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ukiyokki · 3 years

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mars reads too much dreamnotfound fanfiction for their own good

a dreamnotfound fanfic recommendation list by your resident dumbass (me)

this took way to fucking long... i’m tired

below is a (very extensive) list dedicated to all my favorite dnf fics, ranging from quick one shots to 100k+ word monstrosities that devour the storage on my computer, forever incomplete masterpieces to ongoing works of art, you get the idea. i provided links for each fic/series for your reading pleasure. there will be no smutty/nsfw fics on this list, that’s just not my vibe lmao. this list goes in no particular order, and i’ll update it from time to time when i feel like it. now, without further ado, let us begin.

Heat Waves (complete) by tbhyourelame

(wtf else did you expect, looking at a dnf rec list?) amazingly well written, and while it’s not my favorite dnf fic it’s damn near close. in the midst of a brutal heatwave, a suffering dream comes to terms with the fact that he is desperately in love with his best friend. everything i could say about this fic has already been said by nearly everyone who’s read it, so if you haven’t yet caved into the hype, just go for it. you won’t be disappointed.

Gonna be around (completed) by georgescatcafe

(mc irl) my favorite dnf oneshot to date. just read it, i don’t wanna spoil for you :)

Inferno in the Sky (ongoing)by zairielon

(star wars au) an ongoing star wars au currently clocking in at almost 200k words. need I say more? everything about it absolutely slaps, each chapter is amazingly written, and it’s just good. also, can we just appreciate dream and tubbos dynamic in here? 10/10, amazing, must protecc. oh right, a summary: george, an exiled padawan turned engineer, must return to the jedi temple after attacks on it from an unknown assailant threaten the safety of himself and the other jedi.

Like Magic (ongoing) by KangarooKen, NotGra55 (Gra55)

(harry potter au) the unofficial official dnf harry potter au. we watch the young unlikely wizard pair grow up together throughout their years at hogwarts as they battle good old fashioned wizard racism. beautifully written, incredibly fun and suspenseful, and just an overall blast and a half.

GeorgeNotFound, Son of Poseidon, and the League of Minor Gods (ongoing) by Clichewho_69, Cygnvs, Trash_Kinggg

(percy jackson au) percy jackson au? check. “road trip” (technically quest but u get what i mean)? check. enemies to friends to lovers? check. this fic follows the plot of the lightning theif (albeit loosely), but everything is explained enough where you don’t have to read percy jackson to understand what’s going on. basically after moving to the usa, george gets taken to camp halfblood where he learns that a) gods exist. b) he’s the son of poseidon and c) he needs to prove that he didn’t steal zeus’s master bolt.

Protected (completed) by aenqua

(royalty/camelot au) my favorite piece of dnf media of all time. dubbed the official dnf camelot au, where dream is the heir to the throne and george is a servants son with a secret that couldp get him killed. these childhood friends grow up together and learn trust, love, and acceptance. (that summary did not justice to the masterpiece that is this fic) here’s the directors cut

The Hunter (completed) by HederEgo

(mc irl) a choose your own adventure fic with 13 different endings, where dream the hunter must kill george and stop him from beater the ender dragon. enough said.

The official dream team cowboy AU (series)(ongoing) by antsu_in_my_pantsu

(cowboy au) cowboys and outlaws horses and shit. and the big gay. it’s a cowboy au, what else did you expect? fucking yee haw (all seriousness this is a great read, i loved it so so so so much and i can’t wait for the final chapter to release).

This is a Drista moment, let's just accept it (completed) by Qekyo

dnf fic from drista pov. considering its unique perspective, it’s perfectly done. beautifully showcases a sibling relationship through drista and her memories/moments with dream, and it just works, y’a know? also drista supremacy.

Dear Dream (completed) by Qekyo

(wwii au) i don’t cry when watching/reading anything sad. translation: i’m a heartless bitch. however, this fic is the only exception. it caused me to cry so hard my mom walked in my room and asked if i was ok. ‘nuff said.

TECHNOlogical Wingman (completed) by Closeted_Bookworm

techno is the autocorrect ai on dreams phone, and he gains sentience. interesting concept, and the author fucking nailed it. great fic.

It Was Only a Fic (ongoing) by imagineitdear

dream starts reading a dnf fanfic (we’ve all been there buddy).

Teacher’s Pet (ongoing) by niyuha

(teacher au) in which dream is a high school english teacher and george is the new comp sci teacher in room 297.

Saltwater Secrets (ongoing) by earlgay_milktea

(mermaid/high school au) a great example of the shear amount of variety in fics this fandom has to offer. when i started reading dnf fics i would have never thought i’d find one about a mermaid george hopelessly crushing on his human friend, who happens to be his schools star swimmer. yet here i am, and i am far from disappointed.

Smash My Heart (incomplete) by dontrollthedice

george and sapnap are commentators for duper smash brothers tournaments, and george develops a crush on an up and coming smash streamer named dream.

roleplaying in the dark is harder than it seems (completed) by Alienu

laser tag. 10/10

solar system (completed) by quartzfia

(mc irl) george vists dream in pandora’s vault.

Ramblings of a Lunatic (completed) by jungkooksfic

ahh communicating through a notebook left on a shelf in a bookstore- what a perfect way to start a relationship.

Paint me like your French Girls (It's Charcoal, Actually) (completed) by Turtle_ier

(artist au) george is an art student, and dream is a model.

00:00:00 (completed) by isleofdreams

(soulmate au) 00:00:00 is the moment you meet your soulmate, as indicated but the clock ticking down on your wrist until the moment you meet. i’m not a fan of soulmate aus; this fic is the exception.

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me (completed) by kivy

(artist au) i don’t usually cry while reading stuff, but this brought me damn near close. george is a painting conservator and chats it is with the ghost of the artist if the painting he is working on. they fall in a love.

Current Location (incomplete) by hendollana

(influencer au) george simps for a hot american instagram model. who knew he’d actually follow back?

The Withering (series) (series ongoing, 1 work completed) by App1e_Juice

(mc irl) lore and world building and fight scenes and everything i crave. what’s not to love? something starts making the plants and crops around dreams village wither, and must team up with new friends to find the cause of the mysterious disease plaguing the land.

Minecraft, But You Can't Leave (complete) by facadecake

(mc irl) dream and george are sucked into their own private minecraft world together and must beat the game to escape.

Free The Game, Beat the End (incomplete) by goatgoatwasfound

(mc irl) a glitch in minecraft causes thousands of players from around the world to be trapped inside minecraft, with only one way of escape- beating the ender dragon. first dnf fic i ever read, and it’s still 10/10 for me.

Why don't you come a little closer? (completed) by lifeofandoms

george gets stood up by a date, and Dream pretends he’s the date to save george from the embarrassment. simply adorable.

lightning bug (completed) by saintachesP

(band au) while on tour, dream realizes his feeling for george.

Hold me closer (completed) by Treesofmyheart

(mc irl/dsmp) i just,, really like this trope.

Dizzy on caffeine (completed) by GleamingGreenGoggles

(coffee shop au) best dnf coffeeshop au i’ve read. periodt.

living a life of crime isn’t always easy (series) (completed) by itisjosh

(mafia/assassin au) stockholm syndrome except it’s not weird.

Inhibitions Make Interesting Situations (completed) by Ship_On_The_Sea

i pissed myself laughing. it’s just a dream and george being hilariously dense, flustered idiots. serotonin central.

thy eternal summer shall not fade (completed) by gracequills

(high school au) that moment when you recite shakespeare to your crush in your ap lit class instead of confessing (hate it when that happens).

All is Fair in love and Football (ongoing) by graciegirl2001

(college au) #1 favorite college au. in which george is a cheerleader, and dream is the football teams rising star player. this one gets extra points because of the amazing karlnap moments sprinkled throughout. *chefs kisses air*

online love (completed) by andbutso

(high school au) online classes go zoooooooom

Can’t help falling (completed) by isleofdreams

dream re-learns the guitar to sing to george on his birthday. beautiful. fluffy. amazing

dance in the rain and my arms (completed) by lazy_kitkat

george is a rain god, and dream is a wind god

Weather Boy (completed) by DaintyDiizzle

wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? (where dream can control the rain)

The color orange (completed) by anon

(mc irl) dream describes the colors of a sunset

Family Mode (completed)by Strawberry_flavoured_tears

they’re dads :,)

Breathing Room (incomplete) by papercranes

(band an) an amazing band au. the mad lad author wrote original songs for each chapter. above and beyond, mad props :). unfortunately, it’s incomplete

Piece of Clay (completed) by carbonbrine

(artist au) george is a sculptor and his sculpture comes to life- but oh no he’s hot.

Try (completed) by Not4typicalwriter

(royalty au) george must choose a suitor, but none of them are up to dream, his head knights, standards. or dream is hella jelly. also protective dream is perfect

When the Roses Bloom (completed) by HederEgo

(royalty au) close second for my favorite fic. go to royalty au for a quick serotonin bost. it’s all fluff and flowers and crushes, and i love it. criminally underrated.

Heavenstruck (ongoing) by dontrollthedice

george is dreams guardian angel, and dream want to find out more about him and his past life. bittersweet :,)

Bang and Burn (completed) by App1e_Juice

(spy au) george accidentally falls for target number 1 on sapnap’s secret agency’s hit list. this ones great, i love me a spy au :)

Can I get a uhh… (completed) by lemonskies

dream keeps pulling up to the drive through mcdonald’s that george works at drunk.

Pretty Stranger (completed) by anon

when looking for dream in the terminal, george sees a cute guy and decides to flirt.

Take my Hand (completed) by latinbias

(royalty au) another royalty au? poggers. surprise twists? double poggers. love this a lot.

seconds, minutes, hours, lifetimes (complete) by meridies

ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP *inhales to compose herself* roadtrip au. unrequited love, ignored feelings, longing, pining, you know the drill. absolutely love this one, its the best roadtrip au i have ever read, in any fandom. (maybe cause i identify with it a little too much, but thats not important. whats important is that you read this fic. right now. im waiting).

Message redacted (complete) by justyouraverageloser

(text fic) dream asks for a girls number and realises hes been given the wrong number. however, an unexpected relationship starts to form between him and the stranger on the other end of the line.

the waves (completed) by anon

(mc irl) this fic was written by the same anon who wrote the color orange, which is up there on my fav dnf oneshot list. dream and george know they have a higher purpose. they don’t know where they came from, or why they are seemingly the only humans in the world, or how they feel about eachother, or even where the skeletons come from, but they are sure of one thing: they have to beat a dragon.

The Dream Doll (completed) by PeppDream (Pep_Pizza)

(voodoo i guess) i’m a real big fan of fics with really out there or unique concepts, so naturally this one makes the cut! i really liked it, it’s really sweet and made me think a lot about what matters to me in the world. george finds a strange doll in an antique shop, and would really like to just stuff it in a drawer and forget about it. sadly (?), the doll has other plans.

last updated February 6th, 2021

#dnf #dreamnotfound #dream not found #dreamnotfound fic #dreamnotfound fanfic #dreamnotfound fanfiction #dnf fic #dnf fanfic #dnf fanfiction #dnf fic rec #dreamnotfound fanfiction recommendations #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #i’m ok i swear #i read too much fanfiction #i should probably go to bed

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baubuttercup · 3 years

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Caught Red Handed /Spencer Reid

Summary: Reader and Spencer went from enemies to lovers and can barely keep their hands to themselves. What happens when their co-workers don’t know about their new agreement.

Spencer x Reader

Warning: Fluff, Mentions of Sexual Activities, Sexual Activities��

A/N: I haven’t fully edited it but hope you enjoy it :)

As the sun beamed through my window i slowly shifted my weight shielding my face from the bright light. I turn to the other side of the bed where i am met with a sleeping Spencer who has his arms currently entangled around me. I take in the scenery for a moment not wanting this to end until two loud beeps echoed in the room coming from the nightstand. I peer over and check the time that read 7am "Spence, Spencer, Re-i-i-d wake up" he began to grown tightening the grip around my waist "No, its too early" I chuckle knowing that we are both extremely tired from last nights antics, and with that all the memories start flushing back. You see Spencer and I have been working together for the past two years at the BAU and during those two years we mainly had a hateful relationship, both finding each other annoying and overbearing...that was until three months ago after a night out at the bar where we found a new form of friendship, if you know what i mean. We aren't per-say together but we do have a bond which makes us inseparable, which is also hard to hide as work from our coworker who lets just say don't know about our little arrangement. I begin once again to nudge Spencer in an attempt to wake him up "Spencer Reid get your butt up so we aren't late for work" He rolled his eyes at me chuckling "How about we both call in sick today and we do something else much more eventful" He begins to leave wet soft kisses down my neck, before i found myself releasing a moan "Agh- No Reid, stop, come on we have to get ready, people will start to get suspicious" he groans and releases his grip "Fine, but that’s not any fun" I take his face in my palm bringing my lips closer to his. We are currently just inches apart from each other "If you get through the whole day without seeming like it's the end of the world, i'll give you a reward tonight" he kissed my lips passionately in agreement before getting up to get ready. -- The one thing i did hate about work was that me and Spencer had to continue this hateful charade so our coworkers didn't get suspicious. We both enter pretending to in an argument "What are you two going on about now" Morgan came up to us as we both got settled in our seats. "Reid once again thinks he is the smartest person on earth" Spence placed his satchel down on his desk before looking at me straight in the eyes "Technically i do have an eidetic memory, an I.Q of 187 and can read 20′000 words per minute, so yes i am a genius" i don't know why that did something to me but it did, all i wanted to do was pull him to the storage closet in that moment, but i needed to contain myself. "I'm sorry" i look at him with pure eyes "for what?" , "your existence" I turn back to my computer opening the files i needed to get done today "When are you two just going to confess your love for each other and get that sexual frustration out. We are getting a little tired of this" Me and Spencer shot a look at each other before turning to Morgan "Sorry to break it to you Morgan but i like men not little boys who watch Dr Who" Spencer whipped his head back to me in awe at what i just said. I was hoping he knew i was just trying to deflect. "Morgan, i'm a nice guy, i don't date stuck up spoiled girls who have been on millions of date yet can't keep a boyfriend" I was a little thrown back by the comment but reassured myself that its all an act. "well at least i can get a date, let me ask you this Reid, are you still a virgin cause i don't think i could ever imagine you actually having sex with someone, how terrible it would be for them" At that moment i knew i struck a nerve and knew i would get punished for that, the whole idea of it turned me on. I had to contain myself at work so i quickly brushed those thoughts away, which was incredibly hard to do "Wow you guys need therapy or a punching bag" with that Derek walked out heading towards his office. -- For the rest of the day i could see Spencer constantly stare at me, and i knew exactly what was on his mind. Just as i was about to finish up my paper work i got a text from Spencer

Reid: Meet me in supply closed in the hallway I look up to see if Reid was at his desk but he was not

Y/N: why, whats up?

Reid: come now!

I close the file sitting on my desk and begin to head towards the hallway. I check my surroundings hoping nobody is there to witness me randomly going into a supply closet. All of a sudden i was dragged in and pushed up against the door. "So I'm a virgin, little boy who can't satisfy a woman" i chuckle at his remark feeling his hand slowly go up my thigh "And i'm a stuck up spoiled girl who can't keep a boyfriend" With that Reid smashed his lips on mine passionately as we began to make-out, His hand rose up my thigh gently caressing in whilst the other was around my neck pushing my face closer to his. He parts his lips from mine as i groan at the lack of contact but then am met with the once again on my neck. I groan at the euphoric feeling before getting startled by banging on the door. Reid Covers my mouth quickly not letting another moan fall off my tongue. "Reid are you in there?" Reid looks straight at me mouthing to stay quiet. He slowly opens the door revealing a confused Morgan "Hey, whats up? Reid tries to calm himself down from the events that just took place "Reid, why are you in the supply closet", I mentally face palm hoping he is able to come up with a sufficient excuse "Y/N was annoying me so i needed to go somewhere quiet" I could hear the awkward silence "Ok-kay, um, but if you see Y/N can you tell her to forward me the briefing file from the case we had in Montana "U-m-m i mean you will probably see her before me you know but yeah sure if i see her which is not gonna happen cause i'm in the supply closet hiding from her"Reid continues to rambles making me nudge him "Okay, i'm gonna let you be Reid, probably stay off the coffee today" Reid signs "Noted" The door shuts revealing me once again. Spencer went in for a kiss. I put my hands out in front of me pushing his chest away "Uh Uh the moment has left pretty boy, i'm going to go back to my desk and doing my work so nothing else suspicious happens. Spencer tries to argue before i peck him on the lips walking out"

"BUSTED" as i open the door i am met with pure fear. Garcia and Morgan are standing right in front of the door smirking at both Reid and i. "So how long has this been going on" i look at Reid for help "Um i don't know what you are talking about Y/N just randomly came in here while i was working an-" realising we have been cause, i mentally gave up and didn't want Reid to embarrass himself any longer "three months" i said casually looking at the three of them staring at me "Come on babe, i wanna get home to finish what we started" They all look at me in disbelief at what i just said before Reid grabbed my hand as we walked back to our desks. We heard a faint murmur come from Garcias voice "You owe me $50 chocolate thunder". I giggle happy that i don't have to pretend to hate the love of my life anymore.

#mgg #mathew gray gubler #spencer reid #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer x reader #spencer reid comfort #mgg x reader #mgg x y/n #criminal minds #criminalmindscontent #criminal minds reid #criminal minds fanfic #moreid #mgg wallpaper #baby reid

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theholycakehole · 3 years

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Impulsive Decisions || Dream x Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Pairing: Dream x GN! Reader

Warnings: None! Well its my first Dream fic and it hasn’t really been edited so maybe that should be a warning lol but mostly just fluff :) Also use of irl names, idk how Dream feels about that so please let me know if I should change it! :)

A/N: Heyyyy... Long time so see! Um... so here’s a dream fic! I am done my first year of uni now so if yall wanna start up some requests I can try and do that again? Probably will mostly be along the lines of the Dream SMP or maybe even other streamers since that’s what I’ve been interested in lately. My requests have never really closed, I’ve just been inactive, but I’ll try to start writing again!

It was a long night of shifting between games with friends and discord conversations. I combed my hair back as my eyes grew tired as the screen shifted to a victory for the imposters. I sighed leaning back in my chair seconds before I got the last kill of the game, earning Karl and me the win.

“Wow…” Rae spoke up as everyone began to unmute.

“S/N??” Sykkuno piped up from his side of the call. I let out a little tired laugh as I returned to the main lobby.

“I think that was LG for me guys,” I spoke out hearing a few pleas against it. “Sorry, I’ve been streaming for like…” I trailed off checking the time, 12:30, “6 hours now? I’m ready for bed, honestly.”

“I should probably do the same,” Dream spoke up, him being in the same timezone as me.

“You guys really should leave the east coast, PST is where it’s at.” Corpse mumbled as I opened back up my stream chat.

“I know, I know, but I can’t get myself to leave my hometown.” I laughed out as I skimmed over my chat reading the goodnight wishes and the thanks for streaming messages.

“Well, I live on the east coast and I’m fine to stay up.” Karl joked as I let out a yawn.

“Does anyone have any fills?” Toast asked. “If not we might have to end it here.”

“Toast aren’t you in the same time zone as me right now?” I asked out. “Go to bed.”

“I don’t need sleep, S/N.” He commented back.

“Ok fair.” I chuckled as my little character ran around the lobby before going to the computer and messing around with the skins and hats.

“Sorry guys, I think all my fills are done for the night.” Corpse explained to the lobby.

“Its no worries we can always play another time!” Rae reassured everyone. “Well, goodnight everyone!”

“Goodnight!” Everyone chimed before signing out of the call.

I muted myself and ended my stream, forgetting to leave the call. I thanked the donos and read chat, making tired comments. I answered a few questions I managed to catch in the chat before ending the stream. As I was about to leave discord I saw that Dream’s little icon was still in the call with me.

“Lurking much?” I joked as I unmuted my mic.

“I thought you were going to bed?” He remarked with a small laugh.

“Eventually, I just couldn’t use my brain anymore after that last game.”

“I don’t blame you, you played well, y/n.” Using my real name rather than my stream name clarified that he wasn’t streaming either. “If you’re not too tired, we can stay on the call if you want?”

“I’m down, honestly, I’m just winding down before bed.” I mentioned as I checked my phone, opening a few social media apps to catch up on what I missed since starting my stream.

“So, y/n when do you plan on visiting? Sap and I are still waiting for you to come down.” He questioned, causing me to look up from my phone, closing it before setting the device back down on my desk. His camera obviously was not on but I found my attention on his discord profile picture.

“Soon, Clay.” I laughed leaning back in my chair and tucking my legs up to my chest.

“You said that last time.” He laughed a little more tired this time.

“Flights can be expensive, especially so last minute.” I made an excuse as I looked over to my second monitor and found myself googling flights.

“I literally told you I’ll pay for your flight to Florida, y/n.” He teased as I hummed in response, my attention mostly on the travel website I was looking at.

“I’m a big girl Dreamwastaken, I can pay for my own flight.” I chuckled before closing the website.

“Y/n your classes are done now, you have all the time in the world, leave Canada and come visit, please?” I smiled at his question before letting out a yawn.

“Fuck it.”

“Wait really?” Clay piped up, shocked and excitement evident in his voice.

“You made a really convincing argument. When do you want me to visit?” I asked before re-opening the tab and looking at prices.

“Right now.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now.”

“Thats not happening Clay.” I laughed before finding a date and hovering over the purchase button. “How about the weekend? It gives me time to pack and get some things sorted.”

“Yes! Perfect! This is so exciting y/n!” He smiled, his voice raising a little bit which caused me to laugh. We sorted out the details and eventually booked the tickets and talked about how excited we were for me to come to Florida.

I’ve known Dream for a couple of years now, mostly through streaming with friends. Obviously, I knew of him before because of the Dream SMP and how popular it got. But through the years we have grown close, this even confused fans. Shipping was natural and happened quite frequently, which we ignored in the beginning, but as time passed feelings began to grow. We never talked about it but the flirting and the comments we’d share both on stream and off-stream just felt so right.

