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youvebeenlivingfictional · 22 days

Text

Impressions

Pairing: Will Miller x Reader

Notes: Idk y'all my brain spit this out. I haven’t written Will in, like…..100 years?

Rating: Mature - mostly for language

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, angst, fluff. Not beta-read.

Length: 7.5K

Summary: Your first two impressions that you get of Will Miller are pretty stellar. That said, they don't actually involve meeting the guy.

The day you do, well. That's another story.

GIF by charllehunnam

Your first impression of Will Miller is technically...Good.

It's from Benny, is the thing.

You hear the sweet and the sour, the grumbling when Benny is training at the gym alone in the mornings—"He's a hard ass, but he means well."

It's said with a little smile, with sibling love and familiarity that tells you that Ben and Will have told each other to go fuck themselves just as much as they've said that they're proud of one another.

Your second impression of Will comes from Terry.

Terrence Owen McLowery is your best friend, your informal trainee, and is currently ranked in the Middleweight division, just a few spots behind Ben Miller (but gaining, and fast). He's one of the few openly gay boxers in your area and in his division, something that he might get more hate for if he couldn't kick the shit out of anyone slagging his name off behind his back.

Terry gets to as many matches as he possibly can, even when he's not fighting in them. You try to join him as often as you can, but there are times when you just can't swing it. He likes to scope out the competition.

"I'm gonna be in there, kickin' their ass one day," He tells you, "I should clock their weaknesses now, not then."

He spends more time ringside than he does in the ring for the sake of observation. And he's seen the Miller brothers at fight after fight.

"You oughta see 'im," Terry says, a dreamy look in his eyes—and you don't know if he's talking about Ben or Will, but you kinda figure it's both. Look, you've met Ben, you wouldn't be surprised if good genes ran in the family.

"He's real level-headed, ringside, even when Ben’s in a jam," Terry adds, and you realize that he's talking about Will, "Kinda like you, but without the taunting."

You roll your eyes a little bit, "You told me the taunting makes you try harder."

"Hmph."

"And I told you a real coach wouldn't do that,” You tack on.

Terry doesn't hmph at that one. He doesn't like it when you point out that you're not a professional coach. You taught him the basics a long time ago, back when the two of you needed to have one another's backs on the playground—and you keep him honest when he's training up now. But Terry needs a coach that'll actually help him in the ring, not do what you do. And sure, you don't do the worst job, but Terry could go further with a professional.

Your first two impressions that you get of Will Miller are pretty stellar. That said, they don't actually involve meeting the guy.

The day you do, well. That's another story.

You’re at the gym early. Terry is supposed to be there, too, but he took a late shift at work and couldn’t drag himself out of bed. You don’t blame him—a body needs rest if you’re going to put it through its paces. You’re striding past the ring at the center of the gym when you spot Ben sparring with another contender in the middleweight division. You spot an error, one that Terry makes frequently himself, and call out,

“Pick up your right shoulder, Miller!”

The advice incurs a nod from Ben—and a glare from a golden-headed man standing ringside. Something in his cool gaze chastens you, and you hurry on toward the class you signed up for.

“What was with that guy?” You ask Ben later as you’re stretching.

“What guy?”

“Blonde, bearded…Glaring?” You remind him. Ben’s eyebrows shoot up.

“You mean Will?”

“That was Will?” You ask in a hushed whisper.

“Yeah. Glaring?”

“He looked like he was trying to melt me with his laser vision.”

It makes Benny’s laugh boom in the gym, and you glance around to see if you’ve attracted any attention. Sure enough, Will’s not too far off, his arms folded across his chest as he speaks to someone. His gaze darts between Ben and you, and his eyes narrow.

“Aaaand there it is again,” You mutter, drawing your legs back from the stretch.

“Hey,” You hear. You frown, turning back to the source, and find Will striding toward you. You’re about to offer your hand, to introduce yourself—in relation to Ben, or Terry, something—but he speaks again before you can get a word out:

“Ben’s got a fight coming up. He doesn’t need any glove bunnies distracting him.”

Your mouth was opened to speak, but now your jaw drops, a scoff of indignation flying out.

“Glove bunnies?” You repeat, stunned. Will waves you off.

“Whatever Ben does in his own time is none of my business, but when he’s here, and when he’s in the ring, he needs to be focused.”

Will doesn’t let you get in another word before he’s turning and walking away. You watch him go, stunned. Asshole. Asshole. As you turn to head into the locker room, you remember Ben telling you that he’s a hard ass, but he means well.

Well-meaning or not, Will Miller is a dick.

“There’s a man outside who’s looking for you,” You hear.

You glance up from your laptop, brows raised at your coworker. It couldn’t be Terry; he’d call or text you, not ask for you. And it can’t be…Actually, you can’t think of any other guy that would come looking for you at work.

“Did you tell him I was in here?”

“I said I wasn’t sure anyone by that name worked here and that I’d check,” Molly relays. You nod a little bit, muttering, “Solid,” before adding, “He say who he is?”

“Will Miller?”

You freeze, then, hands hovering over your keyboard. What the hell is Miller doing there? And how does he know where you work?

“Okay,” You nod, “Okay, tell him I’ll be out in a...A minute.”

“Sure.” Molly starts to drift away from you before she turns, half-jogging back to your desk.

“He is so hot,” She hisses. You can't help your grudging smile.

“Yes, he is.”

Asshole or not, you can agree that Will Miller is annoyingly, startlingly attractive.

The man that meets you outside is a far cry from the one who accosted you at the gym just a week ago. In a well-fitting polo and a pair of khakis, he looks more like a suburban dad than a hardened drillmaster. You stop just a few feet from the door to your office, arms folded tightly over your chest. He clears his throat, approaching you slowly and stopping just a couple of steps from you.

“Ben had a fight this weekend,” He says. Him starting that way makes your stomach swoop with fear. You immediately worry that something’s gone wrong, that Ben is badly hurt. But Will goes on:

“He kept his right shoulder up. That little tip saved his ass a few times.”

Your brows raise. You didn’t expect him to admit it, even if it did help.

“I saw Terry, too,” Will adds, “And realized precisely how and where I fucked up when he showed me a picture of you.”

Will doesn't look like he's trying to melt you with his heat vision anymore. In fact, he looks...Genuinely remorseful.

“I see,” You nod a little.

Will pushes a sigh out through his nose.

“I’m sorry for approaching the situation the way I did. And for calling you a, uh—”

“Glove bunny?”

He winces with the reminder. “Yeah. I didn’t have all of the facts. Even if I had, it was still the wrong way to approach the situation, and I apologize.”

You take a moment to drink in his face again, as if you’re seeing it for the first time. His blue eyes are soft where they were icy, and the once-harsh press of his lips is replaced with a regretful, almost contemplative pout. And then you nod a touch.

“I appreciate and accept your apology.”

Something akin to relief seems to wash over him, and he holds his hand out.

“I’m Will, by the way.”

“Will?” You repeat, screwing your face up in mock confusion, “Will...Will...That certainly sounds familiar.”

A smile tugs his lips up just a touch as he pumps your hand up and down.

“I train Ben Miller. I'm his brother,” He adds.

“Oh, that Will. Right, of course.”

You let his hand drop and folded your arms across your chest.

“Blank slate,” You add softly.

Will’s brows jump.

“Completely?”

“Well, Ben says you’re a hard ass and Terry thinks you’re dreamy, but I’ll try not to let their impressions color mine.”

“Pretty mixed reviews.”

“Mhm.”

The two of you exchange curious smiles before you nod over your shoulder.

“I’ve gotta get back to work."

“Of course.”

“See you around, Miller.”

“Seriously, Terrence!” You call out as Terry spars with one of the other gym members, “Is this prep or are you trying to waltz him into tapping out?”

Terry groans, reeling away from his sparring partner.

“God, you’re a bitch,” He grunts as he walks toward you, bending over for his water.

“And you’re a dumbass, Billy Elliot. Get back in there.”

“He’s holding his breath,” You hear. You turn back to see Will Miller coming closer.

“When he punches,” He clarifies.

“You can tell him,” You offer before you whistle sharply, stopping Terry from stepping more deeply into the ring. You nod toward Will and listen as he offers his tip. Terry takes his time listening, nodding, leaning against the ropes.

“...Think you got it?” You ask.

“Loud and clear,” Terry agrees before turning back to his sparring partner.

You glance over at Will, nodding your chin up. “Thanks."

“Sure,” Will smiles before walking away. Ben’s not too far away, working at a punching bag. You watch Will for a long moment before turning back to Terry in the ring. Terry ducks out of the way of an oncoming jab, and finds time to shoot you a wink before he turns back to his sparring partner.

“Terry—”

“Come on—”

“I can’t tonight, I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow!”

“Just a few rounds! Come with me, see Ben in action—and see what I mean about Will ring-side.”

“You just want me to go because you think you’ll be much less conspicuous drooling over them if I’m there.”

“Maybe.”

“And for the record, you’d be just as conspicuous.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Yes we do.”

“Come with meeee," He whines. "If you’re not there, I’ll curse out a redneck bigot and I’ll get in trouble for beating him up in the parking lot.”

“Well then you and the Millers can tag team.”

Terry groans loudly, tipping his head back. “Don’t. Don’t even think about putting ‘Miller’ and ‘tag team’ in the same sentence. My mind just went to about eight filthy places.”

“Just eight?”

“Alright, nine.”

“Terry. Sweetheart. Angel. Not tonight.”

“Four rounds.”

“No.”

“Two rounds.”

“Terry—”

“Ben’ll probably take ‘em down in one.”

“I’m sure he’d love that you have so much faith in his skill, but we’ll have to get through the matches before his, and that’ll already be way late.”

“I won’t make you come to the gym with me tomorrow.”

“Probably because you won’t make it to the gym tomorrow.”

“That’s not the point.”

You didn’t always love the atmosphere around the fight. You used to hate the screaming, the overpriced beer, the rednecks. It used to make you wary, going with Terry. People knew him. It's not secret that he's gay. He used to catch more shit for it before he bulked up and started fighting. Even after he had, the slurs hadn’t stopped. It used to raise your hackles—but Terry’s got more of a handle on how he approaches those incidents, and he’s made a lot of friends that frequent the ring, both as spectators, and in the Middleweight division.

You wouldn’t say that you like going to fights now, but you don’t find it as daunting as you used to. Now, the atmosphere is exciting—it zips through you like lightning; it makes your fingers tingle, and your heart pound.

“Here,” Terry calls out, pressing a beer into your hand.

“I told you I’ve got work tomorrow!”

“I got two for myself, you’re just holding that one for me.”

“Bullshit,” You laugh, looking up at the ring as the bell sounds.

By the time the first two fights are down, you know you should leave. It’s late, and it’s only going to get later—you’ve had three beers, and Terry’s coming back with another one.

“Terry, I really shouldn’t—”

“Ben’s coming down the hall,�� He half-yells into your ear, and you have to stop yourself from muttering, ‘Fucking finally,’ when it bubbles up in you. You push it down with a gulp of beer, glancing back and trying to catch sight of the Millers. You see Benny’s chestnut hair; Will’s bright head bobs into view just moments later. You and Terry begin to cheer almost on instinct as they come more fully into view—as Benny heads into the ring, and Will rounds the corner. Will looks around, and his eyes catch on you and Terry. He raises his hand to give Terry a pat on the shoulder, and meets your eyes dead-on.

It’s a half-second, that’s all, but it seems to last for far longer. If anyone asked you what happened in that half-second, you’d tell them that you nodded to him—you know that for sure, because he nods, too. You’re not sure if it’s the beer, or the crackling of the air around you, but your skin feels hot. You don’t even know if you’re smiling. But Will’s gaze holds on yours for a long time, even as he walks on. When he finally looks away, you can feel your heart thudding in the vicinity of your throat.

Terry leans over, his shoulder nudging yours as he speaks into your ear:

“Distracted much?”

“...What?” You manage, tipping your head back toward him as you watch Benny climb into the ring.

“Uh-huh.”

When you glance up at Terry, you find him grinning smugly, and you reach out, shoving his shoulder as you grumble, “Shut up.” As the bell sounds, you yell out, “Let’s go!” and vaguely register Will’s yell of, “It’s time to work!”

Ben is a hunter in the ring.

You can’t help but compare the way he fights with the way Terry fights. Terry prefers to hold back, to let his opponent dance around and tire themselves out. Terry is a slow-burn; Benny is a wildfire. Will is as much wind to guide his brother as he throws gasoline on Benny’s flame, honing his path and stoking his focus on the rare occasions that Benny takes a hard hit or seems to flounder.

You plan to only stay for a couple of rounds, but before you know it, you’re cheering Benny as his opponent is knocked down, and stays down. The ref takes hold of Benny’s wrist, holding it up as he proclaims him the winner, and you and Terry crow with excitement. As the crowd begins to flow—as Benny is led out to be checked over by the ring doctor—you turn to Terry, ready to insist again that you have to leave. But you feel a hand land on your shoulder, and turn your head to see Will leaning in. He gets close between you and Terry, and asks over the hum of the crowd, “What are you guys doing now?”

You should be more concerned about the fact that tomorrow morning (well, later this morning) is going to be absolute hell for you. You should be concerned about the fact that when you get home, whenever you get home, you’re probably going to need to have a couple of pieces of toast and a few glasses of water. Your head is buzzing with the beers you had at the fight, and now with the two that you’ve had at the bar. But the zipwire-tense feeling that had ripped through you is ebbing as you watch Benny return from the bar with a massive basket of fries and a fresh round of beers.

Oh, man. You’re really gonna regret this tomorrow.

You push the thought away as you reach out, taking up a precariously full beer and leaning back in your seat.

“Surprised you’ve got such a sedate after party,” Terry comments as he takes one of the beers.

“Fewer glove bunnies than I expected,” You add, eyes sliding to Will’s, where he sits across from you. He appears to bite back a smile, eyes dipping to the table. Benny’s eyes dart between the two of you, brow furrowing, and you give a small, reassuring shake of your head.

“I have a question,” Benny declares, leaning against the table.

“Has it got anything to do with that swelling cheek?” Terry asks, waving a finger toward Benny’s face.

“No,” Benny huffs, “I know how all about that. How’d you two meet?” He asks. You glance at Terry, arching a brow as he turns to you with a grin.

“School,” Is your short answer.

“I moved in around, like…Fifth grade-ish?” Terry’s brow furrows.

“It wasn’t fifth-grade-ish, it was fifth grade,” You correct.

“I wasn’t the most social kid, and that caught me a lot of shit. I got picked on, and this one,” Terry pushes his shoulder against yours, and you sway with it, bobbing back and forth, “Taught me how to keep from getting my ass kicked on the way home.”

“Seriously?” Ben asks. You shrug a little.

“It started with short-cuts to get him home, but when other kids caught on, things got a bit more…Physical.”

“Did you already know how to fight?” Will asks.

“I wouldn’t say that. I knew how to swing a fist, I didn’t really know how to fight. We both learned to, though, because we…Had to.”

“She’s been stuck with me ever since,” Terry sighs dramatically. You roll your eyes, turning a fond smile up at him.

“He’s like my taller, irritating younger brother,” You add.

“I know all about that,” Will pipes up, and you can’t help but turn a laugh at him.

“So what about you two, how did you two meet?” You tease, waving your finger between them.

“Oh, man,” Ben mutters.

“Well I came home one day and my mom said, ‘We have a surprise for you’,” Will says, “And then six months later, this dick shows up.”

“And he’s been stuck with me ever since,” Ben smiles, glancing at Will. You reach out, plucking up a couple of the fries and dipping them in ketchup.

“Did you guys get along growing up?”

“We don’t even get along now,” Ben teases. Will chuckles, shaking his head.

“Not always. We butt heads as kids, and we do sometimes now, but…We get our shit done.”

“He’s a hardass,” Ben cuts in.

“And he’s a dumbass.”

You grin. “So you complement each other is what I’m hearing.”

“Haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”

You’re taking a long pull from your water bottle, fighting the dryness in your throat when you hear Will.

“What can I say,” You manage as you lower it. “I only just recovered from going out with y’all the other night.”

Will chuckles, leaning against the pillar beside you as you wipe down your treadmill.

“Didn’t mean to tire you out.”

“I’m out of practice. Terry hasn’t had a fight in a couple of months, so I don’t stay up that late anymore.”

“No?”

“Nope. I’m in bed at 9:30 and I like it.”

You take up your water bottle, and the two of you start drifting away from the treadmills.

“Why hasn’t Terry been in the ring?” Will plies.

“His rotator cuff’s kinda fucked up. He’s been taking it easy—Well. As easy as he's willing to take it. He has a check-in with his doctor in a couple of weeks.”

“That must be driving him nuts.”

“Oh, he’s losing it. He’s trying to go to as many fights as he can, though.”

“I’ve seen him at a few lately—Besides, Benny’s, you know. I was wondering why you didn’t go with him.”

You stop at the door to the women’s locker room and turn around to face him.

“Bed. 9:30,” You reiterate.

“Well I know that now.” Will tucks his hands into his pockets, smiling. “I wanted to ask: Do you think you could see it in yourself to duck your bedtime again?”

“Depends on what for.”

“There’s a fight down in Fernsworth this weekend. There’s a new kid on the bill, he’s apparently pretty vicious.”

“Oh yeah? When this weekend?”

“Friday.”

You consider, lips pursing, and Will chuckles at your expression.

“What is it?” He asks.

“Terry’s got work that night.”

“So’s Ben.”

Your gut swoops in surprise, a brow lifting and falling quickly, but Will’s face remains as calm as ever.

“So?” Will presses. If you were reading into it, you’d think he was batting his pretty eyelashes. Before you can overthink it, you hold your hand out and order: “Phone.”

Will rifles into his pocket and pulls it out, passing it over. You add yourself as a contact, your heart thudding in your chest, ears going hot as you double-check that it’s right. You pass it back to Will, meeting his eyes again. “You can send me all the details.”

“Don’t feel like talking to me anymore?”

“I have to go to work, Miller,” You laugh, taking a couple of steps back. “Text me—And keep an eye out for those glove bunnies.”

“Always.”

You get one last look at Will, at his sweet, amused smile, and you turn, heading in to take a shower (and maybe to silently scream into your hands, a little).

You don’t dress up, and you do not tell Terry where you’re going, or with whom. It’s been bad enough that he clocked your swell of interest when you’d gone out with all of them, and worse still that he’s encouraged it. You’d been pressing your hands down onto the tops of his shoes, ensuring that his feet stayed flat as he worked on his core.

“At least—fuck him,” Terry had insisted as he’d come up from reps of crunches. “Do you—have any idea—what’d I’d do tuh—Phew—Have those pretty—blue eyes pointed at me—like that?”

You’d raised your brow, casting a wary eye about to ensure that neither of the Miller brothers were anywhere nearby before you’d insisted, “Nothing is going to happen between me and Will.”

“Why—the hell—not?” Terry gasped, finishing out his reps. He groaned, sweeping his hand across his sweating brow before planting both hands on the mat behind himself. “He’s leaps and bounds better than the other assholes you used to fuck with.”

Like it or not, you knew Terry was right.

For your rough and real first impression, Will is actually kinda sweet. You still don’t know him all that well, and maybe tonight could change that. But you insist to yourself that you’re not going out to flirt with Will, you’re going to see this new fighter (Charlie “Shredder” Klein: 5’9, 194 pounds, rookie, southpaw) and gather some info for when, inevitably, Terry winds up fighting the guy. You dress…Comfortably, in one of your nicer pairs of jeans and one of your favorite tops. You feel cute, and you feel cute for you. If Will thinks that you’re cute in the outfit, well…That’s just a bonus.

You don’t think he would tell you, though. Will Miller seems like the type to keep his cards close to his chest.

The ride down to the venue is filled with polite small talk. The feeling in the cab of his truck is almost like the same nervous air of a first date. Your stomach is twisting like a nest of garter snakes; your skin is hot with nerves; you rub your sweaty palms nervously against your jeans. The two of you stick close together at the fight—though you don't exactly have an alternative; the venue is packed. Now and again, if you get nudged too roughly by someone else, or pushed one way or another, Will cuts a sharp, warning look at them over your head at the perpetrator. The third or so time it happens, you reach out, resting a hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry about them,” You say into his ear, cutting over the noise, “The fight’s in the ring, not with these dickheads.”

Will’s lips twitch with a smile as he leans in to speak into your ear in turn. He says, “It’ll be here if they’re not careful,” But you almost don’t catch it. You’re too focused on everything else—on the press of his warm and firm body against your side; on the way his hand rests on your lower back; on the whisper of his beard against your cheek; on the brush of his lips and breath against the shell of your ear, and the way his voice seems to drown out the clamor of the spectators around you. It makes your heart tick up in your chest, a shiver tripping down your spine and stopping right where his hand sits.

When your mind catches up with what he’s said, you laugh, nudging his hip with yours.

“Eyes on the prize, Miller,” You urge.

“They are,” He answers without missing a beat. It makes your stomach flip, and for a moment, you can’t bring yourself to look away. You finally force yourself to, and to clap as the announcer brings in the first contender, looking around to try and catch a glimpse of them—and not to overthink the way that Will’s hand is still resting on your back.

“Weak spots?” Will asks. You consider for a moment, running your finger along the side of your beer bottle. The buzz from the fight is wearing off, and the bar that you've gone to is far more quiet compared to the venue.

“He doesn’t go in…With a plan,” You say after a moment.

“His coach was calling plays.”

“Yeah, but Klein wasn’t listening. I mean when you tell Ben to back the fuck off or get away from the ropes, he backs the fuck off or gets away from the ropes, because in that moment, you see things in a way that he doesn’t. He trusts you to steer him. Klein’s coach can yell whatever he wants, but it’s not heard. Klein’s in the fight, he’s on the inside, he thinks he knows best, and that…That got him fucked up tonight. Might not always get him fucked up, but today’s outcome, you know. Not so much.”

“Strong indictment.”

“You asked me what I thought.”

“And I got it. I appreciate that.”

You raise your brows at Will’s calm, honest expression.

“What about you?” You ask, nodding to him, “What do you think his weak spots are?”

“He’s a brawler, not a fighter. He likes to go in for little…squirrely swiping matches. He wants excitement, not wins.”

You shake your head at the assessment. “That just spells trouble for our boys.”

“Less trouble if we go in with a plan.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

The two of you lightly clink your beers together, sharing a smile before you take sips.

“I’m surprised you came tonight,” Will admits as he sets his bottle down.

“Really?"

“Little bit.”

“Why?”

“We didn’t exactly have the nicest start.”

“No, we didn’t, but…I don’t know, I thought we were on a more level field now.”

“I think we are.”

The two of you watch one another for a long moment, considering, and before you can say anything, Will adds: “I’m glad you came with me.”

“Yeah? Didn’t wanna brave the hillbilly circus alone?”

“I have before and it’s never fun.”

“It wasn’t so bad tonight.”

“I had good company.”

You smile a little bit, eyes sweeping Will’s face as flattery wells in your stomach.

“...You knew Terry had work tonight, didn’t you,” You accuse softly. Will shrugs a shoulder, raising his bottle to his lips again. You can’t help your flattered smile, and you force yourself to keep your eyes on him.

“Ben might’ve mentioned it,” Will finally concedes.

“Interesting.”

“Is it?”

“I think so.”

“Good interesting or bad interesting?”

“I'm still sitting here, aren’t I?”

Will’s smile widens, and your stomach flutters. “You could’ve just asked me out,” You add in a mutter.

