#shows up a day late with a picture of three idiots: happy star war!

[eegnm]

We can’t forget that Aayla was Vos padawan she inherited the chaotic energy!

ref:

#anakin skywalker #aayla secura #bultar swan #stars wars #fanart #my art #anakin Is a growing boy he needs the milk! #shows up a day late with a picture of three idiots: happy star war! #padawan days bc I love their friendship #Aayla is using some kind of Star Wars social media

[ameliora-j]

before i fell // dm x reader

words: 2.8k

warnings: angst, talk of a breakup, mention of loss of virginity, mention of not eating, mention of not sleeping, pansy is kinda ooc and so is draco, the slytherins are assholes

a/n: i used a lot of olivia rodrigo lyrics bc i listened to SOUR while writing lol. lmk if i should add other warnings and happy reading babies!

you would be cliche and say that you fell in love the way that you fall asleep. slowly and then all at once. but you couldn’t because you didn’t. it wasn’t a john green novel and you weren’t hazel grace lancaster. falling in love wasn’t simple, and that description of it truly… didn’t describe anything. falling in love was more complicated than that. there were more layers to it than that. falling in love was rather… quick and unexpected. unexpected like snow in the middle of march. or rain when there’s not a cloud in sight. quick like waiting months for an event and finally when the time comes, it feels like you blinked and then it was over.

falling in love with draco malfoy was all of these things and more. falling in love with draco malfoy brought upon more layers than that. falling in love with draco malfoy brought pain. not just any kind of pain, no… horrible, heart wrenching, gut twisting pain. pain that began by bubbling itself in your chest right at the center of your heart, then slowly but surely worked it’s way outwards. encapsulating your entire body and making every inch of your body ache. pain like when you get attached to a character and the author kills them off. pain like when you finish your favorite book and you realize that you’re not truly in that universe and none of that actually happened. pain like when you’re two hours, fifteen minutes, and twelve seconds into avengers: infinity war and peter parker says “mr. stark, i don’t feel so good.” pain that you’ve never felt. pain that can’t be described. pain that you felt for days. pain.

you thought it was strange when the platinum blonde slytherin sought you out. he came to you one day while you sat silently at the black lake. you were alone, but only because you liked to be. you had friends of course, many actually, but you chose to be alone. the black lake was your place of solace. then along came draco. he sat beside you, a good distance away, but his presence was known. you looked to him for an explanation but he offered none. just smiled at you and turned to his notes, so you did the same. the second time he came, he sat closer, but still in silence. the third time is when he struck up conversation.

“yln, yeah?” he questioned.

“yn, actually. but yes, yn yln. and you’re draco malfoy?” you asked.

“i am,” he smirked at your knowledge of his name and then you returned to your studying. after that, the two of you talked every time he came and sat with you. short discussions about the weather or the potions assignment. you don’t know when, but soon they became longer. discussions of your day and your family. your interests and how you got your name. how you loved the rain and the stars and how you loved hogwarts, but you often missed home. draco knew you inside and out and you knew him—and before long, you called the tall, skinny blonde your boyfriend.

you walked the halls of hogwarts together, hand in hand. draco walked haughtily with a hard scowl and you with a bright smile. while you walked cheerfully and waved to your friends and to first years while draco glared at anyone who dared look at the two of you. he took you to parties in the slytherin common room and you wore his jersey proudly at quidditch games, even when he played against your house. he bought you lavish gifts at all of your trips to hogsmeade and he showered you in kisses, praise, and affection. you were whole heartedly smitten with the sole heir to the malfoy fortune.

it was one fateful day in the common room when your heart absolutely exploded. that was the day you knew that you fell in love with draco malfoy. you had been a thing for about two, going on three, months. you were sitting in the slytherin common room, reading in silence when he asked. you were pressed against his chest and he pressed a soft kiss to your head. “‘ve been meaning to ask you something,” he murmured gently. this caused you to close the book and turn your full attention to him. “want you to wear this,” he said, holding out a ring. “it’s the malfoy family crest.”

your stomach and your heart exploded into billions of butterflies and you launched yourself forward, straight into his chest. millions of emotions overcame you as you squeezed his neck as tight as possible. you nodded into his neck as a few stray tears fell. he kissed your head repeatedly as he slid the ring onto your finger before pressing his lips to your’s gently. you giggled excitedly as you stared down at the ring on your finger. “do you like it?” he asked you.

“i love it, dray. i love you. thank you s’much,” you confessed for the first time as you cuddled back into his chest. you don’t know what it was that made the blonde boy seek you out, but you’re glad he did. if only you knew the true nature of his intentions. but alas, you were oblivious.

it was the beginning of the school year, on the train to hogwarts. in the compartment of what was labeled as “the slytherin squad.” there sat theo nott, pansy parkinson, blaise zabini, and—your now boyfriend—draco malfoy.

they were all sitting around, taking the piss out of draco for all of his past failed relationships when it was brought up. “i’ll bet malfoy couldn’t get a girl to fall in love with him if he paid her,” theo spoke.

“i’ll take that bet,” draco countered.

“alright. but we get to pick the girl,” blaise decided.

“what?” pansy asked as theo began to look around the compartment. it was a few minutes before he found the victim. it was then that your fate was sealed. there, sitting in the back corner, head tucked deep into a copy of the fault in our stars, was you. you. awkward and quiet. you with seemingly no friends. poor little unsuspecting you.

“that one,” nott smirked evilly.

“what the weirdo?!” draco exclaimed incredulously. “no way!”

“so then you forfeit?” blaise asked, causing draco to release a frustrated exhale.

“alright i’ll do it,” he rolled his eyes.

“then we give you five months. make yn yln fall in love with you in five months and we’ll do your homework for the rest of the year,” theo posed.

“and if i don’t?” draco asked.

“and when you don’t… thennn,” blaise taunted as he searched for a deal that was fair.

“then we get two hundred galleons each and you have to apologize to potter for making his life hell,” theo smirked. draco scoffed at this and rolled his eyes, but nodded nonetheless.

“and what are my conditions?” he raised an eyebrow.

“she has to say it first. you can do anything you want or need to get her to say it, but you cannot say ‘i love you’ first,” blaise spoke.

“this doesn’t seem fair to yn,” pansy piped in.

“shut your mouth parkinson. no one asked your opinion,” theo growled with a roll of his eyes. but it was too late. there was absolutely nothing the girl could do to get the three to change their minds. she just had to sit idly by and watch draco malfoy break your heart as she said nothing. she wished that she could stop it, but their minds were made up. and the three of them were very stubborn.

it was a few days after draco gave you his ring when your bubble came crashing down. you were walking to meet draco at your spot at the black lake when blaise and theo intercepted you. you knew who they were, of course you did. they were your boyfriend’s best friends, however why they were currently speaking to you, you had no idea.

they told you it would be quick. that they just wanted to show you something in the slytherin common room and left little room for argument, so you had no choice but to follow them there. they sat you on the couch and began to discuss your relationship with draco. you were very confused and had no idea why you were here. “so… draco hasn’t told you?” blaise mocked a gasp of shock.

“no?” you raised a soft eyebrow as you stared on. this made theo smirk evilly as he pulled up a projector and pointed his wand at it. a picture appeared, it looked like a memory. “what’s this?” you asked before the boys urged you to ‘shh.’ you sunk further into the couch as you idly watched on.

you truly weren’t paying attention untill you heard the voice of your boyfriend. the words he spoke stung. you were soft. emotional. the way he spoke about you absolutely crushed you. it would crush anyone, but it shattered you especially. “she’s so fucking weird!” “i’ll take that bet.”

‘s all you were. all you ever were. just a stupid belt. another notch in his belt. it was that moment that draco had barged into the common room. but by then, it was already too late. the tears had already sprung to your eyes and you were preparing for a torrential downpour as you heard his voice. “i’m out!” he announced breathlessly. he froze in his run as his eyes fell on you and what was playing on the projector currently. “bunny…” he whispered softly as his hand touched your shoulder, but you quickly jerked away as if his hand had burned you on contact.

“don’t call me that. don’t touch me,” you demanded as the tears began to fall. “that’s all i was? a bet?” an involuntary whimper sounded from the depths of your throat. “i feel so stupid.” you shook your head.

“no, bunny please listen to me,” you didn’t allow the boy to finish as you wrapped your arms tightly around yourself.

“don’t call me that!” you demanded. “in fact don’t call me at all. don’t… don’t talk to me draco. ever again. i can’t believe i fell for your stupid joke. i feel so… i feel like an idiot,” you spoke. you shook your head, hastily wiping at your eyes untill you saw stars. it was then that you decided to walk away.

“YN STOP!” draco yelled. “LISTEN to me,” he demanded.

“NO!” you shouted as you turned to face him finally. “godric draco, i wish you would’ve thought this through before i went and fell in love with you,” you sniffled as you wiped your snot on your sweater sleeve.

“yn please just let me explain. please listen to me, please,” he begged.

“i feel like you betrayed me,” you shook your head. “i told you everything. you were my everything. draco i loved you. i actually loved you. i thought you loved me too but i guess you’re just a really good actor,” you sniffled once more. “i hate you draco. i really fucking hate you. i don’t want to hear your bullshit explanation because i know that you’ll never feel sorry for the way i’m hurting right now.”

“it was a bet!” draco shouted as you walked away, hand on the door knob. you scoffed as you muttered a sarcastic, ‘no shit.’ “that’s how it started yes, but then i got to know you. i figured out who you were. i learned that your favorite color is yfc and that you prefer night over day because you love the stars and that your favorite star is scorpius and you would name your son after that star one day. i learned that you love to read and you love when it storms but you're afraid of the thunder. you only dance when you’re drunk and you giggle when you’re nervous and i love that giggle. with everything in me i do. your favorite book is yfb and you choose to be alone but you let everyone be your friend. you’re gorgeous. inside and out and while it may have started as a bet, somewhere along the lines i fell in love with you so yn please. please don’t leave,” he whispered the last part as his voice came out broken.

you took a deep breath in before you began to speak. “you couldn’t have cared less about someone who loved you more. i’d say you broke my heart but you broke much more than that,” you shook your head as you furiously wiped at your eyes again. “i gave you my all draco. you were my first everything. i gave you my virginity for merlin’s sake. all to find out that i was just some stupid bet,” you scoffed.

“yn please believe me when i say that you’re so much more than that,” he begged again. “i came to tell them that they won. that i wanted out because i fell in love with you too!”

“it doesn’t matter if you don’t see me as a bet any longer. the fact is that you did. i’m worth so so much more than that.” your breaths were ragged as you spoke. “i really wish that you had thought this through before i went and fell in love with you.” you repeated with a small sniffle. “don’t you think i loved you too much to be used and discarded? don’t you think i loved you too much to think i deserve nothing?” you were openly sobbing at this point.

“yn please believe me when i tell you how sorry i am…” he spoke softly.

“don’t tell me you’re sorry. feel sorry for yourself. because someday i’ll be everything to somebody else,” with this you turned away from him. you hastily opened the door and practically ran out of the common room and away from him.

at that moment you decided to forget about it. draco, and the bet, and love, and everything. like in the vampire diaries, you decided to turn your emotions off. you laid in your dorm crying for hours before you made that decision, however. your dorm mates checked on you often, but you never offered more than merely a half hearted shrug, letting them know that you were still alive, but barely breathing. you skipped classes and meals. you were a mere shell of yourself. it was about two weeks before you could face draco again. and even then you couldn’t truly. you went into the great hall and found “the slytherin squad” sans draco.

pansy looked at you sympathetically while theo and blaise basked in the glow of their new victory. you pulled the ring off carelessly as you stopped in front of them, hair disheveled and uniform askew. you had dark bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep you’d gotten in the past fourteen days and your eyes were rimmed red with the weight of your emotions. “c’you just give this back to malfoy,” you murmured half-heartedly as you dropped the ring on the table in front of the three. just speaking his name brought you pain.

your shoulders were sunken in defeat and you were but a shell of your usual cheerful self. you don’t even know when the last time you saw daylight or had fresh air was. “wait yln,” pansy called hesitantly. you turned to face her, still staring down at your mary janes as you pulled and twisted your fingers untill you heard your knuckles pop. “you… you really love him, don’t you?”

you just shrugged your right shoulder as you used the heel of your palm to wipe the snot from your rapidly reddening nose. “i was just some stupid bet,” you replied as tears begin to spill rapidly over your waterline.

“if it’s any consolation… it was those two bozos’ idea,” pansy told you as she pointed to blaise and theo.

“doesn’t matter,” you murmured. “he’s still a traitor,” you answered as you walked away, forgetting all about the slytherin prince and his stupid friends. forgetting all about how he hit you with a train of his “love.” forgetting all about how for three months he was your everything. forgetting all about how he wrote to his mum about you and you wrote to your parents about him. forgetting all about draco malfoy. the platinum blonde boy with stormy grey eyes who had a long story buried beneath his haughty exterior. the boy who you called your first. your first kiss. your first time. your first love. forgetting all about the boy that made you fall in love just to tell you it was all a bet.

attempting to revert back to how you were before you fell.

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#harry potter x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy #harry potter #harry potter angst #draco malfoy angst #angst #hogwarts #x reader #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x you #harry potter x you #harry potter x y/n

[missorgana]

everything i do (gonna think of you)

pairing: finn/poe dameron

fandom: star wars (sequel trilogy

rating: teen and up

word count: 4690

warning: swearing, alcohol

summary: Finn and Poe are on a break. Neither of them are okay. But Finn hears Poe singing about him on the radio, and they'll be okay. Always. (musician poe, artist finn, long distance break-up + getting back together)

(it’s been ages but my space bfs, it’s good to be back!! a long overdue installment in my finnpoe alphabet series. did not expect e to be the most difficult letter to work with !!! thank you to Cat / @wendigostag​ as ALWAYS for beta reading and supporting my messy ideas 🥰 love uuuu. enjoy??)

read on ao3

“And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, I’m sure!”

The audience erupts in a half-laughter, half-cheer, and the host smiles, looking a bit too tired for his age.

“Tonight’s special performance is by someone who has, quite frankly, taken the whole of America - and dare I say the world? - by storm!”

Previous cheers resurface, louder and more certain than before. Even a few wolf whistles, making the presenter laugh as well.

“Here to perform his new single ‘cardigan’ from the debut album ‘folklore’, Poe Dameron!”

Quite literally everyone in the studio goes crazy, and as the camera directs towards the stage, a light turns on and reveals the curly haired man in all his glory.

He smiles slyly to the audience. A few noises, bordering on the line of screaming, makes him chuckle, but he puts all his focus on the guitar. Snaps, strums, and as the piano starts accompanying him, a soft voice forming strange and unfamiliar words.

Finn wipes the tear away in frustration before it even gets a chance to move, just tiny droplets stinging his vision. He’s sniffling, and biting his cheek, staring at the already half-empty bottle of red wine on the table.

Never in his life has he ever felt more pathetic, that’s true.

He doesn’t know why he’s watching this. And judging by the two texts pinging in on his phone, his best friend Rey somehow knows he’s doing it, too.

His vision’s too blurry to type, he thinks. Fuck it, pour another glass of wine. Who cares?

On the screen, Poe smiles while singing each word. But Finn knows the man better than anyone in that studio to know that it’s not really a smile. It’s the kind that his boyfriend- ex-boyfriend put on at their last FaceTime call. The one where he suggested they took a break.

He figures he should turn off the television when the performance comes to an end. No need to rub anymore salt in the wound, as Rey said.

Yet Finn sticks around for the interview because… because what? He hates himself? He hates Poe?

Neither. Maybe he misses him. Of course he misses him, enough to fight back the sobs, far from sober. But he’ll fight that obvious realisation, as well.

“Thank you for coming in tonight!” the host tells the singer, who thanks him in turn for the opportunity. Always the golden boy. The image of polite, kind, heart full of love, yet so goddamn stubborn.

“Mothers love me.” Poe had told him, back in college, the smug idiot. Finn’s mother loves him.

It’s mostly questions about the album, the upcoming tour, pictures of his parents and his pearly whites gleam when he speaks of them, how proud they are of him. It envelops Finn like a warm embrace. Huh. They haven’t hugged in five months.

They haven’t seen each other in five months.

Then the host starts grinning like a maniac, and he’s got a hunch what’s coming now is what he’s been wanting to ask all along, “Evidently, you got a lot of ladies who love you here.”

Audience cheers. Poe runs a hand through his hair. He’s so nervous, it’s adorable.

“You got a special lady in your life?” a question that quiets the audience significantly, still, waiting.

The singer glances at his shoes like they’re the most fascinating thing in the universe. Finn can’t hold his glass still, because, yeah. He looks like he’s thinking about it too hard. He wants to save him from that situation.

And although it feels like a million years pass, it’s probably only ten seconds before the reply settles, “Not at the moment, no.”

The crowd is nothing less than thrilled. And not only women, as the host implied, nah, everyone in that studio recognizes what a heartthrob Poe Dameron is. Finn couldn’t agree more.

What he knows about his ex-boyfriend that the strangers in the TV don’t know is, obviously, that Poe’s not interested in the ladies.

So does his family and close friends, anyone out of show business, really.

He also knows why his ex-boyfriend isn’t out to the public about his sexuality, yet. Or he’s got an idea. Maybe. Finn convinces himself of that, because then, he can also convince himself that he’s not the only one still feeling he’s being torn to pieces by this breakup. Feels better.

*

Although the screen connecting to his boyfriend’s call tugs on his heartstrings with its familiar warmth, Finn is, above all, pissed.

And for some reason, he feels ashamed for that. He knows he shouldn’t.

Poe hasn’t been home in a month. He was supposed to be here two weeks ago, but due to press bookings, credit to his boyfriend’s brand new agent, he called Finn late at night apologising like a broken record and promising to make it up to him.

And it makes him feel like shit.

Every apology made him feel more guilty for… harboring his time. Which is crazy, because they’ve been going steady for three years. They talked about this, the possibility of long distance, and knew, definitely, that it was gonna be hard, especially since they’ve been attached by the hip for so long.

Thing is, this has happened three times now, and it’s made Finn question himself.

Is he good enough for Poe? then later, another thought creeps in, Is Poe tired of him? or… is he not in love with him anymore?

Finn feels like he’s going crazy.

And even when he sees his boyfriend’s soft curls and eyes full of sunshine pop on his phone, it’s those thoughts that still inhabit his head. Fuck.

“Baby!” Poe says, excitement gleaming right through him and into Finn’s bedroom. They’ve been talking about moving in together, but, well, with long distance, mostly only talk for now. He’s off chasing the fame, which he deserves more than anyone, thank you very much, and Finn’s already booked up with art galleries and auctions eagerly grasping for his paintings. It feels like they’ve made it.

Except, “Phasma’s got me on Jimmy Kimmel! Like, can you believe that?!” his boyfriend spills out everything from this week, and it warms Finn’s chest, his gut, all the way down to his toes. But at the same time, this being Poe’s first words to him stirs weirdly alongside that warmth.

His career’s important. Of course. Finn’s happy for him, like, over the moon, all the way across the solar system happy.

He wants him to be successful. So then… then why does it feel like Poe prioritises it over them? It’s probably him overthinking it, he reasons. Again.

Finn can definitely feel he’s supposed to be sleeping right now; that’s another thing, cursed with being in vastly different time zones. He listens, smiling half-tiredly, thoughts wandering to everything and nothing.

Which is why he finds himself, all of a sudden, replying to his boyfriend’s, “I, uh, I’m actually writing you another song. Don’t laugh, please,” with, “A secret kind of song? ”

It takes Poe by surprise, visibly, and it takes himself, as well.

Finn bites down on his tongue in the cringe of it all. His boyfriend’s blinking, slowly, probably waiting for some sort of elaboration, but when he has no idea what to say, Poe inquires, “What do you mean?”

He sighs. Wholeheartedly, wistfully, nostalgic.

Finn thinks about when Poe asked him out, driving up to his window in true cheesy romantic comedy style and having offered to write essays in exchange for a school marching band performance.

Their first date, eating cotton candy and the curly haired boy insisting on trying and failing to win Finn a prize, until finally facing defeat. He won Poe a prize instead, first try, so the previous grumpiness faded in a matter of seconds. The butterflies threatened to burst his stomach the entire day.

Their first time, clumsy and awkward, teeth clanging in kisses and stupid buttons in Finn’s shirt being stuck and they laughed until they were out of breath. It was more perfect than anything either of them could’ve imagined.

He thinks about this, because neither of them were out before they got together.

This coming out thing? It scared the shit out of Finn. He was so lucky to have a supportive family, supportive friends. The school was a mixed experience, but he and Poe were in it together. His boyfriend tried to play it cool, but he knew how scared he was, too. He knows like the back of his hand, almost.

And this concern, it makes him feel so guilty he might vomit.

“I just… I was just wondering if you wanted to be official.”

“We are official, Finn.”

“No, I-I mean, public.”

He gulps around the growing lump in his throat. Poe goes scarily quiet.

This is also something they’ve talked about before. Fame is so new, it’s a whole new leap, learning how to handle all this, so it didn’t bother either of them to be secretive about their relationship, so to speak.

Their close network still knew, obviously, but the music industry, Hollywood, that’s way, way different than Finn’s newly established and growing network of artist connections and colleagues.

It wasn’t a problem. Until it was.

Coming out is personal. But ever since his boyfriend said he wanted to go public, then didn’t, as they were both on edge, then decided they should move in together and go public to slam down journalists linking Poe to a member of a girl group he met last summer, then didn’t.

It’s happened a couple of times. And finally, it seems, Finn is coming to terms with being tired of being ready and then backing out.