We were both faceless content creators, and being this close was quite strange as we have never met or let alone seen each other in person. As I packed my clothes a couple of days later I felt the nerves settle in. I shook off the panic of what if he doesn’t like me or think I’m attractive enough. But it was hard to shake.

I found myself jittery as the plane began to descend. I peered out the window looking at the ground as it grew closer and closer. The nerves grew more and more intense as I knew Dream was the closest he’s been to me since we first met. I felt myself smiling through the panic as I reached to grab my backpack under the seat in front of me.

When we finally were able to disembark the plane I quickly texted Clay that I was here and told him that I was wearing a f/c hoodie so they could find me. I tried to find the baggage claim as I followed the people who were on the same flight as me. My phone buzzed in my pocket telling me that Clay responded.

‘Sap and I just pulled in, see you soon!’

I smiled at his text message and the nerves went crazy, but a huge smile was on my face at the same time. I opened Twitter and quickly started a new tweet to show my audience that I was on, in fact, a last-minute trip. I attached a picture I snuck as I disembarked the plane and made a quick caption before posting and pocketing my phone.

My phone began to buzz from notifications as I plugged in my earbuds and played my music while I tried to locate myself through the airport. As I finally found the baggage claim I stood by one of the conveyor belts and scanned over the luggage trying to find my own. A couple of minutes passed before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned around, pulling out my earbuds to see the face of one of my streamer friends.

“Y/n?”

“Sapnap!” I smiled before pulling him in for a hug.

“Hey, how was the flight?” He asked as we pulled apart and stood waiting for my luggage.

“Long enough, I’m just excited I’m here now.” I smiled as I pocketed my phone after wrapping the wires from my earbuds around it.

“Trust me, so are we.” He smiled in return. I saw my suitcase and quickly went to grab it, Sapnap helping me as well. “Clay is in the car, we were struggling to find a parking spot so he pulled up and is waiting for us.” He informed me as he took my suitcase and helped me wheel it out. “He’s nervous.” He mentioned as we grew closer to the doors.

“Trust me, so am I. Other than people in my everyday life, you two are the first to see me in person, or even my face.” I said as I fidgetted with the strings of my hoodie.

“You’re in good hands, y/n, try not to worry.” He smiled softly at me.

We exited through the doors to see a vehicle parked up to the curb. I felt the nerves build up in my stomach as a head of ashy blonde hair exit the car door. A smile found its way onto my face as my eyes lit up. As the man walked around the car he stopped in his tracks and replicated the same, bright smile, green eyes lighting up. I stopped everything and bolted forward pulling Clay into a tight hug.

“You’re finally here.” He muttered into my h/c hair, pulling me in tighter.

“I’m finally here.” I smiled into his green sweatshirt, feeling at ease.

#dreamwastaken #dream x reader #dream mcyt #mcyt x reader #dreamwastaken x reader #mcyt #dream smp #dream x y/n #clay x reader

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sarahjkl82-blog · 3 years

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Artistic Instinct Chapter 2

Header thanks to the lovely @yespolkadotkitty

Summary: Marcus Pike and OC Anushka Pierce have been selected to work on a 5 eyes (Australia, Canada, NZ, the UK and US) intelligence team to track down art forgeries as a part of taking down an international white terrorism cell. Marcus is trying to escape his broken heart, Anushka is just trying to escape what the world expects of her.

Word count: 2,595

Warnings: Language, mention of a death and blood, small injury.

Pairing: Marcus Pike x reader (OC)

This comes with a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the lovely @yespolkadotkitty , who read, re-read, pointed out the constant flipping between tenses and gave me the confidence to try to write something!

Thank you for all the love you showed me for the first chapter. I think I’ve added everyone who wanted to be on the taglist but please let me know if I missed you!

https://sarahjkl82-blog.tumblr.com/post/645670387553828864/artistic-instinct-chapter-1 -Link to chapter 1 if you haven’t read it!

Art isn’t paint. It is love.

Philip Hicken

Chapter 2

Dear Mondays,

Go to hell.

Love,

Everyone

Headphones clasp your head with the Chemical Brothers pounding the same rhythm as your heartbeat, as you take the steps two at a time. 08:59:43. Just over fifteen seconds to get to your desk, fire up the computer, make a coffee and pretend that you have been at your desk for at least half an hour before your new job starts. Not that it’s a new job really, just a sideways shuffle for Stephens to get you out of his hair and into the hair of someone called Marcus Pike.

Push or pull. Dammit. You have an awkward relationship with doors; you’d started your first day at training with a bloody nose and a black eye having walked headfirst into what you thought should have been a push door. That was how you and Hephzi had met, giggling about how the first mission was to work out doors and their two directions. Before you could make a poor decision, however-

“I got you, honey!” Andy sweeps the door open for you.

“What the fuck would I do without you?” You place your hands on either side of Andy’s face and give him a massive kiss right on his lips.

“Is that how we’re going to greet each other on this team?” a broad, dark curly haired man questions.

“Nush- this is Agent Kiritopa Morrison. Landed less than 12 hours ago from half the world away and fresher faced than all of us put together.” Andy shakes his head as he introduces the grinning New Zealander, who holds out his bear-paw-sized hand in a greeting.

“Hah! You don’t know where this mouth has been!” You laugh nervously as your eyes nervously dart around the room.

“While I would be delighted if we all got along well, I think HR might have a heart attack if we become that close!” a rich baritone reaches across the room, making the occupants turn towards its owner. You allow your eyes to trail up the sharply tailored suit, the immaculately pressed shirt, to the half Windsor knot of his tie and the sharp line of a jaw lightly covered in a patchy scruff. Your face gives away nothing, your training paying off, as your mind catalogues his dark brown, crinkled eyes and the deep set dimple in his right cheek. “Marcus Pike, pleased to meet you.”

You accept his warm, offered hand with an eyebrow raised, “Anushka Pierce.”

Marcus desperately tries to read your face. Yes, you are definitely the woman from the ridiculously thin file that he’d been sent. Your eyebrow is cocked at the exact angle as your photo, your olive skin darker than the photo- in fact, you are even more strikingly beautiful in person and Andy was right. Walls around you that would rival any high security prison. There was a fleeting moment of seeing your warmth and a playful glow in those eyes as you greeted Andy and yet, as soon as you clocked Kiritopa or that there was anyone else in the office, it was as if you took a step back and those walls rolled up like a tinted car window.

A gentle cough brings your attention from each other back to the small office space.

“This person furiously working is Agent Harper Gleason.” Andy gestures towards a young, impeccably dressed woman, who barely raises an eyebrow at you as you pass her desk, which suits you down to the ground. “And you have already met Dian.”

The Canadian smiles broadly at you, “Thank you so much for the Monmouth Coffee recommendation- it’s so good to find a decent cup here! Borough Market truly is beautiful isn’t it? Just felt like I could eat everything there!” She gushes at you at roughly a thousand words a second as your face twitches in surprised acknowledgment of her light-speed comments.

“Sounds like my kind of place,” the Texas-via-California accent intones, his eyes looking dead at you, desperately searching for that warmth that you so freely show Andy and obviously had started to extend to Dian. Your eyes are elsewhere, scanning the room for your desk, not noticing the eyes focussing on you. “You’re over here, Agent Pierce.” Marcus gestures to a clear desk setup.

Your hands skirt over the clear top, enjoying the emptiness under your fingers. No mouldy coffee cups, PostIt notes or dubious stains. A fresh start. That is until Andy hands you a mug of steaming black coffee. You look up giving him a half smile of thanks and see him giving a nod in the direction of a semi opaque glass office to the right of your desk.

“Time for you to shine, chick. Meeting in Agent Pike’s room in two minutes.” Andy quietly said in your direction.

As you grab your coffee, some splashes up over your hand, burning you and marking that once clear table, “FUCK!” the clipped consonants ring out across the quiet office, causing a couple of raised eyebrows. Marcus, who had been holding the door of his office for people to come in for the meeting, rushes the two steps over to your desk, taking your burnt hand gently in his to examine your injury. You fly back away from his touch as if it had scalded you worse than the coffee.

“I am so sorry. I should have asked before touching you,” he apologises profusely, holding his hands up in front of his chest, “We will put a pause on the meeting until you’ve run some cold water over your hand. Your hand comes first, we can catch up on where we’re all at in five minutes.”

“I’m fine. I’ll come through now,” your eyes can’t quite meet his as a wave of bewilderment washes through you. Why the fuck did you react like that? A bit fucking dramatic for a gentle touch!

“No, I insist. Please go run your hand under the faucet, it’s looking pretty raw right now.” Marcus firmly yet kindly says to you, still trying to catch your eye to make sure that you’re okay.

Despite his heartfelt apology, you can see that he’s squirming in those beautifully tailored trousers. Obviously the embarrassment of reaching out and touching you, had started to wane but the thoughts were still running laps across his face. You could try to put his mind at rest, it was his first day after all.

“Ok, give me a minute and I’ll be through.” you acquiesce, still refusing to look up at Marcus as you walk away from your desk. On reaching the door, you try to search through your mind as to which way Andy had opened it earlier. Holding your breath, you settle on attempting to pull it open. Phew, the door opens the way you hope so no bruised foreheads to add to the burnt hand. I mean, how much more can I embarrass myself on my first day?

The bathroom, thankfully, had a sign denoting which way to open the door. Ever glad that you didn’t wear makeup thanks to your dark features, you splash cold water on your face and leave the tap running over the back of your hand. Taking some deep inhalations, you try to settle those butterflies in your tummy. Apart from seemingly endless raps on the knuckles that had landed you back in the lecture theatre, Stephens had been your only boss since leaving training and whilst you were nowhere near as close as you are with Andy, there is a dull ache in your chest as you think of him. That wonderful level of professional distance he’d always kept and yet, a paternal streak that came out when you needed it. Like when Kelly had been taken from you.

How he’d held you tight in his arms as you’d screamed into his broad chest, both of you streaked in his blood. Still unable to hug him back despite Kelly being Stephens’ nephew, you stood there rigidly with your fists tightly balled at your sides, unable to grieve that man who was never yours. How he’d wanted you to take time off and yet, you were back at your desk within four hours- red rimmed, puffy eyes being the only give away that you had lost the man that you were never officially in a relationship with only hours earlier. If you searched your thoughts hard enough, you could still feel that squeeze of Stephens’ hand upon your shoulder, as you’d sat, staring blankly at your screen, trying to let the blue lights erase your thoughts.

A soft knock at the bathroom door brings you back to the here and now. Andy doesn’t wait for an invitation to enter, his long arms sweeping across your body like a seatbelt across your torso. Stooping slightly to rest his chin on your shoulder. You rest your head against his cheek. “I’m not going to tell you that I’m worried about you and I know that you’d rather run a mile than talk but know that I’m here,” he whispers gently in your ear. “Right now though, you need to give your face a scrub, tighten those shoelaces and get yourself in there, Nush.”

✪✪✪✪✪

Marcus looks up and smiles gently, his eyes crinkling as your Docs make your presence known on the hard floor, “Hey, your burn almost looks like the state of Texas- if I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d done it to get in my good books!” he kindly jokes.

Did your mouth slightly turn up? A warmth spreads through him at the thought he might have raised a smile on your face. “Are you ready to start us off, Agent Pierce?”

With a barely audible exhale, your face instantly turns to the screen behind you, clicking straight back into field mode as if you hadn’t spent months in a classroom, “With the recent finding that at least 60% of the art currently on display and in the storage of Musée d’ Étienne Terrus, we seem to be hitting a new point in forgeries in the lesser known echelons of artists. Obviously, we are meant to be focussing our efforts on infiltrating the gang of forgers who seem to be trying to flood the market with modern masters but I can’t help but think there’s a link here too. He may be less well known but it almost feels like perhaps this was our group’s starting point.”

“Like their teething ring? This was their introduction before heading for the big boy artists,” Kiritopa stares closely at the images, “Did the ink of the signature really rub off after being touched by a glove?”

“That’s not even the half of it,” you explain, eyebrows raised, “It was found to have two signatures- one from Terrus and one from someone called J. Armengol. Another picture showed a roof upon a chateau that wasn’t renovated until thirty five years after his death and many of the watercolours were painted on paper with a weft so tightly woven that it wasn’t commonly available until after World War Two even though Terrus died in 1922.”

“The first sign we had of this group was when my DC team intercepted the Modigliani that was about to be sold at Sotheby’s in New York. The failings seem to be similar albeit a little less hard to see with the naked eye now,” Marcus adds as he scratches his jaw, then re-crosses his arms across his elegantly suited chest. “We found traces of phthalocyanine blue under an infrared microscope. Wasn’t allowed any coffee that day as we had to ensure really steady hands. My headache was immense!”

Your eyes narrow at Marcus as you search his face for answers. Not with any malice but rather a confusion at his openness. Why would he share such random facts? Wasn’t he worried about mixing his personal feelings with work? His eyes catch yours and with a barely noticeable nod of his head, he urges you to continue with your findings.

“Exactly, but I don’t think that was their initial entry into the scene. You don’t go straight into modern masters, you test the waters with lesser knowns where their catalogue is more questionable and easier to exaggerate. Whilst Terrus was a huge influence to Matisse and is generally seen as one of the predecessors of Fauvism, he is unknown enough that it is easy to “find” more works, stashed in an attic. His works are not out of the price range of smaller art collectors with pieces going for roughly £6000 so, it is- ”

“So you teethe on these lesser known commodities before heading into the hotter pieces with larger price tags.” Harper speaks up. “And it’s the perfect way to fund extremist activities as it’s virtually untraceable once, if you ever reach the forgers. There’s rarely a path further forward but I’ve been working on trying to tie up links between some major known groups and their members as forgery isn’t a simple route for hiding or creating more money.”

Dian, who’s been sitting back in her chair watching all the faces of her colleagues as they batted their ideas back and forth, suddenly sits up and cocks her head, “There’s something in the fact that they’ve chosen artists from the first half of the twentieth century. Fifty years with two World Wars. I wonder if we’re looking at a group operating with ideals based on an extremely warped worldview that was prevalent at the time.”

You and Marcus speak at the same time, in a perfect chorus, “But Modigliani and Chagall were both Jewish!”

“Hah! Great minds!” Marcus grins at you, his perfectly straight teeth on full display. “I think you’re onto something there, Agent Youngerson, but we need to dig a bit more. Perhaps, you can work alongside Agent Gleason to see if we can find those links. Agent Morrison, I’d like you to collate lists of all the known pieces by the artists, who have recently had forgeries intercepted. Please also tap into your agencies from home and see if they have any other information that will benefit us here.”

Your eyes dance up and down the table. And me? What is my role? Where do I fit in? You stare at Andy’s head in the vain hope he’d look up from his note taking and give you an idea of where you fit in the grand scheme of this investigation. Oh why won’t he look up? FOR FUCKS-SAKE, ANDY!

“My French is enough to get by, but I hear you are fluent, Agent Pierce?” You stop staring at Andy and snap your head in the direction of Marcus, who you swear is trying to read the inner depths of your soul through his eyes.

A lump forms in your throat. Goosebumps prickle your skin. Dread runs through your veins.

Please don’t ask me to go back there. Please don’t make me go back there.

“I’m meant to have a meeting with Interpol in Lyon tomorrow regarding questionable pieces by Soutine that were discovered in a warehouse bust thanks to a tip off.” Marcus continues and although he is sitting three chairs away from you, his voice feels like it’s coming from another room. “Would you join me - I feel your knowledge of French and keen eye for recent forgeries would really help? There’s a flight with seats still available for six thirty tonight at Stansted, Obviously, it’s last minute and I understand if you have other commitments but perhaps I can pick you u-”

“I’ll meet you at Check-In,” you interrupt as the wave of nausea rises in your belly.

Taglist: @astroboots @silverwolf319 @lunaserenade @danniburgh @leonieb @mrsparknuts @mouthymandalorian @disgruntledspacedad @the-ginger-hedge-witch @lv7867 @songsformonkeys

#marcus pike x reader #marcus pike #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #josé pedro balmaceda pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader

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hexalene · 3 years

Text

how to truly annihilate data from your flash/external drives for both windows and mac from someone who also glazes over and zones out of those jargon-laden tech bro tutorials trying to maximize your desperation for ad revenue by breaking every single step into a separate article with more jargon and more links and more jargon and more li-

So there you are, hand CLENCHED around your brand new 32GB flash drive from the discount bin left over from the back to school blitz at Walmart. 32GB of POSSIBILITY.

Unfortunately, after a few months or years of packing the damn thing with weird shit, like, idk, furry porn and weird candid shots of Gritty, idk I’m not here to judge your life, you clear out the damn thing, empty....but not.

Those 32GB of possibility now struggle to accommodate a PITIFUL 800MB of deep investigative research into the origins of the Florida Skunk Ape. What has happened? How could your memory have been eaten away like this?

So it turns out your flash drive will hold on to as much of the data you put onto it even AFTER you’ve dragged the files to the recycle bin or the trash.

This sort of news can be a blessing or a curse. For the blessed, yes! If you’ve deleted something by accident, YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO GET IT BACK. But that’s not this tutorial.

If You Gargle Cock For The Google PC Master Race:

>Plug in the flashdrive >Go to “Start” >Go to “This PC” >Go to “Devices and Drives” >Right click your flash drive >Click “Format” >Careful now boys, it can get scary here: >Okay, so now you’ve got some spicy options. >In “Capacity” This should show approximately whatever the drive’s original capacity was, maybe a little less. Leave this alone. >We’ll come back to “File System“ ignore for now >Skip to “Allocation Unit Size” and make sure it’s on the default setting, whatever that is. >For “Volume Label” this is just the name of your drive. Call it whatever you want. It’s the thing you can rename whenever, so it literally doesn’t matter. >Now all that’s left is “File System” and “Quick Format”

File System For Basic Bitches:

>All memes aside, you can end up with a few or a lot of options. I’m sure there’s a proper answer for this, but the options you MOST LIKELY need to worry about are “NTFS” and “ExFAT”. If you’re needing more than that, that’s way out of my paygrade. > “NTFS” is your default, 100% safe for windows option. Can’t go wrong, especially if this drive has only ever been used with Windows. >HOWEVER: >If you need to switch between Windows and Mac for whatever reason, you’ll want to pick “ExFAT” >”ExFAT” is the option for compatibility across both systems.

Format Options Making Your Files Unrecoverable Even With The Patriot Act:

>I’m being funny, but this IS actually, kinda, for real, what you’re dealing with, so READ CAREFULLY. >The default is for “Quick Format” to be UNchecked >UNchecked will unleash holy nuclear hellfire upon your drive, burning away your sins and leaving only a pure, newborn flash drive behind. >THIS CAN TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK IT SHOULD. If you need this drive quickly, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS OPTION. >This will annihilate all the data on the drive. The data will be UNRECOVERABLE. >Now, memes about the CIA and weird furry shit aside, you may want to be cautious about using this. If this flash drive has ever stored anything important, like family photos or important paperwork, or anything you’d be turbo fucked to lose, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BACKUPS.

>If you’re uncertain about going full nuclear hellfire, CHECK the “Quick Format” option. >This is faster, and leaves the data somewhat recoverable on your drive. How much or how little? No idea. That Basic Bitch comment up in file systems also applies to me.

>WITH THAT NONSENSE DECIDED: >Click “Start” and then “Yes” >Now you’re cookin’ with peanut oil. Fresh, beautiful, full of data and ready to ride.

If You’re a Slut For Steve Jobs’ Forbidden Fruit:

>Plug that drive in >Go to “Applications“ >Go to “Utilities” >Go to “Disk Utility” >In the column on the left, you should see your main drive, and under “External” should be whatever you call your flashdrive. >Click it to enter the SpiceZone >Now here we have a few interesting things to note >The main section breaks down all of the info about your drive, and actually lets you see the Invisible Memory Eater haunting your device. You’ll see what data is under “Used“ versus the drive’s actual capacity. That used shit is what we’ll be clearing out. >On the top of the window, you’ll see five options: >First Aid (worth talking about, so we will) >Partition (abandon all hope ye who click thee) >Erase (THE GOOD SHIT WE CARE ABOUT) >Restore (out of my paygrade) >Unmount (fancy eject key this is fine we just don’t need it now)

File Systems For Basic Bitches: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

>Click “Erase” >”Name” is whatever your drive is called. Call it whatever you want, it can change any time, no harm no foul. >”Format” is where it gets spicy > “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” is your default, 100% safe option. Can’t go wrong, especially if this drive has only ever been used with Apple computers. >HOWEVER: >If you need to switch between Windows and Mac for whatever reason, you’ll want to pick “ExFAT” >”ExFAT” is the option for compatibility across both systems

Format Options So Tight It Meets The US Department Of Defense (DOD) 5220-22 M Standard For Fucking Over The CIA

>It sounds funny, but the title is literally an option you can pick, I’m not kidding >First off is “First Aid” >TECHNICALLY, this is not an erasure function. This is a basic system diagnostic tool that can be used on your main hard drive to find any errors or corrupted files. It can do the same for a flash drive, which in my experience often results in freeing up some of that precious precious data without the commitment of a full wipe. If you’re nervous about nuking the drive, this is a safe place to start. >If all you want is a quick and easy wipe of the drive, ignore “Security Options” and hit “Erase” >Now for the good shit: “Security Options” >Click this bad boy. The window that drops down will be a slider with four options. “Fastest -> Most Secure” The middle two don’t have names. >”Fastest” is the default option. This is the equivalent to Window’s “Quick Format” which clears your drive, but like, leaves a potential breadcrumb trail back to your embarrassing One-Direction-During-The-Purge fanfic, so be warned. The second and third options are escalations of erasure, each taking a little longer, since it’s re-writing the data more and more each time. >”Most Secure” is your CLEANSING NUCLEAR HELLFIRE option with the hilarious note about the DOD. >THIS CAN TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK IT SHOULD. If you need this drive quickly, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS OPTION. >This will annihilate all the data on the drive. The data will be UNRECOVERABLE. >Now, memes aside, you may want to be cautious about using this. If this flash drive has ever stored anything important, like family photos or important paperwork, or anything you’d be turbo fucked to lose, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BACKUPS. >HAVE YOU CHOSEN? >Hit “OK” >Hit “Erase”

AND WE’RE DONE.