“Well, now I know that for next time.”

Next time. Your face goes hot; the beer in your stomach feels like it’s bubbling.

“Yes you do,” You agree, nodding a little.

“When I do,” Will adds, leaning against the table, sending another burst through your chest at his use of ‘when’ where you'd expected 'if', “You alright with it being this sort of thing?”

“What, a fight and a beer? Hell yeah—Long as it’s before 9:30.”

Will laughs, tugging his sleeve back and glancing at his watch.

“You have any idea what time it is?”

“No, and I do not wanna know.”

You fold your across your chest, eyeing Terry’s form as he pounds the punching bag in front of himself.

“How are you feeling?” You ask as he leans away from the bag, swiping at the sweat dripping down his face.

“‘Bout what?” He asks a little blandly between pants.

“The fight.”

“You asking me because I got a fight, or does it have to do with who I’m going up against?”

You purse your lips, eyes sweeping the gym for any sign of either of the Miller brothers. Finding neither, you answer, “Both?”

Terry chuckles, turning back to the bag.

“I’m not gonna go easy on Benny just ‘cause he’s a friend, and he ain’t gonna take it easy on me, either—”

“I know—”

“I mean, we always knew this was gonna happen—”

“I know! I know, oh my god, I get it.”

“I’m just sayin’,” Terry mutters, punching viciously at the bag again.

“I’d be a bad coach not to ask, you know half of the fight’s in your head. And speaking of bad coach,” You add, “You found anyone else yet?”

Terry casts you an irritated look out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you really talkin’ about this right now?”

“...Okay, letting it go,” You sigh before tacking on, “And you’re holding your breath again.”

“I was about to say the same thing,” You hear from behind you. You turn to see Will just a few steps away. You smile almost involuntarily. You haven’t seen Will since your not-quite date, but you’ve thought about him and texted with him plenty.

“Shouldn’t you be mindin’ your own fighter, Miller?” Terry asks, straightening up and raising his hands to stop the swinging bag.

“Don’t worry, McLowery. The second he needs minding, I’ll be on it.” Will takes a few steps back from you both, shooting you a wink before he turns away. Your stomach twists, and you carefully smooth your smile away before turning to face Terry again.

“Alright, c’mon,” You wave him toward the bag again, “Let’s go, we got half an hour and then we gotta get going. I can’t be late for work again.”

It’s odd, finding yourself on the opposite side of the ring as Will. As nervous as you are—for the way your body feels like it’s buzzing, a tingle in your fingertips—you know that the boys’ll take this seriously. It was going to happen sooner or later; you just didn’t think it would be so soon. You hope that they come out of the ring with their friendships (and their bones) intact.

You shift from foot to foot, drawing a shaky breath in through your nose as Ben and Terry begin to circle up. Your eye catches on Will’s for just a moment. You trade nods, then turn your eyes back to your respective fighters. It’s a heady moment. The room seems to quiet around you for a moment as Ben and Terry approach one another, each with one fist out and one by their cheeks. You hardly blink as they get closer and closer—

“I almost had you.”

It’s a gravely mutter, the first thing that Terry’s said since leaving the ring. He’s got a fat lip, and his right cheek is going to make it look like he’s part chipmunk in the morning. It’s a moment before Ben offers a grumbled, “...Almost.” Then, “Didn’t, though.”

Terry takes a swipe at his head. Ben ducks it, raising his arm to push at Terry’s shoulder. You shake your head, leaning against the bar and watching them teasingly grapple.

“You think they’d be too tired to do that by now,” You comment, shaking your head.

“Adrenaline’s probably still pushin’ em. They’ll crash later.”

The both of you are speaking a little more softly than usual; you had yelled your heads off at the match, and you're not sure about Will, but your throat feels so fricking raw. You nod, smile widening as the guys scrap a little more.

“Hey—Alright, alright,” You finally raise your voice as they knock back into a stool. “If your sorry asses get us thrown out, you're paying.”

“Drinks are on me, anyway,” Benny turns to give you a grin, teeth bright beneath the shiner developing on his right eye. Still, it’s a relief to see the boys settle. You shift on your stool and lean back against the bar, twisting your seat back and forth.

“How are you feelin’?”

You glance over at Will, brow furrowing in confusion at the question.

“I didn’t just go five rounds with those numbskulls,” You point out, nodding toward them.

“I know. You seemed…Tense.”

“I was worried about ‘em.”

“Terry?”

“Both of them.”

Will nods, eyes sweeping across your face before he glances around to the guys.

“They’re doing alright.”

“I know. I’m—I’m calming down, I just…” You trail off, shaking your head. “So many of Terry’s other friends in the ring are in different divisions. This is the first friend he’s, like, fought-fought.”

“He did alright.”

“No, I know. Nothing too broken. And Ben’s fine, too, so. Like I said,” You raise your hands in a slight pushing motion. “Calming down.”

Will smiles, taking a step closer and sliding his arm around your middle, bracketing you against the bar. Your stomach flips at the closeness, at the weight and warmth of his arm.

“Glad to hear it.”

“You’ve just been completely chill the whole time?”

Will shrugs. “I trusted the guys to handle it. They handled it.”

“Alright…Knowitall,” You mutter. You smile as Will takes a step closer. He seems to glance toward the guys again before he lowers his head, pressing a kiss to your shoulder. Your stomach bursts with butterflies, and you gently lower your head, resting it against his. You turn your head as you hear the bartender’s, “Here you go,” behind you. The two of you straighten up, turning to the bar fully and reaching for your beers.

“So,” Will clears his throat, “You busy this Friday?”

You smile, trailing your finger along the side of your glass.

“Is there another southpaw you wanna get a look at?”

“Nope, just dinner. I thought maybe I could cook at your place—that way I won’t interfere with your bedtime.”

You can’t help your grin, or the slight tip of your head as he crowds close again.

“That is so considerate of you, Miller.”

“I do what I can.”

You try to chip in for the groceries, but Will won’t hear of it. He won’t even tell you what he’s making.

“You know that I can probably mentally tally up whatever it is you bring and, like, Venmo you that amount, right?” You ask. It’s a little huffed as it leaves you, your gaze and focus on the swinging punching bag in front of you. When Will doesn’t answer, you glance over, and do a double take at the sight of him.

He’s watching you with a warm, sweet look, his hands tucked in his pocket as he slouches against the wall beside you. You raise your hands to steady the bag and keep it from swinging and hitting you in the face, stomach fluttering at the way this man is looking at you—like you’re dolled up and wearing a goddamn ballgown, and not sweating in the middle of a gym.

“Besides, what if I have an allergy or something?” You add.

“I’ve already run the ingredients by someone.”

You frown. “Who?”

Will doesn’t answer, just shrugs and holds his gaze steadily on yours. You narrow your eyes slightly, turning to look around the gym. Terry’s not too far off—and he’s pointedly keeping his focus on anything but you.

“...Terrence,” You call out.

“Busy!” He yells back, plucking his water bottle and phone and hurrying to another machine. You roll your eyes, turning back to Will with a mutter of, “Spy.”

His smile widens.

“I can be there by six, that alright?” He asks, pushes off of the wall.

“Uh-huh.”

“If I see any kind of calculator when I’m cooking…”

“Oh, you won’t. I’m like a phone ninja.”

Will chuckles, leaning in and murmuring, “See you tonight.”

The closeness of his murmur and his breath brushing against your sweat-slicked skin sends goosebumps skittering down your arms.

Your plan to stealthily tally everything up disappears as Will unpacks the groceries. You blink, stunned, before you pick up a jar of sauce, turning it around in your hands.

“Are you fricking kidding me?”

Will doesn’t answer. He just backs off, an amused smile on his lips and his hand on his hip as you reach into the grocery bag and rifle through it before reeling back, screeching, “You took off all of the labels?!”

“You thought I was just gonna let you look through everything and tally up how much this cost me?” He turns and reaches into the bag again, continuing to unpack. “Amateur hour.”

You bite your lip, watching in silence for a few moments as you think. What sort of 3-D dating chess is this man playing?

“You are…Frighteningly tactful, Miller.”

His smile widens, and he seems to duck his head to unearth something from the bulging grocery bag, but you can see the creeping flush of flattering rising up in his cheeks.

“I can still guestimate, you know,” You warn.

He stops then, bracing his hands on the counter.

“Would you just let me do something nice for you?” His brows raise, his lips on the edge of pursing in disappointment. You’re stunned into silence as he adds, “Nothing has to be owed. I just…I just wanna make you dinner.”

You pause before you nod a little. Will’s brows raise further, and you nod again, watching as he turns back toward the bag. You hesitate before nervously sidling up beside him, pressing yourself against his side and eyeing his steady hands.

“Can I at least help?” You ask. Glancing at him, you find Will’s annoyance smoothed away, replaced with a somewhat serene consideration. He nods, concedes: “A little.”

Will designates you two things to chop (red and green peppers), and one thing to stir (vegetable stir fry). He keeps his back to you as he adds seasonings to your chicken (“It’s a secret recipe,” He insists before he shoos you away from the counter. All you get a glimpse of is the garlic salt).

You don’t know exactly what he puts on it, but when you take your first bite, it’s perfectly moist, and damn delicious. You don’t even bother to hide your groan, or the way you close your eyes to just savor—and try to work out one or two of the spices. You get hits of chili. Chili and…Cumin? Little pops of cumin—

“I’m not telling you,” Will’s mirthful warning floats across the table to you. Your smile widens, shaking your head and opening your eyes.

“No idea what you’re talking about, Miller.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is this your secret recipe?”

“My mom’s.”

“Did she make it a lot growing up?"

“In the summer, mostly, for barbecues and stuff.”

“Tastes pretty good from the oven.”

He grunts, nodding. “Better on the grill,” He admits, “With a little char on it.”

“Mm, noted. Are you and your mom close?”

Will quirks a brow as he reaches for his drink, and you realize that you’ve been bombarding him with questions. Before you can apologize, he offers:

“Pretty close. I try to see her at least once a week. It used to be more, but she said I was smothering her.”

You smile, chuckling.

“That’s kinda precious.”

Will shrugs a touch, pushing his veggies around his plate.

“My dad passed a couple’a years ago and I think coming around as much as I used to might’ve helped, but mom’s got her own life, you know. She’s got a book club…She’s apparently a bingo assassin.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. Some people think she’s cheating.”

“...Is she?” You tease.

“I wouldn’t put it past her. What she lacks in subtlety, she makes up for in sneakiness.”

“Is that where you and Ben get it?”

He chuckles, ducking his head and poking at the food on his plate.

“Some of it, maybe.”

“And the rest?”

“Training.”

“Do you think Ben would agree?"

“Do you always ask this many questions?”

You lean back, poking at your food in turn and fighting the embarrassed churning in your stomach.

“Not always,” You mumble. You hear Will huff a soft laugh, and smile as he reaches across the table to take hold of your hand.

"I don't mind," He insists, thumb sweeping along the side of your hand. "Long as I get to ask a few, too."

"This was nice," You offer, almost woefully trailing Will to the front door. You've wanted to make a move since he put you to work in your kitchen—you've been thinking about it as the two of you were at your sink, doing the dishes; since you were sitting on your couch, talking about work, and the gym, and who Ben and Terry are facing next. You've been so close so consistently—arm to arm, hip to hip, knee to knee. The tiny touches have made you crave more, and Will's sweet smiles have made you do whatever you can think of to seek them out.

When he'd told you that he ought to get going, that he was meeting Ben in the gym at five the next morning, you were pretty sure that he was telling the truth—but you were already mourning the loss of the moment, and his warmth in your apartment.

"It was...Once you stopped pestering me about paying," He teases as he pulled on his jacket. You rolled your eyes.

"Well, how about I bring a bunch of labeless groceries over to your place, make you dinner, and see how you like it."

"I think I'd like it a lot," He insists, straightening his collar. "How's next week?"

And it's so swift and so smooth that you're certain you look more than a little gobsmacked. But you nod.

"Yeah. I can do next week."

"Friday?"

"Sure."

"Okay." He opens your door. "It's a date."

Just like that—so easy and open, and such a far cry to the first time he spoke to you at the gym.

"Good," You agree, leaning against the wall by your front door. "Let me know when you get home."

"I will." He leans in, and your breath catches in your throat as he presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth. You bite your lip at the gentle prickle of his beard against your skin, eyelids fluttering as Will stays close. He raises his hand, gently sweeping his thumb against your lower lip and tugging it from your teeth.

"Don't do that," He shakes his head. "Don't bite your lip."

"Why?" You mumble, leaning into the flirty urge that's rising in you. "There someone else that's supposed to do it for me?"

Will breathes out a groan, resting his temple gently against yours.

"I'm trying to be good," He warns. You sweep your tongue across your lower lip, letting the tip graze his thumb, and grinning as he swallows thickly.

"This feels good to me." You reach up, cupping his cheek.

"You realize if we do this, you'll be up past 9:30?"

"I'm willing to risk it."

You think for a moment that he'll draw away, that he'll call it—

Your stomach drops as he pulls away and you hear the door shut, but grin as he crowds up against you, lips pressing warmly to yours. You sigh, looping your arm around your shoulders and keeping you close. His hands slide over your hips, drawing you into his chest. You slide your hand up, gently teasing your nails against the nape of his neck.

"Remind me to apologize to Ben the next time I see him," You mumble.

"Why's that?"

"You're going to be very late tomorrow morning."

tag list: @missredherring ; @fantasticcopeaglepasta ; @massivecolorspygiant ; @blueeyesatnight; @amneris21 ; @ew-erin ; @youngkenobilove ; @carbonated-beverage; @moonlightburned ; @milf-trinity ; @millllenniawrites ; @chattychell ; @dihra-vesa ; @videogamesandpoorlifechoices ; @missswriter ; @thembosapphicclown ; @brandyllyn ; @wildmoonflower ; @buckybarneshairpullingkink ; @mad-girl-without-a-box ; @winchestershiresauce ; @lorecraft ; @kmc1989

#Will Miller x Reader #Will Miller x You #Will Miller/Reader #Will Miller/You #Will Miller fic #Will Miller imagine #Impressions #sorry this took 800 years

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moonlight1110 · 2 months

Text

My Best Friend, König

bestfriend!König x reader ; college!au

Your best friend, the person you trust the most in the world to protect you, and most importantly, be there for your needs <3

Tags: afab!reader, König x reader smut, throat fucking, blowjobs n shit, smut to fluff, far from canon König, quick read, college!au, secret lovers, aftercare, no german aside from the petnames bc i dont wanna embarrass myself, not proofread

Notes: exams are done so i can finally shake sum asss 😩, i have so many ideas i wanna write for simon and konig im going insane, but expect that in the next few days or weeks, love yall <3

You were always known as the loud mouth. The most bubbly person anyone's ever met, and it was often meant as a compliment. You always knew how to light up a room the moment you walked in and it just seemed like no one ever had anything bad to say about you.

It seemed like you were able to catch anyone's eye, and that was reflected by the amount of attention you got whenever you would walk around campus. Turning heads and whispers followed you whenever you went, and that was especially true in your classes. But with your extroverted nature, it was a question in everyone's mind why your best friend was the total opposite of you.

König was your best friend, it was like you were both attached at the hip with how you never went anywhere without him to the point that people thought you were a couple. You two would debunk these rumors of course but that just showed how close you two were.

König was quiet, introverted, and intimidating, he was like the perfect bodyguard and that was one of the reasons you loved being around him, because of how safe he made you feel and how he always made sure you were okay, of course it was natural that you'd return the favor.

"K-König... Wait..." A soft moan slips past your lips, you can't hold it in with how good König was fucking you on his tongue right now. He chuckles, humming against your weeping cunt as he pinned your hips down on the mattress, one hand digging into the flesh of your hip as the other rubbed circles right on your twitching clit.

"You want me to stop, meine Schatz?" His voice dripped with desire and cockiness, knowing he was the only one who could see you in such a vulnerable and fucked out position with your legs trembling and draped over his shoulders as he ate you out and fucked you open on his tongue and fingers.

"No... No, don't stop!" you cried out helplessly, tugging at his hair. He growled, sliding his tongue out from your cunt with a satisfied moan from the pressure building in his scalp.

"On your knees, let me fuck that pretty mouth, meine Liebe..." He groaned, gently pulling your hand away from his hair and kissing your palm as he led you off the bed and on your knees in front of him, making space for you between his legs as he stroked himself in front of you. Up and down, slowly.

He was big and it made your mouth water as you inched closer on your knees. You couldn't help the small gasp that slipped when you slowly wrapped your delicate fingers around him.

"That's it... You know what to do..." He chuckled, intertwining his fingers with your hair to encourage you while he looked down at you with a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Scheiße... Such a good fucking girl..." König's voice seemed to deepen at the feeling of your soft hands slowly pumping him, his grip on your hair becoming just a little bit tighter as he moaned your name, throwing his head back in ecstasy.

You could feel the heat pooling between your legs when König looked down at you, his eyes blown out with his lip between his teeth and it was clear he was resisting the urge to buck his hips into your mouth, force his dick right into the back of your throat with the way you were doing such a good job for him.

When you slowly wrapped your lips around him, he moaned breathlessly, his shoulders slumping at the feeling of your warm mouth around him. You couldn't help but close your eyes as you started to take him deeper, it was just too much, but he didn't like that at all.

"No, no... Keep your pretty eyes open... Keep looking at me..." He tugged on your hair lightly, forcing you to wince at the pressure but you followed his words of course. When your eyes fluttered open, you were met with the sight of König's chest heaving softly, his mouth opened just a bit as he groaned.

"Ja, that's it... Good girl..." He chuckled, humming as his grip on your hair softened, replacing it with a gentle massage on your scalp as you took him deeper, keeping your eyes on him the whole time.

Your started to bob your head in a steady rhythm, pumping the rest of the length you couldn't take. König, as much as he tried his best to keep his composure, was a mess for you. His chest was heaving and low growls would rumble from his chest every once in a while when his hips would buck into your mouth ever so slightly.

"Can I fuck this pretty mouth, baby? Please..." He pleaded as if he was even waiting for an answer, almost sounding like a drawn out whine when he started to buck his hips into your mouth, he just couldn't help himself, he couldn't resist you at all when you looked so pretty for him.

Your hands found purchase on his thighs, nails digging into his flesh as your eyes rolled into the back of your head when he started to push his cock deeper into your throat, making you gag on him.

"Feels so fucking good, Liebling... I can't help myself..." He moaned as he threw his head back, he was getting rougher now, giving you his cock deeper and deeper as he whispered his praises, telling you how good you are and how much he'll reward his darling after he's done.

Your jaw was starting to hurt, and despite his early instructions, you couldn't help but close your eyes as he pushed your head down with a deep groan. Your fingers were digging into his flesh that you were certain it'd bruise by the morning, but even with how your jaw was starting to get sore and with how your tears were staining your cheeks, you just fucking loved it.

"Shh, shh... You're doing so good, Schatz..." He cooed with a mean chuckle as he wiped your tears away with his thumb. What a gentle man your friend was, carefully pulling your head from his cock as he praised you. "Breathe, baby..." He whispered as he caressed your cheeks, letting you catch your breath as your hands relaxed on his thighs.

"Sorry... I couldn't stop myself..." He apologized after a few moments, carefully picking you up from the cold floor and onto his lap in a bridal position almost. "Was I too rough, Liebling?" He whispered affectionately, gently caressing your thighs as he pressed a soft kiss to your cheek as you nestled your head against his shoulder.

"Nothing I couldn't handle" You laughed quietly, relaxing in the warmth his body provided while his hands soothed your thighs and hips.

"You're right... You did so well, like you always do" He chuckled against your hair, kissing your head with a hum.

"Let me take care of you tonight, darling... You deserve it"

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ghostismybbygorl · 1 year

Note

Can I request any jealous/ possessive ghost head canons ? Or ghost having a crush on you head canons? Like the things he does for you and the things he’ll say to you when he is crushing on you.

LETS GOOOOOOO

This man doesn't realize he's crushing until someone points it out

He's like a lost puppy when he's crushing. Hell follow you around EVERYWHERE 100% guard dog privileges as well.

I feel like he'd be interested in you as a friends and then it kinda grows in to a crush

Very sly when getting your number he'll be like "oi ive got some shit to send you about this mission whats your number?"

Then he texts you EVERY. DAY.

I feel like he has a snapchat and keeps a streak with johnny and you

He eventually starts hanging out with you all the time

If you go shopping he'll be right by your side holding the bags

Wanna go to on a hike boom he's your hiking buddy

The more he spends time with you the more in love he falls

The way he figures it out is when price pats him on the shoulder and asks him "you asked them out yet?"

Ghosts face : 👁️👁️ "uh why?"

He ends up getting called out on the way he looks at you how you're always spending time with him

It then hits him and pushes himself away from you in fear of loosing you

He ends up hating the fact that he pushed you away and goes up to you and apologizes and just straight up tells you

"Look ive been uh feeling something lately about you and im not sure how to react to it"

Hes hella nervous if he wasnt wearing his mask he'd be bright fucking red

"But uhm i really like you....and uhm i was wondering if you wanted to go on a date..."

Of corse you say yes because feelings where mutual

He'd take you out to a nice dinner and for the first time he's not wearing his mask. Which meant that he fully trusts you and wants him to show simon not ghost

When you two make it official everyones like "fucking finally" "took you long enough" "fuck i owe gaz 20quip now"

Now for the possessive and jealous part

Before you two started dating every time someone would talk to you or flirt with you he'd be in the background absolutely glaring at them

He's very protective if anyone talks shit about you he's immediately defending you and will start a fight

He got in a bar fight with a guy who was harassing you and making you uncomfortable

Never leaves your side you two are glued to the hip unless you need space to be by yourself he'll understand

Nsfw

If you purposefully flirt with other men in front if Simon its end game for you when the two of you get home

He'll have you bent over the couch underwear in your mouth ass red from him smacking the shit out of it

"You think its cute to flirt with other men pet? Im going to absolutely destroy you tonight"

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spaceagebachelormann · 5 months

Note

hii can i request headcanons of how finnick odair would be as a bf? maybe if ur also a victor

finnick odair and victor frankenstein as bfs !

✧ warnings: spoilers for thg and frankenstein maybe?

✧ additional info: erm i didn’t know if u meant i could do victor if i wanted 😔 so i js did anyway cause i will use any excuse to write for someone from that masterlist!! if u did mean i could put victor if i wanted ily and pls send more victor reqs i barely get any for classic monsters in general <3 erm aleo i haven’t watched thg in ages so finnick might be ooc

✧ m.list — nav.