He’s terrified. Terrified of Poe being embarrassed of him, which he knows sounds crazy, also. But fuck.

“Baby, we’re gonna do it,” his boyfriend reassures him, but he’s distraught now, “You know we are. My agent just talks about my image, you know, I need to make sure-”

“Your image?”

That… that pisses Finn off. Conclusively. Because what the fuck?

“Phasma thinks we should do it at Christmas, season of love, you know?” Poe smiles shyly, he always loved the holidays. And he just doesn’t know how to react. “She’s fine with it, like, she didn’t ask me to fake being straight, like the guy I talked with before. Just-

“Are you embarrassed of me, Poe?” he finds the words slipping out before he can stop his mouth.

His boyfriend’s eyes widen significantly on the small screen, opens and closes his mouth several times, and there’s definitely a yell from somewhere in the studio, but Poe ignores it completely, “Of course not. Finn, I’m the luckiest guy in the world because of you. I just really… really think we need to time this right.”

“I,” Finn starts, but he’s barely sure where he’s going with the sentence. All he knows is that he’s scared Poe might tell him that all this time meant nothing to him. He doesn’t know why he leaps to that, but he does. His boyfriend might find something better than him in the limelight, “I know. You’ve told me, and I get it, I do. It’s just difficult being so far away from you, and then…”

He feels himself drifting off into a cloud of numbness and nothing, but Poe interrupts the sentence, “I thought you’d be more supportive of my career.” Finn nearly jumps. The words don’t sound cold, per say. But it’s weird. The good old butterflies flutter hesitantly, sort of in question.

“I am, darling, I-” he sighs again, “I’ve always been. You’ve just seemed like you’re ready, and I got the feeling that your agent didn’t want you to, and-” “Phasma wants it.”

“But on Christmas, Poe. This Christmas. I’m just scared you’re…” Finn shakes his head at himself, decides to be completely honest, because that’s how relationships work. Right? “Waiting for the moment to end this.”

“End this?” his boyfriend’s voice raises just an octave, looking perpetually confused. He also, admittedly, looks pissed. Hurt. “Do you want to break up with me?”

“No! Why would I-

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

Finn rubs his eyes, feels like they’re on goddamn fire. Poe’s biting his lips, rummaging around after moving what he assumes is a more private room than before, and avoiding eye contact. They shouldn’t be doing this on the phone. They shouldn’t be doing this at all.

He wishes his boyfriend was next to him, so he could curl up on his chest and sleep the entire weekend. It’s all he wants.

Ultimately, Finn makes the suggestion, “Baby, I’m sorry, I just… why don’t I call you next time you’re free? Or can you… are you getting back anytime soon?”

He doesn’t know how to describe this feeling, what’s happening, in any other way than it seems like Poe’s on a different planet than him, drifting in a meteor rain.

What Finn doesn’t expect least of all is his boyfriend’s answer, “Nah, you know, if you feel like that, we should take a break. A breather.”

And Poe smiles, but he sees through that bullshit. It doesn’t reach his eyes.

He’s trying to play it cool. Fuck. Why are Finn’s eyes stinging, now?

“A break?”

“Yeah.”

That’s so much to process. Fucking process it. The protests are bubbling under his skin, boiling and ice cold at the same time, but he doesn’t get the time when the yells on the end of the world resume.

“I really should go.” Poe tells him, but he doesn’t sound like he wants to.

“Poe…” he tries to breathe around the butterflies currently panicking inside of him. He’d scream at them to stop for just five seconds, if he could. His boyfriend’s already getting up from the seat, which is why Finn pinches the bridge of his nose and tries not to look at him, “Okay. Okay.”

The silence that settles between them, then, until they end the call in confusion and boiled up emotion, is far from the comfort they’ve been accustomed to. It ends without a goodbye. Without an I love you.

So, naturally, he gets absolutely zero sleep that night.

*

Whenever Rey told them they were being overdramatic, she was probably right. This is no exception.

Ever since the damnation of their FaceTime call, Finn tried to get into his head what went down. Namely, him and his boyfriend speaking over each other’s heads. It settles in the morning, the realisation that Poe assumed the worst of what he said, while he himself didn’t understand why he couldn’t come home . Just one day. Just to talk this out.

But in a recognizable stubborn fashion, his boyfriend ignored his calls and texts for the weekend. Finn tried so, so hard not to get pissed again. But also, Poe actively avoiding him made him want to cry. Not being able to just hear his voice made him want to cry.

Naturally, the following week, when his boyfriend decided to reach out, Finn became the one to ignore all forms of contact. It felt like they were walking in circles.

This is new and raw territory.

Finn and Poe don’t fight. It’s a basic law of the universe. 

Which is why he doesn’t blame Rey for widening her eyes in shock at this new development. He also knows that she wants to intervene, badly so, given how protective she is of them, but because she’s lovely she always somehow knows when Finn needs his own space to think. Or scream into the void a little bit, whatever does the trick.

He’s pretty sure she didn’t expect this to go on for four months, now. He sure as hell didn’t expect it.

But… they’re both to blame. Finn’s pretty much dug himself a hole in the ground filling up with all his feelings, and as every week passes by, waits for his boyfriend to make the first move. He expects Poe to do the same. Nothing’s moving forward.

So, if Rey didn’t know him as she did, she’d ask him why.

Why don’t you just call him? He could. When his boyfriend stopped ignoring him, that is. Thing is, Finn’s world is sort of crumbling right now, and a confrontation with that isn’t something he can handle, he thinks.

It’s the thought of losing Poe for good. It’s the thought of Poe thinking Finn doesn’t want him anymore, when in fact he fears the exact opposite.

After watching that interview, though, he could breathe a little easier, he’ll admit.

And it’s weird. He felt inherently about a hundred times worse during it. The day after, he just kept thinking about Poe and his stupid curls and his nervous smile and what he might be doing while Finn was helping his sister with the dishes.

Maybe it’s knowing his boyfriend- ex-boyfriend (?) is okay. Does look more okay than himself.

It calms him. The next day, it makes Finn want to burn up all their polaroids and mail the ashes to the singers’ hotel in a massive envelope. As said before, this hole is deep, too deep, making it difficult to be rational.

A week after the interview, he’s just about on the edge to complete numbness.

Maybe he’s been reading those hilarious dumb gossip magazines whenever his boyfriend was on the cover. Shut up. If he acknowledges the ridiculousness of that, it’ll only make it worse.

Finn feels weak for being this torn up after a breakup… or break. He’s had breakups before Poe, but none of them hurt like this. Does it ever just fucking stop?

Apparently not, because when he picks up the phone with Rey’s name flashing, Finn expects it to be another question of what’s going on. How he’s doing, or not even a question, but an order to let her in as she’s probably already standing in front of his building carrying ice cream and bad horror movies.

He doesn’t get why she doesn’t just use the key he got her already, but it’s still endearing. Except, “Turn on the radio.”

“What?

“Finn, turn on your radio. Trust me.”

And so he scrambles around, the determination in her voice definitely not something to mess around with. Finn eventually uncovers it underneath the mountain of Poe’s vinyl records, and while his best friend doesn’t even tell him what station she’s referring to, he’s got a feeling about it. Also, it’s the first station that pops through the speakers when he turns it on, so.

Then, he has absolutely no idea what to listen for. The hosts are making some jokes about the song they’re gonna play next, thereozing about a “lost love” , and Finn’s about to ask until he realises Rey’s hung up on him, and a text.

just wait. u won’t regret it.

It’s too ominous for his best friend’s usual shenanigans. He’s a little worried.

But unlike the last hellish, unbelievable four months, Finn doesn’t have much time to worry, before the voices announce, “We present an exclusive live performance from our new favorite heartthrob, Poe Dameron!”

Oh God. Oh God, oh shit, oh my god.

Naturally, Finn’s anxiety kicks in like a punch in his gut.

In fact, he’s about to pull up his best friend’s contact again, sick of hearing the single that Poe wrote for him and not even being able to revel in the feeling anymore. Only it’s not ‘cardigan’.

Four months ago, a few days before they decided to take a break, his boyfriend sent him a couple of voice notes, containing lyrics and guitar pieces and other bits for the album he wanted Finn’s approval on. He always wanted his opinion first. It makes him all warm again.

This song, however, is brand new, unheard to everyone’s ears. Including Finn.

  “I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit

Been saying "yes" instead of "no"

I thought I saw you at the bus stop, I didn't though

I hit the ground running each night

I hit the Sunday matinée

You know the greatest films of all time were never made”

  The melody has the same calm like the other songs he’s heard, an image of fairytales and bare feet dancing in the woods and stars twinkling in the night.

The melancholy is unfamiliar, though.

  “I guess you never know, never know

And if you wanted me, you really should've showed

And if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow

And it's alright now”

  Finn’s thumb hovers over Rey’s contact name, but he can’t bring himself to move.

It’s the alright part. Except, despite how much he tries to lie to himself, he swears to everything god that his boyfriend’s voice breaks over the word. It’s subtle enough that the interviewers could pass it on as him being hoarse, he reasons, but Poe can’t fool him.

He wants him to be okay. Actually, no, because being okay means not missing Finn like Finn misses him, and that would hurt more than anything he can imagine. But also, he’s too far away for a reassuring hand. That’s why he wants him to be okay.

  “But we were something, don't you think so?

Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool

And if my wishes came true

It would've been you”

  For some reason, it’s only then it settles into Finn’s mind.

Oh.

Oh.

The song keeps going, and his emotions keep going, from the chaotic jumbled mess he’s become accustomed to a quiet buzz. He feels like his breathing’s slowed down, and a pocket in his heart is being emptied onto the floor.

Poe feels exactly the same way, he imagines. He has to.

Finn’s abandoned his phone somewhere unknown between the couch cushions, and he’s stuck staring at the empty wine bottle he hasn’t had the energy to get rid of, his microwave dinner half eaten, until his ex-boyfriend’s song comes to an end.

‘the 1’ is the title. He doesn’t know if he’s crying or not, which sounds a bit dumb in his own head.

“Poe Dameron!” one of the interviewers yells obnoxiously, clearly trying to hold in their excited giggling, “Those were quite emotional lyrics. I’m guessing there’s a story there somewhere?”

Finn could roll his eyes into the next century at that comment. Jesus Christ.

The singer’s complained about these kinds of people before, of course, he chuckles, politely, hesitantly, probably spinning the best way to avoid opening that door of vulnerability on open air, “I think everyone writes from their own experience, really.”

His voice has the same elegance and softness and gruff that makes Finn think of home, despite the tinny speakers and distraction that vibes off of him, all the way over in the states. It’s unbelievable.

The interview keeps going in the most standard way possible, a couple more questions Poe subtly circles around (including about dating, obviously), some jokes, and they eventually get to that segment where the listeners can call in and ask their own question to the dreamy man.

Some are boring, some are weird, some are intrusive, some are just teen voices in awe of his relatability and what not, mountains of flattery which his boyfriend is all too shy and starstruck to handle.

Finn bites his lip.

They repeat the number of the radio twice. The programme ends at nine. That means about forty five minutes of fan questions.

He shouldn’t. This is ridiculous. But what if… what?

Poe’s voice somehow carries his hand to fish the phone up again, though, like a strike of magic. And then the tone sounds, one, two, three, and it’s too late to take it back now. Shit.

“You’re live! Can our next lucky listener introduce yourself and your question?”

He tries so hard, desperately so, to swallow around the lump in his throat, seeming impossibly massive. The eerie silence is simply too painful to bear, though, so Finn squeezes his eyes shut hard for two seconds, before forcing the reply out.

“Yes, uh, hi. This is Finn Solo. From Pennsylvania.”

A beat. “Pennsylvania?! Well, honey, that’s actually Poe Dameron’s home state, isn’t it?”

Two beats. The singer clears his throat. “Yeah.” Clearly, he recognizes his voice in an instant. Well, obviously, he’d be shocked if he didn’t. Still, Finn feels like curling up in a ball and hiding from the world. He wonders if Rey’s listening, right now.

The interviewer seems unfazed from Poe’s hesitated answer, or they just choose to ignore it, he supposes. “The floor is yours, Finn. Ask ahead!”

So… how is he supposed to do this, again? 

This is the worst idea Finn’s had in his entire life. Seriously. And he accepted Rey’s dare to swing all the way up and around the swingset in fifth grade, he’s well aware of what reckless looks like. This is it.

Still, he’s stuck now. Poe’s listening to him. Kind of forced to.

And against his own better judgement, Finn silences the million overthinking thoughts in his inner ear by simply saying whatever hits him first, “Did you mean what you said? In the song?”

Seconds feel like fucking hours right now.

“Sorry, can you-” one of the hosts start, but he feels moved to continue. “When did you write it?”

It’s low, the feedback of his boyfriend’s microphone can just be made out. He prays that was only comprehensible enough for Poe’s own ears, because Finn could never possibly live with himself if he outed the person he loves most in the world. Seems so, given the interviewer once again asks the singer in confusion.

“What do you say, Poe? Do you need, uh… for him to elaborate?”

“No.” the man says simply, shyness seemingly having faded away in a glimpse. “Finn, I wrote this back in May.”

Four months ago. Same month as their FaceTime call.

“Only a week after our call. Took me five hours. I needed to get every word just right.” Poe says those words so steadily it shocks Finn. His hand feels numb and itchy around the tiny device, and one of the hosts gasps.

“I-” he starts, but has no idea where to go, where to turn. Finn didn’t expect any of this tonight. A deep breath is needed, “Do you mean… you wrote it about me?”

He feels like an absolute idiot for asking, even doubting it, but given the emotional rollercoaster he’s been through up until now, he’s grasping for straws of confirmation. Poe chuckles, barely audible.

“All my songs are about you, darling.”

What the fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Another gasp is heard in the studio, a little louder this time, but he sends a silent thanks, still, to them being too taken aback to intervene.

Okay, these are definitely tears in Finn’s eyes, now.

One rolls down, cool against his hot cheek, and he almost wants to laugh widely, processing what’s happening over and over in his brain.

What’s mostly replaying is the nickname that he’s missed… too much.

If they were in the same room, in front of each other, alone , he could say and ask a million things. This conversation is impossibly too vulnerable for open air, but Finn really thinks, really, that this step was needed. At least, it’s something he’s been longing to hear.

Instead of breaking down in the happiness and sadness he’s feeling, instead of talking about the miscommunication they’ve been the victim of, he smiles. Can’t stop. It’s hurting his whole face, actually, but his chest feels endlessly lighter.

“If… uh,” Finn chuckles at himself again, him and his stupid emotions, probably laced obviously in his voice, “Is there a chance that you still want to write songs about me?”

Poe laughs back, warmer and wobblier than before. “Of course. Of-fucking-course. There’s no one else I’d rather write about.”

Those hosts over there are probably freaking out big time, but Finn can’t bring himself to care much.

They sigh rather in unison. Him and his boyfriend. Breathing shaky and yet steadying themselves, almost. Together.

“Okay. Okay. Thank fuck,” he finds himself sniffling, “Okay.”

“They’ll always be about you.”

#mine #my writing #swedit #fanfiction #swcreators #stormpilot #finnpoe #finn x poe #starwarsedit #star wars fanfiction #queernet #eloquencenet #sabrinasfamily #usernessa #fanfic #teen and up #getting back together #long distance #tw: swearing #tw: alcohol #angst #happy ending #modern au #usersari #finnpoeedit #creatorssource

[isisparker]

Picture this: a romcom featuring two gyms at war but having to disband their war so they can take down a corporate run and owned gym moving in on their territory. 

Starring John [Cho] and Don [Lee] playing cousins and owners of one gym.

Also starring Ming Na Wen playing the the owner of another gym.

The three used to be close, but when Ming Na and John’s characters started dating and then John’s character broke her heart by cheating on her, Ming Na’s character stopped hanging out with the two cousins (which broke Don’s character’s heart because she was his best friend and he’d been in love with her since forever, but like a noble idiot he stepped back when his cousin started dating her).

Present day the two gyms got word of a third gym opening up near them

[run by a character played by Keanu Reeves... because it’s Keanu Reeves]

So the two older gyms decide to team up together to take down the new gym.

Along the way, Ming Na’s character bonds with Don’s character and fall in love.

Bonus [because I’m selfishly missing Selfie] John’s character is married to Karen Gillian’s character and Karen’s character is actually friends with Ming Na’s character despite her husband’s past and is trying to goad her husband to play cupid with her because she ships Don and Ming Na.

Also featuring the following as various trainers/staff of the respective gyms that regardless of their bosses’ rivalry, they’re all good friends and are just as anxious to find a way to unite the two gyms [mainly some of them are tired of seeing their boss, Don’s character, pine helplessly for Ming Na’s character; and the other half want their boss happy after her late husband passed away a long time ago].

For the trainers/staff at John & Don’s gym:

Lee Si Young

Grace Park

Ok Taec Yeon

Steven Yeun

Jharrel Jerome

For the trainers/staff at Ming Na’s gym:

Olivia Munn

Emily Vancamp

Kiki Layne

Lana Condor

Charles Michael Davis

Hasan Minhaj

[so side note: I’d like to thank @giveamadeuschohisownmovie​​ because I wouldn’t be brave enough to post this but I am constantly in awe of every hypothetical movie/show idea he comes up with and thus I am finally posting this idea after having sat in my drafts FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS. and even if it doesn’t get any attention, this is me putting out into the universe for MA DONG SEOK aka Don Lee to star in more movies.]

#john cho #don lee #ma dong seok #ming na wen #i'd tag everyone else but it's a long list #basically ensemble cast #full of people #trying to parent trap their bosses

[chiaki-translation]

SSR Kazunari [Mankai Encore] Backstage Story Translation

Because of Outing event, I was able to get this card. So why not translate it also?

Summary:

Summer Troupe and their local rerun performance of SHINOBI misadventuring.

It will be this card and I’m pretty happy I can get this card because I did start the game quite late...

Disclaimer:

A3! is owned by Liber Entertainment

Translation will be below the cut~

Encore: Kiichi

Translator’s Note: Enjin refers to huddle or circle that they made to cheer before the performance. Teruteru bouzu is a rain doll, it is used in Japan to wish for specific weather.

 Kazunari:

As I thought, the best thing for local performance will be the onsen~

Kumon:

Yep yep, looking forward to it!

Director:

It seems that there aren’t so many people too.

So you can take your time slowly.

Misumi:

I wonder if there’s any triangle in the onsen~

Yuki:

What kind of triangle will even be there.

Kumon:

The pail might actually be triangular shape!

Misumi:

Yeay! Triangle~!

Kazunari:

During the first show, we did a lot for role study huh~

Misumi:

In the ninja mansion, tonosama game~

Kumon:

That was so much fun!

Muku:

During the time in the ninja mansion, I was so surprised that the lost Tenma-kun and Director-san could reach the goal first.

Yuki:

I didn’t know there’s another route.

Director:

I was pretty surprised too.

But, the ninja mansion was really an interesting thing.

Kumon:

Eh? By the way where’s Tenma-san?

Director:

He’s been here till just now…

Muku:

Wa… wait, maybe he has been abducted by the ninjas….!?

Awawa, I have to really go and find Tenma-kun before it’s too late…!

Kumon:

Ah! Maybe he was actually abducted by a ninja organization who lurks in the darkness…

Tenma-san!

Yuki:

You two calm down.

That kind of thing won’t happen.

Misumi:

Ah! Tenma’s coming from that way!

Tenma:

Oh, you guys, so you’re here!

Kumon:

Ah, Tenma-san!

You managed to run away from those ninjas! I’m glad~

Tenma:

Hah? Ninja?

Muku:

You disappeared so suddenly, so we thought you’ve been abducted by the ninja…

Tenma:

A, ah… Right, it’s like that.

Yuki:

You’re just lost, aren’t you.

Tenma:

Sh, shut up!

<Short Time Skip>

Kazunari:

Ah, that was great!

Kumon:

Perfect~!

Muku:

The open-air bath was so big!

Tenma:

You’re right.

Misumi:

But, I cannot find the stars~

Yuki:

Well, today has always been cloudy.

Kazunari:

But from tomorrow onwards it will be sunny, there’re still other timing to see them!

Misumi:

… Yeah!

Kazunari:

Hey, Director-chan, there will be some free time after the performance is over right?

Director:

Yeah, is there anywhere you want to go?

Kumon:

Since it’s the ninja village…. It has to be the ninja mansion right!?

Kazunari:

Look look, if you walk along the port you’ll look like you’re walking on the water!

Yuki:

He’s bought fast.

Tenma:

The research was fast too.

Kazunari:

Ah! It seems that there’ll be fireworks too!

Muku:

Right!

Kazunari:

If you look at all the pictures here, they’re all so beautiful!

It’s the number one Instablam-able place this summer!

Misumi:

Amazing! I wonder if there’ll be triangular firework~!

Tenma:

It’s indeed beautiful, but we still have our upcoming performance.

Don’t get too distracted.

Kazunari:

Courz! I know!

Yuki:

It’s a rare word coming from our leader.

Tenma:

It’s not that rare!

Director:

Then, we can all watch the fireworks after the performance, let’s do our best!

Muku:

Yes!

<Shifts to Backstage>

Director:

(It’s the day of the rerun performance…

Everything’s perfect, it seems like there would be no problem)

Kazunari:

It’s been a while since I wore Kiichi’s costume~!

Let’s pump up the vibe!

Muku:

You’re right!

Tenma:

By the way, what are we going to do for the huddle?

Kazunari:

Ah, I haven’t decided!

Yuki:

Sounds like a dejavu.

Kazunari:

Hmm~

Something ninja like… Summer Troupe doron! Like that?