This last bit down here isn’t necessary for the tutorial, but I wanted to include it as a fun side trivia thing:

All this shit is the secret behind those cop shows recovering “““““deleted””””””” computer data. Remember how my joke example went from 32GB to 1GB despite the flash drive being “empty”? The Invisible Memory Eater is actually the drive’s previously held data, despite what efforts you may have put into deleting it. It’s still there, like a ghost.

This is my best understanding of what exactly is happening, and why some data is recoverable, and why some is not: Using a painting as a metaphor, let’s say this:

You have a blank white panel and you paint a picture of a cat.

Next, you take white paint and cover the cat up. The cat is still there, but now there’s no way to see it.

You paint a sunflower. And then you cover it in white paint. The cat and the sunflower are still there, and now your panel is pretty thick with paint.

You paint a house. And then you cover the panel in white paint. All three paintings are still there, and the panel is really bloated and heavy. You had two options.

1. It’s not as capable of being worked as it was previously, so you give the panel away. The next person gets the canvas and notices how thick the paint is. With an x-ray, they can see multiple paintings under the plain white layer. Now, with a special tool, they can carefully scrape off each layer of paint to see each image. The house shows up well enough, maybe a bit of a mess. The sunflower is more degraded, and the cat is unrecognizable. But now they have an idea of what the old paintings were. And that wasn’t your intention at all, that was private. But you can’t do anything about it now.

2. You decide to freshen up the panel. Maybe it won’t be as good as new, but you can work with that. You take the panel around back, and blast the damn thing with the power washer until all traces of the paint are gone. Maybe the board is a little worse for wear, not quite brand new, but the evidence of the old work is absolutely gone, forever. There’s no image left to access.

Now when you give the panel away, well, maybe someone could notice the wear and tear, maybe a hint of old paint in the nooks and crannies, but there will never be enough to bring the old paintings back to life. Or even know that there were more than one painting at all.

That’s simplifying, obviously, and doesn’t perfectly line up with the technical things that are happening, but I think it’s a decent metaphor. To line it back up to the cop show bits, they’ve basically got the x-ray and the special tools to get at the old data, and the tutorial above would be the power washer annihilating everything.

#tutorial #long post #i'll be real guys I'm posting this for me #and i'll probably be making more of them #because I have things I need to immortalize in my brain flesh and this is a good way to keep up with it #*shrug emoji?*#after i wrote the painting thing i came up with a better metaphor using tetris fml #hexaleneleadingtheblind

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the-starryknight · 3 years

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Hi you! You seem like such a nice and lovely person and the way you lift people up in this fandom is fantastic. Your recs and comments makes the fandom a brighter place 🤩 how do you have the time and energy for it? Is there anything that makes you nope out of a fic or some tropes you just don’t read? I want to be able to read more but I’m such a picky reader, do you have any tips? Have a lovely day and take care 💕

Hi anon! Thank you for coming into my ask box to say such nice things <3 I love being a part of fandom and doing what I can to be active and supportive wherever possible.

So you have a few questions here -- let me do what I can to answer them. And this got long, LOL, so under the cut it goes.

Also, these are just my opinions, and I'm no more an expert than you are yourself, anon. So if you, or anyone else has thoughts to share, I'd love to hear them!

Firstly - how do I have time and energy? Well, I know I won't always, for one. Right now, being part of fandom like this fills my creative and social batteries. I spend a lot of time on my computer as-is, so having the hubbub of fandom in the background is really comforting when I can't be sitting at a cafe or tucked up in the corner of the library.

I also find that, in the really hard times, looking for kindness brings me hope. So getting to be part of fandom and getting to spread a little bit of kindness during what has been an incredibly difficult year has given me energy and hope when I really needed it.

(Also, I am endlessly exhausted by capitalism and the state of our world, and I believe that fandom as I practice it is inherently anticapitalist & centered on building community so that uh... has also been a solace. Obv this isn't the only place I practice & engage in these values but it is important to me that it is a part of it.)

Re: being a "picky reader," you're not. Do I have things that make me nope out of a fic? Are there tags I avoid? Pet peeves that make me stop reading in the middle of something I'm otherwise enjoying? Pairings I'll never read? Formatting things that put me off? Absolutely. I don't think that makes me a picky reader, I think that makes me very normal.

Plus, when I don't have time to read as much as I do right now, I want to prioritize the things that I'm going to enjoy.

If you *want* to read more, it might be worth considering what things you want to be picky about -- what are your hard no's, those squicks and triggers you NEED to avoid? Are there short works by friends that don't contain those? Maybe try some of sitp-recs' gorgeous lists too, if you're looking for recs you can really trust!

Another piece of trying to be less choosey about your reading (and again, I don't think you need to be less choosey!) is to try to read differently. When I'm coming off a week where I have done a LOT of beta reading, my fic reading experience is very different. I find myself getting stuck on grammar in ways I wouldn't if I'd just spent ages reading for fun.

When I read a fic that I want to read that isn't necessarily something I love -- for whatever reason -- I try to read for things I do like about it to drown out the picky parts of my brain that want to try to edit.

To me, reading can be an act of community-building, because we're sharing in the same art. Sometimes my reason for reading is to connect with someone, regardless of my thoughts about their words. Talking to authors about what they've made can be a way to meet them & engage with them, and that's a big part of fandom for me, the words themselves aside.

Also, reader burnout is totally a thing! If you're struggling with reading, that could also be a part of it. Take a step back, relax, and take some pressure off of yourself. Time and space to read will come.

Anyway, that brings me to one other part of your question: comments and recs. I've said before that I think anyone can rec fics! Same goes for comments.

While I'm at it, a quick aside -- you're under no obligation to leave comments. If all you can do is reblog, or leave a kudos, or even neither, that is okay. That is okay! I know we all love comments and reblogs. I know they're important for boosting and sharing things. But it is okay to not do those things. You're not doing fandom wrong by not doing them or not being able to do them.

Also, comments with just a keysmash, or a string of emojis, or "omg i loved this" are all really lovely comments. I'm grateful for each of these I receive.

Ok, ramble aside. Here's my basic comment formula:

Something like "I really loved this story."

2-5 things I specifically liked about the fic (characterizations, a specific line, a detail I enjoyed, something else)

Some closing line: "Looking forward to the next chapter" "I'm excited to read more of what you write" "This is a special fic for me because..." "Thank you very much for sharing this piece" depending on what's relevant and what I feel

That's it! I also really love "how to praise writers and influence fics," a lovely post about commenting.

#asked and answered #anon #thanks anon <3 <3 <3

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pixie88 · 3 years

Text

The Naughty Teacher

A/N: Those who play Lovelink know Marco Bottazzi. He currently grey, I miss him so decided to do another FF continuing from the last! He makes it hard not to fall for him while he sets you up with his best friend. Let me know if you would like to be tagged or untagged!

Find my other Marco Bottazzi FF HERE on my masterlist under Lovelink - One shots. Along with my Rory Bear & Shopping Trip (Rory O’Brien), Tattoo Artist to Businessman (Blake Bailey) & Photogenic (Dominic Wright) FF.

Comments always welcome!

Word count: 1754

WARNINGS: ⚠️ NSFW & Fluffy fluff.

Disclaimer: Characters are property of Lovelink.

Pairings: Marco X MC - Naomi

Enjoy!

We have been on three more dates since our date where he cooked dinner for me. We haven't done any more than a kiss, flirt in person, and via text until last night.

He had texted me just after he'd had a shower, which turned into sexting. Now I'm sexually frustrated, but he's working today and has his mom's birthday meal tonight, which he wanted me to go with him, but I thought it was too soon after he split with Sally.

His parents probably wouldn't take our relationship seriously considering he has only just broken up with her just 3 weeks ago.

*1 New Message from Marco Bottazzi on Lovelink*

[Hey gorgeous, Are you ok? What you up to? I can't stop thinking about our sexting session. I blush each time I think about it. xx]

[Hiya, I'm great thank you. What about you? I'm enjoying my day off all cozy in bed reading a book. How is work? I was thinking about re-reading the messages actually. x]

[I'm now blushing at the thought of you re-reading those messages.....touching yourself! I'm in the middle of class texting you under the table while my students are doing a pop quiz. xx]

[Touching myself wishing it was you! Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this considering you are at school. Naughty teacher! Maybe you could pop by after your Mom's birthday meal tonight? x]

[GOD! I agree, as currently, I can't get up from my desk without displaying the situation in my pants right now. I would love to but I have some papers to grade. What about tomorrow night? xx]

[Opps! haha. Look forward to it! x]

[Slowly going thank god. Lunch in 35 minutes. Sort out the details later. I can't wait either xx]

This gives me an idea.

~*~*~*~

40 minutes later, my knuckles knock on the cold wooden door, I hear movement on the other side, then the door opens before he has time to say anything I speak.

"Mr. Bottazzi, I'm here for my appointment to talk about Kyle's grades"

He looks confused, then notices Mrs. Norris who escorted me to his classroom.

"Oh yes! Sorry, I forgot that was today. Please come in," He says as moves away from the doorway to let me into the classroom. Mrs. Norris smiles and leaves us to it.

Marco closes the door I'm just about to speak and he puts his finger to his lips to shh me. We hear Mrs. Norris's heels tap along the wooden floor fading further and further away.

"Naomi, What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you"

"Why did you say you were a parent?" He asks.

"I didn't, I said I was an Aunt and Kyle's Mom sent me because she couldn't make the meeting herself"

"How did you know there was a Kyle here?" he asks.

"I saw Mrs. Norris putting in names on the computer of children who are in today I didn't give his last name. Just in case. Don't you like my resourcefulness?" I wink.

"You do know I can never bring to any work party's now!" He smirks.

"Well, at least while Mrs. Norris is here!" I wink. I turn to look around his classroom.

"So, you wanted to see me?" he asks.

I turn back to him "Yeah, How long is your lunch break?"

He looks at the clock "I have 47 minutes left" he smiles.

I walk towards the door and flip the lock. I turn back to him with my back pressed against the door.

He knows exactly what I'm thinking "Naomi, as much as I want to we can't!"

"Why?" I ask.

"This is my place of work. If we get caught I'd lose my job"

"How would anyone know? The door is locked. Unless anyone else has a key?" I smirk.

"Well, the only other person with a key is the janitor. Who is on lunch at the moment" I can see he's fighting with himself, but before I could react his lips claim mine.

His body pressed against mine, his tongue parts my lips as it dances with mine.

His hand comes under my thigh and lifts up one of my legs, his hips are pushing into mine and I can feel his hard member against my throbbing core.

His lips move to my pulse line and up to my ear "I'm going to be in so much trouble if we get caught!" he whispers.

"Maybe we should stop?" I ask.

"Too late now. I don't think I can stop!" he nips my ear lobe before his lips crash to mine as he is lifting my other thigh and I wrap my legs around him.

He carries me across the room, I have no idea where we are going until I feel him set me down. He swipes whatever is behind me, he pulls away a little "I've always wanted to do that!" he says.

I let out a small giggle.

His hand glides up my thigh under my dress until he reaches my centre and brushes against it. "Lay back!" he demands.

I do as he says, he lifts up my legs and places my feet on the desk. His hands come under my dress again, he grasps the waistband of my underwear and pulls it down until their discarded. He lays small kisses on the inside of my thigh trailing towards my core.

"You'll have to keep quiet Naomi!" I feel his breath against me before his tongue parts my folds and lap at my centre.

I bite my lip to keep myself quiet. He spreads my legs and starts to work against my clit. My hand tangles in his hair, my hips buck up, I'm finding it hard to not moan aloud. "Ohh, Marco!" I whisper.

I feel him smirk against me "That is my new favourite noise," he whispers against me.

I pull myself up, jump off the desk, and start to unbuckle his belt.

"Naomi, what are you....." he's cut off by me freeing him and wrapping my hand around the base of him. I circled my tongue around his tip, and he groans, "Fuck...baby!"

I take him in fully, run my tongue along him from the base all to the tip. I gently graze my teeth gently as I draw him out, his hand clutches my hair, and he moves me to his own rhythm.

"Naomi...that feels so.....God!" he whispers.

He begins to move his hips faster. He groans louder, he pulls me up and crashes his lips to mine. His kiss is more urgent, he lifts me up onto the desk again.

"In my bag, there's a condom," I tell him.

He picks up my bag off the floor and finds it.

He grips the foil packet between his teeth, tears it out, and rolls it over his hard member.

He kisses me again as he runs along my centre before pushing past my entrance. Filling me. I grasp his hair and moan against his lips.

"Harder" Marco's thrusts become harder, he draws out slowly until the tip is just inside me then he thrust back in faster and harder.

"Oh god! Yes!" I moan.

The desk moves with us each time he thrusts into me.

"Wow, this is a hundred times better than I could ever imagine" he whispers against my ear.

I move my lips to his jawline, his stubble is rough against my lips, I move to his neck and he catches his breath.

I love having this effect on him. He lifts my chin to kiss my lips as he pushes me to lay back onto the oak desk. He climbs onto the desk with me and speeds up his movements. His lips move to my pulse line and gently nips.

I'm close to the edge, I hold on to him a little bit tighter "Marco...YES!" I moan a little too loud as I fall over the edge.

He groans, his thrust becomes faster then I feel him hit his own peak as he moans are muffled out against my neck.

We lay like this for a few minutes to catch our breath.

He lifts up to look at me, I smile, "Do I get an A+ Mr. Bottazzi?" I ask.

He laughs, "Actually, you need to retake this test, but at another time and in a few different positions!" He winks.

"Well, I'm more than willing to do anything to get my grades up!"

He laughs again "Ok, this is getting a bit weird now!" He says as he pulls out of me and gets off the desk.

He picks up my underwear and hands it to me before he glances at the clock. "I only have 10 minutes before my next class"

"Kicking me out Mr. Bottazzi?" I ask jokingly.

"I wish you could stay but obviously that's not possible, but if the offer is still there I'd love to see you tonight?"

"I thought you had papers to grade?" I ask.

"I do! But I'd rather see you. Plus, I can grade them in my classes in the morning or at lunch"

"Like I'm going to pass up the opportunity to get an action replay of that! Without having to be quiet" I wink.

His cheeks glow red "Or holding back," he smirks.

"Mr. Bottazzi, were you holding out on me?" I ask.

He just winks.

I smile, "I better go. I'll see you tonight?"

He pulls me to him and cups my face before placing a small kiss on my lips. "Can't wait!"

I start to leave "See you later then," I say as I leave the classroom.

I'm walking home when I hear my phone.

*1 New Message from Marco Bottazzi on Lovelink*

[I can't believe we did that! Does this mean I get your actual number now? I did give you mine last week xx]

I reply in a normal text instead of through the app.

[I didn't think you had it in you Mr. Bottazzi! You surprised me! Of course, and this is it! x]

*1 New Message from Marco <3*

[You seem to bring out a side of me, I never knew I had! So, does this mean we are deleting the app? I finally have your number!! ;) xx]

[Well, Mr. Bottazzi now we are on texting territory I no longer have use for the app ;) x]

*1 New Message from Marco <3*

[Me either deleting it as we speak. Looking forward to tonight! xx]

[Deleted already. Believe me, I am too! See you later x]

@khoicesbyk

#marco bottazzi #marco smut #lovelink #ludia lovelink #ludia #smut #lovelink smut

24 notes · View notes

almost-jack · 3 years

Text

Sex, Drugs,&Space Chaos Ch. 2 (A Smutty Handsome Jack Adventure)

FInd more chapters on my AO3! https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921886/chapters/68380147

P.S. I friggen love comments, indulge me y’all

Chapter 2: A Push, a Pull, and a Twist

Rei arrived at Jack’s office promptly at 5. The room was enormous, with Jack’s desk at the far end on a raised platform in front of three massive windows overlooking a vast expanse of black space speckled with shimmering stars. Rei couldn’t help but smile to herself upon seeing the room; of course Jack would rule Hyperion from a stage.

Jack was lounging, feet up on his desk and a cigarette dangling between his fingers. A pair of unfamiliar people, clearly not Hyperion employees, were seated in front of him, drinks in hand. Jack was talking animatedly to a tall, lanky young man with slicked back hair and a cybernetic arm who was hovering at his side. This looked like less of a company meeting and more of small soiree, but Rei wasn’t complaining. Jack called out to her as she approached.

“Ah, good! Tiny cartel boss, meet the vault hunters. Vault hunters, tiny cartel boss,” he said cheerfully.

Rei decided to ignore the jab about her height and flashed him a crooked smile, relieved that he seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Is that my new title? I dig it,” she mused. Jack winked at her appreciatively.

“Have a seat. Rhys, pour our friend here a drink. What are you drinking, sweetheart?”

“Uhh whiskey neat, I guess,” she said, lowering herself into a chair. The tall man nodded and descended the steps of the platform to rummage around in Jack’s mini bar.

“This is your ace-in-the-hole, Jack? Really? She’s gonna get killed real quick down on Pandora,” growled a huge, muscular, bearded man with excessive cybernetics seated next to her. A tall, regal looking black woman dressed in a white fur lined coat leaned against his chair, eyeing Rei with equal skepticism.

“That’s why, Wilhelm, my dear, she’s not going down there to clean up that bandit filth. You are. You’re the brawn, she’s the brains. You clear the way and Rei will do the rest,” said Jack.

“You know, uh, I grew up on Pandora. I’ve held my own in more than a few fights,” Rei said with a hint of indignation in her voice. Her hand subconsciously drifted under her lab coat to the holster on her hip. She had decided not to take any chances and come armed with a pistol.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up.

“Hmm, is that so? There was nothing in your file about Pandora…”

“I’m sure you realize there’s a lot about me that’s not in Hyperion’s database. Besides, it’s not exactly something I advertise around Helios. People seem to have a lot of… misconceptions about Pandora. Thanks,” she said, taking the drink that Rhys handed her. “So what exactly is it that you want me to do for you?”

Jack grinned and took a drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out in a crystal ashtray.

“So-ho-ho much, cupcake,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s start with mining the hell out of that shithole planet Pandora. We’re going to gut it and pull out all the Eridium until it collapses in on it’s stupid little self, and you’re going to oversee it. Then you’re going to take all that sweet, sweet Eridium and figure out a way to charge me a vault key. And all those little bandits your lab buddies drugged and tortured until they became psychos? I want some of those, too. But obedient. I swear I’ll shoot them right between the friggin’ eyes if any of those little monsters so much as looks at me wrong. But that comes later.”

“And what about the moral implications of, you know, torture and destroying a planet and all that…?” asked Rei, peering at him over rim of her glass.

Jack looked at her blankly for a moment, then broke into peels of laughter.

“Really? Really? The ex-Pandoran drug lord is questioning my moral integrity? Or are you getting cold feet, here?” he said, cackling.

Rei wasn’t questioning Jack’s moral compass so much as trying to discern if he actually had one. She concluded that…well she still had no idea, not that it mattered much. Over the years Rei had learnt and re-learnt the same lesson; survival first, power second, morality…whenever it was convenient. It was how the Borderlands worked.

“So I’ll take that as permission to do whatever I need to do.”

“You’ve got a free pass, run wild! And kitten, I really can’t wait to what happens when I set you loose. All you have to do is sign-” he motioned towards Rhys, who pulled a piece of paper from a folder under his arm. “Here,” said Jack, pointing to a blank line at the bottom of the page.

She liked the sound of that…complete freedom to do whatever questionable project her heart desired was all she had ever wanted. She took a sip of her drink feeling more at ease with Jack, optimistic that this situation might actually turn out well for her. Rei picked up the contract and began to skim it.

“Don’t bother reading it, cupcake. You either sign, or I give you a ten second head start before I start shooting,” said Jack, reaching for his own drink.

“Jack, darling, are you quite sure she’s trustworthy? Wilhelm and I have already proved our merit. Don’t you feel compelled to test our new comrade?” asked the expensive looking woman.

“Aurelia, your concern is adorable, really, it is,” Jack said, flashing her a charming, well-practiced smile. “But you don’t need to concern yourself with anything other than getting paid.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, frowning.

“Speak for yourself,” grunted Wilhelm.

“So,” said Jack, pushing a pen towards Rei, “what’s it gonna be, darlin’? Are we going to be buddies, or do I need to blow your brains out?”

Rei couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Oh wow, thanks for the ultimatum. I’ll need a minute to think about that one,” she said sarcastically, picking up the pen.

“Ooh, mouthy. Very, cute, kitten,” he said, sneering down at Rei as she signed the contract. “Ok kiddos, now that you’re all acquainted, you’ve got work to do. Off you go,” said Jack, waving a hand towards the door.

Aurelia reached out and straightened Jack’s collar before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Do be careful, dear. I would hate for anything else to happen to that handsome face,” she cooed. She turned and followed Wilhelm out. Rei put her glass down and turned to leave as well.

“Ah-ah-ah. Not you, Rei. We’ve got a couple more things to discuss,” Jack said, eyeing her with a wolfish, almost hungry expression.

“Yes sir,” she said, taking a seat in Wilhelm’s recently vacated chair. She noticed that Rhys remained quietly behind Jack, watching her with a hint of concern.

“Rhysie, go get me a sandwich,” Jack said, without turning to look at him.

Rhys paused a moment, looking at Jack wonderingly, then shrugged and left.

As soon as the metal doors slid shut behind Rhys, Jack stood and rounded the desk. He perched on the edge directly in front of Rei, legs spread wide and arms folded over his puffed out chest, obviously trying to intimidate her.

“Aurelia’s got a point, kitten. How do I know you’re trustworthy?”

“Well I did just sign a binding contract under threat of death, so there’s that.”

“Is it really enough, though? Don’t think I didn’t notice that you showed up armed, today.”

“But sir, you’re always armed. Can you really blame me?”

Jack leaned in, his face less than a foot from her own.