ೃ༄ finnick odair

he’s very sweet and calm and overall js like amazing to be around and have as a bf <3

despite the fact bro is majestic and could have 6 girlfriends or boyfriends or whateverfriends if he wanted he’s very loyal and respectful of u

doesn’t even dare to look at anyone else while with u

also very willing to take things slowly if that’s what u prefer

it’s honestly what he prefers too

yk because of everything the capital put him through

he js prefers taking his time to get to know u before anything

but he will take u on the cutest dates ever even before reaching first base

will wrestle ur date preferences out of u. not literally. by that i mean he tricks u into telling him what u would wanna do then surprising u

he’s also like so soft and nice with everyone but with u it’s like 10x more

bro can be literally screaming at someone if needed at one moment and then braiding ur hair for u the next

also he’d LOVE braiding ur hair

u don’t even have to ask he js puts ur head on his chest and plays with it

also he’s still v flirty with u for funsies

esp if u get embarrassed easily

he thinks it’s funny (cute) that’s why <3

and i feel like he’s oddly good at singing

like he js taught himself how to sing once because he was bored and needed smth to do

so he was like “yk what imma learn to sing”

and holy fucking shit is he good at it!!

his voice in general is rlly calming

and he knows it is so he likes reading to u and singing to u or js talking to u and literally anything where he can use his voice

i don’t think he’d be very huge on pet names but he’d def call u honey more than anything (cause this is gn)

ik because im his gf actually!! /j

and shit like beautiful and gorgeous if ur fem don’t tell me he wouldn’t yk he would

and he loves kissing ur face

also if ur fem or js have lipstick he’d let u leave lipstick marks on his face <3

i rlly feel like he’d wanna be with someone who he knows well and feels like he can trust

especially if he’s known them for a few years

and he genuinely doesn’t care abt looks!!

go get urself a finnick odair

ALSO THIS MAN CAN COOK!!

AND BAKE!!

and his food is genuinely the most scrumptious shit u will ever taste

ೃ༄ victor frankenstein

ugh this bitch

he’s definitely very loyal to u and wouldn’t even think about other people but he’s kinda. neglectful.

he doesn’t do it on purpose and always makes up for it but there’s long periods of time where he’s sorta cold and rude to u and distant

but he feels bad after and always makes it up to u

he also would wanna be with someone who he’s known for awhile, but that’s because his dumbass would realize his feelings rlly late

but based on his canon AND fanon love interests he seems like he’d want someone who’s rlly compassionate and nice

unfortunately he might care abt looks

erm anyway!!

probably just calls u by ur name but will throw in a my love here and there if he’s in a rlly good mood

because he’s sorta neglectful he doesn’t rlly kiss u a lot because he’s never actually near u alot

but when he is he likes kissing ur shoulders and forehead and hands and wrists n shit

he’s like cold to everyone else but soft with u <3 (when he’s actually with u)

and he’d love it if u got along well with his family and henry and elizabeth

especially his brothers

and would love it if ur nice to justine because typically people wouldn’t be nice to her cause she’s a maid (/lh ily justine u deserved better)

pls let him yap to u

sometimes he js wants to rant abt his day or ideas to someone and would love it if u sat there and listened

and if u let him yap after he makes his creation and it starts slaughtering everybody he’d love it if u were understanding

after elizabeth dies he becomes 12x more protective of u to the point where he won’t even let u be alone by urself cause he left elizabeth alone for 5 mins and she died (they’re js friends here obv)

his love language is gift giving <3 he likes making u little handmade gifts everytime he sees u

also quality time. whenever he can he likes going on picnics and walks

he’s also not the best at comforting but he’s a very good listener and will let u rant to him

his presence in general is comforting

i’m laughing my ass off at this but he wakes u up to show u bugs in the middle of the night

“victor wtf is that” “goliath beetle :)” “put it back before i make u move in with it.”

he also has the most entertaining days for no fucking reason and has a crazy story to tell u all the time

and his hands are fucking freezing. that’s all bye ily

#mars writing 🧈#frankenstein (marlee’s version 🫀)#frankenstein #victor frankenstein #frankenstein x reader #victor frankenstein x reader #the hunger games #thg #the hunger games x reader #thg x reader #finnick odair #finnick odair x reader

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torukmaktoskxawng · 6 months

Text

tsamsiyu ta'em - nothing is lost

Masterlist - part twelve

Summary: The Sky People make their move. The Metkayina rise up against the threat of their home.

Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character

Tag: #tsamsiyu ta'em fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 14k+

Warnings: canon-compliant, mature language, slow burn, polyamory, found family, cool aunt agenda, rushed, time skips, fluff, angst, major character death, child endangerment, etc.

Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @motheroffae @undeniableadrenaline @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @sucker4angstt @inolaphoenix @ilovechickenwings @tojisleftarm @andyfromku @ivysully

A/N: Thank you for your patience! At the very least, I'm not George R.R. Martin, who is 12 years late on the new book 🤣

This... is a very long chapter. Strap in. You guys deserve a treat for waiting for me 💕

The village was eerily quiet. Yes, it was raining and gloomy again, but something smelled off in the air when Kayla took a deep breath, her avatar nose smelling more than her human one could even dream of. It was an odd hour of the day for the Metkayina to be completely absent as she walked down the slippery pathways, her dog tags cold from the weather and clicking softly from where they dangled around her neck, the safari jacket she had thrown on that morning soaking through to her skin as the rain pressed on. Kayla scoffed to herself and wanted nothing more than to peel the useless piece of clothing off since it was now uncomfortable, but the rifle in her arms kept her from doing so. She intended to walk to the Sully marui that morning to ask Jake to borrow his cleaning supplies for his weapons, wishing to run maintenance on her own AK, but upon walking into her brother's home, she is surprised and confused to find all her nieces and nephews keeping warm inside but neither Jake nor Neytiri was around.

Tuk got up to greet her aunt with a hug around her waist, and as Kayla pat her back, Neteyam helpfully took the gun out of Kayla's arms while the older woman looked around, squinting her eyes, "Neteyam, where's your parents?"

"The tulkun returned again and they were afraid of something," the teenage boy lowered his head, ears drooping and voice laced with concern, "Mom and Dad went out with the clan leaders and a party to see what was wrong."

Kayla's eyes widen while looking around, now easily seeing the concern on all of the children's faces. Instinctively, she didn't want to assume any danger and immediately sought out to comfort her nieces and nephews, "Alright, well, maybe we should get some food going for when they get back. I'm sure it's nothing."

No one spoke as they got to work strengthening the embers of the hearth and preparing a meal. Kayla sat down with the teenagers while gathering Tuk in her lap, watching Kiri prepare some fish over the fire. Something hung heavy in the air. Perhaps it was the moisture or the thunder off in the distance, but no one bothered to speak up and question it. The mood was sour as the Sullys patiently waited for the patriarch and matriarch of the family to return. Kayla noticed that Lo'ak was the only one unable to look his aunt in the eyes as they all sat around, worried about whatever might be waiting for the party of Na'vi warriors, but she decided not to ask about it. She had a feeling that since this situation was tulkun-related, her youngest nephew was likely glum about yesterday's events involving Payakan.

Unaware of how much time had passed, all Sullys perked their heads up at the sound of crows and yips, indicating the Na'vi conversing with one another from a distance. The village began to stir with life once more, and before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Tsireya had run into the Sully marui, out of breath and hair drenched from the rain.

She looked frightened, appearing far younger than a thirteen-year-old girl, "The party has returned-- Your sa'sem are alright," she's quick to reassure Lo'ak and his siblings before her eyes darted back to Kayla, "But my father has just declared war on the Sky People!"

"What?" Kayla hastily stood up, dumping Tuk into Neteyam's lap when he wasn't as quick to stand. Kayla's heart had plummeted into her stomach, dread beginning to rise the little hairs running up and down her back, neck, and arms.

"They are gathering for a meeting right now!"

"Show me," Kayla ordered lowly, voice full of authority and determination setting in her gaze. Tsireya nods and runs back out of the pod. Kayla doesn't hesitate to follow.

Neteyam set his baby sister down in front of the fire as he and his other siblings stood to follow their aunt, "Tuk, stay here until someone comes back and gets you."

"But--"

"Stay here!"

Kayla could hear her older niece and nephews run out of the marui to join her, but her feet didn't slow as she walked with a destination in mind, unwilling to stop for anything. She followed Tsireya through the village. As they got closer to the communal canopy, more and more Metkayina emerged from their homes, and a growing crowd formed. It quickly became dense, the area full of Na'vi as Tsireya and Kayla drew closer, lightly scooting past other men and women to get to the center. Kayla spots something in the crowd and reaches out to grab Tsireya's shoulder, stopping both of them in their tracks. Kayla's eyes had narrowed in on the sight of Neytiri and Jake, standing at the front of the crowd and looking as though they had both seen ghosts. By the time Neteyam and his siblings joined Kayla, she already had a goal for them in mind.

"Get to your parents," she sternly told the teenagers, nodding in Jake and Neytiri's direction, "Tsireya, let's see if we can get closer. Break."

The small group scatters, going separate ways and weaving through the crowd. Tsireya and Kayla stick together until they find themselves standing at the very front of the gathering, apart from Rotxo and Ao'nung, who stand in front of them. The two young warriors didn't look very happy and while Kayla looked around, she finally spotted Tonowari and Ronal. They stood at the center of the crowd, standing over the rest. The tsahik appeared distraught and torn, streaks of rain and tears mixing while a hidden rage swam in her eyes. The olo'eyktan stood beside her, enraged, barely keeping in his anger while furiously gripping the spear in his hand. Jake has moved into Kayla's line of sight, right in front of Ronal. When the avatar woman looked around for the rest of her family, she spotted Kiri silently comforting Neytiri, the Na'vi woman looking distressed and welcoming her daughter's hand. Neteyam was off to the side of them, holding onto a device that drove Kayla's blood to freeze. She recognized the design of humans from anywhere, a long and large spear-like contraption with red, metal encasings to shield the mechanics inside from saltwater. A tracking device.

Ronal confirmed Kayla's suspicions while crying out in anger so that the entire village could hear, "My Spirit Sister and her baby have been murdered by the Sky People!"

A small sob can be heard off to the side of Kayla and when she looked down, she was quick to throw her arm around Tsireya while the girl wept for her mother's tulkun. Meanwhile, cries of anguish and rage emerged from the crowd, snarling and cursing the humans at the top of their lungs so they could be heard over the rain.

Tonowari exclaims angrily over their cries, "This war has come to us. We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people. But it was over the horizon, far away. Now it is here!"

They all respond to their chief with cries of war, snarling menacingly while baring their fangs and displaying their tongues as he did.

The crowd continues to rile themselves up for battle while Jake is desperate to calm them down, "No, you don't-- You gotta understand how the Sky People think! They don't care about the Great Balance!"

"We do not answer to Sky People!" One warrior shouted menacingly to Jake from the back of the crowd, and an encore of agreeing, snarling Metkayina responded in kind. Kayla flinched, ears lowering as the familiar whispers, snarls, and stares suddenly overwhelmed her. Jake's eyes flick drastically over the head of Na'vi and quickly lock onto hers, to which she silently says what she had been saying all along by gritting her teeth behind a closed mouth and narrowing her eyes at him.

'I told you so. Demon Siblings.'

Neteyam was desperate to control the crowd in his father's favor, waving the large, red tracking device in his hand while pleading, "Listen! Listen to him!"

"The Sky People are not gonna stop. This is only the beginning," Jake continues to try negotiating, directing his attention back to the clan leaders standing before him, "You gotta tell your tulkun to leave! You gotta tell them to go far away!"

"Leave?" Ronal echoed the word with a resounding scoff of sorrow and disbelief, "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"

"We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" Another warrior behind her exclaims and the Metkayina begin another wave of snarls and hisses.

"No, no, no, no... If you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you!" Jake shouts over the crowd, "They will destroy everything that you love!" His voice cracks in desperation, angrily motioning to Ronal's baby bump while looking her dead in the eye. The tsahik instinctively placed a gentle hand on her stomach as all of her people began shouting angrily to Jake, all the while he kept trying to talk over them.

"We will fight!"

"No! You hear my words!"

"We will fight!"

"Hear my words!"

"Stay calm. Stay calm!" Neteyam pleads to those who stood closest to him. Meanwhile, over his shoulder, his mother remained eerily quiet. She glances around at all the angry Metkayina, all of them anxious for a fight, anxious to protect their home. It was all too familiar to Neytiri, overwhelmed with that familiar dread and grief for her Hometree. Her older son continues to try and negotiate alongside her husband, drowning out her thoughts as he shouts, "Listen to my father!"

"Damn it!" Jake was frantic when nothing he said appeared to slow the Na'vi down, desperate for leverage until his eyes zeroed in on the large tracking device in Neteyam's hands. Quickly, he dives forward.

"He speaks the truth!" Neteyam is unable to say more as his father snatches the device out of his hands, the fast movement driving Kayla to straighten in alarm as her brother races to the center of the crowd, stepping up over everyone and raising the device in the air, silencing the entire village with his act and grabbing their attention. The clambering died down and Kayla couldn't help but notice Ronal reach for Tonowari in the heavy silence, holding onto his arm out of fright until he opened his hand without looking back at his wife. Wordlessly, Ronal slips her hand in his, a perfect fit, their conjoined knuckles brushing against her baby bump as they stare at the device in Jake's hand with caution.

"You tell the tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death. And call for me or my sister, we'll silence it."

Eyes look between Jake and Kayla, and it took a lot of willpower for the sister not to curl in her shoulders and try to hide. It helped that Tsireya looked up at Kayla with hope in her eyes as if the avatar woman was capable of grabbing the stars. Kayla faintly smiles down at the girl but it disappears just as fast while Jake continues, "Saving their lives, that's all that matters. Right? Saving your family."

Tonowari peers around at all his people, cautious, his anger beginning to fade as he's left with begrudging acceptance. Looking down at Ronal last, his mate briefly flicks her eyes up to him before they close and she gives a brief nod, clutching his hand tightly for a moment to silently share her opinion.

Finally, the great olo'eyktan steps up to Jake, overlooking the crowd and raising his spear, speaking softer but with more weight in his words, "Tell the tulkun."

Ronal briefly lets go of his hand and turns to her people, "Go. Go!"

Shouts echo off one another as the chosen warriors leave the gathering and journey out into the reef, calling their respective ilu and tsurak. Tsireya turns to see where she had last seen Lo'ak in the crowd, only to find him already walking away. Neteyam also sees his brother exit and an all-knowing gaze washes over before he moves to stomp after Lo'ak. Tsireya had left Kayla's side amidst the chaos of people upon watching both Sully brothers disappear before she could get to them, sensing what was about to happen.

Kayla looks around as the crowd begins to disperse, and already her family has left her alone, moving in separate directions. Her head turns to each one, wondering which way to go first, and who to follow. Kiri had run off to get Tuk while Jake brought Neytiri away to talk privately. Her hesitance to choose where to go causes her to stall and she's suddenly aware of Tonowari and Ronal stepping down onto the pathway, beelining toward her.

Tonowari's solemn gaze keeps Kayla still in her tracks, unable to move. He stared down at her with purpose, voice low so that only they could hear, "Now it is our war."

Dread takes over Kayla once more, adding to the cold of the rain on her skin. Ears lowered under the chief's scrutiny, her eyes briefly turned to Ronal. The tsahik was still clearly devastated by the loss of her Spirit Sister, ears drooping and frown trembling. Kayla opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find the right words to say, the only thing ever coming out in a hushed whisper, "I'm so sorry..."

She regrettably pulls away, knowing that she would not be good company while Ronal mourns. Kayla isn't able to look away from the clan leaders until she's forced to watch where she's going, turning to look ahead and find her brother. Jake and Neytiri were outside the communal canopy, off to the side to avoid any traffic going in and out. When Kayla approached them, Jake held out the tracking device to her.

"You can disarm these things, right?"

Kayla grabbed the tracker and inspected it, going back into marine mode, "Looks simple enough if we run into more. What happened out there?"

"Bad things. I'll tell you later," Jake shook his head, defeated, "RDA is definitely closing in. I need you to either break your link tonight or radio Norm. Let him know what's going on."

"You got it."

He looks around, "Where are the kids?"

Both Kayla and Neytiri look around while the former answers, "I saw them leave. I know at least one of them went to check on Tuk. We left her at home."

Neytiri didn't appear convinced when she turned her head back to Kayla, "They left without saying anything?"

"I assumed you knew where they were going. Tsireya seemed to know. She went after them."

All three adults fall into silence before they agree to go and find the children. They stick together while looking throughout the village, asking around. At first, no one seemed willing to help them, and the small glances at Jake and Kayla were the only indicator as to why, much to Jake's annoyance and Kayla's inner smugness toward proving her brother right. Neytiri hissed at those who were openly unhelpful and went her own way, down to the ilu pens. Jake and Kayla are quick to follow her, staying behind her so as to not get in her way as they search for the kids.

Eventually, they found a boy who occasionally hangs out with Ao'nung. Neytiri doesn't hesitate to question him, "Have you seen my children?"

The teenage boy looks up and his eyes widen at the sight that was Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite. He's quick to answer her, stumbling over his words, "I saw Ao'nung and Rotxo with them just a minute ago. They took off."

"Dad, I-- I mean Devil Dog. Do you read me?"

Kayla and Jake quickly pick up the sound of Lo'ak's voice coming from their respective earpieces and quickly grow concerned as to why he would call them. Neytiri is unaware of their sudden alertness as she continues to interrogate Ao'nung's friend, "Did you see where they went?"

"-- It's Eagle Eye, do you copy?"

"They went outside the reef." The boy responds, only to be ignored by Neytiri when Jake taps her arm to get her attention, still focused on his son's voice while reaching up to his throat mic to respond.

"Yeah, Lo'ak?"

"Dad!" Neytiri is quick to understand what's happening and pulls her own listening device back in her ear to hear the conversation. Lo'ak's voice was frantic and scared, "We're with a tulkun that's under attack. Killer ship's inbound. It's about two klicks out."

"Shit," Kayla muttered while Neytiri grabs Jake's arms, eyes widening in terror.

Jake's voice is laced with that same terror, "Who's with you?"

"It's all of us! Ao'nung and Tsireya, too." Neytiri gasps silently, visibly wincing at the idea of all of her children in danger, "We're at Three Brothers Rocks."

Neytiri's hand covers her mouth while Jake spouts instructions, "You get to cover, and you do not engage. All right? You hear me? Do not engage, we're comin'."

"Yes, sir."

Jake sprints back into the center of the village, his wife and his sister hot on his heels. Other warriors run with them when they sense their fear and alarm, all racing to get to the olo'eyktan's marui. They yip and call out to Tonowari as they draw closer, the chief looking up from where he sat inspecting a fishing net at the lip of the pod. He's instantly alert to see Toruk Makto racing to him, Ronal soon appears at the entrance to see what the commotion is about.

"The kids are under attack!" The chief immediately rises to his feet as Jake explains, "The kids are under attack. They were defending a tulkun. It's your kids, too."

The weight of the news causes Ronal to spin back around and immediately grab her weapons from within the marui. Tonowari tilts his head to Jake for clarification, "The demon ship?"

"Yes! We gotta go!" Jake yells back as he, Neytiri, and Kayla race off toward their own home.

"Weapons. Sound the alarm!"

The Metkayina warriors yip and runoff, spreading the news as they went, drawing more and more Na'vi to start yipping in unison, growing louder and louder in number. As they draw closer to the Sully marui, Neytiri and Kayla mimic bird sounds to call their respective ikran, seeing the familiar distant sight of wings flying toward them from the forest. They then follow Jake into the pod, gathering as many weapons as they can carry. Jake hands Kayla's rifle to her before grabbing his tomahawk and slipping it into the sheath on his back. He then grabs his arsenal vest and flings it over his shoulder, kneeling down and helping Kayla divide all the ammunition they have on them.

Neytiri grabs her father's bow and holds it to her, breathing in deeply and willing for Eywa to protect her children through her. She then grabs her sheath of arrows and turns around, briefly pausing as Jake catches her eye. The parents share a knowing look and a nod before sprinting back outside with Kayla closely following them. The rest of the village is alive with alarm, dozens and dozens of Metkayina with spears diving into the water below, summoning their tsurak and following their clan leaders out beyond the reef. Jake follows them into the water to grab his own tsurak while two ikran land on the pathways for Neytiri and Kayla to mount. Gracefully, both women take to the air as the banshees squawk, holding onto their reins with one hand and clutching their weapons in the other. They quickly swoop down to fly just above the army of tsurak as the skimwing slowly rise out of the water and fan out their gliding wings, one by one. Neytiri raises her bow up and gives her best war cry to which Jake echos back from below. Ronal looks up and sees Neytiri and Kayla astride their banshees and ululates, adjusting the spear in her hand to which her whole village responds behind her as their army takes off, ready to defend their children and their home.

"Kayla, Neytiri," both women focus on the voice in the earpiece. Jake gives them instructions when he has their attention, "I need you up top, using the clouds for cover. Be my eyes from above and wait for my signal."

"Copy that," Kayla presses her throat mic and then pulls up on her handlebar, making a demand in her head while Thena simply follows it. The ikran squawks and further rises into the sky, breaking away from the army of tsurak and Metkayina. Neytiri yips and pulls her ikran to follow them, the two women disappearing into the clouds until Jake is unable to see them.

They flew through the clouds for a while until they made it to their destination. Neither of them could see Three Brothers Rocks from this height, but they knew their whereabouts. Kayla had Thena slowly descend, just ever so slightly beneath the clouds so she could get a visual, looking through the scope of her rifle to look down toward the ocean with a bird's eye view. She saw the three large peaks of rocks sprouting out of the ocean that Lo'ak had described and once she got her bearings, she proceeded to look for anything else in the surrounding area.

It wasn't hard to spot the hunting ship, large enough for even larger prey, like whales, floating not too far away from where Lo'ak had pinged his location. Several speed boats armed to the teeth with harpoons and sound cannons lined up around the front of the ship, likely as the first line of defense, and it was hard to miss the submersibles diving down into the water, forming large splashes and ripples around the ship. Kayla recognized the two gunships sitting silently on the hunting ship's platform, and she silently thanked God that for now, the rotors didn't appear to be moving. What actually worried her, however, was the half a dozen ikran idly flying around or sitting idle on the ship, sporting modern-looking saddles and pouches. In her experience knowing the behavior behind these animals, they don't appear alert or battle-hungry for the time being. They were more or less bored looking and basking in the sun while waiting for their riders.

She leaned away from her scope to press her fingers into her throat mic, "Devil Dog, do you read me?"

Jake's voice soon answered her, "Go ahead, Desert Fox."

"I got eyes on the target. One WIGE ship, and several boats lined up in front. They have idle subs and SeaWasps on board. Can't get a headcount of personnel. There's about five or six banshees decked out in military gear, riderless."

"Copy that. Stay hidden with Clever Arrow for the time being."

"Lima Charlie."

"We're just approaching Eagle Eye's last location. Stand by."

Kayla doesn't respond, taking a deep breath instead and using the strap on her rifle to prop the weapon behind her back, letting it dangle. She looked over to Neytiri as the Na'vi woman and her ikran glided close beside her, "We stay up here."

"And what about my children?" Neytiri snapped, though Kayla didn't take it to heart, knowing the anger wasn't directed at her. She could only imagine what her sister-in-law was going through, stressed and worried sick for her babies.

Before she could answer or provide Neytiri with a form of comfort, a strange voice, much different from any voice Kayla knew, came in through her earpiece, addressing her brother, "Jake, tell your friends to stand down."

Kayla quickly held up one hand to let Neytiri know she was getting something, then cupped her other hand over her earpiece, trying to pinpoint the strange southern drawl that had intercepted their radio chatter, "You want your kids back, you come out alone. You know better than to test my resolve."

Kayla's blood began to freeze, her heart hammering in her chest to keep it all pumping. The voice had to have been Quaritch to address Jake as if they knew each other, and even if it wasn't the colonel, whoever it was had Kayla's nieces and nephews. Whoever it was had Lo'ak captured at the very least, considering he was the only one out of the Sully children to have a mic and earpiece. The suspected Quaritch continued to speak, "I took you under my wing, Jake. You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men. Good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."