Director:

Sounds like everyone’s going to disappear after that sound…

Kazunari:

Uh…

Right, I’ve decided!

--For whose sake is the world’s sake, we’ll do our part as shinobi…

Kiichi from Iga, reporting! You lose if you stop halfway, let’s go, brothers! Nin-nin!

Summer Troupe:

Nin-nin!

<End of Part 1>

Director:

(The story begins when two people who happened to be delivering love letters to the same castle meet)

Kiichi:

A Shinobi…?

Yoshimaru:

Iga clan?

Kiichi:

Are you a ninja from Koga clan?

Yoshimaru:

You’re right, but I don’t intend to fight you. I’m just in the middle of a side job, delivering a love letter.

It will be great if I can just LIME this love letter and get it over and done with~

Kiichi:

Don’t make such a modern statement!

Director:

(As usual, it’s SummerTroupe’s  specialty to add a comical ad-lib…

It seems the audience is enjoying it too)

<Short Time Skip>

Yoshimaru:

Hmm? Eh? Which letter is mine?

Kiichi:

Eh!? Umm…

Yoshimaru:

Umm… What – should – I – do –  now – which – one – is – it – let – god – choose. Right, this one!

Kiichi:

Eh!? Are you sure you can choose that way, alright then-

Yoshimaru:

It’s alright, it’s alright~

Don’t worry, Kii-chan.

Director:

(The two delivered the love letters to the Crane Castle and on the way they were met with a forked path--)

Kiichi:

What? There are two paths?

Yoshimaru:

Ah~ I think it’s fine?

It looks like something out of a weekly photo magazine, it looks dangerous!?

Kiichi:

It’s true! But don’t spread it out in the net, they will burn immediately!

Well, if it happens then let’s just use a fire extinguisher I guess, even thought I’m actually a ninja.

Yoshimaru:

Well, it’s fine~

Kiichi:

Right!

Director:

(Yoshimari’s colleague –  Santa – appears afterward and he said he is delivering a letter from the Fox Castle to the Tanuki Castle.)

Yoshimaru:

This, is my colleague, San-chan.

Kiichi:

I’m Kiichi. Nice to meet you~ Then cheers!

Santa:

Like I said I’m on an important mission!

Yoshimaru:

Where are you going?

Santa:

Something’s brewing in the Boar Castle.

Seems like they’re planning to attack the Fox Castle.

Yoshimaru:

Eh!? You for real!? That’s bad!

Santa:

The Fox Castle is planning to form an alliance with Tanuki Castle. If everything works out, we might be able to avoid war.

Yoshimaru:

I see~ So, San-chan is in the mission to carry that out right now.

Santa:

You’re right.

Yoshimaru:

That means you can still have a drink.

Kiichi:

This is San-chan’s! I’ll show you somewhere good, drink~ drink~ drink~

Santa:

Eeeeeeeeeeeh!?

Director:

(The three people had a drink, and the next day they were suddenly attacked by Kiichi’s senior –  Hyuuga)

Hyuuga:

You’re from Iga, aren’t you, I’ll not let you run away.

Yoshimaru:

Woah!

Kiichi:

Hyuuga!

Audience A:

Wah! That’s some amazing acrobatics right there!

Audience B:

I’m glad I got to see it~!

Director:

(Misumi-kun’s action, always so swift!

Even amateur can see how well it is.)

Hyuuga:

Kiichi, you fight too.

Don’t forget that you’re also a shinobi.

Kiichi:

Death for the traitor--

Yoshimaru:

Is there really no other choice…

Santa:

Let’s go, Yoshimaru!

Kiichi:

Ugh.

Hyuuga:

What, oi!? Who are you fighting!

Yoshimaru:

Hah!

Santa:

--Yoshimaru!?

Kiichi:

There!

Director:

(Everyone gets carried by Misumi-kun’s performance. Their movements become sharper and more powerful than before.

With this action scene, the atmosphere has also changed to a more serious one.)

Audience C:

Amazing…

Audience D:

So cool~!

Director:

(The audiences are also being drawn in by them!)

<Short Time Skip>

Director:

(Now that Santa and Hyuuga are stopped, the two planned to deliver a letter to the Young Lord….)

Young Lord:

… Is this really a letter from the princess?

Kiichi:

Of course! Look at the perfectly copied handwriting~

Young Lord:

Perfectly copied?

Yoshimaru:

Idiot, Kii-chan--

Kiichi:

--I mean perfectly polished ink!

Young Lord:

You, you were trying to fool me?

Kiichi:

Eh, I didn’t say anything!

I’m just saying that it’s a perfect love letter written with perfect polished ink and the perfect handwriting of the princess!

Yoshimaru:

Kii-chan, that’s not a good excuse…!

Young Lord:

So you really were fooling me!?

Director:

(The two who got in trouble because of the fake letter asked for help from the Kunoichi - Sae)

Sae:

So, you want me to deceive the Young Lord of Crane Castle by posing as the princess of Fox Castle and carrying out an alliance.

Yoshimaru:

Please~ Only you can do this.

Sae:

A month’s worth of Kameyoshi Shop’s dumplings.

Yoshimaru:

Tha, that’s a bit… I thought it would be like 5 gold coins or something!

Sae:

Ten then.

Yoshimaru:

Seven!

Sae:

One year’s worth of Amankai Shop’s sweets.

Yoshimaru:

!? That’s too much, isn’t that the high-class sweet shop out there…!?

Sae:

Then ten gold coins.

Yoshimaru:

Ugh… fine.

Sae:

Thanks for your business~

<Short Time Skip>

Director:

(They managed to avoid the war, the Young Lord will be married to the princess and the case is settled.

Shadows creeping over the two people who were celebrating their victory with alcohols and drinks.)

Hyuuga:

You’re going back to the village!

Santa:

You’re going to be working in the village for a while!

Yoshimaru:

Eh~!?

Kiichi:

No way~!!

Director:

(Kiichi and Yoshimaru were brought back to the village due to Hyuuga and Santa--)

Audience A:

That’s so interesting~!

Audience B:

I really feel drawn in by them!

Director:

(The tempo was great, the conversation and ad-lib all sounded natural too.

They really grew a lot since their first performance…)

Summer Troupe:

Thank you so much!

<Shifts to Road>

Muku:

Woah… amazing!

Kumon:

We can see the big seas from here-!

Director:

The performance was a big success, so let’s enjoy the day at the lake today!

Tenma:

It seems that there’s an event ongoing over there.

Kumon:

Yoga on top of a water board?

Misumi:

I know a triangle pose! It looks fun~!

Kazunari:

Since we’re here already, why don’t we try it!

Yuki:

Hah? Are you serious?

Kazunari:

Courz! It seems doable anyway! Let’s go, Kumopi, Tenten~!

Kumon:

Yes!

Tenma:

I guess there’s no other choice.

<End of Part 2>

Kazunari:

That was fun~!

Director:

Yeah, you’re right.

Muku:

The scenery from there is really beautiful.

Kumon:

Yeah! I’ve never experienced that kind of thing before!

Tenma:

The only things you guys did was making noise!

Kazunari:

Tenten was so scared so it was interesting!

Yuki:

SUP Yoga was surprisingly fun.

Muku:

Yeah, it felt really good when you’re finally able to balance yourself.

Kazunari:

Sumi was able to strike an amazing pose even the teacher was shocked!

Misumi:

It was fun~!

Director:

I’m glad everyone seems to be having fun.

So after this will be the firework display.

Kumon:

Yep! I’m so glad it’s sunny today~

Muku:

Yesterday we made some tetu teru bouzu together!

Misumi:

Then we might be able to see the stars too~

Director:

We didn’t get to see it in the onsen.

Kazunari:

Hey hey, actually one of the local recommended me about a good spot. Let’s check it out!

Yuki:

You’re chatty as usual.

Kazunari:

We’ve arrived~

Tenma:

Hee… This place has a good view.

Kazunari:

Not only the fireworks, we can also enjoy the beautiful night view here!

Muku:

Woah… You’re right!

Kazunari:

Right!?

It would look great on Instablam too!

Kumon:

Hey hey, let’s buy some snacks and juice!

Misumi:

That sounds good~!

Director:

I know of a place, let’s go buy some things.

Yuki:

Then, those who lost janken will go and buy stuffs.

Tenma:

Understand.

Muku:

Y, yeah!

Misumi:

Agreed!

Kazunari:

Then, let’s go~!

Janken…

Tenma:

Ah.

Yuki:

Congrats on being the only rock.

Tenma:

Sh, shut up!

Kazunari:

But if Tenten go alone, he’ll just become a lost child.

Misumi:

That’s true~!

Tenma:

Hah!?

Kumon:

Ah, then I’ll follow you!

Director:

Then, I’ll go too. It seems that we’re going to end up buying a lot anyway.

Muku:

Yuki-kun let’s go too!

Yuki:

Eh, then there’s no other choice…

Tenma:

The lead and co-lead just rest.

Kumon:

Leave the shopping to us!

Kazunari:

Okay!

Misumi:

I’ll leave it to you~!

Kazunari:

Then, for the time being let’s organize our stuffs!

Misumi:

…

Kazunari:

Sumi?

Misumi:

Ah!

Kazunari:

Uwah! What, UFO!?

Misumi:

Summer Triangle!

Kazunari:

Oh, damn, that’s so beautiful!

Misumi:

Yeah, so pretty~

Kazunari:

When I think about it, we did watch the stars together during the first performance too right.

Then everyone came over and brought onigiri. I was so happy.

… For that time, thank you.

Misumi:

You’re welcome~

Kazunari:

Because of Sumi and everyone, I was able to have fun and act like this right now.

Misumi:

Me too, I’m happy that I’m able to act with Kazu like this!

Kazunari:

Ehehe, I’m so happy~! Let’s do our best for the next performance too!

Misumi:

Yep yep!

<Short Time Skip>

Kazunari:

Eh!?

Misumi:

It already started! Everyone, hurry hurry~!

<Short Time Skip>

Kumon:

Ta~maya~!

Misumi:

Ka~giya~!

Kazunari:

Ah, it ended…

Misumi:

Director-san and everyone, I’m glad you made it in time~

Director:

It was beautiful…

Muku:

It was amazing to see the reflection of the fireworks on the lake too!

Kumon:

It comes up consecutively, really brings up the tension to the max!

Tenma:

Things like this isn’t so bad sometimes.

Kazunari:

But when you watch them, don’t you feel like doing it yourself!

Muku:

…

Tenma:

Well, speaking of which, we bought it.

Kazunari:

!

Misumi:

Fireworks~!

Muku:

We feel like doing it too.

Yuki:

If we have to do something, it has to be this isn’t it?

Kumon:

With this, it will feel like Summer never ends!

Kazunari:

… Everyone, as expected!!

Then let’s start with the pinwheel fireworks, five of them!

Misumi:

Pinwheel~! GOGO~!

Tenma:

Stop it!

Director:

Ahaha!

<End of Part 3>

#a3! #a3! act! addict! actors! #a3! translation #kazunari miyoshi #a3! backstage #a3! backstory

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: This isn’t a rom-com 5/?

Author’s notes: I have a confession to make: I do show The Matrix whenever I have to explain Descartes to my students and it never fails to be hilarious! As usual, feedback and comments are welcomed and appreciated!

Wordcount: 2722

Warnings: dorks being adorably clueless!

 Part 1 Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

When Lilah arrived to teach her class on Wednesday and set her things at her desk, she had the biggest grin across her face because this was probably her favorite subject of the entire term. She moved to the center of the classroom, rubbing her hands together and making eye contact with the group of first-year students in front of her.

“Hope you all are ready to watch the best movie ever made,” she declared, making a few of them chuckle. “I’m talking action, I’m talking romance, I’m talking the best metaphor for Descartian dualism you’ve ever seen!”

Lilah glanced at her T.A. who already had everything cued up and gave her a quick nod. The younger woman turned on the projector, washing the semi-dark room with the green glow of the DVD's main menu.

“Welcome to the Matrix!” she said dragging yet another round of chuckles from her students before Lilah settled at one of the chairs at the front and the movie started rolling.

It turned out as a very productive morning of entertainment and philosophical discussion and when Lilah walked out of the classroom, still discussing the topic with a couple of students that had lingered and her TA, her grin hadn’t wavered. She waved them goodbye as they headed to the cafeteria while she made her way to the office she shared with three other Ph.D. candidates, finding the place empty.

As she set her backpack and books on her desk, her phone started vibrating in her pocket and if it was possible, her grin became even bigger. Lilah knew exactly who was calling.

The entire thing started when she jokingly texted Keanu a picture of herself and her brand-new copy of Scanner Darkly, which she got it as soon as he left. The perks of living above a bookstore. Lilah wasn’t expecting him to call or to spend the next hour chatting like they hadn’t just seen each other earlier that night.

And she certainly wasn’t expecting Keanu to do it again the next day when she texted a quick comment during her lunch break. From that, it just happened again and again and it was becoming a routine.

Could you call it a routine after just two days? Lilah wasn’t sure, but it was nice and her heart was starting to speed up everything her phone rang.

“Hi!” she greeted not even bothering to check caller ID. “I just spent the morning watching you.”

“You did?” Keanu asked, his voice half confused, half amused and Lilah winced.

“I mean, I watched The Matrix in class,” she explained dropping on her chair and squeezing the bridge of her nose. “I’m not stalking you or anything.”

“I didn’t think you were,” he replied with a chuckle. “So, were you discussing Descartes or Plato today?”

It was funny how a simple question could make Lilah so happy. Anyone else would ask her why she was showing sci-fi movies in a philosophy class. Not Keanu. He knew exactly what was behind his own movie.

“Descartes,” she replied pulling out her lunch from her backpack, along with her copy of Scanner Darkly. “It went great. Now I’m enjoying some peace and quiet with only Phil as my company. How about you?”

“Phil is a lucky guy,” Keanu said, and butterflies fluttered in her chest. That sounded a little flirty on his part. “I’m hanging out with Andy today, so we have good chemistry when we shoot together next week.”

“Oh! I need pictures!” she asked giddily. Keanu had told her yesterday about his dog co-star and Lilah made him promise to send pictures whenever Andy was in the set.

“Just a sec,” he said with a huff of laughter and Lilah heard noises in the background before her phone beeped with a new message.

She pulled away long enough to check it. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so hard at the sight of Keanu and the puppy beagle on his arms. The dog was licking his chin and he was laughing.

“Awww! Looks to me like you two have great chemistry already!”

“That’s what his trainer says,” Keanu commented with a chuckle. “So are you enjoying Scanner Darkly?”

“I’m loving it!” Lilah exclaimed unable to keep the excitement from her voice. “I can’t believe it took me so long to read anything by Phillip when two of my favorite sci-fi movies are based on his stories.”

“Blade Runner and what else?” Keanu asked and Lilah snorted.

“Total Recall and Minority Report. Blade Runner is boring!” Lilah could only imagine what she looked like grinning like an idiot and she was glad the office was empty.

“You obviously watched it wrong!” Keanu accused and she laughed. What did it say about the two of them the fact that they had inside jokes now?

“Did I? maybe you should show me the right way, then,” she challenged, her palms suddenly clammy because that was definitely flirty.

“Your place or mine?” Keanu asked not even missing a beat and Lilah froze, stunned.

Was Keanu inviting her to his apartment? For some reason that felt more intimate than hanging out in her living room. Maybe because there was no chance of someone walking in on them… Which shouldn’t matter because they were friends and there was nothing to walk in on.

“Yours,” Lilah finally replied, because now she was curious to see what his place looked like and also to prove to herself it wouldn’t matter. “Six’s ok?”

“Perfect,” he said, and she could picture him smiling. “I’m off this afternoon since we’re shooting some night scenes at midnight. I can get something ready by the time you get there if you don’t mind an early dinner. How do you feel about Italian?”

“You don’t have to,” she hurried to say because it was one thing meeting for coffee. Dinner felt too much like a date and that was dangerous territory.

“I want to,” Keanu said, his voice soft and breathy and a shivered ran down her spine. “Really.”

“Then I love Italian.”

“Good. See you at six.”

Lilah was still grinning when she hung up the phone, her hands shaking, and her heart seemed to be doing acrobatic flips. She really thought she had somehow ruined everything that day in the park, even if she didn’t know what had gone wrong exactly. But apparently, she had been mistaken. Keanu was happy to meet her again and they had so much fun together that it was getting harder for Lilah to remind herself that they were just friends and all the reasons why they could only be just friends.

For the rest of the day, Lilah had to fight to stay focused on her work, but her thoughts kept drifting to Keanu and their… meeting? Get together? Hangout? She just didn’t want to call it a date, even though she was mentally running through her wardrobe to decide for an outfit for the evening.

She had decided on the red dress she had been saving for Thanksgiving dinner, but when Lilah was about to head home, her advisor caught her on the way out, wanting to discuss new modifications on her paper before submission and it wasn’t like Lilah could say no to the other woman.

By the time her advisor finally finished asking for changes that had already been made – proving she had read the wrong version once again – it was after five and Lilah would have time to head home to change.

She stopped by the restroom to at least pull her hair out of the ponytail she usually wore, brush her teeth and check to see if her jeans and sweater were ok, before heading out, taking a train to the address Keanu had sent her.

She arrived at a restored pre-war apartment building at East Central Park. It was gorgeous and she couldn’t even imagine how much this place cost. She stepped into the entry hall, looking around and feeling out of place, catching sight of a doorman dressed in a perfectly ironed uniform.

“Hi,” she started as he looked her up and down, his an arched eyebrow.

“May I help you?”

“Yes. I’m visiting a friend,” Lilah said and before she could give the man the right apartment number, Keanu stepped inside the foyer helmet in one hand, takeout bag on the other, hair messy and falling over his eyes.

“Hey! Perfect timing!” he grinned at her. “I got stuck in a meeting with Chad and David and I’m running a little late.”

“No problem,” Lilah replied with a smile her heart doing that silly flip again.

For a moment, they just stood there, staring and smiling at each other, until the doorman cleared his throat and Keanu turned to look at him.

“Carl, could you please add Lilah to my list of visitors please?”

“Right away, Mr. Reeves,” the man replied. “ID please.”

Lilah stepped closer, handing her driver’s license and waiting for him to copy the information.

“All done Mrs. Bennett.”

“Thanks,” she took the document back, pocketing it before letting Keanu lead the way to the wall of elevators. He pushed his helmet up to his elbow and led Lilah with a hand on the small of her back. He wasn’t actually touching her, but she could feel the heat radiating from his skin.

The elevator opened into a small hall, which had only one door. Keanu unlocked, leading the way into his apartment and the lights must have been on sensors as they flickered to life as soon as they stepped in. Lilah was greeted by the sight of an ample space that was at the same time nothing like she expected, but exactly what she should’ve known. It was modern and elegant, designed for comfort and commodity, but not flashy or opulent.

What caught her attention the most though was the ceiling to floor window panels facing Central Park. The view was breathtaking and before Lilah could even realize it, her feet had already taken her closer so she could take a better look.

“This view is amazing,” she commented as Keanu came to stand behind her. She could see his smile reflected on the glass.

“It was one of the reasons I bought it,” he replied, gesturing at her coat and Lilah shrugged it off, handing it to him. “Remind me to show you the balcony later.”

She nodded distractedly, still fascinated by the view. Was that the MET to her left?

“Hope you hungry,” Keanu said at the kitchen unpacking their food and making Lilah look his way. “I didn’t have time to cook, but this is the best pasta in New York.”

“I told you didn’t have to,” Lilah said moving to the kitchen. “ I’m perfectly fine with takeout. Even if it isn’t the best in New York. But anyway, let me help. Where are the plates?”

“The second cabinet to your right,” he said over his shoulder, distracted.

Lilah opened the right cabinet and snorted as she noticed the pile of plates on the top shelf and out of her reach.

“Do you have a stool or something?”

Keanu glanced over his shoulder and chuckled. He set the wine bottle he had just picked up on the counter, before retrieving the plates himself and handing it to her with a smirk.

“I hate all tall people,” Lilah declared with a mock glare that had Keanu chuckling again and she smiled because this felt comfortable, almost domestic.

They settled at the kitchen counter to eat, talking about their day like they hadn’t spoken just a couple of hours ago. Keanu had been right; it was one of the best pasta Lilah had eaten in her life. Almost enough to cover the taste of the red wine which she hated but once again hadn’t had the heart to tell Keanu.

As Keanu described some fight scene he had to do that day, Lilah sipped her drink, too distracted to hide the small grimace of distaste. Keanu paused mid-sentence, giving her an amused smile that was a little too knowingly.

“You don’t like wine, do you?”

“Not red,” she replied with a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Keanu said, getting up to grab another bottle. “But I hope you know you don’t have to say yes to things you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with on my behalf.”

“I know, I know,” Lilah replied with a chagrin grimace. Sometimes she didn’t even realize she did it, say yes to certain things to avoid upsetting people or causing conflict. It was such an ingrained habit. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize either,” he assured, bringing her a glass of white wine, his fingers brushing against hers and he settled the glass by her hand.

Lilah couldn’t help the bright smile that tugged her lips at the way he was so thoughtful. Her heart thundered in her chest as she met Keanu’s eyes and she might have seen something in them that she wasn’t quite sure how to name, but it made look away, warm affection spreading in her chest.

“Thank you,” she said instead, catching his hand and squeezing it. Keanu smiled at her, ducking his head until his hair fell over his face, but Lilah thought she saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

They settled into a comfortable silence as they finished their meal and despite Keanu’s protests, Lilah helped him clean up, before moving to the TV room, where Keanu had a huge flat screen and home theater system. Lilah took a seat on the comfortable leather couch with her refilled wine glass while Keanu got everything ready, dimmed the lights and joined her.