“So what, you were going to shoot me if I scared ya? Nah. You wouldn’t dare,” he said, reaching out to cup her chin. He tilted her head up, exposing her neck to him. Rei didn’t resist, partially out of fear…but more so because something hot and dangerous was brewing deep in her stomach.

“No, sir. I wouldn’t shoot you. I don’t think that would be in my best interest,” she said softly.

“Good,” he said with a chuckle. Jack grabbed her by the lapels of her lab coat and pulled her out of her chair, forcing her to stand between his legs. He lowered his head to her neck and brushed his lips against her jaw, making her shiver slightly. Rei could have sworn he was inhaling her scent like some sort of animal.

“I like you, Rei. I don’t want to have to get rid of you. Don’t make me do that, ok?” he murmured in her ear.

“You like what I can do for you. You barely know me,” corrected Rei, putting a hand on his chest and trying to push gently away from his grasp, but Jack didn’t yield.

“Do you always get so hands-on with your employees, or am I just lucky?” she quipped sharply, pushing against his chest in earnest. Jack let go and sat back, leaning on his hands.

“Sorry pumpkin, did I misread the situation? I thought we had a fun little thing going. I’m attractive…you’re attractive…You seem kinda into me. Your little neck would fit so perfectly in my hand,” Jack extended a large hand towards her neck, but paused, letting it fall back onto the desk. He began to drum his fingers impatiently against the dark, polished wood, clearly displeased with being forced to practice some self control.

“But we can keep this strictly professional if you want,” he said, a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Hmm. Not sure, boss. First you don’t trust me, then you want to fuck me…I think you need to make up your mind,” Rei said, dropping her hand from Jack’s chest to his thigh. She slid her hand slowly up his leg, inching closer to the subtle bulge growing under his zipper.

“Since when are those two things mutually exclusive?” Jack purred, tucking her long, chestnut hair behind her ear to reveal a thick, silver cuff in her cartilage. He grinned and tugged gently on the loop of metal, leaning in so his face was inches from hers.

There was a sudden thunder of gunshots outside Jack’s door, followed by screams. Jack jerked back, looking around wildly, then reached for the intercom next to his computer, slamming his fist down on the call button.

“RHYS! What the goddamn hell was that?!” he growled.

“Jack, you better get out here…we’ve got a situation,” Rhys’ panicked voice crackled over the intercom.

“Wait here, kitten,” he said, standing and attempting to adjust himself to hide his growing erection. Rei took a step back to let him pass, snickering to herself.

“I promise this is going to be far less funny to you later,” Jack said menacingly, towering over her, nearly a foot taller.

“Sure. Go get ‘em tiger.”

Jack glared at her for a moment, then turned on his heel, sprinting across the enormous room and through the great metal doors. Rei waited a moment, then quietly followed, stopping at the doorframe to peer at the commotion outside. There, in the middle of the hallway, stood a burly man in a Hyperion guard uniform, an enormous machine gun in one hand and Rhys’ neck in the other.

Rei’s stomach sank; the shooter was one of her plugs, specifically Ian Lynch, who she had instructed to watch her back since discovering Jack’s intense interest in her. But what the hell had happened? Some of her distributers were thugs, sure, but they knew better than to get violent inside Hyperion headquarters.

Jack advanced on the man slowly, gun drawn, face twisted with rage.

“Don’t do anything stupid, asshole… That’s Hyperion property you’re screwing with.” he snarled.

“Hah! You’re not as ruthless as they say, Jackie boy, otherwise you would have just shot me already and let this twerp take a bullet to the head. You’re all talk, ain’t ya?” said the assailant.

Jack looked like he was seriously considering doing just that, gun aimed at the man’s head, but his finger was absent from the trigger.

Rei stepped out of the office, striding quickly down the hall.

“LYNCH. Drop him. Now,” she commanded, drawing her own gun from it’s holster.

“There you are, Barrett, you fucking weasel. I’ve been waiting for you,” he hissed.

“You know this guy? And Jesus fucking Christ kid, didn’t I say to wait in my office? You’re gonna get sh-“

“If it’s me you’re after, then what the fuck are you doing, Lynch?” asked Rei, cutting Jack off.

“I caught him eavesdropping, he was recording near your door” choked Rhys. Lynch gave him a hard shake.

“Shut up. Yeah, I was listening in on your little meeting. Sorry to interrupt just as you were about to let Handsome Jack bend you over his desk, bitch, but this little shit came along and blew my cover. Wasn’t gonna shoot anyone today, but he kinda gave me no choice. Little shit came at me with a stun baton.”

“So let him go and tell me what you fucking want already,” huffed Rei.

“I want the two of you,” he said, jerking his head toward Jack and Rei, “to stay the fuck away from Pandora. I don’t give a fuck what you do to your Hyperion lackeys- drug ‘em, torture ‘em, I don’t care- but you’re not getting anywhere near my people and you sure as hell aren’t taking over my planet. So I guess what I’m really saying is that I want you both dead.”

“A small time drug pusher with a hero complex. Cute,” said Rei smarmily. Jack stared at her, eyes wide with surprise.

“He’s one of yours?”

“Not my best and definitely not my brightest, but yeah. He seems to be forgetting that he agreed to sell some pretty dangerous shit to people on Helios just so I would get him off Pandora. Ease up on Rhys’ neck, or you’re gonna kill your only bargaining chip, Lynch,” Rei said, noticing Rhys squirming and struggling for breath as Lynch’s grip tightened in irritation.

“Alright, enough of this,” said Jack impatiently. He flipped on his cloaking device and vanished.

“STAY BACK! I’M FUCKING WARNING YOU, JACK!” Lynch shouted, looking around wildly. Rei took advantage of the distraction and hurled herself at Lynch, knocking both him and Rhys to the floor, just barely keeping her own footing by landing in a cat-like crouch. There was a sickening crack as an invisible force came smashing down on Lynch’s wrist, forcing him to release the gun. He howled in pain as Jack reappeared above him, kicking his gun across the hall. Jack aimed his own weapon at Lynch’s groin, a manic gleam in his eye.

“That’s better. Now let Rhysie go or I’ll shoot your fucking dick off.”

Lynch stared venomously at Jack for a moment, then loosened his grip on Rhys, allowing him to pull away and scramble to his feet.

“Good. Hand over that recording and I won’t torture you to death. I don’t really care if your little bandit friends know we’re coming for them, but I’m not ready to make that announcement just yet. I wanted it to be special,” Jack said with a mock pout.

“Why the fuck would I do that? Let’s be honest, Jack, you’re just going to kill me anyway,” spat Lynch, attempting to sit up on his elbows.

“You’re wrong,” said Rei, planting a boot on either side of his hips and crouching down so their faces were level. She placed the muzzle of her pistol gently between his eyes and leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

“I am going to kill you.” Rei pulled the trigger. The crack of gunfire resonated through the empty hall and a spray of crimson droplets spattered Rei’s face and lab coat. Lynch slumped back in a pool of his own blood and brain matter.

Jack stood motionless, mouth slightly agape, staring at Rei.

“That was…oh my god…so fuckin’ hot, I mean, I can’t even-“

“He’s wearing a wire. It’s still transmitting to somewhere…somewhere nearby,” interrupted Rhys.

He had pressed himself as flat as possible against a nearby wall, as if trying to make his lanky form disappear into the metal. He took a shaky step forward, gingerly rubbing a blossoming bruise around his neck.

“I picked it up with my Echo eye. Couldn’t figure out why that guy was lurking around Jack’s door, so I gave him a scan. Where are you going?” Rhys said, noticing Rei slowly backing away.

His Echo eye sparked to life and raked over her, his mouth falling open in surprise. The receiver for the wire was nestled in Rei’s pocket.

“Oh. Oh shit. You? Why?”

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” snarled Jack, stomping over to her so he could make the vast difference in their sizes all the more evident as he loomed over her. She looked up at him wearily, realizing the jig was up.

“I…gave it to him. I told him to tail you and try to get something… to blackmail you with… in case I didn’t like the terms of your deal,” she mumbled sheepishly.

“So why was he here now? Couldn’t you just record me yourself?” asked Jack in a low, dangerous hiss, his eyes narrowed to slits.

“I asked him to watch my back. Like I said before, it really wouldn’t be in my best interest to shoot you. But…Lynch could have easily done it and left Helios for a while, if need be.”

“You really are a fuckin’ weasel, you know that? Give me one good reason not to shoot you right now.”

“Jack, she just helped you save my life…” muttered Rhys.

“She’s also the one who almost got you killed.”

“Look, I’m not sorry for protecting myself, but I honestly didn’t mean for Lynch to do a damn thing at all unless- SHIT, OW!”

Rei cried out as he roughly grabbed both of her wrists with one large hand, hoisting her arms above her head, forcing her to drop her gun. He pulled her up until the steel toes of her boots barely brushed the floor and gently placed the barrel of his gun under her chin, tipping her head up to look at him, all the while crushing her wrists in his powerful grip.

“JACK! Knock it off! Come on, you need her, remember?” Rhys protested, loudly and firmly this time.

“Yeah, you need me,” Rei hissed.

Jack glared at her furiously as he gave her wrists a twist that made her whimper, then lowered her slowly.

“Congrats, sweetheart, that’s strike three. First you use my company to run your little drug ring, then you try to blackmail me, then you try to kill me? Looks like you just earned yourself an early ticket to Pandora. Normally I’d toss you in a holding cell and let you rot there until I need ya, but I don’t trust that you’ll be a good girl if I let you out of my sight. So you’re taking Rhysie’s place and coming with me to help take care of some business. So glad you’re not shy about murder. Hopefully you don’t have to kill anyone you know, but… I wouldn’t count on it,” he purred, his voice dripping with honey and poison as he gave her wrists another twist.

Rei shoved a knee into his groin, not hard enough to hurt him, but with enough force to serve as a warning. Much to her surprise, she felt him half hard inside his jeans. He was clearly enjoying menacing her. Rei pressed a little harder and his cock gave an interested twitch under her knee, sparking a twisted pang of lust in her stomach.

“You want a mountain of dead bandits? You got it boss. Nice rage boner, by the way,” she snickered. Jack released her and stepped back, adjusting himself once again to hide the bulge in his pants.

“Don’t push me, cupcake, I think it’s evident how much I want to break you right now. You’re on the next shuttle with me to Pandora, pack your shit and be at the departure terminal in two hours. Rhys, you keep an eye on her, I’ve got shit to do. Oh, and give me that,” he snarled, thrusting a large hand roughly into the pocket of her lab coat and rifling through it. He pulled out the receiver and a small joint, inspecting them both, then dropped the receiver and smashed it under the heel of his shoe.

“What’s this?” he said, waving the joint in Rei’s face.

“Just plain old weed. Take it, on the house. I can’t think of anyone who needs to chill the fuck out more than you, right now,” she said brazenly.

“So help me god, I am going to…” Jack mimed strangling the air in front of him.

“My point exactly.”

He made an aggravated noise in the back of his throat and stomped back down the hall, leaving Rei eyeing Rhys suspiciously while he uncomfortably shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Sorry about him. It’s really hard to calm him down when he gets like that,” Rhys said with a weary sigh.

“Nah, I would be pissed, too, if I were him. I would have kept monitoring him if I hadn’t been caught, and maybe not entirely for safety’s sake. If I have to destroy my home planet, I want to make sure I’m getting my fair share of the reward,” she said shrewdly.

“Well he shouldn’t have put his hands on you, at least. He can really do some damage if he’s not careful.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” said Rei, examining the angry red fingerprints around her wrists. “You seem to know him pretty well. What exactly are you to Jack? Personal assistant? Babysitter?”

Rhys laughed weakly. “Technically I was a middle management coder, but Jack took a special interest in me because…well, not to brag, but I’m a pretty great hacker,” he said with a hint of smugness. “So now I’m kind of…his protégé, I guess? But lately he’s been using me as an assistant because he freaking killed so many that no one wants the job anymore. He’s such a big, murderous baby sometimes.”

“Volatile psychopath is more like it.”

“Hah, yeah. You know…and don’t quote me on this because he’s pretty hard to read… but I think Jack was really disappointed about the whole blackmail thing. He seemed to really like you, kept talking about plans for his promising new “lab nerd”, and uh… something about bending you over his desk and uh…Well he was pretty excited that you weren’t a dude. And that you’re one of us,” Rhys said with a wink.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, attractive. In the 8 and up club. Grade A, Hyperion made.”

“God, you really are his protégé,” Rei said, picking up her gun and returning it to her holster.

“Hey, those are his words, not mine. You got a little something right here,” Rhys said, pointing to his cheek. Rei dragged her already bloodstained sleeve across her face, adding more crimson to it.

“Better?”

“You kinda just smeared it around…here.” Rhys wiped her cheek with the back of his hand, pausing just a moment too long before breaking contact. Rei raised an eyebrow and he blushed slightly.

“So, uh, we better get going,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

“Yep. Clearly I need a shower. Come on, Jack junior, let’s roll,” she said, taking off down the hall, Rhys hurrying after her.

#handsome jack #borderlands #borderlands 2 #fanfic #fan fiction #ao3 #ao3 writer #rhys #smut #adventure #video games #writing #rhys strongfork #handsome jack x oc #handsome jack x rhys #rhack #hyperion #sex drugs & space chaos

16 notes · View notes

ckret2 · 4 years

Note

Ok, but Alastor being an old man that doesn’t know technology being boyfriend’s with a Victorian man that taught himself how to craft lasers and code *his own damn ship computer/pocket watch phone* is so damn hilarious. Pentious tries to teach him how to use a mobile phone and he either locks himself out of the damn thing or he presses too hard on the screen and ends up skewering the damn thing with his talons.

HONESTLY. HONESTLY in the sequel to CDIH I plan on doing so much with the fact that Sir Pent is keeping up and Alastor ain’t.

Like. Like just picture. Alastor gets dragged kicking and screaming into using ~modern technology~. Once he has been dragged into using ~modern technology~, by golly, he’s going to use it to have some fun! He’s going to decide he wants to watch music videos on YouTube, which is a web site that he has heard exists. He is going to go to the URL bar. He’s going to type in “http:\\www.google.com”, he’s going to look at it thoughtfully, he’s going to squint at the two different slash keys on the keyboard, he’s going to leave the room to ask somebody which direction the slash is supposed to tilt if you are trying to go to Google Dot Com—

“you’re sure that’s the direction the slash mark is supposed to tilt SPECIFICALLY to go to GOOGLE DOT COM?” “yes, I know what I’m doing,” “no, you don’t need to come help me,” “no, I am PERFECTLY capable of going to Google Dot Com without you holding my hand, I was the king of the airwaves back before most Americans HAD radios, if I could handle the radio I can CERTAINLY handle an overpromoted typewriter, THANK you”

—and then he’s going to go back to the computer and delete the entire URL by clicking “delete” 21 separate times, he’s going to retype it as “http://www.google.com”, and then he is going to click enter.

(And please… if this is how slow and difficult it is for him to navigate to google, imagine how much time and effort someone must have spent to slowly teach him how to turn on a computer, how to open a web browser, what a web browser is for, how to highlight the address bar in order to type in a URL, what an address bar IS…)

And then he is going to click in the search bar on Google Dot Com, and he is going to type in “Hello! How do I reach You Tube?” and he is going to puzzle over the little square that says “I’m Feeling Lucky” for a moment before deciding, no, perhaps he doesn’t feel lucky today, and he’ll click on the little square that says “Google Search,” and google is going to be like,

An actual link to YouTube does not appear anywhere on the first page of results. Alastor is lost. He’s adrift at sea with no sign of shore. He will never find his way to YouTube.

He looks at the little list of tabs up top like,

and he dubiously clicks on Videos, because yes, the You-Tube he has been shown had videos, that’s kind of its thing. And the results are like,

And he very dubiously clicks on the first one.

First it plays an ad—oh, he succeeded, he found a video!—and then it plays another ad, Alastor has no ad block, the concept of “ad block” does not exist anywhere within his understanding of the universe, and then it starts playing what looks like an old black and white movie like,

Oh it’s a picture show! He found a picture show on the Internet! How wonderful! He doesn’t recognize the movie but it’s in black and white, it must have been made in his time—

And then a minute and twenty seconds into the video it FINALLY starts playing music and he’s like I DID IT I FOUND THE MUSIC VIDEOS I WAS PROMISED. He pats himself on the back, he’s great at using modern technology, he’s got this all figured out.

He’s got a little yellow pad and pencil he keeps next to the computer to jot down the “Internet addresses” of songs he likes so that he can type them into the “Internet address bar” when he wants to watch them or listen to them again later. He’s found that you have to write them down fast, even though they’re very long, because when the song ends it will move right on to the next one—just like the radio when a song ends—so if you dawdle it will vanish and you’ll never find the song again!

Guess what feature Alastor hasn’t noticed exists and doesn’t know he can turn off.

Guess what other features Alastor doesn’t know about.

Making an account so he can save videos.

Back buttons to go back to a song if he missed the URL.

The controls on a video.

If Alastor likes a song and wants to hear it twice, he clicks on the search bar and types in the whole URL one letter at a time and clicks enter to get it to re-load and play again.

And he’s got no control over this mad unhinged machine that is the YouTube algorithm system, its autoplay is like a car with a brick held down on the gas and nobody holding the steering wheel, it’s just taking Alastor wherever the fuck it wants and if it starts ducking into weird fucking videos Alastor is just going to assume that that’s how YouTube works, it’s no different from the radio, sometimes you’re scheduled for music and sometimes you’re scheduled for ads and sometimes you’re scheduled for interviews or a talk show or news or whatever.

Which means eventually if he lets this untamed shambling A.I. behemoth keep careening around wherever it wants to go, it’s going to start meandering into the niche/weird stuff. EVENTUALLY it’s going to stumble onto something off of Sir Pentious’s channel, and he’s going to open up the video sounding like a Boomer trying to sound cool, like,

youtube

(I told the link to load at 5:33 but I think it’s not going to do that on tumblr, I know you all are capable of going to 5:33 yourself because y’all are five million times more competent with computers than Alastor is, just skip to that time ok cool thanks good job)

Video opens up on Sir Pent like that and Alastor is absolutely flabbergasted that Sir Pentious is on the You Tube and then Sir Pent’s like “so I broke into another church to take a joy ride on their pipe organ, per my last video this is the song all four of my followers requested for me to play!” and he takes off like,

youtube

and Sir Pent’s trying to sound cool, ends like “Sssmasssh those like and subscribe buttons if you’d like to sssee me illegally play someone else’s pipe organ! :>” and Alastor is sitting there going I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO SMASH ANYTHING SO MUCH IN MY LIFE BUT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO THAT.

He’s so completely shocked and awed to see a video with Sir Pentious in it that he doesn’t even remember to write down the URL, which means he will never ever find the video again.

So: Sir Pent is extremely embarrassingly trying to sound Hip & Modern while playing a 22-year-old out-of-date meme song and he’s only got four followers… but like, but like, he KNOWS the Hip & Modern lingo; AND he knows how to make, edit, and upload YouTube videos and curate a YouTube channel; and he knows how to read the comments on his videos, at least minimally engage with viewers, and keep up with who’s following him…

And meanwhile Alastor doesn’t even know the comment section exists.

Sir Pentious only looks behind the times and out of date until he is compared with the alternative.

#alastor #sir pentious #hazbin hotel #headcanons #about my writing #anonymous #ask #(i opened an incognito browser for that 'how do i reach youtube' search)#(because i was embarrassed at the thought of letting google think i didn't know how to find youtube)

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crackedoutgiraffe · 4 years

Text

The Stars In Your Eyes

Part 2: Chapter 1 Part 2: Chapter 2 Part 2: Chapter 3 Part 2: Chapter 4 Part 2: Chapter 5 Part 2: Chapter 6 Part 2:Chapter 7

A/N: This chapter is short, but the next two should be longer and make you want to cry. Thank you to everyone who comments, votes, and re-blogs! Ask to be added to the taglist.

Check out the masterlist for Part 1!

Master-list

4/5/2017

“Emily,” you said through the tears, “I need your help.”

“Y/N, what’s the problem?” She turned the lights on, closed the door, and came to sit with you on the couch.

You tried your best to compose yourself, “I’ve been getting letters.” You pulled ten pieces of paper from your pocket and handed them to her.

She quickly read through a few of the letters, “why didn’t you show me these before?”

“I thought it wasn’t a big deal,” you wiped the tears from your eyes.

“I will destroy you and your child,” she read aloud, “Your husband will be lucky if he ever sees you again.”

“Please stop,” you sobbed.

She set all ten letters on the table, “how long have you been getting these?”

“Since about mid-January,” you shrugged. The tears starting to subside you placed one hand on your growing stomach and rubbed your forehead with the other.

“And they have your address?” she grabbed the most recent letter and read it again.

You nodded and grabbed one of the papers, “they were delivered to the apartment.”

“Did you tell anyone else about this?” she placed a hand on your shoulder.

“No,” you shook your head and wiped your nose, “I didn’t know who else to talk to.”

“Thank you for coming to me,” she wrapped you in a tight hug. “We have a case but when we get back we can look into this further.”

“Ok,” you continued the hug for a few minutes before letting go. You stood from the couch and made your way back to your desk.

The case was about a sixteen year-old who went missing in New York. After the briefing you and Garcia headed to her office.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked as she shut the door behind you.

“I’m fine,” you said with a sniffle. “I’m going to see Reid later today and I’m a little scared.”

She sat down in her chair and booted up all of her computer screens, “why?”

“I haven’t seen him since he got hurt,” you could feel the tears from earlier returning to your eyes. “I don’t want to be that wife. Plus, I look like a mess today.”

“You’re the love of his life,” she gave you that look that only Garcia can. “He wouldn’t think less of you if you went in covered in dirt.”

You let out a small laugh and fiddled with your thumbs, “I miss him,” you started to cry again. The tears flowed out of your eyes ruthlessly.

“I know,” she pulled your chair closer to her and embraced you in one of her world famous Garcia hugs. “Rossi went to visit him earlier today. He said he was in much better shape.”

“That’s good,” you sobbed. Garcia held you for about five minutes before letting go. The two of you started to get information on the other teenagers who went missing.

