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dccomicsimagines · 4 months

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Gift Exchange Mayhem - Young Justice Imagine

Requested by Anon - Can I have the team doing some last minute shopping for Christmas?? Maybe the reader waits until the last minute and needs help??

Author's Note - Happy Holidays! I finally was able to finish something.

***

"Dismissed," Batman said, waving his hand as he turned back to the computer to finish up whatever paperwork he had. The mission had gone well, so the debriefing wasn't too painful.

At least for everyone else, you found it excruciatingly slow. Every minute was a minute closer to the Christmas Eve party and the gift exchange.

Everyone moved off. You stayed where you were until you saw M'gann and Conner walk completely out of the room.

You turned, scanning the room until you saw Artemis heading toward the locker rooms. Dashing after her, you grabbed her arm. "I need your help," you whispered, voice tight with the brewing storm of panic in your chest.

"Ow," Artemis hissed, jerking her arm away. "What do you want, weirdo?"

You swore you saw Batman glance over from the corner of your eye. Your breath caught in your throat. "I need help, but we can't talk about it here. Please?"

Artemis sighed, but gestured for you to follow her. You quickly fell into step beside her.

The two of you walked in silence until you made it to the library. She spun on her heel and crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

You admired how cool she looked in this moment. You wished you could be cool. "I..." You swallowed away your insecurities. "I need help finding a gift for the gift exchange."

She raised an eyebrow. "You haven't gotten one yet? It's tomorrow."

"I know!" You threw up your hands, shaking slightly. "I couldn't focus on it, because I got M'gann and I knew I would blow it in the mind link at some point, so I decided I had to not think about it at all until the last minute. That way, she can be surprised."

Artemis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why do you always do this shit?"

"I wanted it to be good. It's her first Christmas on earth and she's already excited, but I don't know what to get her." You bit your lip and blinked back tears.

"Why can't you ask Conner? I got things to do." Artemis narrowed her eyes with that steady frown she was always inclined to give you.

You groaned. "I can't ask Conner, then she'd know. That boy doesn't hide anything from her anymore."

She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Okay, fine."

A grin burst onto your face. "Thank you!" You almost reached out to hug her, but she held up a finger to stop you. Your face burned. "Sorry. Can we go now after we change?"

"Sure." Artemis left the room. You let out a sigh to calm your heart.

***

Artemis' head ached at the bright lights of Star City's Megamall. Christmas music blasted throughout the place as people hurried about.

"Luckily, the west coast is still open huh?" You laughed, nudging her side.

Artemis swallowed back a biting retort. "Yep." You stopped by the big tree in the center of the main entrance. Glancing around, you seemed just as lost as you always were. Irritation bubbled up inside of Artemis. "Let's go. We don't have time. It closes in two hours."

You flinched slightly. "Right." You hurried off to your left, leading the way past a bunch of clothing stores.

Artemis took a deep breath. She shouldn't be so annoyed really. What other plans did she have today anyway? All she was going to do was go home and hang out with her mom. Christmas didn't mean much in the Crock household. Just a time where there was no school and a lot of Dad.

She shook her head. 'Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.' It was a quote from Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens. A early present to herself when she spotted it in a thrift shop during her Christmas shopping.

You started to head into Spencer's, but Artemis snatched your arm. "No."

"Why?" You blinked. Sometimes Artemis wondered if you were also from Mars.

"There will be nothing for her in there, come on." Artemis pulled you along.

You bit your lip. "I don't know where to even start. What does M'gann even like anyway?"

"Conner." She snorted when you seemed to think she was serious. "You can't give her Conner."

"That would have made things easy. I could just put a bow on him." You dodged a family who was running to the mall.

"You're so weird." Artemis crossed her arms. "Let's go here." She walked into a trendy clothing store. It smelled expensive. Artemis' skin crawled.

You glanced around. "I can't give her clothes. She has...clothes that can be anything."

"Just look around!" Artemis snapped. She saw you deflate in the corner of her eye. She should be nicer to you, but...you were so annoying. You moved away from her to look at the wall of perfumes.

Artemis made herself browse at the other side of the store, ignoring price tags and just looking. Like a normal girl.

***

You sniffed at a perfume. It could work for M'gann, except you didn't know if it would be like giving her clothes. You haven't noticed her making a scent when she shifted her clothes.

Biting your lip, you glanced over to find Artemis across the store. She held up a nice brown moto jacket to herself. A hint of a smile on her lips. You smiled too until her face dropped at the sight of the price tag.

"Well, well, well, you went shopping?" A creepy laugh followed. You turned to find Robin in civies with sunglasses over his eyes. He glanced over at Artemis. "With Artemis?"

You slapped a hand over his mouth. "Are you alone?" You looked around wildly. Your heart stopped when you saw Wally, Kaldur, and Roy standing outside the store with big soft pretzels. Kaldur eyed his while Wally and Roy munched down.

Rob pushed your hand away. "We all saw you two sneak off and got concerned since Artemis and you...never mind."

You pursed your lips, wondering what he meant. However, you had other concerns. "Conner and M'gann aren't with you, are they? Please tell me, they aren't?"

Robin snorted. "Those two are occupied." He crossed his arms. "What? Did you have Conner as your secret santa?"

"No, I have M'gann and I don't know what to get her!" You blushed as your eyes filled with tears. "I'm going to mess up Christmas!"

"Woah, stay whelmed." Rob held up his hands. "Deep breaths." He took a deep breath. You copied him. Your heart slowed down. "Why did you wait until last minute?"

"I would have spoiled it through the mind link at some point. You know how I get distracted, so I made myself not think about it until I knew we wouldn't have another mission." You took another deep breath. "And I asked Artemis because she knows a lot...but...you know she's not happy about it." You saw Artemis march over to Roy, Wally, and Kaldur. "But she said yes."

Rob hummed, rocking on his heels. "We can all help you out with that." He nudged your arm. "Come on, I have an idea."

You grinned, skipping after him. Robin always knew what to do, even if he liked to sneak up on people.

***

Kaldur watched as you, Dick, Wally, and Roy headed across the way into another store with bizarre decorations. Artemis groaned and flopped onto a nearby bench. She crossed her arms, muttering how this was all a waste of time.

"Would you like this..." Kaldur held out the untouched pretzel. He didn't like the look of it. Plus seeing Wally dunk it into some plastic-like yellow substance made Kaldur's stomach turn.

Artemis took it and bit a chunk out of it. Kaldur sat down beside her. He looked around at the bright, shiny walls of the mall. The crowds were lightening now as it neared closing time.

"It was kind of you to help (Y/N)." Kaldur smiled as he saw Wally teasing you. You stuck out your tongue in return.

"A mistake. They are so helpless." Artemis took another big bite.

Kaldur's heart fell slightly. He knew Artemis didn't have a high opinion of you and wasn't shy to voice it. She often didn't care if you heard. Kaldur had to comfort you more than once.

"I know (Y/N) can be challenging." Kaldur pursued his lips, carefully choosing his words. "Not everyone is raised with the same experiences. That is what makes the world a more...intriguing place."

Artemis eyed him. She swallowed. "I'm being nice."

Kaldur nodded. "You are." He met Artemis' eye. "(Y/N) thinks a lot of you." You gestured for both of them to join you. Artemis avoided his gaze and yours. Kaldur saw you frown.

"I got to go. Thanks." Artemis stood up suddenly and walked off. Kaldur watched her go with a sigh. He got up and joined you and the others, hoping his words sank in.

***

You brushed away Wally's hand as he reached to tug your hair again. "Where's she going?" You asked as Kaldur approached.

"I believe she is heading home. Her mother was expecting her," Kaldur said kindly. You nodded. Maybe she wanted to get home earlier too? That's probably why she snapped at you.

"I think you could go for something space." Roy held up a metal print of a space nebula.

"Isn't that racist? She's from Mars. It would be like getting Kaldur something from the ocean," you said, waving the print away. "It needs to be good."

Rob tugged you deeper into the store where they had a retro tv show section. Roy followed the two of you, hands deep in his pockets. You noticed Wally and Kaldur stayed back, whispering to each other.

Your face burned as goosebumps appeared on your skin. You hated when you felt like you did something wrong. Was asking Artemis wrong? They didn't need to worry about your feelings.

Honestly, you only cried once. You gotten tougher over the last few months, or at least you waited to cry until you were alone.

"Hey, you with us?" Roy nudged your arm. You gave him a quick smile and moved to look through another stack of metal prints.

Robin and Roy joked with each other. You sighed, moving to the next stack. Kaldur and Wally joined them.

Suddenly, right after you paged through several tv shows you didn't know, you came across a sparkly Hello Megan print.

"Yes!" You held it up like it was priceless.

"Look at that. She'd love it," Wally said, grinning. "And you didn't need anyone's help."

"Well, you did direct me to the right store." You hugged the print of your chest. "She's gonna love it. Too bad Artemis didn't stay to see it."

Roy scoffed, but Kaldur quickly elbowed him in the side. "She'll see it when we open gifts tomorrow," Roy said, rubbing his side.

You hummed, studying the print again. "It's perfect. Good thing you four stalked us to the mall." Robin and Kaldur blushed. Roy just smirked.

"Hey, I wanted to come to the mall anyway." Wally shrugged. You narrowed your eyes knowingly. He blushed as red as his hair.

"He really just wanted to follow Artemis," Roy mumbled in your ear before flopping an arm around your shoulders to lead you toward the checkout. "Come on, let's buy this thing and head out."

You let Roy pull you along, giggling in delight.

As you all headed out of the closing mall, you passed the clothing store you went in with Artemis. The moto jacket was still there. You bit your lip.

"(Y/N), are you coming?" Kaldur asked when he noticed you stopped. Robin and Wally were teasing each other. Roy stopped with you.

"I need to make another stop. Like really fast." You flashed them a smile and headed into the store.

***

"Ekam ti elkraps," Zatanna said, waving her hands. The Christmas tree in the center of the living room lit up. You clapped your hands.

"Thanks Zat. The lights were getting the best of me." You laughed, tossing the jumble of Christmas lights back into the box.

"No problem." She sneezed. Zatanna had been down with a cold for the last two weeks. She was finally back on her feet just in time for Christmas.

You were glad, especially since this was her first Christmas without her dad. It was your job to keep her busy per Black Canary's request. Of course, keeping people busy was your specialty.

Zatanna stared at the tree. You saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes. "Alright." You clapped your hands. She looked back at you, blinking rapidly. "I think all this work calls for some Christmas cookies."

"But those are for the party?" Zatanna crossed her arms. A genuine smile on her lips.

"Yeah, but we also decorated the place for M'gann, so the least she could do is let us have some early. Besides, Wally will eat them all if we don't get some now." You led her to the kitchen where M'gann was pulling more cookies out of the oven.

You made sure to not think about your gift for her, just in case she was listening to your thoughts.

M'gann's back was turned as you went to the cooling rack and stole two snickerdoodles with red and green sugar. Zatanna pointed to the M&M cookies and you took two of those too.

"You could ask," M'gann said without turning around.

"What?" Your eyes widened. You quickly handed the cookies to Zatanna. "Ask what?"

M'gann turned to look at you. She smiled and shook her head. "Enjoy your cookies and thank you doing the decorations."

Zatanna and you shared a look before giggling. "Thanks M'gann," Zatanna said as you both slipped away.

You took a big bite of cookie. Zatanna nibbled on hers. You both sat down on the couch in the living area and watched the tree sparkle away.

"Z, did you cast a spell on the tree?" Artemis came around the corner. She saw you and you saw a flicker of emotion in her eyes. You didn't know what that meant.

"Yeah, the lights got the better of us," Zatanna laughed, offering Artemis her other cookie. Artemis took it and sat down next to Zatanna.

You wanted to ask her if she was okay or at least thank her for yesterday, but you knew she wouldn't take it well. Besides, M'gann might overhear that you went shopping.

So you stayed quiet, listening in as Artemis and Zatanna talked.

***

"This is amazing!" M'gann gasped as she ripped off the paper to reveal the Hello Megan print.

You tittered, rocking back and forth while hugging your knees to your chest. You sat on the floor of the living area with Wally, Zatanna, and Robin. Artemis, Kaldur, Conner, M'gann, and Roy took the couch and chairs.

Wally poked your side. "She's gonna know it's from you if you keep doing that."

"They're excited. Shut up," Zatanna hissed, poking Wally. You took a deep breath and tried to calm down. However, you still felt like you could burst.

M'gann hugged the print to her chest. "Thank you so much, (Y/N)!" She looked at you. You grinned back.

"Wow, that was a quick guess." Roy rolled his eyes at your giddiness.

"(Y/N) broadcasted their delight. Like almost screaming it." M'gann laughed, handing the print to Conner before flying over to give you a big hug.

You hugged her back, giggling uncontrollably. "I'm glad you love it!"

M'gann pulled back and sat back next to Conner. Conner put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. Your heart melted. Those two were always so cute.

"Not cool at all," Artemis muttered under her breath. You glanced at her to find her shaking her head at you. A jolt ran through you, but you quickly turned to blink away the burn in your eyes.

"Who's next?" Robin asked, looking around.

The exchanged continued. You played with the edge of your cozy blanket you had received as your gift. Taking a deep breath, you forced a smile on your face. You wouldn't cry on Christmas.

***

Artemis yawned as she made her way toward the zeta tube. Her new set of books under her arm. The party had died down. Artemis was the first to head home. Her mother was waiting for her.

"Hey Artemis," you said. She heard you jogging up behind her. She had to hold back the eye roll before turning.

"Yes?" She hugged her books to her chest. You stumbled a bit, tripping over the blanket you had wrapped around you.

"I..." You coughed, blushing slightly. "I wanted to thank you for coming shopping with me yesterday."

Irritation crawled up inside her. "You're welcome." She kept her face blank.

You smiled a little. Artemis took a deep breath at the moment of silence.

"Well, Merry Christmas." You pulled a nicely wrapped package from under your blanket and held it out.

Artemis flinched, blinking. "What's that?"

"A present." You bit your lip, looking down shyly. "For you. I know you...think I'm annoying. I'm working on it, I promise." You glanced back up at her. Artemis couldn't stop the guilt that sank her stomach. "Anyway, I hope you like it."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "I got to get home."

"Yeah, have a good night." You waved, backing away before tripping over your blanket.

Artemis shook her head as you rushed back out of the room. She looked down at the present. It was nicely wrapped. Guess they aren't clumsy about everything, she thought.

She sighed before ripping it open. Her jaw dropped to the floor when she found the soft leather of the expensive brown moto jacket inside.

Setting her books on the ground, she slipped on the jacket. It felt smooth like butter. She hugged herself.

"Nice jacket," Wally said, walking into the room with a gift bag in hand. "Where you get it?"

Artemis pursed her lips. Rot ate her up inside. "(Y/N)."

Wally whistled. "It looks amazing, babe." He grinned. "(Y/N) must really like you. I know when I first met them, they gave me a PlayStation. I couldn't believe it."

"Really?" Artemis played with the sleeve of the jacket. "I should give this back to them."

"No, you'll just make them feel bad. They wanted you to have it." Wally held up his hands. "Listen, (Y/N) really cares about what you think of them." Artemis' eyes widened slightly. "So maybe...just try to be a little nicer to them...not that you're not." Wally blushed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "I know I'm not, Baywatch." She let out of breath, admitting she always noticed that you took any comment she said hard. How many times had she made you cry? "I'll be nicer."

Wally grinned, nudging her arm. "Thanks."

Artemis punched his arm back. Wally dodged it, laughing. She snorted and picked up her books before trying to get him.

***

The next time you saw Artemis, she was wearing the jacket. You actually started jumping with excitement. However, you forced yourself to be cool as she approached you.

"Thanks for the jacket. I needed a new one." She met your eye before giving you a genuine smile. You felt your eyes widen as you couldn't recall another time she smiled at you.

"You're welcome." A big grin pulled at your lips. You rocked on your heels.

Artemis walked away to go to talk to Zatanna, who was across the cave with Robin. You watched her go, letting yourself bounce a little with glee.

M'gann flew up beside you and gave you a hug. You hugged her back. "Try to get back to whelmed," she whispered in your ear. You nodded, taking a deep breath. However, you felt that you could maybe count Artemis as a friend and nothing could be better than that.

#young justice'#young justice imagine #young justice x reader #dc comics imagines #dc reader insert #artemis crock #artemis crock imagine #artemis #artemis imagine #christmas #yj x reader #yj imagine

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only-lonely-stars · 3 years

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The Future is Bright, Chapter 6

[Chapter 1 (Beginning)] // [Chapter 5] // [Chapter 6 - you are here!] // [Chapter 7] // [Chapter 10 (End)] (FFN)

Cole now knows what he’s seen, but he still doesn’t know what it means. There’s still so much to know, and the mystery is centered in Shintaro. Good thing he has an ally who can help him find answers!

Summary: What would happen if Cole had indeed had a reflection in the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master? How would that have changed his life later? What would it have been? This story follows what might have happened if he had seen something, and what it was; who he would have become. What if his future was already decided?... (Rated T for safety. Alternate title: the Cosmic Spoilers AU.)

Chapter 6: Drawing Conclusions

With the drawing from the First Master's tomb in tow, Cole hadn't wasted much time in going back to Shintaro, and had left a couple of days later. If he had any luck– assuming luck was real, like destiny apparently was– it would be enough to help him find whoever he was meant to find. Then it was just a matter of dealing with whatever that was.

When he at last arrived back in Shintaro, Vania greeted Cole with an enthusiastic hug, almost knocking him over. "Cole! It's good to see you!"

Cole laughed and hugged back, grinning. "Good to see you too, Queenie! I missed you!"

She beamed at him just as widely, almost vibrating in her excitement. "What's going on? I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon!"

He nodded, brushing his hair back. "I had something I needed to talk to you about, and I figured in-person was better than a letter."

Immediately, her brow creased with worry. "Something to talk about? Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all!" He put up his hands defensively. "It's okay– everything's completely okay. I just wanted to talk to you about something that happened, and maybe get your opinions on it? If it's not a problem, that is."

"Oh! No, it's not a problem! I love talking to you." She turned her head questioning. "Did you want to talk somewhere private, or just anywhere?"

"Somewhere private, I think." He smiled awkwardly. "It's kind of... personal."

"I can do that!" She clapped her hands. "Follow me!"

Cole did as she asked, and she led him into the palace. They followed a few hallways, going deep into the palace, until they at last stopped in a private room with a fireplace. She shut the doors behind them, and together they sat on a couch before the fireplace.

When they were at last comfortable, she smiled at him. "So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

He sighed. "Okay, so I have to explain a little bit before I can get to it, but I'm kind of wondering if you can help me figure something out. It has to do with Shintaro."

"Okay." She nodded. "What do you need to know?"

"Well…" He shrugged. "I guess I kind of need to know about Shintaro customs, and stuff. There's a bit of a backstory to why I need to know."

"Go ahead and tell it," she urged him enthusiastically. "I have plenty of time, don't skimp on the details."

"Okay." He sighed, relaxing a little and managing a smile. He was just talking to Vania. There was nothing scary about that: she wouldn't judge him. "So, you probably heard about what happened a few years ago in Stiix, right?"

"Of course. All those ghosts!" She laughed. "That's one of the stories we heard about the soonest, I think."

"Probably, it was a big deal." He found himself talking with his hands as well as his voice, waving them around a bit. "Anyway, right before that, we were dealing with Morro. He wanted to get the Realm Crystal to summon the Preeminent. Still sound familiar?"

"Yeah, completely!" She leaned forward, invested. "What about it? Did you stop him?"

"We had to find it before he did– not that we succeeded, but it was okay." He thought back to the events. "It was hidden in the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb, and he made it only accessible to Spinjitzu Masters like him. Morro had possessed Lloyd so he could get in."

"That's terrible!" She frowned. "Is he okay after that?"

"He's okay." Cole smiled at her concern. "This was years ago, remember?"

"If you say so. I just wanted to make sure." She smiled back.

Cole chuckled. "Well, that's sweet of you."

She smiled a little more. "I try."

He grinned back. "Okay. When we got there, we found a bunch of traps that only Spinjitzu Masters could survive. One was this huge maze of ice– and when I say huge, I mean huge. Gigantic."

"A maze of ice? Wouldn't that melt?" She frowned in confusion. "Unless it was enchanted…"

"Maybe, I don't know. Whatever it was, it wasn't just normal ice." He paused, attempting to describe it. "When you look at your reflection in the ice wall, it shows you a reflection of your future self, and when we made our way through, I saw mine."

She gasped, staring at him in rapt attention. "You're kidding. It shows the future?"

"Yup."

That's– that's incredible! It must have been fascinating!" She grinned brightly. "Future vision sounds incredible!"

"It's really cool- no pun intended. It kind of showed me that I was going to be human again, which was really nice. Made it easier to deal with being a ghost."

"I can imagine." She leaned in a little closer. "Speaking of which, what was it like being a ghost?"

He chuckled. "Numb, really. You don't feel anything, just kind of cold. Not on my list of top ten recommended experiences."

"Probably not." She sat back, trying to control her excitement, but still clearly enamored with the story. "So… did you just see yourself as human? How does that connect to Shintaro?"

"I'm getting there." He pulled out his sketchbook as he spoke. "When we saw our reflections, Kai, Zane, and Jay saw themselves dressed like senseis. Jay even saw Nya with him, which was just proof that they've always been meant to be. Thing is, I didn't see the same thing." He flipped to the right page and handed it over. "Jay, Nya and I went back last week to take another look, and I drew what mine looked like."

She took the sketchbook gently and examined the drawing, tracing the lines with a light touch. A soft smile bloomed on her face. "You're an incredible artist," she commented.

"Thanks. I'm okay." He smiled, watching her look at it with that sweet look on her face. "So… what do you think?"

She hummed. "Well, it looks like Shintaran robes, obviously."

"Yeah, it does." He shrugged. "I don't know what the heck I saw, but I've kind of been on edge about it since we first visited. Do you know anything about what it means?"

"Hm…" She looked at him, and then back at the drawing, and held it up to compare. "Well… I can kind of tell some things." She examined it a little more closely. "In this, you're wearing white and blue. That's something not many Shintarans wear, because it's the royal colors, but it's not unheard of for non-royals if they want to emulate the royals. Plus, you're wearing your own crest, not the royal one."

"Wait, there's a royal crest?" He looked at her quizzically. "I've never seen it."

"Oh, absolutely!" She smiled at him, brushing her bangs out of the way. "It's a spear and some clouds. You might've seen it around the palace somewhere if you looked close enough."

"I don't know." He laughed. "Last time I was here, I spent most of my time underground."