She sipped her drink as Harrison Ford hunted replicants on a dystopian future on the screen. Once in a while, Keanu would add a comment about how he interpreted this or that action from a character or how a certain scene was different from the short story the movie originated from.

It was nice and comfortable, and Lilah was really enjoying herself, but she had worked the entire day. She was tired and full and maybe slightly tipsy, so she took advantage of the way Keanu had his arm over the back of the couch to lean against his side, resting her head on his chest and letting her eyes drift shut. His warmth and the soft scent of cologne and cigarettes lulled her to sleep, probably dreaming the way his arm pulled her even closer or the soft brush of lips against her forehead that made her smile against his shirt.

Lilah woke up with a start when Keanu shook her shoulder gently. She looked around confused, noticing the film credits rolling on the screen and the way he was smiling indulgently at him.

“I fell asleep?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, turning off the TV. “About 30 minutes in.”

“Sorry,” she gave him a sheepish smile and checked the time. It was late. Really, really late. “Guess we’re gonna have to try it another time when I’m not exhausted.”

“I guess so,” Keanu said, standing up and pulling her up with him. “I called for a car service to drive you home. I’d take you myself, but I gotta get to the set.”

“You didn’t have…”

“I’m not letting you take the subway home at this hour, Lilah,” he cut her off gently, but with a frown. “I want you home safe.”

“Thanks,” Lilah smiled, feeling her cheeks warm and there it was again, that warmth in her chest. “And thanks for dinner.”

“My pleasure.”

Keanu waited with her until a sleek black sedan parked on the curb. He greeted the driver with a quick nod before opening the door for her.

“When do I see you again?” he asked so suddenly that Lilah had to take a moment to reply.

“Well, I have to watch this movie for my dissertation tomorrow, so if you don’t mind me pausing it a couple of hundred times…” Lilah trailed off with a shrug, praying he would say yes.

“Let me just check my shooting schedule, but I think I can make it,” Keanu grinned and bent closer, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night,” Lilah replied with a matching grin as she got into the car.

xxx (tbc)

Go to part 6

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[see-jess-write]

Parent-Teacher Night

Tagging: Matthew Davidson & Mercedes Jones ( @indiemercedesjones ) When: August 7, 2019 Where: Lewiston Middle School Notes: Matt’s late to his meeting to talk to James’ 1st grade teacher.

Mercy

Mercedes made her way up the three rows of chairs, placing the name plates down. She had just finished doing most of the meet and greets. She had one last meeting but they seemed to be running late.  Walking to her desk she knocked down a stack of papers and bent down to pick it up.  Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." She said grabbing the last of the papers before standing fully.

.Matt

Matt thought he’d get out of the station right at 6 but a call that came in at 5 kept in longer than expected and he rushed to the school to get to the whole teacher parent thing set up with James’ first grade teacher. Matt couldn’t get over his son being in first grade and as he hurriedly walked down the hall he felt a giant in there. Matt found the class and went in right when he was greeted by the backside of who he assumed was the teacher. “Hey. Are you Ms. Jones?” He asked as he stood and tried not to find this entertaining.

Mercy 

Mercedes nodded moving over to the taller man and extended her hand. "Hi yes I am Mercedes Jones. And you must be Mr. Davidson?" she said taking in his appearance. He was taller than her 5'3 height so it was an adjustment looking up to him when she usually looked down tot he kids. "Nice to meet you. Please have a seat."

Matt

“So...?” He asked asked after their handshake. “Do you prefer Mercedes Jones or am I supposed to call you Ms. Jones? Though I’ve got to admit it makes me want to sing that song.” He delivered this with one of his signature, dimpled smiles. Matt went to a chair and sat, feeling huge in the seat. “Sorry I’m late. Had a fire to put out. Literally.” He settled and leaned forward on this forearms. “Am I the last parent of the night?” 

Mercy 

"Mercedes is fine, and no thank you no need to sing." His smile wasn' lost on her.  "Its okay I was told you would be late. And yes you are. This is just to go over any questions you may have, any needs James might have. So you are a fire fighter?"

Matt

“You sure? I can’t sing with a damn but I do put on one hell of a show.” The thing with Matt was he felt right at home talking to people, even those he just met. “And, I don’t really know what to ask. I did read what you gave out on Monday and it felt pretty straight forward. He seems happy with things so far and likes the kids in his class.” Matt shared and nodded with a smile. “Yeah. Been slinging the ol’ hose for about nine years now.”

Mercy 

She looked at him and nodded. "Yeah I am sure. " She said picking up her folder for James. "Yeah well I like to be straight forwards. James is a very bright and fun child. I do see where he gets his sense of humor from though." She nodded. "Well you should come back for career day, I am sure the kids would love to get a look at you in your uniform." She placed her glasses on and smiled. "So I moved James to the Blue reading group. Which is good, he is very advanced for 6 years old, you should be proud."

Matt

What was with this woman? It was like talking to a brick wall that was all business and no joining along. Maybe with the fact she was around kids all day that it must’ve stifled her fun side...”I am proud of him. He’s a good kid and he’s taken over reading stories some time back. He prefers to read them to me but lets me join in whenever he gets too tired but doesn’t want it to end just yet.” Matt thought about the career day and it actually had him grinning. “Do you know when that career days happening? I want to make sure I give notice for it. Maybe see if I can get the guys and the truck over here.”

Mercy 

Mercedes nodded. "I can tell. He enjoys music class as well. I know its just the first week but I can pretty much tell when a kid really enjoys learning." She saw him light up and smiled. "Usually its in September. I can give you the date before you leave. We also have the camping trip you might want to participate in. Its just an overnight at the camp grounds but the kids really loved it last year."

Matt

“Has he tried to teach the other kids classic rock songs? I play a lot of that around the house. And awesome. That’s enough time to get the word out.” Matt then realized he had a question. “Have the kids shared what they’ve done for summer? We moved back from Amsterdam and I have pictures he can use to show our time there.” They spent a year and a half there and as much as he enjoyed it, this was home. “Camping, eh? Now that I can get behind.”

Mercy 

Mercedes smiled. "Yes, good to know he gets it honestly." She shook her head. "That is next weeks assignment. Pictures are always good. It allows the kids to feel like they were actually there.  Though Amsterdam is a very unique place to go too." She handed him the flyer for camp. "I give you enough time so you can take off. "

Matt

“I’ll get the pictures printed by then and let him have fun with picking out which ones he wants to share with the class. His mom moved to Amsterdam a couple years ago and he wanted to be close to her. Not that it did any good because she still hardly saw him.” Too much information? Doesn’t matter, he was still pissed about it. “Thanks, Mercy.” He read over the flyer and knew exactly where this place was. “I went to this camp when I was in 6th grade. I didn’t know it’s still around.”

Mercy 

Mercedes nodded and frowned as Matt spoke. "I am so sorry Mr. Davidson. I cant understand parents who dont wanna be around their kids. If I were a mom, nothing in the world would keep me from them." She didnt mean to speak up like that, but absent parents bugged her. "Mercy?" She raised an eyebrow then nodded. "Yeah the kids love it. And it's a great way for parents to bond with their kids."

Matt

He sighed and leaned back on the chair, stretching his leg out some. Damn that felt good, even when this chair felt ready to break under him. “Did I call you that?” He didn’t even realize it and chuckled. “I’ve got a thing of changing people’s names. Shortening them. Guess I did it without thinking.” He rolled his head to the side and looked more at her than he did before. Kind of checking her out but in a subtle way. “How long you’ve been doing this anyway? Can’t be more than a few years. I’d guess this is your first but you seem pretty on top of the show here.”

Mercy 

"You did, it's a first I mostly get Cedes." She closed her file, he seemed like he was tired and could use a break he did just come from a fire. "I've been teaching for five years, but I moved here last year. New change and all. And I mean I like to stay busy, it's just me and Chewy so I have more time than some of the other teachers." She stood. "I know you are tired and want to get home to James, so we can cut this short. If you have any questions here." She handed him a paper. "My email and phone number are there. And if I am called or emailed at night I try to answer by the next morning."

Matt

“Cedes, huh? I can see that but Mercy reminds me of Uncle Jesse and I can see myself going that route and possibly annoying with you with that line at some point in the future.” Was he hitting on her? Well.....she is pretty hot and Matt didn’t notice any ring on her finger. “I’m assuming Chewy is a dog or cat and that you’re not actually shacking up with a Wookie. But hey, I’m not one to judge.” His hands went up after he said this and chuckled, acting a damn idiot but still amused by his antics. “Yeah. I should get going. J likes to recap his day while we make dinner together. Thanks for the call. If I do reach out it’ll probably be more by text. It’s easier for me.” He got to his feet and felt wobbly and off balance for a second from being down so long. “Thanks for sticking around to talk.”

Mercy 

"Mercedes shook her head. "Uncle Jesse is still hot so I don't mind being called that." She wanted to keep things professional but the image of her dating Chewbacca was too funny.  "Chewy is my dog, he's my baby. And don't hate on Wookie love, I heard they give the best cuddles. And text is fine, I don't mind." She stood and when she saw him wobble she went to him holding his shoulders. "You okay?" She looked up to him. "Are you sure the fire didn't mess you up? Do you need to go to the doctors?"

Matt

Matt wanted to get into everything she just said but the reaction she gave, getting on her feet and everything, caused all his focus to land on that instead. “I’m good. That chair wasn’t exactly Matt sized and I hadn’t been down off my feet like that in awhile. But no, no need to rush me to the doctors.” He assured her. “Just seeing you react like that tells me J is in good hands while he’s in your class.”

Mercy 

Mercedes nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that. They chairs are pretty much kid friendly and not adult friend, if that makes sense." She smiled, letting him go. "I promise your son will be in great hands! Don't worry.  And you are free to come help out anytime you want."

Matt

“You just want me to come babysit the kids while you watch Star Wars.” He said as he laughed. “And I’m still not sure about this Wookie love, but whatever floats your boat there, Mercy.” Matt didn’t bother changing it back to Mercedes. Why should he? “Okay. I think I’ve taken up enough of time tonight. And that’s only because I can hear the floor waxer machine whirring down the hallway.”

Mercy 

"Excuse you I will have you know that the kids can watch themselves, I am just a glorified babysitter myself. And don't hate the wookie love boo!" she said with a smile. Looking out the door she nodded. "Yeah he hates it when I stay late. But yeah enjoy your night and say hi to James for me."

Matt

“Then you should put a cardboard cutout of you at the desk and hang out under the actual desk like George Castanza did on Seinfeld.  They’ll never know until one of them comes and asks a question. Then they’ll think you’re ignoring them and that’ll create years worth of therapy for that kid.” His damn imagination got ahead of him and he knew it was past time to leave. “Don’t tell me you’re the last one in here? I can at least walk you to your car since you stayed late waiting for my ass.”

Mercy 

"Lord I do not want to traumatize the kids." she packed u her bag and slipped it on her shoulder. "Its nothing new I am always late around here." She smiled at him. "Well if you are gonna try and be a gentleman the least I can do is let you."

Matt

“If I was trying to be one I’d have a suit and top hat. Fancy the shit out of it and look like someone straight out of a Jane Austen story. This is just me, doing my Matt thing. And why do you leave so late? I thought teachers usually called it quits around 6.” Matt went to the doorway and walked out to the hall where he looked over the artwork on a bulletin board.

Mercy

Mercedes covered her mouth as a snort came out. "Wow. I can't even believe you said that." She shrugged. "I know they do but most teachers have families to go home too. I like being here, it feels less lonely." She shrugged it off.  "Ignore I said that."

Matt

“See. Now you’ve gone and hurt your dog’s feelings. He probably thinks you like being home with him but you’re here instead.” It felt surreal to be in a school after hours. As if he was about to disrupt some ritual the teachers do at night. “But I get it. The nights my parents have James its me and my beer and Netflix. Or Hulu. I like variety.”

Mercy 

"He is with the dog walker until I get home, I am not that mean." She locked her door and walked out the building. "Oh so you get your "netflix and chill" on huh? But I use Amazon too."

Matt

“Dog walkers hang out with the dog after they walk them?” Matt’s Silverado was parked on the other side of the building but he’d just hoof it after she left. “Netflix and chill’s when you’ve got someone over.” Matt grinned, winking at her. He needs to stop. “Ah. Prime. I let that go but I heard some shows are worth checking out.”

Mercy 

"My neighbor always wanted a dog but her mom won't let her so we worked it out to where she takes care of chewy when I am not there and she gets a dog and gets paid." Did he just wink at her? Was he flirting? No he wasn't she was definitely tired. "I mean I supposed." She reached her car and smiled. "Well thank you, I appreciate you walking me."

Matt

“Almost like you’re co-parenting a dog. That was a real nice thing you did for them. We weren’t allowed pets growing up so I feel that.” He stopped next to a car and did one of those bows and pretending to lift a hat off his head at the same time. “I bid thee a goodnight, fair Ms. Mercedes Jones.”

Mercy 

"Yeah well I wanted to make her happy and I did. I love Chewy and this way he gets the best of both worlds." Mat bowed and she smirked. "Why kind sir I do thank thee and wish thee a goodnight as well." She said unlocking her door.

Matt

He laughed, glad she went along with this. Matt walked back a few paces and stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets and waved her off after she backed up and pulled away. Matt knew he skirted a fine line there but it wasn’t his fault his son’s teacher smoking hot. “Not a bad parent teacher conference.” He said to himself as he started the trek to his car. “Wonder what she’ll say if I send a meme as my first text...”

#para: mercedes #v: hot for teacher #muse: mercedes jones #opp: mercedes jones

[earth-ambassador-jim]

Rules to Live By: Chapter 3

Axel’s Construction and Repair is the oldest and most successful construction company in Arcadia. People assume it is because of their excellent staff and attentive care of their employees. It isn’t. Those factors are important of course but the real reason they’ve lasted this long is the three rules everyone in the company abides by.

Fanfiction - AO3

Rule Number 1: If you see something strange do not acknowledge it or investigate.

“Come on! Ya have to have noticed something by now!”

Duke leans away as particles of John’s lunch spray from his mouth. His nose wrinkles in disgust.

“Please don’t speak with food in your mouth.”

Honestly! Duke’s five-year-old has better manners than this grown man.

John rolls his eyes but actually listens for once. He swallows his food, takes a big gulp of water, and slams his bottle down on the table with entirely too much force. Duke wonders why he’s eating with him. He usually eats with Marisol these days. She’s nice and they have a great time swapping pictures and stories about their kids.

“Seriously… am I the only one who notices how strange this place is?”

Right… That was why. Duke can practically feel the people at the surrounding tables listening in. He refrains from heaving a sigh.

“There is nothing strange in Arcadia. You should really quit that dumb conspiracy stuff. It’s bad for you. You might get involved with something dangerous.”

He emphasizes the last word hoping his coworker will get the message, but John, the absolute idiot, sprawls across the table with a dramatic sigh.

“Not you too! Is everyone here deaf and blind?”

No. They just knew how to mind their own business. Duke sighs and finishes his sandwich. He wipes his hands with his napkin as he stands up.

“It was nice talking with you,” He says because it’s polite.

“Yeah… yeah…” John waves him off. “See ya later.”

“…Good bye.”

Samson gives him a sympathetic look as he passes him on his way out. Duke tried. He really did.

It’s Friday morning and Duke has just finished putting his lunch in the mini-fridge when someone knocks at his office door.

“Come in.”

John enters and Duke immediately feels the hair on the back of his neck go up. Something is wrong.

Duke takes a seat behind his desk and puts on his Customer Service Smile. He straightens the picture of his daughters and folds his hands in front of him.

“What can I help you with?”

John puts on a guilty expression; brows furrowed and eyes averted.

“I’d like to put in my two weeks’ notice,” He says.

Duke stills for a moment. So that’s what this is…

Duke takes a slow breath, watching as the man across from him plays with his tie. He recognizes it. It’s crimson silk with a pleasant pattern of fleurs-de-lis across it. John’s girlfriend bought it for him last Valentine’s Day. It used to be his favorite but he hasn’t worn it since they broke up.

“So you’re quitting then,” Duke says carefully. “Any particular reason?”

The man sighs dramatically and rubs the back of his neck.

“I’m just so tired of this small town. It was close enough to L.A. that I thought it’d be great, but it turns out it’s just boring. I need more in my life. You know?”

He grins at Duke. It’s all teeth.

“I see.”

Duke opens a drawer and pulls out a couple forms. He gives them a quick scan and modifies a few lines before sliding them across the table.

“Well, it’s been nice knowing you. I’m going to need you to fill out these forms and then Jason and I will escort you to your cubicle to collect your things.”

The man cocks his head and raises an eyebrow at him.

“Right now? This is just my two weeks’ notice.”

“I know but per company policy you will have your last two weeks off. I think we started that practice so people wouldn’t mess with stuff once they didn’t have to worry about being fired.”

The man chuckles. “Makes sense.”

He signs the papers without reading them as Duke calls Jason to his office. Together they help the man clean out John’s cubical. The other workers watch quietly.

Once everything is done Jason drops back to talk to the receptionist. They appear engrossed in their conversation but Duke knows both are watching. He’s grateful.

Duke holds the door open but does not cross the threshold himself.

“If you find that you’ve forgotten anything let us know and we’ll be sure to get it for you.”

“Of course.”

The man pauses and observes Duke for a moment.

“So what do you think of the stuff I said earlier?” He asks abruptly.

“What stuff?”

“You know… the things in Arcadia?”

He leans a little too close. His eyes reflect the florescent lights strangely. Duke slams down his gut response to step back. He wouldn’t have survived those four years in retail if he showed what he was feeling that easily. He puts on a friendly but dismissive expression and snorts.

“I think you need to stop hitting the bars so late at night.”

“Hey!”

The man is trying to sound offended but Duke can hear that he’s pleased. They both pretend to find the exchange hilarious and laugh. He watches Duke for a moment longer after they stop and then smiles at him in a relaxed manner.

“Thank-you for making this so easy.”

Duke nods, still keeping up his pleasant demeanor. They… It…  The Man grins at him again and waves as he strolls off toward John’s red pickup truck. Duke watches until it’s out of sight before returning to his office.

His hands are shaky as he retrieves the small bottle of scotch from the back of his filing cabinet. Normally drinking on the job is against regulations, but there are exceptions. The boss himself gave him this bottle as a gift. He takes a small swig and leans back in the chair with his eyes closed, waiting as the warmth from the alcohol chases away the tenseness in his limbs.

Once he’s a little steadier he reaches out for the pictures of his girls. They’re five and seven now and he loves them more than anything else in this world. He traces their smiling faces with a finger trying to ground himself.

Sometimes he wants to quit this job, to move somewhere far away where people don’t vanish and the monsters lurking in the night are only human, but he doesn’t. He can’t… Not if he wants to send his daughters through collage... He’d be hard pressed to find a job with even close to the benefits and pay this one offers.

There’s a knock on his office door. Duke jolts and looks up. Samson is standing there with a hesitant expression. Duke waves him in. His eyebrows are drawn together but, as he settles in the other chair, he gives Duke a gentle smile.

“How are you doing?”

“…Okay,” Duke says.

It’s a lie and both of them know it, but Samson nods and doesn’t press any farther.

“So what are Natasha and Rylie getting up to these days?”

Duke gives him a grateful look.

“Well Nat has just informed us that she will now be training to be the first space rancher. I knew that watching Star Wars would result in something…” He starts.

As Duke rambles on about his family’s antics he feels himself relax. Maybe there’s something wrong with this town but the people are kind and the area is pleasant. Certain… things… aside he’s quite happy working here. Every job… Every city, comes with its own dangers. Arcadia’s are just a little… unusual.

That’s okay… He’s okay…

As long as he follows the Rules, Duke knows he has nothing to fear…

…

…

Right?

This particular chapter comes from a theory that when someone gets killed off in Arcadia the changelings temporarily replace them with a polymorph who then moves away from town and fakes their death. It keeps people from getting suspicious or making any connections. (This theory was created by @archaeopter-ace go check them out! Here’s a link to their post (x) )

This is the final chapter of Rules to Live By. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think!

#Trollhunters #tales of arcadia #trollhunters fanfiction #Outside perspectives on Arcadia #Something's Wrong with Arcadia #Polymorphs #Changelings #My Posts #My Writing #Archaeopter-Ace

[katdvs]

Author Note: I’ve been sitting on this fic for about a month and a half. I had the idea for it from a post I saw on tumblr and just had to write this. I just had no idea at all what to title it. Enjoy!

The alarm went off with the Star Wars theme filling the bedroom, Farkle Minkus stretched hos long, strong body before reaching over to pick up his phone and sliding the control to off. He took a deep breath in, more of a yawn as he looked at the time. He knew he needed to get up, be ready or the morning conference call with his London associates, yet instead of throwing back the blankets and getting up he burrowed himself more under the blankets and started checking his social media accounts.

He started to play the stories on his Instagram, first he had his friend Zay who was currently touring the country as part of the latest Dancing with The Stars tour. Lots of buzz was building that he could be pulled up as the next pro in the fall season.

His ex-girlfriend Smackle had a story next, she was at a conference in Barcelona, discussing her latest findings about social interaction. He couldn’t help but feel as light swell of pride at the clip of her speech that played.

Rolling onto his side just before the next one started he saw a video of a hotel, the red brick building only a few stories high, with a caption reading “They say this hotel is haunted!”, before quickly moving to a picture of some mountains captioned with “our view”. He glanced to see that it was Riley, he best friend, she had mentioned going on a vacation the last time they spoke, that seemed forever ago now though.