After about two hours, you said goodbye and started for the prison. It was similar to the last time you saw him. He rushed to you when he entered the room.

“I missed you so much,” he cooed when he sat down.

You smiled and held back even more tears, “how are you feeling?”

“I’m better,” he didn’t have any bruises on his face anymore. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m ok,” you fiddled with the ring on your finger.

He looked around the room a bit before leaning closer to you, “how far along are you?”

“About 10 weeks,” you whispered.

“Is there a case right now?” he asked in his hushed voice.

You nodded, “a sixteen year-old went missing in New York.”

“They called you in for that?” he furrowed his brow and leaned back a bit.

“They believe it’s connected to a few other kidnappings in the city.”

“Oh,” he nodded.

“I have something for you,” you rummaged around in your pockets before pulling out a small piece of paper. “It’s another ultrasound.”

He grabbed the paper from you and stared at it for a few moments, “I’m really sorry I can’t be there for you.”

“Spence,” you sighed, “I’m sorry I can’t be here for you more often.”

He looked back at you and smiled, “you’re not in any pain are you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” you giggled at his sentiments. “Look on the back,” you pointed to the picture and waited for him to turn it over. You watch his face as he read the words written on the back.

“100 things you love about me,” his voice broke.

“Number 17 is my favorite,” a single tear rolled down your cheek.

His eyes scanned the list and lit up when he saw it, “the way your heart has so much love and compassion that it might burst.”

The two of you talked for a while before you were forced to leave. When you got back to the office Garcia had dug up much more information on the other victims. You worked into the night and slept on the couch in the conference room.

By Saturday, the team had made it back to Quantico safely and had captured the unsub. Emily called you into her office and the two of you returned to the couch.

“I need you to tell me everything you know,” she kept her voice calm and steady.

You explained your theories and all the information you had profiled from the letters, it wasn’t much.

“Is it if I bring JJ in on this?”

“Of course,” you flashed her a quick smile. Emily left the room and returned a few moments later followed by JJ.

“Y/N has been receiving some incredibly threatening letters. They have all of her personal information.” She did her best to explain with the little information you could give her.

“All of her personal information?” JJ furrowed her brow.

You nodded and grabbed a few of the letters, “they have my address, social security number, email password, phone number, and my credit card information.”

“I have an idea of what we can do but you’re going to hate it,” she sat down next to you while Emilly sat on the table.

JJ explained what she thought was best. It was so absurd that you zoned out halfway through. Prentiss continued to explain what this plan would entail and how it would work, but it would change your life so drastically that you didn’t even want to consider it.

4/12/17

The prison was put on lockdown which meant that you couldn’t visit Reid for a while. Prentiss had told Tara that she was granted special privileges to go into the prison as Reid’s doctor. When she came back that night she updated you on Reid’s condition. He was sleep deprived and constructing false memories. She told you that she was going back the next day to try and get a few more answers. She ended up learning that the person responsible for the murder of Nadie Ramos was a woman. The team tried to refute her claims, but Tara was firm with her opinion and you agreed with her. Prentiss had dismissed the lot of you for the night. When you went home you found out that Diana had fired her nurse and hired a new one. You were so tired that you didn’t question it.

Taglist:

@la-vie-en-amour1 @vixengustin88

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #spencer #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction #Matthew Gray Gubler #mgg

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

CSI: Rogers and Barnes Ch11- When You Gotta Blow...

Part 1

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: It’s the day after their date and Steve is brought crashing down to Earth when Fury gives him some information about the case that shocks him to the core. Meanwhile, poor Bucky is left attempting to stop Katie from murdering Wanda, which is a lot harder than it looks.

Oh, and Captain Raymond Holt’s in this one too…

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words.

Episode Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Song for Episode: Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel

A/N: This is another LONG chapter guys, but there’s a LOT going down, and we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to see a Raymond Holt Vs Madeleine Wuntch showdown. I can’t claim credit for any of the wonderful insults that they trade, I just took them from the best eps of 99 and mashed them together for utter comedy purposes.

We’ve split into 2 parts for you to read either all at once or separately, however you wish.

As always we live for re-blogs and comments

Series Master List // Main Masterlist

I said I love you, and that’s forever, and this I promise from the heart. I could not love you, any better, I love you just the way you are.

"You look tired. Have you seen those bags under your eyes?" Steve asked Bucky from his spot in the passenger seat. Seeing as both his and Katie’s cars were at the station as they had taken the subway to go on their first date the previous evening, Bucky was driving them in for a change.

"Yes, I have. Thanks for reminding me, punk." Bucky groaned, shooting a glare at Steve as Katie snorted from the back seat. Steve had at first suggested riding in the back with Katie, and whilst he had only been joking at first, he had then realised it would be a great way to spend every second he could before arriving at work clinging to his girl. Bucky, however, had fully refused stating he wasn't a fucking cab driver.

"You should stay in tonight. You've been out for what? Four? Five nights in a row?” Steve chastised.

"Just two" Bucky protested "I remind you I stayed in on Sunday listening to Carrie Bradshaw here." he added, jerking his head toward Katie in the backseat.

"Eat your plums and shut up, Buck. Your system needs vitamin C" Katie deadpanned, lifting her head from her phone. She leaned forward to squeeze Steve's left shoulder "Don't worry, Stevie. You're my Mr. Big." she said in an over the top soppy voice, smiling flirtatiously at him before turning to Bucky and giving him a playful stare "Pun intended." she added.

"Happy to comply, sweetheart." Steve said as he squeezed her hand which was still on his shoulder.

"You two are gross." Bucky scoffed, shaking his head.

"What can I say, he looks yummy in that uniform." Katie said, licking her lips.

Steve couldn't help but smile remembering the look in Katie's eyes as he had stepped out of the closet of his bedroom dressed in his Captain uniform as he was due to report to Fury that morning. He only wore it on special occasions and when being summoned to HQ or Police Plaza, and he didn't quite feel comfortable in it as it tended to attract a lot of attention but this morning he had developed a sudden fondness for it. Of course, his sudden found affection for said uniform had absolutely nothing to do with the fact Katie had been clearly very appreciative of it as she had run her hands over his tight shirt... or the sparkle in her eyes along with the sight of her teeth grazing her lower lip while making sure his tie was well tied and straightened….or the fact that they had had to break a very heated kiss before things got a little more serious which would have resulted in them both being late for work…

Nope, nothing to do with any of that, at all.

With a grin Steve turned to look at his girl, and flashed her a wink "Thanks, doll." he said, pecking her lips.

"Anytime." Katie said grinning at him with loving eyes.

"Hello, I'm here. And I feel ignored." Bucky scoffed.

"Aww. Don't be like that, jerk." Steve said ruffling his best friend's hair.

Bucky groaned again as he slapped Steve's hand off his head. "Back off, punk."

"You're particularly grumpy this morning, Barnes." Katie noted and she smiled locking eyes with Steve before turning to Bucky and adding "Maybe you need to get an autopsy done."

There was silence for a couple of seconds before Steve and Katie burst into laughter seeing the expression of utter exasperation on Bucky's face at the mention of Sam.

"You two are hilarious." he scoffed.

"Yeah. Do Sam’s gloves tickle? That why you're so prickly?" Steve quipped.

At that Bucky couldn't help but laugh with them. He supposed he had it coming. He had been bad enough with them, even before they got together, constantly teasing the pair of them. And, to tell the truth, he was secretly enjoying it. He liked the good natured sniping and banter. The three of them had struck up a good friendship.

"All right, doll face. This is your stop." Bucky announced as he pulled over at the curb a couple of blocks from the station.

"See you in a minute, boys." she said grabbing her purse and leaning forward to kiss Steve softly before opening the door and stepping outside.

"See you, doll." Steve whispered.

Both of them watched her walk away mingling with the people that crowded Brooklyn's sidewalks that morning. Bucky glanced at Steve and saw his head tilt to one side.

"Are you checking your girl's ass, Punk?" Bucky asked Steve as he moved the car again.

"Are you?" Steve asked back frowning at him.

Bucky just laughed and shook his head. "Jerk."

With that Bucky swung the car into the entrance of the parking lot and into a spare space a few down from Katie’s BMW. Together they headed up to the elevator and Steve selected their floor.

“Ready for another day of pretending you don’t wanna jump Stark’s bones every 5 minutes?” Bucky looked at Steve who gave a roll of his eyes, but didn’t respond.

The doors pinged open and Clint's wolf whistle could be heard all through the main office as Steve and Bucky made their entrance.

"Whoa Rogers. You look great in that uniform. Has Stark seen you yet?" Natasha asked Steve.

Bucky scoffed at Natasha's teasing. She wouldn't let the opportunity pass to pry some information out of anyone or anything, and she was determined to discover if Steve and Katie were a thing or not. If she didn't know already, which Bucky suspected, despite all his efforts to not to give in to her constant questionings and traps.

"Why would Stark have seen me?" Steve replied not taking the bait, but blushing visibly.

"You tell me, Rogers." she replied, slurring her words

Damned, Romanoff. Bucky cursed in his mind as Wanda's expression changed from utter adoration to boiling anger at Natasha's mention of Katie. But as quick as it had soured, it reverted back and she began strutting towards Steve.

"Wait. Your tie isn't straight." she said. Steve frowned and looked down at his tie to check it was impeccably arranged, just as Katie had left it an hour prior.

Don't bother, punk. It's perfectly straight, just Wanda being a hoe. Bucky thought to himself.

"My ears burning? What exactly should I have seen?” Katie asked as she entered the main office, startling everyone. Especially Steve who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"You look like you're being strangled, Rogers" Natasha deadpanned.

Uh oh Bucky thought when he heard Katie. But he was surprised, as he observed her take her jacket off and switch her computer on. She was playing it pretty cool and doing particularly well in hiding her rage against Wanda when he was sure she was plotting a hundred different ways to kill her and dispose of her body. And yet she was still able to fake surprise when her eyes set on Steve, admiring him in his uniform.

"Looking good, Captain. Meeting someone important, are we?" Katie said smiling at him.

Bucky had to look away, the woman deserved a damned Oscar. She knew exactly where he was going.

"Thanks." Steve smiled swiftly, "And yes, I'm meeting Fury today so..." he cleared his throat before continuing "... no briefing this morning. Just keep on working on what you were doing and we'll catch up later in the day or tomorrow depending on how my meeting goes."

They all nodded in agreement and started organizing their own work as Steve went into his office to check his mail before leaving for HQ. As he emerged from his office 20 minutes or so later, he was met with Wanda who immediately proceeded to brush his shoulder pads to make sure his jacket was neat and tidy.

"It's ok Wanda, thanks." he said stopping her as cordially as possible so as not to spike her. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Katie’s expression, and his heart sank. She was upset, he could tell, even though she was doing her best to hide it as her eyes hastily diverted away from him and she went back to examining something on her computer.

"Do you remember where your car is, Rogers?" Natasha asked as Steve moved away from Wanda and passed by the detective’s desk.

"What?" Steve stopped and asked, not understanding.

"I mean, it was already in the parking lot when I arrived this morning. Curiously it wasn't the only one." she explained with a side smile, her eyes flicking to Katie.

"The early bird catches the worm, Cap." Clint added.

Steve looked at his watch while he shook his head and sighed, ignoring them, although if the burning in his cheeks was anything to go by he was redder than a glass of fucking tomato juice.

"I'm leaving or I'll be late. Barnes, you're in charge!" he shouted for everyone to hear before he crossed the doors of the main office, heading into the elevator without a backwards glance.

Bucky watched him go before he turned back to his emails as Clint and Natasha struck up some conversation about something on TV. Katie, at her desk opposite him, was stoic and still focussed on her screen although he could see her eyes weren’t moving. She wasn’t reading anything, simply pretending. Bucky could see. But before he could say anything she stood up and started to grab some files, sorting them into a pile. Then, her phone went and she reached for it absentmindedly, glancing down at it and Bucky saw the smile spread across her face.

And he wasn’t the only one…

"Storm?" Nat asked Katie who continued to grin her phone's screen while typing a text back.

"No" she replied, not lifting her eyes from the phone.

"Jensen?" Wanda insisted but Katie just blanked her as she put the phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Ok. Who moved Dot out of her spot?" Bucky asked in an attempt to divert attention towards him.

Not that he really needed to, Katie was behaving impeccably, too much so if you asked him, and simply picked up the pile she had organised on her desk and announced she would be in the incident room if anyone needed her.

"Good try, Barnes" Clint said looking at Dot who obviously was in the same spot she had always been.

******

Steve maintained his indifferent Captain appearance until the doors to the elevator shut, at which point he let out a loud groan. That was all he needed, Katie to walk in at the exact moment Wanda was straightening his tie, especially after what they had talked about on their date. He wasn't stupid, he knew Wanda was overstepping the mark. There was nothing wrong with his tie and he didn't appreciate Wanda invading his space that way. But the worst thing had been the look on Katie's face. He would have been happier to see anger or jealousy but the look of pure upset, almost resignation she had been sporting had almost crippled him, and he knew it was because she was powerless to stop it for fear of blowing their cover. Deciding to give her a little bit of comfort, reassurance maybe, he pulled out his phone and sent her a simple message: "Love you, Doll.", before he stuck his phone back in the inside pocket of his jacket, his foot tapping on the floor as he continued his previous train of thought. Steve knew Wanda had gone too far now. He was going to have to tell her to back off one way or another, and made a mental note to ask Bucky later about the best way to do so.

The elevator hit the ground floor he stepped out and headed towards the parking lot, nodding to the other officers that were arriving as he went, and as his phone vibrated against his chest he smiled to himself, the smile growing even bigger as he read Katie’s response: "Love you too, and you do look incredibly handsome in that uniform…”

By the time he had arrived at HQ his mind had switched to why Fury wanted to see him in person. He'd called his boss the day before to inform him that he needed to discuss a few things on the Cereal Serial Killer case with him, but hadn't gone into details...and then a message had arrived early that morning to tell him to report at 10-hundred sharp. He flashed his ID badge to security, went through the usual process of stripping down to pass through the metal detectors and scanners, before he headed up to the 20th floor where the Commissioners' Offices were. He walked down the corridor and headed straight to the two offices at the end, greeting the secretary at the desk outside, who told him to take a seat as Fury was in with Deputy Commissioner Wuntch but wouldn't be long. Steve nodded, and turned to do just that, smiling as a familiar face greeted him.

"Captain Rogers..." Raymond Holt nodded, standing up as he stuck out his hand towards him "It's been a while." "It sure has Ray." Steve smiled, "How you been?"

"How have I been...hmm, let's see. I'm here to see Wuntch who is circling me like a shark frenzied by chum. The task force is turning into a career-threatening quagmire. An Internal Affairs investigation has been casting doubt upon my integrity. I, a Captain, am no longer able to command my vessel, my precinct, from my customary helm, my office. I've worked the better part of my years on earth overcoming every prejudice and fighting for the position I hold, and now I feel it being ripped from my grasp, and with it the very essence of what defines me as a man. But other than that, I've been fine..."

Steve eyed the captain, not quite sure if he was joking or being facetious. But then again, there were only 2 people he knew that could read Holt fully, Peralta and Katie. And the line about Wuntch was probably true. It was a well-known fact across the entire NYPD that Raymond Holt and Madeleine Wuntch had beef. Big beef, and now she had made Deputy Commissioner, Steve had no doubts in his mind she would be making Holt's life hell at every given opportunity. He knew only too well from personal experience that the woman could be a nasty piece of work when she didn't get her own way. She'd made life very difficult for Steve himself at one point after he had turned down her advances at one Christmas Party. She'd set out to block his promotion to Lieutenant, that is until Howard had stepped in and pushed it through. Another reason he would be eternally grateful to his late mentor.

"Sounds exhausting... “ Steve replied with what he thought was an appropriate comment. "Yes, it is." Holt nodded "You know she was apparently supposed to take a position up in the Boston PD...but it's so close to Salem, and we know what they do to Witches up there so she turned it down..."

Steve let out a snort and he could have sworn he saw the corner of Holt's mouth twitch slightly but as he looked again his fellow Captain's face was as grave as ever.

"So what are you doing here?" Holt asked and Steve took a breath.

"Fury called me in. Think he wants a detailed briefing on the Cereal Serial Killer case." "Ahh, yes..." Holt dropped his voice "How is it going on that?" "Well..." Steve looked around "Can't say too much but we're working on something, well, Stark is should I say..." At the mention of Katie's name there was a definite flicker of a smile on Holt's face as her one time boss asked after her "How is she doing?" "Oh, good...” Steve smiled, unable to stop himself "She's great. You know, professionally...well deserved promotion and all..." "She's one of the best." Holt nodded, "I told you that when she moved. She left a big hole in the team..." At that point the door to Fury's office opened and Madeleine Wuntch walked out, immaculately presented as always.

"Speaking of holes..." Holt turned his attention to the woman "It’s a shame we would never find one deep enough to hold you Madeleine..."

"Hello, Raymond. How do you like my new office?" She asked, gesturing to the door at the opposite side of the room to Fury's "Twentieth floor"

"Yes, I never thought I'd see you this high without a broom under you..."

Steve cast his eyes down, a smile on his face as he desperately tried not to laugh. Unlike Steve, who merely kept his head down and ignored Wuntch as much as he could, Holt enjoyed baiting her, because he didn't give a shit. He was too well respected and thought of for her to even try and get rid of him, not whilst Fury was in charge anyway. And it was funny as fuck. His attempt to remain inconspicuous, however, failed as Wuntch’s gaze turned to Steve and he met her eyes for a second before she blatantly looked him up and down. Steve shifted slightly, his hands falling to the buckle of his belt, his stance changing from open to challenging, but before he had chance to say anything Holt was there again.

"My God..." he said, shaking his head "He's half your age you shrivelled up old prune...have some dignity before the Flying Monkeys turn up to drag you away."

"Sticks and stones Raymond..." Wuntch sang.

"Describing your breakfast?" Holt looked at her, his face completely deadpan.

"How's the Internal Affairs investigation going?" Wuntch shot bac

"You tell me. You spend so much time with your ear to the ground...it's a pity a truck hasn't run over your head." Holt said simply

"You can fight with me all you want..." "I'm not fighting you. I learned a long time ago not to dance with the Devil for fear of getting burned. Also, in your case, you have no rhythm and your hands are like little rat claws" Holt held his hands up and contracted them slightly, curling his fingers into his palms slightly to illustrate his point.

"Keep going and soon I'll have you demoted." "Or perhaps you could transfer me to the swamps of New Jersey so I can patrol the sinkhole where you were spawned..."

"I actually called you here to give you some important news." Wuntch said, gesturing to her office "Shall we?" "Of course." Hold said, and with a nod to Steve he began to follow her to her office "Wait, are you going to inform me you're a Cheuksin?" "A what?" Wuntch frowned and stopped, turning to face him.

"A Cheuksin." Holt repeated "A Korean toilet ghost, lives in an outhouse, wraps her hair around your throat and chokes you to death whilst you move your bowels." "Don’t you find this exhausting?" Wuntch sighed, walking into her office

"Thinking of fresh insults?" Holt asked following her "Not at all you coffin cave mould beetle...now tell me, what revenge do you intend on taking on Dorothy for killing your sister?" Wuntch closed the door behind them, leaving Steve unable to hear the rest of the argument which he had no doubt was continuing inside the office, and he snorted, shaking his head. Looking up he saw Fury stood in his door, a smirk on his place.

"If I didn't know Holt was gay I'd swear he was in love with her. It's like watching two school children with a crush, both being mean to one another to hide their true feelings." Fury said, as Steve stepped towards him, shaking his hand. “Nice uniform, not seen you in it for a while.” “Funnily enough the team said the same thing.” Steve said, with a good humoured sigh as he dropped into the seat Fury was directing him to take.

“Soo you must be wondering why I called you here…” Fury looked at him as he closed the door behind him, and Steve nodded.

“Well, I wanted to dig into what you said on your call yesterday.” Fury looked at him, sitting down in his chair at the opposite side of the desk “You’re having trouble locating Rumlow?”

“Sir.” Steve nodded “As I told you at the last update, we know the alleged rape case has links to both Sitwell and Schmidt, and we can link Ross to both of them too. Our next step was to go and speak to Rumlow, see if we could get anything out of him but…well, he seems to have disappeared.” Fury took a deep breath and looked at him “From Prison? That’s…inconvenient.” Steve snorted “Stark seems to think there’s some kind of conspiracy, higher up…”

“Prisoners sometimes get moved Captain…” Fury looked at him and Steve nodded.

“I appreciate that Sir, but it doesn’t explain why there’s no record of him ever being in Cedar Junction in the first place…”

“Shoddy organisation, paperwork losses…could be a number of things…” Fury said, before he dropped his voice “And if you believe that you’ll believe anything.”

Steve frowned “What exactly are you implying Nick?”

“When you called me yesterday, I did a bit of digging of my own. I was curious. And you’re right. No records of him serving time…anywhere. Ever. No records of him ever being convicted of a crime. Ever. No record of any allegations either. Ever.”

“But…how…” Steve frowned

“You mentioned Stark said something about a conspiracy…” Fury looked at him, “Let me guess who she fingered for it… Ross.”

“Yeah��” Steve looked at him, his brow furrowing even more.

“And she thinks that because of the suspected blackmail you told me about.” Fury continued, “And as crazy as that is, Rogers, it’s crazy enough to make sense, because whoever is protecting Brock has to have the power, the sway, to be able to do something like this…”

“Nick, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying…” “The way that little shit weaselled out of that rape allegation never sat well with me…nor did what happened to Stark.” Nick frowned, “I always suspected some kind of foul play. What’s more is I don’t think Ross was acting alone, I think someone in the force is involved too.”

“What makes you think that?” “Whoever coached Sitwell on that alibi did a damned good job, told him exactly what to say…and it wasn’t Rumlow because he was in a cell being questioned.” Fury looked at Steve.

“So you’re telling me the NYPD is compromised?” Steve frowned “And no one noticed?” “Why do you think we’re meeting in here?” Fury looked at him, gesturing around his office. “I noticed. And what’s more…for some reason, I believe it somehow involves Stark…” “Katie?” Steve frowned

“Howard.” Fury said.