"That's fair." She laughed too and looked back down, pointing at the sketch to direct him. "See your belt? That's where you might wear your crest in Shintaran formal wear."

"Huh! It's still my dragon..."

"Yep. Either that's the crest you stuck with for just yourself if you came here, or that's the crest your family would take on. Either way, it's not unheard of either." Her brow furrowed. "That said, the style of robes is pretty impractical for everyday wear. This is formal clothing, like I said, so I think it's probably likely that it's royal clothing. That explains the colors better."

His heart caught in his chest. "Royal clothing? Are you saying I become part of the royal family?"

"If you got married and your yin was a Shintaran royal, yes." She smiled up at him again. "Sounds like you'll be moving up in the world."

"Huh." He smiled faintly, head spinning with the possible meanings and making him feel a little dizzy. He had thoughts about how little he knew of Shintaro, yet it was clear how much this meant here… was there extended royalty in the Shintaran royal family?

Eventually, he found his voice. "That's… that's a thought."

"I bet it is." Her smile formed into yet another infectious grin. "That said, it would be awesome!"

That threw him for a loop. "Huh? How come?"

"Because then you'd live here! Then we could see each other all the time!" she chirped. "I mean, it's obviously not great to leave Ninjago, because that's your home and you love it and you've always protected it, but it would be amazing to have you around! You'd love to live here in Shintaro, I guarantee it."

He shrugged. "Oh, I wouldn't know... I haven't put much thought into that part of it."

"Maybe you should."

"Maybe…" He reached over and pointed at a gold smudge on the paper next to the sketch of himself. "Okay, see that?"

"Yeah. Is that supposed to be there?"

"Yep. The ice walls sometimes show other people, too, but all I saw was a blur. It's my one clue to whoever my yin is supposed to be. She's got really bright blonde hair– just like yours, actually." He shrugged. "I don't know how common that color of hair is here, but either way it narrows it down."

"It's not that common," she noted. "I haven't met many other people with the same color. Most people here are brunette."

"Then it's even easier."

The conversation fell quiet, and a familiar anxiety crept back into his mind. His mind spun tales of the possibilities, some of which he dared not even think... but he was snapped from his thoughts when he felt Vania's hand on his arm. "Cole? Are you okay?"

He laughed humorlessly and nodded, shaking himself. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I'm just– it's a lot to think about."

"I can imagine." She smiled compassionately. "I know you haven't really liked the idea of a relationship– just about everyone knows that. It must be pretty hard, knowing in the future you've got that, despite how much you don't want it yet."

He nodded. "Yeah, uh, you hit the nail on the head." He brushed his hair back anxiously. "I don't do relationships; never have, actually. Now the creator of entire realms has given me cosmic spoilers and told me I'm marrying someone from another country. It's hard to process."

"I'd bet it is." She nodded along with his story. "Having your future set for you before you get to it isn't fun."

"You must know about that, right?"

She let her hand rest on his arm comfortingly. "I do. I didn't really ever get told I could be anything but the queen in the future. It made some things easier, but others harder." She laughed quietly. "I can't imagine what it must be like to be told that, but about whoever you're going to end up marrying."

"Yeah, that's it. I don't know what to do, if I'm honest."

"Well, you could do a couple things." She shrugged, letting go of his arm.

"What do you mean?" He leaned in, listening intently.

Vania giggled at his blatant interest, and then began counting on her fingers. "One: you ignore it. Not the best idea, in my opinion, but it would work for a little bit. The future comes to pass whether we want it to or not."

"Yeah, definitely can't just expect it not to happen. Already tried that." He smiled.

"Yeah, exactly." She smiled back. "Two: you wait. You can let it happen in its own due time and do other things now, instead. Instead of pushing it and trying to find her, you can let her find you."

"But that'd leave it hanging over my head," he dismissed. "That's happened for long enough already, too."

"I figured you'd say that." She laughed quietly. "Three: you start looking for her now with what you know. She's got to be a noble or royal, and since she's blonde, you've got plenty of clues." She shrugged absently. "Of course, you could be wrong about part of it, and get mixed up, but you could try at least."

He nodded, thinking it over. Would it be worth it to look for her? Of course, there was always the possibility that he, Jay and Nya had been wrong. What if he was wrong? Or… what if she was right under his nose? What if they were right?

He sighed. "I guess I should figure out who it is, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm right about what I actually saw."

"Well…" She paused. "You drew it while looking at it, didn't you?"

"I did." He shook his head. "I just– my mind's playing tricks on me. I kind of wish I could see it again, but a third visit, and going alone at that, doesn't sound like much fun."

She hummed. "You have a point… I must admit, I'm extremely curious. It sounds fascinating to see the future!"

"It really is." Would it be worth it to go alone?...

She closed the sketchbook and handed it back. "Well… what if I come with you? We can look at it together and figure out what we're doing to find your yin."

"Really?" He took the book back. "You'd want to see it? I thought you wouldn't want to."

"Sure! It sounds fascinating, and I'd love to know a little more about my future, even though it's already mostly laid out for me. It would be another adventure!" She grinned. "That is, if you don't mind me coming along?"

"No, I'd be happy to bring you!" He grinned back. "That place is a little creepy when you're alone, seeing as it's a tomb."

"Well then, let's make it not creepy!" She got to her feet gracefully, seemingly energetic. "Let me just change and talk to Hailmar, and then I'm ready to go. We can make a day of it."

"Okay. It's a bit of a trip, dress warmly." He pocketed the sketchbook.

"Will do!" she chirped. "Make yourself at home! I'll come find you when I'm ready."

"Okay." Instinctively he wanted to come with her, but he kept himself back. There wasn't a reason to follow her, just that... well, she was the one he came to visit, but it would only be a little wait. There wasn't a need to miss her already.

Having gotten his thoughts in order, Cole stayed in the room and took the book out. As he looked at the sketch, his thoughts swirled in confusion. Who was this blonde royal he was supposed to be marrying? His suspicions fit too perfectly… but was it what he suspected?

#ninjago #ninjago fanfic #ninjago au #ninjago cole #ninjago vania #cole brookstone #princess vania #vania #cole x vania #vania x cole #colania #vanillacake #vanillacakeshipping #OLST fanfic #the future is bright #fun fact: I had a heck of a time formatting this #and it took me a LONG time to find Chapter 5 on my own blog #but the links must be respected!

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slytherinbarnes · 4 years

Text

Sub Rosa [42]

xiii. join or die

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 3.0k

Warnings: a lil angst, a lil drugging for safe passage.

Summary: the search for Luna begins, and you and Bellamy share a moment.

a/n: HELLO FRIENDS I AM ALIVE AND I AM BACK! WHICH MEANS SUB ROSA IS BACK TOO! so sorry I missed wednesday’s upload, but ya girl had no power or internet or 4g so there was literally nothing I could do. please read and enjoy number 42! we are nearing the end of s3, can you believe it?! anyways, I love u all you lil moons, and I hope you’re well! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

Bellamy maneuvers the rover through the woods as fast he dares, adjusting course every now and then according to the map in Octavia’s hands.

This ride is one of the quiet ones, everyone tense with the idea that you might fail to find Luna, and fail to save your people. You turn and glance back at Clarke, who is sitting behind Bellamy, next to Jasper, turning the Flame over and over between her fingers. You can't tell what she’s thinking, but you’re sure it’s about Lexa, her expression sad and worried.

Octavia spends much of the ride looking out of the small window on the back door, making sure Bellamy is following her directions. Bellamy sits wrapped up in quiet intensity, eyes locked only on the road around you. Jasper keeps checking the map and worrying over the distance, a fact that he reminds you of now. “It's been an hour since we passed the airplane wreckage. Seeing as we're using a map without any distances, it could be days before we reach the village.”

Bellamy’s gaze never leaves the road as he offers, “At least we know we're going in the right direction.”

“We're running out of daylight. We should stop in the sun and recharge the battery.”

You glance out the window at the rain that has been falling since the funeral last night, the clouds blocking any light from the sun. You mutter, “What sun?”

Clarke backs you up. “We keep going until it dies.”

Octavia turns away from the back, glancing at Clarke and correcting her. “We keep going until we get to Luna.”

Jasper gazes down at the map again, before looking over at Octavia. “What do you think she's gonna say when we show up asking to put an AI in her head?”

“Lincoln said she helps those that are in trouble. She'll help us too.”

Bellamy abruptly slams on the breaks, trying to avoid a fallen tree in your path, and the rover slides along the wet ground for a second before lurching to a stop. The move jostles all of you inside, and you brace yourself against the door the best you can, trying to prevent your head from slamming into the dashboard of the vehicle.

You all gaze out the windshield at the tree, and Jasper mumbles, “You think she can help us find a better map?”

“We'll backtrack. Find somewhere where the trees aren't so-”

Bellamy is cut off by the sound of the back door opening, and you all turn just in time to see Octavia jump from the back, grabbing her pack and heading into the trees. You glance over at him and sigh, “Guess we're going on foot.”

You all bail out after her, grabbing your things, the rain chilling you to the bone as soon as you step out into it. Octavia takes off running and Clarke takes off behind her, the rest of you struggling to catch up until they abruptly stop and Octavia yells, “You hear that?”

You all freeze in place, listening hard over the sound of the rain, and as soon as you hear it, Clarke turns back to meet your gaze. You both answer, “Water.”

Octavia takes off again with Clarke right behind her, and their excitement reaches you, pushing you into movement. You follow behind them, ignoring Bellamy’s cry at your retreating figures, “Eyes sharp, they could be hostile.”

Octavia reaches the top of the hill, and turns to offer you and Clarke a hand as she yells back to her brother, “They're not hostile. Put the guns down!”

You all follow her as she leads you to a rushing river, the water churning harshly within it. She runs alongside the river, until it takes you to the edge of the forest, the woods opening up on a small shoreline and a large body of water. Octavia stops at the edge of the woods, eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of the village. “Where's the village?”

But there’s nothing there, other than a small circle of stacked rocks, and water that stretches far beyond what your eyes can see. Octavia pulls out Lincoln’s notebook, checking the map, and you all crowd around her to see. She lifts her fingers to a drawing near the lower right hand corner of the notebook, the sketch matching the stacked rocks nearby on the shore. She whispers, “No, it can't be.”

She runs over to the rocks, following the line of the shore, and you all follow, stopping when you reach the center of the circle.

“It isn't a village. It's just a bunch of rocks.”

Clarke whispers, “She's gone.”

Jasper looks between you, confused. “What do we do now?”

None of you say anything, just as unsure as the person next to you. Your eyes fall on Bellamy, but his gaze is locked on something behind you. You turn and look, seeing that Octavia has now wandered to the edge of the shore. She drops to her knees, looks up at the sky, and lets out a long, drawn out cry of frustration. You all watch her, feeling the same way.

Octavia returns back to the group shortly, giving out instructions on what you need for a fire. She sends you and Bellamy out for firewood, which Clarke stacks, and her and Jasper work on starting the actual fire. As you and Bellamy return with two armfuls of wood and set them down beside Clarke, you watch Octavia get a spark on her kindling. She carefully transfers it over to Clarke’s wood pile, and blows on the sparks until they grow into a flame. You look down at her, impressed, and Clarke nods in satisfaction. “Good. Okay, it'll be dark soon. We need to talk about what we're gonna do.”

Octavia is the first to answer. “We wait until first light, then we split up and search the shore in both directions.”

“I agree. Lincoln wouldn't have put this spot on the map unless it was important.” Bellamy reaches down to grab Lincoln’s notebook to look over the map, but as his fingers close around it, Octavia knocks it out of his hand and snaps, “Don't touch that!”

You and Bellamy exchange a look before he kneels beside Octavia, whispering, “Come on, O. How long?”

“I don't know, I can't even look at you. Because every time I do, I see Pike putting that gun to Lincoln's head. I hear the gunshot. I see him fall.”

You feel the heavy weight of grief as the memory flashes through your head, but you quickly shake it away as Bellamy counters, “I didn't kill Lincoln.”

“No, but he is dead because of you!”

Bellamy stands, and you can tell he’s upset, his body immediately tense. You all look away from the feuding siblings, trying to pretend you can't hear every word they’re exchanging. “I came to you, but you didn't take my help. If you had just trusted me I'd-”

Bellamy cuts himself off when Octavia breaks a stick and turns away from him, letting him know that she’s no longer interested in the conversation. He turns and walks off sadly, and you stand to follow him, but you pause in your tracks when the fire flashes green. You turn to look at it, Octavia and Clarke doing the same, before you all turn to look at Jasper. “What did you just do?”

“Nothing.” He shrugs, then lifts a small branch. “I just threw these in the fire.”

You see a look of recognition pass over Octavia’s face before she frantically grabs the notebook, and you ask, “What is it?”

She pulls the notebook open to the map, and pulls out a small plant pressed between the pages. She looks at it for a second, before tossing it into the fire, making it glow green again. You all exchange an excited look and laugh, mostly in shock, as Octavia mutters, “Signal fire. He was trying to tell us that this is how we contact Luna.”

Jasper stands from his spot, “I'll get more.”

You glance over at Bellamy, who is now further down the shoreline, looking out at the water, before looking back to your twin. You nod his way and she nods in return, before jogging off behind Jasper, “I’ll help!”

You trudge along the shoreline towards your boyfriend, your boots sinking into the wet sand slightly, making you stumble at times. He doesn’t look up as you approach, just looks out at the water and the darkening sky above it.

You come to a stop beside him, following his gaze to the rapidly setting sun, aided by the cover of the rain clouds. You stand in silence for a long while, until he whispers, “I've lost her.”

If you there were any more space between you, you wouldn't have heard the words. You turn towards him, already shaking your head. “Give her time, Bellamy. There may be blood on your hands, but it's not Lincoln's.”

He turns to look at you now, and you can see tears glinting in his eyes. “Some of it is.”

“You didn't want that to happen, and you tried to stop it.” You glance back at the fire, seeking out Octavia, who is still throwing branches into the fire, before turning back to him. “Octavia will forgive you eventually. The question is, will you forgive yourself?”

“Forgiveness is hard for us.”

You reach out for him, remembering the night that Dax tried to kill him. “If you need forgiveness to forgive yourself, I’ll give that to you. You’re forgiven, Bellamy, for everything. And if I have to tell you this everyday until you forgive yourself and stop feeling guilty, then I will. Because you’ve made mistakes, but that’s not who you are. We’ve all done terrible things for the people that we love, but those things don't define us.”

He nods, and the tears finally spill over and fall down his cheeks. He surprises you by pulling you into a hug, one of the first instances of affection he's allowed himself since you found him chained up in the cave. As his face is buried into the crook of your neck, he whispers, “Tell me about the stars.”

The request sends a rush of emotion running through you, the words unsaid in the last few weeks, despite the chaos that has been warring in Bellamy’s mind. As you pull away to tell him, you sense movement to your left, in the water, and you turn to glance that way. Bellamy does the same, and both of you share a look of alarm at the sight of people coming out of the water, weapons trained on you. Bellamy reaches for his gun and you reach for your knife, but neither of your hands make it to your weapons because you are both pulled to the ground by unseen forces behind you.

They bind and gag you both, before pulling you to your feet and leading you over to the others. A small group runs ahead into the clearing, lifting their weapons towards Octavia, Clarke, and Jasper, and they all scramble to their feet as Octavia lifts her hands in surrender and yells, “No, no, it's okay.”

You and Bellamy are pushed into the clearing and knocked down to your knees, and Clarke looks over at you in panic. You nod your head, letting her know you're okay, just as one of the Grounders steps closer to Octavia. “Chon yu bilaik? Hakom yu don flag raun?”

Who are you? You’re able to translate his first question, but not his second. Luckily, Octavia’s answer gives you a good idea of what he was asking. “Ai laik Okteivia kom Skaikru en ai gaf gouthru klir.”

I am Octavia of the Sky People, and I seek safe passage. That’s when you realize, he must be asking why you signaled. As soon as the Grounder realizes you’re Skaikru, he switches to English. “Skaikru, bringers of death. Why should we give you safe passage?”

“Lincoln. He sent us.”

Even in death, his name holds power, because the man freezes in place before turning to the two Grounders behind you and Bellamy. “Ban emo gaga we, en lus ‘mo meika au.”

You don’t need to translate the words, because they immediately free your hands and pull you both to your feet. You both pull your gags from your mouths, and Bellamy turns to Octavia, quickly whispering, “What's going on?”

“I don't know.”

The man reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small pouch full of vials. He passes one to each of you, the cloudy yellow liquid swirling within the bottle as Clarke asks, “What is that?”

“Safe passage.”

Jasper gives the man an inquisitive look. “What does it do?”

He says nothing, just passes the bottle to Jasper, who takes it. Octavia uncaps the bottle and immediately pours it down her throat as Bellamy protests, “Octavia, wait!”

“I trust Lincoln.”

The Grounder looks at the rest of you. “If only she drinks, only she goes.”

Jasper glances over at the rest of you. “See you on the other side.”

And then he swallows the contents of his bottle. Clarke comes to stand at your side, all of you looking between each other when Ocatvia suddenly drops to the ground, out cold. Jasper mutters, “Oh crap.” And then he is the next to fall.

You, Bellamy, and Clarke all look between each other and your two fallen friends as the Grounder watches you. “Last chance.”

The warning is enough to put you in gear, and you look between your lover and your twin. “Together?”

You uncap your bottle and they follow suit, both whispering, “Together.”

You all swallow the liquid, and you wince slightly as the bitter liquid washes over your tongue and down your throat. You lower yourself to the ground, tugging the other two down with you, all of you staring at each other, waiting to slip under. Clarke is the first to fall back, her eyelids fluttering before she hits the ground. You turn and look at Bellamy, your vision closing in around you, watching as his eyelids flutter too. You both fall back at the same time, reaching out for each other as the world grows black.

You wake up feeling warm.

Your eyelids feel heavy as you pry them open, and you realize the warmth is from being pressed between Clarke and Bellamy’s sleeping bodies. They wake up at the same time, and you can hear Jasper and Octavia stirring nearby.

Your head feels heavy as you look around, trying to gather your bearings, unable to tell anything other than the fact you’re in some sort of rusty metal box, and sunlight is streaming in through various holes around you. You pull yourself to a sitting position, watching as the others do the same, and Bellamy rasps, “Where the hell are we?”

Octavia reaches back, looking for her weapon. “My sword's gone.”

Your eyes fall on the empty holster on your thigh, and you mutter, “My knife is too.”

Clarke digs in her jacket, pulling out the box for the Flame, sliding the lid back to ensure that it’s still there. You see her sag with relief, so you know it’s still in place, and she tucks it back inside her jacket. Octavia starts to pound on the walls, panicking, and a second later, a door at the end of the box swings open, letting in a flood of bright sunlight.

You all have to lift your hands to shield your eyes, watching as a backlit figure walks inside the space, towards you. As she gets closer and you can get a good look at her, her curly hair and smooth skin, fabric billowing around her from the soft breeze that accompanies her, Octavia simply states, “Luna.”

Luna looks between all of you, before her eyes stop on Octavia. “Where’s Lincoln?”

“Lincoln’s dead.”

Clarke adds, “Lincoln said that you would help us.”

Her head cocks to the side. “Did he?”

“Luna, you're the last of your kind. The last nightblood.”

A faraway look passes over her face. “So Lexa is dead as well.”

“Her spirit has chosen you to become the next Commander. Titus entrusted me with the Flame to give to you.”

Luna answers Clarke slowly, as if she’s speaking to a child. “Then he should have told you that I left my conclave, swearing to never kill again.”

“You don't have to kill. To lead is your birthright, how you lead is your choice.”

She reaches into her jacket, pulling out the container for the Flame. She slides the lid back, revealing it to Luna. “I recognize the sacred symbol, but what is that?”

Clarke pulls the Flame out of its container, holding it in her hand, trying to pass it to Luna. “This is the Flame. It holds the spirits of the Commanders. Of Lexa. Will you take it and become the next Commander?”

“No.” She closes Clarke’s fingers over the Flame, before turning and leaving the box, walking out into the bright sunshine.

You all exchange a worried look before running after her, yelling, “Wait!”

As you step out into the sun, you have to blink against it a few times, allowing your eyes to adjust. When they do, you finally see why the sun is so bright. Because it is reflected off the water around you, the ocean, stretching out on all sides of you. You spin in place, looking out at the horizon, searching for land, but finding nothing other than bright blue waves.

You see the others at your side, doing the same, all of you in awe of your surroundings. You glance back at the box that was holding you prisoner, recognizing it as a symbol from the past: a shipping container. Upon further inspection of the structure all around you, you realize where you are. You turn to the others, voice full of awe, as you tell them, “It’s an oil rig. Luna’s clan lives on an oil rig.”

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 rewrite #the 100 fanfiction #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader

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apenapaperandadoofus · 3 years

Note

You don't actually have to answer all these if you don't want to I have a lot and I'm trying to be picky with questions but I failed XD

6, 12, 16, 20, 21, 24, 33, 46, 47, 49, 56, 57, 58, 65, 70, 63, 76, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 95, 97, 98

Oh boy AJSHSHS it's fine hehe

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

- I've no idea, mostly preppy and casual? When I was a kid I used to go full tomboy style but recently I've been wearing skirts and dresses ✌️

12. name of your favorite playlist?

-I have two favorite ones that I've made, one is the classical/instrumental/inspirational/writing one that's called Super Sound Collection, and the other one is just for all my other songs, it's called 💕✨Sue but make it aside❤️🎊😉

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

-Oof I don't like sitting lmaooo, maybe with my legs crossed, or leaning against something!

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

-Oof for writing book ideas it's in a notebook, when I write the requests and such it's always on tumblr, sometimes on draft and sometimes I just whip it out and post it there and then ajsjdbdb, don't really like writing on my computer bc i write faster in my phone (and it's easier to do it in my bed with the lights off lol)

21. obsession from childhood?

-Hmmmm Monster High? And maybe also Dork Diaries, I have all of them until the 9th (idk if there's more ajshdb) also maybe Diary of a Wimpy kid, which I have till the 12th, one day my great great grandkids are going to be so happy I never threw them out lol

24. favorite crystal?

-OH OK! So rubies and also esmerald (that how you say it? The green ones lol), bc their colour is just so pretty and vibrant and I love it! So pretty (i don't really know any more crystals lol sorry for being so basic ajsjsjs)

33. most used phrase in your phone?

-Se me hace una falta de respeto, which I use with my friends. It's basically means "this is so disrespectful/I feel so offended rn" which we always use joking hehe.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

-Well my dad has been loosing like a loooot of weight these past few years and he just gives me the shirts he doesn't want to wear or just don't fit him anymore lol, I use them all as pj's and it's super fun and comforting! Also they're super big on me which is 100/10

47. favorite type of cheese?

