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familyvideostevie · 5 months

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watching you with wonder

joel miller x reader joel claims to have heard something interesting. too bad he keeps insisting he needs more information before he can tell you | 5.4k a/n: same universe as come care about me but not necessary to read that one first! joel is soft, this is my version of him where he and ellie heal and he gets to have a life etc etc etc | domesticity, post-part i jackson au, joel is a flirt and a gossip but good thing you are too, a fair amount of kissing, fluff, softness, peace and all that good stuff. part 3 here! series masterlist here.

It's been a long day. The supply run you'd been dreading went off without a hitch but you were out of the gate at sun-up and in the saddle for most of the morning and afternoon. Your legs are sore, your back is sore, and you're dirty from a day outside the walls.

You haven't seen Joel since this morning. Not unusual, not by any means. Most days you're both doing something in town, occasionally one of you out on patrol. You're partial to the plant work and Joel likes to chop wood or check out houses that need upgrades with Tommy. But after a day like today you want nothing more than to go home and complain about how much you miss cars while Joel works the knots out of your shoulders.

But tonight is Festival Night. Nothing big, just a dance at the barn that serves as the community center with music and drinks and food. And Joel, despite his insistence that he's Jackson's resident grump, will be there, because Tommy will have asked him to go and he doesn't like disappointing his brother. And, though he'll never admit it even to you, he enjoys community events. He gets to see the people he loves having a nice time and feeling safe.

So you head from the stables to the main hall, not bothering to stop at home. Jackson seems to be lit up extra special, the air a little lighter due to the laughter and music brightening the night. The noise becomes almost overwhelming when you open the door and slide inside, dropping your pack against the wall. It's much warmer in here and you unbutton your coat as you make your way through the crowd, waving to people as you go.

Joel is here somewhere but you don't try too hard to spot him. You know he'll find you. Someone calls your name and you pivot on your heel to find Ellie waving at you from a...poker table?

"Wanna join?" she asks once you walk over. Next to her is Tommy, who looks significantly less excited than she does. "I'm teaching Tommy how to play poker. Oh, sorry, I'm fucking smoking Tommy at poker."

"I know how to play, you little shit," Tommy growls. "Who taught you? This isn't poker, this is a fuckin' massacre."

Ellie cackles and tips her chair back so she's balancing on the back legs.

"I'll pass this round," you tell her. "Looks like you've got him handled."

"You just want to find Joel." She looks at you in that uncanny way of hers like she knows all of your secrets. But this is one you have no problem admitting.

You smile at her. "Seen him?"

"Now that you're here I'm sure he'll slink out of whatever corner he stuck himself in," Tommy grumbles. "Girl, you sure you ain't countin' cards?"

You leave them to it and wander over to the bar. Astrid pours you a glass of something amber. You take a sip and let the burn warm your throat, your stomach. The music behind you picks up and there's laughter and you turn to see people pairing up and flocking to the floor.

You close your eyes to enjoy the sounds that mean peace, safety, home. It never gets old and you never quite get used to it. You inhale deep and -- ah, yes. There it is. A smile spreads across your face as you breathe in wood glue, gunpowder, the soap you make at home. Your heart beats a little faster, even after all this time.

"Hi," you say, opening your eyes. Joel stands in front of you, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a glass similar to your own. His hair curls at his collar, edges still a little wet from the shower he must have taken before coming here. His shirt is rolled to his elbows, his jacket clearly discarded somewhere. Your gaze trails up his chorded forearms, his watch securely in place as always. This is what you've called his "nice" shirt, a deep green that makes the grey of his beard all the more striking and brings out his eyes.

Eyes that settle on you in a way that sends heat up your spine.

"Howdy," he says. "You just get here?"

"Like you weren't watching the door for me," you tease. He shrugs and reaches for you, his free hand curling around your hip to tug you close for just a few moments. Joel presses his lips to your cheek lightly, his beard scratching your skin as he pulls away and settles at your side, arm resting on the bar behind you.

"Well, I ain't seen you all day," he reminds you. As if you could forget. Every second you're not looking at him you sort of wish you were. There aren't many good things left in your life -- all of them are in this town, now -- and you tend to hold on to the ones you still have with both hands. Joel, despite the fact that he'd argue with you over it, is your good thing. Your best thing.

"Miss me?"

"Dumb question," he mutters.

His fingers brush against the back of your bicep, warm through your jacket. "How was the run?"

"Easy. Long." You take a sip of your drink. It's still warming but doesn't measure up to the solid warmth of the man beside you. "I came straight here."

"That would explain why you smell like shit," he drawls. You smack his chest. He doesn't so much as flinch.

"Rude."

Joel watches the crowd and you watch him. That's how it usually goes with you two. You figure he's watching for threats, for any sign of something going wrong. It's a habit most folks here find hard to break. He's watching Ellie, who has left the poker table behind, twirl some of the children around with Dina, he's watching Tommy try to teach a few drunk guys how to square dance like he does every Festival. Joel curls his hand around your shoulder and you lean back into the touch.

On a night like tonight when joy is more contagious than the fungus spreading through the rotting world, Joel loosens up a little. It's a good look on him and it only ever means good things for you -- he laughs more, he touches you more. But most importantly you know he lets life in. He lets that knot you know is in his chest, the one made of fear and loss and survival and all of the horrible fucked up things he's seen and done, he lets it loosen even just a bit. He lets himself feel the good things, too. How much the people in this town respect him, care about him. How much they appreciate him. How much they love him, how much you love him.

You look at him in the soft light of the barn. There's a tug to his mouth that you know.

He looks smug. It's a nice look on him, a relaxed one. He looks too handsome for his own good. And though you love him, love how he's enjoying the night, like hell you're going to let him stand there and get away with whatever he's cooking up.

"Joel Miller, why are you looking so pleased with yourself?"

"No reason," he says. He takes another sip of his drink, side-eyeing you over the rim. This man.

You tap the heel of your boot against his. "Don't make me beg."

His eyes flash but he turns into your space, the solid shape of him curling around you as well as his arm. In another world, in another life, he could be a handsome man picking you up at a bar.

"I heard somethin'," he says, voice low. "Somethin'...interestin'."

"Really?" You look around the barn as if the object of his gossip will materialize in front of you. "Tell me."

He leans back and you have to stop yourself from following. "Don't think so."

"Joel."

This man can be such a shit when he wants to be.

He holds the hand carrying his glass up in surrender, the brown liquor sloshing close to the rim. "Hey now, don't go shootin' the messenger."

"I can't because he won't tell me the message."

"S'not anything worth tellin' just yet," he drawls. "I need a little more intel. Y'know, make it worth your while."

You sigh, hamming it up a bit by thunking your forehead to his collar. Joel huffs a laugh and fully drapes his arm across your shoulders, warm and solid.

It's all fun but you know there's a note of truth to it. Joel can lie better than most people but he doesn't lie to you. "Fine. You get away with it for now."

The song changes to something old and slow, something you recognize but don't quite remember the name of.

"Only if you dance with me," you say. You swallow the last of your drink and push off the bar, sliding out from under his arm. You hold your hand out to him and wiggling your fingers. "It's only fair."

He sighs like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he is, sometimes. But right now his cheeks are a little flushed from the drink and your flirting and you want to see how far you can take it.

"Unless I smell too much like shit," you goad. You don't actually think he'll go for it. Joel doesn't dance. It feels like the kind of good time, the kind of joy that is forever stuck in the past, left behind twenty odd years ago. Honestly, you think he'll just drag you home and have his way with you in your warm bed.

But he manages to surprise you.

Joel throws back his drink and grabs your hand. His thumb strokes your skin.

"S'pose it is," he says. "You don't smell that bad."

A delighted laugh spills from you. He leads you to the already-crowded dance floor, pulling you close with a hand on your back. You rest your arm on his broad shoulder and hook your thumb in his collar.

"Not so bad, is it?" you say. Your faces are so close you're practically cheek to cheek. You feel his breath on the shell of your ear, his beard a little prickly against your cheek.

"Could be worse." You and Joel gently sway and you toy with the ends of his hair. Over his shoulder you can see Dina and Ellie dancing, arms wrapped around each other tight. You close your eyes and match your breaths to Joel's.

"We should do this more often," you say. "Bet they'd let you play guitar at the next festival if you wanted."

Joel hums.

"Don't forget you have to deliver the firewood to the school tomorrow." He presses his hand to your back and pulls you even closer. "Are you listening to me?"

"Mhm."

"Joel --" Your eyes fly open and you try to pull away to goad him but he holds you steadily against him.

"Hush," he says, fingers squeezing yours. "I'm enjoyin' the moment."

You allow it.

___

The gossip Joel mentioned is in the back of your mind but you know he'll tell you when he's satisfied with his information gathering or whatever the fuck he's up to. Sure, it's silly, maybe even pointless but you like to think of it as a display of the trust you have in each other. You trust Joel with your life and you've put that into practice, watched him bloody his knuckles for the ones he loves. You also trust him with your heart, your body, your mind. There's no part of you that his hands haven't touched, haven't loved in the jagged, intense way of his.

Plus you enjoy seeing him pleased with himself, which you know he will be once he has the whole story to tell you. It's not a mood you see on him often.

You finally have a free night and Ellie asks you to come over to try out a new video game Jesse found for her on patrol. Joel waves you off when you offer to stay in with him instead.

"Means I'll get some peace and quiet to finish my book," he grumbles, handing you your coat even though you're walking across the yard. He's already peeled off his boots and looks half-awake in the dim light of your entryway, glasses tucked into the collar of his sweater.

"More like you're going to sit in bed and fall asleep reading without me talking to keep you awake."

He sends you off with an eye roll and a soft kiss which you turn into two more, just because. Maybe a few years ago he'd sit in the chair downstairs and wait for you to come home. He does like to play his guitar on the porch when it's not too cold, keep an eye on things. But you'll be with Ellie just out back and it's been a long week. It's no small point of pride that, with the help of your reassurance and persistent care and his own conviction, Joel allows himself to relax a little. "Have fun."

You do. Ellie and Joel have a history that is complex and tender, so much so that sometimes it's too much for both of them. After it seemed like she was open to it, you've tried to make sure you and her have a relationship all your own. She's smart and funny and fiercely loyal to the people she cares about. You feel lucky to be one of them.

But she still annihilates your ass when it comes to video games.

"You know," she says, cracking her knuckles after yet another defeat. "It's embarrassing as shit how you literally lived in a time where you could play these like, whenever you wanted. And yet it's me, who was born after the world ended, who keeps winning."

You make sure to look unamused. "Whatever." You stand, stretching out your spine with your arms above your head and yawn. "It's teenage luck." You have no idea how this girl stays up so late all the time.

"I guess I'm just good at everything."

"Oh, you sure about that?" She hands you your coat and tugs on the strings of her sweatshirt. "I've seen you in a kitchen. You might want to rethink that one."

"Psh," she says, waving you off. "Who needs to cook, anyway?"

You slide into your boots and shake your head. "I'm actually shocked Dina puts up with you."

"Hey, fuck you!" she cries, though she's hiding a smile. "No insulting me in my own home. It's Joel's fault, anyway. He can't cook either."

You snort. "Don't I know it." She grins at you fully, the one you call her shark-tooth smile, and you grin back. "Thanks for this, kiddo. I had fun."

"Yeah, maybe one day you'll win." You tug her in for a quick hug which she allows before squirming away. "Alright, alright. Go make sure he didn't burn down the house without you, or something."

It's late, late enough that you feel yourself getting more tired with each step back to the porch. Joel left the back door unlocked for you. You latch the deadbolt behind you and peel off your outer layers in the dark. A quick glance in the kitchen tells you Joel put your stuff from dinner away and is probably in bed. He's left out your mugs, ready for the morning, and the list he's been making of things you need to do around the house before it snows. You love to see the pieces of your life on display like this -- signs that this is a home.

You don't bother being quiet when you climb up the stairs because you know he'll be pissed if you don't wake him to let him know you're home. The bedroom light is on but when you actually go in you see he's in bed with his book in his lap, glasses sliding down his nose. His eyes are closed and his bare chest rises slowly.

He's probably only half-asleep, probably heard you come in and decided it was safe enough to shut his eyes until you say something. So you get ready for bed quickly, tugging on soft clothes and brushing your teeth before creeping over to his side of the bed and perching on the edge of it, resting your hand on his thigh under the covers.

"Joel," you say softly. "Joel, are you asleep?"

"Yes," he grumbles. His eyes flutter open, the piercing grey a little clouded with tiredness. He reaches for his glasses and pulls them from his face a bit clumsily. "You okay? You n'Ellie have fun?"

"We did. She's so good at video games it's a little scary." You pluck the frames from his hand and fold them, setting them on his bedside table with his book. He grunts and pushes himself up a little more in bed, his leg pressing against your tailbone through the blankets. It's a real show of your restraint that you don't run your hands over the golden and hairy expanse of his chest, the broad line of his shoulders. Instead you reach for his face and he lets you, eyes crinkling at the corners as he tries and fails to hide his amusement as you trail your fingers through his hair. Just being here with him makes you a little sleepy, your body catching up with your mind at how you always feel safest when he's in the room with you. "S'cold, though. I think we might need to put some more insulation in the shed for her."

"Alright," he says. Joel wraps his fingers around your wrist and pulls your palm to his cheek but quickly flinches away. "Christ," he mutters. "Your hands are cold." He encases both of your hands in his and rubs slowly, throughly.

"Let me get in bed, then." You make no effort to move.

Joel blows on your fingers and, in a move that's tender even for him, presses his lips to their tips. "I ain't holdin' you here."

"Sarcasm," you say. "And Ellie claims you're not funny." Joel scoffs and you laugh, rising from his side of the bed and making your way around to yours. Joel flicks back the covers and you slide in, facing him.

"Light off?" he asks. You nod. He shuffles around to flip the switch and then settles into his side with a groan. It's dark but you know his face with your eyes closed, let alone in the moonlight of your bedroom. The gash on the bridge of his nose, the scruff of his greying beard, the nicks along his cheeks and temples. The age spots, the wrinkles, the lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth, these days more from smiles and laughter than stress and worry. Or so you like to think.

"Got any gossip for me yet?"

Joel huffs. "Not quite."

"Jooooooel," you whine, scooting closer. You hook a leg over his and slide your hand over his stomach, fingers catching on the hair above the waistband of his sleep pants. He makes a noise deep in his throat but otherwise allows it.

"I ain't givin' you half-assed information," he says. "It'll be worth the wait."

With Joel, it always is. You consider dragging it out a little more but you're cold and tired and he's so warm and you barely saw him at all today. "Alright," you say. You pull yourself even closer under the covers, dragging your nose over the hollow of his throat, his beard a delicious scratch on your skin. Your hand curls around his hip and he reaches for you on instinct, warm, callused palms sliding under your sleep shirt to press into your bare skin.

He huffs a tired laugh, chest rumbling with amusement. "What're you up to?"

"You're warm," you say into his skin.

"And you're handsy."

You trail your lips up to his and press them to the corner of his mouth. "You love it."

"Guess I do," Joel says. He catches you in a lazy, slow kiss, tongue tracing the seam of your lips until you part them. He licks into your mouth like he's got all the time in the world and you let him. His nose presses against yours and you sigh even further into the embrace, pressing as close as you can, as if you could crawl into him and stay there forever. Any cold lingering in your bones is dispelled by Joel's touch, by the thigh he wedges between your legs. This could turn into something more, and you love when it does, but tonight it's just about being close. His hand trails up your side to cup your face as the kisses get lazier, sleepier. You're slotting his bottom lip between yours when he pulls back and --

Yawns in your face.

He looks a little surprised and then frowns. You laugh and smooth the crease between his brows before kissing him once more.

"Jesus, Joel," you say. "Bedtime."

"Was sleepin' fine before you got here," he grumbles, but in the same breath he wraps his arm around you and tugs you with him as he turns onto his back so your head lays on his chest. You match your breaths to his. He presses a kiss to your hair.

___

Two nights later you wake to an empty bed.