At that Steve’s mouth fell open. He stumbled for words a little before he shook his head furiously “No, I mean…Howard’s been dead for years!”

“Yes. An unfortunate accident…whereby he choked on something…sound familiar?” Fury looked at him and Steve felt his blood run cold, was he seriously implying

“You think…you think Howard and Maria were murdered?” Steve whispered, his eyes wide.

Fury nodded.

“By our current killer?” “That, I don’t know for sure…but I’m not a huge fan of coincidences.” Fury said, looking at Steve for a moment.

“No, I can’t…” Steve shook his head, furiously, his mind whirling “That…I mean…”

He trailed off, searching for something to say, but he was utterly dumfounded. Instead he turned his eyes back onto his boss, and Fury met his stare before he looked down and reached into his desk drawer. He pulled out a silver pen drive and placed it on the desk, sliding it over to Steve.

“What’s this?” Steve asked.

“It arrived yesterday.

“What’s on it?”

“No idea.” Fury said. “It arrived simply with a note which instructed me to plug it in and key in a 4 digit number. When I did so I got a timed message. It stated that the drive contained key information that with regards to Howard, the Cereal Serial Killer, and that it was to be passed to Katie Stark only…and that she would know the passcode. When that message disappeared it simply began to run a jumble of numbers, the same numbers over and over again in different sequences. My guess is it will be a date or a combination that means something to Stark…”

“Why didn’t you just get tech to crack it?” Steve asked.

“Because whatever is on there concerns Katie.” Fury said, “And most likely her brother too, for that matter. They deserve to see it first.” “This is…this is big, Nick.” Steve sighed, and Fury nodded. At that point there was a knock on the door and his secretary poked her head in, telling Fury that his next appointment was here.

“Thanks Eva, we’re done now anyway.” Fury said, standing up. Steve looked at him, before he reached out for the pen drive.

“Trust no one Rogers…” Fury said simply as Steve picked it up of the desk, turning it over in his hands. **** Katie came back from the incident room her mind whirling over something, Bucky could tell by the way she seemed to be biting the inside of her cheek. Clint raised his head from his computer and sighed with frustration as he checked his phone once more.

"Anything on tracking down Rumlow, yet?" she asked him.

"No, he said. It's a dead end on this side. You got something?"

"Not yet..." Katie mused, “But maybe…”

"What's on your mind, Stark?" Clint asked.

"Maybe that’s why Fury’s called Steve in…” she trailed off “I know Steve called Fury yesterday before we went…before we all went home.” she corrected herself and gestured to Bucky to include him in the ‘we’. He smiled and nodded. “Maybe he has some information…” "I'm surprised you don't know where Rumlow is, Stark." Wanda quipped, earning a murderous glare from Katie. “Wasn’t he another one of you various flings?”

Clint and Natasha exchanged a glance before looking at Wanda.

"Wanda" Clint warned.

"Shut up." Natasha added.

Bucky scoffed. All right, now he was pissed. But he decided on not biting at Wanda's taunting and kept watch on Katie instead

"Ignorance is reckless. Shut up your fucking mouth, you don’t know what you're talking about." Katie hissed between gritted teeth.

"What?" Wanda asked surprised and with fake concern.

"We know exactly where he should be. In prison. For robbery. Mind you, he should actually be serving time for..." Clint started to explain was cut off by Natasha.

"Rape."

"And sexual assault." Bucky added angrily.

Clint and Natasha looked at Bucky who nodded slightly confirming what they were suspecting. Steve had told him about Rumlow and Katie.

"Who? I mean, who did he rape and...?" Wanda asked hesitantly.

"Does it matter? Why are you so fucking interested?" Katie asked back visibly angry at this point.

Bucky decided then to handle the question himself, Katie was angry enough as it was and the situation could go south any moment.

"He raped a woman called Sara Klein." he offered

"Who?" Wanda asked again.

"A translator at the German Embassy, she worked for Schmidt" Bucky explained, keeping an eye on Katie who was starting to get fed up with so much curiosity on Wanda's part, he could tell. "And assaulted..."

"Me." Katie said not letting Bucky finish.

There was silence for a minute, everyone could hear the ticking of the clock on the left wall of the main office, until Katie sighed.

"So, we can drop it now?" she asked looking at Wanda, her voice faltering a little.

"Ok. I'm going to grab a coffee from the kitchen." Clint announced. "Want some?" he asked looking at Natasha, who refused it with a shake of her head, her eyes never leaving Wanda.

There was silence for a while, Katie dropping into her chair as she bit her lip, looking down at her keyboard. No one said anything for a while, and eventually Natasha’s eyes flicked back to the pile of paper on her desk, and they all continued with their work. But Bucky had a feeling Wanda wasn't going to let it go, encouraged as she was by her advances, or so she thought on Steve and Katie receiving what she supposed to be love text messages from Storm or Jensen she surely wasn’t going to miss a chance to dig deeper into this, anything to make Katie feel uncomfortable…

And he was right as a few minutes later when Clint returned with his drink, Wanda sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“Sorry, but…didn’t you report it?” she asked, frowning.

"Of course I did." Katie raised her voice, her head not looking up from her computer. "They dropped it.” “Dropped it?” Wanda asked. “Why?”

Katie took a deep breath, but it was Natasha who answered for her. “They said there wasn't enough evidence. It was her word versus his. Same as the rape case, well, until his supposed alibi anyways." Nat explained to Wanda, shrugging at the last part.

"If Cap had gotten his way there wouldn’t have been anything left of him to go to trial anyway.” Clint mused, leaning back in his chair. “When he found out he was apoplectic, kicked the shit out of Rumlow. Both Peralta and I tried to stop him but it took Sergeant Jeffords to pull him off …”

Bucky snorted, remembering how big Jeffords was from the time he met him a few weeks back. It didn’t surprise him in the slightest, he’d seen Steve in a few fights and even before he had bulked out at University he never backed down. Throw Katie into the equation and, well…

"We should have let him break his neck, not just his nose." Clint finished, stirring his coffee.

There was a brief moment of silence everyone pondering Clint's words. Bucky saw Wanda furrow her brow at the mention of Steve beating Rumlow on account of Katie and didn't like the look in her eyes. His attention then turned to Katie and he saw she was shaking. Feeling a spike of protectiveness towards her, he decided he wasn't going to let Wanda exert more pressure on her. Over his dead body. The little bitch was starting to piss him off big time as well, and he was willing to bet Clint and Natasha felt the same way.

"Hey, why don't you take 5?" he said, standing up whilst he searched for some coins in his jeans pocket. "Here. Take this and grab us both some coffee from the machine in the lobby." he added handing her the money which she took nodding and giving Bucky a quick sad smile.

But as she passed Wanda, the assistant snapped again.

"Well, there must not be much evidence if they said it was simply your word against his…"

Katie stopped dead in her tracks and Bucky groaned.

"What are you implying?" Katie hissed turning to look at Wanda, her eyes blazing with rage.

"Oh Oh" Nat warned standing up.

"Serge, do something." Clint demanded at Bucky as he too rose from his seat.

But it was too late.

"I mean... Are you sure you didn't lead him on? Because that's what you do." Wanda delivered the final strike.

"Excuse me?" Katie snarled back. “That’s what I do?”

"Yeah to make Steve jealous. Or try anyway."

"Listen you little bitch..." Katie began to say approaching Wanda but Bucky quickly moved towards her and grabbed hold of her by her arm.

"Hey. Don't" he warned Katie.

"What?" Wanda scoffed, looking up at her "It's true. You parade all your fucking latest conquests around in some pathetic attempt to rile him in the hope that he comes crawling back to you."

At that Katie let out a bark of a laugh and Bucky saw her eyes flash as she shook her head. "I don’t need him to come crawling back, honey.”

Bucky smiled proudly at Katie's comeback and softened the hold on her arm, expecting her to stop there, leaving Wanda as confused as ever over her love life, but then Katie leaned down, placing her palms flat on Wanda’s desk and gave her a smug smile.

“Because he’s already there…”

Bucky inwardly let out a groan. Ok, she said it…way to go, you just outed yourself...

“What?” Wanda’s mouth dropped open and Katie smirked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re late to the party, sweetheart…mind you, you always were a bit slow on the uptake.” Katie snorted and at that point Wanda made a noise in her throat and pushed her chair back, standing up.

Natasha made an attempt to go grab Wanda only to be stopped by Clint's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. Let her. She deserves what’s coming…" Bucky heard Clint mutter as Wanda stepped towards Katie.

“You’re lying…” Wanda’s face slid into a smirk. “Lying so that I’ll back off because you know he’s interested in me. God, how pathetic!”

"Last weekend, you thought I was with Storm? Well breaking news. I was with Steve." Katie said coldly looking straight into Wanda's eyes letting her words sink in and erase the smirk on the other woman’s face before continuing, a grin of her own crossing her face "Actually, I was more underneath him than with him, then on top of him, then back underneath. And I would continue but I don't think you want to hear the extended version. Because, believe me, it is extended. As. Fuck." she added making a little pause between the last three words.

Wanda looked like she had been slapped and Bucky thought that was it. He could see Wanda’s body language was shifting and he didn’t trust her not to snap and lunge at Katie, so he made a smooth movement of his body to try and place himself in between them, but Katie wasn't done.

"So next time I catch you touching my boyfriend's fucking tie or any other part of him for that matter, I will rip your hand off." she continued her rant against Wanda. “Because he isn’t interested in you. He is mine…”

"When hasn't he been?" Clint mumbled, and Bucky let out a soft groan.

"In fact, if you so much as look at him in a way I don't like, I'll scratch your eyes out too.” Katie said, smiling sweetly at Wanda.

Great… Katie, not only have you just outed your relationship to the poisonous little witch, you threatened her. Twice…

At that, Bucky decided to put an end to it there and then so he moved directly in between the pair of them, turning to look at Katie.

"Ok, that's enough doll face. You made your point clear." Bucky said gently, pushing her out of Wanda's reach.

Katie held her hands up, palms open, and glared at Wanda who took a deep breath, before she turned and stormed out of the office leaving everyone else stood frozen in place. Nobody moved for a good 20 seconds until Natasha turned to look at Clint.

"Nope. I'm not going after her, you go if you wish.” He shook his head “It's not like we didn’t warn her a thousand times" he shrugged. As the two of them began to bitch, Bucky turned back to Katie and saw the realization wash over her face.

“I just…oh shit! Steve’s gonna…” she began to panic, her voice quiet. “"Oh fuck... Bucky…what did I just do?"

“Hey…” Bucky looked at her as she started to hyperventilate slightly "It's all right, doll. Just...breathe…”

"I need....I need to go." she looked at him, her eyes wide, wet with tears “I can’t be here…”

“Want me to come with you?" he asked concerned.

"No. I'm ok... or I will be. I need... I need to think, I guess.” she barely managed to say as she grabbed her purse and jacket from where they had left them, hanging on the back of her chair.

"Ok, but call me if you need anything. You hear me?" he asked and she nodded before leaving the office in a hurry.

"Shit" Bucky cursed as headed for his desk.

“Serge, she ok?” Clint asked, rising from his chair.

“No, not really…” Bucky said, snatching his phone from it, scanning through to Steve's number.

“Well, should one of us go and…”

“No.” Bucky said, shaking his head as he raised the phone to his ear “She won’t be hanging around…just leave her…”

A couple of minutes later Bucky was still, frustratedly, trying to get hold of Steve on the phone but to no avail. He must have still been with Fury. He decided he would try again after a few minutes or leave a message on his voicemail if he still didn't answer. Just as he lifted his head from the phone he saw Natasha taking $20 off Clint.

"Did you bet on them being together?" Bucky asked the pair of detectives.

"Nope." Clint answered and he wasn't lying but Bucky didn't seem to believe him as he tilted his head at him.

"We bet on who would blow cover first." Natasha quipped "I went Stark, coz ... well, coz of her…” she nodded to Wanda’s desk “and he went Cap, because he can't lie for shit."

Natasha then paused watching Bucky.

"Take it you knew." she asked.

Bucky just sighed and nodded, relieved to not having to put up with Clintasha’s scrutiny anymore. Something good had come out of all this mess.

"For fuck sake." Bucky heard Clint groan as he fished another $10 note out of his pocket and handed it to Natasha who was now sporting a smug smile.

"Told ya. Pleasure doing business with you, Francis."

Part 2

#csi rogers and barnes #csi au #steve rogers #steve rogers x original female character #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff #clint barton #wanda maximoff #nick fury #raymond holt #brooklyn 99 #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction

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noona-is-a-treasuremaker · 3 years

Text

CLOSER - 1: The Courtesy Call

~Pediatric Rotation~

“Hey, Dara! When are we going to do the powerpoint presentation for the final reporting?” Daesung asked Dara while they were doing rounds in the Pediatric ward.

Dara stopped checking the list of admissions on her duty yesterday to answer Daesung. “Hmm. Probably tonight? Do we have a case yet?”

“None yet. But I had a patient last night with fever and rashes on his extremities. It was a Dengue Fever although the rashes were a little different. I was thinking if our differential diagnosis could be Henoch-Schonlein Purpura,” Daesung answered diligently.

“Okay, dibs on that case. Let’s focus on the Dengue Fever and dehydration. Give me the patient’s details later and I’ll print the medical records. Thank you, Dae! I’ll just finish this admission’s list and see you at lunch?” Dara didn’t wait for Dae’s answer. She gave him a big hug and hurriedly left.

Daesung bumped into Chaerin and Bom. “Daesungggg! Where is Dara? We’ve been texting her because our group will be having a courtesy call and orientation in Orthopaedic Department this afternoon,” Chaerin told Daesung.

“Well, she was in Pediatric ward few moments ago. As usual, she’s so focused doing all the senior’s paperworks that she tends to ignore our SMS.” Daesung told them while scrolling on his phone. “But whatever! I am lucky she’s my besty. She’ll save my life from this final report. It’s such a pain in the ass! Dibs on the Dengue Fever case, arasso?”

“Okay. We’ll look for her. I heard the Ortho Chief Res is unpredictable. I don’t want to leave any wrong impressions with the seniors. 😭 Let’s go, Chaerin,” Bom said.

——

Dara finally finished her paperworks and her senior’s backlogs when she checked her phone. “Oh, shoot! It’s already 2pm!” Dara said to herself. She opened her phone’s contacts and dialed Daesung’s number. “Hey, Dae! Did you—“

“Yes, you flaker. I ate in the cafeteria with my groupmates. I knew you were going to miss our lunch so I bought you a burrito. Is that ok? Where are you?” Daesung cut what she was going to say.

“Here in the residents’ call room. Will meet you in our callroom. Thank you and sorry.” Dara said before hanging up the phone. She replied to several SMS including Chaerin’s and Bom’s.

——

After eating late lunch, Dara met up with Chaerin and Bom in front of Orthopaedics Surgery. “Are you ready?” Chaerin and Bom both said at the same time.

“Uh... Actually, I am nervous. This is one of my weakest fields in medicine. I hope the residents are just chill about everything,” Dara honestly said.

“I am nervous too! Uuugh! Let’s go inside!” Chaerin told the two, then she knocked before opening the slide door.

As they entered the room, they found the supposed Orthopedic residents on the opposite side of the room, facing their respective computers and seemed to be doing paperworks and reports. The room was huge, with a large whiteboard in the front. The room could be used for meetings. “Uhm... Hello, doctors! I am Chaerin, the leader of the incoming interns in your department. I am looking for Dr. TOP for our courtesy call and orientation,” Chaerin said in a high pitched tone. Dara then knew that Chaerin was also as nervous as her.

The residents stopped at what they were doing and looked at them when a lean and tall man, sitting in front, looked to their direction and said in a low voice, “No TOP here. Just look for Youngbae. He’s over there.” The man pointed to the back where most of the residents were working on their computers.

“Ah.. Dr. Youngbae?” Chaerin asked, still in a high pitched tone, hoping a doctor named Youngbae would stand and save them from awkwardness. A resident doctor stood up and walked towards the three female interns. The three girls were shocked when he just passed by them and left the room. Another resident, this time, spoke. “I am Seungri. Dr. Youngbae’s just doing some errands. Come and sit. Wait for him here.” And the residents went back to what they were doing as the three sat on empty chairs.

The resident who passed by them and left the room came back with a Potato Corner fries. He put the fries on the girls’ table. “Hello, ladies! Get some fries. I bought it for you. I am Dr. Youngbae, your interns’ monitor for this rotation. I will be the one you get in touch with when you have problems or issues with the residents, consultants, or requirements. What are your names?”

“I am Chaerin.”

“I am Bom.”

As post-duty on that day, Dara wasn’t able to catch up what he was asking. “Huh. Uhm. I’m post-duty today, doc.”

There was silence.

Then Dr. Youngbae and Chaerin burst out laughing. Bom started laughing nervously. Dara’s face became red and asked why they were laughing.

“Doc was asking for our names, silly.” Chaerin said, getting out of breath.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t listening. My name is Park Sandara. Dara for short,” Dara said feeling stupid and embarrassed.

“It’s okay, Dara! I like you and your humor. Ha~ha! It seems that you will be directly under me as I am also post-duty today.” Dr. Youngbae genuinely said. “For starters, here are what you’ll do.....” and Dara’s mind drifted again. The orientation lasted for an hour and before they left, he introduced the girls to the residents.

“Guys, our incoming interns are here for courtesy call. As you can see, they are all girls. I am actually worried because we might need a physical strength from a guy.” He said.

“Boys are boring. They’ll do,” the fair skinned with average built Ortho resident commented.

“He’s Dr. Kwon Jiyong, a first year Ortho resident. Then the guy beside him is Dr. Seungri, another first year Ortho resident. They will be the first persons you contact in regards with your work including surgeries, paperworks and backlogs. But since we only have two first year residents and you are three, I will be acting as first year Ortho resident-in-charge of one of you. I guess that’ll be Dara? We’re both post-duty today.” Dr. Youngbae pointed at the tall man in front who seemed to be so drawn by what he was reading. “That’s TOP. He’s our chief resident.”

“He said that he’s not TOP. Probably he didn’t want to talk to us. He’s cute but what a jerk!” Bom commented. Dr. Youngbae laughed at her comment. “Well, that’s all. Chaerin, just email me your contact details and I will send you the schedule of surgeries on your first day. Make sure to deck the pre-duty first. Okay? See you next week.”

“I am sure this group is weak and are just pretty faces,” Jiyong commented after the three left.

#fanfic #roleplay #short story #writeblr #writers on tumblr #kpop #au #fanfiction #jiyong #bigbang #2ne1 #2ne1 dara #yg ent #yg entertainment

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eintsein · 5 years

Text

The Mandatory Midday Break: Why You Should Take One and How

It’s Monday afternoon. I have two papers and a programming assignment due Wednesday, and an exam on Friday, not to mention two homework assignments I haven’t started on. But I’m sitting in a cafe with my earbuds in, listening to The Moth Radio podcast while I drink my cup of Cafe Au Lait and occasionally bite into my vanilla macaron. I’ve been sitting here for nearly 45 minutes and I don’t plan to start working again until another 15 minutes.

What am I doing? Shouldn’t I be working right now? Why am I wasting my time? Well, I’m taking one of my mandatory midday coffee breaks.

Why take a midday break?

You probably think you’re too busy to take breaks. You think there are way too many things on your to-do list that you can’t afford to lose even five minutes of time away from doing them.

This is how I used to see things, too. Even though I’ve been using the pomodoro method for a relatively long time, I discovered that I needed something more, especially since my daily college schedule very much tempts me into studying for long stretches of time. I used to think that whenever I didn’t have class, I had to study, but that was just harmful to my overall productivity.

These mandatory coffee breaks serve as a sort of mental reset, a time to wind down just a little bit so I can get back up refreshed and ready to tackle on more tasks. They help me stay sane and not feel stressed and overwhelmed by all the things I have to do, and they also help me restore focus so that I can achieve full concentration on my tasks after the break.

Sometimes we don’t realize how draining all the chaos of studying and working can be until we stop doing those things, so taking these breaks can definitely help you recenter yourself.

I’m sure you can see how these breaks are helpful, but how exactly do I take these breaks?

When?

I take my coffee breaks during the time of day when I would feel sluggish and slow, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. This is of course different for everyone, but regardless of the exact time, if I chose instead to work during my slow hours, I wouldn’t get much done, and I’ll only end up feeling too tired to do much else the rest of the day.

Where?

As much as I can, I’d go someplace where I don’t normally study so I can get the entire ‘busy mindset’ out of my system. This place could be a cafe on campus, or even one of the quads or something.

One of my favorite ‘break spots’ is the art museum on campus. I could walk around the museum during my break, maybe even go to the fifth floor where there’s an amazing view of Ithaca, and then I’d have a cup of coffee in the lobby (you can make one for $1), and then continue studying or doing schoolwork in the lobby.

Another great place for a break is anywhere with outdoor seating. This also allows you to take a breath of fresh air and re-energize your brain to take in more information after your break. However, as the weather’s getting chilly here in Ithaca, outside’s not the best place to be when it’s not a very nice day out.

If you’re in high school, I realize you might not have the freedom to go wherever you wanted to; I wasn’t even allowed to leave school grounds during the day. You could simply go outside or again, go somewhere you don’t usually study - this would be the best option if you’re at home by the time you want to have your midday break. (I would go out to my terrace or sit in my living room.)

What to do?

During these breaks, I’d usually write in my journal, read a book, listen to music or podcast, or sometimes make music on my phone (with airplane mode turned on so I don’t get distracted by any notifications). Sometimes, if any of my friends are free, I’ll ask them to come along and we’ll chat (in practice, this is actually very difficult because my friends and I have vastly different schedules, so yeah).

If I’m feeling especially tired, I’ll go back to my dorm to take a nap. However, with the weather getting colder and the sky growing darker, it’s very very tempting to extend my power nap, so I just settle for a cup of coffee.

What if I don’t?

Sometimes you might feel guilty for taking such a long break, and I admit I sometimes still feel that way, but you have to remind yourself that taking this break will have a greater net positive effect than if you continue working.