Another story came up, a similar shot of a red brick hotel. The next part played, and another view of mountains came up, strikingly similar to what he had just seen on Riley’s story. He looked, expecting to see Tristan, her boyfriend listed as the name, even though he couldn’t recall following him.

His fingers lost the grip he had on the phone as he fell to the carpeted floor after bouncing off the bed. He scrolled back as another story had started, his mouth hanging open as he saw the name, Lucas.

He flipped back to Riley’s story, yes, the hotels were the same. The views were the same.

Was this possible? Were his two friends, the former lovers on vacation at the same time, in the same place?

He ran his hand through his sandy hair, it couldn’t be possible, could it?

After all this time or them to end up in the same place like this?

Part of him wanted to call Maya or Zay, ask if either of them knew. One of them had to, right? Or at the very least Maya would know where Riley was, and Zay would of course know where Lucas was. Wouldn’t they?

No, none of them were as close as they had once been. Sure, back in high school they could all believe they would stay connected, stay close, but the reality of adulthood left Zay traveling the country, Maya never seemed to leave Brooklyn, Farkle himself was lucky if he was in the city for an entire week. Riley lived in Chicago now, the medical program she’d gotten into had led her to a Pediatric residency there. Lucas himself had also gone into medicine, not veterinary, but also Pediatrics, but his residency had him up in Boston for the time being.

Farkle’s phone buzzed with a notification that he had to get ready for his call. He sighed tossing the phone on his bed to get ready for the day. Besides, what was he going to do, get lost in watching Instagram all day to see if Riley and Lucas ran into each other? Was he going to text Zay and Maya, suck them in as well? It wasn’t like Lucas and Riley were going to run into each other, wherever they were vacationing, they were probably off on totally different paths.

Maya threw her purse down on her couch, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. She could feel the burn of her tears as she stormed towards the kitchen. Again, and again, she kept setting herself up for this heartbreak, she wasn’t sure if she could continue on like this, if she had the strength to go on down this path.

She didn’t care that it was three in the afternoon, she needed a drink as she pulled out the bottle of Vodka from the freezer. She tossed some ice in a glass, pouring the icy vodka over it before she topped it off with some soda water.

The satisfying first sip forced her to stop and breathe.

She wasn’t ready for this.

She had been doing just fine as a graphic artist for a women’s magazine, she would never admit that she spent hours upon hours going over the bubble gum pink layouts for articles and content she would never read for the print edition or the web edition.

Tonight, in just a few hours her own art would be on display for all the world to see. Sure, she’d been in shows since Middle school, but this was just her. She wasn’t surrounded by other artists. This was all on her.

Tonight, she was going to find out if she could make it as an actual artist.

She’d been so nervous about this all, so scared about it all, so typically Maya about it that she hadn’t the courage to send out the invitations. She hadn’t even told her best friend, if anything she hadn’t been speaking with Riley much lately, the distance, the difference in their lifestyles had prevented it all for now.

Maybe it was for the best, at least for now, Riley would’ve dropped everything in Chicago to come, and it would’ve just added to the pressure.

Maya took another sip before sitting down on her couch, she dug her phone out of her purse. She had emails from work, but they could wait. They knew she’d be out of the office until Monday, it was the only way she’d be able to make it through tonight.

She opened Instagram, just scrolling through her feed. Pictures of people’s kids, really how were the kids she grew up with, already having kids? Here she was in the middle of the afternoon drinking.

It was only now that she realized Riley must be on vacation as she saw the stunning pictures of mountains, of a beautiful river, Riley and Tristian in rafting gear.

Maya couldn’t help it as she rolled her eyes, she had met Tristian last fall when they had come to down for Cory and Topanga’s anniversary party. He seemed nice, and he probably made sense on paper for Riley, but if Maya was honest he wasn’t Lucas and part of her, kind of thought Riley and Lucas would end up together.

She continued scrolling, wondering why so many of her friends had to post their take-out coffee, they all got the same brand, the pictures were all the same. What was this ridiculous status symbol?

She stopped when she got to another picture of a river, very similar to one Riley had posted. Instead she saw it was from Lucas. With a caption about mountain biking before a picture of him and his latest girlfriend.

Maya couldn’t help but snort at the picture of this woman draping herself over Lucas, it was the pose almost every woman he’d dated since Riley had pulled. A desperate grip on him, like they caught some sort of prize and had no intention of letting him go.

She double tapped the image, ready to move on when she noticed in the background of the selfie a white-water raft, the same colors as the one she’d seen in Riley’s picture.

Taking another sip of her drink she wondered, was it possible, had these two idiots ended up on vacation at the same time, in the same place?

Riley hadn’t called her freaking out, so perhaps it was just a coincidence.

What were the chances these two fools would end up near each other on vacation?

His day had been long, the adrenalin rush fading as he climbed onto the tour bus. One more show and he would be back in New York City. He craved the energy of the city, so drastically different then what he found in LA or on the road, and even more so from the town he’d grown up in back in Texas.

He flopped on the couch, pulling his phone out. He spent a few minutes liking tweets from people who had been at the show, retweeting some pictures before checking Instagram. He was tagged in dozens of pictures and videos. He liked them all before he looked at his feed.

Maya, his favorite snarky blonde posting pictures of her latest paintings.

Farkle posting a picture of the New York skyline mentioning that he was happy to be home again.

Zay could almost taste the pizza from his favorite parlor, he could almost smell the sweet home like scent of Topanga’s, which was always his second stop when he would return from a tour.

It didn’t help that their Instagram post was making him drool, the picture a display of his favorite cupcakes.  He could almost taste the raspberry buttercream at this moment.

He had to snap himself out of the sugary trance as he scrolled down some more.

More food, surprisingly a picture from Lucas of some barbeque he was having on vacation, but it wasn’t Chubbie’s, no his friend wasn’t back in Texas, instead was somewhere else.

He scrolled to the next picture, a selfie of Lucas holding up something that said the name of the restaurant, but something else caught Zay’s eye. He zoomed in on the picture, noticing the brunette standing in line waiting to order.

He shook his head, no way.

It couldn’t be.

He moved down the feed, a picture of Riley also on vacation, with a Sunset and mountains.

He looked around the bus, the other dancers all engrossed in their own phones, except for Shelby, a petite red head who was lost in a book.

He pulled up Riley’s story, video clips from rafting earlier in the day, the sunset, and then a little video of a barbeque place, that looked similar to the one Lucas had posted about.

He quickly went to Lucas’s story, all that was coming up for now was the sun setting behind some mountains, the sky more purple than orange, a caption saying goodnight.

Zay clicked back to his home screen, his thumb ready to pull up his contacts, but he stopped himself.

He was being ridiculous.

Besides what could he say to Maya and Farkle, “Hey, Riley and Lucas appear to be on Vacation in the same place, should we tell them?” No, it would just lead to the three of them hoping for something that was never going to happen.

They weren’t in high school anymore, life took them all, yes all of them in very different places. Even when Zay was in the city these days he never saw Maya or Farkle. He could message with them, but they never had time to catch up over a drink, let alone actually hang out.

Riley and Lucas reuniting, clearing the air, whatever needed to happen wouldn’t magically solve the distance that had grown between everyone else.

He pulled out his ear buds, slipped them in and pulled up Hulu, getting lost in a sitcom from the 90s, as he let his mind drift off as two men did some goofy dance on his phone screen, looking very proud of themselves as the studio audience cheered.

Any thoughts of Riley and Lucas drifted out of his mind for the time being.

The alarm startled Riley as she sat up straight in the bed, her heart racing as she looked around the dark hotel room. Tristan was next to her, lazily reaching for his phone to turn the alarm of. She counted to ten, trying to calm down.

Hadn’t they just gone to bed?

Why on earth was his alarm set for so early in the morning? They were on vacation for crying out loud!

Tristan rose from the bed, stretching before he turned on the light.

Riley recoiled, glaring towards him, “Tristan, it’s so early. What are you doing?”

He dropped the towel he had grabbed to take into the shower, “Getting ready babe, we’ve got an exciting last day of our vacation.”

“Next vacation I plan.” She yawned, already thinking about lazy mornings at a beach house down the shore.

Tristan came over to her, kissing her forehead, “Come on babe, this will be fun. I know it’s early, but if you really need to sleep, you can sleep on my shoulder on the way up.”

Sighing Riley threw the sheets back and got out of bed, “Fine, but I have first shower, only way I’ll wake up.”

“Deal.” Tristan pushed her towards the bathroom, waiting until she closed the door for him to pull up Instagram.

He searched the name, and there it was, pictures of the young blonde doctor and the blonde draped over them. They were here.

Tristan was positive that he and Riley had been at that same restaurant the night before.

Of all the places they could pick to vacation, it had to be here, at the same time?

He swiped out of the app, his stomach in a knot, as he said a silent prayer to let this last day go off without a hitch. If it could then the past would be behind them.

Lucas breathed in the morning air, it was clean and crisp, but also had the coating of the coal smoke for the steam engine. The depot was buzzing with activity as he looked around for his girlfriend Shelby, but every so often something would cause him to turn and lose focus.

It had been happening the entire vacation so far. He’d hear a laugh, or just have a sensation that would cause him to turn away. Yet whenever he would look it was nothing he could find that could’ve brought his attention.

Only one person had ever caused this sort of reaction, and it wasn’t Shelby.

“Here you go, Venti Dark Roast, two sugars and cream.” She was perky as she handed him the Starbucks cup as she took a sip of her own.

“Thanks.” He looked around, a chill sweeping through his body in the early summer morning. “You know, I get the mountain biking, the rafting, but you really always wanted to ride this train?”

“My Grandparents met on this train, my Grandpa was a Brakeman, and my Grandma worked in Concessions one summer. They fell head over heels in love, and I always wanted to ride it. See the views they saw every day that summer.”

Shelby was almost never a romantic like this, part of Lucas couldn’t believe it. “That’s beautiful, why hadn’t you mentioned it before?”

“You’re a guy, guys like trains, right?”

A sad smile crossed Lucas’ lips. Trains, yeah, he had a special connection to them, to his first love. “I mean I was wild about Thomas as a kid.”

“I think every guy our generation was.” She chuckled as they boarded the train to the first class car.

Lucas took it all in for a moment, the craftmanship of the wood, the elegance that surrounded them as Shelby led them to their seats. Before Lucas knew it was happening, Shelby was draping herself over him for another picture.

Why did every girlfriend he had, except for Riley do this?

He flashed his smile, knowing he’d be expected to post it on his own Instagram account.

Home.

That’s was the feeling that rippled through his body as Zay walked into the bakery. He could already taste the sweet coffee he was about to order.

Topanga’s was very much the same as it had been when he first remembered walking into it back in middle school. Sure, he was older now, and the groups of friends were different. It was still a gathering place for the neighborhood.

He wondered how many poor guys had smoothies poured over their heads by girls they didn’t want to be on dates with in the first place?

How many couples had fallen in love, how many had broken up here?

Once he had everything he wanted he settled in the back corner, pulling his tablet out of his bag as he began to read through emails before he was finally fed up with thinking about work, promotional opportunities, or whatever else people thought would boost his career.

He clicked on Instagram, scrolling through the pictures.

Maya posted a shot of one of her paintings with SOLD as the caption. He smiled with pride and quickly typed a reply.

Farkle posted a fancy meal with a caption about craving a slice of real New York Pizza.

Zay typed that he would have one for him since he was in the city.  

He sat up straighter when he saw a picture from Riley that was simply captioned “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” it was of a baggage train car in a museum.

Zay made the mistake of taking a sip of coffee as he scrolled to the next picture. A candid shot, black and white of Riley looking at the baggage car.

No caption from Lucas who had posted the picture.

The tablet was covered in the coffee that flew from Zay’s mouth.

People all around looked at him as though he was nuts.

Except one person, “You okay there?” Farkle handed him a napkin from the stack in his hands as he made his way across the room.

“Farkle!” Zay momentarily forgot what had caused him to blurt his coffee out all over himself and his electronics.

“When did you get back to town?” Farkle sat in the seat across from his old friend.

“Last night.” Zay finished cleaning up the best he could, checking to make sure the tablet worked, bringing the screen to life and seeing the picture again, “Oh boy.”

“What is it?” Farkle tried to get a look, “Is that, no, it can’t be.”

“Look” Zay scrolled up to the picture Riley had posted of the same baggage car. “I mean I saw their vacation pictures, I suspected they were on similar vacations, but the same place, same time?”

Farkle sat back in his seat, “I saw them as well.” He took a sip of his triple berry smoothie, “If it was anyone else, I would say no way, but its Riley and Lucas.”

Before either of them could say anything else the click of heels coming towards them forced them to look up at the blonde before them, dark denim jeans, black kitten heels, and a tight vintage Van Halen shirt under her blazer. “What are you losers doing here?”

“Nice to see you too Maya.” Farkle was on his feet first, hugging her.

Zay was close behind, “I needed a taste of home. What brings you here?”

“Meeting my Mom and Dad for dinner.” Maya studied her two old friends, “I feel like I only see you guys via social media these days. How did I not know you were in the city?”

“Because we never have time to make plans with each other when we’re in town.” Farkle sighed, “I wasn’t sure you even knew how to get out of Brooklyn anymore.”

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, and when do you get off a tour bus, or you get out of meetings? Exactly, we’re all adulting and it sucks. We post these moments on our social media to brag because we’re too afraid to share it in person, to make those connections again.”

“Honey Nugget, that is way too deep, you okay?”

She looked at Zay, he always had a way of getting her that others didn’t, “I haven’t heard from Riley in a while and I’m, worried, curious, I feel like something is going on.”

“You’ve been stalking Instagram as well huh?” Farkle smirked, all of them had done it, of course they had, and yet none of them had reached out to the others.

Were they still friends?

“Of course, I have.” She sat at the arm of Farkle’s chair, “I mean if she saw Lucas, she would tell me, wouldn’t she?”

“I don’t know if she saw him, but he saw her.” Zay handed her the tablet.

Maya studied the picture, an honest moment, she wondered what Lucas thought when he saw her, did they speak, or is this the only proof they were even near each other?

Farkle looked at his friends, they didn’t have to speak but he knew they had questions, “We could call him, you know.”

“He won’t tell us anything, especially if that blonde is around.” Maya snarked before looking at the boys confused as they exchanged a look, “Oh hush.” She told them once it hit her what they were thinking.

“Mom, I’m telling you.” Auggie Matthews followed his mother across the bakery, “Lucas posted a picture of Riley on his Instagram page, they’re on vacation at the same time in the same place.”

His mother slowly spun around, an eyebrow raised, “Auggie, that sounds ridiculous. I’m sure you’re confusing Tristan’s post, also why are you still following Lucas?”

“Because Riley and Lucas are going to end up together.” He rolled his eyes, wondering why his mother didn’t get that, “Besides, Tristan is going into plastic surgery and not to do good in the world. Just look at this picture and tell me that isn’t Riley.”

Topanga sighed, taking the phone from her son, sucking in her teeth as she studied the image. It was her daughter, she couldn’t deny it. “This has to be some sort of glitch.”

“It’s not.” Farkle’s voice cut through the air, causing the duo to look towards the corner the three friends occupied, “They’ve been posting similar pictures for days, it was only a matter of time before one of them saw the other.”

Topanga pushed the phone back to her son as she took a few steps towards the trio, “What on earth are all three of you doing here?”

“We just ran into each other.” Zay shrugged, it was the truth after all, “But Farkle is right, they’ve been posting pictures from the same places.”

“Mom, they’re going to get back together.” Auggie insisted.

Topanga sighed as she looked around at the young adults in front of her, “I know you’re all hoping for them to reunite, but guys, they tried to make this work, and it didn’t. They’re at very different places in their lives, they live in different parts of the country. You all have such a beautiful friendship, and you all come together for a reason. That reason isn’t to be busybodies in your friends’ romantic lives.”

“Come on, you gotta admit their has to be a reason they’re in the same place at the same time.” Maya looked at a woman she considered a mentor.

Topanga looked at the three, she could see three very accomplished adults, with so much more for them to do and experience, “How did you all end up here, today, right now. Sometimes it just happens.”

“Mom, really?” Auggie rolled his eyes, “Whatever, Riley and Lucas will be married in like a year, trust me.”

Topanga looked at her son, “Don’t you have class?”

Auggie sighed, “Fine, but trust me on this.”

“Yeah trust the kid!” Zay smiled but it quickly faded when he caught the slightly icy glare from Topanga. “Or not.”

Farkle cleared his throat, “Just because they see each other, maybe even speak to each other doesn’t mean that they’ll have that same spark.” Even though the words came from him, he didn’t believe it. If that energy wasn’t there then Lucas wouldn’t have taken the picture.

All day long during the train ride Riley had felt this buzz of energy in the air. She and Tristan had been in one of the first-class cars, an open-air car with a glass roof so you could see everything around you.

It had been amazing the views breathtaking, they had even seen some big horn sheep.

But the air, something was charging it.

She hadn’t felt this way in years, not since…not since Lucas.

When they got off the train, Tristan immediately raced off to the gift shop. Riley instead found her way to the museum. Artifacts, pictures, bits and pieces of the past surrounded her.

The energy was thicker, as she stood in front of a baggage car that had been used in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, she could feel the air around her.

She was afraid to turn around, finally she did, sure that she had just caught a glimpse of Lucas.

It couldn’t be, could it?

She was terrified of how her heart was beating at the idea, the way she was flooded with a need to see him, she started to follow, but before she could exit the museum she was face to face with Tristan, who looked pale and flushed at the same time. “What’s wrong?”

“I just ran into Shelby, my ex-fiancée in the gift shop.” His hand ran through his short hair, “I, didn’t expect to see her, here of all places.”

Riley was stunned, she just hugged him. “Its okay.” She told him, knowing that if she had come face to face with Lucas, she would’ve felt her world shift and rock.

It was her.

Riley had been in the museum. Lucas stared at the picture for a moment, before he heard Shelby call his name. He snapped his head to look towards her, just as his thumb swiped the screen to post.

“What’s wrong?” He could feel her shaking as he wrapped his arms around her.

She burrowed her head in the crook of his neck, “Tristan is here. I saw him in the Gift Shop. I just never thought he would come here, not when I did.”

Was it possible that his ex, and hers were both here on vacation?

“Let’s go back to the room, you take a hot bath, I’ll go get us something to eat. We’ll have dinner in our room, watch a movie on cable, a nice quiet evening.”

“That sounds perfect.” Her voice skipping as she tried to catch her breath.

“Then let’s go, the hotel is less then half a block away.” He led her through the depot, down Main Avenue. The street was filled with pedestrians, forcing them to take their time.

Once they were back at the hotel Shelby immediately escaped to the bathroom, Lucas could hear the tub filling with water, so he left her behind to go get them dinner.

He didn’t go far, finding a place with a menu that would satisfy Shelby. He sat at the bar, ordered a local beer and placed an order to go.

A chill swept through his body as he looked around, his eyes settling on her as she looked at him, her mouth dropped open in shock, her eyes glossy, darting over him.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Riley reached for her beer, bringing it to her lips as she tried to think of what to say. How was this possible? “So, that was you in the museum earlier.”

“Yeah, it was.” He took a sip from his own beer, realizing now that it was possibly the same one she was drinking, “What are you doing here?”

“Tristan, my boyfriend planned this vacation. What about you?”

No. It couldn’t be possible, could it? He bit his bottom lip, gulping before he answered, “My girlfriend, Shelby, she planned this vacation.”

“Plastic Surgeon?” Riley’s eyebrow had hooked up.

“Yeah, same for yours?” He watched as she nodded, he started to chuckle, “You know this is pretty much only the sort off thing that could happen to us, right?”

She sighed, her body hanging loosely as she looked to him, “I could totally hear Maya or Farkle or Zay laughing about this. I mean gosh, I haven’t spoken to them in a long time.”

Lucas opened his mouth to protest that idea, only to realize he hadn’t really talked to them either, “I guess, we grow up, we grow apart, no matter how connected we arm.”

Riley smiled that soft smile of hers, that always got him, always melted him. “I remember one time, overhearing my Dad and Uncle Shawn talking, and Uncle Shawn was like, ‘Cory how long have I been gone for?’ My Dad thought it was this short amount of time, maybe a few months, it had been years.”

Looking down at her hands they seemed foreign to her, until Lucas took one in his. It felt so right, so pure, but also both realized how wrong it was as they released the hold at the same time.

“We should um get everyone together for the Holidays or something.” Riley told him just before the bartender came with two separate to-go orders.

“Yeah, that would be good, a little reunion, New Years Eve, the roof of your old building, or something.”

“Yeah, something.” She told him as she signed her bill, grabbing her order and dashing out.

“Riley never called to tell you she saw him?” Farkle watched as Maya moved around her apartment, a glass of wine in each hand before she handed him one.

“Never.” She sat next to her old friend, “And she has barely posted anything on social media. The only thing I’ve seen recently was something about her going to see a Knicks game, but she wasn’t in the city.”

Farkle took a sip of the wine, “I haven’t spoken to Lucas, I left a message, but he never got back to me.”

“Maybe they’re both busy, I mean they’ve got a few months left of their residency, right? Is that what they are?” Maya reached for a pretzel from the bowl on her coffee table before hitting the volume button on the TV as the room filled with the theme song from Dancing with The Stars.

“Yeah, in a few months, I think they get to decide where they’ll practice. I always thought they would both come back to New York.” His eyes watched the group number that started, “There’s Zay!”

Maya watched her friend on the screen, dancing with the other pros before being joined by his partner a former star of the show Red Planet Diaries, surely Riley would be calling soon to freak out about this, right?