You sleepily trail your hand through the sheets and find they still carry Joel's warmth. He must have gotten up a few minutes ago. You force your eyes to open but don't see a light in the bathroom, find no shadow in your eyesight. You can hear his voice in your head saying go back to sleep, s'nothin' but you know better than to listen to him when it comes to this. It's not like you'll be able to until you know he's okay, anyway.

So you wrap the blanket from the foot of your bed around yourself and shuffle through the house and down the stairs.

"Joel?" you call quietly.

"Kitchen," he replies, a warm grumble in the still of the night. You didn't even look at the clock when you got out of bed but it must be late.

He sits in the dark at your small kitchen table, eyes fixed on Ellie's garage out back. He's put a shirt on. Of course. Nightmare. This is where he always sits after he has one. His hands are wrapped around his mug. Based on the smell it's chamomile tea -- the only time he'll drink it instead of coffee is on nights like tonight. He had no idea it even grew in the greenhouses here until you presented him with a jar of it for Ellie back when you were still tiptoeing around whatever was between you. Those days are long gone.

"You okay?" You keep your voice hushed. It's rare these days that he'll want to be alone. You're the only one who gets to see him like this other than Ellie. It took a while but now Joel lets you comfort him, he lets you hold him together when he needs it.

He tears his eyes from the window to meet yours, chin tipped up as he gets a good look at you in the dark.

"M'alright." You take a few more steps into the kitchen and he frowns. "You cold?" He reaches for you with one hand, beckoning you close. You step into his space and he wraps one arm around you, leans his head against your soft stomach. You untangle from the blanket slightly to run your fingers through his hair. The touch is as grounding for him as it is for you.

"What can I do?" you ask him, ignoring his question.

You can feel the warmth of his palm through the blanket and your sleep shirt. "This is just fine. Just need a minute."

"You wanna take that minute on the couch?" He grunts his assent and you step back to allow him to get up. He leaves his mug on the table but catches your hand to pull you with him.

Joel sighs when he settles into the worn cushions, knees spread wide and head tipped back as be breathes. He doesn't look any more tired than usual but you can tell he's still holding onto whatever sent him down here.

You press into his side, legs curled underneath you. His arm settles heavily on across your shoulders and you rest a palm on his knee.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He turns his head to face you and his nostrils flare as he frowns.

"Nothin' new," he sighs. "A pretty old one, actually. Haven't had it in a while. 'Bout stuff from when we were on the road."

If he wants to say more he will. You don't know what it's like for him to worry about Ellie -- you only know how youworry. Once the sun rises he'll probably trudge over and knock on her door, ask if she wants to go for a ride. She'll complain about being woken up but she'll agree because she knows him, too. She'll see the tension at the edges of his eyes, in the set of his shoulders. There have been nights when you come downstairs to find her sleeping on the couch, too, just because she wanted to be sure he was okay.

You lean your head on his shoulder and breathe with him. He picks up your hand and rubs his thumb across the back of it slowly, as if he doesn't even know he's doing it.

Sleep is a near thing when Joel eventually clears his throat. "I got that gossip for you." His chest rumbles and you perk up, pulling back to look at him. His eyes have a bit more spark, a bit less of the far-away look he had when you came down the stairs.

"Oh, do you now? Finally?"

"You're just impatient," he says. "Hadn't heard directly from either of 'em so I wasn't sure. But I tracked it down and got it from the source."

"You sound like a detective from one of those old shows. Got it from the source," you say, pitching your voice low and imitating his drawl.

He manages to look unimpressed. "I don't have to tell you."

"Joel."

"Alright, alright. Well, it's about Wendy and Fred."

You sit up. "The couple that met on your group patrol?" It's something you and Ellie tease him about -- his accidental tendency to play matchmaker. Sometimes he leads group patrols for new folks or younger community members who are now old enough to join the roster. You think he probably enjoys scaring the shit out of them a little but he's also good at it, teaches them well and makes sure they're safe. Around the time you met you'd heard about a couple who met on a patrol and hit it off. It's happened a few more times with Joel's groups but Wendy and Fred are the only ones who have stayed together.

"Mhm. Word is they're gettin' married."

You gasp. This is very far from what you expected him to tell you. A lot of the gossip you and Joel share is about people breaking up or sleeping together or moving out of Jackson. Sometimes it's petty theft or in-fighting at the council. But this? This is downright romantic.

"Married?" It's not uncommon these days but most people don't bother. But most importantly it means one thing -- there's going to be a party. "We haven't had a wedding in...forever," you say wistfully.

"Been a few years, yeah," Joel agrees. "Folks'll be excited."

"How did you find out?"

He shifts on the couch a little and you take control of your clasped hands, holding one of his in both of yours as you trace the lines on his palm, the veins that go up his arm while he talks.

"Heard from one of the guys at the festival that Fred was lookin' for a ring. Wanted to get the word out to some supply runs but without her knowin'. But I wasn't sure, since I hadn't seen him in a while. Then I saw Wendy at the pantry few days ago and she looked real happy. I didn't pry but asked her how things were and she was chipper as hell."

"And that wasn't enough to tell me?"

He squeezes your shoulder.

"Yesterday Fred cornered me when I was headin' home and told me flat out. Thanked me for some fuckin' reason and said Wendy agreed to marry him. Kid looked like he was gonna throw up, he was so excited."

Joel's voice is warm. "You are such a romantic when you want to be," you tell him.

He smirks. "Heard that before."

"It'll be nice to have a celebration. If we're invited, you're dancing with me again."

"We better fuckin' be invited," he grumbles. "I introduced them."

"So you admit to being a matchmaker?"

He huffs. "Nah," he says, a little softer. "Dumb luck. S'how you get good things these days."

You shift under his arm a little bit. "Maybe," you reply. "I think we've earned a few of those things."

Joel drags a hand down his face. It's a motion that usually means he's chewing on what to say next. You spare him.

"This --" you gesture between the two of you "--and all of this --" you wave your hand at the room, the house "-- is more than I knew I could want. You, this house, that feisty, wonderful girl out back. This whole town. Waking up every morning and not dreading another day on this hellish planet. I didn't know this existed anymore, Joel, let alone that it was possible for me. And I think we've earned it."

He's quiet for a few breaths. "C'mere," he says softly. You don't know exactly what he means but he pulls you into his lap so you're straddling him, his arm firm around your hips. It could be a heated position, often is, but here it's just to be close. You catch yourself on his shoulders and drag your hands up to his cheeks. You hold his face in your hands, thumbs stroking the soft, forever-bruised skin under his eyes.

"You sure got a way with words," he says thickly, gaze heavy. "Don't know what I did to deserve this but I ain't gonna question it."

You wrap your arms around him and properly embrace him. He presses his palms to your back and hooks his chin over your shoulder. Your breathing syncs up and you swear your heartbeats do, too. Your whole body, your whole being tuned itself to Joel a long time ago. You'd do everything you've done twice over to get here.

As if he hears the desperate devotion of your thoughts, Joel pulls back so he can lean up for a kiss. It's more intense than you expected it to be, like he's trying to tell you something with the press of his mouth. You know what he's trying to tell you -- you always do. Joel is better at showing you how he feels than telling you.

He suckles your lower lip and you tug on the hair at the nape of his neck. He makes a noise low in his throat and you swallow it. You could touch him forever and never get enough. The firm planes of his back, the knot of tension always present in his shoulders. The scratch of his beard, the press of his nose against yours. You want to stitch yourself to him so that you never have to let go.

"S'your turn," Joel grumbles against your lips, pulling back to catch his breath.

Your brain is a little fuzzy. "Hm?"

"For somethin' juicy."

It's a funny word coming from his mouth and it makes you laugh. His arms tighten around you and he drags his nose down your neck and breathes deep. You can get some gossip for him. You'd do much worse without being asked. Sometimes you think there are no limits to what you'd do for this man. It's a big thought, a dangerous thought, one that's suited to the world you live in now. You don't mind it.

"I'll get you something good, Joel Miller. I promise."

"I know you will," he says. "I trust you."

thank you for reading <3 reblog, send feedback, general masterlist here!

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x y/n #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller fluff #the last of us fanfiction

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dwindlinghaze · 5 months

Text

a flight to paris

(remus lupin x reader)

summary: you and remus have been in an established relationship for years but one day you received an unexpected break up call from him.

contents: she/her pronouns, modern!au, angst (?), break up, inspired by a barbie movie, my horrible english, i wrote this out of boredom, oh and this is a multipart :)

　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

on most days you enjoy your summer holiday. you have a part time job in which you worked for a magazine, having your own personal workspace in the office headquarters and all.

your days are mostly surrounded by the latest style, magazine covers, hollywood gossip, and beautiful photoshoots of women. it was fun, really. that is if mr. wellins wasn't your boss.

he's a walking patriarchal figure. hate is not enough to describe your feelings towards that man.

"i don't think that's a good idea to put in there," you spoke during one of the meetings.

"what do you mean? it's a good one, everybody will be intrigued!" he scoffed.

you shifted uncomfortably in your seat, glancing at the others but they just gave you a warning look. no one dared to go against mr. wellins. "it just doesn't feel right y'know- to put that in there considering it's just an allegation and not confirmed?"

"but we focus on marketing here! who will pay your wage if it weren't for these nosy people who read and buy our magazines? we have to find a way to get our sales higher!" he said sternly, glaring at you with cold eyes.

"look here, if you put that article, surely our reputation will be stained. you don't want that to happen do you? we just need to find something else- something more positive and harmless but still eye catching. like the new box office movie that everyone has been talking about lately. it doesn't harm anyone, in fact it's supporting them. what do you think?"

every one of your co-workers nodded in agreement, waiting for the boss to reply.

he looked bored. "you know that flapping thing you just did with your mouth?"

"you mean- expressing my opinion on what's better for the sake of your company?"

"yeah that," he rolled his eyes. "stop doing that."

"i think y/n's right, makes me wish she were the boss," one of your co-workers mumbled under her breath.

he looked sharply at the girl, "i can easily fire you."

"oh no no, i feel like we just- need to discuss about this more you know?" you defended.

"oh get off this place. end of discussion!"

"we can talk like in the coffee shop, or the commissary-"

"not me getting off, you getting off. get out you're fired!" he slammed his fist.

"wha- what? fired?" you said breathlessly, eyes widen in shock.

you got to your car, speeding to get home and just curl up in the arms of your boyfriend- remus lupin. you needed him. his constant whispering of sweet nothings, his warm embrace, his smile that can rip away all negativity.

just like magic, your phone started ringing with remus in the other line. screen lighting up, his pretty face on the screen. you smiled, so big and decided to stop at one of the parking lots nearby.

"hello?" you heard the sweet voice of remus lupin.

"oh rem! i'm so glad you called!" you exclaimed, heart warming at his comforting voice.

"things aren't right with us and you know it. they haven't been for a while," he said. his ever-lovely voice that makes you feel safe was nowhere to be heard. your heart dropped, chest hurting all of a sudden.

"what?" you choked on the verge of sobbing. "remus come on."

"i'm breaking up with you... right now." he said it like you don't matter to him at all. you clenched your phone, eyes already hurting from the incoming tears.

"you're not... are you serious? what are you saying?" you thought your day couldn't get worse, but the universe said otherwise.

"it's over. and if you're smart, you'll forget i exist."

and just like that, the line disconnected. you couldn't stop the tears from falling out of your eyes. not only have you lost your job, you also have lost your remus.

you never thought he would ever break up with you. especially since you both were in a strong relationship of four years. no matter what problems appeared on the surface, they always got resolved.

wiping your tears away, you tried to drive safely to lily's house. your best friend. you needed someone to talk to. someone to pour your heart out.

"i lost my job and he broke up with me," you said in shame when she opened the door to see you with red rimmed eyes.

"he broke up with you because you lost your job?" lily gasped.

"no... separately," you sobbed. then you told her the whole story of how you've had lost your job and how he broke up with you on the phone in your car just then.

"what kind of guy does that!" lily said in disbelief. it's so not remus to break up with you like that. knowing how much he loves you since forever ago. you two are perfect for each other. nothing could ever compare to the bond you both had.

"i guess a guy with no real emotions," you huffed, reaching for lily's tissue.

lily suggested for you to call remus again, 'cause no way is someone like him said something like that to you. there was no response though, he's not answering.

"maybe you misunderstood. what did he actually say?" lily asked once more.

"he said that it was over, and if i were smart i'd forget he ever existed," his words ringing in your ears.

"does he speak another language where it means 'i love you'," lily tried, you shook your head.

"that's it," she picked up your phone. "i'm blocking him from your cell, e-mail, everything! you do not break up with anyone like that! when i'm done, we're gonna go somewhere that you love. a place where you feel happy and good about yourself."

"i wanna go far away," you mumbled.

"that's right, you should go far away and clear your head! forget about them. men are getting harder to like these days," lily agreed, snapping her fingers.

"i'll go far away... like aunt milicent's!" you said.

"aunt millicents?" lily asked.

"yeah she's a designer in paris. has a fashion house and everything. i always loved being there. tons of people, energy, fabrics, and dresses... and my aunt in the middle of it all! oh how i want to be like her when i grow up. that's it i'm going there!"

"super fun!" lily exclaimed, truly happy for you. "when are you going?"

"right now! i can spend the last weeks of summer vacation with her," you managed to crack a smile, "i don't need remus. what i need is to book a flight to paris."

"remmy, you can't help me with our summer project if you're on the phone all the time," jessica said, snatching remus' phone out of his hand.

"i just don't get it, i can't get through y/n at all!" remus said in exasperation, brows furrowing in confusion and worry clouding up his head.

"i'm sure she's fine," jessica said, fluttering her lashes.

remus was unconvinced, he couldn't focus the whole time. "it has been since yesterday."

"y/n is a busy person. she'll call when she gets the chance... in the meantime...," she jerked her head towards the script.

"do we have to tape that again... i'm not an actor, i probably sounded stupid," remus scoffed.

"you sounded beautiful," she said, smiling flirtatiously at him.

remus was too fogged up on the thought of you to notice her behaviour. you never ignore him like this. no matter how busy your lives were, you two always made time for each other.

"lils look!" marlene gasped, pointing at remus and jessica sitting together on the table across the room.

"oh no. don't tell me that boy dumped y/n for jessica," lily said in annoyance and disbelief.

the two of them walked over, crossing their arms. "are you kidding?" lily said coldly, shooting daggers at remus.

"lily, marlene! where's y/n?" remus asked, sitting up from his chair. he didn't know why they looked upset.

"why do you want to know?" marlene questioned.

"i can't reach her! i've called, i've texted, i've emailed. nothing worked. is she okay?" remus said desperately.

"y/n's fine. she wants nothing to do with the twat who dumped her over the phone!" lily scolded.

"wha- huh- dumped her?" remus asked in shock. he would never dump you. you're everything to him. "i would never do that, c'mon you guys know how much she means to me!"

"you know what uhh i actually need to run, see you," jessica said, slipping away from the table. nobody paid attention to her though.

"don't play dumb! she told us what you said 'it's over and if you're smart you'll forget i exist'."

"wait what?" remus exclaimed, eyes travelling towards jessica who was chuckling guiltily. "that line... a part of the script i read yesterday. don't say you recorded it and play it back to y/n," he said, eyes closing painfully.

"i'd be happy to tell you that," jessica said, batting her lashes. oh what a nerve. "it was a joke. i never thought she'd actually believed it. she must have serious doubts about the relationship."

remus ignored her, turning towards lily and marlene. "where's y/n? i need to see her now," he said, heart racing at the thought of you.

"uh- she's kind of..." lily slowly replied, eyeing marlene, urging her to finish the sentence.

"in paris."

"paris? paris, france? since when was she going to paris?" remus was panicking. he knew he messed up and he's willing to make it right again.

"uh a long story..."

"what should i do? i need to talk to her as soon as possible," he scrunched his hair, brows knitting.

"y/n went through a lot yesterday... you know what you can do to make her feel better? a grand romantic gesture! don't just call her. go book yourself a flight to paris, show up to her aunt milicent's doorstep, and prove how much you love her!" lily said.