"Just wait one!" Jake finally responded, his voice deeply disturbed and desperate.

Silence fell over the radio chatter, and Kayla could only wait with bated breath. Neytiri and her ikran were visibly growing distressed and irritated, flying in short, unpredictable turns from left to right as if trying to burn off their pent-up energy. Kayla gave the other woman a wider berth while trying not to appear anxious herself, her quiet pants and rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears, along with the wind.

"Offer's fixin' to expire. What's it gonna be?" Quaritch asked after a short minute.

"Check your fire. I'm comin' out."

"Fuck," Kayla muttered, turning to Neytiri, "We should drop lower. Jake is approaching alone."

Neytiri barely gives Kayla enough time to finish her sentence as she leans forward and internally orders her banshee to dive. Kayla orders Thena to do the same, and together they lower through the clouds, trying to remain hidden while moving in for a closer look.

They lower a significant amount, flying out from behind a small mountain peak sticking out of the water, soft gray clouds drifting apart to reveal the battlefield site below. From this distance, it appears everything is at a standstill, and there weren't any indicators to suggest otherwise. Neytiri quickly presses into her throat mic, "Ma Jake, what is happening? Ma Jake?"

Kayla shifts her feet in the footholds of her ikran, Thena jerking her head to share the tension she felt in their bond. Jake didn't answer Neytiri, which worried both women further, unsure of how to proceed. Both looked at one another, thinking the same thing. Do they stay or attack? Does Jake have a plan?

The wait felt like ages, but eventually, movement could be seen down below, and it was so large that Neytiri and Makayla could clearly see what was happening. A large form erupted from below the waters, rising up and leaping over the hull of the WIGE ship, slamming down with a large bellow and jostling the entire ship along with its passengers. A tulkun bull, young and smaller than ones Kayla has seen, but still large enough to give those idle gunships a run for their money. As the tulkun wiggled around on deck, flailing his fins and tail around to knock over or crush any Sky People or Recom, Kayla finally managed to spot a missing fin among the chaos. From listening to Lo'ak and Neteyam's stories, she was able to identify who this fearsome creature was. Payakan.

For a moment, the Sky People and Recom avatars were distracted by the whale-like animal that had quite literally flopped up on deck, making the mistake of disengaging from the Na'vi as they turned their boats and guns around on the tulkun outcast. Rapid gunshots could be heard from all the way up in the sky, and Kayla and Neytiri could only look on in amazement. Payakan bellows again, louder, echoing in Kayla's ears even from this distance, startling the Recoms' idle ikran as they all spread their wings and took flight out of fear.

As the humans were too busy trying to defend themselves and deal with Payakan, Jake was finally pinpointed in the chaos. Kayla had only managed to see him when he drove his tsurak forward and the skimwing took flight, spreading its wide, orange gliders, charging for battle by his lonesome across a dark blue ocean. Suddenly, several other tsuraks took flight, spreading their wings out one by one until the battlefield below Kayla and Neytiri looked like flying ants charging toward a toy boat in the bathtub. Amidst the charge, Payakan was seen diving back into the water, using his fins as leverage to push his weight off the ship. With the tulkun out of sight, the Sky People had turned back around and found themselves fumbling to meet up against the Na'vi as the Metkayina came up behind them using the element of surprise. Rapid gunfire sounded out, now aimed at the army of skimwings, who responded by folding their wings back up and diving down into the water to escape the bullets.

With both sides now engaged in battle, Kayla turned to Neytiri and gestured with her arm, "Let's go!"

Neytiri screeches out a war cry and together they dive down to join the fight, their ikran crowing in response. The banshees fold in their wings to dive faster, the wind whipping wildly in Kayla's face and ears while she held on tight to Thena with one hand and gripped her AK in the other, primed and ready.

Two primary targets took to the sky around the same time Neytiri and Kayla reached the battle. The Recoms had mounted their ikran and were flying up to greet the enemy, with the gunships now following their example. Neytiri broke off from Kayla and flew to the gunship as it was shooting down into the water to get to the Metkayina, approaching fast on her target from above. She raised her bow and aimed, expertly shooting an arrow into the cockpit, shattering the glass while the arrow lodged into the pilot's chest. The gunship crashed into nearby rocks and blew up in a cloud of fire and smoke, Neytiri celebrating her small victory with chants of ululating as she flew by.

By now, the Metkayina have finally begun their assault, their tsurak springing out of the water and leaping above the smaller boats, the Na'vi riders spearing any Sky People on board before dragging them down into the depths of the ocean below. The skimwings themselves have attacked alongside their riders, opening their rows of teeth to any unsuspecting humans when they lept out of the water. Jake flew around and opened fire, emptying rounds of ammunition into a patrol boat until it burst into flames before swiftly turning his tsurak away from the explosion.

It was like the Sky People had finally woken up and begun to wreak havoc themselves, emptying bullets into any nearby Metkayina or tsurak and letting their bodies sink back into the waters. Rocket projectiles, machine guns, grenades, harpoons, and depth charges were used against spears and arrows, proven effective by the growing body count of Na'vi. It began to become an obstacle course for the tsurak as large plums of water sprang up all around them like erupting geysers, forcing the Na'vi to dodge and weave to avoid injury or worse. Jake managed to dodge the grenade launcher that formed these waves of geysers and took aim, shooting the driver of the patrol boat that the launcher was stationed on. With the driver dead, the boat sped into rocks and sent the rest of its crew flying before exploding. Jake took a minute to breathe and reload, grunting tiredly in his old age.

He was caught in a moment of weakness as a Recom dived down with their ikran from above, aiming their sights on his head, before a screech could be heard and the Recom avatar only managed to turn his head just in time to see Thena with her armed jaws spread wide before everything turned to black. Kayla grunts when her ikran makes an impact with the Recom's beast, holding tight as both banshees struggle and flap their wings against each other in the air. Kayla only heard the resounding crunch of the Recom's skull before Thena finally pushed away from the enemy ikran and disengaged. Jake had looked up just in time to see the Recom's headless body slide off its ikran's back and Kayla flew away above hers, a small smirk taking form on the proud brother's face. He looked away and brought his focus back into the fight, taking his tsurak and diving back down into the water.

Another gunship was about to take off from the platform of the hunting ship before Neytiri spotted it, swiftly taking it down and causing it to explode using only a single arrow. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees an enemy ikran pursuing her and she quickly turns her own banshee away. The Recom rider that followed her was none other than Quaritch, and like he had a score to settle, he began to open fire. Neytiri learned from past experience to have her ikran dodge and weave the bullets, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She knew she couldn't serpentine forever, and flashbacks of the last time she was shot out of the sky haunted the back of her mind, so she called out in short bursts of yips, yelping for assistance.

The backup came in the form of her husband, answering her distressed calls. Jake and his tsurak leap out of the water, flying right behind Quaritch, and roared as he began to open fire on the colonel. Quaritch takes evasive maneuvers, Neytiri forgotten, while he tries to avoid getting shot. He was only given a window of opportunity when Jake ran out of ammo and quickly had to stop and reload. Jake threw his empty clip over his shoulder and pats around his vest for more, only to come up empty aside from the dread now looming in his chest, "Oh, shit."

Meanwhile, Neytiri had flown back to aid Kayla in taking down the other Recoms flying around, the Forest woman using her ikran to make a large loop upside down as she aimed and fired an arrow into an enemy avatar. Kayla responded in kind by shooting down another Recom that was ready to go after Neytiri for killing his friend. Kayla looked around for more targets and saw another Recom shooting down into the water, presumable at a Metkayina and their tsurak. Kayla flew down to their aid, raining a hellfire of bullets into both the Recom and their ikran. The bodies of both banshee and avatar crashed into the water, and the Metkayina briefly turned around to glance at her pursuer's corpse.

It was Ronal, her spear missing and her heart skipping in her chest to see the demon that was trying to shoot her while she was helpless was now dead. Peering up through the ocean's surface, the tsahik could make out an image of Kayla and her ikran flying away with the enemy dead, distorted by the movement of water and unaware of Ronal's gratitude.

Kayla now turned to a particularly large shape forming in the water, deciding to finish off any survivors from the damage Payakan left in his wake. With the flick of his tail, he had sent a whole patrol boat into the propellor of the hunting ship, killing everyone on board the smaller boat as it burst into flames. Weirdly enough, the propellor fans began to kick into high gear, the flames of the explosion getting pulled through until the whole fan exploded as a result. Suddenly, the very large WIGE ship is pushed forward, going at high speed toward a scattering of rocks peeking out of the water as if the ship had been sabotaged from the inside. The vessel crashes, being thrown into the air while the rocks scrape along the underbelly, causing irreparable damage. The ship momentarily flies in the air before slowly crashing back down into the sea, worse for wear as it slows to a stop. Kayla noticed a surface boat with a harpoon holder welded into the bow of the vessel quickly picking up speed to avoid getting crushed by the large ship and decided to set her sights on its crewmembers. She leans forward as Thena picks up speed, flying toward the vessel at the same time Payakan appears to have noticed the small boat as well.

Elsewhere, Jake had to dive back into the water to avoid getting shot by Quaritch now that the colonel had the upper hand. When The Recom leader managed to lose sight of his target, Jake took the moment of opportunity to leap his tsurak out of the water and have the skimwing latch its razor-sharp teeth into the neck of Quaritch's ikran. Quaritch yells out, surprised and enraged as both tsurak and ikran struggle together, entangled while their riders shout out grunts and war cries, pushing and pulling to gain the upper hand with all their stubborn might. Quaritch is flung from his banshee, crashing into the water while Jake's tsurak drags the ikran into the depths before finally unlatching its teeth and letting go. The ikran swims then fly away upon surfacing, abandoning its master as Quaritch swims to the surface, gasping for air with his rifle in hand.

The harpoon vessel had begun to follow Payakan upon sighting him, and the tulkun swam alongside it until the harpoon was let loose. Payakan dove and shifted in the water, narrowly avoiding the harpoon before using the tusk-like structure on the bow of his head to spin and tangle the strong cable attached to the harpoon around him before further clamping his jaws around the cable for extra measure. He swims fast, faster than normal until he's dragging the whole boat behind him like an excited dog dragging his owner by the leash. The tulkun pulls the boat along for the ride until they get to another cluster of rocks poking out of the water, then swims around it until the boat is helplessly skimming toward its doom. The boat crashes and briefly floats in the air along with any crew member on board who had quickly grabbed a hold of something, before diving back into the water. The boat is miraculously still afloat, bobbing up and down in waves as the chaos subsides for now. The vessel looked as though it was floating dead in the water, with no engine or noise coming from its hull. The harpoon launcher was reloaded as they waited, looking around for any sight of the tulkun.

Payakan repeated his maneuver and breached the water, cable still in his mouth, as he lept over the small boat. The cable now wrapped securely around the boat, Payakan gave a quick tug until the cable dug into the metal of the boat and then began to sink deeper and deeper. The crew scrambles to duck down just as the cable comes crashing through, cutting everything in its path until it catches onto the harpoon launcher, a crewmate's arm caught right in between them.