-Ish, idk I am not like a super big fan of cheese....the only one I stand it's mozzarella lol

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

-if you kill yourself, people you don't know or like are going to act as if they were your friends and milk the situation, so stay alive out of pure spite

56. favorite tradition?

-Whenever it's Christmas my whole family gets together, we go to grandma's house, bake cookies, exchange gifts, make tamales and then my uncle and cousins do a small sketch, where they act or sing or dance etc etc. I used to be part of all of them until I became a teen, then I was too cool for that shit lolol but since there are still little kids in the family we keep doing it for them :D

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

-Uhhh living in another country without being able to speak english uhh...the other ones are struggles I haven't overcome ajsjsjsjaybe I've gotten a bit more chill with le ✨ anxiety ✨ and ✨depression✨ but they still come up sometimes ahsbs

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

-I DON'T HAVE ANY ANSNSBSBS I GUESS I CAN EASILY MEMORIZE SONG LYRICS? BUT THAT'S ALL I CAN'T REALLY DO ANYTHING ELSE AJSHSB MAYBE BEING ABLE TO EAT 30 BROWNIES IN A DAY WITHOUT BEING SICK

63. five songs that would play in your club?

-Hmmmm One Punch OP (f it lol), bohemian rhapsody, somebody to love, shut up and dance (a classic) and maybe killing kind? Idk I don't listen to much club music lmao it'd be the most boring club everrrr

65. any permanent scars?

-Uhhh tw I guess but uh- (we boutta get depressed in here y'all) self harm ones ajsjsjs I have a few that still haven't faded out and probably never will. Also scratches from my cat HOW ARE THEY SO STRONG LMAOOOO and emotional scars from school and shit (I may have added new physical ones to the collection from falling last time during PE 💀💀)

70. left or right handed?

- I'm left handed, the only one in my family lol, and everybody always seems so surprised for some reason??

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

-French fries, chips and mashed potatoes lol

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

- I've actually only seen fireflies once, and they were pretty cool so I'll go with them :0

85. fairy tales or mythology?

-BOTHHHH ALL THE WAYYYY

86. cookies or cupcakes?

-Depends, but probably cupcakes, only if they're chocolate ones and maybe have chips.

87. your greatest fear?

-Being a ✨failure✨ and also the sea and space, fuck that shit (IM SORRY LMAO ITS JUST SO SCARY!!)

88. your greatest wish?

-I wanna be someone my parents and family are proud of, also to have a bunch of kids and my own library room one day :0

95. favorite app on your phone?

-I like tiktok ajsjdjd, spotify and tumblr, those are the ones I use the most

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

-Literally only my mom's and 911 IM LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD LMAOOOO I don't even know mine 💀

#api talks #ask game

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friendlyneighborhoodbisexual · 3 years

Text

The New sinner. Ch.1 new life

John seed x oc

Warnings:vulgar language

Description:Taylor gets invited to a college party by her brother whos running it but meets a different guy insted

(Some locations are not in game!)

———————————————————————

Taylor woke up on her couch with her sketch book laying on her chest “fell asleep sketching again dammit” Taylor mumbled to herself she quickly walked down to the bathroom and hopped into the shower she was an hour late to work and probably in trouble but she maybe okay since her boss was her brother when she stepped out the shower her phone started ringing off the hook “hello?” Taylor awnsered in a confused tone “hey sis no need to come into work today I’m doing repairs in the mountains” Daniel sighed “but I have rent due!” Taylor defended “look Taylor I’ll pay you enough for your rent okay?” Daniel assured “fine thank you brother love you” Taylor said “love you to” Daniel replied before hanging up on Taylor she groaned as she threw on her flannel over her black shirt even if she didn’t go to work she still needed to run errands in falls end she walked over to her roommate room hoping she’d maybe go with her “hey Natalie” Taylor whispered Natalie rolled over and yawned before looking Taylor in the eyes “what’s wrong Taylor?” Natalie asked “you wanna go run errands with me in falls end?” Taylor asked “don’t you work today?”asked Natalie “ no Daniels doing work in the mountains but I gotta go to falls end” Taylor replied “fine” Natalie said in defeat as she got up to go get dressed Taylor went ahead and walked out to her mustang so she could get first pick at music when all of the sudden her phone goes off

Favorite teenager: wanna go get lunch ?

Me:sure some wings from the diner around 12:00?

Favorite teenager:sounds perfect

Me:okay me and Natalie have to go shopping real quick then I’ll swing by to get you

Favorite teenager: see you then!

Magen taylor heard Natalie sit down in the car she sat down her phone and started down the road “where do we have to go?” Natalie asked “we gotta go to the store or one gunna be two starving bitches and later where gunna pick carmina up for lunch at the diner” Taylor saidas Taylor parked the car in front of the store she turnt to Natalie and asked“okay do you wanna go in?” Natalie just shrugged and hoped out the car as the two walked in they quickly walked over to the food section and split up to find the rest of their list after Taylor found all of her part of the list she found Natalie talking to her brother Daniel “what are you guys talking about?” Taylor asked “Daniel was telling me about a party at the spread Eagle later tonight” Natalie awnsered “Mary may said it’s mostly just a party for the college kids and young adults you’ll fit in perfectly” Daniel assured “sounds lovely do you know who’s all going so far?” Taylor asked “carmina,me,all the junior deputies,Alex,Nathan,wheaty,Catherine,lisa and that’s all I know so far” Daniel said “sounds like a hell of a party I’ll look into going” Taylor assured “okay see you there sis” Daniel said before walking away “okay do you have all of your stuff?” Taylor asked “yea let’s go check out”Natalie said as the two started walking up to the check out they could see kids buying 500$ worth of party supply’s knowing hope county they knew how to throw a party and it just made Taylor jittering with excitement “okay jitter bug calm down and pay” Natalie ordered “okay sorry” Taylor apologized as she stuck her credit card into the terminal “I’m guessing you guys got invited to the college party?” The Cashier asked “yea why?” Taylor asked “be careful lots of kids have been taken at those partys” the cashier warned “don’t listen to her that’s old spooky story bullshit” Alex assured “okay I’ll go with what you say Alex” Taylor said with a smile as she walked out the store the girls threw all the bags into the back of the car and sat down in the car Taylor quickly grabbed her phone and called carmina as she drove down the road “hello?” Carmina awnsered “hey girl start getting ready because when we put away our groceries where gunna go get you” Taylor said “okay see you in a minute” carmina said before hanging up “you think what that cashier said is true?” Natalie asked “probably just a bunch of bullshit like Alex said” Taylor assured as she parked outside their house “don’t be a pussy about a little thing someone said now help me get these groceries out so we can go get carmina” Taylor order Natalie rolled her eyes and proceeded to help Taylor carry the bags after a few minutes they were back on the road

(At the diner)

“Here’s your guys order 10 boneless bow wings”the waitress announced as she sat down the plate “can I get some ranch?” Taylor asked “sure I’ll bring that right out” the waitress said “so have your guys heard about the big party yet?” Carmina asked “yea we were invited by Daniel you have any clue when it starts?” Taylor asked “in about two hours” carmina replied “oh damn well you wanna just hang with us until then?” Taylor asked as she sat two more wings on her plate “sure let me ask my dad first” carmina said but before she could grab her phone Taylor’s goes off “speak of the devil” she says as she flips over her phone

#1 pilot: hey can carmina stay with you guys till the party starts I’m having to go help hurk in the whitetail mountains and I’m taking Kim with me so I don’t cuss him out

Me:sure she was gunna ask if she could roll with us anyways

#1 pilot: okay have fun

“Your stuck with us anyway your dad has to go help hurk” Taylor said carmina just shrugged as she grabbed the last wing “I’m cool with that” “okay ladies how we payin?” The waitress asked “I’ll-“ Taylor cut carmina off and pushed her credit card out the way “I’m paying” Taylor assured the waitress nodded and walked away “you didn’t have to do that I could’ve pay for myself” carmina offered “nah it’s fine I payed my rent off till next January so figured I’d save you the money” Taylor said with a smile “thanks” carmina said “guys look at this post” Natalie said as she flipped her phone around “that’s at the spread Eagle now if that dosent look like one hell of a party I don’t know what dose” Natalie said “looks like people are already their should we get going?” Carmina asked Taylor shrugged “I don’t see why not it’s just a block down from here” as the waitress brought back Taylor’s card the girls quickly got up and started walking down to the spread Eagle

(At the party)

Led lights were flashing to the beats of the song girls were dancing on the tables boys were chugging for bets but after a while taylor walked out back with Mary may to have a break from all the loud music “I’m suprised how you can walk in a straight line from drinking so much with the boys” Mary may said in shock Taylor chuckled “I’m from texas I used to out drink all the boys in high school with Natalie on my side” “your from Texas so what brought you to hope county?” Mary may asked “I came here under a scholarship for welding and mechanics type shit but I grew to attached to this place now I have a well paying job friends and one hell of a bartender” Taylor said with a smile “thanks let me check in on these kids before they start tearing everything down” Mary may sighed as she started to the door Taylor decied to walk to her car and take a break

Group chat:favorite teenager,best friend,me

Me:i started to get a headache so I walked back to my car I’ll be back in a second

Favorite teenager:okay don’t run off tho lol

Best friend:theirs some medicine in the console if your headache dosent stop

Me:okay thank you❤️

Taylor sat on the front of her mustang watching the stars in the sky she loved hope county at night it was so beautiful “nice night isn’t it?” Taylor quickly turned around to see a man in a trench coat standing next to her car “how long have you been standing their?” Taylor asked “long enough to know you have a good taste in cars” the man complimented “thanks it’s a 2017 mustang gt” Taylor said as she walked over to the man “the names Taylor by the way and you are?” she asked “John seed” he awnsered “oh your the one who has chosen flying around?” Taylor asked “yes that was me” John said “it seems amazing to get fly around hope county kinda jealous ” Taylor said “have you ever flown before?” John asked “yea I actually have my own plane over at nick ryes place since I don’t have an air strip” the two where cut off by Natalie carrying carmina to the car “she out chugged the boys but blacked out” Natalie said as she sat carmina down in the car “you two wrap it up I’m ready to go” Natalie said before sitting down in the car Taylor chuckled “well I better get going see you around” she said with a smile “see you later” John said with a light smile Taylor quickly sat down in her car and started down the road to her and natalies house

Me:hey carminas passed out in the back of my car so will just let her crash at my place tonight. (1 image)

#1 pilot:okay did she drink at all?

Me:yea she out drank the boys and won 300$

#1 pilot: sounds about right well at least if she with you I know she’s safe

Me:thanks I’ll make sure to bring her back in one piece tomorrow

#1 pilot: okay

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nad-zeta · 4 years

Note

Hi! I don’t know if you’re still taking asks but I would like to request a matchup! I’m 5’6 with olive skin and ringletted ebony hair with maroon-brown eyes and 👓 Not to brag but I’m also thicc xD I’m a usually nice and kind hearted person, but am also a bit lazy and can be a bit passive aggressive when I don’t like someone xD I also have a dirty mind xD I like to draw (that includes NSFW ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) and cook too! I also love animals, especially cats 🐱 I also value loyalty in relationships

Hi hi, love! Thanks so much for the request and sorry for taking soooo long with it! I hope you enjoy and I hope you have the best day! (✿◠‿◠)

So I match you with.............. Shingen

The first time you meet Shingen was when Yuki saved you from falling to your death, down a steep dark cliff. You had spotted Shingen and damn what a gorgeous man he was. However, all that was short-lived as soon Masamune had tracked you down and dragged you back to the castle, where you were named as the princess of the Oda forces. It took some time to adjust to the castle life, but soon you found yourself fitting right in with the mixed bunch of men. They had actually come to love and adore you so much that they dubbed you their dearest little sister.

You loved your new Oda friends, but gosh, they were all up in your business 24/7. Also, you loved to draw, often you would lock yourself in your room and just spend hours upon hours drawing. You couldn’t help it, when you felt inspired; you just felt the urge to draw. Although there is a slight downside, unfortunately for you, Masamune had discovered your talents. Thankfully he took your natural scenery sketchbook, cause heaven knows you would never have lived it down if he had stumbled upon your NSFW sketchbook. He and Mitsuhide would tease you for days, no years if he had discovered that.

You had been working super hard and needed some time alone do to what you loved most, draw. You felt inspired to draw a certain somebody you had met the night of the fire. You collected up your sketchpad and pencils and set out to find a peaceful spot to sit and draw the day away. You had wandered a little far from the castle wall, but it was all worth it, as you had stumbled upon a vast flower field. You sat yourself down beneath a great big tree and started to draw, you had lost track of time, as when you looked up from your finished drawing, the sun was swiftly setting. It was getting darker and darker by the second and thanks to the lack of electricity soon you were surrounded by pitch-black darkness, and you didn’t know how to make your way home. Luck had not been on your side that night, as some bandits had started to circle you like a fresh piece of meat. You were really in trouble, it was dark, you were woman alone in a field, and you were now on the radar of some super dodgy men. You grabbed your bag and ran, to where, you did not know, as long as it was far away from those dirtbags. You ran and ran and ran but to no avail as soon the men had caught up to you and had now grabbed you.

You screamed your lungs out, hoping someone would come to your aid, and as if the angels in heaven had heard and answered your prayers, a big bear of a man appeared. The big tall, handsome man wasted no time in drawing his sword and getting into stance. The bandit that had captured you, now threw you to the ground and pulled out his weapon. “I hope you scoundrels are ready to pay with your lives for mistreating such a beautiful goddess.” You tried to stand up and run while the men were distracted, but as you stood up, a sharp pain shot through your ankle. The sword fight was over before it even started, as the bandits were clearly no match for your handsome saviour, they scurried away, leaving you with the man. You looked up at Shingen and smiled as you thanked him. The man knelt down and offered you a hand up, “are you alright, my angel.” You narrowed your eyes at that cheezy comment and broke out into laughter, you were most definitely not okay. “No, I think I sprained my ankle, and my brothers are going to kill me for staying out so late.” Before you could even finish your sentence, he picked you up and cradled you in his arms, he then started carrying you back to the main road. The two of you chatted as he walked, and the second Shingen came into the light you realized who he was.

You insisted he leave you on the main road, as you knew your way back from there. He was honestly reluctant but relented after you gave him the puppy dog eyes. He then kissed your hand and bid you good night, although unbeknown to you, Shingen watched you make your way home from the shadows. Once you got to the main gate you were met with a very, very worried Hideyoshi, “And just where have you been young lady, do you….” Before he finished his sentence, he looked down and saw your ankle, his eyes widened, and he rushed to your side to help you walk. He then picked you up bridal style and took you to Ieyasu’s manor to patch you up. You had to write a full report of what had happened, and once you handed it in, the oda forces started hunting for those rotten bandits that dared lay a hand on their dearest sister.

A few weeks had passed, and your ankle finally felt better, you snuck out the castle and make your way back to the flower field to draw once more. You sat down and started to sketch when all of a sudden you heard the rustling of a nearby bush. On high alert, you swiftly stood up, when all of a sudden, you were knocked down by a small force. You opened your eyes to see two big brown eyes staring back at you. That is when you realized you had stumbled upon a little bear cub. You breathed a sigh of relief and started playing with the cute cub, soon the little creature was all played out and came to rest on your lap. You continued your sketch, a few moments later a loud smooth voice startled you. “That is quite some drawing you have there my angel.” Your eyes widened in shock and embarrassment, and you moved to close your sketchbook, but alas you were too slow, as two big hands had lifted the book out of your hands and held it up in the air to examine it. You covered your face in embarrassment, Shingen gave a sly smirk as he studied the NSFW picture you were busy sketching of him, you honestly couldn’t help it, he was an absolutely gorgeous man. He gave a chuckle and returned the book to you “I must say I am flattered that such a celestial being has taken an interest in a mere mortal like myself.” You couldn’t help but laugh and playfully hit him on the chest. He really was a charmer.

Since that day it seemed that every time you went to the flower field to sketch Shingen and the little bear would conveniently just appear out of thin air. Soon you started to anticipate meeting the mysterious man. You had come to really enjoy his company, the two of you would often play with the cub and sip on some tea, courtesy of Shingen. Soon both of you found yourselves falling head over heels for each other. Shingen loved your drawings, he loved to sit and watch you draw, the way your hands would gracefully bring the image in your mind to life. He also loves that dirty mind of yours and would often tease you relentlessly.

You knew the man’s birthday was coming up via your best ninja friend Sasuke and wanted to do something nice for Shingen. You decided to use your two greatest talent and make the man you loved, a homemade gift. You had met Shingen in your usual spot in the flower field and presented him with his gift. He unwrapped the bundle with the utmost care, and his eyes widened when he saw the contents inside. You had made him some sickly sweet confectionaries and a drawing of him playing with the lil bear cub in the flower field. He was honestly so touched, never in his life had anyone given him such a thoughtful gift. He took a bite of the sweets you had made for him and he melted, it was the best sweets he had ever eaten in his life. The only thing that could possibly make Shingen even happier was if you loved him as much as he loved you.

He moved to hug you, to thank you for the gift when the bear decided at that moment to jump up onto Shingen making him lose his balance, soon the two of you toppled over, with Shingen laying beneath you. Your hand were on either side of his head, and honestly, before you knew it, you had leaned down to capture his lips in a kiss. Things escalated rather quickly as not before long both of you were out of breath, smiling the biggest smiles.

Even though Shingen was a bit of a playboy in his past, he was now utterly and completely devoted to you and you to him. He loved you more than words could describe and he spent every day of his life showering you with kisses and affection. Of course, you being an Oda princess, with a group of overly protective brother made thing quite tricky for the two of you, but you were working towards getting their permission to go back home with Shingen.

Shingen adored the fact that you were an honest, sweet, kind, caring woman, and he often wondered what he did right in life to deserve the love of such a celestial being. You were honestly the most kind-hearted person that he knows, helping every animal and person in need. In fact so kind-hearted that you were the first person in history to open an animal rescue for injured and homeless animals. A project that not only Shingen supported but all your oda brothers

Often the two of you cuties can be found walking in hand through the markets, just enjoying each others company. When you and Shingen aren’t together playing with the bear cub in the flower field, you are spending a quiet evening together in Shingen’s safe house. You would often be found nestled in Shingen’s arms as he showers you with endless love and sweet kisses

Other potential matches.............. Masamune

I hope you enjoyed this love! (◕ᴗ◕✿)

#ikesen matchup #match ups #matches #matchups #shingen #shingen matchup #ikesen shingen #ikemen shingen #ikemen sengoku shingen #shingen takeda

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amandaoftherosemire · 5 years

Text

Bulletproof -- Part Twelve

Fandom: Marvel/College AU

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader, Platonic!Steve Rogers x Reader

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Gamora, Peter Quill

Author: @amandaoftherosemire

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 6,383

Format: Series (Complete)

Warnings: Language, angst, fluff

Summary: Bucky goes to Steve for advice. You go out of your way to get Bucky alone.

A/N: Here it is, folks! So many of you have asked for it, and I’ve loved every single scream of agony as y’all did so. But it’s finally here: the chapter where people actually talk to one another!

Banner by @hellzzzbelle

Part Eleven here

Part Twelve

Bucky locked your apartment door behind him on his way back to his own and immediately regretted it. He swore, viciously, under his breath on his way down the hallway to his door, wishing he'd turned around and woken you up to deal with all of this once and for all. He cursed himself for a coward as he unlocked his own door.

He didn't know what to do. He wanted to push, to make you listen to how he felt and tell him how you felt. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge of what you'd done when Thor had confessed to deeper feelings than an FWB should admit. Should he force you to deal with the fact that he was in love with you, he was far from sure you'd respond with anything more than kindness.

Especially now that he'd realized how far he'd truly fallen in your estimation. It wasn't only that you thought him merely promiscuous or unreliable, but you'd come to associate him with the very thing that had been used in an attempt to incapacitate and violate you. You'd left only his name on a bottle of the substance that had almost destroyed you. Whether you'd thought that deeply about it or not, he couldn't stop, and he was making himself sick to his stomach.

Which is why, when he saw the light on in Steve's studio, his first thought was relief that he didn’t have to be alone. He could talk to Steve, tell him what had happened and ask for help. Bucky assured himself that he didn't have to talk about being in love with you to get his best friend's input and advice on how to fix what he’d done. Moving on instinct, he didn't think twice about walking in with only a perfunctory knock.

Steve had deliberately stayed home to finish his big project so he could ask Peggy out for Saturday night guilt-free. Since he knew Bucky would be out until all hours and would most likely collapse straight into bed, if he came home at all, Steve had devoted the entire evening to a final big push. Which meant he had everything out as he put the finishing touches on all four works, and he hadn't bothered to lock the door.

"Steve, do you got a min--" Bucky came to a screeching halt at the sight of his best friend surrounded by sketches, drawings, paintings, all of you and all in varying states of undress.

"Shit." Steve was already turning around, but not in time to avoid Bucky's fist in his face. He twisted in desperation, grabbing Bucky as he went and tumbling to the floor to avoid damaging the canvas he'd been working on at his friend's inopportune entrance.

The two of them rolled over the floor in a tangle of limbs as Steve tried to defend himself without harming his friend or knocking over any of the paintings. By the time they came to a stop with Bucky crouched over Steve, his metal fist in the blond's shirt, his other hand shoving a sketch of you laughing naked in a bed of clover in Steve's face, they'd managed to scatter paper everywhere.

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'she knows about this,'" Bucky growled, "I'll do more than bloody your nose."

The sheer insult that took over Steve's face had Bucky's hand loosening before he'd even responded. "Of fucking course she knows!" The shiver of relief that ran down Bucky's spine was in sharp contrast to his breaking heart and pure confusion, especially when Steve dropped his head to the floor with a thud. "But no one else is supposed to. She's gonna be so pissed at me."

Bucky pushed himself backward until he was sitting on the floor, one leg stretched out and the other bent at the knee for him to brace a forearm. He stared as Steve scrambled to his feet to check the canvas he’d been working on with worried eyes.

“Why?” Bucky asked, not sure what to say but desperate for any kind of explanation as to why there were a thousand images of you staring at him. Without context, Steve looked like the unhealthiest of stalkers.

Steve wasn’t paying attention, too worried about his painting to hear the layers to the question. “She nagged me to lock the door and I told her to shut up,” he answered absently. When he was satisfied the mermaid was unharmed, he stepped back and crossed his arms with a sigh. “She's never going to let me hear the end of it.”