When the show went to commercial Maya hit the mute button and then glanced at her phone, “Huh, looks like Lucas posted. He hasn’t posted anything since that picture of Riley, right?”

“I haven’t seen anything.” He pulled his own phone out, opening Instagram. A picture of Pappy Joe’s ranch came up, the sun setting behind the house. “Oh boy.” Escaped his lips as he read the caption.

Maya quickly pulled the app up, looking at the picture as well and then the caption. She said yes! I can’t wait to start our future together here in Texas. “Lucas is going to marry that blonde?”

“I was sure he and Riley would be back together.”

Maya downed the rest of her wine before she went and retrieved the bottle from the kitchen bringing it back and refill her glass and then Farkle’s. “This isn’t how things are supposed to be. He’s supposed to marry Riley. They’re supposed to have twins, a boy and a girl. Lucas is supposed to steal the shoes of his daughters first boyfriend. He’s not supposed to marry some plastic surgeon and live in Texas.”

Farkle was silent as Maya ranted, thoughts processing in his mind as he picked up the remote control, unmuting the tv as the show returned. Neither spoke, they watched couple after couple, waiting for Zay and his partner.

After a while Maya muted the TV, “If Riley and Lucas aren’t meant to be, then who is meant to be?”

“I don’t know.” Farkle sighed, “You and I were married in middle school, we’re not meant to me.”

Maya rolled her eyes, swatting at him, but he grabbed her hand, his fingers slipping between hers as she collapsed on top of him.

A confidence swept through Farkle he only felt in the board room these days as he pulled Maya closer, kissing her, surprised when she kissed him back.

Zay adjusted his shoulder bag as he unlocked his studio apartment. When he was in LA he kept everything as simple as possible. Trying to save as much as he could, he never knew when it would all slip away.

He dropped his bag on the futon, the same futon that had lived in his and Lucas’ dorm room freshmen year of college. He moved to the small kitchen, pulling out one of the prepared meals he subscribed to. He was tired, the live show had worn him out. Tomorrow they would start a new set of rehearsals, and he had a few ideas of how to move forward he knew none of it would matter if he didn’t get some sleep soon.

He turned his TV on, the west coast airing of the show just now began. He saw a few messages from Maya and Farkle congratulating him.

He ate as he watched the group number, scrolling through his social media while the show played on. He tried to be as active as he could, but he was exhausted when he finally pulled up Instagram, playing the stories without thinking too much of it.

Most of them were Vote for us, type things from his co-stars, and then a video came up that was different.

Zooming in on a ring, on the delicate looking hand with a caption I Said Yes! He quickly looked to see who it was, then replayed the story when he realized it was Riley.

His heart sank, the hope he’d had that she and Lucas had reconnected flittered away. She was going to marry that guy she was dating, that Tristan guy.

He put his phone down, he suspected that in a few days he’d get a save the date. He would go to New York for the party, he would drink a gin and tonic and stand in the back with Farkle and Maya, pretending to be happy for her, knowing she was making a mistake.

Zay shook his head, how could those two be so damn stupid?

They had to have seen each other, and they had to have felt something when they did.

They were Riley and Lucas for crying out loud.

“I’m not going to this.” Maya shook her head as she put on her earrings, knowing that she would be going. “I mean really, we have to go and meet Lucas’ latest little chickadee and pretend like we’re happy he’s marrying her and not Riley.”

Farkle adjusted his tie, watching Maya a smirk on his lips, “If they hadn’t been on vacation together at the same time, would you still be this upset?”

Maya turned to him, her blue eyes icy, “Yes, okay I would be upset, maybe not this upset, but this isn’t the way things were meant to be.”

Farkle sighed, “I don’t know what to tell you. If I thought we could get them back together, I would say let’s go for it. But it looks like they’ve made up their minds.”

Pulling out her phone she was about to snap a playful picture of her and Farkle when she saw a notification from Riley’s Instagram account. “What’s this?”

A picture of Riley in a Knicks t-shirt, sitting in the window of her childhood bedroom, “True Love is going to a Knicks game with me.” The caption read.

Maya’s hand covered her mouth when she saw a ring on Riley’s left hand, “They’re both morons.”

Farkle took the phone, “Wait, is she here in New York?”

“She didn’t call me.” Maya felt her jaw clenching as she fluffed her hair, “Whatever, we have to go to Lucas’ engagement party.”

“You don’t think its weird that she’s in New York same time that Lucas is?” He had a nagging feeling in his gut, something wasn’t adding up for him, he was just missing a key piece of information.

“Of course, they are! But God forbid she fall in his lap on the subway and they reunite.” Maya sighed, “Let’s just go and find out how awful this doctor is, and then move on.”

Farkle smirked, “God you’re so damn feisty, I love that about you.”

Maya looked at him, “Yeah what else do you love about me?”

“A lot of things. I’ll tell you later if you can be nice to Lucas’ fiancé.”

Maya grunted, “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, but knew she would be nice, at the very least it would be what Riley would want.

Zay made it onto the subway just before the doors closed. He grabbed the pole, watching the commuters around him. He was still buzzing on the high of having made it to the finals with his partner. So, they came in second, but it meant he could do it. His first season and he made it that far, he still couldn’t believe it.

He could hear the buzz of people around him planning their Thanksgiving Day menus, discussing the family reunions they would have.

Part of him felt guilty heading to Riley’s engagement party. She was his friend though, and if she found a man who would make her happy, a man that would treat her the way she deserved, wonderful. But this man wasn’t Lucas, so how could he be all of those things?

As the subway came to his stop, he couldn’t help but wonder what Lucas would think if he knew where Zay was going.

Reaching the street, he could feel the cold bite of the fall night, the promise of winter just weeks away as he made his way to The Plaza. He pulled his phone out checking to see where in the hotel the party was located as he stumbled into someone.

“Zay!” The voice sent a chill down his spine as he looked up at the tall blonde.

“Lucas.” Zay barely got the words out as he looked at his oldest friend, stunned.

“You look like you weren’t expecting to see me.” Lucas slapped his old friend on the back, watching as Zay stumbled forward.

“No, I just didn’t think I would literally run into you.” He fibbed, what the hell was going on? Was Lucas really here, in the Plaza, the same night Riley was having her engagement party? Dear God, what kind of joke was fate playing on everyone?

“Seriously Zay, are you okay?” Lucas questioned as they made their way through the lobby.

“I’m peachy keen, jelly bean.” Had he just said that?

#

Farkle took a moment to look around The Palm Court, he didn’t spend much time here. But the room was gorgeous, it was his mother’s favorite place to have Tea with friends when working on different charity projects.

It did seem odd to him that this party was happening in New York, why not Boston or Austin?

He already planned to apologize profusely to Lucas’ future wife for whatever Maya said, he was sure she would drop a line or two about she’d never match up to Riley.

Maya squeezed his upper arm, “If this girl is a total bitch I’m going to tell him, you know that right. I’m going to be like Lucas, head out of your ass, go win Riley back.”

Farkle shook his head, “I can’t take you anywhere.”

“You can take me to bed when this is over.” She teased.

“Promise?”

“Yes.” Maya smiled to him before looking over towards the bar, “Wait, did he have the audacity to invite Cory and Topanga?”

Farkle grabbed Maya before she could race off to her childhood best friends’ parents. “Hold up. Stop. Look around, this is not the place for a scene. If Cory and Topanga can be happy for Lucas and his bride to be, so can we.”

Maya’s mouth hung open as she looked across the room, “Riley is here.”

Farkle snapped around to look, he couldn’t believe it. Riley wore a pale purple dress, her hair up in a twist, little decorative flowers in her hair. She was beaming as she lifted her left hand to run a stray twist of hair behind her ear, the ring on her finger catching the light.

“She’s engaged?” Maya didn’t understand how she didn’t know.

“Wait, we were coming to Lucas’ party, right?” Farkle suddenly wondered if he had gotten the dates wrong, had his secretary added things incorrectly to his calendar.

“Yeah, aren’t we?” Maya let the words float out as she looked around, seeing Zay and Lucas walking in. “Why is Lucas walking in with Zay and not his blonde?”

“Why is Riley with her parents and not Tristan?”

The two looked to each other for a moment before looking back at the scene playing out in front of them.

Zay felt a bit panicked when Lucas started walking towards The Palm Court as well. He couldn’t really be going to Riley’s engagement party, could he? Where was his girlfriend?

As they entered the beautiful room, Zay saw his old friend light up, “There’s my girl.”

Zay’s eyes followed Lucas’ gaze as it fell upon Riley, his jaw dropping as he watched his two old friends move across the room to greet each other with a kiss.

Had he really just seen that?

A waiter walked by with a tray of champagne and Zay quickly snatched one, taking a long sip before he made his way over to Farkle and Maya, “What is happening?”

“I don’t know.” Farkle watched as Maya took the drink from Zay, drinking what was left.

“I told Mom it was going to happen.” Auggie chuckled from behind the trio, “She didn’t believe me, but look.”

“Auggie, what is happening?” Farkle studied the young man.

Auggie looked at the people he had once looked up to, “Wait, you guys do know that Riley and Lucas are engaged to each other, right?”

“What?” The three of them blurted out all at once.

“Maya!” Riley called out from not far away before rushing over, “Please, please be my maid of Honor.”

Maya felt Riley’s arms around her and she stared at Farkle and Zay. “I am so confused.”

Riley pulled away, “Why are you confused?”

Maya backed up, her hands in the air as she made motions with her fingers, “You were with that like creepy plastic surgeon guy. I saw the vacation pictures, and you,” she looked to Lucas who had joined the group, “And you were with that Barbie doll. But then you posted that picture of Riley and then nothing until weeks later you post that you’re engaged, and you post nothing.”

“No, Riley posted she was engaged.” Zay defended.

Before they could start fighting Lucas got in the middle of them, “You guys, we both posted we were engaged.” He looked to Riley with a smirk, “You were right, we should’ve told them instead of thinking they would put the pieces together.”

“To be fair, it wasn’t like we put both our names on the invitations for this party.” She shrugged, “It does explain why Maya never called, or any of them.”

Farkle and Zay both instinctively knew to hold onto Maya, each wrapping their arms around her middle before she lunged for her friends. “You assholes got back together and didn’t tell us? Why not?”

“We didn’t want to get your hopes up, we needed to get to know each other again.” Lucas explained as he felt Riley fit against his side.

“We needed to fall in love again, and we did.” Riley looked to Maya, “And don’t think I haven’t noticed that Farkle is cropped out of a lot of your pictures, the Sunday Brunch shots and all that.”

Farkle blushed and Maya found herself still.

“I knew it!” Zay looked at them, “I had a feeling that was going to happen.”

“I know all of us are not as close as we once were.” Riley looked to each of them, “But we’re always going to be friends, and no matter where life takes us, be it New York, or Texas, or all over the world, we always come back together.”

“I’m still mad at you.” Maya sighed, “But wait, what happened to The Plastic Surgeon and Barbie?”

Lucas chuckled, “Tristan and Shelby, um, well they eloped to Las Vegas, what the day we left Durango, right?”

“Yeah, turns out they were college sweethearts, and that vacation was something they had always planned to do together.” Riley shook her head, “And yeah, but everything worked out. Oh, and they were both plastic surgeons.”

“Yeah, they’re going to be working in Vegas.” Lucas held Riley close to him, “And Riley and I will be practicing down in Texas once we’re married.”

“Why did you decide on Texas, why not here in New York?”

“We thought about it for a long time, and we have the chance to open up our own practice, we’ll be in charge of our own hours, and we’ll be able to spend time at the ranch of course and when ready we’ll be able to start our own family.” Riley explained.

“So, we’ll be married this summer in Texas, go on a little honeymoon,” Lucas mouthed it would be Paris with a smirk, “And start our lives together.”

Before either could continue Cory came over, grabbing them, needing them to take a few pictures and see some family members.

“They’re our best friends, and you guys, we didn’t know they were engaged to each other.” Farkle sighed.

Zay flagged a waitress down and got another glass of champagne, watching as Maya and Farkle each got one as well. “We’re forever connected, life has taken us all on different paths, but when its important, we come together, we might just get a moment here and there from each other, we might at times only know what’s up because of social media, but that gives us a chance to share our lives and stay connected.”

“And gets you two the finals on Dancing with The Stars.” Maya teased.

“Or allows you to share your art with people who might never have seen it.” Farkle reminded her.

“We might need to stop and not always freak out right away.” Maya shrugged, as she looked around, “They do look happy.”

“They sure do.” Zay agreed, “So, when can I expect you two to get married?”

Neither answered him, they just took a sip of their champagne, deciding to not comment on their relationship status, maybe one of these days they would throwback a picture of the day they eloped in October.

#Filtered Hearts #Rucas #Riley Matthews #Lucas Friar #Rucas Fanfic #Girl Meets World Fanfic #Maya Hart #Farkle Minkus #zay babineaux #Markle

[honestchick]

Candies Come with Memories

Summary:

Tony has flashbacks when he was little and remembers what he didn’t have.

Tony can tell you what he did every Halloween without hesitation and that was…nothing. He did nothing. Every year he’d see other kids with bright smiles in Halloween costumes by their parents. Tony envied them. Oh, how much he wanted that happiness. He wanted the parent’s supportiveness and the love. He wanted to feel how it felt like when you go to the door and say Trick-or-Treat. He never got to say that phrase or experiences what people always talked about when they had their candy. Those candies had experiences and memories, experiences with family, friends, and joy. Experiences and memories he never got to have. When he was in MIT, Rhodey offered that they go, but it was too late, Tony didn’t have the care for it anymore. Howard’s words lingered his head and Tony regrets for letting his words get to him because he could have gotten an experience with Rhodey. He remembers when he was five years old and heard about Halloween from his classmates at school. He remembered that he was excited to have that experience.

“But mommy we have to go shopping soon, Halloween is coming soon,” little Tony pleads as she’s talking to some of her companions. She waves him off.

“Not now, Tony. Mommy is talking,” Maria tells him. He frowns and walks off. How is he going to get a costume? What if he asks his dad? No, he’s going to yell. What if he knocks? He slowly takes small steps towards his dad’s office. He looks up at the door scared what will happen. He makes small knocks.

“Come in!” he hears which makes Tony jump. Tony opens the door and his dad is buried in his work.

“Sir?” Tony asks. He turns.

“What is it? If you need help, ask your mother,” Howard snaps.

“It’s about Halloween,” Tony responds.

“What about it?” Howard asks.

“I was wondering if we can go shopping for my costume. Everyone at school already has theirs and Halloween is in two days,” Tony suggests in a small voice, looking down. When he looks up, he sees his dad towering over him. Tony takes steps back.

“You will not be dressing up. Dressing up is for wimps! Do you understand? Halloween is stupid and useless! I don’t want you thinking about this dumb holiday!” Howard states, his voice bouncing off the walls.

“But dad everyone at school…” Howard yanks his arm toward him making Tony cry out.

“I said do you understand? Starks are made of iron! We are not wimps. Stop thinking about this stupid holiday! Understood!” Howard snaps. Tony nods yes, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Stop crying! You look like a wuss!” Tony darts to his room and cries into his pillow.

Tony sees yet another Halloween picture as he’s driving pass a building. He just picked Peter up from school and he seems…upset. Tony sees Peter looking down as he’s scrolling down his phone and his frown is getting sadder every time. Is that even possible? Tony can’t help but think if the kid is bullied, so he snatches his phone.

“Hey! Mr. Stark!” Peter cries out. Tony scrolls down and sees people in their costumes. What’s making the kid upset then? He passes Peter his phone back.

“Here, I’m sorry I snatched it. I thought you were being bullying on social media and keeping quiet,” Tony explains.

“Why would you think that?” Peter asks.

“Well, it seems every time you scroll down, you frown deeper,” Tony states. Peter looks away and says, “Oh.”

“Let it out. You are hiding something. If you don’t, I’m going to break your phone,” Tony threatens.

“Peter, I’m going to count to three. One, two…” Peter waves his hands, wanting him to stop counting.

“Ok, ok. I just….people all have their costumes and I…” Peter mumbles something that Tony can’t hear.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Tony says. Peter mumbles it again. “Peter!”

“I don’t have a costume, ok!” Peter blurts out. It’s silent for a while. “It’s stupid, I know.” Peter crosses his arms. “May didn’t have enough money and I don’t blame her. Rent has been tough along with the bills. I usually make my own, but I’ve been busy with patrols and school so I can’t get a costume this year or go Trick-or-Treating.” Peter looks down sadly knowing his friends are going to have fun without them. He doesn’t want to stop them from having fun all because he doesn’t have a costume. Last year was fun; he was able to go Trick-or-Treating with Ned and MJ. It was hilarious because Ned got chased by two cats and then a dog later in the night. MJ still has the videos.

“Alright, Happy drive us to the nearest Halloween store,” Tony advices. Peter head shoots up in surprise. Happy makes a turn.

“What? Mr. Stark, no you don’t have to do that,” Peter tells him.

“I don’t, but I want to,” Tony responds.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t want you to pay for this. Really, it’s no big deal. It’s just a stupid holiday,” Peter says and Tony tenses at stupid holiday.

Tony shakes his head.

“No, it’s not a stupid holiday. It’s holiday where you get to spend time with family or friends where you can get free candy. Who doesn’t want that?” Tony asks. Peter smiles.

~

Tony and Peter walk around the store.

“I hope they have something. I know Halloween is tomorrow,” Peter mumbles as he observes the store.

“Kid, relax. If they don’t, we’ll go to another store,” Tony assures.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Peter tells him a millionth time with a bright smile. Tony nods, not wanting to deal with emotions. They look for about a good fifteen minutes with Tony joking around that Peter should be looking in the kid section and not the teen section. You are looking at the wrong aisle, Pete. You are still a kid. Tony pinched his cheeks adding to it making Peter blush and whine, Mr. Stark, stop.

Then, that’s when Peter finally found his costume. He turns to Mr. Stark and Tony looks towards the costume.

“That’s what you want? You want to be Luke Skywalker?” Tony asks.

“Yes, please! I mean…” Peter looks at the price, but Tony grabs it before he can look.

“We’re getting it,” Tony tells him and is walking away and puts his arm around Peter’s shoulder with a Dark Vader voice, “I am your father.” They both stop walking and freeze. Peter looks up at Tony.

“Kid, I didn’t mean…” Peter cuts him off.

“Mr. Stark, you can be Dark Vader for Halloween!” Peter blurts out. Before Tony can respond, Peter rushes to the adult section.

“Peter…” Peter is already back with the costume with adrenaline and Tony doesn’t have the courage to say no.

“Please, Mr. Stark. Please, it’ll be so cool! We will be matching!” Peter says and gasps in excitement. “You can go Trick-or-Treating with me!” Tony looks at Peter, not knowing what to say. This actually surprises Tony. Peter notices Tony tense up and his excitement slowly collapses.

“Oh, right. I forgot, you probably have a party to get to,” Peter mumbles. It hurts Tony when he notices how upset Peter is. He doesn’t care if he looks like a fool, he’d rather see Peter happy.

“As long as your aunt dresses up as Princess Leia, I’m all for it,” Tony requests and Peter face brightens up again. Peter rushes to get May a costume shouting, “Mr. Stark, this is going to be so fun!”

~

May looks into the mirror and comments, “I look like an idiot.” Tony laughs.

“That makes two of us,” Tony adds spreading out his arms so he can show his outfit and then tugs at it.

“I think you guys look awesome!” Peter says as he enters the room. They both turn and smile at Peter. There’s a knock on the door. “That must be MJ and Ned!” Peter rushes towards the door, swinging it open.

“Nice costumes!” Peter comments as he sees Ned dressed as Han Solo and MJ dressed as a zombie.

“Same with you, dweeb,” MJ replies. Peter lets them in. Ned gasps when he Mr. Stark.

“Tha…that’s Mr. Stark,” Ned chokes out in awe. Tony turns and waves with his famous smirk. That right there is what makes Ned collapse in star-struck.

“Is he ok?” May asks, rushing towards Ned.

“He’s ok, he just got star-struck,” Peter explains.

“I've been known to have that effect,” Tony advices and May just rolls her eyes. Peter gently hits Ned’s face, he slowly wakes up. Peter helps him up.

“So…I didn’t get the Star Wars memo,” MJ then comments as she look around the room that everyone is dressed up in a Star Wars themed costume, but her.

“Oh, you’re fine. We were forced,” May assures her.

“Oh, come on. You two look great!” Peter argues. “Now come on, the sun’s heading down.”

“Pictures first!” May tells him. Peter groans. “Stop your groaning. Come on, everyone.” Tony puts his arms around the kids with a wide smile.

“Mr. Stark is touching me,” Ned gasps. Peter rolls his eyes.

“Ned,” Peter whines.

“May, get in the picture. I have a camera that takes it for us,” Tony advices. May is unsure, but Tony waves his hand. May gets in it and then Tony takes his phone out, a small device hovers over them.

“Wow,” Ned and Peter gasp. The device is in front of them.

“There you go,” Tony says.

“Smile!” May instructs. They all smile and there’s a small click.

~

Tony watches Peter rambling with his friends as they are going house to house. May notices Tony observing the decoration. Even though his face is covered, she’s noticed his head turn side to side. When the kids rush to a house shouting, Trick-or-Treat, May asks, “You don’t like the decorations?” Tony’s startled by her voice, not thinking she noticed.

“Oh, no. I like them, I just…not used to them,” Tony responds.

“What do you mean?” May questions.

“I never done this,” Tony replies and waves his hand around to explain what he means.

“You never had gone Trick-or-Treating? What kind of person doesn’t…” May stops when she notices Tony look down. “Well, now you are. I hope you are having fun.” Before Tony can respond, Peter and the other rush back.