"she'll love it!" marlene agreed.

"i'm on it," he opened his phone to search for a plane ticket. "i'll book the next flight out of london."

#remus lupin x reader #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin x reader fluff #remus lupin fic #remus x reader

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sunlightmurdock · 1 year

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The Parent Trap | 0.2 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader au

♡ Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist

♡ In which, after a couple of years of listening to Peyton and Parker Bradshaw complain about their parents’ custody agreement, Grandpa Mav’s meddling goes a little bit too far.

♡ warnings: mentions of divorce throughout the fic, flashbacks to arguments and unhappily married people. Idiots who still love each other and don’t know it, struggles during breastfeeding, Jake Seresin cameo, flashback indicated by italics

…

“She’s seeing someone? — You’re kidding!”

Penny looks up from the bar, eyebrows scrunching slightly as she stares across the otherwise empty room at her husband and his two adopted grandchildren. Sitting opposite the two young girls in a booth, the three of them turn their heads and realize that they’re been overheard, then quietly resume their gossiping.

Maverick has this idea in his head that Rooster isn’t happy being alone. He probably isn’t, most people aren’t — but Penny has told him time and time again not to meddle. Rooster’s kind of a hot head about his personal life and this can only end badly.

Anyone that has come across Pete Mitchell, though, will be able to tell you that trying to get a bad idea out of his head is like drawing blood from a stone. There’s no level of intervention that can stop whatever he’s up to. Besides, it is a little bit cute watching the three of them plotting away together.

The door startles Penny as she’s cleaning residue from the beer taps. It’s only eight in the morning, they aren’t open yet and that door is supposed to be locked. Mav left it open. Jake Seresin strolls in the same way he always does, sunglasses on, lips quirked. Like he owns the place.

“Penny.” He greets with a nod.

“Little bit early for me to be seeing you, isn’t it?” She replies with a soft smile, setting her cloth down and leaning her palms forwards on her side of the bar. Jake takes off his sunglasses and tucks them into the front pocket of his khakis.

“My blushing bride seems to think she left something here last night.” Jake answers without a hint of shame, lips quirked at the sides, knowing Penny knows exactly what he’s talking about.

“Ah. Yeah, I was wondering if she would be wanting it back.” Penny answers, her cheeks running hot even though she has nothing to be embarrassed about. Jake’s wedding is to a local girl that Penny has known for years, Quinn even worked her for a couple of summers while she was in college. Last night, Quinn’s bachelorette party began here.

Penny crouches down and slides the lost and found box out from under the counter. She presents Jake with a plastic bag. His brows scrunch slightly. Quinn only sent him here for a phone. Glancing between Penny and this mysterious plastic bag, he opens it gingerly. She watches as his grin grows slightly.

Sure, there’s his fiancées phone. But there’s also a cute little gimmicky thong that was a gift from one of her friends that proudly proclaims ‘Property of Captain Jake Seresin’ on it. There are a few other things too, but it’s the thong that really catches Jake’s eye. He chuckles and closes the bag again.

“Thanks for saving these for me, angel. I’ll make sure that they get back to Quinn safely.” He winks one of his green eyes at her and pats a hand over the top of the bag.

Penny breathes out a dry chuckle, shaking her head. In her almost fifteen years of knowing Jake, he hasn’t changed a bit. “I’m sure you will.”

The sound of hushed whispering draws Jake’s attention away from their conversation, his head turning towards the booth in the corner. He leaves the bag on the bar, wandering over, “Bradshaw’s!”

They turn their heads in unison, two freckled faces staring up at the man who taught them exactly how fun water balloons can be, smiles crossing their faces. “Hey, Jake.”

“What are you two troublemakers doing here? — Shouldn’t you be in school?” He checks the heavy, black IWC watch on his wrist and frowns slightly at the two of them.

“We got suspended.” Parker answers calmly, still undecided in whether or not she should feel guilty about the situation. It’s hard to feel guilty when she gets to spend an entire week hanging out with Grandpa Mav instead of learning fractions.

“No way,” Jake smiles at the idea, leaning forwards and resting his palms on the table on the booth. He has always said that the two of them take after their mother and this just proves it. You always had a knack for finding mischief. “What’d you do?”

“We swapped places so that I could beat someone up for her.” Peyton explains. Jake grins. He and Rooster might have had their differences, but Jake has always adored these little terrors. He turns his head towards Mav, raising his eyebrows and then looking back to the girls.

“You look like you’re up to no good right now.” Jake decides, folding his arms over his broad chest. The twins glance at Maverick and Jake knows that he’s right. He slips a hand into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, opening it up. He drops two five dollar bills in front of each of the girls, “Well, do me a favour and give your old man a little hell.”

“Thanks, Jake.” Parker grins up at him. Like butter wouldn’t melt with her little pigtails and their matching denim overalls. Jake smiles and gives them a curt nod as he steps back.

Jake chuckles to himself as he waves goodbye to Penny and takes his fiancée’s belongings back to his car.

“What did Bradley say when she told him?” Maverick presses.

“He was fine with it!” Peyton bangs her fists on the table, startling her sister and getting a sharp look from Penny. She sighs and folds her arms over her chest. “He’s going to meet this weirdo tomorrow!”

Maverick hums, resting his hand over his face. Admittedly, he hadn’t been expecting a third party and this derails some of the plans he had made with the kids. But, it doesn’t kill the plan completely.

He sits forwards and rests his hands on the table as they lean in closer to hear him. “Okay, so here’s what you do, and this is important, so listen.”

The next afternoon, Bradley finds himself more anxious than usual for the evening. It’s a big deal. Meeting someone who could be a big part of his childrens’ lives. Bradley glances around his room at the two of them, wondering for a moment what they would think if they knew.

Only, they do know, and they’re two steps ahead of him already.

“How come you’re watching me get ready? — You two never care what I wear.” Rooster squints at them through the mirror as he tries to tame his short curls with a small amount of styling wax. Parker picks up the pot and inspects it. Barber Barber beachcomber sea-salt infused styling paste. She lifts it and inhales. It smells good, at least.

Peyton searches through his closet, looking through shirt after shirt as she tries to find one that’s good enough.

“Are you going on a date?” Parker asks. He glances down at her as he grabs the deodorant from his dresser and sprays it under his arms.

“No, just going out with some friends.” He replies calmly. Telling white lies to your kids is just part of being a parent.

“Which friends?” Peyton prompts.

Rooster gives her a quick look from the corner of his eye and smooths a hand over his mustache, eyeing himself in the mirror. There’s more scrutiny in the way he looks at himself now than there used to be. It isn’t that he has let himself go, it’s just that he’s not as young as he used to be. Stronger now, a little less lean than he was back then.

“We don’t have to tell each other everything, you know.”

“I’m gonna remember that when you’re asking me who I’m going on a date with in a couple of years.” Parker replies.

“Watch it.” Rooster warns, instantly frowning at her. She smiles sweetly back up at him. She looks so much like you when she does that. There’s affection in the way he rolls his eyes and grabs his belt from his dresser. “You found a shirt for me yet, honeybee?”

Peyton hums in consideration and steps up onto the base of the wardrobe, extending onto her tiptoes to pull a hanger down from the rack. She turns and sets it on the bed, “Try this one.”

Rooster scrunches up his nose slightly, eyeing the coal coloured button up that his daughter just laid out in front of him. “Kinda boring, don’t you think?”

“It’s grown up.” She protests, hopping up onto the foot of his bed and staring him down, “Try it.”

It’s probably not the smartest move to take advice on what’s grown up and what isn’t from a seven year old, but Bradley relents. It’s a grey linen short sleeve. He slips it over his shoulders and buttons it up. Peyton frowns at her father’s reflection as Parker shakes her head in disapproval

Something about it isn’t clicking. It hugs him too tightly in the wrong places, it sits weird on his arms. He sighs softly. There’s no way he’s wearing this to see you.

“Guys?” The chirpy voice carries through the condo as the front door swings shut downstairs. Amber. Parker glances across at her sister as Bradley calls back that they’re upstairs.

Amber is the twenty year old college student that lives next door. She trails her manicured fingers along the wall as she strolls along the carpeted hallway, already barefoot by the time that she stops to lean up against Bradley’s doorframe. She’s super friendly and she has been so helpful since she got back from college for the summer. She adores the twins and will babysit whenever Bradley asks.

“Hey, Amber — does this look dumb?” Bradley asks, furrowing his brows as he half turns towards her, still eyeing up the awkward fit of the shirt through the mirror. She smiles, her plump, glossed lips quirking at the edges as she looks him up and down.

“Like that? — Um…” She presses her hand over her mouth like she’s about to laugh. Rooster scoffs and shakes his head as he starts to unbutton the shirt.

“Enough said. Pick something else, my little Honeybee.” He chuckles. Amber’s green eyes trail as his fingers work open the buttons on the shirt, revealing more and more tanned skin. Peyton moves to jump down.

“Wait, wait…” Crossing past Parker, she steps in front of her boss and looks him over once more. “We can fix this. Do you have tank tops?”

Parker moves to sit beside her sister on the bed. Faces stormy and their eyes crossed, they watch as this borderline teenager plays dress up with their daddy.

First she gives him a tank top, and then she recommends that he changes his pants. She fiddles through his jewelry while he changes. He steps out of his en-suite with the grey short sleeve unbuttoned and black dress pants that hug his hips perfectly.

“How do I look?”

Her hands reach out and curl into the unbuttoned sides of the shirt, holding onto the fabric as she looks him over. The smile on her lips is unmistakably sly as she nods her head at him, “Amazing. Right, girls?”

Met with immediate silence and stoney faces, Amber’s confidence wavers. Peyton folds her arms over her chest while Parker squints at her side.

“Alright, well I’ve gotta get going. There’s money in the kitchen for pizza, bed by nine at the latest. I’ll be back before eleven. Have fun, kids!”

Amber winces at herself being included in that. Even wearing her Mom’s perfume and the shortest skirt she owns, he’s still calling her kid. She doesn’t realise that Bradley’s aloofness doesn’t run in the family.

The knowing look in the girls’ eyes as their babysitter checks out of the window and watches their dad drive away. The trouble they’re already planning to ensure that she won’t be invited back.

“Babe?” Slamming the car door shut, Bradley damn near forgets to lock it as he bundles the plastic bag under his arm. He rushes forwards, crossing the browning lawn at the front of the condominium and fumbling for his house key. No time for lack of precision, he slips the key into the lock and twists. Even before the door opens, the screaming fills his ears. Hell, he could hear it before he had even turned the car radio off.

“Baby?” The powder-blue painted door swings open wide, chipping paint from the hallway wall that’ll count as a two hundred dollar reduction in the return of your rental deposit later on. He kicks it shut behind him and carries on through the small apartment, already knowing exactly where you are. There are technically only four rooms to pick from.

The kitchen and living room are all in one space. Small bathroom. Two bedrooms. The screaming tells him exactly which room you’re in. Rounding the corner into the nursery, his heart breaks in two. You’re sitting on the floor with your back to Parker’s crib, your head in your hands. He hadn’t heard you sobbing until right now.

“Baby,” He breathes out, legs carrying him forwards as he moves to sit next to you. Parker’s cradled in against your chest, wailing as loudly as her little lungs will let her. Behind you, Peyton’s screaming just as loud in her crib. “It’s okay, give me the baby.”

Up close, he can finally see the way that you’re trembling. No, not even trembling. Shaking. Your lips, your arms, your legs. Unable to hold still as your body wracks with sobs and your smaller baby flails in your arms. Faintly, you can hear your husband saying your name.

“Give me the baby, it’s okay.” Bradley says softly.

Your lip quivers as you cradle her closer to your chest, silent tears burning your cheeks as they stream freely. Your voice breaks, barely audible over the newborn screeches that fill your small apartment. “I called you over an hour ago.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” His adam’s apple bobs in his throat as he sits forwards, shuffling closer to you. He presses his lips to your temple, “I got here as quick as I could. Let me take her.”

You hold her closer, a silent sob wracking through you, feeling her tiny heart racing against your skin with how worked up she has gotten. Tears stream down your face without a break, living your skin wet and salty. “I can’t — s-she still won’t— I’ve been trying—“

“I know, I know, it’s alright,” He smooths a hand gently over the wispy curls on Parker’s head, fluffy and already thinning from the amount that she had been born with. He kisses your shoulder softly. “I got the formula.”

Parker was born smaller than her sister. It’s natural with twins, there’s almost always a smaller one. But, it’s been three weeks. Peyton latches without issue and her weight has been progressing normally. Three weeks old and yesterday’s doctors appointment confirmed that she’s still underweight.

Your mother managed to breastfeed four kids successfully. Four different pregnancies, four different times in her life — and you can’t manage just the two of them. She has been telling you since you found out that you were pregnant that your body would know what to do, that it would all be okay and it isn’t.

“C’mon, mama. Let’s get her fed,” Bradley hums softly as he reaches out for her. “Just need her to stop crying first. Right? — We’ll figure out what comes next after that.”

He kisses the top of your head as you relax your arms enough for him to take the newborn.

“That’s it. Alright, I’m gonna go and make her a bottle. Can you bring Peyton? — Doc says they should eat on the same schedule.” He pushes himself up with one hand and cradles your daughter with the other.

“I fucking fed Peyton already!”

It’s snappier than you mean for it to be. Your chest heaves after you speak, throat sore already from all of the crying. Bradley nods his head, “Perfect. That’s great — she’s probably just crying because loud mouth here’s keeping her up. She’ll calm down. I’m gonna be right back, baby. Two minutes.”

He scoops up the plastic back on the floor and wanders off towards the kitchen. Over the sound of the other twin screaming, you can hear him faintly shushing your daughter.

“Not even a month old yet,” Bradley hums, pressing his lips to his daughter’s forehead, then her nose. “Already being a little trouble-maker. We’ve got our work cut out with you, huh, kid?”

He sways softly, taking care to support her tiny head, leaning back to keep her balanced against his shoulder as he shifts her into one arm so that he can pour the boiled water. Humming softly, he doesn’t even realize that the crying in the other room has stopped until the bottle is ready and Parker’s screeching is replaced with the contented hums.

“Atta girl,” Rooster murmurs, his infant daughter rested safely along his forearm, leaned back against the kitchen counter and her bottle lifted in his other hand whilst she guzzles the formula back. “Gonna just as big as your sister one day, aren’t you?”

A soft whimper breaks his attention from the baby. He looks up and finds you standing in the doorway to the hall. This isn’t how motherhood looked when you had pictured it.

You, barely able to get one baby off to sleep, standing in yesterday’s pyjamas at four in the afternoon, watching your husband take care of the baby after he has been at work all day. You stare at him, still in his work khakis, making it look so natural.

Standing before him in one of his stretched out old hoodies and a pair of boxers that you bought for yourself in your final trimester. Skin blotchy and your eyes swollen with tears, you turn your face away from him towards the ground.

“Hi, beautiful,” Rooster smiles at you. After most of her two ounce bottle is finished, Parker stops drinking and Bradley sets the bottle down on the counter. His face soft, head tilted, those big brown eyes tugging at your heart strings. “Tough day?”

A sob catches in your throat as you stumble forwards and press yourself into his side. Parker tucked up against his other shoulder as he pats her back gently, he’s quick to wrap his other arm around you. He’s going to have to grow a third with him being outnumbered like this.

“I keep trying and she just won’t — or she can’t — or I’m doing something — a-and my Mom says that—“ Babbling on, dampening the shoulder of his uniform. Bradley simply rests his cheek against your hair and smiles to himself.

“Baby,” It’s enough to make you quiet for a minute. His hand patting Parker’s back softly, the gravel of his voice vibrating through his chest as your head lays against his shoulder. “Your Mom once asked me if the movie Avatar was based on a true story. She gets it wrong sometimes.”

You can’t help but chuckle at the analogy he chose, hugging yourself closer to his side, resting your hand against Parker’s back over the top of his.