Kayla was flying around Payakan's whereabouts and winced just as the cable cut through the man's arm and harpoon launcher, sending both flying and then crashing into the ocean below along with the severed arm. Kayla then dives down to finish off the survivors, aiming then firing at any humans that pose a threat. She spares one man among the wreckage, however, as he clearly appears to be a scientist, not a soldier. She could afford to spare one man to go crawling back to Ardmore and relay his horrific stories... but she wouldn't feel the loss if another Na'vi decided to finish him off instead.

~~~~~~~~~

The sky slowly turned dark as eclipse rolled around, the fires from prior explosives the only thing lighting up the war zone that transpired, turning everything red and orange in its wake. It was like a waking nightmare, a sky full of smoke and pollution, taken out of a dystopian novel. The eery silence was only filled by flickering fire, with no signs of Na'vi or man in sight. Both had mysteriously disappeared.

Kayla had looped around the battlefield several times already, trying to pinpoint any danger or sign of a familiar face. There were a lot of floating bodies and debris, empty boats with blood dripping down. It looked unnerving as they began to float away, with no sign of life on board.

There's a distance splash and Kayla reflectively turned in the direction she heard it. There's an outline of a Na'vi jumping off the back of his tsurak and walking along a face of rocks, soft waves of water lapping over the surface and giving off the illusion that he was walking on water. Thena lowered from the sky until Kayla managed to depict certain characteristics and instantly recognized the Na'vi man, "Jake!"

Jake looked up at the sound of his name and noticed an ikran land on the rocks, huffing from exhaustion as its rider disengaged, running toward him. A small wave of relief encompasses Toruk Makto at the sight of his sister, "Kayla! Hey--"

"'You alright?" She immediately asked upon reaching him, her eyes briefly looking for any injuries.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

There's a distant splash resembling a breach in the water, causing the older Sully siblings to turn at the noise. Immediately, Kayla's stomach falls at the sight. It was like a waking nightmare for Jake, watching a small group of teenagers come rolling onto the shore of the rock face he and Kayla had landed on. Quickly, he noticed something was wrong, running over as Lo'ak waved him down.

"Dad! Dad, help! It's Neteyam!"

Tsireya briefly closes her eyes as a harsh wave smacks her in the face, ears drooping when listening to the sounds of Neteyam's rugged coughs. He was weak, and short of breath even though he had been an excellent student in her lessons on how to take large gulps of air for deep diving. It scared her, "Hurry!"

Lo'ak peers back at his brother before sinking into the water, dismounting his ilu and handing his brother to Tsireya, "Here, take him!"

Jake and Kayla proceed to rush over, eyes widening at the sight of the teens holding Neteyam above water as he sputters and coughs, one of which was not like the others and was the very same teenage boy Kayla had spent a long time searching for. The gasp she let out at the sight of a human boy among the Na'vi teens was from pure shock, "Spider?"

"Oh, no," Jake gasped as he took in the horrific sight of the half-drowned kids trying to pull his wounded firstborn to shore, blood pouring from his chest like the water he was floating in.

Lo'ak keeps repeating the same words through his fear, "It's Neteyam! He's hurt!"

Spider reaches out for Toruk Makto's arm as he grasps Neteyam's body, "Jake, come on! Come on!"

"Hurry, please!" Lo'ak begs.

Jake finally snaps out of his daze and grabs Spider's arm, trying to help drag all the connected teenagers to shore, "Pull!"

Kayla shakes herself from her shock and steps up to help, also grabbing onto Spider's arm and assisting her brother in pulling them all up out of the water.

"Bro, watch his head, watch his head!" Lo'ak instructs Spider, panic beginning to set in as he watches Neteyam's eyes begin to roll back, the older boy still coughing and otherwise unaware of his surroundings.

"Pull! Come on!" Jake grunts, finally getting all the kids out of the water. He grabs Neteyam's torso, lifting him in the air while Lo'ak and Spider have his sides and Tsireya has his legs, Kayla's hands hovering around the wounded boy's neck in case it rolls. Jake has them bring Neteyam to more solid ground before lowering him, "Just watch his head. Okay--"

Neteyam shallowly breathes as he feels the cold and wet rock surface underneath him, unable to suck in more air as Lo'ak grasps one of his hands, squeezing hard in comfort, "It's okay, bro. We got you."

Jake pushes Neteyam onto his side, immediately clocking the exit wound bleeding profusely with the help of Spider's flashlight, "Oh, no," looking around, frantic, he instead grabs Lo'ak's hands and presses it harshly against Neteyam's bleeding chest, "Put pressure-- put pressure on it!"

Neteyam stifles a grunt at the pressure against his chest, trying to get a word out, "Dad, I--"

"It's okay, I'm here!"

Kayla thinks quickly and rationally, stripping off her jacket, "Jake, the exit--"

"I know, I know!"

Without another word, Kayla has Lo'ak help her lift Neteyam until she has her rolled-up jacket pressed up against the exit wound behind him then lays him back down, helping Lo'ak continue putting pressure on the profusely bleeding hole in the older boy's chest. But she couldn't know how long Neteyam had been bleeding out. It was impossible to determine and her attempt to save him might be in vain. Kayla remains hovering over him, trying her best to conjure up a smile, "Hey, kiddo... it's alright, just take it easy. Remember to breathe..."

Neytiri lands her ikran when she spotted a few members of her family, barely pulling her braid from her mount before running over to the scene, muttering in fear and denial, "No, no, no, no, no!"

Kayla moves out of the way the moment Neteyam's mother arrives, surrendering her spot next to Lo'ak for Neytiri, and backs up, hovering over her brother's family and unable to look away.

"It's okay. It's okay, son, I gotcha." Jake comforted.

Lo'ak tries the same, "It's okay..."

Neteyam's eyes wildly looked around, unfocused and frightened, even when directed at Jake. It was like his son couldn't hear him, the shock setting Neteyam into panic mode as Jake tried to firmly reassure him.

Neteyam briefly looked relieved before tears started to gather in his eyes. Just this once, he allows himself to be a little boy again, tearful and sad, "I want to go home..." he grunts out his small plea before gasping rapidly, the words exhausting him.

Jake's voice quivers, holding his son's shoulder, "I know. I know. It's okay, we're goin' home. We're goin' home."

He softens his voice, pushing the desperation away to try and calm his son, as if he was still an infant he was soothing to sleep, "We're going home. It's okay, it's okay."

Neteyam gulps and tries to force the words out of his mouth, "Dad, I..."

His words are abruptly cut off, fading into the wind. The boy's eyes begin to unfocus and his body goes unnaturally stiff, rid of all muscle movement and heartbeat. Silence lingers over the Sully family as they wait for their son and brother to catch his breath, Neytiri gripping his hand tighter to get him to focus, "Neteyam..."

But there was no response. No breath, no words... nothing. Complete silence while Neteyam's eyes are permanently stuck watching the sky, unblinking and unfocused. Jake's heart plummets to his stomach, his breath escaping his lungs as he bows his head in distress. Neytiri's eyes flicker over her firstborn's face, over and over, frantic as she begins to rant, "No. No, no, no, Neteyam!"

She begins to scream in anguish and denial, her voice shattering everyone's ears and hearts. Tsireya couldn't bear to look at her friend's body anymore and had to look away to cry, flinching at the sound of Neytiri's screams. Jake shushes his wife softly, reaching out to her but his touch goes unnoticed, as the mother desperately clings to any part of her dead son's body, trying to shake him awake. A single tear slips down Spider's face, collecting at the bottom of his mask, while Lo'ak begins to quietly sob, staring down at his hands, covered in his brother's blood.

"Neteyam!" Neytiri sobs while leaning over her boy, holding his head close to hers as she wails, "Oh, Great Mother. No, Great Mother! Please! Oh, my son! My son... No!"

Jake had gone completely numb, leaning back with his hands in his lap, eyes drifting off to somewhere distant while unable to comprehend the sight in front of him. Neytiri continues to sob and plead to anyone who will listen, her voice growing hoarse over time, "My son! No! No!"

Kayla silently stood over the Sully family, tears running down her face, but otherwise quiet to the world. Initially, she wanted to clench her hands into fists but immediately unfurled them again when she felt the squish and stick of her nephew's blood, to which she refused to look down and see for herself. She didn't want to see the color, nor what it represented... a young life taken from his family far too soon.

"Can you hear me, Corporal?" Kayla's ears perk up to the southern drawl in her earpiece, and when her eyes flick to Jake, she notices his ears move to attention as well. Both Sully siblings felt cold as the voice dragged on, "Yeah, yeah, I think you can. I got your daughters. Same deal as before. You for them."

At the mention of the girls, Jake appears to wake out of his trance, turning his head to the direction of the hunting ship, then realization begins to creep in. His head slowly turns back to Lo'ak, his voice quiet as terror begins to settle in his chest, "Where are your sisters?"

His remaining son slowly peers up at him, eyes rimmed pink from crying, and his silence only angered Jake as he snapped his demands, "Your sisters. Where are they?"

"I don't know," Lo'ak whispered.

"Where are they?!" Jake shouts.

"They're on the ship," Tsireya sobs quietly, her bottom lip quivering as Toruk Makto turns to her, "They are tied up on the ship."

"They're-- They're at the moon pool," whether it was out of grief, shock, or fear of Jake, Spider continued to stutter while the older man turned to him, holding onto the boy's arm as he spoke, "At-- A-At the well deck. Midships."

"What?" Jake asked, unable to make sense of the human boy's rambling.

Spider sighs in defeat and then rises to his feet, grabbing onto Jake's arm and helping him stand up, "Come on. I'll show you. Come on. I'll show you."

Jake stumbled initially, the shock and adrenaline still coursing through him as Quaritch continued to speak through the radio, "Talk to me, Corporal. I need somethin', Jake or there's gonna be consequences."

"Yeah, I hear you," Jake responded as he pressed into the throat, sounding a little out of breath. He stumbles over to Kayla, ignoring the blood on her hands and gripping both of her arms as he speaks to her, his voice like gravel scrapping together, "Fly up ahead. Don't engage until I get into position. Lure the hostiles away while I grab the girls. Wait for my signal."

Kayla forced herself to nod, swallowing whatever broken cry threatened to come out as she whispered, "All right."

She forces herself to break out of Jake's hold, forcing herself to turn and walk away from the others, Neytiri's cries following her as she went. There's a small pool of water that collects on the rock surface and Kayla briefly kneels down to clean herself up, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again when she finally sees all the blood. She quickly stands back up, forming tsaheylu with Thena while hopping up onto her back, barely glancing back at what she assumes is the top of Neteyam's head of braids before rising into the sky and flying away.

Even though she could no longer hear Neytiri's cries from this distance, Kayla could still hear the horrific sounds in her head, following her as she rose higher into the sky. She uses the clouds and smoke for cover as she silently looms over what she knows is the location of the WIGE ship, using the scope of her rifle again to look down below to see what she is dealing with. The ship was slowly but surely beginning to sink, slightly tilted in the water, but the remaining Recoms and human soldiers on board were trying to balance out the weight but positioning themselves on one end, gathering their weapons and anxiously waiting for Jake's arrival.

As she's waiting above, alone in her grieving silence, she's suddenly startled out of her daze when the earpiece kicks on again, and Quaritch's voice seeps through, "Talk to me, Corporal. This ship's going down and your girls with it... Your boy didn't have to die. You brought that on yourself. You thought you could keep your family safe, but you can't. Only one way to keep them safe. So let's get this over with before you lose another kid."

Thena mewls quietly when feeling the blood-boiling rage through her bond with Kayla, the avatar's grip tightening on the reins of her ikran. Flashes of the many ways she could kill Quaritch play in Kayla's head like a movie, deep and dark thoughts she would never voice out loud unless she'd risk scaring the people she loved around her. Back on Earth, she would've immediately been sent to a shrink or a psychiatric hospital for voicing her murderous thoughts and she didn't want to risk finding out what would happen if she did so here on Pandora.

Her thoughts are abruptly cut off, however, by the loud sound of an explosion going off on the upper decks of the WIGE ship. While Kayla was waiting in her dark mind, Jake was below, sneaking onto the ship along with Spider. As Quaritch was monologuing, Jake had taken a grenade and lodged it into a gunship that Neytiri had shot down earlier, the wreckage now resting on the top of the WIGE ship. Jake quickly ran back to Spider and shouted for him to take cover, right before the gunship exploded into fire and debris.

Kayla watched the explosion bloom into smoke before she finally flew down, knowing that was the signal. She uses that smoke as cover, flying down through it to remain unseen to the RDA goons. The fires were blinding the humans, scrambling away from the flames or diving in to save anyone who survived the initial explosion. At the moment, everyone was distracted, and it was this perfect distraction that the Sully adults used to their advantage, striking the Sky People while they were down. Jake leaped in and immediately took out a human and a Recom by impaling them with a Metkayina spear. He wasn't able to take the weapon with him as it lodged completely through the body of the Recom, so Jake quickly took his AK out and began firing at nearby soldiers once they began to notice his presence.

At the sound of gunfire, Kayla and Neytiri swoop into action, flying down from opposite ends of the ship, and surrounding the Sky People. Neytiri lands in a front-ward roll before skilfully aiming and firing her bow and arrow, immediately lodging said arrow into the leg of a female Recom. While the enemy avatar is distracted, Neytiri picks off the two humans who were covering the Recom's six. Neytiri raises the last human male up and shoots an arrow through his body and into the female Recom's skull before she can further react. Neytiri scrambles to retrieve her arrows once all immediate enemies are dead just as Jake approaches with his gun in his arms, keeping an eye out while his wife collects her ammunition.

"Clear," he announces to her, expertly looking around to spot more enemies.

Meanwhile, Kayla has landed on a different end of the ship, and Thena flies away. One Recom, bald and sporting tattoos with a patch on his vest that read L. WAINFLEET, immediately noticed her and shouted to the top of his lungs while aiming his gun in her direction, "We got another avatar!"

He and other humans begin to open fire, while Kayla immediately ducks for cover. Jake had climbed up onto the upper levels of the ship as this began to transpire and used the distraction to attack the RDA soldiers who were firing down at his sister from their high ground. He killed and flung their bodies down from the catwalk, the height surely killing their small and frail bodies. Wainfleet noticed the sky was raining bodies and briefly stopped firing to look up before his eyes widened and he immediately moved his gun sights onto Jake, "Eyes up!"

The human soldiers follow his order and begin to raise and fire up at Jake. Kayla uses this distraction to come back out of hiding and, with their backs turned, she immediately begins to open fire on the Sky People, expertly shooting most of them in the back of the head or top of the spine.

Neytiri throws herself into the fray, leaping down the flight of stairs leading down to the lower deck of the ship. She dives for cover as Quaritch and other Sky People take notice of her and open fire. Wainfleet and any Sky People that managed to escape Kayla's cascade of bullets try to surround Neytiri, moving up slowly to her hiding place as she continues through her murder spree. She manages to get above and behind the humans trying to get around and corner her, jumping down behind Wainfleet before disarming him and knocking him out when she swings her bow into his face. Out of arrows, Neytiri readies her bow to swing again and hides, waiting for the remaining soldiers to come find her.

Jake continued to be her eyes from above, shooting down at the soldiers below once they got too close to Neytiri's hiding spot. She comes out of hiding once her husband kills her remaining pursuers and rushes to grab any nearby stray arrows. Meanwhile, Kayla is pushing the remaining soldiers forward, shooting her AK into the fray and drawing them back. Little did the humans realize that Kayla had pushed them toward Jake and Neytiri in their rush to fall back away from Kayla's barrage of attacks. Jake jumps down once Kayla has their prey clustered close together and begins picking them off one by one. He lifts humans into the air and throws them into Recoms. He chucks empty rifles into RDA masks, causing the masks to shatter and the humans to suffocate while he moves forward with his tomahawk in hand. Kayla appears on the other side of the surrounded Sky People, completely cornering them into the blood bath. Once her section was cleared of hostiles, she moved further up to the highest point of the ship to provide support for Jake and Neytiri from above.

Neytiri shoots arrows at those who manage to break off and run away from Jake. Once out of arrows once more, she dives for one that was lodged into a dead body nearby, struggling with it as it got stuck. Meanwhile, Wainfleet had woken up behind her, face bleeding as he scrambled to reload his rifle. Neytiri had managed to get her arrow loose of the body and was about to aim and finish the Recom off before Jake appeared out of nowhere, attacking Wainfleet head-on and obstructing a clear shot for Neytiri to take.

"Ma Jake!"

While the two male avatars fight in close combat, more soldiers try to get around them. With her husband preoccupied, Neytiri covers him and fires her already-loaded arrow into one of the soldiers, killing him instantly. Behind the body was a clear view of Kiri and Tuk, cuffed to the center railing of the ship, just like what Spider had said.

With their daughters close at hand, Jake and Neytiri move in, now acting like a frantic couple of animals as the threat of their young is further imminent. Kayla provides backup support, knowing better to stay out of the parents' way, and empties her AK onto anyone below who is trying to subdue Jake and Neytiri, but through the smoke and flashes of gunfire, Kayla quickly loses sight of Na'vi pair, and the ground level grows eerily silent once there are no more soldiers to kill. Deciding to get closer to Kiri and Tuk's position, Kayla slowly and quietly makes her way back down, not wanting to make her presence known. She climbs down onto some gunship wreckage, not yet on the ground level once she spots the back of Jake's head. Getting a closer look, she realized Jake was weaponless, hands open in defeat.

Little Tuk was standing behind her father, shivering in fear, while in front of them stood Quaritch, his knife pressed tightly against Kiri's throat. At least, Kayla could only assume it was Quaritch, faintly seeing his name on the patch of his vest. They were all at a standstill, and when Kayla immediately jumped down to help, Jake threw his arm out for her to stay back, "Don't move!" He begged.

Quaritch keeps Kiri in front of him, using the teenager as a shield as he bares his fangs at Kayla upon her arrival, "Weapons down, now!"

"Do what he says." Jake sternly tells his sister. Kayla hesitates, eyes flicking between him and Kiri, then at Quaritch's knife that had already made small red cuts into her older niece's neck. Slowly, the female avatar sets down her gun and kicks it away, tossing her remaining ammunition over her shoulder before raising her arms up where the colonel can see them.

Satisfied, Quaritch quickly digs into his vest pocket and pulls out orange slap cuffs, tossing them onto the ground at Jake's feet as he snarls, "Cuff yourself."

"No!" A voice from behind Quaritch begged just as Jake was kneeling down to grab the cuffs. Everyone looked up to notice that the voice belonged to Spider, the human teen running around to get into Quaritch's line of sight, "No, don't hurt her, okay? Don't--"

"Stand there!" Quaritch roared, pointing a threatening finger at the boy while he kept Kiri in place with the knife against her neck.

"Spider, stay back!" Kayla yells out of fear, surprising even herself when her voice sounds stern.

Tuk softly cried while leaning back into her aunt's legs when Kayla drew close to the child, Jake firmly keeping his sister and his youngest child behind him, "Don't..."

"Don't. Move. Not a step," Quaritch threatens Spider before turning back to Jake, "Cuffs. On. Now!"

"You son of a bitch." Jake forces out through his anger and fear, slapping one side of the cuffs onto his wrist.

"Please, don't hurt her." Spider continues to beg.

Out of nowhere, Neytiri creeps up behind the human boy and retrieves her knife, grabbing hold of Spider and pressing her knife against his own neck with a snarl. Quaritch is startled at the sight, proceeding to hold Kiri tighter while looking between the boy and Neytiri.

The Na'vi woman's voice sounded so unlike her, hoarse and breathless, "Release. Or I cut."

Quaritch paused before trying to play off the threat, shaking his head, "What, you think I care about some kid? He's not mine. We're not even the same species."

"Just please don't-- don't hurt her," Spider continues to beg, ignoring his own life in exchange for Kiri's as he continues to plead to the man who holds the memories of his father, "Just please let her go."

"Don't!" Tuk continues to cry quietly, while Kayla holds the little girl's head against her. Both hers and Jake's ears and eyes flicked to whoever talked during the whole hostage situation, unable to move and feeling helpless.

"Please!"

"Don't kill him--" Kiri had begun to beg as well.

"Listen to me! Let her go. Don't hurt her."

"Mom, don't kill him."

"A son for a son." Neytiri shakily growls, tilting her head in Quaritch's direction as if studying him. She looked completely unhinged, sweat and human blood scattered all around her face and body, shrunken yellow eyes staring only at Quaritch.

"Neytiri, don't!" Kayla begs, holding Tuk close for protection and comfort, "Please!"

"Please don't hurt her," Spider continues to ramble until Neytiri takes her knife and slices the blade tightly over his chest, drawing small beads of blood, "Ah!"

"I cut," Neytiri hissed, flashing the blood on her knife to let Quaritch know she meant business.

Spider huffs in pain and grits his teeth, but he goes right back to begging, "Please just let her go, okay? Just let her go."

Quaritch and Neytiri stare down at one another, unblinking until Neytiri screams in rage and raises her knife up to cut down Spider. Barely anyone had time to react, apart from Quaritch, as he quickly pulled his knife away from Kiri, "NO!"

Kiri gasped only to realize that she wasn't in any more danger, calming her heartbeat as the relieved tears began to well up. A scream that threatened to climb out of Kayla's throat suddenly subsided, and she held her breath while waiting for Neytiri's reaction. The air is thick and tense, both knives raised in the air either to destroy or spare. Neytiri slowly looks back at Quaritch, breathing heavily as she waits, keeping her knife posed and her grip on Spider. Quaritch grunts in defeat, pushing Kiri away and stepping back. Kiri immediately gets to her feet as Jake, Kayla, and Tuk inch closer to her, the younger girl whispering reassurances for herself and her sister, "Kiri... Kiri. Kiri."

Neytiri watches her family reunite with one another before slowly lowering the knife back down, then pointedly shoves Spider behind her, away from Quaritch.

"Spider!" Kiri exclaims as she, Tuk, and Kayla run to him.

Jake slowly approaches Neytiri while they're occupied, taking the knife out of his wife's hand and keeping an eye on Quaritch, "Spider, get 'em outta here."

Without hesitation, Spider began to tug on Kiri's arm, pulling her toward the ocean that was slowly creeping onto the tilting ship, "Come on. Guys-- Tuk."

"I owe you a death," Quaritch points directly at Neytiri, who snarls ferociously back at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

"Mom," Kiri calls out, while Tuk begins to tug on her mother's arm.

"Mama."

"Come."

"Come on. Please, Mama."

Neytiri finally relents with her daughters' pleading, slowly backing up, inching toward the water. Jake keeps himself between Quaritch and his family, Kayla standing dutifully at his side while the children and Neytiri sink into the water. Quaritch keeps his knife in front of him, at the ready, acting like a cornered tiger while trying to bait Jake into staying, "You're not leaving, are you, Jake?"

"It's okay--" Kiri reassures Tuk as she and Neytiri draw closer.

"Knowin' I'm out there?" Quaritch continues.

"Kayla, back up," Jake muttered warningly, and his sister slowly sank into the water to join the others behind him.

"Knowin' that I'll never stop?" Quaritch seethed, his voice lowering now that it was only him and Jake still standing on the sinking deck of the ship, "I'm comin' for you. And when I do, I'll kill your whole family."

The water laps at Kiri's face as she sinks into the water, worry in her eyes while watching Jake stand still, no longer moving to join them, "Dad..."

Jake's body stiffens as if his mind had been made up about something, eyes focused only on Quaritch as he stands up straighter, "Then let's get it done."

"Jake, no!" Kayla yells just as Jake leaps for a nearby medkit at the same time Quaritch dives toward him. Jake swings the medkit and hits the Recom with it, momentarily stunning the colonel as he goes in for another attack, this time with the knife he took from Neytiri. He swings at Quaritch several times, closely missing his neck before finally getting a slice at his vest. As the ship continues to tilt and sink, crates and other debris slide down toward the fighting pair and both Jake and Quaritch have to move out of the way to avoid getting hit before moving back in for the kill. They grapple and wrestle for each other's knives, trying to shove the sharp tip into each other's skulls.

"Jake!" Neytiri calls out to her mate just as a burst of flame begins to spread over the water where coolant and oil had spilled into the ocean. The wall of flame grows and begins to inch closer toward the Na'vi and the human boy floating just above the water's surface.

"It's coming!" Tuk cries.

"Back. Back!" Spider orders to the girls, beginning to tread water back the way they came, "Get back to the ship! Go!"

"Tuk, swim. Swim!" Kiri instructs hurriedly.

Kayla, who was the last to get into the water, was now the first one out, grabbing onto the others one by one and pulling them back up onto the deck, starting with Tuk and ending with Spider as he made sure the others made it on first. Kayla continued to push the whole group ahead of her, occasionally looking around to see if Jake and Quaritch were still nearby, but she had lost sight of them.

And she wasn't the only one. Neytiri was also frantically looking around, fear in her eyes while clinging on tightly to Tuk's hand, "Jake--"

"I'll get him, go!" Kayla exclaims in a last-second decision, backing away from the group and breaking off while shouting at Neytiri from over her shoulder, "Get the kids outta here, we'll come find ya!"

Kayla then turns to look ahead of her as she runs, determination setting in as she goes over to where she last saw her brother. She hears grunts and growls in the distance and doesn't hesitate to sprint over just in time to see Quaritch kick Jake in the gut to disengage from their knife wrestle. Jake doesn't have time to react as a motor or a generator of some sort comes sliding down toward him and shoves him into the water.

Quaritch stalks over to the place Jake disappeared, knife glinting off of the flames of destruction around him. The Recom's muscles flex as he pants heavily with adrenaline, and with his back turned to Kayla, she makes a split and reckless decision. Unarmed, she leaps over sliding debris and then uses that momentum to jump up onto Quaritch's back with a small war cry, the both of them grunting at the impact while Kayla doesn't waste time to reach for and grapple for the knife in the colonel's hand. Quaritch growls and pitches Kayla forward off of his back, only for his grip to loosen around his knife and fall right into her hand. The female avatar stands up straight, quickly repositioning the blade more securely in her grip before charging forward, swinging in the air in front of Quaritch as he continuously dodges and leans away from the knife.

Eventually, he sidesteps and grabs her swinging arm, stopping the blade in its tracks before twisting her arm into an uncomfortable position. She cries out, forced to drop the blade before taking her other arm and elbowing Quaritch in the face. He staggers back with a pained grunt, then reaches for her arm again. He slams her against the rigging, driving her to take a gasp of air and regain her footing. A feat that was proven useless when Quaritch quickly grabbed the knife on the ground and reached forward, grabbing Kayla's kuru braid at the very base, connected to her skull. He yanked, hard, driving Kayla to scream in pain, the action rendering her immobile. He keeps her braid tight in one hand while the other retrieves his knife and is sure to let her know he means business when he presses the sharp blade to her throat. Kayla reduced her struggle to a minimum as she felt a small trickle of blood run down her long neck along with her sweat.

Quaritch grits his teeth and through the struggle, manages a small, gritted smile, "You're a newer model. You must be the little missing guinea pig the General was talking about."

She hissed, baring her fangs to the best of her ability, making the intimidating sound from the back of her throat, only cutting the sound off when Quaritch tugged painfully against her braid. Kayla gulped back air and frantically reached back for her queue at the base, trying to relieve his grip on such a sensitive part, following the motion to be sure the kuru wasn't torn from her skull. The movement brings Quaritch's attention to a certain item dangling from her neck.

Her RDA military tags, clinked softly together, proudly bearing her rank and station. Quaritch sees the name, so familiar that causes both dread and rage to eat him up from the inside out. He snarls, the fangs forming a cold, threatening smile, "Well I'll be damned... betrayal must run in the family."