Bucky was standing at this point, staring at a completed drawing in pastels of you in a golden gown that barely veiled the glory of your body, your face drawn into proud disdain. He'd seen that look before. Usually when you were about to say something cruel or cutting to him. "She's your model." Bucky was smiling a little when he turned to meet Steve's eyes, and so was shocked to see horror there. The next thing he knew, Steve was bundling him out of the room in no uncertain terms.

"Ah, come on, punk." Once out in the hallway, Bucky tried a cajoling tone and a wide grin. "Let me see the rest."

Steve planted himself in front of the door with a scowl and crossed arms. "No. No one can see them until she does, jerk."

Bucky glared at Steve for a moment, who glared defiantly back. He thought about needling Steve some more, but ultimately conceded, too familiar with his friend's stubbornness. Bucky figured if he couldn't make Steve do anything when he outweighed him by a hundred pounds, how in the world could he manage it now? Instead of pushing it any further, he faked toward the door, then laughingly let Steve push him down the hall.

"So that’s why she’s in our apartment in her robe all the damn time," he said smiling, but with an accusatory finger as he flopped onto the couch, splaying out to get comfortable as he teased his best friend. He was so relieved to finally have an answer to your and Steve's weird behavior, he could almost forget about what you'd said that night.

Steve dropped into the recliner next to the couch and raised a brow at Bucky. He could see the distress under the cheerful teasing and wondered what had finally brought his friend to him, grateful for it even if it meant he’d have to face your wrath for not being more careful. "How do you know that?" Steve accused. "You're supposed to be in class."

Bucky snorted. "And I've never skipped class, ever." He didn't know how to keep going, to ask the questions he needed to ask, to confess the things preying on his mind. He opened his mouth, but nothing sprung immediately to mind.

Taking pity on him, Steve only let him sit there with his mouth open for a couple of seconds before rescuing him. "So," he asked, genuinely curious as to what had sent Bucky bursting into his studio at nearly two AM after a frat party. "What did you need?"

"Shit. Nothing important." Bucky's courage completely failed him, unsure what it meant that you were Steve's model and not sure, now that he was faced with it, how to talk to Steve about what was bothering him without giving away how he felt about you. He threw his arm over his eyes, trying to give off the impression of someone who had nothing more on his mind than a nap after a long night.

Which is why he didn't see the eye roll that would have warned him that Steve was about to lose his patience. "Come on!" Steve cried, exasperated, causing Bucky to sit up and stare at him. "What is going on with you? Why don't you just talk to me about y/n already?"

Bucky could tell by the question and its tone that Steve had already guessed plenty, probably knew way more than he'd given him credit for. Bucky could also tell by the hurt on his face that he genuinely didn't understand why Bucky wouldn't talk to him about it.

He heard himself say, "Y/N got happy drunk and chatty and said a bunch of shit I didn’t want to hear." He sat forward, rubbing his hands over his face as he finally confessed, to a degree, giving Steve the gist of the conversation surrounding your Bottle of Poison without hinting at anything regarding the physical change in your relationship.

"She's not even mad about it anymore," Bucky finished, "but I can't stop beating myself up over it."

"Did she explain the bottle at all?" Steve frowned on the outside, but a part of him relaxed at the first honest answer he'd gotten out of Bucky about how he felt in months. Though he hadn't realized it, a part of him had been growing steadily darker and sadder the longer his friend shut him out.

Bucky took heart at the fact that Steve sounded genuinely surprised. Though your opinion of him may have soured, perhaps Steve hadn't thought so badly of him. "I would have helped you kick the shit out of Brock if I'd known why you were doing it, Steve."

"I was pissed at you," Steve admitted as he sat forward with a shrug and a smile, "and though I'm not pissed anymore, I wouldn't change it." He looked back fondly and wondered what would have happened if he'd zigged instead of zagged. He would always think of the pretty redhead as the one that got away. "Natasha had my back there. I don't know that Nat and I would be the kind of friends we are without that fight."

Bucky tilted his head and wondered at the story in Steve's eyes, but the answer made him feel better. His friend didn't hate him for all of his mistakes. "I was selfish, and I hurt y/n because of it." He reached out and grasped Steve's shoulder, his eyes blazing as he went on. "But I don't think I realized how much I fucked up a lot of other relationships by doing it. I'm sorry."

Steve smiled sweetly, happy to already see the beginning of mended fences. "You're fixing it," he replied, and his face turned teasing with the next words out of his mouth, "and you've been doing a good job, considering how happy she's been lately."

Bucky let go of Steve's shoulder as his cheeks flamed, thinking about the hand he'd had to clap over your mouth to muffle the moans spilling out as he fucked you from behind in a closet during a party. He didn't know if that counted as "fixing it" or a "good job" but he could not and would not deny it seemed to make you happy.

To cover, he went on to explain what had set him off that night, sobering quickly as he thought about the things you’d said. "I carried her home tonight, dropped her off in her bed, and as I'm leaving, I spot the Bottle of Poison." He flopped back in frustration; now that he was talking to Steve, he wasn't able to stop. "I ask her about it, she drops that whole bombshell on me, then rolls over and goes to sleep. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?"

Steve, by now, was grinning at Bucky in sheer delight, both because he was happy to have his friend opening up to him again and because he'd always known you'd drive Bucky happily mad. "Yep," he replied and leaned back, his hands behind his head, "she's an asshole."

Bucky scowled at the other man without lifting his head from the arm of the couch where he lay sprawled, not entirely certain how to take the fact that Steve sounded like a loving but exasperated brother. "The point is she thinks I’m poison, Steve." Bucky sighed sadly, making Steve’s lips twitch in amusement until he continued. "How do I argue when you were here saving her life while I was off screwing some girl whose name I remember only because I lost y/n over her?"

The grin had faded from Steve's face to be replaced with a soft smile, one rich with compassion. Bucky had made mistakes, but Steve could easily see he felt bad, wanted to learn from them, make up for them. It made it easy to give his friend a hand. "Well," he said thoughtfully, "she never wrote the word Bucky on that bottle, so that's something to think about."

Steve's warmly teasing tone had Bucky's head lifting to see the kindness on his friend's face. Once their eyes met, Steve was going on. "She doesn't think you're poison, Buck. Maybe she did, at one point, but she would never have gotten drunk and let you take care of her if she still didn't trust you."

"Why didn't you guys ever get together?" Bucky couldn't believe he'd finally asked the question he'd had burning in his brain for what felt like forever, but now that it was out, he held his breath waiting for the answer.

'Steve.' He'd finally gotten up the courage to press his lips to yours and he couldn't make himself do anything. Your lips were soft and sweet, but he couldn't kiss you for real, nor could he answer the wry sound of his name coming out of the corner of your mouth. 'Steve, are you gonna kiss me or…?'

'I am kissing you. Shut up.' His gruff retort had you beginning to giggle, forcing Steve to settle his lips more firmly against yours.

'Oh god.' You'd pulled away to snort gleefully up at him. The two of you were sitting on his bed, awkwardly giving making out a try. 'You don't normally kiss like this, do you?'

'No.' Steve sounded insulted, which only had you giggling harder. He shook his head and scowled at you. 'Dammit, will you shut up?' With that, he grabbed your face in his hands and held his mouth to yours, just trying to get you to stop talking or snorting or--

'This isn't kissing, Steve. This is resting your lips against mine. This sucks.'

Steve couldn't take it anymore. He pushed you away from him with a sigh of exasperated frustration. You fell backward, giggling, and Steve wondered why he put up with your ridiculous ass when you wouldn't take anything seriously. 'You are just the worst, you know that, right?' he sneered down at you.

'It's not my fault!' You cried out in mock outrage, still helplessly trying to stifle the giggles, your hand over your heart and your eyes narrowed. 'You're being weird!'

'You're weird!' Steve had cried back. The bickering the two of you had devolved into from there ruined any further experimentation, either that day or any other.

Steve snorted at the memory, then laughed out, his face crinkling sweetly. The awkward frustration, the exasperation with you, the amusement at the ridiculousness of it rang out in that genuine laugh. He didn't even know how to describe it, so he simply said, "It just didn't work out. We were always gonna be better friends than anything more."

"I find that hard to believe." Bucky's eyes were narrowed, but despite his words and expression, he was starting to believe it. Steve's laugh had begun to convince him.

Steve snorted again. "That's because you don't seem to think she's an asshole." He lifted a brow at a scowling Bucky. "She is. But for some reason, you don't notice." The wry tone Steve with which infused the words for some reason had Bucky blushing.

His heart in his throat, he asked the question point blank. "You're seriously telling me you're not in love with her?" Bucky knew Steve's answer could change everything for him, but he couldn't spend another moment not knowing for certain.

Steve's answer had Bucky's heart clenching in despair. "I love her." Steve shone with it, beautiful and pure. "With all my heart. But I'm seriously telling you I'm not in love with her." The expression on Steve's face melted into sly amusement at the misery all over Bucky shifting swiftly to joy. "I doubt you can do the same."

"Steve," Bucky sighed, with a relieved grin, "I'm stupid in love with that girl."

The light streaming through a crack in the blinds directly into your eyes woke you at around 10:30 the next morning. You opened your eyes into that piercing ray of sunshine and felt like you were being stabbed in the brain. You’d done a decent job of staying hydrated the night before, so you’d escaped most of the nausea, but light was your enemy, making your head pound like a drum.

You hissed and slammed your eyes shut in response to the light, rolling over to bury your head under the covers. You vaguely remembered chattering at Bucky about all sorts of embarrassing things, but you also remembered his happy answers. You may have gushed and fawned all over him, but he had been just as sweet and adoring to you.

Something worrisome snickered at the back of your mind, however, reminding you that the conversation hadn’t stopped at sweet nothings. You carefully lifted the blanket to peer at your desk, not entirely certain you hadn’t dreamt the last part but hoping desperately that you had.

Your hopes were dashed as soon as you saw your Bottle of Poison out of its place. You definitely remembered telling Bucky what it was, but you remembered nothing of an explanation as to why it had his name on it. You were terrified that you’d done irreparable damage last night by simply not telling the whole story.

With a groan of frustration and pained disgust, you threw the covers back, grossed out by the smell of smoke and beer that emanated from you and now your sheets thanks to sleeping in the clothes you’d partied in. You made yourself get up and strip the bed; you absolutely had to change the sheets. As soon as that was done, you shimmied out of your dress, letting it fall to the floor with an unexpected thunk.

Realizing you’d slept with your phone in your pocket, you pulled it out and remembered the video Natasha had sent you. Your stomach sinking a little in dread at the admonition to watch to the end and to contact her with any questions, you pressed play.

As soon as you saw the video was recorded in a laundry room, presumably the one in Quill’s frat house, you knew the identity of the man with his mouth on someone other than you. Though it was awkwardly framed, obviously being taken surreptitiously, the video was remarkably clear. In that first second, your heart shattered all over again and you knew you’d gone back on all the promises you’d made yourself.

You’d told yourself you were bulletproof, that you could take Bucky on without fear. You told yourself that you could play with him, enjoy him, and walk away relatively unscathed as long as you remembered that Bucky was for fun, not for keeps. You’d lied to yourself, and because you’d wanted to believe it, you had.

But you’d been vulnerable from the first moment you let yourself care. Bucky was your weakness, always had been. You simply loved him too damn much.

In the next second, you were remembering your promise not to shut him out and your determination, because of that promise, to keep things between you casual and undefined. No matter how it hurt you, no matter what he'd done, you could not walk away. You were seriously considering punching him in the face, however. Or the dick.

The next second, you were seeing Bucky yank the woman away from him and the expression on his face was most definitely not happy or aroused. You knew what Bucky looked like when he was an eager participant; this wasn't it. Then your heart was soaring as you heard muffled words like “no means no” and “not interested.”

By the time the video was over, you were laying on your bare mattress, your phone pressed to your chest as you stared with starry eyes at the ceiling. Then you watched it twice more, obsessed with the phrase “involved with someone.”

Because you'd promised Bucky that you would stay his friend no matter what, you'd refused to put any labels on whatever was happening between you. You were operating from the logic that he couldn't cheat on you if you weren't his girlfriend. Even should the worst happen, you could find it in your heart to forgive him as long as he wasn't technically unfaithful.

Examining how you'd felt in those brief few moments when you'd thought the worst had happened and he'd technically-not-cheated on you, it was crystal clear that you’d broken every promise to yourself, every rule you'd laid down for dealing with Bucky. You'd known you were going to get hurt, but you'd hoped being logical would prevent the worst of the heartbreak. You knew now you'd been hopelessly naïve, that you could no more prevent Bucky from breaking your heart than you could stop time. At this point, you’d given him all the power; whether you liked it or not he held your heart in his hands.

You didn't know when it had happened, but you'd apparently begun to trust him again, believe in him again. Those brief moments when you'd thought you were witnessing Bucky betray you had been shocking, a complete and utter surprise. That shock told you more than anything else about how much faith you'd already placed in him. You'd questioned whether you could trust Bucky again, but your heart had evidently already made the decision for you.

You also examined how you felt upon watching the rest of the video, the part where he lived up to the trust you'd begun to place in him. Going from shattered to elated so quickly gave you whiplash, but also forced you to confront how deep you'd already fallen, how much power you'd already given him.

Pushing up into a sitting position, you looked at the bottle on your desk and thought about the sinking feeling you felt in your stomach when you thought about what little you'd said in regards to it and how easily Bucky could misconstrue its true meaning. You couldn't help but feel a little touch of panic at what Bucky might be thinking and feeling after the abbreviated conversation you remembered having.

That thought had you taking a deep breath and admitting to yourself that you weren't the only one vulnerable, that he wasn't the only one with the power to cause pain. That dangerous thought led to others until your heart was racing with hope and anticipation. You didn't know what was going to happen next, but you were determined to fix whatever was broken rather than accept that it had to be that way.

You wanted Bucky. It had always been him for you. When you thought it impossible, you’d tried to move on, but a part of you had never been able to stop grieving for what couldn’t be. The bright, gorgeous idea that you’d been wrong, that Bucky wanted to be yours had you leaping to your feet. You may have been pale, naked, and headachy, but you knew what you wanted and were determined to fight for it.

You wanted Bucky, so you were gonna go get him; it was as simple as that.

Now that you had a goal, all you needed was a plan. You smiled, slow and wicked, at the almost empty bottle of Jameson, the first glimmers of an idea forming. Slipping on your robe in case Gamora had company, you grabbed your phone and the sheets to head for the washing machine and the shower. You had a lot of shit to get done if you were going to pull this off, but you needed to text Steve first.

Step One in Operation Poison Control? Get Bucky alone.

Steve had told you he was skipping the party to push on the project. You also knew if he'd gotten everything finished, he planned to try to get a date with Peggy. You had your fingers crossed that he'd managed both when you texted him around noon.

So? Did you finish? Are they done?

Steve felt guilt already crawling up the back of his neck as soon as he saw your name on the text. He wanted to confess immediately, to tell you that he'd fucked up and Bucky had seen some of the drawings. He didn't want to confess over text, however, knowing you'd be less likely to hold a grudge if you could berate him in person and right away.

I did and they are. You wanna come see?

You’d been hoping Steve would say yes for the purposes of furthering your Bucky agenda, which is why you were blindsided by the urge to rush over and look right away. You reined it in, though the anticipation of seeing the finished work was genuinely exciting. You reminded yourself that you had higher priorities at the moment.

YES!!! I really can’t right now, tho. What are you doing tonight, 8ish?

Steve cursed under his breath. He had really been hoping to get you over to look at the finished works that afternoon so he could be done with all the subterfuge once and for all. He wanted to tell Peggy the whole truth about the project, show her what he'd accomplished with your help. He had a feeling about her, knew he had a shot at something spectacular with her.

He also didn't want to leave Bucky alone in the apartment with temptation. He didn't think Bucky would go into the studio now that Steve had explained that you hadn't seen them yet and you had dibs, but he also didn't want to push it. If he could only have shown you before he had to leave, he could have confessed and taken off guilt and worry free.

I’ve got a date with Peggy. I ran into her at the gym this morning and she offered to buy me dinner to celebrate the end of the project. She’s amazing.

You were busy spreading clean sheets over your bed as you set up your evening. When you saw Steve's text confirming he'd be out of the apartment at exactly the time you wanted to be cornering his roommate, you grinned wickedly and began to plot in earnest.

Though nothing in the message mentioned it, Steve had, often enough, that you had an idea of where his head was at. Even if it wasn't, you knew he'd appreciate it, regardless, so you shot a quick text to hopefully make his date a little less stressful. And then another simply to squee over how freaking adorable they were.

I know it's been driving you nuts, so go ahead and tell her the whole thing. But I still get to see them first!!

I love how happy you are! She’s so great! And you guys are so great together! Goddammit! Agdhhdkfkfkjsh!!!

Steve grinned at your response, the relief huge enough to almost drown out the scream of guilt. He knew he should tell you right now that Bucky had seen at least one of the finished paintings and a ton of the sketches, but he was terrified you'd take it back and he really wanted to tell Peggy the whole truth. He vowed to tell you everything and beg for forgiveness. Tomorrow.

THANK YOU!!! Stop congratulating yourself.

No! I rock! I am the Queen of Matchmakers!

Yes, fine. Thank you, your majesty, for introducing us.

By the time you were done with the quick banter, you were sitting at your desk, making a checklist of all the things you needed to get done to make your plan work and also not fail your finals. Anxiety crawled up your neck as the list got longer and longer.

But you also REALLY wanted to see Steve’s paintings.

You’re so totally welcome. How about tomorrow afternoon then? I should be able to take a break.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. He’d only have to hold on for one more day. He’d talk to Bucky again, get his promise that he’d stay out of the studio. Then, tomorrow he’d show you the paintings, apologize for not locking the door, and everything could hopefully go back to normal.

Sounds good. I’ll text you around two?

Perfect.

Perfect was exactly right. Steve would be gone, and Bucky planned to stay in and study for finals. At least, that was the plan as of last night. You hoped nothing had changed because…

Step Two of Operation Poison Control: Full-on seduction wear. The rest of your checklist complete, and that had been hell to accomplish, you dug into your closet for a dress you’d only bought at Nat’s insistence. She’d been sure she’d be able to talk you into it during the coming summer nights when you went clubbing. A short skater dress with cutouts for cleavage, an abbreviated hemline that stopped just south of your ass and fabric that tightly hugged your torso before flaring out at the hips, it was both incredibly revealing and wonderfully flattering. You couldn’t wait to see Bucky’s face.

You pulled out all the stops with your hair and makeup, going for tousled and sultry with pouty lips and bedroom eyes. When you were done, after a day of laundry, studying, and careful plotting, you stood in your bathroom, looking at your reflection and taking a few deep breaths.

When you stepped out of your bedroom on strappy stilettos, the Bottle of Poison in your hand, Peter Quill was sitting on the couch in your living room next to Gamora. The two of them turned at the sound of your bedroom door, but their expressions could not have been more different. Gamora’s face spread in sly satisfaction; she could see the determination and the optimism all over you.

Peter, on the other hand, gave a full-on jaw-drop before he wolf-whistled. Opening his mouth with a smirk, he said smoothly, “Damn, y/n, you look--"

“Peter, if you hit on my best friend you won’t even make it to that first date. You’re on probation, remember?” Gamora's voice was sharp and unamused, but you could see the twinkle in her eye that told you she was having a perverse kind of fun.

Quill held up a hand, his voice carrying the offense of the maligned innocent, “I was gonna say… that she looks hot but come on!” He was laughing as Gamora stifled a smile and smacked his arm. “Look at how hot she looks! It’s not my fault!”

She rolled her eyes at him before fixing you with a piercing stare. “Are you finally going to listen to me? Actually talk to him?”

You lifted the bottle. “Yes, ma’am.”

Gamora gave you a quick once-over. With a nod, she smirked. “You do look hot. Go get him already.”

As you walked out of your apartment you heard Quill say, “Uh, Gamora? That wasn’t the look of a woman planning to talk.” You were cackling wickedly as you shut the door behind you.

With their stamp of approval, you were certain that you'd accomplished your goal, which was to sex it up enough that there was no way you wouldn’t succeed at…

Step Three in Operation Poison Control: Get through the door.

Bucky sat at his desk with his head in his hands, his eyes on the diagram in front of him, trying to shut out thoughts of you so he could concentrate on memorization. He was almost grateful for the knock on the door because he was failing miserably.

He couldn’t stop thinking about you, had already grabbed his phone to text you a dozen times. Knowing you were just down the hallway was absolute torment, but he didn’t know what he’d say even if he gave in and knocked on your door. Steve had been little help, advising him to tell you he was in love with you, but Bucky couldn't explain to his friend all the reasons that was a minefield.

And the first was staring him in the face when he swung open the door to find you in a dress seemingly designed to give him an instant hard-on. The problem was that he was pretty sure he was addicted to you, and the sight of you standing at his door in straight fuck-me wear with a smile on your face to match did not help his affliction in the slightest.

His voice already aching, he breathed, "Babygirl. Where you going looking like that?" Bucky gave you the lopsided half-smile that always preceded bedroom eyes and a lowered voice. "And can I come, too?"

Careful to keep the bottle behind your back, you stepped close, biting your lip and laughing sultrily. "That depends on if you’re alone. And if I get to come first."

Bucky couldn't have said no even had he wanted to. He'd never been so happy Steve had a date. "I’m all by my lonesome tonight." He stepped back to hold the door open wide in welcome for you. "Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll see what we can do about the rest?"

You let your arm fall to your side as you sauntered by on your way to the kitchen. You tossed over your shoulder as you went, "You take care of the rest and I’ll let you come inside."

Behind you, Bucky was rolling his eyes in appreciation for your ability to turn him on with just your smart mouth when he spotted the bottle in your hand. He thought he recognized it and his stomach sank in dread as he followed. "Whatcha got there?"

You moved to the cupboard where Bucky and Steve kept their glasses, taking down a couple of mismatched shot glasses. "A peace offering," you answered, moving to the counter and setting them down. "I realized this morning that I'd explained some of this," you lifted the bottle and shook the little bit of liquid in the bottom, "but not all of it." You poured what was left into one of the shot glasses, then picked it up to pour half into the other. You offered the empty bottle to Bucky, a soft smile on your face as you explained.

"This is how I did it, how I cut you off for years." Your face was soft and sad and made Bucky's heart clench in misery as he took the bottle from you, though he wasn't sure what you were trying to say. "I convinced myself you were bad for me. That you were poison. I never let myself forget it."

Bucky knew it wasn't enough, but he'd apologize a thousand times if you needed it. “Y/n, I'm sor--”

"But you're not bad for me. You’re not poison." You cut him off, knowing where he was going and not needing or wanting to hear it again. "Bucky, I'm sorry."