“Formula or breastfeeding — whatever stops her from screaming the house down like that is a win in my book. How about yours?” Bradley asks, rubbing his free hand up and down along the base of your spine. You nod softly against his chest. He pulls back and lays Parker down along the length of his forearm again, her head resting against your stomach.

“I just want to do it all right. They’re so perfect, and I just… I want to be perfect for them too, like you are.”

“Me? — Perfect?” Bradley lifts his head and grins at you. He unhooks his arm from around your waist and presses the back of his palm to your forehead. “All these kids are making you loopy, baby.”

You lean down and kiss her forehead softly, then settle back in against Bradley’s side. “I’m so worried about her already. Do you think we ever stop feeling like this?”

Bradley shakes his head softly as he strokes his index finger along her rounded cheek, and over her chin. “Nah. Kids are designed to stress their parents out, it’s like their sole purpose.”

Lips quirking softly at the sides, you glance up at him and know that he’s probably right. Doing it with him made it all seem okay, though. Being stressed out with him at your side didn’t seem so tough.

Now, staring at him across the restaurant, it suddenly occurs to you to wonder when all of that changed. When had doing it alone become a safer option than having him with you? — Those last few months all seem so blurry now.

The memories might be fuzzy but the feelings aren’t. They’re heavy and they’ve sat with you for the past two years. You might not remember exactly why you let him go, but the pain is enough to know that you wouldn’t like to feel that way again.

“Rooster!”

Chris and Bradley’s heads turn at the same time. Bradley nods in acknowledgement as his autopilot directs him to do. Then, he steps past the hostess and points to the two of you. He takes in what’s in front of him as he walks over.

This new guy isn’t ugly, which is more irritating than Bradley was expecting it to be. He looks him up and down. Loose fitting jeans and a flannel shirt buttoned up. Brown hair that really isn’t styled all that differently from Bradley’s. But, thanks to Amber, Bradley is dressed significantly better.

The pants fit him perfectly and the charcoal shirt just makes his skin look even more golden than it usually is. You squint softly and wonder who the fuck dressed him — because the man that you married doesn’t dress like that.

Maybe the man that you divorced does. It’s been a long time since you saw Bradley for something other than drop offs or pick ups.

“Hey.”

“Roo— Bradley,” It seems more grown up, more formal. A more appropriate way to refer to your ex husband. “This is Chris. Chris, this is Bradley.”

“Heard a lot about you.” Chris smiles, cheeks dimpling as he sticks his hand out. You watch as Bradley takes his hand and shakes it casually. Weird — it’s weird.

“You’re still a man of mystery to me,” Bradley admits playfully, shooting you a quick look and noticing that you’re eyeing his outfit. Letting the babysitter pick what he was wearing was a good choice. “Luckily, I’m good at asking questions.”

Small talk, small talk. Your ex-husband and your boyfriend are hitting it off like a house on fire and you’re just standing idly between them, wondering why this doesn’t please you as much as it should.

The nerves that have been bothering you all weekend don’t settle down even when they’re laughing and jibing each other about football teams and golf. You didn’t even know that Bradley played golf.

You’re shown to your table and you accidentally pick the seat between them. Chris sits back in his seat with one hand on your knee and the other curled around his beer as he teases Bradley about a football game from three years ago that their teams played against each other.

As much as he’s enjoying the conversation, Bradley’s eyes keep wandering back to that guy’s hand on your knee. His foot taps impatiently against the floor, fighting to keep his focus on the conversation.

Finally, focus shifts to something a little more engaging for you when Bradley asks you how the two of you met. He sits back on his chair and watches the two of you finish each other’s sentences.

“Well, Chris’ workshop is right down the street from my store, and y’know, I have consultations all the time and weddings are stressful so I like to keep my appointments chill and quiet, but then he was always—“

“Y’know, building something. Hammering, sawing, whatever. And there are a couple of times actually, where she came flying through the door of my shop telling me what’s what and —“

His thumb swipes through the condensation on his beer, staring at you. Your face is turned away from him, looking at Chris with this dopey, lovesick look on your face. Bradley wonders if you’ve told him that you love him yet.

It’s a cute story. The way that you’re beaming across the table at this guy doesn’t make Bradley happy, but he knows that it should. By the time you’re finished eating, he has searched high and low for some kind of major character flaw on this guy and had come up with nothing.

Short, brown hair. Stubble covering his jaw, kind of a squinty cowboy look to contrast the sharp blue of his eyes, not short. Handsome, sure. And he’s great with kids.

Bradley damn near picks up his dessert spoon and turns it into a weapon — either for use on himself or your new boyfriend, he isn’t sure, when he listens to Chris’ stories from his work with inner city kids.

Thankfully, right as they’re getting into the nitty gritty of Chris’ charitable personality, Bradley’s phone cuts through the silence. You grin across the table at Chris, squeezing his large palm in yours and pretending that this doesn’t make you as uncomfortable as it does.

“Whoa — kid, slow down. What?” Bradley plugs a finger into his other ear, brows furrowing as he tries to decipher the incoherent babbling on the other end of the phone.

“I looked everywhere, and I’ve been calling them for like fifteen minutes! I don’t know if they’re hiding or they ran away but I’m freaking out right now, please don’t be mad at me — should I call the cops?”

Rooster pushes his chair out and stands up from the table. “Jesus Christ, no. Don’t call the cops, I’m on my way. Did you check the crawl space in my room?”

“Cops? — Rooster, what the fuck?” You frown at him from across the table. Rooster sighs and presses his finger into his ear drum to understand the shrieking girl on the line.

“There’s a crawl space in your room?”

“Just, hang tight. I’m gonna be ten minutes. Tell them I’m on my way and they’ll probably turn up.” He hangs up and shoves his phone into his pocket, grabbing his wallet and tugging it open. “I’m really sorry, I’ve gotta run. It was great meeting you Chris, you seem really cool, but, uh—“

“Rooster, did you let somebody lose our kids?”

“No! I left them with a very responsible babysitter, actually, and I’m pretty sure that they’re just messing with her.”

“Oh, well that’s good. You’re pretty sure.” You sigh, shaking your head at him as you set your glass down. “I’ll be sure to mention that when I issue the amber alert.”

Chris slips his hand into yours and squeezes softly as Bradley tosses his card down onto the table.

“Whatever. I’ll text you.” He slips his wallet back into his pants and turns, leaving your mouth gaping.

“Are you kidding — our kids might be missing, we’re obviously coming. Right?” You shoot a look across at Chris as it occurs to you that this is probably extremely overwhelming for him. He gives you a calm smile and nods his head at you.

…

@fadingbelieverexpert @jessirosebud @cowboybarbie @pinkpantheris @thedroneranger @a-serene-place-to-be @xoxabs88xox @unordinaire @slutfordw @fudge13 @averyhotchner @hangmanscoming @sharpsapphic666 @khaylin27 @bradshawseresinbabe @diorrfairy @perpetuelledaydreaming @phoenix1388 @cherrycola27 @wkndwlff

“Yeah. I’ll get the car if you settle up in here, we’ll meet Rooster back at his place.”

#bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw #miles teller #bradley bradshaw smut #rooster x you #rooster bradshaw imagine #top gun smut #the parent trap

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egcdeath · 1 year

Text

wine night

pairing: joel miller x reader

summary: joel takes care of you after a night out. part of the soccer parents alternate universe.

word count: 4k

warnings: AU: no apocalypse, alcohol consumption, established relationship, fluff, mentions of vomiting, the reader is kinda an annoying drunk but joel is a sweetie anyway, explicit language, no y/n

author’s note: i am so addicted to writing this pairing. they have completely taken up all my brain space

“I mean, can you believe that he tried to get with my sister? That’s just not right,” your friend exclaimed, clearly deeply upset by her situation.

Wine nights have been a sacred ritual between you and your friends since your college days. Between routine catch-ups, book clubs, and emergency meetings, you could always rely on a wine night to pull you out of whatever funk you were in. Wine nights were a safe space to share whatever had been on your mind–whether it was juicy gossip you’d heard while attending a HOA meeting, or whatever personal drama had been plaguing you. All done under the influence, of course, so that the words you may have been holding back flowed off your tongue with far more ease.

Tonight fell more into a routine catch-up than any of the other categories. Although, given that you’d been swamped with work for the past few wine nights, there was much for you to catch up on.

“He’s a dick,” Andrea said sympathetically, setting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “You deserve better, and I have complete faith that you will find someone better.”

A chorus of agreements went on around the room, as you all attempted to uplift your saddened friend.

“If you ever need anyone to talk to outside of wine nights, you know you can call any of us,” you expressed. “I mean, we all kinda hit the lottery with shitty exes. No one understands you more than us, and we all have your back!”

“Hey, speaking of shitty exes, how’s Chlo?” Jennifer asked, swirling her drink as she turned to face you.

You lit up at the mention of your daughter, although one might argue that with the amount of glasses of wine you’d had, you were already quite lit up. “She’s good! Her and her friend just had to do this ridiculous science project. Here, I’ll show you.”

You fumbled typing your phone’s password in, the flowing drinks making your fingers loosely flow as well.

In the video you pulled up, Chloe and Sarah began to explain their experiment while the torso and arms of Joel carried out the experiment. You smiled to yourself as you recalled the night; thankfully the girls had given you enough of a heads up before their project was due that you were able to plan a nice night around it, having a little family dinner before setting up and filming their project. After that, the children insisted on doing something fun which led to doing horrible karaoke. What a good night.

“Cool right? Aren’t they so cute?” you gushed, beginning to flip through your camera roll through pictures of your daughter—some by herself, some with Sarah, a few from the night you, Joel, and the kids attempted to make pasta from scratch, a few group photos you’d taken on your weekend road trip to San Antonio. Looking at each picture, you began to realize more and more just how much you missed your little family, and your heart yearned more and more to be with them.

“Are you soft-launching your boyfriend to us right now?” Andrea asked with a giggle, flipping back a photo to a picture of you and Joel on a picnic.

“No!” you laughed. “Boyfriend?”

“The one who’s in half of these pictures?” Michelle laughed, taking your phone and scrolling through for herself. “The one who’s checking in on you right now? ‘Let me know if you need a ride home, heart emoji?’” your friend imitated a deep voice and you laughed out loud.

“Ugh, ‘boyfriend’ just feels so juvenile,” you sighed. “But yeah. We’ve been seeing each other for a while now. Now gimme my phone back. I need to text back so he doesn’t think I’m dead or anything.”

“What?! You can’t just say that and not tell us more!” Heather gasped, leaning in closer to you as if she were afraid to miss out on any details.

“Well, our daughters are best friends, which is very convenient. He’s also just a really good dad. I mean, you should just see the way he interacts with Sarah, but he also treats Chloe like she’s one of his own. He’s just a really good, sweet guy, who treats me really well. He actually punched Nathan once, and I’m not even joking. He also happens to eat pussy like it’s his last meal on Earth. Did I mention that he’s gorgeous? I couldn’t ask for more,” you shrugged.

There was a collective ‘ooooh’ throughout the room, a clear indicator that your friends were interested.

“So when can we meet him? You’ve obviously been together for a while, but you’ve also been keeping it from us… So is this even serious enough to warrant a meeting?” Michelle poured herself a little more rosé and offered you some, which you politely declined. Your brain was already too fuzzy from the amount you’d drank throughout the night.

“Did you see that camera roll? Of course it’s serious enough.”

“Well, what’s with the secretiveness? Is there a catch or something?”

“Is he married?” Andrea sighed, exasperated.

“Oh my God. That would make so much sense. He has a daughter, so...” Michelle attempted to piece together

“That was once and it was an accident. I broke things off with him as soon as I found out,” you huffed, crossing your arms. “And for the record, he’s a single dad.”

“That’s hot,” Jennifer remarked, the words seemingly slipping away from her before she could catch them.

“You’re gross,” you countered before getting back to the topic on hand. “I guess… I don’t know. It feels weird to be in such a serious relationship after my last serious relationship. I just keep wondering if I’m gonna fuck it up or something, and I don’t wanna lose half my friends again because they all like Joel more than me.”

“Hey! We could never love a man more than we love you,” Jennifer explained.

“I don’t know. He’s pretty damn charming,” you hung your head and Michelle set her glass down to give you a hug.

“Babe, I swear, nothing will ever get in between our friendship. Especially a man. What would any of us ever do without you?”

Now that your friends had really reassured you, you were feeling slightly better about the whole situation. Maybe, just maybe, you’d let them meet Joel. They’d certainly approve of him, which was a plus. You glanced down at your device, which now had one unopened notification from the man of the hour.

Having fun? he asked.

id be having more fun with yoh, you replied.

you

miss u :(

We miss you too.

Uno wasn’t the same without our favorite cheater

lies

Now we’re talking about you and im sad bc i miss you and im more sad i missed uno

I’m sorry.

We’ll play Uno some other time.

Soon.

Very soon.

As the conversation moved away from your life update, you began to evaluate the situation. You were far more drunk than you anticipated being tonight, and it felt like you were only becoming less and less sober with every minute that passed. At the moment, nothing sounded better than the idea of crawling in bed with Joel, and cuddling with him until you fell asleep.

Can u come pick me up? I miss you too much to stay

Sure! Are you going back to your home or want to stay at mine?

You’re home

*Your. I’ll be over soon

No i meant it

See you soon

“I gotta retire,” you faux yawned, stretching your arms above your head. “So sleepy.”

“Uh-huh,” Andrea looked over at you, then back at your phone skeptically. “Did you get a better offer than wine night?”

“Possibly.”

“Is your man coming to pick you up?”

“Possibly.”

“Tell him to come in and say hi! We want to see him at the very least. Don’t tell him that part, though.”

You agreed with less reluctance than you probably would have if you hadn’t been reassured by your friends that they were loyal to you, and let him know (somewhat incoherently) that your friends wanted to meet him.

When a few knocks at the door were heard from the living room, your friends immediately paused their conversations to listen in. Andrea got up, as she was currently the most sober—which wasn’t saying much—of the bunch, and opened the door for him.

“Hi,” she greeted in her best customer service voice. “How can I help you?”

They exchanged some back and forth that you couldn’t quite make out before he entered the living room and waved at your friends awkwardly, before beaming when his eyes fell upon you. He looked at you like you were the only person in the room, and maybe it was just the wine speaking, but you felt like it too.

“Ready to go?” he asked you, approaching the couch you were sitting on.

“Mhm,” you hummed affirmatively. “You want a cracker?” you asked, reaching over to the barren charcuterie board on the coffee table and holding one singular cracker up.

Joel clearly bit back a laugh, but leaned down so you could pop the cracker in his mouth. “Yum. Need any help getting up?”

You shook your head and stood up, legs a little wobbly from your inebriation and the fact that you’d been sitting for hours.

“Isn’t he just perfect?” you directed your statement towards your friends once you finally managed to pull your attention away from Joel. “So handsome and so kind,” you hugged his side. “My perfect man,” you murmured into his shirt. “Now you see why I’m scared to mess everything up.”

Joel blushed under the praise and awkwardly smiled at your friends. “Oh? Bye guys. We’ll have to catch up sometime. Nice meeting you all,” he said as he began to direct you towards the door.

“Bye!” you called out as you exited the room.

Once Joel got you situated in the car, double checking you were strapped in and whatnot, you sighed as you looked over at him.

“I missed you so much,” you sighed. “You’re not allowed to leave me alone ever again.”

Joel smiled to himself at your drunken words. Sure, he knew you cared about him, but it was sweet to hear your uninhibited thoughts.

You continued your drunken rambling on the drive back, giving him a play-by-play replay of the night, up to the point where he came in. By the time you’d finished your story, you were back at his place.

You held Joel’s hand as he led you up to his bedroom, you giggling behind him as you copped a quick feel of his ass.

“Shh,” he reminded you, gesturing to the room where your children were having a sleepover.

“Sorry,” you whispered apologetically before following him into his room and flopping onto his bed. “I just missed you. And that ass.”