Kayla nearly lunged at him before she felt a twitch in the knife and her body immediately stiffened, the cold blade digging further into her skin. She could see the male avatar's whole form tightening, preparing to use his strength to give the killing the blow. Quaritch's grip on her braid and his knife tighten and he's ready to just end her with the flick of his wrist.

"NO!" Is the only gutwrenching warning Jake gives either of them before he tackles Quaritch, shoving his whole body into the colonel's torso like a football player. The impact drives the older man to grunt in pain and also let go of Kayla, but the force of the tackle sends her falling backward, stumbling over the railing. Kayla is thrown overboard and sent falling into the ocean, where her screams forming her brother's name are drowned out by the water consuming her.

Unable to take a breath in before she hit the water, Kayla struggled to get air. She quickly swims up to the surface and manages to gulp out a breath or two when she breaches, but the moment is cut short when she realizes that the tipping ship was throwing debris off the side of the hull down into the ocean and onto her. Kayla instinctively holds her breath, properly this time, and dives back down into the water in an attempt to avoid the collision. Heavy machinery and other objects from the ship are falling quickly through the water around her like a knife through butter, too heavy to stay afloat. She narrowly misses as much debris as possible, trying to swim away as fast as she can, but she gets caught but a large piece of shipwreck that had broken off from the initial boat. It's heavy enough to drag her down, deep into the dark depths until the bioluminescent lights of the coral reef below light her surroundings, the glow of the fire and eclipse above the ocean's surface faintly disappearing the deeper she got dragged down. Her arms burned in exhaustion as she tried her best to pull and swim herself out from under the debris, but it was too heavy and sinking too fast, and her foot and gotten caught in a shredded hole wedged inside the metal.

Against all that she had learned, Kayla began to panic, her heart racing while she frantically looked around to the best of her ability. Because of this, the need for air came quicker, and her lungs began to burn and try to constrict. Pressure began to build in her skull and chest, and dark spots started to form in the corners of her vision. The creaking of metal fills her ears as Kayla's arms finally stop fighting, too tired and weak to continue to try. With her mind now foggy and devoid of logic due to lack of oxygen, Kayla opened her mouth and took in a breath.

Just as the water rushed through her mouth and entered her lungs, a sharp tug on her foot had wrenched her free. Whatever was wrapped around her ankle now rose to wrap around her waist, and distantly, Kayla felt herself being pulled against a solid form as they swam through the water. Barely gaining the strength to look up, she faintly realized she was quickly rising to the surface.

The moment her face is free from the water, she takes big gulps of air, coughing seaspray from her lungs as she's pulled up onto a tsurak without much of a struggle, laying across its strong back and part of its head as she catches her breath. The strong arm secure around her torso was heavily tattooed and clearly Metkayina, the limb letting her go once she remembered to hold herself up out of the water. Between breaths, she takes a moment to glance up and lets her body relax at the sight of Tonowari, sitting calmly on the saddle of the skimwing.

The olo'eyktan appeared grim at the sight of her, silently urging her to cough up the water with a hand gently placed on the back of her neck. Kayla winced when the initial touch was sore from where her queue braid had been tugged, and so Tonowari drew his hand away, instead tilting her chin up to inspect the cut on her neck, small trickles of blood flowing down her skin.

"Are you injured?"

"I'm fine." Kayla managed to spit out as she pulled her chin from his grasp, ignoring the sharp pain in her foot. She began wildly looking around and immediately spotted Ronal and her tsurak floating beside them. Closely watching Kayla, the tsahik's big eyes briefly glanced down at the neck wound her mate was inspecting on the avatar.

Satisfied by the answer, Tonowari instructs Kayla to lean against him so he can reach the handlebar of his tsurak, adjusting her until she's properly straddling the back of the powerful lungfish. Still a little dazed and recovering, Kayla doesn't fight being puppeteered as the tsurak begins to move in the direction its rider wanted to go. Kayla tiredly looked around, freezing in fear when she noticed the WIGE ship was barely peeking out of the water now, and she could do nothing but watch as it slowly disappeared, into the ocean, leaving nothing behind but large bubbles and ripples along with the groaning of metal.

It was only when Kayla realized that she was being led away from the location of the sunken ship did she begin to struggle, startling the skimwing and irritating the chieftain. Tonowari grips the handle of the tsurak with one hand but makes a point to restrain Kayla with the other, wrapping his whole arm around her torso again as she starts to protest loudly, "No! NO! My family's still in there! They're still down there, stop!"

"You will do them no good if you drown before you can get to them!" Tonowari snapped.

Ronal blocked the path of her husband's tsurak with her own, looking dead in Kayla's eyes with ferocious determination and fear, not willing to look away, "My daughter-- where is she?!"

Briefly stunned with the adrenaline slowly wearing off, Kayla sputtered for a moment, catching her breath while stuttering out, "On... On that rock face over there."

She points in the general direction where the dreading idea of Neteyam's body now lay, but neither Ronal nor Tonowari notice the look of defeat and grief on her face. Looking back at the ship, she couldn't help the tears falling down her face as she quietly whispered, "I'll take you to her."

They idly swam in silence, and it felt as though the world was ending. They swam past floating bodies and debris, empty boats, and life jackets. The sky was still red along with the scattering ocean of flames and smoke. The smell was almost unbearable. It was the longest silence in Kayla's life, her only thoughts on the whereabouts of her brother and his family. Had they gotten off the ship? Are they safe? Where was Quaritch?

Tsireya had spotted them in the water before the three Na'vi adults spotted her, crying and waving them over to the stranded rock fixture she stood on, her knees covered in blood, but not her own, "Sa'nok! Sempul!"

Kayla was immediately forgotten as both Ronal and Tonowari hopped off their skimwings and scrambled up onto the rock fixture, rushing toward their daughter. Ronal instantly gathered the crying girl in her arms, a little difficult with her rounded belly, but she had managed while whispering into her hair with relief in her voice, "Tsireya... Thank you, Great Mother, thank you."

Tonowari joins the embrace, wrapping his long arms around his wife and child. A soft yip in the wind draws the olo'eyktan's attention away, and upon looking around, he catches sight of two reef boys astride ilu. The boys call out again before jumping up onto the rock face. It was Ao'nung and Rotxo, both unharmed and a little frazzled. Ao'nung raced to his family and his father pulled him into their group embrace, relief now fully flooding the family's veins.

Rotxo stood just outside of the family, his eyes only set on one thing lying on the ground, dread seeping into his skin as his breath was taken from him, "Neteyam...?"

Tsireya only cried harder at the sound of his name, and when her parents and brother turned to what Rotxo was looking at, they came across a horrific sight. Their joy and relief were shortly outlived and exchanged for sorrow as they observed Neteyam's corpse, unmoving and now cradled in Kayla's arms. She was kneeling before her nephew's body, holding his torso up on her lap with her arms wrapped protectively around his head. She was crying silently to herself, sobbing so softly that none of the Metkayina standing before her could hear it over the wind and waves. Kayla was short of breath for an entirely different reason, her body shaking as the shock wore off and the realization sunk in.

Her nephew was dead, and for all she knew, so was the rest of her family.

The sunlight finally reemerged beyond the eclipse, the fires no longer setting a dreadful horizon. Kayla didn't care for the sunlight, her stomach turning when Neteyam's blood only became more noticeable. She was cold, wet, and exhausted, the adrenaline turned to full-body shakes up and down her spine. She didn't want to move, keeping her eyes shut so she could pretend that she was simply hugging Neteyam, but it was hard to do so when Neteyam felt so cold and stiff.

A large bellow is heard from the water as something big swims up to the rock fixture. Kayla remembers Payakan and looks up, tear tracks marking down both of her cheeks. Another wave of emotions took over her when she noticed that the rest of the Sullys were all hanging onto Payakan's fin, climbing tiredly up the rock fixture once they got close enough.

"Auntie!" Tuk cried when she first spotted Kayla, rushing over to her aunt. Kayla immediately set Neteyam down and tried her best to shield the girl from such a sight as she gathered the child up in her arms.

Kayla cried loudly, out of relief, holding onto Tuk tightly as if there was no tomorrow. Taking deep breaths through her sobs, she quickly looks around to take a headcount, quickly finding the remaining of the Sullys standing around her. Jake, Neytiri, Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk. All safe, all unharmed. Kiri runs up to join the group hug while Tsireya breaks away from her family to run into Lo'ak's arms. Jake and Neytiri pay no mind to anyone else, tired and distant both physically and emotionally. Neytiri simply walked back over to Neteyam, kneeling down and pulling her child into her arms as fresh tears began to cut down her face. Kayla finally lets her nieces go and gently leads them over to Neteyam, stepping away so the girls have their own time to grieve. After a while, Jake takes out a knife and goes around cutting away any remnants of orange slap cuffs still hanging off of anyone's arms and wrists. He cuts them off of himself, then Lo'ak, then Tsireya, and begins to cut the cuffs off both of Kiri's wrists. He doesn't want to take Tuk away from her big brother just yet, as the little girl cries into Neteyam's hand, holding the limb to her chest for just a little bit of comfort.

Another figure approaches, seemingly out of thin air, but only because he had just swam up to them. Kiri is the first to spot him, a relieved smile spreading over her face, "Monkey Boy!"

For the most part, everyone looks up to notice Spider, walking up to them unharmed apart from the long, thin cut across his chest. Jake stands up and puts his knife away, while Kayla watches the boy closely, looking for any signs of distress. But Spider was breathing perfectly through the mask, tired but otherwise intact.

Lo'ak gently breaks away from Tsireya to further observe his friend, likely also trying to see if he was injured, "Spider."

Ronal and Tonowari catch the name and glance at one another. So this was the sky demon boy affiliated with the Sullys. Kiri reached up to him from where she was sitting once he got close enough, placing her hand over Spider's heart. He looked down at her, equally solemn and relieved, reaching up to gently hold her hand. They smile faintly at one another before Jake interrupts to inspect the boy himself, placing his hands on Spider's shoulders.

"You all right?"

"Yeah."

Jake believes him and brings the human boy close in an embrace, looking around and then over to Lo'ak, seeing his son standing alone and looking ashamed. Immediately, Jake reaches an arm out and pulls Lo'ak into their group embrace, "Come here."

For the most part, Jake looked the worst out of all of them, bruised and slowly bleeding through small cuts and scrapes. They all stand or sit around, quietly taking in each other's presence and everything that just happened. Kayla finally felt as though she could sit down, slowly sinking to the ground until she was leaning back on her hands, properly regaining her breath, and trying to elevate her injured foot. Sighing now that pressure had been taken off her ankle, she looked around at everyone, the threat of danger still in the back of her mind, all the horror they had dealt with today now fully being comprehended in her mind. Looking over at Spider, she knows that she and Jake will have to question the boy and have him tell them everything that happened to him and how RDA had managed to find the Sullys. At the same time, they'll have to explain why they never went looking for him and offer their sincerest apologies. But for now, it'll have to wait. For now...

A son for a son.

A/N: Kinda not sorry. I love angst... no matter how much it hurts to write it. I definitely cried while writing this, but I really needed it cuz I haven't had a good cry in a while.

THERE'S GONNA BE MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE FIC. I have future chapters already written out so keep an eye out for an update! I intend to stretch this fic out until the next film, but let's see how it goes lol. Lemme know if you want a request or want to be added to the taglist!

Rip Matthew Perry

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magnoliabutters · 1 year

Text

• THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T CARE •

pairing: joel miller x (18+, she/her) reader

summary: joel and ellie are tasked to move a package from jackson to san diego. little did they know you were the "cargo..."

warnings: 18+ content, mdni, adult language, cordycep apocalypse related violence & weapons, canon divergence, tlou part 1 & 2 spoilers; angst, medium to slow burn, pet names, voyuerism, sub!joel and dom!reader, age gap in pairing, masturbation, etc.

word count: ~6.3k

support your writer: reblogs for daddy joel ✨🌿

request: by @yourmomsmilfmistress; katrina babes, i have another idea!!! i was thinking something along the lines of (whatever male character you want/ im not picky) is OBSESSED with reader and one day after a torturous hangout he starts to 🍆💦 ( ya know) after she leaves and for some reason it's not working and it's like he's just edging himself but (of course) reader comes and walks in on it and it's like sub!male and dom!reader smut!!!

note: um… most definitely. the way i thought of joel freaking miller instantly. sub male? common now 😈 we are set in a post-tlou part 2 world where no one died, abby who?, and ellie lives happily on the farm (aka 20+ age). also, loosely following the plot of part 1. for visuals of characters, i am moving forward with what we’ve seen so far of hbo’s part one and game’s part two casting. although as it’s older ellie, i went with video game looks. hopefully that makes sense. enjoy my fellow hoes ⚡️

Don't tell them your name. Just tell them you're there to see Maria.

His words keep running through your head as you gallop atop your trusted steed, Horse. He told you, repeatedly, that they will find you - not the other way around. All you needed to do was get to the vicinity of Jackson County. Well, you are about a mile into said county and you haven't come across a single person. Let alone, a single runner.

The two things cannot co-exist this far from the cities. If there are no runners or clickers, then there must be people. If there are infected, there are no people. But emptiness? That is something unheard of. It puts you on edge. You swear you want to just yell, yell to draw something out. But that would be stupid. You don't know how many are out here ... people or infected.

You hop over a razor wired fence in the middle of the road. Its height hits a the top of your knee. Perfect stop runners. Your first sign that people have been in this neck of the woods. The deeper you get into Jackson County, you wonder why all you need to say is "I'm here to see Maria." Would these people attack you and saying those words would be the only thing to stop them? Or are they dumb enough to bring just about anyone back into their town? You have absolutely no clue what he has signed you up for.

Fear stands your hairs on end. It fuels your adrenaline and heart as Horse guides you into an opened field. On the main road, you read a sign that displays "surface may be icy." You're thankful you were assigned this job in the middle of July. In front of you, you note green ivory glued to the brick walls of an old music store. The roads were shit, as usual. Cracks and bumps from overgrowth and lack of maintenance. You hope they are not too rough on Horse's shoes. She had them switched out in Colorado, back when you saw your people last.

Horse abruptly stops. Harsh enough for your full body to push up against her back. "Fuck," you grumble with a hand to your head. "What the hell?" You slowly open your eyes to note the clicker before you. With widening eyes, you swiftly reach to unhook your knife from the saddle. As quiet as a mouse, you hop off of the pillion and carefully land your feet on the grass below. You side step as you make your way closer. its clicks grow louder as it uses its echolocation in the opposite direction.

Your eyes are constantly moving, wondering if there are any other infected around. There is luckily no movement. Just one single clicker. The fungi sporadically growing throughout its body. The cordyceps on full display on its face - if you can even call it a face. In your last two steps, you rush up to it. You hook your arm over its chest. Your fingers curve over its shoulder as you grip tightly against the rough flesh. With your other hand, you stab your knife into the crook of its neck. It quickly became limp in your arms. You let slide off your body and ultimately onto the road.

"Drop the knife," you hear behind you. The voice is rough and booming. You gradually put your hands up. You drop the knife, careful to have it fall upon its hilt and not its blade. "On your knees," it bellows. You laugh, tilting your head to the side. "No can do," you scoff. "I only get on my knees when I want to." The man behind you laughs as he slowly walks up to you. His boots crunching against the dirt and gravel.

"On your knees," another voice appears. Despite its higher tone, it is just as rough. A smile grows upon your face as you carefully drop to your knees. "Oh for you, of course," you mutter to the woman. She quickly grabs hold of your wrist and places it behind your back. Her grip harsh and tight. You release a laugh as you lean back into your captor. "I'm here for Maria," you mutter.

Abruptly, the movements behind you stop. The grasp remains tight. "Maria?" the exasperated man's voice pushes through the air. His boots' steps become faster as he rushes behind you. "Why?" the woman asks. You feel the cool head of a gun at the back of your neck. "Hey, hey, hey," you furiously mumble. "I-I'm a smuggler. I'm with a group of people who told me Maria owes them one. I just got sent here for her to pay the debt."

The gun is pressed harder against your neck. "What debt?" the man's voice asks. You move your head to the side, attempting to pull yourself away from the gun's focused point. The gun holder makes sure it stays against your skin despite your movements. "I don't even know, man. I was just sent here. They told me to say 'I'm here for Maria' and that she would know what to do," you spit out.

You hear the man pace behind you. He sighs heavily. His voice hushed as he speaks towards the woman. "I don't feel good about this, El," he whispers. "Does she have any people in her past?" the woman asks. "Not that I know of," he says as those steps draw closer once more. You are suddenly pushed to the ground. You cut up your chin as you couldn't catch yourself in time. "Fuck," you mutter into the ground. "Your name," he mumbles. "I don't have time for games." You yell as your palms lay flat against the surface. "Rita," you quickly lie.

"Alright, Rita," the man's voice bustles behind you. "Let's go." Next thing you knew, a bag was pulled over your head. Your head was then banged against the hard rubber bedding of a truck.

They grip against the bag over your head so hard that it pulls on some of your hair as it uncovers your face. Your eyes slowly blink to adjust to the light. "Shit," you grumble as you relax your arms, only to realize that you were tied to a chair. Rope. Fuck, you think. Rope hurts the most.

"Now, Rita, I'm not going to ask again. Why are you here for Maria?" The familiar voice asks. You squint to look in his direction. A latino man with slicked black hair crouches before you. You look behind him to recognize that you were in a stable - a wooden stable. There is hay all over the floor, but no horses. What kind of stable doesn't have horses? As your eyes trail back towards your feet, you note red splotches staining the wooden floor below you. "Damn it," you whisper the elongated swear under your breath. You know exactly what kind of place this is.

"I told you already, man," you whine. "My people didn't tell me shit. Just that I was assigned a job and Maria owed a ride." You look into the brown eyes staring holes into your face. "I'm here to collect on that ride," you whisper. "To where?" the man asks. "I'll tell Maria ... once I get my ride," you answer with a smirk. The man raises his fist as his upper lip tenses. You wince at the sight.

“Tommy!” You recognize the woman’s voice as he holds back his fist. She walks out from the darkness of one of the stables. You smile at the sight. She looks younger than you. Her reddish brown hair gave you goosebumps. Her eyes a greenish blueish grey. Something you would have envied as a child. She some how looks sweet, but also has clearly endured so much in her short time.

“So, we have Tommy,” you share as you nod towards the man. “And El,” you murmur as you look up to her. You smile - a smile that El winces at. “I’m not here to cause trouble,” you sigh as you attempt to shrug against the chair. “I don’t want to give anyone grief. I just need to talk to-” Suddenly, a remarkable woman bursts through the doors. Another man at her side. Her eyes serious and hellbent. Her skin a deep and beautiful brown. She is undeniably gorgeous, and surprisingly pregnant. She definitely had the glow, complete with her large firmed bump. “Tommy, what the hell is this?” she asks sternly.

Maria, you think. They never gave you a picture, but you knew from the second she commanded that room. The second both Tommy and El backed away from you. Their hands either up or open at their sides. She was in charge. And she was headed right for you. “Maria,” you say with a sing songy voice. Her head shoots your way. “I need a ride.”

Maria stares down at your smile. Her upper lip pulls, just like Tommy’s. “Where?” she asks calmly. “San Diego,” you answer. “San Diego?” she scoffs. “I don’t owe them that much.” You tilt your head, smiling to yourself. “Well, someone thinks you do,” you smirk. Tommy grunts as he steps towards you. Maria quickly puts out an arm across his chest.

With a sigh, she returns her gaze to you. Her arm still across his chest. You are curious about those two. “I obviously can’t take you myself,” she mutters. “Obviously,” you affirm as you nod towards her stomach. “I’ll find you someone. You’ll leave in the morning,” she says carelessly. She turns around and speaks to her people. “Untie her,” she says under her breath.

The man who walked in with her quickly follows through with her demand. You rub your wrists and forearms where the rope’s red rings pressed into your skin. You stand with the devil’s smile across your face. El is the first to walk up to you, while Tommy’s eyes are still daggers. “Hey, sorry,” she says as she rubs the back of her neck. “Things didn’t go so well the last time a new person asked about one of our people.” You hum as you nod. “Make sense,” you say under your breath as you return your gaze to Tommy.

“Maria’s his wife,” El adds as she follows your eyes. “He’s been extra sensitive, given the baby and all.” You smile at her words. She pulls your attention. “It’s also Ellie by the way,” she mumbles. She gestures goodbye and walks out. “Rita?” the man asks. You look at him with confusion. “My name’s Jesse. Come on, follow me.” With hesitation, you follow the tall man out into the dark night.

Your eyes quickly fall upon the string lights crossing from building to building. It is so beautiful your mouth gapes open. “We have a small bed and breakfast for travelers,” he shares as he points to a building at the end of the street. “Shit - a bed and breakfast?” you scoff under your breath. As you walk, you note the happy and clean people randomly walking about. They are loud - comfortably loud. It must be nice.

“Where you from?” Jesse asks. His gaze stuck on you. “I don’t do small talk,” you say with a weak smile. “I don’t mean to be rude.” He laughs, raising his hands. “No, I get it. Just trying to make conversation,” he answers. “Oh, well if we’re making conversation, tell me what your favorite color is,” you teasingly laugh. He chuckles, shooting you a sweet smile. “Orange,” he scoffs. “You?” You nod, smiling as you step onto the front deck of this apparent bed and breakfast. “Green.”

With quick goodbyes, you go inside and easily secure your room. The room is on the first floor. Inside the small space, you have a worn down desk, chair, and bed. Your pack is already resting against the foot of the bed frame. You grab the back of the chair and hook it underneath the door’s knob. You turn the lock and deadbolt the door. When you finally lay back to rest, you reflect on your day. It didn’t go as well as you had hoped - as you had been told. But at least you are alive. At least you are on your way to San Diego.

After the best sleep of your life, Jesse led you to a building across the way. Maria, Tommy, Ellie, Jesse, another woman and a man sit alongside a long dinner table. The woman appears sweet. She sits closely to Ellie. The man is something else. His demeanor laid back, like he had no care in the world. His face kind, but also worn thin after years of this shit world. You can immediately see through the facade and know he is good. But damn does he give off such a strong guard dog vibe. He has random patches of grey amongst his black hair and beard. His eyes dark, but youthful. You struggle to keep your eyes off of him. He watches you, though. He sized you up as soon as you walked through the door.

“Rita,” Maria calls out. You are too busy attempting to watch him through your eye lashes. “Rita,” she says louder. You quickly turn your attention to her. Only now remembering that Rita was the name you gave them. “Yes,” you answer with high energy. “These are my best people,” she shares. “I want Joel and Ellie on this.” Ellie sits up straight, shocked as she exchanges looks with the girl beside her. The two begin to discuss in hushed tones. The man abruptly turns towards Maria, disingenuously laughing under his breath. “No, Maria,” he scoffs. “That ain’t happening.” The man stands, his hands firm against the table. He must be Joel. Rarely have you met someone who’s name perfectly fits them. It makes you smile.

Maria sighs as though she saw this coming. “I would go myself-” she starts. “So let me go,” Tommy interjects. Joel and Maria quickly respond “no” in unison. Maria takes a breath as she slowly looks to her partner. “I’m about to pop. You can’t go,” she whispers. “I need you.” Tommy solemnly nods as he looks back towards the rest of the group. Maria turns back to Ellie with patient eyes. “Ellie, Dina - are y’all okay with this?” she asks. Dina nods, looking at Ellie. "J.J. will be fine. You should go," she whispers. Ellie then turns to Maria and nods.

Joel's scoff could be heard from two buildings down. "This is bullshit, Maria and you know it," he yells as he slams his hand against the table. Tommy stands, pointing towards him. "Watch it, Joel," he warns through gritted teeth. Maria takes a breath as she looks between Ellie and Joel. "You two have gone across state lines more times than any of us. This should be easy as pie," she says softly. He rolls his eyes as a deep, unenthused chuckle falls from his lips. "What's the cargo?" he asks with furrowed brows as he looks off in the distance.

Maria turns towards you. She rakes over you with slight confusion and hesitation. Within a second, there was a moment where her face smoothed out. She took a breath and returned to Joel. "She is," she states with finality. Your face remains looking down the table, but your eyes travel to Joel's seat. He gradually turns to look at the group. With a guttural growl, he says, "Absolutely not." Maria throws her hands up. "Joel, they will come to collect. I will not put anyone else's life in danger," she yells.

"If they come to collect, they can take her dead body," Joel booms as he pulls a gun from his holster and points it towards your head. You remain still. Your breathing intensified as the remainder of the group stands to their feet. "Joel," Maria says softly. "We need her - whether you like it or not. We need her in San Diego." Joel exhales through his flared nostrils. His mouth tight as he looks down at you through the sights of his pistol.

"What's so important about her?" he asks as he lowers the gun. Maria sighs in relief. "I don't know," she shakes her head. "All I know is these people helped us in a pinch back when me and dad started up. They said they'd come to collect and all they needed was a team to get something to San Diego." Tommy watches her intently. It must have been the first time she shared this with him. "I've seen what these people have done when groups don't pay up, Joel," she mutters. "We will not win that fight without losing everything."

Joel sucks his tongue against the back of his teeth. He holsters his gun and walks towards the front door. He hooks a backpack over his shoulder and turns back towards the group. "Ellie?" he asks as he slowly opens the door. You turn to watch Ellie kiss Dina. She presses her head against hers and whispers things you cannot make out. They separate with a strong embrace. Ellie walks towards Joel. "You coming, Rita?" she calls out behind her. You stand immediately. Your shocked eyes fall upon Maria and Tommy as you attempt to process everything that has happened in the past few minutes. You grab your pack and walk out to meet the pair in the street.

Ellie watches Joel with trust and a hint of distaste. You wonder about their story. As you walk up, the two stop talking and turn to look at you. "Hello," you greet awkwardly. "While we're out there, you do exactly what I say - when I say. Understand?" Joel says sternly as he points a finger in your face. How could those sweet eyes simultaneously look so threatening? "Understood," you whisper under your breath as you exchange looks with Ellie.

Joel quickly turns and heads straight to what looks like a mechanic's garage. "Does he always have a stick up his ass?" you ask as you skip to catch up with Ellie. She smiles, nervously biting her lip. "At first," she mutters under her breath as her eyes remain on him. "The Chevy," he asks a man standing behind the desk. He promptly hands him keys without question. You nod, noting how nice it must be to live in Jackson.

"Chevy, huh?" you say, attempting to start a conversation with the man. Joel completely ignores you as he slides the keys into the door handle. "Nice try, but he's not going to crack for a while," Ellie whispers in your ear as she walks to the other side of the truck. You laugh as you open the side door and hop into the backseat. "Seatbelt," he says softly as he points Ellie's way. "Oh," she mutters as she slides it over her body and clips it at her side.