Of all the things he expected to hear, that was the very last. "What?!"

"You shouldn't have run from me," you said with a teasing smile, "but I shouldn't have hidden from you." You picked up both glasses, offering one to Bucky. "Forgive me? I'd say let's trade, but you've already apologized, and I've already forgiven you."

Bucky took the glass from you, hoping he understood correctly. "I don't need an apology," he said seriously.

You smiled sweetly. "Need or not, you deserve one. I promise to never cut you off again." You lifted the rim of your glass in offering, to toast on the last of the poison together.

Bucky hoped he understood what you were offering, not only forgiveness, but a clean slate. He clinked his glass to yours and spoke what he hoped was only the first of a thousand promises. "And I promise to never let you go without a fight."

Bucky could see that had been exactly the right thing to say as your face lit up with a smile so sweet and sparkling it took his breath away as surely as the whiskey that burned down his throat. He was pretty sure it was only you making his head spin, however, as you came around the counter to grab his hand and pull him toward the living room as you pulled your phone from the little pocket in your skirt.

"Next order of business," you said with a mischievous smirk as you pushed him into the recliner, "I want to show you a video I received last night, but I didn't see until this morning."

Once he was seated, you slid sideways onto his lap, one arm behind his neck, the other holding the phone up as you showed him the video Natasha had sent you.

Bucky had been grinning at your playful attitude, happy to welcome you into his lap. His metal arm behind your back, his flesh hand had already started to climb up your leg when he realized what he was looking at. Panic setting in immediately, his hand tightened almost painfully on your thigh as he heard himself begin to speak without a clue what he was going to say. "Y/n, I swear--"

"Shh." You cut him off with a finger to his lips, then a kiss to the tip of his nose, effectively silencing him. "Listen." Once the video came to a close, you stuffed the phone back in your pocket and linked your hands behind his neck, turning your body towards his and leaning in.

"So," you smirked into his happy, hopeful face, your lips a breath from his, "you're involved with someone?"

Bucky laughed a little, breathlessly, and wondered who he had to thank for sending you the video. "Involved doesn't begin to describe it."

Your smile sparkled again and made Bucky's heart race. "Really?" Your voice was smug as you snuggled further into Bucky's lap. "Anyone I know?"

Part Thirteen here

Taglist:

@learisa @angieptt @mia-at-work @midnightdream83 @wwecrazed2010 @allandoflimbo @emaywhyayy @cheekygeek05 @lovely-geek @diinofayce @suz-123 @hellzzzbelle @olukewarmo @fairchild21 @thefridgeismybestie @fandomsstolemylife00 @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @australianhorrorstory @buckybarneshairpullingkink @c-ly-g @wishingforahome @strangersstranger @whiskeyandwashitape @eyesfixedonthesun22 @ingenue-q @joe-mazzello-is-my-dad @irritated-bisexual @fashionworld12 @lbouvet @rishlo @bibliophile1773 @miraclesoflove @nerdy-bookworm-1998 @destiel-is--endgame @peaceinourtime82 @badassbaker @walkingtravesty97 @firefly-in-darkness @sleepingspacedragon @lydklein1 @marvel-lucy

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the-walking-daryl · 4 years

Text

Unexpected Surprises

Summary: Things don’t always go as planned, but sometimes they still work out.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, angst, evil russians

AN: Y/F/I is your favorite ice cream

Nervously you made your way over to Scoop’s Ahoy where you knew your boyfriend Steve’s shift should be over soon. The two of you had been together for some time now since you started dating soon after him and Nancy broke up, and you would be lying if you said you didn’t love the guy. The only problem was, sometimes life gets in the way no matter how careful you are.

You wipe your palms on the front of your jeans out of nervous habit as you catch sight of Steve behind the counter scooping ice cream into a cone for the little girl before him. As he hands the cone over his eyes catch yours and his face lights up in a bright smile. You try to return the gesture but by the confused look that appears on his face you can tell that he seen right through you. If you weren’t already planning on letting Steve the information you found out earlier today before, you definitely had to now.

Trying to steady your breathing you sink into the closest seat to you and wait for your boyfriend to finish work. According to your watch you had about ten more minutes before his shift was over, so that meant you had ten minutes to figure out how you would tell your boyfriend of a few months that you were pregnant. All you could do was hope he didn’t freak out too much or break up with you over it. Sure you both only worked part time jobs, but that didn’t mean that this would be impossible. Somehow, someway the two of you could make this work, you just know that you could if you tried hard enough.

Steve sliding into the seat across from you with a cup of Y/F/I dragged you from your thoughts abruptly, “Hey pretty girl,” he says warmly with offering you the ice cream with a small smile.

“Hi,” you murmur hesitantly as your scoop some of the frozen treat onto your spoon.

“What’s wrong?” he questions instantly sensing that something was off with his girlfriend.

“I need to tell you something, but I think it would be better if we talked on our way home or once we get there,” you explain looking up to examine your boyfriend’s expression.

“Okay,” he says silently eyeing you for any clues as to what’s wrong, “Is everything okay? Between me and you I mean.”

“It depends how you take the news,” you mutter sliding the other half of your ice cream to him like the two of you typically did.

He looks up at you with a nervous and uncertain expression but nods anyways while finishing off the ice cream. Once he was done he stood from his seat and threw away the empty container before waiting for you by the exit. Neither of you spoke a word to the other until you were both comfortably settled in the car and driving towards your house.

“So, what is it that you needed to tell me?” Steve asks breaking the silence that had settled between the two of you.

Nervously you played with the hem of Steve’s t-shirt that you had on that day to hide the fact that your stomach was in fact growing. For a minute you were going to back out and make up some lie, but you knew that you couldn’t hide it from him forever. He is your boyfriend who you actively have sex with, he would notice the minute he seen you naked.

Releasing a shaky breath you shift your gaze to the windows in front of you, “I recently realized that I’ve been gaining weight-.”

You’re sentence is cut off by Steve’s laughter, “you look perfect pretty girl I don’t care about how much you way.”

“Steve, I wasn’t done. There is more to the story and you might not like the ending,” you explain causing his laughter to die down, “That I realized I have had the same box of tampons in the bathroom for a couple months now.” “You always get the same brand babe, even I know that,” he says cutting you off again.

“Steve, I only have so much courage to do this and every time you cut me off it diminishes.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you say before taking a deep breath and letting it all spill out, “It wasn’t that I had the same brand, I had the exact same box. The amount in the box never changed. So I brought it up to Nancy and she made the joke that I might be pregnant. She wasn’t serious but the moment she said it a lightbulb went off in my head. I could’ve possibly been pregnant.” The next day, after work, I stopped at the drugstore because I knew that you had a late shift and I took the test. I threw the test away because I didn’t know when to tell you or if I even wanted this. I do, no matter if you are with me or not.”

“What are you trying to tell me Y/N?”

“That I’m pregnant.”

The moment you say pregnant he slams onto the brakes swerving off to the side of the road, “What? Y/N you work at The Gap and I sling ice cream for a living. Hell I couldn’t even get into college if I wanted to, how am I supposed to raise a kid?”

“My parents could help, I know they would if we asked. And I ran into this woman who was shopping at my job last week before any of this even happened. She saw one of the drawings I was working on by the register when she came over to cash out and liked it. Long story short she asked me to come work for her as a sketch artist for her books and all the other stuff her company does. Her employee now is moving away and she really needed a replacement so I start next week.”

“I really don’t know if we can do this Y/N,” Steve mumbles pulling back onto the road and setting off for your house.

When the two of you arrive he slows to a stop but doesn’t shut off it off as he turns to you, “I’ll pick you up for work tomorrow,” he murmurs before kissing you goodbye quickly leaving you confused and slightly hurt.

Steve’s attitude didn’t change for the rest of the week and by the following Tuesday you were way passed having your feelings hurt. Now you were furious that he wouldn’t even properly face you. What used to be car rides filled with laughs to and from work each day turned into an awkward silence that was so deafening it made you want to walk.

Today he wasn’t allowed to be silent and push you away. You convinced your boss to let you out early and made your way over to Steve’s job. He was going to talk to you one way or another by the end of the day even if you have to make him talk.

The moment you arrived you knew there wasn’t going to be any talking about the issue between you two. In a corner booth Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Erica were sat around a table as the young girl munched on a bunch of ice cream. Whatever they were doing Erica apparently didn’t like, but judging by the amount of ice cream in front of her and the look on Steve’s face she apparently agreed to it.

All their talking stopped the moment you approached the table and an awkwards silence took its place in the air, “Uh, can we talk for a minute Steve?” you ask trying to ignore the tension surrounding the table.

“We’re actually kind of busy right now,” he replies in an attempt to get you to leave without talking.

“Well this is important,” you persist.

“What we are doing is probably way more important than whatever it is you are freaking out about,” he mumbled lowly. He thought you wouldn’t hear it but you did and your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach the moment the words registered in your brain.

“If it’s that important to you than fine, but you aren’t going to keep pushing me away Steven. Whatever it is that you are doing I want to be involved.”

“Y/N, no. That’s not a good idea”

“Why not?” you ssk crossing your arms over your chest in annoyance.

“Because it could be dangerous.”

“You’re letting Erica be apart of this and she’s only like ten. Plus after last year I think I can handle it.”

Steve goes to argue with you again but Dustin cuts him off, “She’s right Steve, she was a major help. Especially after you got beat up by Billy.”

“What happened last year?” Robin asks in a confused tone.

“It’s a long complicated story,” you reply casually.

“So is this one,” Robin agrees with a nod.

“Knowing these boys I can imagine,” you say with a small smile before slipping into the booth beside Dustin.

Once seated Robin and Dustin began to explain what was going on right within the very mall leaving you slightly shocked but even more worried. You agreed that you were going to help them much to Steve’s dislike then set off to get ready.

“I really don’t think you should come with us later,” Steve mumbles on the way to your house later that day.

“Well you really don’t have a choice, especially if this is more important to you than discussing our child.

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve x reader #steve harrington x reader #stranger things steve #stranger things steve harrington #stranger things imagines #stever harrington imagines

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littlereyofsunlight · 4 years

Text

The Fire is So Delightful

Hi @geekynerddemon, I’m your @steggyfanevents secret santa! You chose modern AU from the options I gave you, so I wrote you some firefighter Steve Rogers and a self-rescuing Peggy Carter. There’s a cat in a tree, plus a bunch of the usual suspects from the MCU. Chapter 2 coming shortly!

Read on AO3

ch 1/2 Rating: Gen Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers Characters: Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Sif, Dum Dum Dugan Additional Tags: Firefighter AU, Modern Day AU, romcom, meet-cute, the gang’s all here Summary: Peggy rescues a cat from a tree. Steve doesn’t help.

“Will you look after Liho for me?” Natasha’s sudden request startled Peggy out of her contemplation of the drink in front of her. They were at their usual place, a dingy little bar down the block from work where the bartenders all knew them and they could hold a conversation without having to shout over music or dodge the advances of the neighborhood suits, who generally avoided the place owing to its distinctly aggressive lack of atmosphere.

“Sorry?”

Natasha kept her eyes on her own drink, fidgeting with the straw. Natasha, normally a beer drinker, or after especially difficult weeks just straight vodka, had ordered one of the bar’s ridiculous cocktails. It was tequila-based, neon orange, came in a Tiki cup and had what looked to Peggy like an entire mint plant sticking out the top. “I’m going out of town for the holiday and I need a cat-sitter.”

Peggy had worked with Natasha on the analyst team for six years now, but she’d only ever been invited to her home once, a few months ago. “I’d be happy to, I have no plans.” As a rule, she saved the trans-Atlantic flights for better weather. Her parents weren’t big on Christmas, anyways.

Natasha gave a quick little half smile, and Peggy noticed her shoulders drop a good inch. “Thank you.” She took a sip of her drink, holding the ostentatious garnish away from her face as she did so. “My, um, ex-girlfriend is also going to be home for the holiday, so I didn’t want to just do a short trip this year. I’ll get you a key next week.” Then she changed the subject back to work, and they strategized about their supervisor’s latest power play—and speculated how their beloved admin Darcy Lewis might undermine it—until much too late for a work night.

Two weeks later, Peggy set her bag down just inside the threshold of Natasha’s bright, clean two-story duplex. “Are you sure you want me to stay?”

Nat waved her hand. “It’s such a long drive between your neighborhood and mine. If you’d be more comfortable at home, of course, Liho will be fine.”

Peggy looked around the downstairs living area, flooded with early afternoon light. “I’m sure I’ll be perfectly comfortable here. I just know how very private you are.”

Nat gave her a shy smile. “I think we’re past all that, aren’t we?”

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Peggy smiled broadly back.

“Okay, bedroom is upstairs and there are fresh sheets and towels and everything. Help yourself to anything in the fridge or pantry, of course. I got some of those yogurts you always eat, plus this—” Nat thrust a nice bottle of red wine into Peggy’s hands, though Peggy wasn’t sure exactly where she’d been hiding it up until then “—Her food is on the counter, please just the listed amounts, because she is a terrible beggar and will try to weasel more food out of you.“

“Noted,” Peggy said.

“And her litter boxes are in the bathrooms, the litter is flushable.”

“Convenient.”

“Also, she sometimes tries to escape out the front door, so look out for that.”

“So to review, your cat is a cat who acts like a cat,” Peggy teased. “I have this handled, I promise. Liho and I will get some quality time on your couch with everyone’s favorite streaming network while you spend the holiday with your sexy ex. Now get out of here. Maria’s waiting for you, isn’t she?”

“Thank you, Peggy,” Natasha said, as she rolled her eyes but pulled her in for a quick hug nonetheless. “Liho’s hiding upstairs, but she’ll probably come down around dinnertime, so like, six, if she doesn’t get curious about you before then.”

“Is she very interested in people?” Peggy’s grandmother kept cats in her little London flat, and they were always all over the place regardless of who was visiting, though she supposed that could have been more out of necessity. The few times she and her brother Michael had tried to play hide-and-seek while visiting Nana had been very anticlimactic: there were only two good child-sized (or even cat-sized) hiding spots in the whole place.

Nat shook her head. “She and I get along because we’re very similar.”

“So if I lose her, I should just put out a saucer of vodka.”

“It might work,” Nat allowed. “Smart-ass.”

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nat looked up the stairs one more time. “Thanks again. Text me if you need anything.”

“We won’t.” Peggy raised her eyebrow. “Text me if you get some this weekend.”

Nat actually blushed at that, to Peggy’s surprise. “You’re sort of wearing on my gratitude, here,” she grumbled fondly. She picked up her bag and took her coat off the hook.

Peggy threw up her hands. “Yes, I’m trying to get you to leave already!”

Laughing over her shoulder, Nat finally opened the door. “See you in a week.”

“Drive safe!” Peggy called after her.

“Oh!” Nat called, stopping beside her car. “My neighbors are all pretty friendly, don’t be surprised if someone pops by.”

Before Peggy could formulate a response (How friendly? Which neighbors? Why aren’t any of them watching your cat?), Nat was in her car and on her way. “Thanks for that advice, I guess,” Peggy said to herself. She closed the door and looked around. At least this Christmas she’d be alone in a new location, she mused. She pulled out her phone and tapped out a quick message to her friend Angie back home, even though Peggy knew she’d be asleep already. She scrolled aimlessly through the apps on her phone, hovering over the ‘dating’ folder she’d shoved Hinge and Bumble and all the rest into after the last in a series of disastrous dates over the summer. Peggy hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was lonely.

True to Natasha’s word, a small, sleek black cat poked her head through the top two spindles of the stairs promptly at six pm and, upon seeing Peggy on the couch but not Natasha, she let out a series of squeaking chirps. Peggy put down the novel she’d borrowed from Nat’s bookshelf—Lauren Beukes’s Broken Monsters, and here Peggy had thought Nat to be more of a nonfiction reader—and got up to see what Liho’s dinner situation was.

Natasha very clearly cared a great deal for the skinny little cat who, according to Nat, had turned up on her doorstep one day and invited herself to stay forever. There was a stainless steel water dish that continuously burbled up a little fountain, and two shallow dishes, one for wet food and one for dry. On the counter above the cat’s dishes, Nat had thoughtfully set out Liho’s food, all fancy brand-name specialty stuff. Liho chirped at her a few more times while Peggy dumped a can of wet into the designated bowl, and she kept making adorable little nomming noises while she chowed down. Peggy stroked her hand down the cat’s back and Liho jumped and shot Peggy an affronted look before she went back to her food.

“No touchy while eating, got it.” Peggy left the cat to her meal and grabbed her phone to see what delivery options were available in Nat’s neighborhood. As she tried to decide between Mexican and an interesting Vietnamese-fusion place, the doorbell rang.

Peggy opened the door to a barefoot, confused-looking man wearing a t-shirt despite the frigid weather. He sketched a brief wave before launching into a query in sign language, but she couldn’t hope to follow. Peggy waved back and gave him a broad “huh” gesture. He nodded and reached up to turn on the hearing aids hidden under his hat.

“Is Nat home?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, she’s not in,” Peggy responded.

“I’m her neighbor, Clint,” he said, pointing his thumb at the other side of the duplex. “I was hoping she’d want to split a takeout order.”

“Oh!” Peggy said, realization dawning. “I’m Peggy, Nat’s friend from work. I’m watching her cat for the week. Did she tell you she was going back for the holiday?”

Clint watched her lips closely and nodded as she spoke. “Right, sorry, I forgot.” He scratched the back of his head under his knit cap and squinted at her. “Do you maybe want to go in on some takeout?”

A grin spread across her face and she opened the door wider. “What do you think of the Vietnamese place?”

Clint gave her both thumbs up. “The báhn bao are freaking amazing.”

When Nat texted later that evening to let Peggy know she’d arrived, Peggy and Clint snapped a quick photo for her with their very impressive spread of food and Liho just barely visible in the background, creeping on the interlopers in her home from the top of the stairs. Nat texted back a laughing with tears emoji and then when you go to bed tonight double check under the covers. she sometimes attacks feet if she’s not expecting them

Noted, Peggy replied. More normal cat behavior.

Nat sent back the eye-roll emoji.

Have you seen Maria yet? Peggy hoped she wasn’t being too nosy. She and Nat had been friendly for years but this new level, with in-home cat-sitting and ex-sex-discussing, was still pretty new for them.

In response, a photo appeared of Nat’s slim fingers around a half-drunk pint glass. she’s meeting me in 30 minutes, got here early for some liquid courage

Peggy sent her a string of crossed fingers and martini glasses, punctuated with a purple heart.

Nat sent back a purple heart and Peggy felt it in her chest, warm and liquid. She didn’t have many good friends, and all of them were back home in the UK. Nat, standoffish, prickly, elusive Nat, was turning out to be her first real friend in the States.

Just then, Liho jumped up into Peggy’s lap and butted her head against the hand holding her phone. Now she was ready for Peggy to pet her.

Clint was good company, and he turned out to unabashedly love Love Island, which Peggy watched to keep up with Angie’s opinions on the subject, so he and Peggy re-started the beginning of the third series together and talked about how Camilla was too good for the rest of the crowd.

While Peggy got ready for bed, she poked her head around the upstairs, looking for Liho as she brushed her teeth and slathered on moisturizer, dipping back into the bathroom to spit and then to dab on a spot treatment.

“Where are you hiding, miss?” She peeked behind the door of Nat’s second bedroom, set up as an office. She spun the desk chair around, but there was no cat curled in a ball in the seat. Peggy went into Nat’s bedroom and threw back the covers, but no luck. She called and called, but Liho didn’t poke her head out, didn’t answer with a chirp. Peggy searched the whole house twice, and then remembered what Nat had said about the front door. Had it been open too long when Clint left? Peggy had said goodnight and gone to put away her leftovers, she hadn’t watched to see if the cat stayed inside. She couldn’t remember seeing her after that.

Feeling out of sorts, Peggy grabbed her phone and Nat’s key, tossed a hoodie on over her sleeping shirt and shoved her feet into her sneakers. She opened the door and stepped onto the stoop, calling softly for Liho as she shut the door firmly behind her, in case the cat was still inside. “If you’re out here, darling, please come back inside.” Peggy shivered as a cold wind blew down the street, throwing the bare branches of the tree in Nat’s yard against each other. A full moon and a cloudless sky, plus the street lamps and the festive lights on many of the houses meant the street was fairly well-lit, even at this hour.

She turned on the flashlight on her phone and swept the light around the walkway, focusing on the spots in shadow. “Liho!” She stepped off the stoop and into the yard. Over the wind, Peggy heard it. An unmistakable chirp. She spun around, trying to see the cat. “Come here, kitty!” Against her better judgement, she made kissy noises and thanked the lord no one else seemed to be out at this hour. Another chirp, and this time Peggy realized where it was coming from. She aimed her light at the tree. Standing in a vee about halfway up the old oak was Liho, shivering in the wind.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Peggy said, “did you get yourself stuck up there?” Liho chirped back at her and stayed put.

Peggy eyed the tree trunk. She’d climbed more difficult ones, to be sure, but not since primary school. She tucked her phone and keys into her pocket and zipped her hoodie up to her chin. “I’m gonna get you down,” she told the cat. “Don’t worry,” she said, mostly to herself.

As Peggy climbed, Liho retreated further up into the branches. “That’s the wrong direction!” Peggy complained. But she could keep going, so she did. The street lamp provided decent illumination, and it was a dry, cold night, so the bark wasn’t slippery against her rubber-soled shoes.

A truck rumbled down the street and stopped at a nearby house and Peggy hoped the occupants wouldn’t notice her, climbing a tree at midnight in her pajamas.

“Uh, ma’am?” A voice called up from below.

“Bugger,” Peggy cursed. No such luck.

She didn’t dare look down, the branches were starting to get thin. Liho watched the man on the street with some interest, though, which might work in Peggy’s favor. “Ma’am I’m with the fire department. Is everything okay up there?”

Peggy had to laugh. “I’m fine, just retrieving a cat. But you seem to be short a hook and ladder, or even a siren. So try again, Mr. Fireman.”

She heard a sigh from down below, but Liho was cautiously creeping towards Peggy along one of the topmost branches. “That’s it, come here.” Peggy reached out her hand and Liho came closer. Peggy braced herself against the trunk of the tree, hugging it with her thighs, and then she grabbed the cat by the scruff of her neck. Liho let out an undignified squawk but didn’t fight her grip, allowing Peggy to drag her close to her chest and hold her there.

“Good job,” the man encouraged.

“No thanks to you,” Peggy muttered. She climbed down. Liho, to her credit, submitted to Peggy’s hold like a kitten in her mama’s jaws. Soon enough, they were both out of the tree.