“You’re funny,” he said quietly. “I’ll be right back.” As he disappeared, you rolled onto your stomach and buried your face into his pillows, deeply inhaling his smell. You would have his scent made into a candle if you could.

While Joel was gone, you realized that you weren’t particularly fond of the jeans you decided to wear to your friend’s place. By the time he was back, a large glass of water and bottle of Advil in hand, you were helplessly struggling to get out of the clothing article.

He set the items down on what you’d declared as your side of the bed’s nightstand, then moved away to rummage in his dresser, eventually finding a pair of athletic shorts you’d left behind at some point, and heading back over to you.

“Need some help?” he asked despite already knowing the answer as you ridiculously wiggled around in your jeans.

“Yes, please,” you stuck your legs out and Joel was clearly fighting laughter at just how incompetent you’d become. Despite your previous squirming around, you were happy to let him unbutton and unzip your uncomfortable pants.

“Lift,” he directed, tapping your hip. You did as you were told, eventually ending with your uncomfortable pants off and your cozy shorts on. You sighed out a sound of relief as you propped yourself up against the headboard, the gentle touch of Joel’s hand on your thigh only further soothing you. You were finally ready for bed.

Before Joel left your side, he reached over to your nightstand and set the glass of water in your hands. “Alright, drink up.”

“What would I do without you?” you mumbled, taking a few big gulps from the glass he’d placed in your hands.

“Probably have a nasty hangover and shitty sleep in those jeans,” he sat back down next to you on his side of the bed, propping himself up right next to you.

“I mean, what would I do if I never met you?” you asked, rolling onto your side so you could get a good look at your partner. “If you never argued with me at games? Or never took us to that tournament? Or if our daughters never set us up?”

“That would be very sad,” Joel turned to face you as well, looking at you very earnestly as he humored your drunken ramble.

“Yeah,” you agreed, wiping at your eyes that had begun to well up. “I would be so sad without you.”

“Oh sweetheart,” Joel sighed, softly cradling your head and gently pulling you over to him as you began to bawl into his shirt. “You are so drunk.”

“No,” you protested, pulling away from some so that you could look up at your partner with watery eyes. “I just love you so much, and you mean so much to me. I hate imagining not knowing you.”

He gently thumbed away your tears. “Then don’t imagine not knowing me. I’m here with you right now, right?”

“Yeah,” you murmured. “I just missed you so much.”

“You’re sweet. I missed you too,” he rubbed small circles onto your back.

“Can we live together so I never have to miss you again?” you asked, burying your face back into his shirt.

“Someday, probably. I’m thinking this is a conversation we should have when you’re sober, yeah?”

“Maybe,” you agreed, sniffling and closing your eyes. “Joel?”

“Yes?” he asked, thumbing away the last of the tears on your cheeks.

“Do you know that I love you?”

“I do,” he confirmed.

“And that I wanna marry you someday?”

“Uh-“

“And you and our daughters are my favorite people, like, ever.”

“Well, I could say the same about you and our kids. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

“I just love you so much,” you repeated.

“I know, honey. I love you too.”

“No, Joel. I love you. Like, I want to spend the rest of my life with you and grow old with you. Because that’s how much I love you. Do you understand?” you were almost worried you weren’t getting your point across. “I would swim across every ocean to be with you. ‘Cause I love you so much.”

Your words were definitely slurring at this point, both from the alcohol and the sleepiness setting in, but Joel didn’t seem too bothered by it.

“I do understand, and I would do the same for you,” Joel was clearly quite amused by your earnest, but inebriated sentiment, yet his fondness for you managed to shine through. “I’ll tell you all about how much I love you in the morning. Why don’t we try to sleep now?”

“Okay,” you agreed. “Only ‘cause I love you,” you didn’t protest as Joel hit the lamp on his bedside table. “I’m gonna miss you while I sleep.”

“I’ll be right here,” Joel assured you as you somehow managed to snuggle up even closer to him.

“I’m gonna try to dream about you,” you mumbled.

“Let me know how that goes,” Joel yawned.

“I will,” you promised before mirroring his yawn.

Joel fell silent and closed his eyes, something you could just barely make out in the dark. You attempted to fall asleep too, but failed. Your brain was simply too loud for you to will yourself to go to sleep.

“Joel,” you said quietly, testing to see if he was still awake.

“Mhm?” he hummed, not opening his eyes.

“Do you remember when we stayed at that hotel together?” you began to reminisce, thinking back to that first night the two of you shared a bed. If only you had known then what your tiny little crush would’ve turned into.

“Mhm,” he affirmed. “How could I forget?”

“I dreamed you held me all night. It was great,” you giggled, somehow being able to recall that moment despite your inebriation.

“I don’t think that was just a dream,” Joel admitted, figuring that you probably wouldn’t even remember this conversation in the morning. “I woke up with my arms around you, which was why I got out of bed so fast. Felt like I violated you.”

“You could never violate me,” you slurred. Of course, your mouth was moving faster than your brain, but in a way there was some backwards truth to your words. You would trust Joel with your life. Of course he could still do something awful to you, but you certainly trusted him enough to believe that he would not.

“Honey, that’s not as romantic as you think it sounds,” Joel responded, sounding somewhere between exasperated and exhausted.

“Oh. Oops,” you acknowledged. “Well, you know what is romantic? That I love you,” you countered.

“Love you too,” he mumbled sleepily, surely tired of repeating the phrase at that point.

“Good,” you nodded mostly to yourself, just checking in to confirm that your partner still loved you. “I’m going to sleep now,” you announced.

“Sounds good.”

“Goodnight.”

“‘Night.”

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” you murmured.

“I’ll try,” Joel said quietly.

“Joel.”

“Yes?”

“Ow,” you whined.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding slightly more alert now that you might’ve been uncomfortable.

“Bed bug got me,” you explained, doing your best to keep your act of pain up.

“There are no bed bugs.”

“How do you know?”

“I asked them. Let’s get to sleep.”

“I am asleep.”

“Are you really?” Joel cracked open an eye and chuckled at the sight of you.

“Yes,” you declared, despite very obviously being nothing clearly wide awake. You made eye contact with Joel, who know was at least looking at you. “Have I ever told you how hot you are?” you asked.

“A few times, maybe.”

You reached out to the man across from you and pushed your fingers through his hair. “Hottest man in Austin.”

“Hottest woman in Austin. I suppose it’s a good thing we found each other.”

“Right?” you grinned, leaning into the touch as he reached out to hold your cheek.

“Right. Now it’s time to get your beauty rest, beautiful woman,” he laughed softly, clearly fighting sleep as it looked like each blink was more and more of a struggle to keep his eyes open.

“If you insist,” you replied, impulsively sticking your tongue out and touching Joel’s finger with it. “Sleepy boy.”

“Ew,” Joel remarked, retracting his hand from your cheek.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” you explained with a giggle. “I’ll go to sleep now.”

“Okay, good. I’m also going to sleep now,” he said seriously, a hint of finality in his voice. “Like, seriously, I’m going to sleep.”

“Well I seriously am too,” you shrugged.

“Prove it,” Joel attempted, one last shot at getting you to go to sleep.

“Fine,” you countered, closing your eyes. “Goodnight. For real this time.”

You relaxed into the mattress, finally ready to sleep—or so you thought. You only lasted about ten minutes until your eyes opened once again, this time you found Joel quite soundly asleep, the deep rises and falls of his chest clueing you into just how tired he’d been.

You resisted the urge to wake your boyfriend up again, but rather pulled yourself in closer to him, looping your legs around his waist and your arms around his torso as if you were some kind of koala. If you were even slightly more sober, you were sure you would be completely uncomfortable with the position, but drunk you couldn’t think of any other way you’d rather be sleeping.

“Goodnight,” you whispered, melting into your partner, and eventually succumbing to sleep.

The wine was not kind to you in the morning. A pounding headache and waves of nausea rolled over you, waking you up prematurely as your brain signaled to your body that you were absolutely going to throw up.

You held a hand to your mouth as you slipped out of bed, sprinting to the en-suite and dangling your head in the toilet for what felt like a lifetime as you emptied the majority of the contents of your stomach into the toilet bowl.

As soon as Joel heard the sounds of your sickness, he was right there with you in the bathroom, sitting on the floor next to you as he held back your hair.

First, he took care of your drunk ass, and now he was taking care of your hungover ass.

“I’m getting too old to drink that much,” you groaned, curling up on the cold floor once your body was finally finished punishing you for what you had done to it the previous evening. “Remind me never to drink again.”

“If it makes you feel better, you were having a lot of fun last night.With your friends, then back here with me,” he rubbed your back as you groaned on the floor.

“Did I say anything stupid?” you asked, watching Joel get up to grab your cup of water and temporarily mourning the loss of his comforting touch.

“To your friends? No idea. To me, you were just being extra affectionate. You kept telling me that you love me, and at one point you were crying because you kept thinking about not knowing me. I was pretty entertained.” He sat back down next to you and passed the cup over, along with two little pills.

You groaned at the description of your night and took the Advil you’d been offered before drinking down some more water.

“You also refused to let me sleep. It was pretty cute. Well, not in the moment because I was pretty tired, but thinking about it now, it was pretty cute.”

“Oh boy,” you softly chuckled to yourself, careful not to disturb your pounding head too much by laughing too hard. “I’m sorry. I may need to be a sober participant at our next wine night.”

“Don’t worry about it. You had fun with your friends, and that’s what matters most. Now are you feeling any better?”

“A little,” you nodded, at the very least no longer feeling nauseous.

“Then let’s get back to bed?” Joel suggested, posing it more as a question than anything.

“As much as I would love to, I don’t know if I’m physically capable of getting off of this floor right now,” you confessed. You were in pretty bad shape after last night.

“No worries, I got you,” you weren’t exactly sure what Joel meant at first, until his hands were under you and he was scooping you up in his arms, carrying you back into his bedroom where he gently set you down on his mattress.

“You are a saint,” you expressed, stretching out on your side of the bed before curling up onto your side and facing your partner. “How did I get so lucky?” you asked, reaching out to play with a strand of his hair.

“Not that lucky,” he remarked.

“No way. I can’t think of any other guy who would put up with my drunken antics, then proceed to take care of me like this in the morning,” you explained. “That, and all of the other ways you improve my life. Remind me, and I’ll get into them when I don’t feel like my head is going to explode.”

“I mean, I’m not gonna argue with someone telling me how great I am,” he lightly chuckled, reaching down to lift your blanket back up and over the two of you.

“Good. I’m in no shape to debate you right now,” you muttered, snuggling into the duvet and succumbing once more to a peaceful and content sleep.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller fluff #joel miller fanfiction #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #soccer parents au

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azullumi · 1 year

Text

kamisato ayato — modern relationship hcs ☆彡

summary — kamisato ayato, the school's student body president and your boyfriend.

pairing — kamisato ayato /gender-neutral reader

tags — fluff, established relationship, modern au ; headcanons

word count — 700+

note — this was supposed to be 3 characters in one but yeah. i'll focus on requests once i get some time ^^

"Hello, sweetheart, when are your classes going to end?"

Not surprisingly, he is in a position of power—once the people learned that he's going to run as president, nobody competed against him and he won by default. He is quite famous in both students and teachers due to his charismatic personality and charming face, as well as the intelligence he holds.

How did you even bag this man? That is the question you ask yourself every time you see him because, Archons, he's so perfect and amazing. But, him, hearing and knowing your thoughts, he makes sure that you don't feel small or insecure and lets you know that you're perfect and wonderful in your own kind of way. He's the one even wondering how he ended up with such an amazing person like you.

"Is (Name) here? Oh hey, there you are. You forgot something in my house so I came to give this to you."

He doesn’t tell you but he likes to show off even when it's just through subtle actions like walking you to your class during the morning or taking you out during lunch so you could eat with him. Definitely likes to wear the gifts that you give him and if someone asks him about it, he'll immediately say it's from his lovely s/o which is you.

He occasionally asks you to come over to his home, reasoning that his sister misses you already even if he's the one who actually does. What will you do there? You could just watch, play games, or anything with him, depending on either of you two's moods. Sometimes, you'll just spend some time cuddling and gossiping about the students in the school.

He would also schedule a study date in a nearby library or just in his home but the thing is, the two of you won't spend your whole time studying—occasionally being distracted by the things around you and flowing through a different plan than the one intended, you'll end up doing something else that is not in any of your plans.

"Did you know a student beat up their friend after they lost the student's favorite pen?"

"What? Is that the one that happened in the cafeteria?"

And not surprisingly, instead of falling asleep in each other's arms, the two of you are just chatting in bed while holding one another, telling stories and everything that you know to him.

The two of you wouldn't even notice the time and how you spent hours chatting and gossiping but it's fine because you got the juiciest and delicious tea of all and it's exclusively just for you.

"Did you know that this girl, a student from another school, was being cheated on by her boyfriend?"

"You know that's common, right?"

"Not when the guy was cheating on a dating app and it turns out that the girl the guy was cheating with was still actually her girlfriend who was using a fake identity."

"What?!"

Despite his busy schedule, he always manages to make some time for you. He takes you out on dates, helps you with your schoolworks, and anything. Loving, affectionate, and sweet, he dotes on you and makes sure that he is able to convey his feelings of affection to you.

He'll make sure to always accompany you home so that he is assured that you returned to your house safe and even has your schedule memorized so he knows what classes you are going to take for that day (since the two of you are in separate sections)—honestly, he just loves reminding you over text that you're going to have next the subject you most hate with your whole blood and entire family tree and seeing you be filled with dread and despair as soon as you'll learn about it has him chuckling.

If ever he'll be unable to accompany you though due to duties and tasks holding him back, he'll tell you as soon as possible while apologizing, however, you have a choice to stay and wait for him to finish, lending him a hand on the area he needs help on. He'll be happy if you decide to do so but would feel guilty as he might be bothering you or anything and he'll just have Thoma or Ayaka accompany you—you'll have to reassure him and tell him it's fine.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, let's go home already, hm?"

One thing that he loves to do while you two are walking together is holding hands or linking arms, he likes the feeling of his fingers laced with yours or how you would cling to his arm and be close to him.

You two would also occasionally eat at a cafe or drink in a boba shop if you have some time left and it's still not dark while going home, often visiting newly-opened ones. Oh, but if you don't have money? Not a problem really since he'll be glad to use his wallet for you. He loves spoiling and treating you to anything even when you won't ask him to do so.

In the students and staff's books, he is the definition of perfect.

— navigation | masterlist

#yae publishing house #ayato headcanons #ayato x reader #kamisato ayato #genshin ayato #ayato #ayato x you #ayato fluff #genshin impact fanfics #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin imagines #genshin fluff #genshin impact headcanons #genshin #genshin headcanons #genshin x you #azul.writes

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veronicasawyerapologist · 5 months

Text

One of Us is Lying Marauders AU!

Five Hogwarts students, all mysteriously framed walk into detention.

Sirius Black, the brain, is Oxford-bound and never breaks a rule. Lily Evans, the beauty, is an aspiring model and the most popular girl at Hogwarts. Remus Lupin, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Dorcas Meadows, the athlete, is captain of the school's lacrosse team. And Barty Crouch Jr., the outcast, is the creator of the notorious gossip app that took the Hogwarts student body by storm.

Five students enter the room, four come out alive. Before the end of the session, Barty is dead. When it comes out that he was going to release their carefully kept secrets via gossip app, Barty's four detention companions all become suspects in his murder.

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them. ------

sooooo I started writing a One of Us is Lying Marauders AU a couple of months ago, and I really want to continue it because both fandoms where my tween safe space and therefore very dear to my heart.

THE MAIN FOUR PROTAGONISTS : Dorcas Meadowes is the Hogwarts's amazing star lacrosse player who's secretly with this girl from another schools team, Sirius Black is the ex gifted kid academic validation typa person, Remus Lupin is the schools 'rebel' (he's just a little silly), Lily Evans is an extremely popular girl at the school. (IK SOME OF THE ARCHETYPES DONT LOOK LIKE THEY FULLY MATCH BUT THEY DO, THEY DO TO ME)

BONUS: POV Pandora as Hogwarts's mysterious loner with ties to the investigation (She's actually the loml). POV Regulus as the sassy younger sibling and the only person actually getting shit done (if you've seen the One of Us is Lying show he's a maeve variant). Himbo James just causally being James despite a murder investigation. Mary and Rita friendship. MARAUDERS ERA WOMEN. also everyones queer (FOUND FAMILY).