“I got some Hershey’s! My favorite!” Peter comments. Tony nods yes.

“Yeah, I am,” Tony responds.

Not long before the same cats as last year attack Ned again.

“No, not again!” Ned shouts, running away. MJ records him as they laugh.

~

They head back to the house and the kids are on the living room floor exchanging candies.

“Ew, I got some butterfingers,” Ned comments.

“Hand them over if you don’t want them,” MJ adds. Ned does as well as Peter. Tony orders them a pizza a while ago, May and Tony just watches the others in amusement. MJ and Ned fight over some candy while Peter just watches as he eats some.

“Peter, don’t eat too much. The pizza is almost here,” May tells them. Peter nods ok and puts them away. Right when she says that, there’s a notification on Tony’s phone. “I’ll go get it.”

“The pizza is already paid for, ok,” Tony informs before May leaves. Peter rushes towards Tony.

“Want some?” Peter asks opening up his candy bag. Tony looks at it as if it’s new because it is.

“Kid, those are your candies,” Tony instructs. Those are your memories, he wants to say.

“Yeah, I know, but I want to share them with you,” Peter states, confused on why Mr. Stark doesn’t want any. “Do you hate candy?”

“No, I just...those are yours! I don’t deserve them,” Tony says. Ned and MJ are watching from afar. Peter just scoffs at that.

“Mr. Stark, you do deserve them,” Peter says, not knowing how much that means to Tony. He does deserve these experiences, right?

“I had fun tonight, Pete. Thank you,” Tony tells him.

“I had fun too, Mr. Stark! We should do this again and for other holidays too! What do you say?” Peter asks and Tony nods yes. Peter smiles wide and just opens the bag wider. Tony takes a Hershey bar and opens it. Peter grabs one last one too. Tony takes a bite, enjoying his candy.

Candy has memories and this is something he will always remember. May then comes back in and announces that the pizzas are here. They all dig in. This Halloween was amazing and Tony can’t wait to do this again.

~HAPPY HALLOWEEN! BE SAFE AND BE CAREFUL!~

#tony stark #peter parker #may parker #ned leeds #mj

[this-book-has-been-loved]

And The View Will Be Different Tomorrow

For @platonicvldweek​ Day 6: Temporary/Constant

Read it on Ao3 | Read it on FFN

Pidge had an uncanny ability to find each and every nook and cranny and hiding place on the Castle. There were more secret rooms on this ship than even Allura and Coran probably knew of, and Lance was sure Pidge had discovered them all.

So he really shouldn’t have been surprised to find her tucked away in some little back room on the  Castle, sitting in a windowsill, staring out at the stars.

He also shouldn’t have been surprised that she was awake, despite the Castle’s timekeeping system having hit the approximate equivalent to 3 AM a while ago.

And yet, the first thing out of his mouth was: “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

She jumped, nearly falling off of the window seat. “Lance!” she yelped. “What the—What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that,” he retorted. “Do you even realize how late it is?”

“Time is an illusion.”

“Pidge,” Lance said. “Can I ask you something very important?”

“No.”

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

“Ha!”

He sighed. “Allow me to rephrase the question. How much sleep have you gotten in the past week?”

“Total?” She shrugged, hazarding, “Maybe four hours?”

He bit back a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alright, you little gremlin,” he told her, “you need to go to bed.”

She leveled an even glare at him, raising one eyebrow. “And what about you?” she muttered. “Don’t you need your nightly ten hours of beauty sleep, or whatever?”

That shut him up. He pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at her. They stared at each other in frosty silence before Pidge turned her attention back to the window she was sat up against. “Can’t sleep, huh.” It wasn’t a question.

“It’s one of those nights,” he confessed.

“Believe it or not, I think I can relate.”

He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Is it okay if I sit with you?”

Pidge shrugged listlessly, and Lance sat down beside her. Neither of them said anything, and they merely watched the starscape before them twinkle and flicker as they moved through space.

“It’s so big,” she finally whispered. “I’ve seen more in the past week alone than I ever dreamed I would. And we’ve barely skimmed the surface.”

“Makes you think about our cosmic insignificance?”

“That’s just the thing,” she protested. “We’re not. Cosmically insignificant, that is. God, Lance, we’re so damn important. We’ve been out here, what, a couple months? And already we’ve changed so many lives. Everyone knows who we are.” She paused, taking a shaky breath. “The entire universe is counting on us,” she rasped. “And it’s so big.”

These thoughts were nothing new to Lance. They’d been running through his head for ages now. They’re relying on you. Don’t screw this up. You’re not good enough. What have you done to help? They’d be better off without you. “I know exactly what you mean,” he murmured.

“And we’re so far from home,” Pidge continued, her fists clenching at the hem of her shirt. “I left my mom all alone. She has absolutely no idea where I am, or what’s going on, or if I’m even still alive—” Her breathing was starting to speed up as the words fell out of her. “What did Iverson tell them? I mean, we just disappeared. What did he tell people? Are we just another ‘presumed to be dead’ like he said for the Kerberos mission?” She wiped furiously at her eyes.

“I know,” Lance said softly. “I think about that a lot too.” What was his family doing now? His sisters, his brother, his cousins…. Had they held a memorial service for him? Rosa and Sophia were so young when he left; would they even still remember him?

“Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever find them.” Her voice was barely audible, and Lance could see the tears welling up in her eyes. “Dad and Matt. I’m not going home without them, I can’t.”

“You won’t have to,” he promised. “Okay? Cuz we’re going to find them. And we’re gonna save the universe. And then we’re all going to go home and finally have that parade.”

Despite everything, Pidge chuckled. “I hope so,” she replied. She took a deep breath, composing herself. “I’m sorry for just. Dumping all my problems on you.”

“That’s okay,” he said. “S’what I’m here for. And it’s not like it’s anything I haven’t really been thinking about myself.”

“How do you always stay so—” She waved her hand vaguely, “—smiley?”

“The certified Lance method to dealing with your emotions,” he replied. “Bottle it all up and never tell anyone till you reach the breaking point.”

“You have the worst coping mechanisms.”

“Don’t I know it.” They fell quiet again, comforted by each other’s presence. “I always dreamed of coming up here,” Lance said after a moment, breaking the silence. “Being a pilot and going to space and exploring new worlds was what I dreamed about for years. I wanted to be an astronaut since I was in elementary school, learning about that first trip to the moon all those years ago.”

“Me too,” Pidge mumbled. “Even earlier. Wanted to be just like my dad.”

“And now that I’m actually out here,” Lance continued, “it’s a bit…overwhelming. I have to be honest, I wasn’t expecting anything like this. I wasn’t expecting robot lions, or magic castles, or alien wars. And I just…miss home.”

“Is it weird that one of the things I miss most is the stars?” Pidge blurted. “I mean…here we are, floating through the depths of space, completely surrounded by stars.” She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “But…none of them are the ones I know. I look out the window and I don’t see any of the constellations I grew up learning.”

Lance’s eyes were locked on the window in front of them. “I think I can relate to that.”

“Even when the entire world was crumbling around me, the stars were still there. They never changed. They were so easy for me to look at, to remind myself that maybe I wasn’t as lost I felt.” She took a ragged breath, trying to steady herself. “Dad always said that if I got lost, to look for the North Star,” she whispered. “If I could find the North Star, then I would know which way north was, and then I wouldn’t be lost.” She drew her legs up into the seat with her, hugging them to her chest. “But now…we’re so far away from home, so lost, we can’t even see the North Star.”

Lance was quiet for a long while, and they watched the stars pass by in silence.

“When I was a kid,” he started eventually, “I would stare at those stars all the time. I was never really any good and finding the constellations in the pictures and stuff. So I’d just make my own.” He smiled softly. “They’d have the weirdest names. Apples And Bananas. A Clump Of Seaweed. The One That Looked Sort Of Like A Fish.” On the other end of the window seat, Pidge started to giggle. “So while everyone else was pointing out, like, the Big Dipper or Orion or whatever,” Lance continued. “I’d just see ‘The Demon Bunny’ and ‘Maybe A Piano’.” And Pidge barked out a laugh. Lance’s smile turned bittersweet, reminiscing. “Probably kind of stupid, really.”

“Well, you know, those constellations we learned about had to come from somewhere,” Pidge told him. “Someone had to make them up.”

“Yeah,” he hummed. “I guess so.” After a moment, he hopped a bit closer to her. “Hey. Why don’t we do that?”

She seemed a bit taken aback. “What?”

“Make our own constellations,” he repeated enthusiastically. “You said you missed the ones from around home, right? And that there weren’t any like that out here? So let’s make our own.” He pointed out the window. “There, you see that big bright one? Kind of in the middle?”

“Yeah?”

“That can be the new North Star.”

“But it’s not north,” she protested. “There is no north in space.”

“Pidge, just go with me on this, okay?”

She was hesitant to reply. “Okay,” she mumbled eventually.

“And see that cluster?”

“Um. Maybe? There are a lot of clusters.”

“The one to the left of the North Star. And up a bit.”

A pause. Then: “Yeah.”

It went on. He’d point out another star, tracing an imaginary path between each one. “Kinda looks like a lion, doesn’t it?”

Pidge tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the stars. “It kinda does,” she agreed. “You know, this would be a lot easier if we had a star map or something.”

“Then go find one for us, genius.”

She laughed. “Alright,” she said. “C’mon, let’s see what we can find on the bridge.”

Lance couldn’t make sense of the route Pidge lead him on to get back to the bridge. He couldn’t keep track of all the turns they made, and he marveled at how Pidge could keep the castle mapped in her head so effortlessly. From the bridge, they were able to pull up the image of the outside of the castle on the big viewscreens. A smaller screen built into the console showed the same image of the starscape, and they were able to trace lines between the stars. The images they drew were copied onto the bigger screens as well, so their invented star map was hung all around them.

“I’m calling this one Bravest Warrior,” Lance declared. “See, it looks like that one Arusian we met. Klaizap?”

Pidge chuckled. “This one’s Mothman,” she decided. “He’s dating Bigfoot.”

Lance grinned. “Perfect.” He drew a connect-the-dots smiley face. “And this is The Emoji.”

She laughed again, covering her face with her hands. She wiped at her eyes, and Lance realized that they were again starting to well up with tears.

“Hey,” he said gently. “You okay?”

“You just….” She shook her head. “Sometimes you just remind me so much of Matt.” “We’d do this kind of stuff all the time. Stargazing, and pointing out the constellations. Then he’d start making up his own, and I’d call him an idiot.” She smiled, bittersweet. “God, I miss him.”

He looked at her fondly, then reached over to wrap an arm around her. “Well, I am more than happy to play the surrogate big brother,” he assured her. “I have four sisters back home, three of them younger. One is about your age. I’ve got lots of practice.”

She leaned into him. “Thanks, Lance.”

“Anytime, Katie.”

They sat back, admiring the view. The stars moved lazily round them, glowing lines connecting them to form their improvised constellations.

“And you know,” Lance added. “Who know where we’ll be tomorrow? The entire view will be different. But that’s okay. Cuz that just means we can start all over with this.”

“Always seeing the stars from a different angle.”

It was hours later when she finally started to drift off to sleep. She curled up into his side, burying her face into his chest. Half asleep, she murmured, “Love you, bro.”

He smiled, gently kissing the top of her head. “Love you too, sis.”

#platonicvldweek #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Voltron Legendary Defender #Voltron #vld #Voltron fanfiction #vld fanfiction #Voltron fanfic #Lance McClain #Pidge Gunderson #Katie Holt #mine #I'm a writer #my writing

[missorgana]

that’s how you get the girl (more or less)

pairing: han solo/leia organa

fandom: star wars (original trilogy)

rating: teen and up

word count: 4881

warning: swearing

summary: Han's kind, and he's an idiot. What a combination. (newspaper reporters!au inspired by nickie’s gorgeous aesthetic. happy very belated birthday @ladyeowyn ♥ really hope you enjoy this love!!)

read on ao3

Han Solo might possibly be the stupidest person on the face of the earth.

There are many things in this world Leia can’t be certain of, but this one, she just knows.

And she definitely didn’t expect to meet him at her job, of all places.

About five years ago, Leia got an intern spot at Cloud City Times, along with her lovable, strangely connected twin brother, Luke.

She didn’t even know he applied til they got their acceptance emails.

Regardless, they did everything together, so Leia didn’t complain.

Their mother always had a fond look in her eyes when checking on them after their bedtime, in their younger years, scolding them with no real irritation when she found them reading Lord of The Rings, flashlight in hand, hidden in a fort of blankets.

She could never really get angry with them, no matter how much trouble they managed to get into.

So, of course, she was over the moon when the twins told her the news.

On their first, they were reminded by her to work together, and not get into their ‘usual squabbles’, a comment that made Leia scrunch up her nose.

She still kissed them goodbye, though.

And Leia worked hard to impress their boss, she really did, and she can’t really speak on Luke’s behalf, but she’s sure he did too.

She knows him too well to think anything else, her brother doesn’t do anything half-assed. They are Skywalkers, after all, as their father always said.

The internship eventually earned them both an actual, stable job, and six months ago, the boss appointed Leia as managing editor.

And she held a lot of pride in that, you know?

This essentially means she was put in charge of hiring and promoting, or in worse cases, firing staff.

Luke teased her for being his boss, he was proud of her, but also loved pushing her buttons every once in a while.

And if Leia didn’t know better, it might look like her brother is doing just that to her now.

Yesterday, Luke asked her to take this guy in for an interview, someone he apparently met in his weird board game club or whatever.

He insisted that this new friend of his needed a job, insisted he had some good ideas, too, and Leia decided to put her faith in him.

Oh boy, was she wrong to do so.

Because in front of her, he’s sitting, Han Solo, the man her brother said was practically born to have this job.

If Leia has to be completely honest with herself, cause her mother always valued honesty, her first thought when she saw him made her rather flustered.

But can you blame her, really?

He was polite and shook her hand, his own wearing rings on every finger, and showcasing a smile that could almost cross the line to being a smirk,

This guy proceeded to shower her with compliments, rambling about how he’s a huge fan of hers, highlighting the pro-abortion piece she published a couple of months prior, and even saying her office was comfortable, not crammy and dull like those in the movies.

Him being insanely attractive doesn’t help Leia’s professional and social ability, either.

She never thought herself as one to swoon over someone she just met, yet here she is.

Leia had always liked her partners tall, her ex-girlfriend Amilyn was more than a head taller than herself, and so is this Han, and he still has some sort of sparkle in his eyes she doesn’t really know what to do with.

All polite greetings and various compliments aside, Leia has to retain some level of authority, so she starts the interview, the usual questions of past experience, ambitions, strengths and weaknesses, you know the drill.

And, well, the conversation turns out interesting, to say the least.

“So, Han, you got any past experience in the field?”

He blinks at her, pulls a lock of hair behind his ear before he replies, “Ah, well, not exactly.”

Leia waits expectantly but the man in front of her seems done with his sentence.

Man of few words, huh. This is going to be a long interview, then.

“Would you care to elaborate?” she asks, already impatient. His good looks are one thing, but not a basis for employment.

He smiles again. Dammit, Leia, pull yourself together.

“You talk just like in your writing, I’m impressed,” he tells her, reaching out to presumably take a closer look at the framed picture of her parents on her desk, “I, uh, how much did Luke tell you about me?”

Before Leia can answer, a shattering sounds, and Han’s face in a state of shock.

He fumbles his fingers where he dropped the photo.

“Jesus, that, uh- wauw. It’s real glass?”

She just has to do a double a take. Leia’s not surprised as much as confused, switching her gaze to the photograph and shards of glass now inhabiting the industrial Ikea rug.

Han looks embarrassed.

He still tries a smile, this one most likely one he uses to charm himself out of possible incidents, she bets, or accidents, as in this case.

Leia just huffs. She can’t help but give him a smile back and a simple shrug.

He’s an idiot.

With this realisation, Leia relaxes in her seat once again, while Han runs a hand through his hair anxiously, “Oh f- I mean, damn. I’m so sorry. I’ll get you a new frame, I really thought I had this, of course my dumb luck-”

“Don’t.”

She puts her hand up to further get her point across.

“It’s a frame, Han. The photo’s still intact. Don’t worry about it.”

Still, he picks up the photograph and hands it to her, appearing to hold further apologies back, and she nods a thanks.

“Look, uh, to answer your question - I got experience a couple years back. Thing is, well, I exposed… some stuff. My rep ain’t the best cause of that.”

His hand gestures are large, vivid, quick, and Leia wishes he would catch his breath.

“He deserved it, though! And Luke’s trying to help me out, honestly, he’s the nicest, ever. Please believe me.” he finally finishes, adjusts his wristwatch and just… looks at her.

It’s silent for a while, because Leia doesn’t really know what to answer, and she wishes she could go against her gut feeling.

This kind of charm sucks her in and she scolds herself mentally. Will never admit to it. At least she’ll have someone pretty to look at.

“Luke believes in you.” she tells him simply, “And I trust my brother. If you got a portfolio, I’ll look it over. Just, please, stop looking like you’re terrified of me.”

And Han releases a breath, nods decidedly, “Hell yeah I got one. Okay, you won’t regret this. Seriously.”

Leia gives him a smile, exceptionally warm for someone she’s only known for about thirty minutes. Don’t even think of judging her right now.

“I’ll hold you on that.”

…

Two weeks pass by since Leia hired Han, and she has to admit, she’s positively surprised.

Han’s an exceptional writer, she thinks, after having three published pieces so far, and she feels a sense of pride, almost.

Thing is, well, he needs a metaphorical kick or two when it comes to work.

Not actually working, it’s not like he’s lazy, but let’s say Leia wonders if his definition of a deadline is something different than hers.

Every piece so far, the first draft comes into her hands at least two days after she told him to. And his charm aside, it’s getting on her nerves.

She doesn’t want to act over powerful, but warnings are given where warnings are due, and he always apologises profusely, trying to lighten the mood with one of his bad jokes.

Oh, the cluelessness of him.

The way Han has that smile permanently plastered on her face, it’s a weird combination of someone having the looks of a cocky bastard that makes every swoon, and the personality of a clumsy high school dropout who somehow always ends up saving the day.

And he definitely doesn’t have a problem making friends.

Han’s way too nice. 

Everyone’s nice here, don’t get her wrong, but Leia finds it strange, almost.

It’s come to a point where he tells her of his adventure to another department when their own printer broke down, and he casually mentions someone named Boba, Leia ultimately hiding her confused unknowing of who he’s talking about.

How does he even have the time to meet so many people?

But Leia can’t lie about the fact that she enjoys this weird dynamic they’ve started.

He teases her, in a professional manner that is, always guessing, and always somehow hitting it spot on, what her newest piece is about.

He also knocks on her office door more than anyone else, untimely or not. When she tells him she’s in the middle of something he takes the cue, thankfully, but she suspects he’s waited outside for whatever call she had to end.

Three weeks pass by and it’s like Han’s living in her mind.

She’d suspect of him being a mind reader, if she believed that sort of stuff, and if Han wasn’t so impulsive and strangely dim in certain areas.

Basically, she’s seeing, and hearing, a lot more of him than she expected to.

And whether this is a curse or a blessing, well, Leia is troubled.

Because more than anything, Han is turning out so incredibly annoying.

She hates that thought, because what she finds annoying is not, per say, annoying, not in a traditional sense.

He’s late to everything, yes, but he’s extremely genuine.

Discussions with him is always something Leia looks forward to, and his feedback to her is honestly excellent. It’s almost like he changes personality when he’s deeply concentrated in work, always has to the right constructive criticism, always the missing word you’re looking for.

He works most nights late, he casually told her of that fact, and if she shows even a hint of annoyance towards him, he leaves whatever the case is be and greets her the next morning with coffee.

How’s he learned how she takes her coffee so quickly, anyway?

What shifted their dynamic even more was that Leia and Han both started working late at the office.

First happened on a Friday, where she went to the coffee machine and spotted him still staring at his screen.

This evening encounter ended up as a routine, and eventually, Han more or less moved into her office, until they were both done with whatever task at hand.

And, after five weeks, Leia has now found the most annoying thing about Han Solo.

She likes him.

Leia supposes this is a natural progression, after the weird first job interview, finding he possesses charm in spades, and where she definitely couldn’t deny that he is, in fact, attractive.

Actually, he fits her type completely. And that can’t be happening.

Leia keeps trying to look for signs that he’s actually a douche, but, tragically, not the case.

Han cares about this job, minor flaws aside, and if his interactions with Luke is any indication, he cares about people, too.

He’s kind, and he’s an idiot. What a combination.

Tuesday morning, Han knocks on her door as usual, which is why Leia just yells for him to come in, zero surprise in her tone.

“General,” he greets her, a nickname he came up with on his first day and never explained, and it makes Leia roll her eyes, “You eat breakfast yet?”

Well, that was new.

Leia looks up, Han holding a brown paper bag in his arms, along with the carefully balanced coffee cups, as per usual.

She leans back, trying to hold a smile back but probably failing, “No, now that you ask. Tell me, what would’ve you done if I had?”

Han laugh and sits down, clearly already at home, and starts presenting her with the meal, “We could’ve eaten it for lunch, of course. Multipurpose, right?”

Leia scoffs back at him, but grabs the coffee with a nod as a thank you.

“I do have to take a phone call, though. You wanted to discuss your piece for next week?”

He smirks at her again, “You must be a mind reader, General. But yes, it can wait though. You’re a busy woman, I’ll just take my half of our splendid meal and leave you be.”

Han works a fake cry of despair into his words, and walks out the door, the sulky look way too dramatic for anyone to believe it, but there’s no point in telling him that.