The supposed firefighter stood several feet away on the sidewalk, watching. “All set?” he asked.

“We’re fine.” She finally got a good look at him then, and well, he did look the part. At least six feet tall, with broad shoulders, fair hair, and a clean-cut All-American sort of look, if the chiseled jawline throwing shadows under the streetlamps were anything to go by. He wasn’t in his gear, of course, just jeans and a short leather jacket. It was still a good look on him.

He looked back up the tree. “You, uh, you’re pretty good at that.” He looked back to her and gave her a small smile.

“It’s not my first tree.” She looked him up and down. “Are you really a firefighter?”

He hooked his thumb back at his truck. “Not on duty. I heard the call on my radio, and I was nearby.” Now Peggy could see the bar of lights on the top of his truck. “I’m guessing you didn’t call this in, though? You definitely had things under control.”

She smiled despite herself. “I did have it under control.”

He nodded. “Well, glad I could be of no help at all.”

“You certainly did get here quickly, so points for that, I suppose.” She shifted the cat against her and took a tentative step closer.

“I live in the neighborhood.” He took a step closer, too. Peggy could see the wry smile on his lush mouth now. “Steve Rogers,” he offered.

“Peggy Carter. I’m just cat-sitting for a friend.” She cut him a look under her lashes, having a bit of fun. “But I’m starting to see why my friend likes this location.” Steve open and shut his mouth a few times, and then his reply was cut off by the wail of a siren. They both turned to look as a fire truck careened down the street. Steve stepped into the center of the road to flag them down. As the siren got louder, Peggy felt Liho tense under her hands, her front claws digging into Peggy’s sweatshirt. She tried to hold her close, but the cat squirmed away and bounded right back up into the tree. “Oh, Bloody Nora!”

He came back to stand beside her, hands on his hips. “Did the cat just run back up the tree?”

Peggy sighed. “The cat just ran back up the tree.”

“Well,” Steve scratched at the back of his head as he looked up to where Liho had perched herself, “I have that ladder now.”

“Captain Rogers!” Someone called from over by the truck. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Steve checked his watch. “Lieutenant Barnes, somehow I made it here a full five minutes before you did.”

“Aw, Steve, it’s a cat in a tree.”

“I told him we should get our hustle on for any call in your neighborhood, Cap,” another firefighter piped up.

“You should hustle for any call anywhere, come on, team” Steve’s voice got more commanding as he spoke with the members of the crew.

“Is that the cat’s owner?” another crew member piped up, gesturing at Peggy as she climbed down from the truck.

“I’m caring for her, yes,” Peggy replied.

The woman looked up at the tree and back at Peggy. “Would she let someone hold her if we got the ladder up there?”

Peggy considered. “She’s not great with new people.”

The firefighter nodded and looked back at Steve. “Cat bag.”

“Cat bag,” Steve agreed. “Ms. Carter here already got her down once, so I don’t think this one’s a jumper.”

The rest of the crew all exchanged looks, disbelief clear on their faces despite the truck’s flashing lights throwing strange shadows over the group. “Uh, what?” The handsome one Steve had called Barnes broke the awkward silence.

“I got her down,” Peggy explained. “Then your siren scared her and she went right back up.”

Another firefighter—also a handsome man, Peggy noticed—looked slowly between Peggy and the tree. “So if you didn’t have any trouble getting up there, then why …?” He squinted back at Peggy.

“She didn’t call this in, it must have been a neighbor.” Steve clapped his hands together. “All right, it’s cold out and I’m sure that cat wants to be warm inside, just like the rest of us. Who’s going up?”

“Not it,” both Barnes and the other one said at the same time.

“Wilson,” Barnes whined, “I got the last one.”

“Allergies, man. You’d have to dose me with Benadryl if you want me within five feet of a cat.” Wilson shrugged. “Sif, can you take this one?’

The female firefighter—yet again a very attractive person, statuesque with dark hair and big, dark eyes, Peggy was starting to wonder if the entire engine company put out a calendar every year—already had a burlap sack, which Peggy assumed was the cat bag, in her hands, along with a length of nylon rope and carabiners. She rolled her eyes at the other two. “Well, it’s not like Cap’s going to send Dum Dum up after her, is it?”

As if on cue, a fourth fire fighter stuck his head out of the truck’s door. “Everything okay out here?”

“Thanks for the help, Dugan!” Steve shouted back.

“Oh! Cap! Didn’t realize you were here!”

Steve waved him off and turned back to Sif. “You don’t want the ladder?”

Sif looked at the tree. “Nah, it’ll go faster and scare the cat less if I climb up. What’s her name?” The last part she addressed to Peggy.

“Liho.”

Sif nodded, put on some thick work gloves she produced from a pocket, clipped the cat bag to her belt and up she went.

“You know,” Peggy said, standing next to Steve as they watched Sif’s ascent, “if you lot hadn’t showed up I’d already be back in the house with the cat I’ve been entrusted to look after.”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied. “But then you wouldn’t have met me or my motley crew, and wouldn’t that have been a shame.”

Peggy eyed him speculatively and took a breath. “Jury’s still out. Perhaps you could buy me coffee sometime, Captain, as an apology for keeping me up so late. Give me more time to decide.” She felt brazen, hitting on a man who was there to do his work, but he wasn’t her neighbor, after all. And she was intrigued by this man, his apparent kindness, how he showed up even when his shift was over, not to mention the easy way he had with the people under his command. Captain Steve Rogers was the sort of man she wanted to get to know better. And, not to put too fine a point on it ... he was sexy.

Half his mouth quirked up in a self-conscious smile and he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Coffee, huh?” He looked at her, his ridiculously long eyelashes casting shadows on his face in the strange light. “Could we make it dinner? Tomorrow?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. “With the upcoming holidays, I’m going to be working ten days straight. Better to get it out of the way.”

“Oh.” Peggy’s spirits fell.

“No!” Steve backtracked, eyes wide. “That came out all wrong. That was me trying not to uh, sound too eager? Also, I’m tired, and one of my firefighters is up a tree, and you are a very attractive woman and you just asked me out and my brain might be short-circuiting right now?”

Peggy had to laugh at that. “Okay, okay, stop digging.”

“You have to forgive Cap,” Wilson said from behind them. “We don’t let him out much.”

“This may in fact be the first non-work conversation he’s had with a woman,” Barnes chimed in. “Sorry it was so bad. He’s terrible at flirting.”

Steve took the good-natured teasing in stride. “Watch it, you two,” he warned them, but there was only wry warmth in his tone as he shook his head.

“I agree, it was very lacklustre flirting,” Peggy said. “You’ll need to step up your game for dinner tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Steve replied, a broad smile on his face.

“Got her!” Sif called from above. “Coming down. Good job securing a date, Cap.”

Peggy had to agree with that, too.

#steggysecretsanta #steggy fic #geekynerddemon #steve rogers #peggy carter #my fic

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timelords-angel-is-sherlocked · 4 years

Text

Supernatural Supercorp AU

"Lena's on a hunting trip and she hasn't been home in a few days."

Kara's world titled on its axel and she felt her heart drop. Lena had been silent for a week but Kara hadn't thought much of it. She couldn't think much of it or else she would start spiraling because she knew exactly what kind of things could make her go silent.

"Excuse us." Kara stood up from her desk and dragged Alex outside where no one could hear them. "What job was she working?"

"I'm not sure, it was something in Jericho. I was in Arizona dealing with a demon. Told her to wait for me, but you know how she gets." Alex slouched her shoulders and she leaned against the wall. "There's been a spike in activity. More and more spooks have been popping up all over the place, so the hunters have been a spread thin trying to deal with it. We hardly ever split up but..." she shook her head. "I know you're out of the game and you've renounced this life, but I could really use some help. Lena doesn't go down easily so I want to be prepared for anything."

Kara pursed her lips as she thought about it. The last time she hunted was three years ago, and that was only because a vamp was killing people on her college campus. If she went on another job and saw Lena again, she wasn't sure if she'd want to come back to CatCo. And Lena... That was a whole other story in of itself.

It all started back in Midvale about 5 years ago. Kara was in her senior year of high school and Alex was halfway through med school. A month before the day everything changed, there were two murders (an oddity in a small town like Midvale) and everyone was sketched out. Alex offered to take Kara to camp in the woods to have some sister bonding time. It was winter break and the stars always helped Kara relax so she agreed. If only Kara had said no, then maybe she would never even have thought of "hunting" as anything different than shooting animals.

They easily set up the tent and started a small fire to roast some marshmallows. Alex had been catching Kara up on how medical school was going and her roommate who only ate green m&m's and slept with one sock on. In return, Kara told Alex how school was going and that Eliza was doing well. It was a fun conversation until Kara heard a faint growl.

"Did you hear that?" The blonde scooted closer to her older sister. "It sounded like a dog or something."

"You have freakishly good hearing, Kara. I didn't hear anything." Alex reached for her gun anyway.

Kara heard it louder now. Alex tensed up and searched the woods but couldn't see anything at all. The full moon was able to provide some lighting, but not much.

A howl pierced the air and a tall figure came into view. It stalked towards the two sisters and Kara nearly fainted. In front of them stood a man with thick hairs covered all over him. He was snarling with his fangs and claws out, ready to attack. Alex shot two bullets straight into the creature but it only staggered back some.

"You two look delicious."

Kara was clinging onto her big sister hoping Alex would somehow find a way to save them. She was desperately shooting until her gun was out of ammo. The creature laughed and bent its legs, ready to lunge, but was intercepted by a body tackling it.

It was a girl, Kara realized, and she was wearing a pair of silver brass knuckles. She punched the monster in the face again and pulled a silver knife from her belt. She stabbed the monster's arm and it howled in pain.

"Are you the last of your pack?” She twisted the knife and the monster whimpered in pain.

"Stupid hunter!" The creature grabbed the girl by the neck and threw her five feet into a tree. It pulled the knife out and prowled towards her. "I don't have a pack. They were wiped out by your people!"

The girl rolled to the side to avoid being ripped to shreds. She patted her side and grabbed a gun. Kara wanted to scream, to warn her that bullets had no effect, but she was petrified. Frozen to the spot.

"So you start murdering people in the town?" She shot a bullet and the monster stumbled back in pain. “Thought you would be smarter than that.”

"Humans deserve to die." It dropped to the ground and Kara could hear it's ragged breaths. "I would've killed them all-" two bullets burrowed inside its head.

"Yeah, yeah." The girl spun her gun and placed it in her pants. As she searched for her knife, the creature’s body started to morph into... Mr. Henderson?

"What the hell is going on?" Alex demanded. She was shaking and her voice cracked, but Kara appreciated the effort to stay cool nevertheless.

"I'm sorry about that." The woman wiped the blood off her knife on her trousers. "Are you both alright?"

"What was that? How come Alex's gun didn't work on it? Why is Mr. Henderson there when it was the monster? Who are you?" Kara blurted out.

"My name is Lena and that's a werewolf." She sat down on a log opposite the sisters, rubbing her neck. "Silver is the only thing that can harm them. Turns out Mr. Henderson here was behind the murders last month. A friend of mine came through the town and killed a pack, but it seems one slipped through her fingers. Came as soon as I could. Good thing I got here when I did." She pulled out a flask and drank from it.

"He was a werewolf?" Alex looked at Lena as if she were crazy. Kara would have called her nuts if she hadn't just witnessed the whole thing. "What did he mean by "hunter" and "your people?"

Lena bit her lip in contemplation. "The less you know, the better off you are. I've got rid of the threat, but I highly recommend getting the heck out of here. I'll get rid of the body, so no need to worry about that."

"That sounds like a good idea." Kara nodded her head and started to tear down the tent. She really wanted to go home and forget any of this ever happened.

Alex got up and nudged the dead body with her foot. "How come nobody knew he was a werewolf? This is a small town, we would've noticed someone turning into that every full moon."

"They're smart. Ate animal hearts for the most part and traveled out of town to eat human hearts in the city." She watched Kara disassemble the tent. "Monsters are smart like that. When something bad happens, some snap and forget to be careful."

"How long has this been happening?" Alex asked in disbelief. Kara momentarily stopped. She was curious too.

"That family that went missing a while ago, how long did they live here? However long that was is however long they were most likely chowing down on some hearts." They both gave her exasperated looks. "What?”

The tent was now all packed up. "So you're saying that the whole Abbott family were werewolves?" They sold flowers in the middle of town. Flowers! That was not threatening at all!

"Look, I drove six hours straight to get here. I'm tired, hungry, and in a bunch of pain. And I've got to burn its body. Can you guys hurry it up?"

"We're good to go." It was dark out and after what they just went through, Kara was kind of terrified of picking their way down. "Can we uh, do you mind if - I'm sorry, just." She looked at Alex who seemed to understand her fears.

"I can help you with the body if you don't mind us sticking with you on the way down? I know this awesome 24-hour diner that we can go to if you're willing to answer more questions."

Lena seemed to think it through. "You paying?"

"It's the least we can do." Lena grinned - Kara could tell by the flash of white in the darkness - and said, "Hell yeah! Let's burn this son of a gun."

Kara stayed off to the side while the two burned it. The smoke burned her eyes and the smell made her want to throw up, but they thankfully left right away. Alex drove to Anna's with Lena following close behind in her own car.

When they stepped inside, Kara was able to get her first good look at Lena. And when she did, her heart stuttered in her chest. Lena was about an inch shorter than Kara, and she looked to be around the same age. She had startling green eyes that froze Kara to the spot and a jawline that was sharper than her knife. She had a black tank top with a flannel and a bomber jacket thrown over it complete with tight cargo pants, that no doubt had some weapons in it, and black combat boots. Alex had to elbow Kara so she would stop staring.

"I haven't had a milkshake in so long," Lena moaned as she slurped the drink and Kara blushed at the sound.

"Anna does have the best milkshakes," Kara squeaked.

Alex furrowed her eyebrows at Kara but she refused to look at her sister. "So what is it that you do for a living? Kill werewolves?"

"Werewolves, vampires, skinwalkers, anything that goes bump in the night."

"So that stuff is really real? Demons too?" Lena nodded. "How come we don't know about this stuff? Never heard about it?"

"You really think the public would be okay knowing stuff like that exists?" She downed the rest of her drink. "Of course some just want to live out their lives as harmlessly as they can. I know vamps who have deals with blood banks and ghouls who work in morgues and eat unclaimed bodies. But just as there are bad humans, there are bad monsters. We hunters do our best to gank the bad ones before too many people start asking questions. Most people don't know where to look so they don't see what's going on."

"So hunters are like the underworld version of cops?" Kara asked.

"Kinda. Except most people don't know about us, we don't get paid, and if we're not careful we die a gory death." She leaned back and starting tapping on the table anxiously. "I'm not in it to be a hero or anything, I just want to save as many people as I can. Give people answers to mysterious deaths. Deal with a poltergeist or two when I'm in between jobs."

"How long have you been doing this?"

"A while." The food arrived and Lena lit up when the burger was placed in front of her. "I usually try to eat healthy but I couldn’t resist. How often do you see a triple-decker bacon burger?”

Kara wholeheartedly agreed with that. The burgers there were the best in all of Midvale. She’d eat there every day if she could.

"How does one become a hunter?" Alex asked. Kara glanced at her sister curiously.

“Depends. Some people are born into it. Some accidentally get dragged into the life. Or when they get rescued from a supernatural attack, they get invested and want to hunt too." Lena shrugged and moved onto her fries.

"How'd you become one?" Lena stared at Kara with hard eyes. Touchy subject, got it.

"I want to become a hunter," Alex proclaimed.

"No, you don't. I appreciate the food and helping me, but trust me, you don't want anything to do with this life. You see loved ones die in gruesome ways, it's shitty motel after shitty motel, driving for hours on end through states, being tired to the bone, exhausted beyond relief, nightmares of the people you couldn't save, and paranoid that monsters are coming after you. If you become too big too fast, the monsters start talking and you get a target on your back. You can't exactly tell people what you do for a living or you'll end up in a mental hospital and it's a lonely life. So no, you don't want to become a hunter, sweetheart. Once you're in, you're in. You can't exactly unsee things and the life expectancy rate is like, 30 years old. You've got spunk, though. I admire that."

Alex sat up and stared directly at Lena. “But you save people. My sister and I would have been murdered and no one would have known. There are other people like that out there right? Families and younger siblings in danger?”

“Are you seriously ignoring what I just said? How old are you? 19? 20? You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You’re probably in college too. Am I right sweetcheeks?”

Kara startled when she realized she was the one being spoken to. “She’s 20 and she’s halfway through med school,” she supplied helpfully.

“Kara!” Alex hissed and elbowed her sister.

“A medical student? Impressive.” She wiped her face using a napkin. “Become a doctor and save the world that way. Cure diseases, stop pandemics. What I’d give to go back to school,” she mused as she took on a thousand-mile stare.

“School isn’t actually what I really want to do,” Alex muttered. “I’m only doing it because my mom wants me to. I wanted to be a police officer.” Alex hadn’t told anyone that before and it felt good to get it out.

Lena stared Alex downed and it seemed as if she was somehow staring straight into her soul. “You’re on winter break?” They both nodded. “I have a job in Las Vegas. My contact wasn’t too specific, but I think it could be a vamp nest. If you’re serious about becoming a hunter, I’ll let you tag along. But you have to listen to everything I say and you will not put yourself in a dangerous position. Is that understood?”

It was a bit odd to see Alex look intimidated, especially by someone who was younger than her, but she was nodding along seriously. “I am super serious.”

“Hm.” Lena crossed her arms and moved her gaze from Alex to Kara. “What about you, cupcake? You in?”

Kara had bever been more afraid in her life. She just wanted to go home and forget everything that happened, but Alex was going. Plus, there was a chance Kara could ask Lena for some lessons and be pinned under her… “How are you going to convince Eliza to let us go, Alex?

“Don’t worry about it, Kara. I’ve got it handled,” she smirked.

Kara wasn’t sure what lies Alex told the eldest Danvers, but it worked. Two days after the diner, the trio was off to Las Vegas. Lena insisted on driving the entire way, saying that no one was to ever drive her baby. It was an old car, a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, but it had clearly been well taken care of. She had mixtapes that were purely classic rock and heavy metal which made Alex appreciate the hunter even more. The drive, which should have been at least 6 hours, took about 4 and a half (Lena was speeding and Kara half expected them to get pulled over but they never did).

It was around noon when they arrived at Sin City and they stopped for a quick bite before finding a cheap motel at the end of the strip.

“I think I know where the hideout is,” Lena spoke up from her bed. They had checked into the room about three hours prior and Lena spent the time typing away on her laptop and answering Alex’s never-ending questions. Kara took to reading through her journal about all the monsters she’s encountered and how to defeat them. She tried not to be jealous when she saw the name “Sam” popping up every once in a while.

“Where?”

“An old warehouse about an hour out. I don’t know, something just doesn’t feel right about this.” She ran her hand through her hair for the millionth time that hour. “It’s our best chance, so let’s go check it out.”

Kara was impressed by the arsenal the hunter kept in the trunk of her car. It was enough to arm a small army. Alex was given a syringe full of deadman’s blood and Kara a machete with instructions to cut off the vampire’s head clean off. It was just before 10 when they arrived and Kara strained her ears to see if she could hear anything but she was too far away.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” Lena muttered. She stayed in her seat with her eyes closed. Alex and Kara exchanged looks but stayed quiet. “I’m going to go in first. If I’m not out in five minutes, Alex come after me. If she’s not out in two minutes, you come in Kara. If it’s not a vampire, then it might be a djinn. Deadman’s blood won’t work on it, so try and smash its head in.” Lena gripped her own machete. “Start the timer.” She opened the door and dashed towards the ominous building.

At the four minute mark, Alex went in after her. From what Kara had gathered, Lena was an expert hunter and she had taken down far more than a vampire nest. Maybe her intuition was right and it was a djinn, not a vampire nest. Kara opened the trunk and rummaged through the assortment of weapons and thanked God for the jar of lamb’s blood. From what she read, Lena never actually faced a djinn before but someone named Lionel had. He used a silver knife dipped in lamb’s blood to kill it so Kara prayed that it would work.

She snuck into the building but she still couldn’t find anything. She walked as silently as she could until she saw a light up ahead. When she approached it, she noticed Lena tied to a chair with her head resting on her chest. Then she saw Alex slumped in a man’s arm. He was carrying her to a table where there was an assortment of knives. Panic surged through the blonde’s body but she couldn’t mess up now. They were depending on her!

Once he set Alex down, Kara dashed forward with a burst of speed and brought the knife down only for the body to dodge out of the way.

“It must be Christmas!” The man exclaimed. “So many bodies, so much blood.” He licked his lips. “I’ll be feasting on you all for a while!” He rushed towards Kara but she dodged his hand. She couldn’t be touched or else she would be put in a coma like the others.

He tried to come at her again but Kara ducked and swiped her legs at his feet. The djinn jumped to avoid her legs but missed the punch she sent at his face. When he grabbed it, Kara kicked him in his sweet spot and brought the knife down to his chest. His eyes shined an unnatural shade of blue before he went limp. Blue blood had splattered on her, but Kara didn’t care. She ran to Alex’s side and gently woke her up.

“It’s not a vampire!” Alex sat up and looked around fearfully. “You’ve got to run!”

“Alex, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Kara grabbed her shoulders and made direct eye contact with her sister. “Everything is under control now.” She heard groaning from behind her and she turned to see Lena waking up. Her eyes were blurry and wet, as if she was about to cry, and she took in her surroundings.

“Untie me, yeah?” Kara obliged and walked over to cut the ropes. “I’m impressed, Danvers. You really saved my ass.”

Kara blushed and tried to say something cool like, no problem. Or, it was nothing. Maybe something funny like, guess I’m your knight in shining armor. What she actually said was, “I used your lamb’s blood to kill it, sorry.”

The hunter laughed and shook her head. “A small price to pay. I’ll be sure to get some more, then.” She looked at the dead body and the knife that was still protruding from his chest. “Hey Alex, can you get some empty syringes? I want to get as much of his blood as I can to study it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Alex was still in a daze but she managed to stumble out of the empty warehouse.

Lena turned to look at Kara and studied her face. “I knew you didn’t really want to tag along, but thank you for coming. Seriously. I would have been pissed as hell if I died now. I’ve still got to…” she bit her lip to stop herself. “You’re a natural. Even I would have had some trouble dealing with him if I had known what I was dealing with.” She gently cupped Kara’s face and pressed a kiss to her cheek, her lips catching the corner of Kara’s.