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auspicioustidings · 5 months

Note

Hohoho open to tea shop au ideas i see

What abt my favorite trope that I forgot to ask abt before….

Carried over someone’s shoulder with their hand on ur thigh or ass, and then going abt their day in front of others w u just there

😏

Brat

Words: 800

You knew you were probably playing with fire here, but it wasn't like your ankle was that bad. Just a little sprain was all, you could still do your job just fine! And you wanted to, you couldn't stand the thought of closing up shop for the day on a Sunday.

You loved Sundays more than anything. It had been half a year since you had opened and Sundays had become such a wonderfully busy yet cosy day for you. The old book club was always in gossiping away at their table. They had actually brought their own tea set and it now lived on the shelf only to be used when they were in. It's neighbour was the Japanese teaset that the D&D group that came in on Sundays used (they eagerly explained at length how it fit with their setting and how your tea blends and mochi just really fit the vibes). The father and daughter who always came in just after lunch didn't have a tea set but you had overheard that he liked pink and she liked orange so you always used the little kitschy peachy and orange fruit patterned tea set for them.

And it's not like any of your more protective customers had been there yesterday when you twisted your ankle. None of them had been in today either (you sometimes went weeks without seeing any of them which was to be expected) so you were probably safe from getting a right talking to about being on your feet. Not that the book club hadn't fussed about it, they very much had, but you were pretty good at hiding how painful it was so they didn't push.

If only John Price wasn't the most observant man on the planet when it came to you. Him and his boys had just gotten off of a mission and of course after cleaning up and debriefing they wanted to come visit their girl. You hadn't noticed them come in, too busy chatting away and pouring more tea for the group who seemed like they were scolding a set of dice.

The first hint something was off was Herzogin. She was always rubbing right up against him, Simon and Gaz while being a mean little thing to Soap. But this time she didn't so much rub against his legs as dart nervously over and paw at him.

The second larger hint was his arch nemesis, that awful cow Agnes who just wouldn't die even though she had to be about 102, looking at him with her beady little eyes and then gesturing with her head over to you. She was telling him he needed to pay attention to you, telling him something was up.

It took him all of 3 seconds to see how you favoured your right foot. All of 5 to conclude that you absolutely should not be putting weight on your left ankle at all. 10 to get to your side. Simon was right there with him, understanding the mission without words as always as he took the teapot right out of you hands so Price could heft you over his shoulder, chest to his back and legs dangling over his torso as he secured you with a strong grip to your thigh.

Your smile had barely had time to reach full wattage at seeing them before you were in the air with a little screech.

“J-John! Put me down!”

“I’ll get you another pot, any more snacks?”

“Oh actually could I get one of the strawberry mochi please? Hm? Right yeah make it 3 then.”

“‘Course.”

“Simon!” you yelled, in disbelief that he was just doing your job and your customers were straight up letting him.

Price jostled you on his shoulder to heft you to a better position for him and then walked over with you to the table where Soap and Gaz were now sat.

“What’re we thinking then lads?”

“Ye have any of that smoky tea in hen?”

“Lapsang souchong and yes, I have it in” you answered on instinct, hands pushing against Price's back so you could raise your torso and twist to look at Soap and Gaz who were very much not acting like this was strange at all.

“Aye, we’ll take that.”

Price turned with you then to make his way to the kitchen and you started to kick your legs to be put down. The smack to your ass was both mortifying and maybe a little bit exciting.

“Behave yourself luv or I'll need to tame the brat right out of you.”

Well, at least you could just bury your head in his back to try and maintain some level of dignity at how you had reacted to that.

#mhairidrabbles #mhairianswers #mhairidrabblesteashop

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odxrilove · 2 years

Text

☆ ENHYPEN AND HOW THEIR FRIENDS FIND OUT ABOUT THEM HAVING A CRUSH.

pairing: hyung-line!enhypen x f!reader

genre: fluff, idol!au

author's notes: i like doing these 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

☆ HEESEUNG

he tries to keep it a secret as long as he possibly can but jungwon gets suspicious when he notices the longing stares heeseung sends your way whenever you walk through the corridors. so naturally as the good leader he is, he wants to talk aboutt it.

it's in the late evening when heeseung congratulates himself for keeping it a secret with his favorite pastry when suddenly jungwon mentions your name. "hyung, how is yn doing today? i heard she fell down pretty hard today during practice.". heeseung is nervous, why would jungwon suddenly talk about you. "she did? i didn't know."

"oh, i thought you would since you are pretty close to her." the other members are now looking at the two curiously, listening to their conversation as they wait for any explanation.

"im not that close to her, we only talked a few times." heeseung is sweating buckets, eyes widening in fear. did jungwon found out about his crush on you?

"really? i thought you were close to her, you know, since you like her"

heeseung chokes on his pastry. sunoo lets out a gasp as he covers his mouth with his hand and the rest of the boys look at heeseung with wide eyes as a concerned look takes place over jungwon's face. the room falls silent for ten solid seconds until jungwon clears his throat awkwardly. "was i the only one to know?"

jungwon never gets his answer because as soon as the words leave his mouth, the other members' voices fill the room. "hyung! you have a crush?!" "yn?! the pretty girl with the cool dance moves?" "you were going to tell us right?"

it's safe to say that heeseung walked out of the kitchen quickly, trying to hide in one of the rooms with the members running after him, throwing questions after questions about "yn, the girl who stole heeseung's heart"

☆ JAY

jay manages to keep his crush on you a secret for around a month and a half, which is a lot and considered an achievement when you live with six noisy boys. but jay's not proud about it, since he knows the only reason why his brothers hadn't find out yet was because of their busy schedule due to their recent comeback.

so while they are all busy preparing for upcoming events, jay isn't the slightly worried about them– or you, finding out about his preference for you. that is until he catches one of your group-members eyeing him suspiciously when your group bumped into his in the hallway after your group's performance. he just hopes that she didn't catch him staring at you with heart eyes.

your group leader is very good at reading people, so one look at jay and she knows exactly why he's more flustered than usual after you complimented him on his outfit and performance. unfortunately for jay, she also loves to gossip and is very close to sunoo. less than an hour and a few whispers later, sunoo's strolling to jay in the dressing room.

when sunoo drags his stool closer to jay's until their shoulders almost touch, the latter gets suspicious, looking at the younger boy in confusion. sunoo is the first one to speak up, "do you like yn?". jay can only look at sunoo's innocent expression in shock before he shakes his head, "yn? no i don't like her." and thus begins a series of back and forth.

"so you don't think she's pretty?". jay sighs, "i didn't say that". "so you think she's pretty?" sunoo pries. "well i can't deny that", jay mumbles. "so you like yn", sunoo exclaims. "sunoo, i didnt say that", jay sighs again. "so, you don't like her?" "oh mY GOD SUNOO STOP! OKAY YES I LIKE YN AND WHAT ABOUT IT?!" jay finally admits, putting his face in his hands when he can sense the other members' stares.

sunoo only giggles devilishly, a small "got you" falling from his lips as he watches jake throw his arm around jay's shoulders, smirking when the room fills with questions and cheers from the other members.

☆ JAKE

it's seven in the evening when jake retreats to the dorm's dressing room to call his mom. he explicitly tells the other members not to come in so that he could have his weekly interaction with her. usually, jake would call his family at least two times a week.

she probably knows jake has a crush on you since the first time he talked about you because of her mother instinct and because of how happy jake sounded upon talking about your group and you. after that call ended, she had googled your group and listened to a few of your songs.

"you know, i'm quite impressed by yn. she's a very good dancer." her voice echoes through the room as jake's preparing his bag for that week's photoshoot, phone on speaker. he chuckles a bit before his mom continues, "also a very pretty girl, i understand why you have taken a liking to her."

the moment the first words leave her lips, niki barges into the room unannounced, stopping dead in his tracks when he catches on what was being said. jake panics at the sight of the youngest member and goes to grab the phone but niki's faster, snatching the phone away in front of his eyes before running off.

he listens to how his mother accidently reveal his crush, continuing to blabber about yn as she thinks she's talking to her son. niki's jumping excitedly to the living room, interupting jake's mother by yelling a loud "jake has a crush on yn! his mom told me!" through the dorm, attracting the attention of the other boys and jake thinks he might pass out as he's dramatically slumped over the dressing room's couch, whinning when he hears the footsteps of his members in the hallway.

☆ SUNGHOON

at first, none of his group members were suspicious of sunghoon. but that was only at first, and when he didn’t actually know you or meet you in person. let’s say that sunghoon was able to hide it pretty effectively since he only admired you from afar. in summary, sunghoon just doesn’t talk about you or your group to avoid any suspicions.

however, his plan backfires when his group meets yours backstage an award show and jake openly jokes about how each member is a fan of yours but sunghoon, as the latter never even pronounces your name around the dorm.

he sees you playfully cross your arms before he’s rushing over to you and jake, interrupting the conversation immediately to correct jake’s words. with a flushed face and lots of stutters, he manages to convince you that he is indeed a fan too but that he is just a bit on the quieter side and doesn’t always express his admiration for your group in front of other people.

after the show, sunghoon swears he could kill jake as he sends him death glares during the ride back home. but when they step into their dorm, he doesn’t expect his friend to turn towards him with a smirk.

“so, you got pretty irritated back there, didn’t you?”

the desire to slap jake is strong but sunghoon remains calm. “obviously, that was disrespectful of you to say.”

“we were joking, besides, how am i supposed to know you’re a fan when you act like you didn’t even know their group existed.” jake snickers at his friend’s words, having caught on why he reacted like that. he continues, throwing him a wink “don’t worry bro, i won’t talk about it.”

at the same moment, jay steps into the room, “won’t talk about what?”

jake doesn’t even spare the other boy a glance as he smirks, running a hand through his hair when he grabs himself a bottle of water. “won’t talk about sunghoon’s crush on yn.”

jay stops in his tracks, gaping at his two friends as the other members join them in the living room, having heard the last sentence of the conversation. jake leans against the kitchen counter with a big smile on his face as he watches sunghoon getting punched in the arm by a happy jungwon.

poor sunghoon can only groan in despair, scrunching his nose as he falls back onto the couch with a loud thump, hiding as much as possible in the cushions.

taglist: @0x1lovebot @itsyaapollochild @fairybinie @meraniki @blaqpinksthetic @odetoyeonjun @pockyandme @soobin-chois @lolalee24 @yjwfav @soobisms @sunoo-bby @yjwfav @tyunni @hyukaas

please do not copy, steal or repost any of my work. all content belongs to @odxrilove

#enhypen #enhypen x reader #enhypen heeseung #enhypen jay #enhypen jake #enhypen sunghoon #heeseung x reader #jay x reader #jake x reader #sunghoon x reader #enhypen heeseung x reader #enhypen jay x reader #enhypen jake x reader #enhypen sunghoon x reader #enhypen fluff #enhypen crack #enhypen reactions #enhypen headcanons #! music articles .. 💿

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maraudersmary · 3 months

Text

LILY EVANS BIRTHDAY MY BEST GIRL <3

here’s some of my favourite headcanons in honour of my favourite aquarius !!

short, like 5’3, extremely long, flowing, auburn hair, lots of freckles, plus-size, was insecure of her looks and body until she met the girls and they helped her realise her beauty

70s flower power girl at heart: flared or bell bottom jeans, flowy tops with sleeves that widen and low necklines, a LOT of necklaces, not afraid to mismatch gold and silver (both enhance her eyes and hair), mary-janes her go to shoe

forced all the girls to listen to ABBA, fully converted Mary and Alice, and although marlene pretends, she knows she loves the too. she’s still working on dorcas and emmeline…

dated mary from 3rd to 5th year. they both realised they were bi at the same time and their young hearts thought that meant they were meant to be. still remained best friends after the mutual breakup

after severus started bullying Mary, she dropped him instantly (idc that that’s not canon)

best at charms in the year (as well as a few other subjects that sirius didn’t take) but was lauded for her charm work

thought james only said he liked her as a joke, but after he toned his confessions down and started being genuinely kind to her when no one else was around she began to see that might not be the truth

was conflicted in her feelings for james at first, trying desperately to find reasons to not like him, until eventually marlene sat her down and gave her tough love about how she deserves to be happy

has bipolar disorder (diagnosed at 14) but is very on top of her medication and is not ashamed

however she is worried about how being in a relationship with james will impact her and whether he will accept that part of her, especially in times when she is not doing well

but of course he did, it’s james potter, and whether manic or depressive he was unfailingly there

she trained as a healer (doctor in muggle au), before specialising in psychiatric medicine and therapy

remus is her best friend, and they spend as much time as possible together. he is her safe haven. he just understands her like no one else, and she him. he also has the best weed

i’m a lily evans stoner truther

bakes when stressed, her specialty is anything apple based

her favourite shows were ever after high and my little pony (modern au) when she was younger and still watches them when she needs comfort

bonded with sirius over sibling trauma, she thought he was an arrogant prat at first but quickly formed an unbreakable bond with him. he was her brother.

loved her parents and knew they loved her, but she felt stifled in that house and hated the way they pandered to petunia. going to hogwarts probably saved her life

she has a massive crush on sophie thatcher and the girls found it hilarious because of how much she looks like marlene

knew everyone’s secrets (probably before they knew them themselves) and despite being a massive gossip, she never shared anything about anyone that was not public knowledge

when angry everyone knew to steer clear, except remus, he would calm her down just by walking into a room, and would then take her for a walk to vent to him before smoking a joint together

after the war ended and they all SURVIVED, she and james adopted two more children and raised them with the children of remus and sirius, and mary and emmeline, with marlene and dorcas being the super cool fun aunts

i love her i love her i love her

#marauders #lily evans #jily #remus lupin #mary macdonald #marlene mckinnon #sirius black #james potter #happy birthday lily evans #i love you #dorcas meadowes #headcanons that i love

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pleasantlycrazyworld · 1 year

Text

Masterlist

Request are open! Prompt List

Prompt list #2

Series:

The babysitting hellfire club

Chapter 1: confusion

Chapter 2: the snickerdoodles

Chapter 3: how did this happen?

Brutal Betrayal

Part One

Part Two

Stranger things

Snow ball fight (fluff)

Kids super powers would be... (fluff)

Teens super powers would be.. (fluff)

Eddie Munson

Matching tats with wayne

Nail tech gf

He defends his love

Bad hair????