The three of you sat in silence for the first hour of the trip. It was unbearably boring. Wyoming's sights were not as incredible outside of Jackson county. You wish you could sleep, but did not trust the two enough to even try. "Joel," Ellie starts but continues to laugh. "Remember when we cleared this hotel. Remember the tomatoes?" She laughs so hard that she holds her stomach. She leans fully against the passenger seat as she kicks her feet up. You swear you watch Joel crack a smile as he watches the girl burst into a laughing fit. You wish you got a better look.

"What happened with the tomatoes?" you curiously ask Ellie. She turns, struggling to speak between laughs. As she starts, Joel quickly interrupts her. "Don't tell her anything. She's cargo, nothing more," he instructs. Ellie sinks into her chair. Her expression perplexed as she seemed excited to share. "Just cargo, huh?" you taunt. His face remains still as he eyes focus on the road. "Wow, you Jackson people are the sweetest I've ever met," you say sarcastically. "Maybe I should just dip out on this trip. I can probably make it on my own."

Joel quickly slams against the breaks. Your shoulder digs into the back of his seat as you let out a stunned groan. "What the hell?!" you yell. "We are taking you to San Diego, or we are taking your body," he turns to say with stern eyes. You place distance between you two. A sudden rush of alertness and danger bursting through your body. "Let me be clear. I don't care if you're dead or alive by the end of this trip. We are paying off Maria's debt," he seethes. "I'd recommend shutting up if you plan to get there alive."

You suck your tongue against your cheek as you laugh under your breath. You lean back harshly against the back of your seat. "Eyes on the road, asshole," you say as you nonchalantly gesture towards the street. He rolls his eyes as he faces forward behind the wheel. He presses on the gas gradually. Ellie sits in awkward silent with a tight lip. She finds comfort in looking out the window.

Less than a week has gone by and you are barely crossing the border into Utah. In each passing day, you learn something new about Ellie. She loves to draw. She met her partner, Dina, on the first day she got to Jackson. Her son is named after Jesse and Joel. She calls him her "potato" - an incredible nickname you find endearing. The days are starting to blend together, but Ellie remains a highlight of each.

Joel, on the other hand, has remained annoyingly silent. He solely speaks to Ellie. If he does choose to talk to you, it is usually some demand where he forgot how to say "please." He is abundantly cold. It is infuriating. Here and there, you catch him staring your way. His glimpses seem familiar, as opposed to his usual and intentional looks of anger.

He never looks at your eyes, but his gaze tends to fall on your lips and hair. Any time you caught his eye line, he would immediately look away. The way his gaze lingered on you always left you in a ball of confusion. You thought you would have been on edge, being stared at for hours on end. Yet, you loved it. It made you feel seen. It made you feel beautiful. If he wasn't so vocal about his disapproval, you would think he had a "thing" for you. For now, you just enjoy his looks - hoping they are filled with adoration and not hatred.

Luckily for the three of you, communication was not needed as much when taking out the infected. The trio even came across a group of clickers a day ago. Without saying a word, the three put on their gas masks and stepped into the spores. They could all hear the clicking echoing through the old and damaged walls. With only nods and looks, the three separated and silently took down each clicker.

You turned to look at them with excitement. “That was awesome!” you said joyously. “Very SWAT-team.” Ellie was kind enough to crack a smile as she cleaned her blade on the side of her jeans. You turned to Joel, waiting for any reaction. He gave you absolutely nothing. He shook off the blood on his machete and gracefully placed it back onto his backpack. He then immediately moved toward the cabinets in front of him to search for supplies. God, did he really not have a sense of humor?

Tonight, you find yourself resting beside Ellie in a closed off room. The day was once again filled with ambiguous look exchanges with Joel. Your body aches from taking out runners. You wonder if you'll be in pain for the entire trip. The room rests at the end of a long hallway with no other entrances or exits. The only doorway to the outside was located at the end of the hallway and was guarded by the one, Joel Miller. You continued to wrestle with sleep as you lay uncomfortably in your sleeping bag. You have now spent hours staring at the plant infested ceiling. Ellie, luckily, rests peacefully at your side. She felt safe enough to put earbuds in to help her sleep. Another thing of hers to be jealous of.

After a few hours, you decide that it will most likely be impossible for you to sleep tonight. You quietly stand and put your pajama shorts over your undies. You open the door into the hallway. It's long corridor was scarier at night. You pull your flashlight from your pocket. Clicking it on, you remind yourself that the only door is at the very front. You would undeniably see if anyone entered the dark hallway with you.

As you reach the end of the hall, you begin to hear quiet moans coming from the other side of the door. Your mind quickly rushes to the thought of a runner making their way inside. But once you hear slight heavy breathing and groans, you immediately recognize that the sounds were coming from Joel. Excitement bursts through your chest as you press your ear against the door. You could not have imagined a better sound escaping his lips. His groans sound so sweet, so supple. You wish you could be the reason they fall from his lips.

You nervously turn back to see that the door at the other end of the lengthy hallway remained close. There was no way anyone would be able to hear at the other end. Not unless they were right where you were standing. With a smile, you hear his breathing louden. You wish you could see him. See his brows pulling together as his mouth hangs open. You wish you could watch him stroking himself. You would bet on your life that his cock was large and girthy. You have been stealing glances of it beneath his tight jeans.

Your mouth starts to water as you hear his moans grow louder. It takes all your strength and will not to burst through the doorway and beg him to let you help. God, would you absolutely beg for that man - without question. You wonder who's on his mind. Who could possibly be the lucky person whom he is wanking off to? Your legs feel weak. You actually contemplate sitting down and playing with yourself alongside his intoxicating moans.

“Oh, Rita,” you hear fall from his mumbling lips. Your entire body lights up with pleasure. He is thinking about you… Your legs buckle beneath you as you struggle to stay standing. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you hear escape his lips. He must be close. You swear you can hear the slapping against his skin. All your blood rushes towards your clit. You want him - bad.

Out of no where, Joel stops. You hear a sound of frustration but remain curious. Was he edging himself? Shit. Why is that even hotter? you think to yourself. His moans slowly start again. Your mouth hangs open as you tighten your knees together. The friction feels good but it’s definitely not enough. You wish you could touch him. You wish he would be muttering your name as your hand strokes his dick. You wish his big hands could hold your head down as you take all of him in your mouth.

Almost as though you two were connected, Joel’s moans started to repeat more and more. His breathing heavies as your knees tighten harsher and harsher against themselves. Your clit now pulsating, desperate for stimulation. You cover your mouth, hoping your own gasping breaths were not loud enough to hear in the other room.

His voice strains as he gets closer and closer. He mumbles again, “Yes, Rita.” Shit, why aren’t you already in there? Your entire body is on fire but, oh, so nervous. You hear his skin slapping against each other. His moans growing louder. You hear a bump against the wall. His voice begins to break. God, he’s so fucking close.

“Oh baby just like that,” Joel whines. “Cum for me,” you whisper on repeat. Then silence fills the air. You worry if he might have heard you. You’re sure that him catching you listening in is so much worse than you catching him jacking off. “Damn it,” he yells softly with a grunt. That’s when you realize he isn’t edging on purpose. It seems like he can’t get past that final push. To release all that pent up energy.

You could help him. You know you want to. It’s the right thing to do. He must be in so much pain - all swollen down there, thinking about you. You would be helping him. You are so selfless. With a deep breath for courage, you quickly knock and open the door.

You spot Joel in his jean shirt. His legs are spread wide while he sits, bare, on the couch. His pants wrapped around his ankles as he holds his lengthy cock in one hand. His head rests back onto his other. As he hears the door creak open, he nervously grabs hold of a pillow and covers himself. You have never once seen shock and worry on the man’s face until now.

“Shit,” he yells as he scrambles to cover himself. You play dumb, covering your gaping mouth with your hand. “I’m so sorry Joel,” you whisper. “I-I thought I heard my name so I came out here,” you slyly taunt as you end with a smirk. Joel’s usual annoyed face returns as he realizes you know the truth. “Why didn’t you just come get me?” you ask innocently as you sit on the arm rest of his couch.

Joel watches you in confusion as he recognizes your advances. “I shouldn’t have done this, I’m-” he starts. You swiftly interrupt, “No need for apologies. I’m just confused is all.” You gracefully fall beside him. Your bare thigh touching his. The tips of your fingers dance atop his thigh. His grip onto the pillow covering his unit grows tighter by the second. “I thought you didn’t care about me,” you whisper as you lean closer to his face. You are now still, a few inches from his face.

"We don't have to do this," Joel mutters. His teeth locked as he watches you. He must think he's in danger. No, its quite the opposite. "Do what, Joel?" you ask as you pull away from him. You note a chair across from him. His backpack is sprawled over it. You carefully carry the backpack and place it closer to him. To show him that you are not something to be scared of. You then turn to sit in the chair. Your legs spread open as you bite your lip. Your eyes rake over the vulnerable man in front of you.

Joel watches you. He takes in shaky breaths. It is almost as though he is more nervous, now that he understands your intent. "Don't stop on my accord," you say as you gesture towards him. You slowly cross your leg over the other, batting him off with your eye lashes. You gently laugh as you watch him sit still, uncomfortable. "Oh, I get it," you murmur with a nod. "You need help." You watch your shoulder as you slowly push your spaghetti strap off it. You do the same with the other side. When you look back at him, a smirk is shown across your face.

His eyes are darker than normal. He still holds the pillow firmly against the skin between his legs. "Don't stop, Miller," you whisper as you slowly pull your shirt up. You expose your breasts to the cool air. Your nipples immediately harden. He involuntarily bites his lip as his eyes grow full of wonder. With that, he gradually pulls the cover off and shows his enormous cock. You start salivating. Fuck, you knew it would be big.

Joel's thumb starts to move slowly up and down his shaft. His eyes now fully on you. No pulling away this time. Pleasure fills your chest as you raise your chin and open your mouth. You lick your lips, hell-bent on tasting him. He starts to smile between soft moans. His rubbing becoming quicker as your hands calmly travel up your stomach and to your tits.

His breathing shakes harder as your fingers circle your nipples. Your tongue resting gently against your bottom lip. He loves it. His moans become louder as he watches you. "Oh baby," escapes his lips as he watches your sensual movements. "The name's y/n," you whisper. You smile at the shock spreading across his face. "I want to make sure you're moaning the right girl's name this time."

"Your name's y/n," Joel mutters under his breath. His movements stop as he watches you gradually open your legs. Your shorts clearly expose your inner thighs. It shows enough to give him the slightest sneak peek. "And your name is Joel," you coo. “Does that change anything?” He scoffs. A smile spreads across his face. First time you’ve seen it and shit is it beautiful. “Not a single thing,” he mutters. “Then rub one out for me, daddy,” you whisper as your hand travels down your stomach and atop your shorts.

Joel presses his tongue against his cheek as his smile grows larger. His hand starts to rub against his hardened cock. His fingers wrapped around his girth. You bite your lip. You wish it was your hand, but you are not giving up control. “Yeah, start slow,” you murmur as you adjust in your seat. His eyes track you. His eye line at your lips, waiting for the words to just flow out.

His breathing intensifies as he drops his jaw in excitement. “Ooo, just like that,” you whisper as you try to maintain deep breaths. Your clit begins to pulsate. Begging you to jump atop of him. “What next, y/n?” he asks with a gaping mouth. He fully enunciates your name with a smirk at the end. You laugh as your brows bounce. “Hm,” you think aloud. Your finger tapping against your chin. “Have your other hand play with your balls.”

Joel’s brow raises as he’s slightly taken aback. “Don’t make me say it twice,” you playfully seethe through your teeth. He sighs with a smile as his other hand moves from atop his thigh. He cups his balls slowly. A thumb rubbing between them. You suck in a deep breath as you adjust again in your sit. You can’t get comfortable. Your body screams that the only seat you want is on his lap.

His lower jaw keeps moving as deep breaths fall from his lips. “Shit,” he breathes. His eyes close ever so slightly. “Mmm’such a good boy,” you whisper. “Let me hear you.” He gasps as the muscles in his legs begin to tighten. He lets out a low moan. One so deep your entire body shakes. You let out a hesitant breath as your hand covers your mouth. You are trying so hard to keep in control, to be the dominant one - but shit did you want him to wreck your pussy so badly.

“I know you can moan louder than that,” you murmur with a grin. Joel softly laughs and quickens his movements. His breath is fast. His eyes closed. He sits up straighter. His hand slaps against his skin. You spot precum falling from his tip. “Shit,” you mumble under your breath. His head starts to fall back. It rests against the wall. He moves faster and faster. You squeeze your thighs together, holding your breath.

“Fuck, baby,” he whines. You could just about faint. “God, you’re going to make me cum, y/n.” You dig your nails into your thighs. You want nothing more than to see this gorgeous man cum all over himself. “Cum for me, Joel,” you whisper in excitement. Your entire body feels on fire. Goosebumps travel throughout your skin. “I want your big cock deep inside me, Joel. Please cum for me,” you gripe in an innocent voice.

“Oh, fuck,” Joel moans as his brows pull together. He squeezes his eyes shut tighter than before. You hear his voice raise in pitch. Higher and higher as his body moves faster and faster. You note him thrusting into his own hand. He looks so strong. He would feel so good thrusting inside of you. Finally, his breathing fastens and he starts to moan louder than before.

“I’m cumming. I’m cumming, y/n,” he whisper yells as his body tenses up. You immediately rush in front of him. You sit on your knees as you watch the show, up close and personal. Beads of cum stream down his elongated cock as he strokes firmly. You place much effort in keeping your hands to your sides. You watch as his breaths begin to slow.

“Fuck, Joel,” you say breathless. His eyes start to open. He lets out a gentle laugh through his smiling face. You crawl between his legs. His smile quickly falling as he curiously watches you. There you sit, his softened unit before you. “Your turn to help me, Miller,” you say as you bite your lips. His smile re-emerges as his hand pushes your shoulder back towards the ground. His body slides over you until his face hovers above yours. “Yes, ma’am,” Joel whispers as he plants a kiss on your lips so hard, yet so soft, that you completely fall head over heels for the man.

note: whatcha think? joel screams sub and fuck do i love it. also episode 3?? can someone just cry with me about that real quick? shall there be a part two? 🤫

*edit: there shall be & here it is

taglist: @fan-fiction-floozy, @dirtydianaahah

reblogs are much appreciated! feel free to comment or message if you’d like to join a tag list! 🌿✨🌿

• nav • no-no plagiarism • one shot • requests open •

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ms--lobotomy · 4 months

Note

Welcome to the community! Love your style - haven’t had a laugh as good as while reading the worm post in a while.

How about a slice of life piece with Perturabo? I always thought anyone who he considers as a s/o must have a pretty strong personality lol

howdy, anon! first of all, thank you so much! second, im going to take "slice of life" as a slice of life in our universe, not wh40k canon. this means that i can diverge even more from canon than normal! fun!

enough yapping, here's your fic bestie

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summary: you decide to do something nice for perturabo and he doesn't know how to take it because he is so emotionally constipated

word count: 989

content warnings: perty's a rude lil shit but you can take it, right? also implication of diddlin'

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Beams of light found their way through the tree in your front yard into the window at the front of your house and onto the fake-wood floor. It wasn't much as far as houses went, it was small and ratty and some of the lights didn't work. But it was a place to live, and you and your lover had to take what you could get.

Clad in a t-shirt that was many sizes too big for you, you buttered up the old pan that you had and broke three eggs into it. One for you, two for him. They began to bubble from the bottom after a while, and you smiled. You weren't normally the cook in this relationship; he preferred to do the things like cooking himself. But sometimes he would bury himself in his work and forget to eat or otherwise take care of himself. Today was one of those days. When you woke up, you saw him already hard at work on another painting.

As you were getting the bacon from the fridge, you heard the booming footsteps that could only belong to your lover. Perturabo. Your heart stopped in your chest for a split second--this was supposed to be a surprise! Soon enough, he stood in the doorway, almost too tall for it. There was paint on both his shirt and his shorts. He began to speak, his voice booming.

"I thought I was going to be making breakfast today," he said curtly.

"Tough luck," you replied, putting a few strips of bacon on the griddle. The crackle it made was quite satisfying to the ear. "You had your chance and you didn't do it."

He walked over to you, putting his free arm around your waist. His arms were quite large He leaned over you, surveying your handiwork. "You let them cook for too long," he pouted, nestling his head in the crook of your neck. He wrapped his arms around you as you began to separate egg white from egg white.

"I barely cooked these," you said. "Do you want salmonella?"

He chuckled, rocking you back and forth. You couldn't see it, but a slight smile dusted his lips. "Even if I could get it from this," he took a hand away from you quickly to gesture to the food, "it'd be worth it."

"If you're sure," you replied, breaking away from his warm embrace to put his allotted two eggs onto one of the plates that you had pulled out.

While you waited for the rest of it to finish, you grappled for his hand. There were a few paint stains on it, and you had no doubt you'd be getting paint on your hands as well. It's not like you were going anywhere today. He looked... stumped at this development. Almost as if he couldn't process what was going on.

"What, you can't handle some good ol' Christian hand-holding?" you asked, using the broken plastic spatula in your free hand to move the rest of your meal to your plates. "Even after last night?"

The color drained from his face. You got him. You smirked, giving that stupidly warm hand that enveloped yours a squeeze. "No, but really. I promise you that you're just as worthy of affection as..." you trailed off. The people around him? That wouldn't be very worthy in his eyes. Unless it was someone like...

"You're just as worthy of affection as I am." You looked up at him, and the smile on your face was genuine.

You didn't know how a man of his size could let out such a little "Oh...", but he did. He sheepishly let go of your hand and grabbed his plate, the meal looking pathetically small next to him. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of what to say next. Something genuine? Something flippant? Something somehow both?!?

"I wanted to show you something," he finally blurted out. There was still this flustered look on his face as he sat at the table.

You finished your meal soon enough, and as you put your dish in the sink, you felt a hand at the bottom of your jaw. You felt your neck turn at an awkward angle to look up at your lover, and he had a smug grin on his face.

"Close your eyes, dear," he said.

Oh. He said dear. This was serious. As you closed your eyes, you could feel the hand move from your neck to your eyes, enveloping them in darkness. You didn't know why he told you to close your eyes in the first place, but you weren't going to press further. He put his free hand on your shoulder and led you through the small house. You didn't get very far before you got to your bedroom, a small thing with just enough room for an easel and some art supplies.

He removed his hand. The painting faced you, clear as day. It was a beautiful rendition of him holding a worm. If it weren't for the clear brush strokes, it would have looked like a photograph taken of him.

"It's beautiful," you started, "but I don't get it."

"Remember when you asked me if I would love you if you were a worm?" he asked with a chuckle. "This is me. With my beautiful worm partner."

"Oh!" you exclaimed. You remembered asking in the dead of night, while you were nothing but a lump in his arms. He'd dodged the question at the time, but he'd clearly been thinking about it. "So you would love me if I were a worm!" you laughed. "I knew it!"

You threw your arms around him. Despite the difference in size between you two, he recoiled a little bit. He wrapped his arms around you and rested his head on top of yours. And in this little house, you were content.

#perturabo x reader #primarch x reader #warhammer 40k x reader #reader insert #perturabo #warhammer lobotomy #god we're all stupid for him on this hellsite #wheres his tumblr sexyman page

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kookidough · 6 days

Text

analysing vance hopper because he lives in my head 24/7 !

tw for like. literally everything the black phone covers!!!!!!

also there's some special effects gore rather far down in the post idk just i feel like i should warn you just in case

okay so before anyones like "but bee!!!! he only had 6 minutes of screen time in a 102 minute long movie!!!!! he was only on screen for 5.8% of the movie!!!!!" and to that i say i Know it was a real tragedy so a lot of this will be built on personal interpretation and subtext and stuff said behind the scenes and whatnot

so firstly i wanna rot about what his childhood/upbringing might've been like..... i havent quite decided on something definitive but i think we can take one look at his character and realise that is glaringly obvious he had a bad childhood, in one interview the actor that plays him (brady hepner) says "the background i had set up for vance is that the reason he was the way he was is his home life was fairly difficult, you know maybe his dad was either not there for him or he wasn't supportive, maybe he was fairly abusive, and so that creates a hair trigger sense of rage in vance" hair trigger meaning his patience is literally as thin as a strand of hair it does Not take a lot for him to snap

there more to it after that which i'll get into soon but yea thats the gist of it it's clear he had absent/neglectful/abusive parents and that would certainly contribute to why he's so angry all the time, maybe acting so explosive was the only way to get his parents' attention, either good or bad, so he just internalised that. obviously rage and anger issues like vance's lead to violence (not in all cases but in his case it does) and i think a neglectful and abusive upbringing would obviously expose him to more violence than a normal childhood would, therefore normalising it and desensitising him to it, whether he's seeing it play out in his own home and/or on television or something like that (because i doubt his parents would be the kind to monitor what content he's viewing)

i feel like he has little control over his life and that only adds to his anger, which in his case leads to a fight when his buttons are pushed too many times. i think he probably takes great pride in being the toughest in town and whatnot and winning fights and being perceived as strong and scary is good to him and helps him regain control/power, something he doesnt have at home. the rest of the quote from the interview i mentioned earlier states "this pinball machine could have been the only thing that he has in his heart that's like, good, like 'holy cow i did this, i set the score,' so when someone comes along and messes it up for him, it takes away the only thing that he has. i think that that's when he switches to a 'now you're gonna pay for that'"

similar to what i said about fighting, the pinball machine and his high score is something he has control over and its an important part of his reputation/image like. hes literally pinball vance ! and the whole thing about that high score being the "only thing he has in his heart that's good" implies that hes. well. pretty shit at everything else, which is pretty much canon if you remember that gwen said vance was held back twice in school. makes me think that while he's not the brightest in school he's certainly street smart

moving onto ermmmmm him getting kidnapped era because im sure youre wondering "well bee if he's so street smart then why did he get kidnapped" so may i raise two theories (this is. literally all i got and its not even concrete, me and my friend gray (@staggersz) tried to figure out how this could even happen and this is the most plausible thing we've got. so shoutout to him real quick he has had to deal with me being unnormal about vance for like a year and a half thanks king couldnt have done all this without my rotting buddy)

so either he got taken by surprise (most likely option) or vance's trust was gained first via getting given quarters at the pinball machine and small talk and shit like that but this is unlikely because i feel like it'd take a loooooong time for someone like vance to trust a some random stranger adult man when he clearly has issues with trusting and respecting people older than him and people with authority (e.g. cops, his parents, or school officials) so yea being taken by surprise would probably be the most realistic option, i always see people on tiktok being like "how did the grabber kidnap vance hes so strong!!!!" dude its a 15 year old boy against like. a 45 year old man who's already claimed two lives its really not gonna be a fair fight here

before i get into the next part i wanna quickly address a theory i absolutely Hate and it is so easily disproven and that is the theory that vance is the grabber's son or is related to him in some other way and i see it Far too often on tiktok and i HATE it. from what ive seen this all stems from his dream sequence where he kicks open the fence to albert's house and, presumably, goes inside after being dropped off by the police after the grab n go fight. idk if some people just straight up didnt realise this but clearly in real life he is going to his Own House??? in the dream it's only albert's house because this is how he chooses to show gwen the house she's trying to find her brother in, the house that he himself was killed in??? i hate the theory i hate it sm

the dream sequence itself is interesting though as the ghosts seem to only be able to conjure up what theyve seen in real life (like how bruce can picture the outside of the house and show that to gwen but the house number is all flipped and not right beause he doesnt know it) so vance being able to picture the house and the number and the gate and every detail would imply that hes seen it before, but im going to explain that away as either he got out once before like with finney's failed escape attempt, or the house is most likely on the route he walks to school or the grab n go or something and he hasnt actually been there prior to being kidnapped

mini rant over now onto being kidnapped i guess, so i used the missing posters to try and estimate a timeline of how long each ghost boy would've been in the basement for (although the missing posters are notoriously unreliable for details such as looks/height/age/etc, the dates seem to all line up). so we know the order is griffin, billy, vance, bruce, robin, finney, right?? if we use the poster date then billy was taken on may 4th, 1976, a month and two days after griffin was taken (april 2nd 1976). vance was taken on september 23rd 1977, almost a full year later (stay with me im going somewhere with this), and after that bruce was taken on july 18th 1978, again almost a full year later

its established in the movie that the grabber stalks his victims before he takes them (canon because we literally see the van watching finney and gwen as they walk home from school early on in the movie) but we dont know how long he does this for since griffin/billy and robin/finney were taken such short distances apart and then the others were taken such long distances apart, also it's possible he could stalk his next victim while the previous one is still alive, etc etc lots of confusing factors, but if i've done the maths right then the absolute maximum time vance could've spent down there is 9 months and 25 days, or 298 days, so erm . let that sink in !

howeverrrr in the movie gwen states that vance went missing "last spring" and september is definitely not in spring, meaning he could've been down there for a year or even longer. an explanation or excuse i could think of for the movie and the missing poster saying different things (other than the missing posters being known for some areas being wildly inaccurate) is that maybe he was taken in spring but wasnt labelled as officially missing until september, when he was properly linked to griffin and billy's similar disappearances and the mysterious grabber? i can imagine it'd be very easy for law enforcement, especially in the 70s, to dismiss someone like vance as a runaway until they get solid evidence that he was taken. idk though thats just my personal excuse / angsty headcanon for the difference in information