Kara almost fainted from the adrenaline crash and the lightheadedness she felt from Lena’s lips on her. Thankfully, Lena dragged her into a chair with a wry chuckle. She and Alex filled five vials with the djinn’s blood before the three put that place behind and headed back to the motel.

They stayed in Vegas for another day. Kara and Alex explored the city while Lena stayed inside to do research. When they made it back to Midvale, Lena informed them that she’d stay in town for a couple of days since there were no pressing jobs that needed her attention.

A couple of days ended up being the rest of winter break. She had taken them to Salt Lake City after the New Year to take care of a vengeful spirit but, other than that, there were no more hunts. Alex was convinced that this was her calling and was determined to become a hunter. Kara couldn’t deny how right it felt kicking butt with Lena and saving the world one monster at a time, either. Once their year was over, Lena promised she would take them for a couple of more hunts before allowing them to become fully invested.

After she left, Kara and Alex spent a lot of time getting into shape and Kara continued even after Alex went back to school. In her free time, she would either read different mythologies or text Lena.

(Even though Lena was hunting a lot, or driving through states, or in a different time zone, she always made sure to at least text Kara once a day. Sometimes on long drives, they’d even talk on the phone. Alex didn’t get the same treatment and it made Kara’s heart do somersaults when she found that out.)

Lena and Alex were both there for her high school graduation and she definitely cried. Her parents couldn’t make it to see her, but she was glad she had her best friends and Eliza there for her. Alex and Kara spent a week with Eliza before bidding her farewell. Kara was taking a year off to “travel” before college. It was the best decision she had made.

Driving through states was sometimes boring, but the scenery always fascinated her. She and Alex would quiz each other on their lore while Lena drove (she was still adamant about not letting anyone touch her baby). They did a bunch of different jobs varying from cursed objects to demon possessions to ghouls. Sometimes there’d be weeks in between jobs but Lena still stayed hunched over her laptop doing research. Even on hunts she’d disappear for a while and come back looking defeated. It almost seemed like she had her own side quest but the Danvers sisters didn’t want to ask. What they had was good and they didn’t want to ruin it.

Kara learned how to make fake ID’s and was practicing on making FBI ones. Alex was the prodigy in lore and Lena would write down experiment ideas on new ways to defeat monsters.

One year had turned into two and somewhere along the way, Kara and Lena got together. Lena still had major trust issues and she wouldn’t open up all the time, but what they had was special. Alex would tease them about their relationship but she was happy for them. Things were going well until they went back to Midvale.

Eliza and Clark (Kara’s cousin) staged an intervention and asked Kara what she was doing with her life. Eliza had long given up on trying to get Alex to get back to school so Kara was the next best thing, it seemed. She couldn’t tell them that she was hunting monsters and running credit card scams so they could get by.

“It’s been two years, Kara. I think you’ve seen enough of the States. It’s time to settle down and go to college, don’t you think?”

Kara had caved in and applied to UCLA. Alex was proud of her and Lena was… she was bittersweet.

“I’m proud of you, darling. It’s good to get out of this life while you can. You’re smart and you deserve that education,” she said as they sat on the good of the Impala.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Kara frowned and kicked her dangling feet. “I’m going to miss chumming it with the both of you guys and hunting.” It was true that Kara was averse to the whole thing at first, but it really changed her life. Saving families, killing monsters, working with her girlfriend and sister, it was the life. But, she was also excited to get her education. She did want to be a reporter like her cousin.

“You’re going to be amazing, babe. Keep a low profile and don’t go on any hunts, okay?”

“Okay.” Kara playfully nudged Lena and they clinked their beer bottles together and drank until Alex fetched them to go back inside.

It was halfway through Kara’s first semester when they realized the strain the distance and the hunting had on their relationship. Even though it broke their hearts, the breakup was mutual. Kara’s workload was getting heavier and the monsters were becoming more dangerous on Lena’s end.

When there were mysterious killings on campus of students with their blood being drained and bite marks on their necks, well, no one had to know it was Kara who stopped the killings.

Kara went on to live the college experience and had a blast. She had shoved the past two years into the back of her head and focused on the present and future. In her last year, she had managed to snag a job at CatCo as Cat Grant’s assistant. Her classes were all early in the morning so she would eat lunch then head over. The job tested her each and every day, but Kara was thankful for her training as a hunter. She would rather take on a pack of werewolves than deal with Ms. Grant when something went wrong (which was at least twice a week).

Once she graduated and worked full time, she made some good friends. Winn Schott who was a nerdy IT guy, and James Olsen who worked in the photography department and was a friend of Clark’s. Everything was going great until Alex showed up.

“Increased activity how?” Kara settled on asking once she managed to get her head out of the past.

“A lot of demons have been prowling around and Lena’s been obsessed with it for some reason. Saying she’s close to figuring something out, but I don’t know. I could never read her as well as you could and we’ve been apart for a while now. Anyways. Are you coming? I wanna get going before the trail goes cold.”

“Yes, of course I’m coming. I’ve got to talk to Ms. Grant first.” Kara dragged her sister to her desk and asked her to wait. She walked into the office tentatively and waited for her boss to look at her.

“What is it, Kiera? I’m busy,” she snapped.

Kara pushed her glasses up (she didn’t need them but it helped with her ‘innocent girl’ look) and cleared her throat. “I need to leave and take the rest of the week off. There’s a family emergency.”

Cat stopped typing and looked at her assistant. “It’s Tuesday, Kiera. You can’t leave on such short notice.”

“I realize that, Ms. Grant, but it’s truly an emergency. Lives are at stake.”

“Lives are always at stake. You can leave tomorrow.”

Kara didn’t have time for this. Lena was missing and she needed to be out there looking for her! “Ms. Grant with all due respect, it is urgent I leave as soon as possible. My family is at risk and she needs me,” she emphasized. Even if they were broken up and hadn’t actually seen each other in years, Lena was still one of the most important people in her life.

“Very well. Send Mr. Gomez in.” Kara nodded gratefully and started hurrying out of the office. “And Kara, I hope you find her.”

“Thank you, Ms. Grant.” She grabbed Alex’s arm and started to drag her out of the building. “Let’s stop by my apartment real quick to grab some clothes and snacks. Jericho isn’t too far from here, we can still make it before nightfall.”

“God, you have an apartment?” Alex smiled at her little sister. “And a steady job. And you graduated from college. I am so proud of you.” She gave the blonde a side hug.

“Yep.”

Alex pulled out her keys and unlocked a car. It was black with red accents. “1965 Ford Mustang,” she announced proudly. “Won in it a gamble with some other hunters. Lena helped me fix her up. She’s amazingly good with cars. I’m pretty sure she could disassemble and reassemble the Impala with her eyes closed.”

“She does love that car,” Kara agreed. Though, she loved watching Lena work on her baby. Her biceps flexing as she fixed whatever was inside the hood, the sweat dripping down her brow, the grease smudging her face when she would try and wipe it away, the- Woah. “I sure hope we’ll be back by Monday. I stood up to Cat Grant, and I don’t think she’s very happy with me right now.”

Alex laughed. “You’ve always had a big pair on you. Now tell me where to go so we can go save our girl.”

“Right!”

Little did Kara know that she was not only getting herself back in the game, but she was diving headfirst into what could be the start of the apocalypse.

#i wrote this at 3 am dont judge #rewatching spn and my brain thought this up #oneshot #maybe this could become a fic who knows #supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #alex danvers

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justlookfrightened · 5 years

Text

The Sting of Love

From @thesaltqueen: Not really an prompt but a timeless classic au: flower shop/tattoo artist

This is more beekeeper Jack and tattoo business owner Bitty -- I hope you like it anyway!

Jack couldn’t help but sneak peeks at the man standing in front of his booth, perusing the jars of honey, then burying his nose in the vases of echinacea he’d put out this week.

It was his mother’s idea to sell the flowers along with his honey at the market.

“At the very least, it will add some color to the booth,” she said.

Jack wasn’t sure he should really be selling flowers that you could pick wild in a lot of places, but they were pretty, and there were more than anyone could ever need in his gardens. So he kept the prices of the flowers low, and often threw in a bunch for free if someone bought more than one jar of honey.

It was all in the name of educating people, he decided. If he could get more people to grow bee-friendly flowers in their own gardens, so much the better for everyone.

The man who was looking at the honey had been in the market before; Jack had noticed him looking at the table. He had honey-blond hair (really -- it would almost exactly match the light amber of his blueberry honey, although he wouldn’t have any more of that until later in the year) and deep brown eyes.

There were tattoos on his arms, and on his lower legs, and Jack had almost followed him to get a closer look one week. He’d never bought anything, or lingered this long before.

Jack turned back from the display hive he was packing up to take home to find the man looking at him.

“Can I help you?” Jack said.

The tattoos on his arms were plants, Jack could see now. A branch of a lemon tree on one forearm, a delicately colored lavender spring on the other. And there points of more leaves poking above the neckline of the man’s black T-shirt.

“How much for two jars of the this honey?” the man said.

“They’re $15 each, or $25 for two,” Jack said. “And if you buy two, you can take that bunch of coneflowers as well.”

“I couldn’t do that,” the man said. “They’re marked at $10.”

“Sure you can,” Jack said. “I really just bring them to make the booth look better, and I’m closing up soon anyway.”

“If you insist,” the man said, sliding a debit card across the table.

“What you’re buying there is wildflower honey,” Jack said, trying to keep conversation going. “Later in the season, after we take the bees to pollinate different crops, we’ll have blueberry honey and apple honey.”

“Good to know,” the man said. “Too bad we’re so far north. Peach honey is something special.”

Jack looked at the card after he ran it through the machine.

“I’m sure it is, Mr. Bittle,” he said. He wondered if the man was from Georgia, between the drawl and the talk of peaches.

“Mister -- I’d say Mr. Bittle is my dad, but no one ever called him that either,” the man said. “My friends call me Bitty.”

“I’m Jack.”

After that day, Jack saw Bitty at almost every market day. He didn’t buy honey every time -- how could he, after buying three pounds the first day? -- but he always stopped to chat, and often took home a bunch of flowers.

Jack took took to making up special bunches combining some of his favorite summer flowers: yarrow and bachelor buttons, ox-eye daisies and cosmos, sage and hyssop. He kept them separate from the flowers he had for sale until later in the day, when the man -- Bitty -- came to the market.

He never marked them with a price, and usually tried to give them to Bitty. It wasn’t hurting Jack any to give them away -- bees and the honey they made were his main business -- and they seemed to make Bitty happy.

Not that he wasn’t happy anyway. Bitty usually had a smile for everyone, and he talked with several of the vendors and other customers as he wandered among the stalls. He was always alone, too, which pleased Jack, even though it shouldn’t. Why should he want his favorite customer to be lonely?

Then he appeared one day with someone else, an Asian woman even smaller than him, and even more covered in ink. They weren’t holding hands or anything, but the way they laughed and talked made it clear they were close. Maybe Bitty was taking the flowers Jack gave him (that he tried to buy) and giving them to her? Well, even if he was, Jack couldn’t really complain. Why shouldn’t Bitty try to make his … person he was close to happy?

Jack’s suspicions were confirmed when Bitty led the woman to his stall.

“This is Jack,” he said. “He always has these gorgeous flowers, and he’s the one who makes the honey.”

“No,” Jack said.

“No?” The woman raised a pierced eyebrow in his direction.

“I don’t make the honey,” Jack explained. “I harvest it, but the bees make it.”

She nodded, and said, “Can I look at your hive there?”

“Sure,” Jack said. “That’s why I bring it.”

“Jack,” Bitty said. “This is Lardo, my partner.”

Jack’s heart sank an inch or two further -- as though he needed further confirmation of their relationship -- while his mind caught on the name.

“Lardo?” he said stupidly.

“Nickname,” Lardo said, without looking up from where she was studying the hive. “This is really cool,” she said. “I could make some interesting things out of this.”

What?

“The hive’s not for sale,” Jack said.

“No,” Lardo said. “I was thinking designs. Drawing it? The honeycomb pattern, and the way the bees look.”

“Lardo’s a tattoo artist,” Bitty said. “She designed everything I have on me, and most of what’s on her.”

Bitty seemed to be standing straighter, almost preening, so Jack could see the tattoos that weren’t covered by clothes. It might be as close as Jack ever got to touching Bitty, and he let his eyes wander and linger.

Nearly all of the art was botanical, he realized, and most of it had to do with plants that were food sources: the lemon and lavender, of course, and a band of rosemary around his bicep.

There was a new one, on his left arm, an intricately detailed coneflower. Jack wondered if it was based on the first flowers he had given Bitty.

The tattoo on his right ankle was different. Silhouettes of a figure skater, male, captured in stop-motion as he moved through a jump, circled the ankle.

“Did you skate?” Jack asked.

The question seemed to startle Bitty, until he followed Jack’s eyes down his own leg.

“Oh,” he said. “Yes. That was the first design Lardo did for me, when we were in college and I was talking about how much I missed it.”

“I know what you mean,” Jack said. Because while he didn’t regret leaving the hockey world behind -- the stress and anxiety were not good for him -- he missed the feeling of gliding across the rink, the scrape of his blades on ice, even the chemical tang of the air.

“You skated?” Bitty asked.

“I played hockey,” Jack said.

“Seems like a big jump,” Bitty said, “from hockey to beekeeping.”

“Let’s just say after some of the checks I took a couple of little stings didn’t scare me,” Jack said.

“If you say so,” Bitty said.

Lardo straightened up and said, “Do you have a card? Can I call you and maybe come out and make some sketches when you’re not busy here?”

“Uh, sure,” Jack said. “Right here.”

He handed her a card from the stack on the table, then remembered his manners. It wasn’t like Bitty had betrayed him by having a partner, after all.

“Did you want to take some flowers home?” he said, picking up the bunch he’d made especially for Bitty that morning.

Bitty gave Jack his sunniest smile and said, “Of course. They’re lovely. How much do I owe you?”

“No charge,” Jack said. “I’m closing up soon anyway.”

Two days later, Lardo called, and three days later she was in the barn on his property, working away with a sketchbook and pencils. She came to find Jack in the honey room before she left.

“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t know if you have any ink, but if you wanted one, I’m sure Bitty would be happy to do it on the house.”

“Ink?” Jack said. “You mean a tattoo?”

“Yeah,” Lardo said. “Maybe something like a bee, or a bit of honeycomb. Or some of those flowers you keep giving Bits.”

Jack shrugged.

“I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it,” he said. “Does Bitty -- does he also work with you?”

“Chyeah,” Lardo said. “We own the tattoo parlor on Park together. I make most of the designs, but he can follow a stencil well enough. And he handles a lot of the business stuff. He’s much better at making the customers feel comfortable than me. Especially the newbies.”

“LIke me?” Jack said.

“I guess,” Lardo said. “Look, I probably shouldn’t say anything, but he really likes you, y’know?”

“Okay,” Jack said. “I like him too. He’s a real nice guy.”

“Right,” Lardo said, and sighed. “A nice guy. That’s all you’ve noticed about him? Because the first time he came back with honey, he went on and on about how blue your eyes were and how broad your shoulders were and … well, you get it. Then with the flowers and everything, I thought he’d be planning a wedding by the end of the summer.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack said.

“No need to apologize, dude,” Lardo said. “But if you aren’t interested, maybe stop with the flowers and the flirting? It’s mean to string him along.”

“I haven’t been flirting,” Jack said. “Wait, you two aren’t married already?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Lardo said. “First, I saw you at the market this week. If you look up flirting in the dictionary, they have a video of that. The way you looked at him. And no, we’re not married. Bitty doesn’t date women, and even if he did, he’s not my type anyway.”

“But he said you were partners?”

“Business partners. You thought, like romantic partners?”

And then Lardo might have been laughing at him, but Jack couldn’t help laughing too. Bitty was single, and even better, Bitty liked him.

“Here, let me give you his number,” Lardo said. “I promise he’ll be happy to hear from you.”

The next market day, Bitty stayed and helped Jack pack up his stall, waiting for him to get coffee and have a proper date.

Jack learned that Bitty had always assumed he would be some kind of a baker, and still loved baking and food of all sorts, but found it easier to make a living in the tattoo industry.

“I’m not a real artist,” he said. “Lardo is. But I’m good at the easier stuff, and she gets bored with that.”

Jack explained that he took up beekeeping as a hobby after a near-disastrous overdose and stint in rehab, and Bitty did not flinch away. He talked about how the company of the bees soothed him, and the time outdoors quieted his mind.

It was near dark by the time he got home.

Bitty stayed late again the next week, and this time rode home with Jack, preparing dinner in Jack’s kitchen and chirping him about his lack of cooking supplies.

“Except honey,” Bitty said. “There’s plenty of honey.”

The honey peach pie Bitty brought drew an indecent groan from Jack, which drew a hooded, smoldering look from Bitty. It may have led directly to Jack seeing Bitty for the first time without a shirt, tracing his fingers and then his tongue over the tattoos he hadn’t seen before, nibbling at the peach that hung from a branch right over Bitty’s heart.

“Because you’re from Georgia?” Jack asked, looking up.

“And I don’t really go home,” Bitty said.

Jack filed that away to ask more later.

A month later, Jack found himself on Lardo’s bench, Bitty holding his hand. Lardo was inking his first tattoo -- two tiny bees on piece of honeycomb -- on the back of his left shoulder. He had just watched Lardo ink the same design into Bitty’s skin.

“Are you coming home to mine tonight?” Jack asked, when she was applying plastic wrap over the area.

“Of course,” Bitty said. “There’s a new honey pie I want to make.”

#omgcheckplease #omg check please #zimbits #my fic #prompt fill #Lardo is the best

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the-awkward-outlaw · 5 years

Text

Second Chances - Ch. 7

Blessed are those who mourn

Warnings: violence, gore, blood, pet loss, fluff, angst

Word Count: ~9300

**Author’s Note: Some of this chapter is done in Arthur’s POV. Notice the switch after seeing lines made of ***.

You feel immense pain all over your body, particularly your head. Someone’s dragging you by your ankle. The sun’s light illuminates your eyelids, but you feel as though opening them would take the strength of a god. You hear men hollering excitedly, laughing. A large rock scrapes against your back as your dragged along, digging into your spine. Wincing, you open your eyes and immediately wish you hadn’t.

One of the men who had captured you is holding tight to your ankle, a rifle dangling from his other hand. He’s dragging you towards the large mouth of a cave. It’s opening is flanked on one side by a large, steel cage with bits of animals and even humans scattered inside of it. On the other side is a horrific shrine made of dismembered people. You see arms, feet, even the mutilated upper torso of a woman. You struggle to move your body, even a finger. Your head pounds painfully. You try to kick your ankle away from your captor. He glances back, made aware of the fact that you’ve woken up, tightening his grip on you.

“Woo!” he hollers along with the other men flanking you as he brings you in. Other men stand by the side lines, holding rifles and machetes. They yell and laugh as they point at you. You fight harder and almost work your ankle out of the man’s grasp when one of the others walking beside you slams his gun into your temple, forcing you to black out again.

*******************************************************************************************

Arthur knows you were right about Mary. You were right about everything. She only ever called on him when she needed something, and then she’d go for long periods of time without ever speaking to him again. It seemed like every time she did talk to him, she did everything in her power to demean him, show him his way of life was horrible. Not that he disagrees with her. This life, the life of an outlaw, is far from easy or pretty. Robbing, beating and killing people. They are things he never wanted to do but had no choice.

He sits in his tent, having just seen you go back to guard duty. He had woken when he heard you approaching and watched you go to the other side of his tent. He wants to follow you so badly into the woods and tell you how sorry he is, how much he prefers you over Mary. When he was with her, all she did was tell him how much she wished he would change. You, on the other hand accept him how he is. He could tell you everything without fear of being judged. All you had done was ask him to leave her, to find someone who was worthy of him, and he threw it in your face.

Arthur knows you care for him in ways that are deeper than just friendship. John had pointed it out shortly after arriving at Horseshoe Overlook. The way you blushed whenever he complimented you, the way you always seemed to be there when he came back to camp to greet him with a smile. Arthur tried denying it at first, calling John a fool. He wouldn’t know the first thing about women. After that, though, he started to pay attention to the things John pointed out, along with other things he noticed on his own. The way you always came to sit next to him by the campfire, how you always brought him coffee in the morning. The way he caught you staring at him when he was focusing on the hunt. It wasn’t long after that he realized he had feelings for you as well.

“Damn fool,” he says aloud to himself. He knows he hurt you. He couldn’t get the image of you flinching the way you did when he had put his hand in his hair, like you thought he was going to hit you. Not that he ever would, but still the idea of you expecting him to caused him pain and guilt.

He picks his journal back up, glancing over the words he had written. If only you knew how many pages of it he mentioned you in, how many sketches of you were inside of it. He doubts now that you would ever speak to him again. Why couldn’t he have told you sooner that he felt things for you too? He knows why, of course. He couldn’t stand being rejected again the way he was by Mary, and the thoughts of Eliza and Isaac were too much to bear. He couldn’t risk something like that happening to you, too.

He reads the last passage of his journal one last time. He decides that in the morning he will find you and tell you everything. You deserve to know.

When morning comes, he wanders into the trees looking for you, but finding only Lenny. He approaches the young man. “Where’s Y/N?”

“Saw her leave not too long ago,” he replies.

“Leave? Where?”

“Don’t know. She didn’t say a word to me.”

Arthur turns and goes back to camp, wondering where you might have gone to. He figures you had just gone to town to get a bath or do some shopping and you’ll be back shortly.

When midday comes and you still haven’t returned, he finishes chopping a pile of firewood and goes to dig up clues to your whereabouts. He approaches Dutch, who knows nothing. Hosea is sitting in the tent with him, and he speaks up.

“Y/N is following a lead on a stage coach robbery. Said she’s be back in a few days.”

“Stage coach robbery?” Arthur asks, immediately suspicious. “She ain’t never even robbed a stage! What makes her think she can do it by herself?”

Hosea just shrugs his shoulders, and Dutch turns back to him. Arthur walks away from the tent, rubbing his chin. He knows Hosea’s covering for you. He looks and finds your tent is still standing, although empty. So you are planning on returning. Maybe Hosea’s right, and you’ll be back in a few days. Dutch calls his attention.

“Arthur! Have you gone to get Micah out of Strawberry yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, get on it, son! We can’t let them hang him.” “I disagree, but fine,” Arthur says, marching over to Artemis.

*******************************************************************************************

You’re startled awake by someone’s loud laughter. You’re locked in a cage, and you’re alone. The cage is sitting inside a cavern against a large pillar, the only light coming from fires and torches. All around the cage is a scene of horror. Bits of human dragged all over, bones, torn and shredded clothes. Several chests and other pieces of furniture form a large pile on the other side of the cavern near the wall, lying open and broken. The smell is unbelievable, a mixture of blood and excrement.