Checking in on you

Dad!Eddie

How Eddie got his last name

Eddie and your hair

I’m just Ken (halloween themed)

Why Eddie hates his dad (very angst no fluff or happy ending)

Husband Eddie

Eddie is a cat dad

Totally don’t imagine this

Blurb- Eddie gets cheated on (angst)

“I love you. every single thing about you”

“Your hands are warm”

Blurb- what killed Eddie the most (angst)

Eddie with his raccoon babies

Super high Eddie asking questions

Eddie talks to your baby bump

Picnic date

You worry Wayne and Eddie (fluff)

Flowers for comfort (fluff slight talk of exam stress)

I just need you (fluff--> talks about mental health)

You have a surgery (fluff)

Spider (super short) (blurb, fluff)

Eddie has PTSD (angst ends with fluff)

Saves you from bullies (Short) (fluff)

Birthday love (fluff)

Prom (a bit angsty, fluffy)

Insecure reader (Angst, Fluff)

Wayne to the rescue (Talks about mental health, fluff)

First Smut I wrote (Smut 18+)

The Munson Wedding (fluff)

My safe space is you (Fluff)

Cheerleaders can be mean (slight angst, fluff)

New year, New couple (fluff)

Blizzard (fluff)

Gossip (fluff)

Eddie does your nails (fluff)

Messy breakup part one (angst)

Messy breakup part two (angst)

Messy breakup part three (fluff)

Get some rest (reader is sick. fluff)

Thrifting with Eddie (fluff)

Get wasted on me (smutty)

Body positivity (fluff)

10 things I hate about you (fluff)

Keeping warm (fluff)

Scary cat (fluff)

Scary cat part two (fluff)

New friendships (fluff)

Jason’s revenge (angst)

Damn cat (fluff)

Bad day (angsty fluff)

Supporting my girl (fluff)

Part one of Idiots in love (fluffy)

Idiots in love (Part two) (fluff)

Wayne and Eddie helping you (part one) (mental health talk, slight angst)

Wayne and Eddie helping you (Part two) ( mostly fluff, mental health talk)

Plus size reader (first thing I ever wrote!) (fluff)

Wayne and Eddie (from prompt list!) (slight angst, fluff))

Coffee shop au (fluff)

Hallway run-in (fluff)

Small thought of the day (Bat!Eddie)

Gamer GF

Rude girlfriend

Older! Sugar daddy

Steve Harrington

You were a bet (redemption)

You were a bet. (angst)

A look into Steve’s wedding

From prompt list– I’m going to make you remember who I am—Who I am to you (angst with fluff and smut)

Vacation time (Fluff)

Unrequited love? (angst with fluff)

The Harrington Wedding (fluff)

Reader has anxiety (mental health talk, fluff)

Friends to lovers??? (part one) (fluff? maybe angst?)

Friends to lovers confirmed! (part two) (fluff)

Anxiety is lying to you (mental health talk, angst with fluff)

Miscarriage (angst)

We got each other ( angst, fluff)

Hard core but make it soft (fluff)

Birthday girl (Smut with Mommy kink)

Billy Hargrove

Flowers for stressed reader (fluff)

Helping with Panic attack (fluff with mental health talk)

Bikini (fluff)

Eating out (smut)

Getting married to him (fluff)

Robin Buckley

Just friends? (fluff)

All three boys

As pet parents (fluff)

Helping you through your panic attacks (mental health, fluff)

Them as dads (fluff)

Helping reader who bites their nails (fluff)

You’re the big spoon (angst with fluff)

Black Friday shopping (fluff)

Baby fever (just Steve and Eddie) (fluff)

Valentines day (fluff. slight smut mentioned)

Their kinks (smut)

In a band (fluff)

Date night with them (fluff)

Modern version of them (fluff)

Road trip (fluff)

Pet names they give you (fluff)

You get their initials' tattooed

Them teaching you how to drive

Bucky Barnes

Bucky w/ a cat owner (fluff)

“Eat you’ll feel better” Prompt (fluff)

The to-do list (fluff)

You’ve moved on (with Loki) (angsty)

Stressful day (fluffy)

Kiss the girl (fluff)

Take a day off

You pick your man

Migraines

#my masterlist #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #bucky barnes #billy hargrove #stranger things #prompt list #imagines #headcannons #gracie writes

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my-makeshift-masquerade · 1 year

Note

Can we get a drabble with the SpringDad au maybe? That art you did for it gives me sooooo much serotonin and your backstory for your oc in it is cute! <3

Oh my goodness? Ah… Okay! I can write that I guess! (Mentioning @skeletoninthemelonland just to credit for the AU. Sorry if I get any details wrong, friend. It’d be super cool if you read it though.) So yeah… Uh… Let’s go?

“So…why are we here?” The young fox dragged his heels as he followed his father into the lobby of the building, “Are we taking Evan to the doctors or something…?”

A redheaded girl beside him strayed to poke at a cardboard box of toys and blankets that were labeled as donations, “Ohh! Look at all these toys, daddy!”

“Elizabeth, those aren’t for you.” The rabbit chided as he felt the bear cub in his arms yawning…again. It was contagious.

“I know that!” His daughter retorted defensively with her usual justification, “I was only looking at them!”

“Looking with your eyes…” He hummed, “…and not with your hands?”

“Yeah, put the pretty pink pony down.” The fox sneered, “Stop touching things that aren’t yours.”

“Oh, shut your big mouth!” She stamped her foot, putting the plastic horse back in the box, “You take things without asking all the time! Doesn’t he, daddy—“

“Both of you please stop badgering each other.” The rabbit sighed, letting a fussy Evan climb on him a little, “You brought some things to keep yourselves busy… Settle down.”

“Got it.” Micheal stretched out on a chair and pulled out a portable gaming system, turning it on.

“What are you playing?” The girl peeked over the arm of the seat with a devious smile, “Can I have a turn, pleeeeease?”

“Ugh! Lizzie! You said you didn’t want to bring yours!” Her brother swished his tail in her face, “Go play with your little ballerina dolls or something!”

“…Hmph!”

“Oh? Why, look who it is!” An older woman behind the front counter smiled warmly, “Evan! Micheal! How have you both been doing? Is this your sister?”

“Huh?! Mrs. Smith?! What the heck are you doing here?!” The fox looked up from his game in shock.

“After the fire destroyed the orphanage, we had to move buildings… This is our new home!” She smiled, noticing the girl sneaking back over to the donation box, “Oh! You can play with them if you want, sweetie! Just put them back when you’re done!”

“Really?! Thank you, miss!” Elizabeth giggled sweetly, digging into the donation bin without hesitation.

“How have you been doing, Mr. Afton?” The woman turned her attention to the rabbit now that the children were distracted, “We are still so grateful for what you did, you know?”

“It was nothing, and I’ve been just fine.” He reassured the other adult, but then the cub in his arms got fussy, “This one, on the other hand…”

“I heard…” She frowned, “It is very normal for babies adopted this young to have sleeping problems when they get to their forever families.”

“Any particular reason why?” The rabbit asked, “I’ve tried just about everything. Sleeping with him close to me seems to be the only fix I’ve found, but that’s a bit dangerous as I could roll over in my sleep and—“

“Follow me…” She opened a door to the back hall, and shooed away a few curious orphans who were gossiping about the fire.

They came to an office, and the woman gestured for him to sit down, “Most would say you should let him cry it out, or some such, but that can cause children to shut down and not trust their caregivers to soothe them.”

“So… What do I do, exactly?” The figure holding the cub sat down and sighed, “I can’t just leave when he’s down. It’s like he wakes up the second I do to follow me. He somehow climbed the entire fridge the other night… Will he grow out of this?”

“Oh yes, he will grow out of it, but he’s still a bit young for that…” She put a hand on the rabbit’s shoulder as Evan grumbled tiredly, “Normally, we would recommend slowly working with him to get used to his room as a safe place for him to be alone, but…considering the fire…”

“I don’t want to risk the possibility that he is linking being alone to what happened that day… It may be why he’s so persistent in getting to you…” The woman paused, before speaking again, “His siblings are a bit old to sleep by him unsupervised without a danger of accidentally crushing him, but I actually have another idea… if you’re up for it.”

“I’m willing to try anything.” A very tired William accidentally sounded a bit too desperate when he said that, and cleared his throat, “I mean, of course…”

“Wait here…”

The rabbit watched the woman leave the room, unsure what to expect. He looked down to the restless bear in his arms, “Calm down, buddy… I’m right here…”

He heard her footsteps as she entered the office again, this time holding a bundle covered in one of the donated blankets.

“Ooooh, Evan!” Mrs. Smith cooed, “Look who I found!”

A tiny pair of soft yellow ears were revealed from under the blanket first. They were pinned back behind the little head they were attached to, which was still facing away from the visitors. With some repeated but gentle encouragement from the woman, one blue eye finally became visible as the small rabbit peeked out from the safety of the blanket.

“Oh… Why, hello there…” He spoke softly as he kept a hold on his squirmy cub with one arm, “Who might you be…?”

The eye vanished behind the blanket again at the sound of his voice, but came back when the bear cub made a curious noise. That got the other small child to show more interest, and her twitching pink nose became visible. He could feel his bear cubs tail wagging with excitement as he started grabbing towards the bundled blanket.

“This is Rebecca…” The woman smiled, “I thought Micheal would have mentioned her to you if he saw Evan had trouble sleeping… She shared a bed with Evan before you adopted him.”

“He never mentioned it at all… Did she really?” He couldn’t help but smile a little, until he realized something, “Wait… Where was she during the fire…? I didn’t see anyone else in the building—“

“She was only found after the fire was totally put out…hiding underneath a blanket…” The other adult frowned, “Thankfully, the blanket was still slightly damp from washing. The paramedics said that saved her life.”

There was a somber silence, interrupted by the insistent noises of the small bear to see the other child.

“Beccaaaahaah!” He squealed, getting the attention of the rabbit holding him.

“Whoa… He never calls out names… besides Mikey and recently Lizzie…” He chuckled, still in shock, “Then again, I haven’t been pushing him to talk much…” He looked to the woman with a smile, “Let me guess, your idea for the sleeping problem is to have me adopt her as well…?”

“Well, would you like to hold her, at least…?”

The small bunny looked rather nervous as she was removed from the blanket and passed over, her paws coming to her mouth. The larger rabbit had her fit perfectly in the crook of his arm. Evan held onto his shirt to steady himself so he could clumsily reach to pat her head, looking back up at his father with a smile.

“Well, I don’t think I’m going to be able to say no, am I…?” He chuckled.

———

The moment he got out the door into the lobby, and Mrs. Smith introduced the small child in his arms, his daughter hurried over to his leg.

“Ohhhh! A bunny rabbit like you?!?! She’s so cutttteeeee!” She hopped up and down to try and get a better look, “Oh daddy! Are we keeping her?! Can we keep her?! Please! Please! Pleaseeee!”

He felt the tiniest body in his arms cling to him nervously as he tried to dodge his middle child, “Yes, Elizabeth. She’s coming home with us.”

“YAYYYYY!”

“Wait… Is that really Rebecca?!” The young fox nearly dropped his video game, looking even more shocked than when he saw Mrs.Smith earlier, “But I thought she was—“

“Micheal, it’s alright…” His adoptive father sighed, “We can talk about this later… For now… I think we all need to go home and rest.”

“Rest?! It’s only 3 in the afternoon!” The young girl frowned, “We haven’t even had dinner yet!”

“Well…” He yawned, “We can have a nice nap before dinner tonight…”

#answers #drabbles #springdad au #screw it #the more i hesitate the more i wanna delete it all #lets do this

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ilexdiapason · 6 months

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"what is the pearl the bard au, ilex?" im SO glad you asked: a primer

first of all, hello jon, apologies for the deception, but i thought it was necessary to get the traffic people in through their scrunkle, so i didn't call the au by its proper name. this is eswap, the empires swap au, featuring pearlthebard. but i'm gonna tell it from her pov so it's all good

the following is a brief summary of what i refer to as "season one" of pearlthebard, and can be read in its entirety by going to @pearlthebard and reading through the linked directory, but if you don't have time for three months of tumblr rp then here's the gist of it!

Once upon a time, cruel gods named Watchers brought in just over a dozen people to play participants in a sick little game of death and betrayal. Pearl was not there. She was there when they did it for a second time, but she didn't win, so she can't remember it. The third time she prefers to forget, for the most part: it's a big awful blur of self harm and mania and dying and killing and losing everything she ever loved without ever really knowing why.

At the end of Double Life, she stands on a hill and watches the man who would not be her soulmate light himself ablaze, and when he blows up it takes her with him.

At this point, we step out of the narrative briefly, because Pearl the Bard doesn't actually begin with Pearl, not really - it begins with my friend Al going "hey i should make an au where the empires smp season 2 characters are role swapped", and hitting number thirteen Oli TheOrionSound, and going "ah shit well i guess i'll swap him with santa perla that works". Thus, Saint Oli, and Pearl the Bard. However, notably, Pearl cannot map neatly on to Oli's backstory of being isekai'd in from the end of Afterlife SMP, because she wasn't there.

At the end of Double Life, Pearl is blown up, but she does win. And a winner, by the usual metrics, earns a prize.

Saint Oli catches her when the blast flings her soul from her lifeless body, looks this incredibly wet cat up and down, and decides to give her a second chance.

She lands in the Empires SMP.

If you've seen Oli's episodes, which you probably should there were only four of them for the entirety of ESMP S2, you'll know roughly how the story goes from here, but the faces are a little different. She steals a goat horn from Princess Katherine of Dawn, she is jailed by Deputy Sausage of the Goblands, and while she awaits her judgement by the Sheriff Smallishbeans, she hears an awfully familiar voice from the floor of the cave asking what she did to get put in there.

Mayor Smajor of Animalia is a normal man. He runs his empire with a fairly loose grip, but he's proactive about developing a safe space for all animal folk to live among the pretty amethysts and not have to conform to the standards of human society. He, though, he's not an animal, no way, behind this dark mask he's completely human and not a cat. He has a life here, has lived in the Empires for years and founded a community with his own paws hands that he's very proud of.

The weird girl in the cage, the woman who brought two HUGE dogs to his lands and then somehow decided it was his fault for hissing at them that they didn't get on, and the new bard his neighbour Sausage has been gossiping to him about all seem to be disconnected, until they very suddenly aren't.

Pearl is a mystery to Scott. Despite him never having seen her before in his life, she seems convinced that he's either a regret or a danger, and she even goes so far as to stab him to death rather than tell him what the hell is her problem with him. He gets a little bit obsessed, if he's honest - finds her house to show up at it, insists that Sausage keep him updated on her, even starts to lose sleep. And when he does sleep he has strange dreams, dreams of being far taller, being tailless, being ten times better with a weapon than the Mayor of Animalia would ever need to be.

Pearl, steadfast in the conviction that the best thing she can do is get far the hell away from this weird, tiny Not-Smajor and never speak to or of him again if possible, runs to the distant shores of Sanctuary. And then squats in the Eversea. And then borrows Joey's spare room in the Evermoore. And every time, some coincidence sends Scott dangerously close to her escape path, forces them to make small talk, gives them both another nightmare of another time that Scott can't remember and Pearl wishes she could forget.

And then eventually they do catch up with one another in the streets of Chromia, and Scott refuses to back down until Pearl admits to him the truth of whether she really belongs in this world and what her connection is to his dreams and why he feels so weirdly, encompassingly guilty when he looks at her, and... well, i won't spoil that, that was a good one, i liked that one, you should go read it.

But yeah! Pearl the Bard! It's good! Soulmate drama forever :D

#eswap #empires swap au #pearlescentmoon #scott smajor #and then later we do lesbianism it's great

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i-am-baechu · 1 year

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Summary: Everything was perfect until it wasn’t. Y/N and Jungkook love each other but when familiar and new faces come into their lives, things get complicated. On top of that, a surprise that truly shakes their plans for the future. Will their relationship push forward or will Jungkook lose his fangirl once and for all?

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Chapter one: I Want You So Bad' 💜

→ Genre: Idol au, established relationships, girl group stan au, social media au, K-pop fan page au, romance, angst, comedy, and smut

→ Main pairing: Idol! Jungkook x Fan girl! Reader

→ Side ships: Yoongi x OC & Jin x OC

→ Warnings: Explicit language, smut, mature themes, alcohol usage, anxiety disorder, stalking, and obsessive behavior

→ Warnings for the chapter: Explicit language, mature themes, stalking (mentioned once), anxiety disorder (mentioned once), and smut

⇜ Masterlist ⇝

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Y/N let out a small laugh as she shut down her computer, wishing it went faster. She couldn’t believe that she's been with Jungkook for two years, it was scary how time has passed so fast. Their relationship wasn’t easy in the beginning, having to deal with a stalker took a toll on them. They even moved away from their dream home because they were so nervous. In their second year of dating, things got easier. Living with each other opened new doors for them, mostly for the future. They both knew one day they would get married and have kids, living with each other was just the first step.

Jungkook coming out to the public was nerve-wracking and media outlets were running with it. It was the first time a BTS member was in a “scandal” and it was with one of the popular members making gossip pages jump in excitement. Something he hated. He knew he had to do this to move forward with Y/N but he hated that news outlets were trying to figure her out. Dating shouldn’t be a scandal but here he was in a “scandal”. Another thing that bothered him was that they kept bringing up Red Velvet. If anything, his girlfriend would be dating them.