I’ve noticed that on days that I don’t take a break - or even shorten my break - I perform less effectively on my tasks and I’m less productive. This could actually lead to sleeping later (which it had a couple times) and as you all know, lack of sleep reduces cognitive functioning.

I’ve definitely experienced physical consequences of not taking breaks: one time I was working on an assignment for my computer science course, but since I was a little behind, I didn’t take the midday break in fear that I wouldn’t finish it on time. However, by the time I finished, my head was so hazy and my vision was blurry and I couldn’t really do much else afterwards. The worst thing was, I also had a philosophy paper due that night which I’ve finished but still needed to revise one last time. I knew this was bad, so I took a 45 minute break afterwards, before I revised and submitted my paper.

I know it can be difficult to stray from your tasks once you’ve achieved a certain momentum, but trust me, you need to take that break. Like, ok, I managed to study for my philosophy midterm in 4-5 hours, but it could’ve easily taken me 10 if I hadn’t taken a midday break that one Tuesday afternoon.

Take a while every day to detach yourself from school or work. Don’t try to excuse yourself from having a break. Make time for a break. By mentally resetting your brain, you’ll achieve greater productivity for the rest of the day, and be able to tackle your remaining tasks more efficiently.

So yeah, mandatory midday breaks are one of the strategies I’ve been using to maintain wellness in my college life, and I hope you’ll consider making it a part of yours, too!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me an ask :)

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ships4you · 5 years

Text

short lived touches || peter parker

Summary: (y/n) Stark deals with the death of her father and recalls moments shared him.

Paring: Peter Parker x Reader!Stark (I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible, please let me know if there is any way I could make if better :))

Requested by: @imawriterthatsings

Warning: cursing & WATCH ENDGAME BEFORE READING

I’ve decided to make this into two parts-- give me a hollar if you’d like to be tagged in part 2.

“(y/n) can you sit sweetheart I need to talk to you.” You looked up at your dad, who was anxiously waiting for you to join him at the kitchen table. Carefully putting down the dish you had just been so vigorously scrubbing, you sat down next to him, “Yeah dad, what’s up?”

You knew these talks all too well. You grew up with Tony Stark, Iron Man, as a father. If you had a dollar for every “I have to go save the world” and “Daddy might not make it home” talks you’d be rich as your dad himself. The last one of these was around five years ago--before the so called ‘blip’. He had called you over the phone leaving a voicemail with a quick I love you and I promise I’ll be back. And for the most part he lived up to his promise--he did come back, but you couldn’t help but feel he left a part of himself back on that planet. Even as a 10 year old, you noticed the sad look in his eyes when watching the news or the aimlessly wandering around in the middle of the night as if he were trying to run away from something or when he’d immediately disappear from any room when a certain teenager was mentioned.

You had met Peter Parker once or twice, but both times had been merely an introduction followed by you shyly running away to the safety of your room. The teen boy seemed nice enough, but you didn’t think he’d be around for long anyways. About two years ago, your dad explained what happened to Peter and who he really was. He told you everything about the fight and about his relationship with the boy. Ever since that night you and Tony became inseparable.

“Baby I found a way to bring everyone back.” he stated, gazing down at your hand that he kept tightly grasped in his. “And if I do this... If I help them there’s a chance I might screw up what we have here. With Pepper and your sister.” You leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek, “Pops if you don’t help save the world I will make sure to guilt trip you into doing the dishes nightly.” A smiled bloomed across his face as he pulled you into his chest, “I love ya kid, you set me straight.”

“I love you too” you murmured into his shirt, “Just promise you’ll be home for dinner. Pepper’s teaching me how to make veggie lasagna.”

“Of course sweetheart, I wouldn’t miss your burnt lasagna for the world.”

“(y/n) could you get Morgan, it’s time for dinner.” you simply nodded at Peppers comment with a quick hum before going out to the front yard. Morgan was standing by the lake looking off into the distance, “Hey Mo c’mon your moms got dinner ready” you knelt down next to her hugging her small frame, “Your favorite, mac and chees-“ you stopped your sentence short and watched her arm raise to point at the scene taking place miles and miles away. A huge cloud of thick black smoke erupted from the land slowly enveloping a large ship that had been hovering over the Earths surface. You immediately knew that was where he was. You swiftly scooped Morgan up into you arms andjogged towards the house, “Pepper!” you yelled. You walked past her in the doorway whispering, “Look outside”

Within five minutes Pepper had ran back in, got her ‘suit’ and left. Not before mumbling her apologies and giving Morgan a loving kiss on the head. She had squeezed your hand promising to go get him and be back before you knew it. After dinner, you tucked Morgan into bed, whispering comforting words, and proceeded to sit on the couch—waiting. Around 3am you found Happy walking into your home much to your surprise. You quickly carried your half-asleep step-sister to the car as he drove off. When you realized Happy was nearing the local hospital your heart sank.

They directed you towards a room and you immediately recognized Peppers muted orange locks while she sat on the hospital bed. The sleepy girl in your arms recognized the presence of her mother and instinctively reached out to her. You handed her off to Pepper who hugged her child tightly, tears dripping onto Morgan’s hair. “Pepper... Where’s Tony?” you questioned looking around. The look in her eyes told you everything, “(y/n) I-“

“No it’s ok.” you felt your heart drop, “I’m just gonna go find some coffee.” when did it get so hard to breath in here, “and probably go for a walk.” you blurted before speed walking down the hallway. Your chest got tighter and tighter till it felt like your lung capacity was the size of a water balloon. Bursting through the doors you kneeled down next the planter, gripping its edge. “Hey, he-he-hey woah there are you okay?” You felt a hand clasp around your arm and one start to rub comforting circles on your back. You focused on the strangers hand—up, and around, up, and around, up... You took a deep breath in, finally getting the air you so desperately needed. His palm went around one more time while he mumbled, “Are you okay miss?” You glanced over at the boy immediately recognizing the familiar face. He did it. He really brought them back...

“Ya know Peter you should really find your Aunt I’m sure she’s worried sick about you.” you said quietly. He shrugged, “I had Happy get a hold of her,” he started to guide you upwards to try standing “poor guy has been running around all-“ he stopped, and started examining your face—trying to recognize any distinct features. “Sorry, do I know you?” he asked. Of course, it had been five years since he last saw you. He knew you as the 10 year old daughter that would steal her dad away from working to make chocolate milk. Now that you were his age, you were the one entertaining Morgan in the fine art of chocolate milk making. You held out your hand, “Oh right, (y/n) Stark. It’s been a while Peter...” he looked you up and down for a second, completely flabbergasted. Finally when he regained his composure he shook your hand.

“I guess the snap really messed everything up,” he said running his fingers through his hair “last I remember you were re-building a computer dressed as princess Jasmine.” You nodded sitting on the planters edge. “The snap changed a lot of things...” you said brushing a strand of hair from your face and holding back the tears. He wouldn’t have wanted you to cry. He would never had wanted to be the reason you were crying. If he were here he would-

“I guess you’ve heard then, huh?” Peter interrupted your thoughts, keeping you anchored to reality. You nodded, “Yea. No one has said it out loud but you can just feel it in their eyes ya know.” you sighed “Everyone has had this look of pity, like he’s the one that’s gone but it’s my life that just ended ya know? Like now without him I can do nothing and that is what will forever define me; the girl with the dead father...” you hadn’t even realized you had rambled on until you noticed Peter staring, not a pitiful stare, just staring. You mumbled a quick apology. “No, no-no- no don’t be sorry. I just, I get it.” he said scratching the back of his neck. “At school I was always the one that had his Aunt and Uncle coming to parents night—it’s something I made peace with a long time ago, but kids can’t seem to look past it.” he sat down next to you, “But now with my uncle gone, it’s just even more so ya know. I was still accepting my peace with him—heck, I still am. And now with Mr. Stark...” you noticed the crack in his voice at the mention of your fathers name. You tentatively reached for his hand, folding it into your lap. “Now without him I really don’t know what to do.” He started back up as you brushed the his fingernails, something you hand done with your father countless times when he needed to relax. In a way it calmed you down as well.

“(y/n)?” Peter croaked after moments of scilence. “Yea?”

“I know this whole situation is so fucking weird and we don’t know each other all that well but, well can I hug you?” you smiled sweetly at his offer and stood up, pulling his hand with you to guide it to your waist. He slowly sunk into the embrace pulling your hip closer to him and sliding his hand across the top of your back. You looped your arms around his shoulders, pressing the side of your cheek again the hard bone.

“Thank you Peter.”

“Anytime (y/n).”

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker angst #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #marvel x you #spiderman #spiderman headcanon #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #post endgame

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forevermyalwaysphff · 5 years

Text

Chapter 9

AN: Here is a verrry long chapter. Hope you enjoy!

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Alexa’s eyes fluttered open, but quickly shut as the light of the room invaded them with a bright assault. She blinked them open slowly to try and figure out where she was as her mind slowly cleared from a haze. The room seemed familiar, but yet foreign to her. Pulling the cozy blanket over top of her, she looked beneath it to realize she was still in her dress and sighed a breath of relief that she did not make any bad choices after a late night of heavily drinking. The bright morning light that escaped through a tiny slit through the curtains caused her head to remind herself of the events of last night, particularly the amount of alcohol she consumed.

Cradling her head, Alexa curled herself into the fetal position feeling awful as the hangover wave coursed through her entire body. Groaning, she crawled out of the bed and found her heels tossed on the floor by the foot of the bed. Alexa had a pretty good feeling where she had ended up as the memory of the night came back to the forefront of her mind. She remembered someone carrying her, rather Harry carrying her. He must of put her to bed in his spare room instead of taking her to Eugenie’s.

Opening the door she sneaked out, careful not to wake the prince if he was still sleeping. It was then she heard noise coming from down the hall hoping that it was Harry. She peaked through a half open door and saw the bedding messily pulled back on top of the bed making her think it was Harry’s bedroom. Alexa took her time tip toeing down the hall, stopping to look at the pictures that lined the cottage walls, pictures that no doubt Harry himself had put up.

She couldn’t help but smile at a picture of Harry holding what appeared to be a newborn George in his arms while the prince smiled up to the camera like a proud first time uncle while cradling the little baby. Something inside of her made her glance away from the pictures, knowing that these were private moments in Harry’s life and only meant for those close to him to see. An uneasy sense of intrusiveness flooded into her that she invading his privacy.

Alexa wandered around the corner seeing Harry in the kitchen grabbing a few things out of the fridge. He was talking on the phone to someone, listening intently to the other person on the line. His brow was furrowed in concentration while he leaned on the counter nodding silently in agreement.

She quietly stood there watching Harry as a small smile tugged on the corner of her lips. The memory of feeling her body pressed up against his warm body, while he carried her inside from the car came flooding into her mind as she placed the last missing remnants of her night. Her eyes roved over his entire body, over his muscular frame until she reached a set of blue eyes staring back at her catching her in the act.

An immediate smiled formed on his lips at the sight of Alexa as he held her gaze. Those blue eyes were surely going to be her kryptonite. Pushing herself off of the wall she slowly stepped towards him, averting her eyes away from Harry at the embarrassment she felt rising hotly against the flesh on her cheeks.

“Edward. Can I call you back in a minute?” Alexa continued to walk towards Harry as he hung up the phone.

“Morning sleepyhead.” Harry smiled as Alexa tiptoed over to him.

“Morning.” Alexa rubbed her tired eyes with a shy smile and leaned into Harry. Looking into his eyes, she stood up and gave Harry a kiss on the lips. “Thanks for looking after me last night…” She became a bit shy and slightly embarrassed looking away from him.

“I hope you were ok sleeping in the spare room?” His voice laced with a bit of uncertainty.

“Of course.” Alexa snapped her head back having his eyes back in her view. “I remember you carrying me in and you were really sweet to drunk little me.” She started to giggle.

“Eugenie was in no condition to help you, it was no big deal.” Harry joined in her laughter. “What are your plans for today? You are welcome to stay here if you want.” The prince’s tone was hopeful and inviting.

Alexa took in a deep breath pondering what to do. “I have a few things I need to get done for work and my roommate is heading out for a few days so I need to look after Peanut.” She tried to explain, hoping that Harry would understand. “Though it would be nice to stay with you a while longer. You are going back to base tomorrow?”

Harry’s nod of the head made Alexa’s smile fade knowing that their time together was always short. “Yeah I have to leave in the early afternoon.” He pursed his lips together thinking of a way to keep Alexa with him. A grin spread across his lips as a plan formulated in his mind.

He stood up taller. “Why don’t you bring Peanut here… bring the things you need to do some work?” Harry watched Alexa tilt her head interested in what he was suggesting. “I have some studying and things to catch up on. We can just relax and hang out here? Order in some food. At least this way I would get to see you a bit longer… you can stay the night again if you wish...” And there was that hopeful tone again.

It did not take long at all for Alexa to take Harry up on his offer. “Are you sure that’s alright? I would love to spend more time with you before you go back.” Alexa wanted all the time she could get with Harry knowing that he would have to leave again soon. “I feel as if we never get the proper time together.”

“I know, that’s why I want you to stay.” Harry wrapped his arm around her waste and brought her close for a gentle kiss. “I am happy just being around you...” His blue eyes searched Alexa’s for a silent moment before Harry broke it with his deep voice. “I can take you back home to get a few things after I finish this call?”

“Yeah, take your time.” Alexa nodded and rubbed his back before he returned to the call.

————————

Harry was deep in thought, reading through his flight school materials studying while Alexa was laid out beside him on his sofa at Kensington. Her eyes were watching the prince carefully over the brim of her laptop as she typed away on it and occasionally glimpsed up to steal a glance at Harry.

A light giggle escaped her lips at the sight before her, causing the prince to put his book down and give Alexa a playful glare. “Can I help you gorgeous?” He winked at Alexa with a smirk.

“No.” She simply smiled back at him and then peaked over her laptop at the sleeping Peanut that was curled up in his lap. Peanut immediately took a liking to Harry and followed him around the cottage nearly everywhere he went. She did that the first few weeks she had been with Alexa before she got used to the place. Harry looked down at Peanut and gave her a few pets making her puppy eyes sleepily look up at him before resting her head back down.

“She likes you.” Alexa rested her head on the back of the sofa and stretched her legs out, placing them across Harry’s lap beside Peanut.

“Not going to lie. She is pretty sweat.” Harry commented with a crooked smile looking down at the little dog. “Now back to work…” He re-opened the spot in his textbook and dived back into studying, but a certain blonde woman beside him distracted his mind.

He read over the same page nearly twenty times, and no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on studying he simply could not climb out of his trapped mind of thoughts about Alexa. Lately, she consumed nearly every thought he had. When he was away from her, he found himself wanting to be right by her side or wondering what she was doing in that moment. In truth, Alexa was never far from his mind.

No matter how hard he tried to deny it or bury the thought from his mind, he simply couldn’t. There was something about Alexa that made Harry crave to be with her every moment of the day. He hated the moments he had to say goodbye to her and longed for the them to see her again. The blonde beauty simply captivated him and intrigued him like no one before. Alexa was different than anyone he had ever met, let alone dated. Her kindness overflowed to everyone she cared for, she was patient and understanding mixed with a healthy level of feistiness, speaking her mind when she felt the need to be heard.

It was simple; Harry had developed feelings for Alexa. A thought that brought a level of happiness within himself, but also a level of fear for her not wanting to drag this woman into the glass palace of his life.

His blue-eyed gaze turned to glance at her, seeing her brow furrowed in deep concentration as she read an important document on her computer. He placed his hand on top of one of her legs and gently rubbed it as she innately responded moving it closer to Harry’s touch.

The prince felt guilty as he harbored the feelings he had for Alexa. Being in a relationship with someone like him was not the easiest thing to be apart of. Hence, why his relationship with Chelsy had come to an end. Chelsy did not want the life he had to live. It was a hard pill for him to swallow having spent so much time and effort with her that ended the way it did, but in the end he did not blame her one second. He did not wish this life of his on his worst enemy.

Harry felt guilty in confessing his feelings as he had a suspicion that Alexa felt the same for him and did not want to see her go through what Chelsy or even Kate had endured. He could deny them and bury them deep in order to prevent another casualty of his brith right. But, the way Alexa made him feel whenever she was with him made the guilt fade as happiness took over. A feeling he missed and longed to have again with someone.

On their second date, Alexa had said to him that she wanted to know the real Harry, not the prince. She wanted to get to know Harry for who he is, not for who he was to the world. Never once did Alexa make Harry believe she was only dating him for status or to gain something from him being a prince to which others had abused in the past. It definitely helped that she was Eugenie’s best friend and had seen what being a royal in the spotlight can do to someone, but that did not subside his fears for her.

He felt her toe tap his arm, breaking through his thought process. “You doing ok over there?” Alexa’s soft voice coaxed his attention.

“I was just thinking about a few things.” Harry titled his head, locking in her green eyes that were growing with concern.

“Anything I can help with?” Alexa sat up, becoming closer to the prince and sensing his troubled mind. She closed her laptop and put it down on the coffee table before grasping his arm in her hands and soothingly started to rub it.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to smoothen over the crease in the middle of her brow that had formed in concern for him.

“Can I tell you something?” Alexa stared down at his hands as her own trailed down Harry’s arm to intertwine their fingers together.

“Always.” He encouraged Alexa to always speak her mind, even if he didn’t like to hear it.

“As much as I have enjoyed our dates, I really...” She paused briefly, “I really like being able to do things like this with you.” The corner of her lips upturned into a soft smile. “Relaxing and studying with one another... in your home...just us.”

“I do too, Alexa.” Harry squeezed her hand tighter. “Why don’t we order in some food and watch some Netflix tonight?”

“That sounds perfect.” Alexa’s green eyes brightened at the thought of it all. “Only if I can cuddle up next to you.”

“Well…” Harry dragged out and glanced down at the little dog in his lap. “You might have a worthy contender for that position.” He tossed his head back in laughter seeing the shocked expression that Alexa gave him.

“Well, if you play your cards right you may get both of us to cuddle with you.” She teased back with a playful glint in her eyes.

Harry took a quick glance at his watch seeing that was still mid afternoon and he needed to get a bit more studying done. “Do you have more work to do?”

Alexa shook her head. “All done. Need to study a bit more?”

“I have too, babe.” His voice was low with disappointment. “I have an exam mid week and feel totally unprepared for.”

“Harry, that’s quite alright.” Alexa reassured him. “Why don’t you study some more and I am going to lay down, have a little nap so I don’t bother you.” She leaned in and captured his lips sweetly. “Mind if I sleep in the spare room?”

“Yes I do mind.” Harry smiled teasingly. “Lay down here, beside me.” He tapped his lap and accidentally woke up Peanut. “I will be quiet.”

Alexa giggled as the frightened puppy jumped and immediately ran into her arms for safety. “It’s alright, Harry didn’t mean to scare you.” She comforted the shaking dog.

Within a couple of minutes, Alexa had curled up beside Harry with Peanut in his arms and was fast asleep. Her head laid comfortably on his lap as the prince continued his studies.

“Thank you, Alec for picking us up dinner.” Harry thanked his RPO who had gotten their take out Chinese food for them. He searched through the bag and handed Alec back a few items to which he tried to refuse. “Alec, if you do not take it she will chew my ass off. Alexa made me order you some food and if I bring it back….”

Alec snickered seeing the prince’s reaction. “You know I like the side that Alexa brings out in you. I don’t think we have ever ate as well as we do on shift when she’s around.”

“Careful, Alec.” Harry winked at his RPO. “I may just keep her around.”

“Tell her thank you, from me.” Alec waved a goodbye. “I am outside if you need anything.”

“I will.”

Alexa was already in the kitchen searching for plates and utensils when Harry carried in their meals. The aroma of the hot food caused her stomach to growl in response. She turned around with a handful of plates hearing Harry entering the kitchen with the food.

“Mmmm.” She hummed. “It smells delicious.” Alexa peaked into the bag as Harry started to pull out the take out boxes.

“I think Alec is in love with you.” Harry teased Alexa. “He was very appreciated of the food you got him.”

“Awe good!” A bright smile formed on her lips at the mention of it.

“You know, you don’t have to keep getting them things. They do have their own place to cook.” Harry informed Alexa.

“I know.” She shrugged her shoulder. “But, it’s important to me that they know they are appreciated.”

Harry rested his arms on the counter and leaned in across from Alexa, staring up at her. “It’s sweet of you, Lexi.” Her head snapped up hearing her nickname being used. It was the first time that Harry had called her Lexi.

“What?” Harry’s brow furrowed. “Am I not allowed to call you that?”

“You can.” Alexa became shy. “It’s the first time you have though. Only my friends and family really call me that.”

“Can I?” Harry swayed back and forth while his eyes remained locked with Alexa’s.

“Yeah.” Her cheeks became flushed. “People I care about call me that and you are on that list now…” Alexa bashfully admitted.

He loved how easily her cheeks blushed when she became shy or embarrassed. “You are too adorable.” Harry stood up and rounded the counter quickly to wrap his arms around Alexa’s waist from behind. She stepped into him and giggled as he squeezed her ticklish hips.

“Stop that….” She scolded him as Harry distracted her from getting their dinner set. The prince laughed devilishly and continued to do his upmost best to distract Alexa. He moved a piece of her blonde hair back to gain access to her neck, brushing his lips across her skin.

“Henry…” Alexa moaned his name and dropped a take out box onto the counter. Her body turned around right into him as her hands gripped his forearms to steady herself.

“Want me to stop?” His voice hummed against her skin before leaving a trail of fiery kisses down to her collarbone.

Alexa breathed in jaggedly, closing her eyes and giving in to him. “No.” She managed to formulate a response in the clouded haze Alexa found herself in.

Harry’s hands left her hips and trailed down to the back of her thighs across the material of her jeans. He bent down briefly, gripping her legs and picking Alexa up in his arms. Alexa gasped loudly as legs immediately wrapped around his waist, her arms snaking around his neck while she teased his lips with tiny kisses.