not sure what exactly killed him but we do hear from vance himself that "he took his time with me" so it was probably blood loss from a variety of injuries, if we look at him in his ghost scenes we can see his hair is absolutely covered in blood which indicates head injury, he clearly has a broken nose and bruising around his eyes as a result of it, he has these deep cuts on his abdomen area (apologies for the image quality but i believe they're like. sfx pieces you would wear under clothing)

and he also has just like. minor bruising (like the fingerprints on his arm) and other random blood splatters on his face and neck (assuming the blood down his neck comes from wherever he was bleeding on his head) so Yeah overall very unpleasant way to die obviously

okay now the part thats actually in the movie and it only took me 13 paragraphs to get here: vance as a ghost!! first thing i wanna point out is appearance wise i just want to say that when he's a ghost he's missing his choker and that fact Pains me. anyway personality-wise i feel like being violently murdered has, understandably, kicked his rage up to like. the highest level it could possibly go. he's insanely snarky and downright rude to finney on the phone, showing no empathy to the fact that finney is literally in the exact situation he was in

i feel like the whole "this is the nightmare end of your pathetic little life" and "if you knew what you had coming, you'd be fucking terrified" thing is definitely to scare finney on purpose and to get him to do something, vance might as well have just told him he's never going home cuz thats how it came across LMAOO, it is startling though because vance is clearly speaking from experience, that he was literally fucking terrified, and he is warning finney in his own weird way

the thing i think sets vance apart from the other ghosts is that while he does help finney, he does it for a different reason than they do. the other ghosts want finney to escape, to get out, to be free, to live, but personally i dont think vance cares about that. the only thing he wants is for albert shaw to be dead, for someone to seek vengeance, to do what vance couldn't. vance doesn't care if it's bruce or robin or finney or whatever boy could've come after that, he doesnt care as long as that man gets what he deserves after what he put vance through, and i see this through the scene at the end of vance's call where finney thanks him for his help and vance says, and i quote, "helping you? this isn't about you, fuck him! and apologies for being repetitive but to me it just literally proves that to vance, this isnt about finney or his escape, its just about revenge

we dont get to find out what happens to the ghosts once the credits have rolled, and i dont think we quite know enough about tbp's version of ghosts to guess what theyre up to, but i have a few theories :3 maybe theyre no longer bound to those two houses and they can now go anywhere they want in town? or maybe since their shared goal of stopping albert has been achieved, the ghosts can finally pass on to whatever is waiting for them next. i dont think vance would be content to pass on that quickly or easily as anger lingers, but i hope he'd be able to let go of it eventually, and hey we might find out in the sequel. i pray it mentions him cuz i will just die if it doesnt

sometimes, ok thats a lie, frequently i think about an au where he survived or escaped or whatever but ohhhh boy this post is already a train wreck so that au would deserve its own essay of a post :3 if u actually genuinely read this far then Wtf thanks for reading the ramblings of an absolute madman, only pure delusion could get like 20 paragraphs about a guy with 6 minutes screentime but hey thats how i roll, thanks again to my pal gray for letting me rot and thank u to my other pal ana for also enduring all this rot

hope u enjoyed my interpretation of vance hopper im going to crawl in a hole now and probably brainrot some more, thanks again for ur time :3

#the black phone #tbp #tbp vance #vance hopper #character analysis #i literally rotted my entire brain for this one #normally i hate when ppl tag characters in a post that isnt really about them im gonna tag the other characters cuz i do mention them quite #a few times so apologies to ppl that are fans of anyone that isnt vance this post is Vance Centric #tbp robin #robin arellano #tbp finney #finney blake #tbp griffin #griffin stagg #tbp billy #billy showalter #tbp bruce #bruce yamada #tbp gwen #gwen blake #the grabber #albert shaw #the black phone 2022 #i am the number 1 vance hopper fan and this proves it #if vance has 100 fans im one of them. if vance has 10 fans im one of them. if vance has 1 fan its me. if vance has no fans im dead.#sorry to everyone that followed me for total drama content i have an absolute disease for this movie and this guy #back to regularly scheduled content soon trust #not expecting this to do numbers cuz theres actually only like 4 tbp fans on earth but had to let two years worth #of absolute brainrot for this movie that has like. barely any merch and only the slightest scraps of fan content #i stayed up all night writing this

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heongiu · 10 months

Note

Hiii may I request housewife reader hcs with gun, goo, and samuel?

Thankyou for the request Anon! And yes housewife hcs are gonna be fluffy! (I'll write for Samuel in the next one, it's quite hard to figure his character hard for me 😭 so I'm sorry!)

Gun and Goo with housewife hcs

Warning: extremely fluffy

A/N: Im writing them all as very sweet and loving husbands because i can even if its not canon 🥹..

Park Jonggun

Gun was definitely not used to having a person around, somebody who could pour their precious time into being there for them, or contributing certain aspects of their life to them.

But now that he has you here, he has changed, for good that is.

He appreciates you a lot, as he thinks being home all day and taking care of daily household chores is not an easy job, even for him, so he thinks you’re pretty hardworking. (he has a special issue with cutting onions so he can understand lol)

Little moments like when he says he’s ‘back home’ and you rush from the kitchen to give him a hug, resting your face on his broad chest is what makes him feel a certain emotion he has never felt before, that is, warmth. It doesn’t show on his face but he does feel it.

He loves when you ask how his day went, or even the small questions like if he had lunch properly or if he drank enough water.

Because he is always content to hear your soft, soothing and welcoming voice.

I think its pretty occasional for him to plant a kiss on your forehead before he leaves, even if he’s distant and doesn’t quite like to communicate much (because its canon ;-;) thats one of the few ways he lets you know he’ll be waiting for your company when he returns home from all his errands or that he’s looking forward to be with you.

Sometimes when he’s not able to return home, or comes home late, he makes sure to bring small gifts like few flowers (your fav ofc), your favourite chocolates or literally anything you like as compensation for his late presence.

I think Gun with a housewife is pretty adorable. (Did I just babygirl his entire character?!)

Kim Joongoo

This man will literally annoy anyone, and even if you are his housewife, he’ll never not forget to annoy you.

Okay but seriously he does think you’re adorable, staying home and working all day and patiently waiting when he’ll come home so you can just jump on him and cuddle him to death.

He gets so excited when he’s about to see you home after he’s done with all shit he has to attend to, like just being home with you makes this man feel comforted.

This man loves to see you smile and laugh. And thats just it.

“Your Goo-bear’s home darling~~” and then he rushes over to hug you from behind and kiss you until you’ve had enough 😭.

He would even tickle you from behind until you beg him to stop and hit him on the head if he doesn’t.

Occasionally he’ll bring over little gifts here and there, just to let you know he loves you deeply, and they always gotta be hella expensive- because he loves to spoil you ehehe

And and this man will literally help you cook, he’s a great cook afterall ! So you both are cooking the dinner together during weekdays and on weekends he makes the lunch and dinner by himself because he wants you to rest and relax,

He does make sure you don’t tire yourself too much, so he tends to check up on you if you’re okay and need anything that he can assist you with.

And if you like plushies, he’ll legit buy you them sometimes. he would return home with plenty of them to surprise you :”)

I hope you guys enjoyed these small headcanons! Sorry for being gone for so long, and thank you so so much for 92 followers, I would've never imagined I'd get this far! Thankyou for everyones effort and love, I'll continue writing for you guys!

~ Kira

#lookism #park jonggun #lookism jonggun #kim joongoo #kim goo x reader #gun x reader #park jonggun x reader #kim jongoo x reader #heongiu answers

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carabalism · 1 year

Text

lucky penny

pairing(s) michonne x teen!reader, prison group x teen!reader (platonic)

synopsis michonne finds a prisoner in the governor's apartment instead of penny.

warning(s) abuse, canon typical violence/gore, reader is aged 15-16

a/n do not force yourself to read this if you are uncomfortable with the topic of abuse. i may make a part two but im not too sure tbh

masterlist

with what little strength she had, y/n began to push her body against the metal gate in front of her. it was always locked. the governor wouldn't be so careless with something that could tarnish how woodbury saw him. a door on the other side of the gate was kicked down and y/n instinctively flinched back, falling down onto her back. her breathing was raspy from being denied food and water for a while.

the sound of the gate being unlocked caught her attention. she was almost free.

"oh my god..” after only hearing the governor’s voice for so long, it was a relief to hear a woman’s voice, "it's okay, come here."

y/n hesitantly stepped forward, stumbling ever so slightly. she was malnourished, dehydrated and hadn't properly walked longer than she could remember.

"it's okay, you're fine, i'll get you out of here." the woman reassured y/n again, lifting the bag over her head. y/n stared at the woman with wide eyes, but michonne wasted no time releasing y/n from her chains and bounds.

“hey!" y/n turned back to the governor in horror, her mouth opening and closing, trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. she was petrified by the man and michonne knew it.

“hey now... don't hurt her..." the governor held his hands up, “i know this looks bad, but i promise ya' there's an explanation for this little misunderstandin’.”

y/n moved michonne's arm, making it seem like she was threatening y/n. y/n may have been weak and completely vulnerable, but she was smart. she knew what strings to pull with the governor, she knew how sick men's minds worked.

"michonne, we can be reasonable people about this!" the governor flashed a smile. the one thing y/n always noticed is how his smile never reached his eyes. his eyes remained cold and lifeless. he'd mastered the skills to manipulate an entire town, but the mask he wore was poor - anyone could tell how he felt if they just payed attention to him for longer than a second. he couldn't help but let his mask slip every time he didn't get his way his annoyance was evident with every obstacle he faced.

"you run when i say, you hide and i'll find you," michonne whispered through gritted teeth, keeping her voice quiet enough to not be caught by the governor, but just loud enough that y/n could hear.

"michonne... you don't want to do this," he laughed, wiping a hand over his mouth, "a kid killer? is that really who you are?"

"at least i'm not a sick bastard." michonne hissed back, venom dripping from her tongue. she noticed the governor reach for something behind him. a gun.

"now." michonne whispered, shoving y/n towards the door, knocking the governor off his balance. his gun misfired and y/n immediately ran for cover, hiding behind a piece of furniture. instead of going for y/n, the governor lunged at michonne. y/n listened to the sounds of the two struggling, her eyes filling up with tears as her body filled to the brim with fear and adrenaline. this could go only two ways. michonne lives and she was free, or the governor kills michonne and something much worse happens to y/n. it had been a long time since y/n had prayed for anything, but in that moment she clasped her two hands together and prayed for the governor's death. not a quick death. a slow, agonising death that would reveal only but a sliver of the pain the governor had put her through, forced her to endure. the governor's screams only brought a smile to her face. the governor was far from being worthy of her sympathy. it wasn't the world that turned to shit, it was the people. the governor had been cruel to others far longer than he would ever admit.

the apartment door burst open and y/n stared at the blonde woman with wide terrified eyes. the woman only ran past her, not even sparing a glance at her. y/n peaked her head out, watching the blonde woman hold a gun to the woman that had saved her. she then glanced at the crying governor, who had a shard of glass lodged into his eye.

"what have you done?" andrea questioned, her heart breaking at the sight she had ran into. the image of the fish tanks would forever be in her mind. a few quiet words were exchanged between the two women, but they were barely audible to y/n. she tucked herself back into her hiding spot waiting for michonne.

"come on." michonne muttered, making her way to the door. y/n didn't hesitate and followed after michonne, but she wasn’t fully there with her. her mind was busy taking in the things she hadn't felt for a very long time: the feeling of the ground on her feet as she walked, walking in general was foreign to her at this point.

"can you run?" michonne questioned y/n, leading her outside, "there's a group i'm with. they're not dangerous, but you stay with me unless i say so, got it?”

y/n nodded, "i trust you.”

"you shouldn't." michonne began running down to a spot in the fence that she had broken while she was in woodbury, she never stayed in a place without a backup plan.

"go." michonne nodded towards the gap, holding the metal back to widen the gap. y/n quickly slipped through the fence and michonne followed.

"stay close and stay quiet." michonne led y/n around the walls of woodbury and then through a bush, but when y/n reached the other side of the bush she was met with the sight of a bunch of weapons pointed at her face.

"where were you!" rick hissed, careful to keep his voice down to avoid being heard, "you get what you came here for?"

the man approached michonne, his body posture telling y/n that this man was likely not a friend to michonne. she remained behind michonne, gripping onto the back of her shirt for any sort of comfort.

"rick..." y/n stared at the woman who spoke up, "she's got a kid."

rick's head snapped back to maggie and then back to michonne. he stepped back and finally noticed the young girl cowering behind michonne.

"who is she?" rick questioned, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes squinted.

"she's with me." michonne instinctively put an arm out in front of y/n, who had not said a word in a while. rick saw the terrified look on the girl's face and lowered his gun, but still just as frustrated with michonne.

"you may be pissed with me, but you know you need me." michonne glared at rick. she was right. he knew that.

"what's your name kid?" glenn asked, leaning on the car, next to where y/n had sat down. y/n looked up at him and took in his injuries and stayed silent for a moment, unsure if she wanted to deal with her throat hurting from speaking, but she assumed she owed them something at the very least, "what'd he do to you?"

glenn scoffed, amused, "so you speak."

y/n rolled her eyes and looked back at the ground, "the governor do that to you?" she repeated.

"yeah, but it was mostly this other guy," glenn frowned, the images of what he had just experienced flashed through his mind, "asshole.”

"watch your mouth." y/n muttered, pulling her socks further up her legs.

"sorry," glenn lowered his voice, trying to keep his aggression at bay. judging by what the girl looked like, glenn knew she must've been put through some serious shit. her clothes were torn and she was filthy, but her eyes is what glenn noticed the most. she was exhausted, maybe even something beyond that.

“y/n..." she looked back up at glenn.

"y/n," he nodded, "it fits."

y/n frowned and looked back at the ground, "haven't been called that name for a while..”

"can i ask what he did to you?" glenn squinted his eyes, a nervous habit he had developed as a child. it was how his sisters knew when he lied.

"i don't think you want to know," y/n looked up at the sky and tried her best to will her tears away, "it's been a long time since i've seen the sun."

"I'm sorry you went through that."

"don't be," y/n looked back at him, "she got me out, i owe her everything."

glenn glanced towards michonne, who had already been watching him with a cautious stare, he nodded at her - a silent acknowledgment to the good deed she had done.

"you rest in the car, you look like you need it." glenn reached over and pulled the car door open for her, "you're safe, get some rest."

"you look like you need to rest yourself." y/n replied, but crawled into the car anyways. the road wasn't the smoothest of surfaces for her to be standing on with just socks to protect her feet.

"nah, i'm fine."

y/n nodded, understanding why he had suddenly closed himself off. from what she gathered, glenn had been tortured by the governor and someone else, but his girlfriend had also been held captive with him. y/n could only guess what the governor had done, but she knew from experience it must have been cruel.

michonne leaned against the car door y/n had just shut, hoping that her presence would allow the girl to relax enough to get some rest.

"who is she?" glenn asked, looking up at michonne from the ground. he was far too tired to stand up and wait around for the rest of the group, but also far too exhausted to complain about the discomfort the road brought him.

"don’t know," michonne revealed honestly, "when i was in woodbury, i saw them through a window. hadn't seen her around woodbury and he never mentioned her, i knew he was up to no good."

"did he..." glenn frowned, not wanting to finish his question. everything inside him wanted michonne to say that nothing had happened to the young girl, but he knew after what had happened with maggie, that the governor was not to be trusted. he was a twisted, sick man.

“i think so.” michonne glared at the sky, the fact someone could harm a child in such a way burned her insides. she wanted to kill the governor for what he had done, what he will continue to do.

“glenn!” rick yelled from the woods, glenn stood up and ignored the aches in his body.

“rick.” he groaned, his body struggling to support his weight while he limped uphill, “oh thank god.”

“now we got a problem here, i need you to back u-“ rick was interrupted by glenn as soon as he spotted merle.

“what the hell is he doing here?!” glenn yelled, his gun raised and pointed at merle. michonne had similar ideas, as her sword was out and ready the moment the cocky redneck was in her field of vision.

“hey, hey, hey!” rick yelled at the two, putting himself in front of them to stop them from attacking merle. if it had been up to him, merle wouldn’t have been there in the first place.

“hey put it down!” daryl yelled, whilst maggie rushed towards glenn asking him to put his weapon down, “put it down!”

“he tried to kill me!” michonne cried, her sword pointed at rick’s chest, whilst his gun was pointed at her head. the sound of michonne yelling had woken y/n up and she had exited the car, her feet ached and the ground was anything but gentle to her skin. the only barrier between her feet and the ground was a pair of fluffy socks she had from before the turn had happened. her walk was wobbly, unsteady and she struggled to stay upright, but she wanted to see what was happening. she hid behind a tree and peaked at the group of people with weapons raised.

“if it wasn’t for him-!”

“he helped us get out of there!” daryl defended his brother.

“yeah right after he beat the shit out of you.” rick growled.

“hey, we both took our licks, man.” merle scoffed. y/n squinted her eyes at the man, his voice was familiar - she was sure she had heard him in the governor’s apartment before.

“jackass.” daryl shook his head at his brother.

“hey, shut up!”

“enough!” rick had finally had enough, but the second he turned his back michonne took a step forward with her sword. the group erupted into several small arguments and y/n blinked at them from her hiding place. what an odd group of people.

“get that thing outta ma face!” daryl yelled at glenn, who backed off slightly.

“man, looks like you’ve gone native, brother.” merle chuckled, making daryl turn around with as much fury as he had done when glenn held a gun to his head.

“no more than you hangin’ out with that psycho back there.”

“oh yeah man, he is a charmer i got to tell ya that.” merle’s words made y/n cringe, she turned around and sat on the ground, waiting for the adults to finish their argument. now that the governor had been brought up, y/n had no interest in eavesdropping. she already knew far more than she wanted about the man.

“been putting the wood to your girlfriend andrea,” merle smirked at michonne, “big time, baby.”

“what?” glenn hissed, “andrea’s in woodbury?”

“right next to the governor.” daryl confirmed.

michonne stepped forward again with her sword and rick instantly stood in front of her, “i told you to drop that!”

“you know andrea?” rick narrowed his eyes at michonne, “hey. do you know andrea?

y/n narrowed her eyes at rick as he got closer to michonne’s face, there was nothing she could do to stop the man, but if anything happened to michonne there wasn’t a soul in the group that y/n would trust.

“yep, she does.” merle answered for michonne, “her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest, mh-mmm-mmm, yeah. my nubian queen here had two pet walkers, no arms, cut off the jaws and kept them in chains. kind of ironic now that i think about i-“

“shut up!” daryl yelled.

“hey man, we snagged them out of the woods, andrea was close to dying.” merle shrugged.

“is that why she’s with him?” maggie asked.

“yeah.” merle nodded, “snug as two little bugs… so what y’gonna do now, sheriff, huh? surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs and cowards.”

“shut up!” rick’s eye twitched in annoyance, his patience was running thin. merle came up in rick’s mind every once in a while, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the pain in the ass merle dixon was.

“oh man, look at this. pathetic.” merle laughed, “all these guns and no bullets in them.”

“merle shut up!” daryl got close to merle, threatening his brother. he knew if he didn’t shut merle up soon, someone else was going to do it.

“shut up yourself! bunch of pussies you roll-“ y/n gasped as rick hit the back of merle. glenn turned around at the sound and saw y/n crouched behind a tree.

“asshole..” rick grumbled.

glenn walked away from the group, staring at y/n for a moment as he past him. michonne was the next to notice y/n was out of the car and ran over to her.

“you should be resting. you can’t even walk.” michonne hissed, her eyes scanning over y/n’s body to check for injuries.

“sorry.” y/n apologised, letting michonne help her walk back to the car. michonne opened door to the backseats and sat y/n down.

“you okay?” she asked, putting a comforting hand on y/n’s knee.

“thank you..” y/n whispered, her throat still scratchy from a lack of water, “thank you for getting me out.”

“don’t mention it,” michonne nodded, “i’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.”

michonne shut the door and leaned against it, watching the group talking - most likely about her. she could tell there was a disagreement between the three of them with the archer.

and then the archer was gone.

“we patch you up and then you are gone.” rick growled at michonne. she nodded and looked at the ground and then at the girl sitting in the backseat, staring back at her with wide, fearful eyes. michonne got into the backseat next to y/n once rick had moved out of her way. the car started and y/n gripped onto the seat tightly, it had been so long since she was last in a car. michonne noticed her fear and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, keeping her glued to her side. michonne noticed that y/n trusted her more than the other people, she knew when she had to leave the prison y/n would want to go with her, but the prison would be a safer option. they couldn’t send away a child. they weren’t those kinds of people.

“she’s out like a light.” y/n watched the older man examine michonne. she was thankful that there had yet to be any questions thrown her way, but with michonne asleep she knew it was only a matter of time before the old man’s attention was on her, “must be days since she slept, you look pretty shot yourself.”

“how long before she can travel?” rick interrupted hershel, his tone snappy and frustrated. y/n stared at him in disgust, michonne had saved her life and he was here treating her like a pest.

“have to keep an eye on her, pretty sure she has a concussion,” hershel made his way out the cell, the clicks of his crutches moving sounded eerily similar to the sound of the governor’s boots on the wooden floors of his apartment, “couple of days if she’s up. need to examine the girl as well.”

rick shut and locked the cell door, making eye contact with y/n briefly before he walked away with hershel. y/n looked back down at michonne and frowned, the poor woman was exhausted and injured. y/n couldn’t believe that rick wanted to send her away, not only was she injured, but she surpassed them in combat abilities. michonne could be an asset to him, but he was clearly not in the right mind to be thinking straight. y/n listened to the group talk about the governor, the sound of his name made her feel sick, but she knew she would have to fill michonne in after she woke up about what she had missed.

it was only when she heard yelling that she looked away from michonne and stood up. her legs were shaky under her, she could buckle at any moment and she wouldn’t be surprised. leaning against the cell door, she peered between the bars trying to catch a glimpse of what was causing commotion. there was nothing to see, but she could hear rick.

“i can’t help you. get out!”

y/n flinched away from the bars and stumbled over her feet, falling onto the ground. she pushed herself backwards until she felt the steel from the bed frame press against her back. she tucked her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in the gap between her chest and her knees.

“get… get out!” rick yelled again, “you don’t belong here! get out! please!”

y/n heard the click of a gun and she whimpered in fear. she was trapped in another cage by another man who had lost his way. her breathing became labored and if she wasn’t so dehydrated, she was sure she would’ve been crying.

“get out! get out!” rick cried, his voice cracking, “why are you here!“

“just go! go! go!” glenn yelled at the strangers, a part of him felt guilty for sending them out the prison, but rick was in no state to accept new people. he was far too unpredictable and glenn didn’t want someone to accidentally get shot.

y/n didn’t hear much of anything else, sounds around her blended together and she could almost hear the sound of her pulse racing. it wasn’t until she felt a hand on her shoulder that she realised someone had walked into the cell. she flinched from the touch and her head shot up to look at the person stood in the cell.

“are you okay?” hershel asked, a sad smile on his face, “let’s get you sat on a chair and checked, that okay?”

y/n didn’t trust him yet, she couldn’t trust him, but she nodded and stood up anyways. the last thing she would want is to upset the group, so she complied with their demands. it was what she was used to doing. complying. obeying.

“can you tell me your name?” hershel dragged a chair to sit across from y/n, leaning his crutches on the side of michonne’s bed.

“y/n..” y/n answered, her gaze fixated on his leg.

“i’m hershel,” he smiled again, trying to create a comfortable environment for the clearly scared girl, “do you have any injuries for me to look at?”

y/n shook her head, “not a scratch.”

he hummed in acknowledgement, nodding as he noticed her staring at his leg, “i was bit, rick saved my life.”

y/n looked away from hershel’s leg and into his eyes, he seemed like a genuine man, there were no manipulative undertones to his words and no glint in his eyes that hinted he was not what he portrayed.

“these people here are good people,” hershel looked out of the cell, “you may not trust us, i understand, but we’re good people.”

“your man wants to send an injured woman back out there,” y/n looked back at michonne, “how can you justify that.”

“i don’t,” hershel chuckled, shaking his head, “rick recently lost his wife, he’s not quite there at the moment, but he’ll bounce back in his own time i’m sure. he always does.”

“you have a lot of faith in him.”

“he’s the reason i still get to see my daughters everyday,” hershel gestured to his leg, “he’s an honest man, give him some time and he’ll prove himself.”

“how did he lose his wife?” y/n questioned.

“childbirth,” hershel sighed, “is it okay if i ask some questions of my own now?”

y/n looked down at her hands, she knew this was coming, but she hoped that she could stall the man, “go ahead.”

“how do you know this woman?” hershal looked at michonne.

“her name is michonne,” y/n whispered, “i don’t know her, but she saved my life. she could be an asset to your group… i know you see that.”

“i do,” he nodded in agreement, “rick needs to come around to the idea first.”

“you should never put a man like that in charge.” y/n hissed, “you never know what they’re capable of.”

“may i ask what happened to you?” hershel sighed, he had figured out that she was deflecting the conversation and he wouldn’t get anywhere with her if he wasn’t direct.

y/n looked him in the eyes and he could see the pain in her e/c eyes, “the governor.. he saved me from a group of men and took me to woodbury. the same day some scouts had brought back a massive haul of food and water… his lucky penny. that’s what he called me.”

“what happened next?” hershel questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“he took me to his apartment and fed me. that was the last time i saw the sun.” y/n felt a shiver run down her spine and she wrapped her arms around her.

“i’m sorry you went through that,” hershel paused, “i’ll get you some new clothes and some shoes to wear, but i want to make sure you haven’t got any injuries that you’re hiding from me.”

y/n shook her head at the man and he nodded, “alright then. i’ll go get you those clothes.”

y/n looked at the ground and hershel slowly made his way to the cell door, “thank you.”

“no need to thank me, you make sure to get some rest too,” hershel nodded at the girl, a soft smile on his face, “i’ll make sure to bring you and your friend some water ‘n food.”

“thank you.” y/n expressed her gratitude again, but hershel could tell she wasn’t thanking him for the clothes, or the food, but she was just grateful to be away from the governor.

#michonne x teen!reader #twd x reader #twd x teen!reader #the walking dead #twd fanfiction #twd #rick grimes x teen!reader

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