Y/N gathered her bags, locking her office before heading out. There was a little jump in her step because she was so excited. Ever since she was assigned this project, she barely saw Jungkook. She’s been working on this project for about two months now and she was just happy it was almost done. She walked into the parking lot and looked around to see if anyone was there just in case. She looked to see Jungkook’s car and she ran towards the car with excitement. She walked up to the window and knocked on the window causing Jungkook to jump. He rolled down the window playfully glaring at her, “Fucking scared the crap out of me babe.”

She let out a small laugh leaning forward giving him a kiss on the cheek, “Sorry, I was just so excited to see you.”

“I’m excited to see you too but damn Y/N.”

He opened his car door and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed the side of her head. The smell of him made her feel safe and his arms around her waist made her feel love, something she always wanted in her life. When she backed away, Jungkook leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead, “Happy anniversary, Kook.”

“Happy anniversary, baby.”

She smiled at this, moving her head to the side to see the bright red roses from the text. She felt her face get hot and shook her head, “Kook, you didn’t need to get me-”

“I did, I wanted to shower you with flowers. My baby deserves it. Speaking of flowers, I have to go to this flower shop. I need to pick something up.”

“Kook, more flowers?”

“Yeah, listen it's for when we have sex okay.”

“How can you say that with so much confidence?”

He shrugged his shoulders leaning forward again, placing a quick kiss on her lips, “Because it's going to happen otherwise.”

“Stop, let’s get the flowers before I take the bus home.”

“You would do no such thing.”

The drive to the flower shop was filled with Jungkook filling up her thigh and her smacking his hand away. He parked the car in the far corner where it completely blended into the darkness. He turned his head towards her, “Do you want to come with me?”

“No, I’ll stay here.”

“Text me if anything happens.”

“Kook, nothing is going to happen to me.”

She watched him leave the car and she couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face. She really did love him and it was the first time she has ever felt like this. It was scary but thrilling at the same time. She took her mirror out and started fixing her hair, she frowned when she saw how tired her eyes were. She shook her head lightly tossing the mirror back into her purse. She smacked her cheeks lightly, “No, I’m not tired. This is my anniversary.”

She looked outside to see friends laughing with each other and couples holding hands, sometimes she wished to do that with Jungkook. Other times, she was completely fine staying inside with him. Being public wasn’t all that fun to her and Jungkook felt the same. She wondered how Mae was doing. She knew Mae and Yoongi were fighting more, causing him to stay at Namjoon’s. She didn’t know all the details of their fights but she hoped they could solve it together soon.

The door opened and her smile quickly dropped when she saw Jungkook’s irritated eyes, “Are you okay?”

He took off his mask and let out a frustrated sigh, “The clerk didn’t have my flowers...”

“Baby, how about we take a quick walk around the park to get your mind off of things.”

He nodded his head and leaned towards her to place a kiss on her nose, “You always know how to make me feel better.”

“I-I try.”

She took out her pink Hello Kitty mask, placing it on her face. Jungkook did the same but he had a black one. He turned his head to look at her and let out a small chuckle, “You're so cute.”

“Eh? I didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly.”

The couple went into the park with hands intertwined as the lights above them twinkled making things romantic. They walked towards the railing looking to see the reflection from the river. Y/N leaned her head against Jungkook’s arm as he wrapped his arm around her waist, “It’s peaceful.”

“It feels nice to have peace in your life.”

Jungkook nodded his head and gently rubbed her hip with his fingertips, “One day it will be peaceful for us.”

“Kook, it is-”

“I’m tired of acting like a secret, you're not my secret Y/N. You're my everything.”

She felt her heart flutter at this and looked up to see him already looking down at her with determined eyes, “It will be. You just have to be patient.”

“You know that’s hard for me.”

She let out a small laugh and looked back at the river, “It will be worth it.”

“It will be...hey baby can you take a picture of me?”

She nodded her head and took his phone out of his pocket, “What’s this for?”

“Weverse, I thought it would be a good idea to show them that everything is still normal.”

“It’s only been two weeks since you told everyone about us....you think people are still freaking out?”

Jungkook nodded his head and rubbed his neck, “I haven’t posted anything in these two weeks. I’ve been talking to managers about everything.”

“Yeah, it’s time to post something to Army.”

“Okay, just a simple picture okay.”

“Okay.”

One picture and post later, the couple went back to the car. Taking off their masks, Y/N looked at him with a small smile, “You feel better?”

“Yeah I do, thank you for letting me rant.”

“I’ll always be here for you to rant. Even if it's about something small like forgetting your sauce. I’ll listen to you no matter what.”

Going home was quieter this time because Y/N fell asleep. Jungkook was actually expecting her to fall asleep so he took the long way home this time. She slowly moved her head off of the window and stretched out her arms. Letting out a small yawn, she looked around and then looked at Jungkook, “Were not home yet?”

“I took the long way home, wanted you to get some sleep.”

She nodded her head and took a sip of her water, “T-Thank you...Oh, babe, the food at home is going to be cold. I’m sorry.”

“We have a microwave, it's okay babe.”

They turned into the driveway and she went to crack her back. She glanced down at the flowers and smiled to herself, she couldn’t believe that she had someone in her life that loved her as much as he did. She picked up the flowers and went to get her work bag but he stopped her from grabbing it, “I got it, babe, just take your flowers in.”

She rolled her eyes at him and nodded her head. She took in the big bouquet of roses and headed in with him behind her. She set the roses on the coffee table and she looked around with wide eyes, it was beautiful. Everywhere there were rose petals and the lights were dimmed with the candles burning bright. The dinner was on the table with another set of candles but then something clicked, “Yah! Jungkook, you left the candles burning!”

He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a nervous chuckle, “I didn’t think about that...nothing burned down it’s fine.”

“Jungkook, that's not the point!!”

She sighed and shook her head, “Please don’t burn our house down.”

He didn’t say anything and walked towards the dinner table with a smile, “I made your favorite.”

“Don’t try to change the subject.”

He let out a small laugh and walked up to her with a mischievous smile. He pulled her closer by wrapping his arms around her waist. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips and she closed her eyes loving the feel of his lips. When they pulled away, his gaze made her feel shy. He gently rubbed her shoulders and frowned to himself, “You feel tense baby.”

She sighed and tilted her head towards him, “Just been so busy.”

“Well, lucky for you I had a bath ready for you.”

“Jungkook, thank you so much...” She leaned up and placed a kiss on his chin. He pushed some hair behind her ear and looked deeply into her eyes. He placed a kiss on her forehead and grabbed her wrist to head toward the bathroom. Her eyes widened at the scene in front of her as she saw the roses all around the bathroom and smiled to herself, “At least there are no candles in here.”

“S-Stop.”

She turned towards him with a small smirk and her arms snuck up around his neck, pulling him in. His face was filled with shock but it quickly melted away when his lips met hers. He wrapped his arms around her waist and they kissed under the dim lights. His tongue intertwined with hers, exploring her mouth. She moaned into the kiss and his hands moved down to roughly rub her ass, squeezing and massaging.

They parted away and she looked at him with a dazed look. He licked his bottom lip and started to place kisses down her neck, licking and nipping at the soft skin. She moaned out loud and rubbed his back with her shaking hands. He leaned away and tossed his shirt off as she watched with her flushed face, “Strip for me baby and then get in the bath like a good girl.”

“I-I, Okay...”

She took off her clothes and tried her best to look sexy while doing it. Her shaky hands pushed down her pantyhose as he watched, not saying anything to her. Jungkook smirked at her and then took off his pants and his underwear showing off his semi-hard member. She glanced at it and quickly turned her head when she felt his eyes on her.

They both made their way to the tub and she watched him go in. She rubbed her arm gently and he looked up at her, “The water is warm thanks to the heated tub. Come on in, baby.”

She nodded her head and gently sat in the water with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her bare stomach placing soft kisses on her shoulders, “I know it’s been busy today but know that I’m so proud of you. My baby is the project manager.”

“S-Stop.”

He kneaded her breasts, pinching her nipple. His other hand wandered to her mouth and his thumb softly rubbed her lips. She arched her back into his fingers but he quickly stopped and her eyes widened at him, “First we need to wash you.”

“Y-You can’t just do that! Don’t tease me!”

He shrugged his shoulders and his hands went back to her breast again but one of them snuck down. He started to rub her, pressing down on her clit in circular motions and she opened her legs wider for her. He pressed his fingers into her, rubbing and fingering. His lips went on her neck as she arched her back, “K-Kook! W-Wait~.”

“I can stop if you want.”

“N-No...”

“Cum for me, baby.” He continued to slowly rub as she rode it out and she leaned back into his chest breathing heavily. He kissed the side of her head, “You did good. Turn around.”

Her body automatically listened to him and she found herself straddling him. She looked around the bath and frowned, “I-Is this okay? It’s going to make a mess.”

“We’ll clean it later.”

She felt his hard cock against her pussy and she bit her lip at the feeling. She moved her waist against him and let out a moan because she was sensitive, “Keep moving your hips baby.”

Her hips grinded up and down his length, stimulating her clit. He grabbed the back of her head to pull her in for a kiss. He grabbed her hips and lined himself and plunged her down on his cock, “Kook!~”

“Move, baby.”

She moaned as she started to ride him faster. She ran her fingers through his hair and the water fell out of the tub. She watched Jungkook’s and she felt herself getting hotter from his dazed out look, “Your so fucking hot, Y/N.”

She started to bounce up and down and as soon as she did that, her second orgasm hit her. She fell onto his chest and let out deep breaths. He gently rubbed her back and started to do more thrusts trying to finish. She moaned into his wet skin as he kissed the top of her head, “I’m almost there baby.”

She kissed his chest and that small notion made Jungkook cum inside of her. He let out a loud groan as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She moaned into his chest and they both sat there trying to catch their breaths. She looked up at him and kissed his cheek, “I love you, Jungkook.”

“I love you, Y/N. Shit the food is cold.”

“That’s fine, we have a microwave.” He gently massaged her back in circular motions and let out a small laugh making her look at him with a confused look, “What?”

“I’m so happy.”

She let out a small laugh and kissed his chest, “Happy anniversary, baby.”

“Happy anniversary, Y/N.”

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#bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts jungkook #bts namjoon #bts seokjin #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts yoongi #bts x reader #bts hoseok #Bts #bts series #bts fanfction #bts fanfic #jeon jungkook #jungkook x reader #his fan girl #bts social media au

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bettercostume · 10 months

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happy ao3 is down but we are dealing, here's some neymessi star wars au

Being assigned a padawan had been a surprise, especially since the high council preferred to pretend Leo didn’t exist outside of high-casualty battle situations.

“I’m Ney,” the boy said.The shape of the man he would be was clear in his body already. Taller than Leo and confident, tight curls just so, brown skin a clean contrast against the crisp white robes of an initiate.

“Uh, Leo,” Leo said.

“Wizard,” Ney said, flashing a grin. Leo looked away.

He muscled through the padawan braid, Ney kneeling on the hard stone. The temple rang with the presence of force-sensitives, high ceiling gathering clouds of excitement and fear. The whole place was as Leo remembered it, a mixture of vast and abrupt, the long ramp up through the columns lending a familiar ache to his calves as they climbed. The ceremony was exactly the same as his own had been. His hands shook, fumbling the thread.

This was the point, really, to tie you into generations of jedi that came before, but Leo had been alone for years and being back among the temple crowds, the bright hope in the force, was unbearable. The clean arch of Neymar’s neck, bent under Leo’s hands, seemed obscene.

Leo felt a headache building. Neymar, for his part, seemed unbothered by the surge of raw, unchecked emotions. He must be barely sensitive, Leo thought, watching Neymar wink at a Togrutan girl and then stick his hand out to her master to shake. It was a blessing. They had many long months of meditation and rock levitation in front of them; if they were lucky, Neymar would escape out from under his master's reputation and be placed somewhere safe and far away from the frontlines. He made Master Ploo laugh and Leo thought, maybe he’d do well in the archives. It made no sense to have been assigned to Leo, who was considered a war criminal on several planets. Maybe it was a punishment. He was bad at discerning that sort of thing until the blow landed.

“So now what?”

Leo looked around their shared quarters, sparse and worn at the edges, the dusty gray of ground-down stone. He had a single bag that looked as tired as the rest of him, patched at one end with the durafiber that the clones used for their base wear. Neymar had a brightly woven carry-all that practically glowed in comparison.

Better to get it over with quickly.

“Follow me,” Leo said.

The halls were still full but the excitement had died somewhat, fading into the bright, low hum that Leo remembered from his youth as the very fabric of the jedi order. It lifted his spirits somewhat. He had kept his own force signature tamped down from the moment he landed on Coruscant, and was doing the jedi equivalent of tiptoeing through the halls with a blindfold and earplugs in--still, he saw some of the more senior jedi stiffen as he approached and herd their charges away, felt a spike of fear break through his shields.

“So you grew up here?”

Leo started, and then realized Ney was of course speaking to him.

“Yes. From age 8,” he said.

“Wow,” Ney whistled. “That’s mad young.”

“My creche mates joined at 3 or four,” Leo said. “I was considered old.”

“So what does that make me, at 17?”

“Ancient,” Leo said. Neymar laughed.

“Hey, late bloomer,” Ney said. “Or at least, that’s what Master Be’Karr said when she recruited me.”

Neymar paused to peer into an arch as they passed, where a gaggle of youth were sitting in silence several feet off the floor. He waved to one, and then jogged back into step with Leo.

“I thought she was gonna be my Master, actually,” Ney said. “You know she stayed with my parents during the siege?”

“I didn’t,” Leo said. Be’Karr had already been a Knight when he’d been in the temple. She was hard to miss with the horns and the tattoos. All the padawans gossiped about her: she liked fast speeders, she practiced blind bareknuckle boxing, she had killed someone on one of the slave trading outposts in Huttese space. She came over for drinks with Dinho once, contained and cool in contrast to his contagious, building energy, throwing back shots with just the hint of a smile, the peep of a yellow fang. He’d watched her leave, tucked behind a wall in his pajamas, as secret as any stolen glance could be when you lived with force-sensitives. She’d deftly put her wrap-shoes on without losing her balance despite the litres of unsynthesized Jaddan grain alcohol she had put away over the course of the evening. The wink she’d sent his way just before the door closed had stuck with him, the potency of it unblemished so many years later.

Leo must be quite the disappointment in comparison.

“Yeah, she and the 601 stayed in the cliffs with us. She helped repair our balcony when it was all over,” Neymar said, distilling a 3-month offensive into an inconvenience the size of a seasonal dust storm. “You know what she said before she left?”

“What?” Leo asked, duitifully.

“She said she’d sensed me across the planet and wasn’t about to leave without me.”

Leo tried to imagine saying the same thing to Neymar and failed.

“You joined because of her?”

“Nah,” Neymar said. “I joined because of my sister.”

“Is she…”

“She’s alive. But we’re—our planet is kind of a mess,” Neymar said. “We’re a moon for what used to be a prison planet, you know. Nobody knows we exist.”

Leo looked over at him as they walked. Neymar strode with his chest forward and an ease in his limbs that belied combat experience. He really still seemed so young.

“Is this your first time offworld?”

“Yeah,” Neymar said. “So far it’s good, but we’ll see. But yeah, do you know why Master Be’Karr like, turned me down?”

He said it lightly, but Leo felt the disappointment.

“We don’t decide,” Leo said. “The council matches each padawan with a jedi they believe can teach them the most.”

Neymar thought this over as they continued onward, winding up to the drop-off over the practice ground. Leo felt his emotions settle with alarming quickness into something fond and warm. When he looked at the young man, Neymar was smiling at him. It was genuine. "Then you must be who I need the most," Neymar said. The cannibalization of the phrase, reversed and more intimate, made Leo stumble. "You must be even better than Master Be'Karr."

"I have the most experience on the front," Leo said, mumbling. "That's all."

#star wars au #neymessi #lmaooooo welp

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