“That’s appreciated.” she tells him, shaking her head fondly at his act, “Remember the deadline this time, now would you?!”

“Of course. It’s me.”

His look of disbelief is given no more than a raise of Leia’s eyebrows.

This man will be the death of her.

…

Out of the many discoveries Leia’s made about Han, her latest is that he’s, in fact, a clingy person.

Very clingy.

This is not something bad in her mind, maybe because he’s so likable.

She’s had to remind him and Luke of their duties a few times, when they were too occupied looking at photos of Han’s dog - Chewie, another thing she has no idea what means - on his flip phone.

Han’s simultaneously the first and last person she expected to still have a flip phone.

And, turns out, Lando and Han dated back in high school. Not that that’s something to think about too much. Leia doesn’t overthink.

Regardless, Han tends to hang around other people for as long as humanly possible.

To begin with, she didn’t have the heart to say something, maybe, possibly, because of her crush, but not really.

Stupid crushes. Leia shouldn’t have crushes.

Now that they’re comfortable with each other, Han clings even more, believe it or not, only difference is Leia is not afraid to tell him to back off when she’s going to a meeting.

And she did figure she’ll have to, well, keep her distance and let whatever she’s feeling go away.

Dating a coworker would be extremely unprofessional, at least in Leia’s mind.

She doesn’t know really if there’s any rules about it. Might be some restrictions, she figures.

And dating Han would require some more patience than what she’s capable of, she thinks, and also that the feeling was mutual.

Han Solo is incredibly hard to read.

During their late night work sessions, they’ve had some, what can you say, heartfelt moments. Honest, raw perhaps?

It surprised her when they happened.

Here, Han’s smirk disappeared, and a relaxed smile took its place. His smirk seemed, sometimes, as something forced, but this, Leia somehow knew was genuine.

He seems more thoughtful about his words, it seems, when they’re one on one.

It’s weird. Not that it means anything.

To begin with he told mostly of Chewie and his car, and he then keeps on telling her on a semi-daily basis how she definitely has to see it, maybe go for a drive because he assures her it has the best motor and perfect glossed paintwork and other car stuff she pretends she cares about.

One conversation went to his high school girlfriend, Qi’ra, and eventually of his more or less absent parents.

Han’s been fending for himself since the age of sixteen, and honestly, that doesn’t surprise Leia at all.

He’s clumsy, an idiot, yes, but he seems like someone who can feel at home anywhere, or with anyone.

She might be imagining that maybe, possibly, he could feel at home with her, but when the thought crosses her it’s stupid. Just because they’re more comfortable than someone should be with their boss doesn’t mean anything.

And well, about these unexplainable feelings of hers towards this dummy, Leia suspects he might be interested in someone else.

Someone else being her twin brother. Now listen, Leia’s not jealous, okay? She hates thinking that way.

Because Han takes a liking to everyone, but especially to Luke.

They’re seeming, at least, to get into a lot more trouble lately - not anything major, just with her, because a common interest is teasing her, apparently.

And Han hangs around Luke’s desk a whole lot, no matter how many times Leia points it out with a raised eyebrow.

He does go when she’s told them a third time, sending a salute her way.

Come to think of it, they’re practically attached by the hip by now.

Luke’s board game club meets twice a week, so Leia can only wonder how much time the two spend together, outside of work.

And her brother always mentions some anecdote or movie or weird fact Han’s told him, excited as always, and as much as Leia gets a pit in her stomach, it’s adorable.

“Have you seen Han’s car?” and when she shakes her head, he looks bewildered, “Leia! You need to see it! He’s like, customized almost everything. It’s some old classic car, can’t remember the company, wait, let me look it up...”

Her brother’s tales of him frame him as close to the standard of a greek god, or something, and it’s hilarious, to be honest.

Like, Leia can tell his idolisation of Han’s clouding his judgement. He’s definitely not as wise as he’s making her brother think, at least.

Similarly, Han talks of how Luke constantly beats him in everything, despite his fine tuned skills he otherwise loves to brag about.

“I let the kid win in chess, though, like, that’s my homefield, you know?” he tells her with a wink, and Leia just laughs, because she’s pretty sure Han isn’t protecting her brother’s dignity with this one.

And Leia has to, finally, admit to herself that she needs to do something.

She has to get over this crush of hers, because she doesn’t have a chance. And she values her brother’s happiness higher than her own.

Leia figures Luke has more patience for Han’s shenanigans than herself, and maybe just a more similar personality, really.

She’s a lot more organized, she thinks, maybe she’s a bit uptight, okay, but that isn’t bad, is it? Why’s Han Solo making her doubt herself so much?

The irony, twins falling for the same guy. Ridiculous.

Anyway, Leia decides to text Han, asks him if they can talk the next morning. Before working on her own heartbreak, she’s gotta make sure he knows she’s got her brother’s back.

And yes, she’s got his phone number, she’s got all the staff members’ numbers, though. Don’t you dare get into that right now.

And Han, like the weird, dreamy guy he is, answers with the usual “‘Course, General”, followed by a winky face. Dear God.

The sooner this is out of the world, the better.

…

Before Leia knows it, the following morning comes and she’s finishing an email when the usual knock sounds.

Han doesn’t even wait for an answer this time, just appears and fumbles with the door handle, trying his hardest not to spill their coffee.

She simply gives him a look and the “You know, usually, regular human beings wait for an answer after knocking.” question.

He raises one eyebrow.

“I’m not even close to regular, General. How could you underestimate me like that!” he cries out with a laugh. “And you did say you wanted to discuss something.”

Leia sighs, yeah, she can’t cover it up with a joke, in the end. Han settles in the seat opposite her desk, giving her a suspicious look.

“I’m not in trouble, am I?” She sips the coffee, way too hot, fuck. Her burnt tongue’s halting her words, but she speaks up again regardless, “Not exactly, no.”

His brows furrow. She can’t really tell if he’s confused or worried or disbelieving, he’s always doing that frown whenever something bothers him, though.

“I know I got my piece to you late last week, I- again. I’m learning that, uh, time thing, you know. Just, please don’t fire me. I really need this job and-”

“Han!” she has to outburst, because he’s rambling.

He visibly has to catch his breath, puts on a semi good smirk on again, Jesus, and straightens his back a little.

“Sorry. I’m all ears.”

As much as she’s gotten to know him, she still wonders how many of his mannerisms are put on and how many are genuine.

He certainly flails with his arms a lot whenever he tries to explain something. That can’t be faked, right?

It’s the amount of charm that, well, sometimes seems plastered on.

Not that it’s not working, because boy, it sure does, but if Leia’s being honest, she’d much rather have their solemn, relaxed late conversations.

There, she feels like he’s being more himself, whatever that may be, because she actually doesn’t know this man very well.

She wants to. Maybe. Yeah, no, she does, is that embarrassing? Sue her.

He’s not even the mysterious kind of guy she saw in those stupid shows when she was fourteen, he’s just the right amount of off, compared to her current social circle.

Leia could spend ages trying to describe him, still wouldn’t justify her feelings for him to herself, whatever.

“I didn’t want to see you because of something work-related.” she finally tells him, and the frown reappears on his face, but Leia continues, “I just want to make sure we understand each other.”

Han rustles a bit in his jeans pocket but pulls nothing out, slicks his hair back like he does way too many times than someone should, probably.

He tries an unsure smile again, “I’m not sure I know where you’re going with this, General.”

And he turns a couple of rings on his fingers, presumably because he’s still nervous about where this is going, so Leia has to cut the chase, already, dammit.

“Okay, well, you and Luke hang out a lot. Seems like you like each other.”

Now Han’s mannerisms seems to slow down, he gives her, once more, a slightly lifted eyebrow, replying, “I mean, yeah? Luke’s great. You wanna talk about Luke?”

Leia nods. “I know this is weird, but honestly, since I don’t, really, know you outside of here I might as well get it done here.”

She leans back in her seat, searching for any clues that he wants to say something, but he keeps quiet.

“I love my brother, and I can tell you’re making him happy, but just because I like your work, and well, I like you as a person as well, doesn’t mean that I’ll give you any mercy if you even think about hurting him.” Leia nods to herself, thinking she got that out alright - right? Han, however, seems even more confused than before.

He tilts his head a bit and looks at her for a while.

She doesn’t really know what to do, then, leaning forward again and resting her arms on the table. “You understand where I’m going with this?”

“I think so, General.”

“Good.”

“Tell me, you think I’m flirting with your brother?”

Leia blinks at him, “I- I do. That’s what you’re doing. I hope this isn’t too personal, you really are a friend to me, but as I said-”

“No, no, no. Leia.” he says, and she has to admit she’s taken back by that, because when’s the last time he’s not called her by a nickname? First time they met, probably.

“Fuck.” Han suddenly exclaims, and his face quickly changes, “F- I mean, excuse my language. Anyway. Damn, I’m really bad at this, aren’t I?”

And honestly, Leia now has zero idea what he’s saying. It’s like they’re speaking two different languages, because she’s never been this dumbfounded, she thinks.

“Bad at what?”

Han shakes his head, scratches his neck, almost in despair, “Seriously, I didn’t think this would happen. Shit, this is my fault. I’m so sorry for the confusion, but Luke’s just my friend.”

She fights not to narrow her eyes at him, half suspecting his statement to be a lie, out of embarrassment.

“Han, I know you tell me I’m intimidating sometimes, but I’m serious.”

“But I’m serious, General.”

Leia’s almost getting frustrated, and throws up her in despair, because what? What’s he trying to say, or run from, maybe? This man’s impossible.

“Leia- I’m sorry. You know what, I’ll go, okay? Sorry. I just- Luke’s advice didn’t work, but please don’t blame him-”

“Advice?” she’s afraid she snaps at him at that, but he seems unfazed, half out of his chair and stopping his movement.

What on earth is he talking about, now?

“I, well. I asked him about you, and tried to spend more time with you, because he said you’re not that big on, you know, elaborate wooing, or whatever. And coffee!” Now, excuse Leia’s language, but what the fuck.

“What?”

Han sits down again, ruffling his hair, looking at her with what seems like a million thoughts running through his head, and honestly, that’s exactly how Leia’s head is right now.

“You like coffee, right? Or did I mistake that, Jesus. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so forward with coming into your office, I-”

“Han, are you telling me you asked my brother for advice on how to… woo me?”

And the man in front of her nods, a few too many times, looks down and up at her and around the room and out of the window, and fuck, Han’s a mess.

Leia leans back. This cannot be happening.

Well, she’s not complaining. No, not at all.

She didn’t expect this for the life of her, though, and that’s why she’s at a loss for words at the moment.

By some unknown force in her life pulling this idiot into her life, making him so goddamn likable, making her have a crush after being comfortably single for a while, he’s been spending time with her brother because he wants to know her?

She almost wants to laugh, it’s ridiculous, laughable, if she wasn’t so lost for him. And there’s nothing wrong with that, she’ll have to get her brain to stop fighting her.

“Are you angry at me? Please don’t be! I, okay, Luke’s so great and like, dammit, I feel bad- If you’re offended I understand, believe me.” he says, finally settles his eyes on her again. “I know it’s unprofessional to flirt with your boss, anyway, so-”

“Did you ask Luke to hype you up?”

Han looks embarrassed. “Well, uh, maybe. A little bit?”

Leia nods, and now, she has to smile. Genuinely, getting continuously warmer, “You know I’m not that into cars, right?” and damn, she’s never seen him look so beat.

She almost, immediately, regrets those words, but continues regardless, because surely this situation can only benefit them, now. Screw whatever dating policies that may or may not be existing, she’ll look them up after this whole mess is cleared.

“I’m into you, though. Like, you didn’t have to enlist my brother to help you, but I appreciate the effort.” she tells him with a laugh.

And Han morphs into a look of shock. It’s almost like he’s going through every state of emotion at the same time.

“Are you serious?”

“Why else would I say it, Han?”

“Well- good point General.” he fumbles with this rings again, looks at her in that pondering way again, like he’s expecting this to be some sort of practical joke.

She finds his utter confusion adorable, almost, and scoffs at herself.

It’s stupid, this way he thought of wooing her, in his own words, but she gets it, somehow. This is unprofessional.

She’s stupid, because she shouldn’t be swooned by him so quickly, but also she’s not stupid, because this dumbass likes her and she likes him, and this one time, Leia decides not to argue with her own head.

Why would she do that, anyway, when Han’s admitted he tried to flirt with her, and they shared most of their life stories with each other, and seriously, they could, well, get on with other activities?

Not here, though. Obviously not.

Leia’s still a professional, mind that. She doesn’t have to be that after work, though, right? 

She wants to shake her head at Luke for agreeing to Han’s schemes, but that can wait. That can for sure wait.

Screw her idea of professionality, then.

“I don’t know anything about the company’s policies on… this. You mind if I come back to you on that?” she asks him, still smiling, and the way he’s smiling back to her, now, he’s turning on all his charm, but also, probably, realizing that he doesn’t really have to.

He’s almost acting like an excited puppy, God, Leia’s not sure how complicated this will be, but she’s prepared to take that fight.

Han’s to the point of almost dancing in his seat.

Her patience is practically bulletproof by now, anyway.

“Not at all.”

“And- well, are you doing anything after work?”

Han shakes his profusely.

Leia bites her lip, nods certainly in her confidence.

“You got something we can do? Like, I guess, a date? Other than car talk?”

“Oh, you bet.”

#mine #swedit #hanleia #my writing #fandomaestheticgang #eloquencenet #fanfiction #f/m #hanleia fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #starwarsedit #fanfic #fluff #angst #au #modern setting #newspaper reporters #lots of background characters #bisexual leia organa #bisexual han solo #chewie is a dog ajdgjdd #milennium falcon is han's car #first meeting #meet-cute #crushes #they're baby #writing #birthday edit #usernickie #lennon tries to write

[akagoddammit]

AKA Title | AKA Almost

summary: jessica goes to explore attilan, searching for the syndicate (or what’s left of them) trigger warnings: blood, murder, bodies, etc 

She shouldn’t be doing this.

It was beyond stupid. Ever since Attilan had landed in the Hudson, it had been nothing but trouble for her city. It had been a mystery, and then homebase for the scourge that called themselves the Syndicate. From here, they had taken everything from her.

Almost, the voice in the back of her mind whispered. It was quiet, but strong as ever. The only voice that ever spoke any sense in her head. Almost everything. She still had her apartment. The people stupid enough to call themselves her friend. Tony. She still had her sobriety, and she still had her life. For however much that counted.

It mattered to them. Enough for the cultists to chase her across the city, from alleyways to Trish’s apartment to the workshop itself. They had been after Tony too in that moment. That much was unforgiveable, as if they hadn’t already crossed that line when they walked into Trish’s last broadcast. It was enough to keep her searching for them. Enough for her to do this stupid, stupid thing, and rent a boat to get across the river to the forgotten city of the Inhumans.

She could’ve jumped, but she’d done that once. And it was not an experience she wanted to repeat. It took three showers to get the stink out of her hair.

She wasn’t exactly gentle when she docked, but she’d paid extra for insurance for that reason. The shore felt gravely and foreign under her feet, like she was on another planet instead of a hundred-some feet to the shore. It was deathly quiet. Deathly was just the word for it. But if there were any of the cultists left, this is where they would be. When you had nothing left, you retreated back home, tail tucked between your legs. Jessica would know, she’d done it more than once.

The air even smelled off. It stank, and not just from the Hudson. She recognized that stench, but she didn’t want to give it a name. Didn’t want to think about it. She clutched the camera around her neck, popped the lens cap off. This was just a case she told herself. She was here to get proof. To find them, and report back to… whoever. The police. The Avengers, or the Justice League, or whatever team was playing Superhero these days. Hell, maybe she’d go to the new Panel. She hadn’t expected it of Bobbi and Jess and Maria Hill, but in hindsight, that was stupid. Stupider even than being here. Those women were nothing short of unstoppable. They were heroes, through and through. And they knew how to put things right. She almost trusted the Panel now.

Almost.

First things first, she needed proof. So she inhaled deeply, ignoring the smell, and marched towards the heart of the city. It was easy enough to scale the wall, to throw open the locked doors that stood in her way, or punch through the more difficult ones. Her knuckles would be bruised, but no worse for wear, when she showed up to go to that meeting with Tony.

Maybe that’s why she was here. The AA meeting was hanging over her head like an unwanted deadline, and it had been her idea in the first goddamn place. But that didn’t mean she was happy about it. That was life, she was coming to realize. Putting things right didn’t necessarily mean you’d be happy. Punishing herself incessantly, drowning out the pain with bottle after bottle hadn’t made her happy either. And it hadn’t made anything right.

The halls of Attilan’s inner city were winding and confusing, a strange mix of ancient relic and science-fiction technology. A few lights still flickered, but explosions and carnage rocked this place. The smell grew worse as she made her way inside, but she hadn’t come across more than a handful of bodies. The first took her by surprise. Some poor idiot who hadn’t moved out of the way of a falling bit of concrete fast enough. His skull was caved in, so whatever was hidden behind his hood would stay that way for eternity. At least until they ran the dental records.

Did his family know? What he’d become? Did he even have family left? The Syndicate had started this insanity because of how much they’d lost at the hands of people like her. As much as she hated them, she understood that. Being a superfreak had cost her an awful lot, too. In the end though, she had no one to blame for that but herself. That hadn’t changed. But she had.

She felt different. Walking through these halls stone cold sober, 27 days now. She couldn’t help but keep track, kept waiting for that number to mean something. To fill the holes in her chest, or at least make them feel smaller. They never seemed to, but she kept at it anyway. Trish had, after all.

Jessica turned a corner, and found a regal looking door. Half out of a fairy-tale, and half out of goddamn Star Wars. It was obviously supposed to be automated, but the mechanism just groaned weakly at her approach. Rolling her eyes, Jessica slammed a fist into the control panel. The whirring stopped, and she pried the doors open with her bare hands. It took more strength than she expected, but when she finally got inside, she saw why.

It was the throne room. The ceiling had caved through in several places, leaving the roof looking more like swiss cheese, letting in the late afternoon sun. It was eerie, the way the dust danced in the rays. Or maybe that was just the bodies scattered across the floor.

There were hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. If Jessica had to guess, it was the last of the Syndicate forces, the ones who had made it back from the war outside and retreated to their base, only to face something much worse. They’d been slaughtered, without much of a fight it seemed. Blood was everywhere, still sticky and damp in spots. And the smell was worse than ever. Body after body roasting in the last of the summer.

She clamped a hand over her mouth, glad she’d forgotten to eat today. At least when her stomach finally rejected her efforts, nothing came up but some energy drinks. It was quick, the mess blending into the stone floor and dripping along among the blood. She swiped at her mouth, and with shaking hands raised her camera to her eyes.

Pictures. Proof. She needed it, because she couldn’t focus on all of it now. She couldn’t take it in while her mind was threatening to bolt, urging her legs to do the same. She fought the flashbacks and the instinct, tried to force herself to concentrate. But all she could do was snap photo after photo of the carnage. The utter destruction.

She picked her way through the room. Eventually, after how long she wasn’t sure, she found herself right by the throne. There was a body perched there, maybe the poor fool who’d taken over after Jessica and Tony got the first leader arrested properly. There was a gash open in the woman’s throat. And her stomach. Her entrails spilled out, in stark contrast against the black robes.

Stark. His face was the first one that popped into her mind now. She swallowed hard and snapped a picture of the throne, the disemboweled leader. Whoever had done this hadn’t cared about leaving behind a mess. They either didn’t expect this to be found, or they just didn’t care. Or maybe they liked the spectacle. She could think of only one threat who fit that description. But she was getting ahead of herself. She would take the pictures, she would take them back to the workshop – no, no they had the meeting, it would have to be after. She would show him after, and maybe together, they could piece this together. At least FRIDAY could run facial recognition software on what was left of the victims. The families deserved to know. It wasn’t a truth they would want to hear, but they needed to know. It was better than nothing.

After that, they could figure out if the goddamn aliens had anything to do with this. If they’d been the ones to –

Her thoughts ground to a halt as she stepped back, her heel sinking into something squishy. “Goddammit,” she breathed, glancing down. She expected to see some more entrails, organs that belonged inside a body. But it wasn’t human, what she’d stepped in.

“Shit,” she muttered, scraping her shoe along the stone. It didn’t help much, didn’t dislodge the green gunk that coated her boot now. She liked these boots, they were the only shoes she had. Christ, she hoped alien insides weren’t going to burn a hole in them or something. “Say cheese, asshole,” she murmured, snapping a picture of the Skrull body, laying in the middle of this, a Syndicate knife jabbed into his back. Several Syndicate knives, actually.

There wasn’t much question now, who’d gotten rid of the Syndicate. Jessica scanned the room, but this was the only green body she saw. It was almost comforting. It meant they could be killed, that they were as mortal as humans. But one body among all these…

It answered one question, but only created more. Did the Skrull do this alone? Or did he have help, cohorts who had escaped? What did it mean if they were willing to leave one of their own behind like that? And why? Why had they taken out the Syndicate? Why now?

Maybe the answers would be in her pictures. She doubted it, but she couldn’t stay here anymore. She capped her camera and ran for the door. Nothing chased her, but she ran anyway. Away from what she’d seen. It should’ve been vindicating, seeing them cut down like this, these people who had sewn hate and destruction like it was nothing. Who had killed her sister for nothing. But it just felt like more fuel for her nightmares. As if she didn’t lose enough sleep already.

Too bad there wasn’t a support group for alien carnage. She might’ve believed in that one.

#aka self #[to celebrate my return have some selfs] #aka para #aka almost