The prince gently set her down on the counter and re-gained control of her lips, attacking them with fervour. Alexa’s hand grabbed a fist full of Harry’s shirt, balling up the material and pulling him closer into her. Their lips dripping with lust broke apart as they caught their own breath. But, neither one could wait any longer, longing the feeling of their kiss that tugged deeply at something innately in them.

When they first met, there was this spark, an undeniable connection they shared. Now, that spark had ignited into a blazing romance fuelled with passion and an endless desire to be with one another.

Their bodies were in sync, in tuned with what the other needed. Harry’s clouded mind gripped the material of Alexa’s shirt and started pulling it up off of her body, exposing more of Alexa he had not yet seen. Yanking her shirt over her head, Harry’s eyes looked down to her chest seeing her breasts cupped in a light pink bra he so desperately wanted to free them of. He leaned in and kissed the middle of her collarbone while creating a trail of endless kisses down between the mounds of flesh on her chest.

Alexa’s hands were making quick work of unbuttoning his shirt, pushing the material off of his shoulders and exposing his muscular chest. She ran her hands down over the ridges of muscles right to his abdomen. Opening her eyes she stared at his half naked body while Harry’s hand were trailing back up her spine towards her bra clasp.

Her heart starting pounding anxiously in her chest knowing where things were leading with the prince. Alexa’s mind was screaming at her, replaying memories in her mind as it attempted to halt her actions as little voices convinced Alexa to not make the same mistake as last time and take things too far too quickly. Instead of her lust growing further, fear took its place.

All she could feel was the heartbreaking pain that Reese had caused her, knowing she could not make the same mistake again. Channeling that same pain that coursed through her, she placed her hands flat on Harry’s bare chest.

Harry felt both of Alexa’s hands on his chest as he was playing with her bra straps, gently pulling them down off her shoulder. But, before he knew it, Harry was being forcefully shoved away from Alexa. His eyes sprang open as he stumbled a few steps backwards and to see Alexa covering herself with his arms like she felt embarrassingly exposed to him.

The silence between them was deafening, as a shocked Harry stood unsure of what to say or do. All he could see was Alexa’s body trembling as she keeled over to block his view of her, feeling so exposed to the prince.

“Alexa?” He shook his head making his mind clear and knowing something was not right with her as she struggled to catch her breath, finding that Alexa was having a panic attack. Harry took one step forward, but her arm shot out telling him not too.

“Please don’t.” Her voice broke as the rejection punched through his gut.

Alexa slid off the counter, turning away from the prince and slipped on her shirt. “I think I need to go home.” She hastily left the kitchen and started to search for her belongings.

“Alexa wait!” Harry was hot on her heels. “We need to talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about.” Alexa grabbed her laptop and notebook. She couldn’t bare look at Harry as she walked right around him as if he did not even exist in her mind.

“Yes there bloody is!” His voice rose and yelled at her. Harry continued following Alexa around knowing something was desperately wrong due to her sudden change in demeanour.

Alexa’s mind was all over the place telling her to get out of there while her heart was aching with each passing beat as an overwhelming mix of feelings of fear and desire coursed through her, creating a could of confusion. She was terrified to tell Harry what was on her mind and why she had pushed him away.

“Alexa, talk to me.” Harry’s husky voice grew soft with concern. “You can leave if you feel you need to. I won’t keep you here if you don’t want to stay, but I need to know what just happened.” He breathed out and swallowed the lump in his throat. “I need to know if I hurt you in anyway…. Alexa please.” Harry started to beg unsure of what was really going on with her.

She froze for a moment. The way he said her name broke through all the tiny voices in her mind except for one that was becoming louder and louder. Alexa had to tell him how she felt about Harry, about everything including her fears of being with him, fears that echoed from her past mixed along with the fears of making the same mistake again.

Alexa dropped her bag down onto the floor and slowly turned around to face the prince. She bravely lifted her head to see his deep blue eyes filled with genuine concern for her. Her heart was pounding in her chest at a mile a minute as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Talk to me.” The whisper fell from off of his lips before he stepped forward, closing in the distance between them. His hand gently grabbed her arm, stroking it soothingly as the immediate contact calmed her irrational fears that were lingering in her mind, still coursing through her body battling a faltering attempt to make one last effort to convince her mind to run. Alexa pushed all those voices of doubt out of her mind and trusted on the one thing she always relied on, her heart. Closing her eyes she blinked them back open to find Harry intently staring back at her, waiting for her to speak.

“I got scared that we were taking things too fast.” Alexa’s voice cracked as she started to explain. “I got scared of where things were heading… I don’t want that right now. I can’t because…” The prince’s gaze softened as he felt a healthy level of guilt knowing she had wanted to take things slow to begin with and he was the one pushing Alexa past her limits.. “I pushed you away because I…” Alexa was struggling in her attempt to explain her thoughts and fell silent.

She paused for a moment trying to think of the best way to tell Harry. “Because I can’t be another notch on your belt. It’s not who I am… I am not that girl that hooks up with guys when I am not in a relationship, regardless if you are a prince.” Alexa confessed nervously. Her eyes locked with Harry’s as their gaze lingered. “I have never been that girl...Harry. At least I wasn’t...” Alexa hung her head low in shame, averting her gaze away from Harry’s intense stare for a brief moment. Peaking up at him, she found his unwavering eyes staring back at her.

“I cannot make the same mistake again like I did before.” Alexa watched Harry’s gaze falter knowing what she was referring to and seeing the defeat build in his crystal blues at the mere comparison. She reached out for his hand and stepped closer to him, feeling the guilt replacing the fear in her body. “I know you aren’t him, but I am only trying to protect myself, protect my heart again which seems rather... umm strange because...” Alexa paused and shook her head. Her silence caused Harry to lock in her green eyes once again, waiting for her to continue but desperately wanting to tell Alexa how he is falling for her.

She opened her mouth to speak the words she had been so desperate to tell Harry, but they just wouldn’t come out. Harry could not wait any longer and in fear of possibly losing Alexa, he had to tell her what was in his heart. What had been brewing for a while.

“Alexa, all day I have been hardly able to even concentrate on anything at all because you have been in my every thought. Not even today, from the first moment we met you have consumed my mind in every way possible. I know things are moving quicker than we both anticipated and that doesn’t only frighten you, it frightens me too.” Harry stretched out his hand, offering it to Alexa.

“Please stay, so we can talk. Figure this out.” Harry’s blue eyes were casted down upon her, pleading with each passing second. “If you want to leave after, you are free to go I won’t stop you. I can promise you that.” How could she resist that deep sincere voice of his? She simply nodded and grasped his hand tightly, not wanting to let it go.

Harry turned his back to her and led Alexa back into the living room. He was loosely clutching her hand, making her feel like she was safe to leave at any point. They sat down close beside one another, like they had earlier in the day. Alexa clutched Harry’s hand tighter, intertwining their fingers as he lifted his arm around her shoulders, bringing her in closer to him. She breathed out and laid her head upon his shoulder.

“Harry... I... shouldn’t have made that comparison to you.” Alexa knew she had to apologize. It was an unfair comparison.

“It’s in the past Lexi.” He quickly assured Alexa that all was forgiven.

The prince took in a deep breath as a smile graced his lips. “ You know, last night angered me when you said you weren’t my girlfriend and that I had no say.” Harry confessed with a light chuckle remembering her fiestiness. One thing about Alexa he had come to love. He angled his body to look into Alexa’s eyes. “I have never met anyone like you before... it’s like you came out of nowhere and have been the best thing that has ever happened to me.” He squeezed her hand tightly while watching her eyes light up in a sparkle while they smiled up at him.

“Which is why you need to know before you leave tonight, that I cannot deny my feelings for you anymore no matter how hard I try to.” Harry confidently admitted while still holding Alexa’s gaze. “I have feelings for you, Alexa.”

Alexa was staring up into the prince’s eyes searching for any sign other than the true sincerity she was finding within them. He was not lying to her to simply sleep with her, despite the timing of his confession. Harry was admitting his feelings to her whole heartedly.

“I have feelings for you too, Harry.” The confession rolled off of her tongue so freely and easy it puzzled her. But, the smile that stretched Harry’s lips in return was one she had never seen before as she mentally captured it as a memory to store in her mind.

“I think it is safe to say that we both knew each other was feeling the same way?” Harry started to giggle as Alexa followed in suit, but was quickly subsided by the blonde.

“I think it is safe to say that I didn’t... and that is why I had my freak out moment.” Alexa loosened her grip on Harry’s hand and held her head low in shame. “I didn’t think you were at this point with me yet and I couldn’t allow myself to go down that road again.”

A finger lifted her chin to make her green eyes stare up into Harry’s deep blues. But, that didn’t stop her from speaking her mind. “It terrifies me that all this has happened so quickly, especially when I told you I wanted... needed to take things slower. It terrifies me that I want more of you in every way. I don’t understand how we have just met not long ago, yet I feel like I have known you forever.”

“You aren’t the only one that has experienced doubts about this, Lexi.” He gently rubbed the side of her leg. “I think it would be in human not too.”

Alexa sighed heavily, feeling her body relax into the soft, cushion material of the sofa. Blindly searching for Harry’s hand, she grasped it and held onto it tightly. She felt his body lean in and press his lips softly to her temple, kissing it sweetly while Alexa bowed her head with a blissful smile graced on her lips.

Looking up at Harry, they silently stared into one another’s eyes. Not needing to say a word as their happiness was etched all across their faces. A sense of giddiness overcame Alexa as her laughter filled the room with Harry joining in quickly behind her.

“I am sorry that I freaked out and almost left tonight.” Alexa leaned in and captured the prince’s lips in a lingering kiss. As she was about to pull away, Harry’s hand flew to the side of her cheek and held it there. His lips were devouring her own in a kiss like never before. It was if they were kissing for the first time again as their passion fuelled between their lips, deepening the kiss.

Each movement was slow and deliberate, like they weren’t in any rush as they explored each other further. Alexa’s lips fell from Harry’s briefly, but he was there to capture the moan that escaped from her mouth. His hands were traveling down her side, leaving a path of a fiery sensation in their wake. Alexa’s hand tenderly cupped his cheeks and found a home back on Harry’s lips. Her thumb caressed over the stubbly ginger scruf that had formed along his jaw line.

The simplest touch from Alexa elicited a low groan from Harry. He had to break his lips off of hers before things became too heated again. Not wanting the same response and respecting Alexa’s boundaries and wishes, the prince’s lips left Alexa’s in reluctance.

“No...” Alexa whined with a lust filled tone.

Harry silently shook his head no, knowing he would be unable to control himself if he continued down this path. He leaned in and pressed his forehead down upon Alexa’s and opened his eyes. Nudging her with the tip of his nose his lips pulled into a smile at her attempt to kiss him again.

“I can’t, Lexi.” His husky voice sent chills down her spine. “You have got me all wound up.”

Alexa was determined to get one last kiss in. She pressed her lips forcefully up onto his and smiled through it, knowing she was pushing his control. “Alexa... Grey...” He warned her in a low tone.

Breaking away, she leaned back with her hands held innocently up in the air. “Alright, I am done with you.” Alexa stared into a set of lust filled blue eyes. “For now...” Harry crookedly grinned down at the blonde with a light shake of his head.

“Let’s go for a walk in the gardens before I change my bloody mind.” Harry pushed himself off from the sofa and held out his hand waiting for Alexa to take it.

—————————-

“This garden is so pretty!” Alexa held onto Harry’s arm as they strolled through the gardens at Kensington Palace under the cover of the darkened sky. She bent down and sniffed a purple flower, taking in its fragrance. “Do you all have a say in what is planted here?” A curious Alexa looked up at the prince from the ground.

“In certain parts yes.” Harry helped Alexa stand back up as they continued their walk. “The Sunken Garden, Will and I like to approve what grows there as it was my mother’s favourite place.” He shared with Alexa while his mind fondly brought up a memory of his mother here.

“I think having a garden, or some place quiet and beautiful to remember someone is such a great way to honour them and give you a place where you can come and reminisce.” It sounded like Alexa was speaking from experience, but Harry did not want to push her to opening up.

“Sometimes, I come here late at night just like this to think... and to wonder...” Harry’s footsteps halted as he came across a patch of white roses mixed in with blue forget me nots. “Wonder what my mother would think of me now. Wonder what she would do in my circumstances.” The prince quietly whispered as if not to disturb the peace he felt in this place.

Alexa gently squeezed his forearm, providing a comforting touch. “I know what you mean, Harry.” She rubbed down his arm and rested her head down on his bicep, walking further along the garden.

“Have you ever seen a pink bench in Hyde Park?” Alexa looked up at Harry watching him shake his head. “Well there is one along the water and my father built it after Rosie passed away. I remember helping him paint it pink, her favourite color. The city allowed us to put it there and it’s the most beautiful view.” Alexa grew quiet. “I go there and think sometimes, it’s like my quiet place and I always feel like she’s sitting right beside me, you know?”

“I bet she is, Lexi.” Harry squeezed her hand. “I don’t want to push you, but what happened to your sister? I know it’s a hard subject, so if you don’t want to talk about it then it’s alright.” The prince did not want to pressure Alexa into sharing a more vulnerable side to herself that had most definitely impacted her life in such a significant way such like his mothers own passing.

“I actually like talking about her. I don’t have a lot of memories because I was quite small when she passed away, but I like to think of her often.” Alexa stepped closer into the confines of the prince’s arm before spotting a bench nearby. “Can we sit here for a bit?” Harry led his girlfriend towards the bench, sitting down beside her.

“How young were you when she passed?” A curious Harry asked.

“I was nine years old, Rosie was fourteen.” Alexa swung her legs slowly as she stared down at them. “Rosie was five years older than me… I was sorted of unplanned.” She giggled, stifling her laugh with her hand in order to continue.

“Rose was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia when she was eleven. My parents did everything under the sun for her, taking her to all her appointments, spending endless days and nights at the hospital and she fought with everything she had. She had an aggressive treatment that initially worked and gave her a few months without constant hospitalizations, but it came back again and with a vengeance.” Alexa looked up at Harry sensing his quiet demeanour next to her. “She decided to not try anymore treatments and live what little life she had left.”

“That must have been so hard to see her like that.” Harry’s brow furrowed in concern. With his Well Child patronage, he had his fair share of seeing sick children and saw what them and their families had to endure.

“Actually, all I can remember is always seeing her smile. When my parents would take me to the hospital after school, she would always want to talk about my day and have the biggest smile on her face.” Alexa sighed, showing a hint of a smile on her lips. “When things got bad, my parents would stay at the hospital and my older brother, Hugh, would be the one looking after me. He took me to my soccer games, picked me up from school and sometimes even tucked me in to bed at night. I think her death affected him the most, but he never talks about her.”

“I couldn’t imagine losing a sibling like that.” Harry lifted his arm as Alexa snuggled into him. “And your parents are still together after all that?”

“They are…” Alexa paused. “They had their fair share of fights after she passed away, but they always worked it out. My mother fell into a deep depression and it really affected their marriage, but my father never gave up on her. It was almost like he was a single father at times, but he never once complained. Everyone grieved her death differently, but we all promised that it wouldn’t let us tear us apart because she would never have wanted that for us. I think I talk about her the most in my family and I know it’s hard for some of them, but I don’t ever want to forget the memories I have of her.”

Harry gently rubbed up and down her arm as she rested her hand on his leg. “Like, the day before she passed away we had a sleepover and I was so excited that my bigger older cooler sister wanted to have one with me.” Alexa started to giggle as the memory came flooding back making Harry join in. “Rose loved to dress up and put on make up so we went through her closet and picked out some dresses, she did my hair and nails and my mother took pictures of us all dressed up. She even let me sleep in her room that night, which she never let me do.”

“Do you think she knew what was going to happen?” Harry blurted out, not even thinking. “Sorry… I am just curious is all.” He was quick to apologize.

“Don’t be.” Alexa’s green eyes peaked up at him. “I think she did honestly. That night before we went to bed we had this heart to heart. She told me how much she loved me and how I would always have a big sister that would look after me.” Her green eyes started to fill with innocent tears, a stray one falling down her cheeks that Alexa quickly wiped away. “But, I had my chance to say goodbye and some people don’t get that and I am grateful for it.” Alexa unconsciously grabbed the pendant on her necklace and fidgeted with it while telling Harry more about her sister. Harry’s eyes made out the pendant, two angel wings shaped in a heart. He had noticed Alexa wearing it a few times, but did not want to ask after learning about her sister’s passing on the first date.

“Your perspective is amazing, Lexi.” Harry breathed out. “The way you want to remember her and aren’t afraid to talk about Rose… I wish I could be like that with my mom.” Harry let his guard down for a moment, but it felt comfortable to be vulnerable with Alexa. He never felt judged for his thoughts when he was around her and she was always encouraging him to share what he was thinking.

“It took me a long time to get to this point. I would shut people out pretty quickly when they asked about her or found out.” Alexa’s gaze had fallen on the prince, watching him carefully. “I know we just made things official… but I am always here to listen if you ever want to talk about her, Harry. It’s good to every once in a while.”

“I know you are.” Harry smiled fondly down at his girl. “Want to head back inside?”

“Yeah, I am pretty tired.” Alexa stood up and walked along side Harry back towards his Cottage. Their walk back was quiet as Alexa’s mind was still focused on her sister, Rose.

———-

Alexa had changed into a short pair of grey shorts and a little skimpy tank top for her pyjamas. While she was brushing her teeth in Harry’s bathroom, he walked in only wearing red plaid boxers showing off his muscular body. Her mouth literally dropped open as she gladly roved her eyes up and down his body she had yet to see.

That was the moment she knew that she was in trouble. Having agreed to stay with Harry in his bed for the first time was a simple quick decision when he asked her while walking back in from the gardens, but now the temptation was ever stronger.

She had figured that he was fairly fit, but to see the contours of his muscles move made her feel a bit flushed in the cheeks. Trying to hide her obvious blushing cheeks, she turned away, but was too late.

“Like what you see?” Harry mumbled as he started to brush his own teeth. Alexa turned her head back towards Harry with narrowed eyes. “Because I sure do.” He playfully winked at the blonde who suddenly became shy and tried to cover herself up.

Alexa tried to spit as graciously as possible, but how does one really do that? She put down her toothbrush and walked passed the prince out of the bathroom. Harry’s eyes were glued to her body watching her leave. He couldn’t help but stare at her cute ass in those shorts, leaning his body back to get a view until the last possible second. How was he supposed to sleep beside her dressed like that?

Lexi was standing at the edge of the bed waiting for Harry to come out of the bathroom. Hearing his footsteps from behind she glanced back over her shoulder with a little smile. “I didn’t know which side you sleep on.” A shy Alexa asked the prince.

Harry came up from behind her and placed his hands on either side of her arms giving them a quick rub. “You can sleep where ever you want.” He leant down and kissed her bare shoulder.

“No. It’s your bed, Harry.” Alexa peaked up at Harry with pleading eyes telling him to guide her where to go.

“Ok. I tend to sleep on the other side closer to the door.” Harry somewhat fibbed a little, but wanted to be the man and sleep closer to the door in case of anyone coming in.

Alexa pulled back the covers and climbed in underneath them, slipping in beside Harry. Not knowing how close to get to him, she kept a comfortable distance between them. Harry was smirking with his head propped up and shaking his head at Alexa.

“What now?” The blonde rolled her eyes at the prince lying next to her.

“Afraid to sleep so close to me? Why don’t we make a pillow wall between us?” Harry playfully teased Alexa hoping to calm her apparent nerves.

“No!” She giggled while pulling the covers higher up to cover herself better.

“Then come here…” He lifted the blanket for what seemed like a solid minute, as a hesitant Alexa looked him straight in the eyes. “I will behave, I promise.” Harry’s reassuring words made her decision easy.

Alexa shimmied over to Harry and cuddled into him with her head on his shoulder. She placed her hand on top of his chest feeling his arm secure her in place from behind. Her eyelids were becoming heavy with sleep, feeling the effects of the long day finally hit her.

Harry’s hand started to comb through her blonde locks, relaxing Alexa in the process. “Harry?” Alexa’s tired voice spoke his name wondering if he was still awake.

“Yes?”

“Do you snore?”

Harry’s chest rumbled as he belted out a deep belly laugh at her question. Alexa couldn’t help but join in after hearing his infectious laughter. The couple fell into a fit of laughter together that eventually subsided to the point that Harry could finally answer the question.

“Possibly. I don’t really know.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s ok. I have enough pillows to smother you if you do.” Alexa jokingly teased the prince.

“Good thing I know that you are only joking or I would need to get Alec back in here.” Harry shook his head at his girlfriend.

“He loves me remember?” Alexa informed him of that.

“Well damn.” Harry tossed his free arm up in the air as the blonde snuggled in next to him giggling at his response.

“Ok, time to go to bed. You have a long trip back tomorrow.” Alexa sighed, wishing to not remember the fact that Harry would be gone until the weekend yet again.

Alexa looked up at the prince exactly as the moment he leaned down to kiss her lips, giving them a sweet good night kiss. Their lips lingered upon one another’s giving tiny little kisses, careful not to over indulge further into their growing desire. Lexi was the one to pull away knowing where things would lead again if she didn’t.

Licking her lips tasting the remnants of Harry left on them; Alexa pressed her lips up on Harry’s on last time. “Goodnight Harry.”

“Mmmm. Goodnight Lexi.” His deep voice was soft. “You sure you are ok sleeping here with me?” Harry wanted to ensure that Alexa was comfortable with it all. “You can always sleep in the spare room again at any point if you get uncomfortable.”

“I want to stay right here.” Alexa smiled adorably up at Harry. “Next to you.” Her head lowered back down onto his chest, shifting her body to get comfortable again.

Within a matter of minutes, her eyes fluttered shut despite her attempts to keep them open. Harry on the other hand was wide-awake, wanting to stay up until he was sure that Alexa had fallen asleep. He could tell by the steady, easy movements of her chest that she had indeed fallen asleep.

He fought his tired eyes to keep them from shutting, as he wanted to prolong this moment of feeling Alexa asleep in his arms for the first time. As hard as he fought, the heaviness of his eyelids forced them shut as he fell asleep with Alexa securely in his arms

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