time in there, then we haven’t got a hope in hell of coming out with anything. We gotta empty the boxes so we know whats in ‘em”. Mike Turnbull, vintage bank robber took a sip of his tea. “Or we get the boxes out and open them later?” Malcolm shook his head. “There are too many boxes Mike and they are too big.” “How about we tunnel in?” said Barry. Tim laughed again, loudly. “No, seriously”, Barry raised his voice. “we tunnel in and then we can spend as long as we like, within reason, having a look through. Then we only take what’s valuable.” Tim got up, really laughing now. “He is mental!” “He has a point though” said Malcolm raising his hand. “You are joking” said Tim. “Turnbull grimaced as though he had a bad taste in his mouth “I know a tunneller” he said. Malcom raised an eyebrow, “Do you mean Jimmy?” Mike nodded, “I know he’s a pain in the arse but he can dig and he can get a good team who will keep their mouths shut.” Malcolm sat contemplating for a moment. “It’s an option. We still have to work out where we tunnel from and we can’t guarantee that we will earn enough from this to make it worthwhile for everyone involved. Can you find out if he’s available Mike?” Turnbull nodded. Tim gulped the last of his tea. “I’m out on this one Malcolm, I think you’re all barmy. Where are you going to tunnel from? What about the noise?” Malcolm made a smile “No problem Tim, as I said at the start no one has to commit until it’s all been worked out.” “who is this Jimmy? “Asked Barry. “Jimmy Parkes,” said Malcolm. “He’s an unreliable, lowlife., but very handy with dynamite and a tunnelling genius. He has never been caught, not for digging tunnels at any rate.” “He laid sewage pipes for the army in Egypt straight after the Second World War and then on the London underground during the 1960s. His knowledge of explosives and his readiness to work underground means that he got plenty of work with some of the larger criminal gangs and he’s made a fortune from various jobs up and down the country. Sadly, for Jimmy his addiction to gambling means that he often owes more money than he has. That’s what makes him a risky prospect for us. When he owes money, he’s an easy target. When the chips are down, Jimmy looks after Jimmy.” “is there anyone else we can use?” asked Barry. Malcolm looked up at Mike who again made a face and shook his head. “No.” said Malcolm. “If we want to tunnel, then we have to use Jimmy Parkes.” **** The walk to Westminster took him twelve minutes. His pipe was still burning when he arrived at the base of the clock. The man that he was supposed to meet had been almost as reticent about meeting face to face as Malcolm. Malcolm was still worried that it might be a trap set for him by the police although the meeting had been set up through another infamous criminal, a man that, if you valued your life and reputation, you didn’t argue with. 4 Malcolm recognised him as soon as he appeared in the doorway. Lord Brinksby, Aristocrat, ex politician and fixer. A big supporter and adviser to the Royal Family. His face looked as though it had been polished like his shoes and his mouth was full to bursting with pristine teeth. He was about six inches shorter than Malcolm and his camel coloured Crombie coat looked as though it were too big for him. He gave a nervous little laugh and stepped forward, offering his hand. “Mr. Tewksbury? His teeth almost stopped the name coming out . Malcolm shook his hand. “sorry, you have me at a disadvantage, have we met before?” Brinksby smiled. He knew Malcolm was pretending not to recognise him. “we have not met before Mr. Tewksbury , but I am certain you would have heard of me , I am Lord Brinksby.” Malcolm relented “yes , of course, Lord Brinksby” he smiled back , “very pleased to meet you, although I am at a loss to know why you might wish to speak to me”. Brinksby opened his other hand with a flourish. “Shall we walk , whilst we talk?” They started off back toward the Embankment and Brinksby was silent until they reached the river. “This is difficult Mr. Tewksbury , but I believe that during the course of a recent ‘job’ undertaken by some friends of yours, something that belongs to a very powerful acquaintance of mine has gone missing and they would like it back very quickly without any fuss.” Malcolm was genuinely surprised. The robbery, which was obviously the “Job” that Brinksby spoke of had yielded a lot of cash and more gold than they could have hoped for, but very little by way of trinkets and Jewellery. “I am not sure I quite understand .” said Malcolm. Did Brinksby want an admission that he was involved in a robbery. Was he being set up? Brinksby’s casual manner changed very abrubtly. “This is not a game Mr. Tewksbury, I will not be played to.” His red cheeks seemed to grow ever rosier. “ I have no interest in any crime you may have committed, but I cannot stress enough how important it is that this item be returned immediately or I have to say the consequences will be dire.” Malcolm held up his hands, palms open. “ I can assure you sir , I have not come across an item that I could describe to you as unusual or of any great value in connection with the “job” you speak of. “Have you been through all the boxes and bags that were taken from the vault?” asked Brinksby. Malcolm shook his head “No , not all of them , but as I said, no one saw anything unusual. What is the item you are looking for?”. The Lord stopped walking. “ I can’t tell you what it is , but I can tell you what it looks like.“ He ran his tongue over his teeth. “it’s a bangle a bracelet, Ivory and Jade. It is hinged and very thick with an inscription on the inside edge. It has no great value as an item of Jewellery. My acquaintance would like the item returned. Once it has been received, nothing more will be said and nothing else will be asked of you. As I say we have absolutely no interest in the matter other than this item. Malcolm thought for a moment. The very fact that he was told by one of the most notorious gangsters in South London to contact Brinksby , was incentive enough .There was nothing to be gained from resisting this man’s request. Early estimates from the heist showed a haul amounting to at least four million pounds in cash alone. The value of the item was nothing in the scheme of things. He would look for the bracelet and if it were amongst the spoils he would return it. 5 He offered his hand to Brinksby “ I will check and contact you by telephone in the morning on the number I was given. If the bracelet is there, you can be sure you will have it by the end of the day tomorrow. I give you my word.” Brinksby returned his handshake. “ I do hope for all our sakes Mr. Tewksbury , that the bracelet is found and placed back in the hands of its rightful owner. I expect to hear from you tomorrow morning.” He nodded a curt farewell and turned back towards Westminster. “Goodbye.” **** “Jimmy is in.” said Mike. He wants two of his own boys to help him with the dig and he’ll pay them out of his percentage. “There’s a shop two doors down from the bank that’s empty, used to be a men’s outfitters, Jimmy reckons he can go through the wall in the basement of that shop into next door and then dig a fifteen foot tunnel straight through to the bank vault.” Barry laughed . “How long is that going to take?” Mike shrugged “Well; He says three weekends. Cant dig in the week as its too noisy and he thinks someone will hear. The vault will need to be cut open with something he calls an Arc cutter. He says that’s pretty noisy too , but if that’s done in the early hours on Saturday of the last weekend then we get the whole Saturday and Sunday to clear the security boxes.

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