You’re stiff and sore from being dragged. You rub the back of your head where you were first hit, finding your skull tender. You wipe above your brow, where they hit you the second time and feel a deep cut in your skin, coated in dried blood.

The laugh that woke you is followed by a man’s piercing shriek, which is quickly cut off. You can’t see anyone, nor any signs of movement. Standing up, you approach the cage door and jerk it, finding it locked. Not a surprise. You reach down to pull out your gun when you find that your gun belt has been removed, along with your shoes and most of your clothes, leaving you in your undergarments. You start frantically looking around, looking for a key or anything to break the lock on the door. Of course, there’s nothing.

Someone’s walking, you can hear their footsteps, and the firelight around the corner is dimmed suddenly by the person. He comes into view; one of the wild men who captured you. He’s wiping off his machete, cleaning off the fresh blood smearing the blade. You sit down quickly, trying to be as invisible as possible. Another man approaches him.

“We got a wagon comin’ down the road!” he chuckles, spit flying from his mouth. “Boy, they were a bunch of screamers!”

The other one with the machete laughs again. “Those are the best ones!”

The one who had first spoken suddenly notices you, even though you’ve been sitting still.

“Looks like she’s awake! Should we do it?”

The other one pulls him back. “Not yet. I don’t think she’s ready yet; she don’t seem hungry enough. Few more days I think.”

They chuckle and leave, going towards a bright light ahead of your cage which could only be the sun shining through the mouth of the cave and smattering against the stone wall. So you’re close to the front. If only you could get this damn door open!

You look around more closely to the inside of your cage now that your eyes are adjusted to the dim light. There’s a few bones lying in the corner. You pick up the splintered bits of a femur and work it at an angle against the bars, shaping it into a narrow point. You carefully reach it through the holes in the bars by the door, angling it so the point faces the lock. Inserting it, you start wiggling it, trying to work it free. Without warning, the splinter snaps, the point falls out and away from you. Resisting the urge to throw the useless bone, you set it down carefully back in the corner you found it in. You sit yourself back down, trying to think, as impossible as it seems in this terrifying place.

*******************************************************************************************

Arthur returns to camp, bitter and irritated. Micah follows him after he and Arthur killed nearly half the town of Strawberry for the man’s guns. Micah then insisted on robbing a bank stage to make it up to Dutch for being arrested and nearly hung, claiming it to be a peace offering. Arthur found it suspicious when Micah refused to search the stage before demanding to drive it right into a trap set by the O’Driscolls, but thought nothing of it after seeing the take.

It’s been three days since he left, wishing it was you accompanying him back to camp instead of the loud-mouthed blond man with him. He hitches Artemis to a post and gratefully walks away from the man and towards your tent, determined to spill everything here and now. Only he finds your tent as empty as it was when he left. He approaches Hosea.

“Has Y/N come back?”

“No, Arthur,” he says, looking up from his newspaper. “Haven’t seen her since she left for that stage coach.”

“Hosea, I know she ain’t robbin’ a stage. That girl barely knows how to rob a lone, one-legged man on an abandoned trail. Where is she really?”

Hosea chuckles. “See? I told ya you were smart. She went off huntin’. To be honest, though, I thought she’d be back by now.”

“She say where she was goin’ huntin’?”

“No. To be honest, I don’t think she told anyone.”

“Great!” Arthur stalks off. The last person to see you was Lenny. Arthur goes and finds him by the table practicing a game of five finger fillet.

“Lenny, you saw Y/N leave. Ya see which way she went?”

“Sure. Looked like she was heading over to Valentine. I ain’t seen her since though.”

“No one has,” Arthur breathes out heavily. He can’t help feeling worried about you. Although he knows you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, having done it for a year before he found you, he can’t rid himself of the feeling that something bad has happened. He looks around the camp and spots Charles walking back into camp from being on guard duty.

“Charles. Will you ride with me?” he says, walking up to the man.

“What’s going on?”

“I need to find Y/N. No one’s seen her in days, but young Lenny thought she was headin’ for Valentine. Figure we can start there, ask around. See if anyone’s seen her.”

“Of course I’ll come.”

He grabs Taima while Arthur mounts Artemis. The two head on down the trail towards the town of Valentine.

“So you said no one’s seen her in days?” Charles asks while they ride.

“Seems so. Hosea was coverin’ for her, sayin’ she was gonna rob a stage. Didn’t believe it the second he told me. Turns out she’s off huntin’.”

“She’s a good hunter, Arthur. I don’t think the camp would be half as well fed if it weren’t for you and her. How do you know she isn’t on her way back to camp now?”

“I don’t. I just... got a bad feelin’, is all.”

The two fall silent as they reach Valentine. Arthur hitches Artemis outside the store while Charles says he’s going to ask around in the saloon. Arthur goes inside and walks up to the store clerk.

“Ya seen a girl? About so high,” he motions to your height with his hand. “Got (add hair description), (eye color). You’d remember her. Would’ve been about three days ago.”

The clerk thinks for a moment. “Sure, think I seen her. She was in here.”

“Did she tell you anythin’? What she buy?”

“Look, mister. Is she in trouble or somethin’?”

“Maybe, that’s what I’m tryin’ to find out. I just wanna make shoar she’s a’right, that’s all.”

“Oh,” the clerk replies, brightening up. “Well, in that case, she came and bought some food, coffee and a map.”

Charles walks in, saying no one in the saloon has seen you.

“A map? She mention any interest in a certain place,” Arthur says to the clerk.

“Sure. Asked me about Roanoke Ridge.”

“Roanoke?” Charles says. “That’s Murphree country.”

Arthur hastily speaks. “What she say about the Ridge?” “Nothin’. She just asked me to read it to her. Guess she couldn’t.”

“Come along, Arthur. I think I know the route she would’ve taken.”

Arthur thanks the clerk and practically runs out of the store, jumping into Artemis’ saddle.

“You said it was Murphree country?” he asks Charles, who’s mounting Taima.

“Last I heard it was. They’re a nasty gang, like to stay around Annesburg. They usually pick off a lot of stage coaches or lone riders. The people they catch are rarely seen again.”

“We need to find her, and fast.”

Arthur charges Artemis down the road, scaring multiple townsfolk, Charles’s struggling to keep up.

*******************************************************************************************

It must be night, the light from the sun has vanished from the wall far ahead of you. You’ve no idea how many days you’ve been here. You’re still trapped in the cage, desperate and hungry. Your captors have offered you no food, or anything else for that matter. Every once in a while, one will approach and shake the bars, yelling all kinds of profanities. Usually they just threaten to kill you, eat you, rape you, but so far they haven’t done anything. Keep on telling each other to make you wait a few more days. What they’re making you wait for you don’t want to find out. You have to get out of here.

One of the wild men is walking down the cavern towards you, hunched over as he drags something behind him. You’re sure by the dim light it’s a body. You narrow your eyes and see something glinting off the man’s gun belt. Something small, narrow and metal, dangling wildly. Something on a large thin ring. A key?

“Hey,” you gently call in a hoarse voice. “Hey, mister.”

He stops and looks at you, smiling nastily through blackened gums. “What you want, girlie?”

“You’re a nasty piece of shit, ain’t ya?” you taunt, not really sure if you’re being very wise. You approach the front of the cage, staying just far enough away that he can’t grab you. He drops his load and wanders over to you, pulling out a rusty machete.

“Lotta mouth comin’ from someone locked in a cage,” he chuckles. He puts a hand on one of the bars and peers into the cage. “Maybe I oughta cut out yer tongue!” He rubs his thumb against the blade of his machete.

You launch yourself at him, wrapping your hands tight around his neck through the bars. He tries to break your grasp and comes close to more than once. With all your strength, you grapple with him, watching his face turn red and then blue, his yells cut off. Spit slides down his chin as his eyes roll up and his body sags. You quickly reach down and grab the ring from his waist, yanking it off his pants as he falls to the ground. You doubt he’s dead, but at least he’s quiet.

You inspect the ring and find a large, iron key. It’s metal matches the lock on your cage. Hastily, you jab the key into the lock and twist. It’s an old lock and it’s resistant. You hope a bit of the bone isn’t still inside, jamming it. After a few seconds though, the lock clicks and releases. You wrestle with it, yanking it off the door. You push the door open and grab the unconscious man. You drag him inside the cage, replace the lock on the closed door and throw the key into a fire nearby. You grab the machete the man dropped and start heading up the cavern, towards the mouth.

You see the wide opening and the dark forest beyond. You’re shaking horribly, a mixture of cold and fear. You can’t hear anyone, but you don’t trust the silence. You tiptoe outside, averting your eyes from the awful scenes of gore all around. You see a trail straight ahead that leads deeper into the forest. Down to the right is another trail, following the river. You decide to go for the trail straight ahead, not knowing what lies around the curve of the other.

You rush across the small clearing as quiet as you can and reach the trail. Just as you turn the bend, you hear something whistle and then a piercing pain in your thigh, causing you to fall. You turn onto your side to see what happened. An arrow sticks out the back of your leg, blood streaming down it. You look behind you. One of the wild men, the one that shot Rain, comes barreling at you, readying another arrow.

“Thought ya could get away, huh little girl?!” he yells. Your adrenaline starts pumping, dulling the pain in your leg. You stand up, wielding the machete. Just as he raises his bow, you throw it at him. You were aiming for his head, but it smacks him in the hand, causing him to drop the bow. You realize right afterwards that you’ve lost your only weapon, but so has he.

He charges you and slams into you, knocking you to the ground again as your leg gives away. He kicks you in the ribs hard; you scream out in pain.

“We’re gonna kill you!” he yells, kicking again and again. “But not before we show ya yer own guts!”

Without hesitating, you reach behind you and yank out the arrow from your leg with as much strength as you can. The pain is unimaginable. He bends down to grab you by the hair and you shove the arrow through his neck. He gurgles and spits as blood pours from the wound and his open mouth. After a second, you toss him off of you.

You have to move. With all the sound you and the man were making, the others will have heard. You muster as much strength as you can and pull yourself to your feet, hobbling down the trail after you pick up his bow and arrows. You stumble multiple times, each time it gets harder to get back up.

You finally reach the main road, which is empty. You immediately recognize the area. This was the place you had been just before you started to feel like someone was watching you, right before that deer scared you and Rain. You can see the part of the forest where you dashed up into the woods. The place that leads to her. You make a decision, knowing it’s going to be one of the most painful things to ever do, both physically and emotionally.

You cross the road and reach the trees. You grasp a young oak and stand for a moment, breathing heavily, trying to ignore the horrible pain in your thigh and ribs. You look down and see a fallen branch, the perfect size for you to use as a crutch. You grab it and adjust it slightly, making it as comfortable as possible, and begin the arduous journey.

You don’t know how long you spend crawling up the hill, and you have to stop several times to rest. Your leg’s bleeding badly, but you have nothing to wrap it in. You keep going.

By the time you reach the top, the sky is getting lighter, heralding the coming of the sun. You see a dark mound on the ground, and you know it’s her. What’s left of her anyways. You can’t stop the tears any longer.

You heavily limp towards her and collapse upon her corpse, not caring that she’s been dead for days. You pet her cold nose, avoiding looking at the gunshot hole in her skull. You can’t help but cry, each sob racking through you painfully.

You reach into the saddle bag, pulling out a spare shirt. You shred it as best as you can, tying it around your leg as tight as you can stand, crying in pain as you finish the knot. Then you reach in the bag again and pull out a half empty bottle of alcohol and take a large drink. You lean against Rain’s body, letting the pain take over you finally.

The agony of your leg, ribs and the cut in head is nothing compared to what you feel in your heart. Your only companion, the one good thing from your childhood, is gone. You still remember holding her head as a newly born foal in your lap. You remember watching her take her first steps only hours after being born. Teaching her to accept halters, bridles and saddles. The both of you learning how to become one as horse and rider. Your grandmother had taught you how to ride a horse when she was a yearling. Now she’s dead, just as dead as your grandmother, the only person you knew loved you.

The pain in your body and your heart lulls you to sleep, and you slump over her body, your head facing the rising sun, wishing death had taken you instead.

*******************************************************************************************

Arthur and Charles barrel through the Cumberland Forest and towards O’Creagh’s Run. They stop on the western side of the lake. Charles points out an obvious spot where someone had been camping, the cold remains of their fire marking the spot. Charles investigates it.

“Fire’s been out a few days. You’ve camped with her, this look like her work?” he says to Arthur.

“Hard to say,” the outlaw says, sliding off of Artemis. “It really could be anyone.”

He bends down to investigate the flattened grass where you had slept. “Wouldn’t be surprised if it was her, though. Seems like the kind of place she’d pick to rest. She’s always liked campin’ near water.”

He motions to the calm lake, a large pike leaping out of its waters. He notices the cabin across the lake, but it looks empty. “Let’s go, we ain’t far from Roanoke Ridge.”

Charles agrees, and the two men mount their horses, charging up the trail once more. Arthur wishes he could pick up a definitive trail of you. They run along the ridge, below the train tracks and up into Roanoke Valley. When they reach the ledge above the river, they’re forced to stop since the trail splits, running north and south. Charles pulls out a map.

“Damn, she could be anywhere by now,” Arthur says.

Charles is silent for a moment. “Well, you did plenty of hunting with her. If anyone knows how she thinks and moves, it would be you.”

Arthur thinks on this and knows he’s right. The two of you have had plenty of hunting trips together. He wonders if perhaps you had wandered north, up towards Brandywine Drop. He gestures for the map from Charles, who hands it to him. He studies it for several moments.

“There,” he says, pointing to the Elysian Pool. “I bet ya she went this way.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I told ya, she likes bodies of water. She’d be usin’ the pool as a landmark, especially since I doubt she’s ever been this way before.”

“Sounds like a good enough lead. Let’s head that way.”

The two men head south on the trail towards a place called Beaver Hollow. When they get close, Charles stops the other.

“We should avoid this place, Arthur.”

“Why?” Arthur demands, getting impatient.

“Like I said, this is Murphree country. I’ve read stories of people and coaches going into Beaver Hollow. Word is they never come out. Even the law are afraid to go near it. I reckon we go around, across the river. We can avoid it easier.”

“That will take us twice as long!”

“You rather we wander right into their holdout? If Y/N is in trouble, we won’t be doing her any favors by getting ourselves killed.”

Arthur sighs. “Fine. Lead the way, Charles.”

The two continue on, losing sight of the river as they round the mountain. It’s just past midday when the trail begins heading towards the river, skirting south of Beaver Hollow. Charles pulls Taima to a stop.

“Look there!” he points. Arthur follows his finger and sees a trail of blood leading across the trail and into the trees. In the forest, there’s obvious signs of someone going through the forest in a rather clumsy manner, almost as if they were badly injured. Arthur hops off his horse and investigates more closely. He sees more blood on the ground, the trees and bushes.

“It leads up the hill,” he says. “I think we should follow it.”

Charles dismounts Taima and follows Arthur, following the trail of blood.

*******************************************************************************************

You sit awake, leaning against Rain’s body. You’ve only been asleep for a few hours, the pain all over your body preventing you from sleeping longer. You have to get out of here, otherwise you know you’ll die. It’s only a matter of time before those men find you again. Perhaps you’ve always longed for death, but you’ll be damned if you welcome it with open arms. You have to get back to camp. It’s your only chance.

Using the branch, you hoist yourself up onto your feet, clenching your jaw as your leg throbs painfully. You sling the bow and arrows behind your back again. You glance one last time at the body of your beloved horse before making your way across the top of the hill in the direction of Annesburg. You’re only chance is to make it to town, find a way onto the train somehow and go to Valentine. From there, you can find a way to camp. You doubt you’ll be able to get close to Annesburg with this leg, but you’re determined to try.

You hobble along for nearly a quarter of an hour and you reach the cover of the trees gratefully, as the sun is beating down on you, adding to your misery. The ground begins to slope downwards, and your foot slips on a loose rock, causing you to fall. You grunt loudly from the pain, gripping your leg. Then you hear it. The undeniable sound of someone walking quickly from behind you. Those wild men have tracked you down and have come to finish you off. You refuse to let them take you down without a fight though. You push yourself to your feet again, dropping the branch and pulling the bow off your back and turning to face them. You notch an arrow and point it ahead of you. You can’t see anyone yet, but you don’t shoot. There’s a patch of tall grass blocking your vision from the direction you came from. You don’t know how many of them there will be.

The grass farthest from you begins to shake as though someone is parting it. That someone is coming closer and closer as they stomp their way over to you. You pull the string of the bow as tight as you can, your ribs protesting painfully.

Just as you’re about to let the arrow fly, the tall, broad frame of Arthur comes through the grass. You quickly point the arrow to the right, letting it fly into a tree.

“Jesus!” he yells, flinching and staring at the arrow and then turning back to you. He looks at you and the fight leaves your body. You drop the bow from your bloody hand, your arm wraps around your sore ribs.

“Arthur,” you moan, you can barely hear your own voice. He raises his hands and slowly starts walking towards you.

“Easy, girl,” he says quietly, his voice soothing. You can’t prevent tears sliding down your cheek. “It’s a’right, yer safe now, darlin’.”

He reaches for you, quickly wrapping his strong arms around you and pulls you close to him. At first, you stiffen against him, your ribs complaining, then you feel his warmth envelope you, his wild scent of pine, leather and stale cigarettes filling your nose. The sound of his heart beating pumps through your ears. The strength leaves your body and you relax as he grips you tightly, holding you up. His hand rests on your tender skull, holding it to his chest gently. Your breath quickens and you begin to shiver uncontrollably. You feel his hot breath on your head as your tears begins soaking into his black shirt.

“Yer a’right, girl. We’re gonna get you home.”

His deep voice reverberates from his chest and into your weak, injured body. You wrap your arms around his middle and surprise yourself with how strongly you grip him. The hand on your back starts rubbing circles into your skin.

The two of you stand this way for several minutes until you hear Charles’ voice carrying down from the top of the hill.

“Arthur! Have you found her?”

He lifts up his head and calls back. “I got her. We’ll be up in a minute.” He wraps his arms tighter around you, squeezing you with his hands gently. “Listen, darlin’, we gotta get back up the mountain. Can ya walk?”

You test your leg, still wrapped in his tight embrace. You can tell that it’s not going to take your weight anymore. You shake your head against his chest.

“That’s a’right, I’ll take care of ya.”

He adjusts your weight so you’re still leaning against him and he picks you up as though you weigh nothing. The movement and the bend of your body in his arms causes your ribs to ache painfully, making you gasp.

“I’m sorry, darlin’,” he says, walking slowly up the hill to cause as little pain as possible. “For everythin’.”

Within a few moments, he’s brought you back up to the top of the hill. You’re surprised by how quickly Arthur made it back up seeing as it took you 15 minutes to get to where he found you. You must not have been moving very fast. He starts to set you down close to Rain’s body. You avoid looking at her, you simply can’t, as you groan in pain. He apologises again, setting your back against him as he holds you up.

Charles is standing ahead of you, holding your satchel, gunbelt and Rain’s saddle bag in one hand and the reins to Taima and Artemis in the other.

“You look like hell,” he says quietly to you. You don’t know what to say, so you just shrug, wincing as even that simple movement hurts. You feel slightly embarrassed to be standing among the two men wearing nothing but your filthy undergarments.

“This way, c’mon,” Arthur says to his horse. She walks over to him and Charles releases her reins. “Charles, I’m gonna need yer help. She can hardly stand on her own, nonetheless get on a horse.”

“Of course,” he says. Arthur effortlessly lifts you up while Charles guides your legs over the tall horse, adjusting to her broad back. The act is enormously painful, but you do your best to be quiet, not wanting to worry them or attract unwanted attention. Charles holds you steady as Arthur gets on behind you. Once he’s situated, Charles lets you go and mounts Taima. Arthur wraps one arm around you protectively, the other grabs the reins. He turns Artemis to start walking down the hill the way you had originally come. Your strength fails again and you lean against him. The feeling of his chest against your back is soothing though, his warmth seeping into your shivering frame.

“We need to be quicker,” Charles says, pulling up to Arthur’s level. “She won’t last much longer if we aren’t fast enough.”

You feel Arthur nod and he nudges Artemis into a steady canter. Agony rips through your entire body, especially your leg and ribs. You clutch onto Arthur’s arm that’s wrapped around you as hard as you can. He keeps muttering apologies but doesn’t slow down. After only a few moments, the pain is too much and the world around you melts into darkness.

The sound of yelling forces you to wake. Your body twitches painfully, but you’re ready to fight. You struggle, looking for anything to use as a weapon against your captors. A strong arm is wrapped around you, squeezing you tighter. You try throwing it off.

“Easy girl, easy,” says a gentle voice in your ear. “Yer a’right, I got ya.”

Your body relaxes, the pain returning with full force. Someone yells again. Dutch? You open your eyes and look around. The sun has set on Horseshoe Overlook, although the horizon glows a dark blue. Several gang members are rushing over to Arthur’s horse, their worried eyes boring into you. John, Charles and Javier all help lift you down from Arthur’s horse, although his arm is still wrapped around you. The pain is indescribable, making you cry out.

“Careful there!” Arthur yells. “She’s got a bad leg.”

The three men hold your weight up as Grimshaw charges over to you, yelling for Tilly and Mary-Beth to come help.

“We need to get her to bed!” she shouts.

“Put her in my cot,” Arthur says.

Someone lifts you up, causing you to cry in pain again. The person quickly walks you to Arthur’s tent, setting you down gently onto his cot. You lie still on your back, tears stinging your eyes as your leg clenches painfully against the material. Grimshaw rushes next to the bed, hovering over you, examining the cut on your temple. Arthur stands behind her, looking pale. Is that fear on his face? It can’t be; he’s the toughest man you’ve ever met.

“Ms. Jackson! Go get some wet cloth. Ms. Gillis? Go wake Herr Strauss, tell him to bring his kit.”

You hear the two women rush away, following orders. Hosea and Dutch enter the tent, looking worried.

“What happened?” Hosea asks Arthur.

“Murphrees must’ve got her when she was out huntin’. Found her in Roanoke Ridge. They shot her horse. Don’t know how she managed to escape, but we found her near the body.”

“Animals!” Dutch mutters angrily.

Tilly enters the tent holding several soaked cloths, handing them to Grimshaw. She takes one, rings it out on the ground, and begins cleaning the cut on your head. You try to lean away from her hand as it causes the wound to flare, but you’ve hardly any strength left.

“It ain’t too deep,” she says after a few moments. “It’s already closin’ up.”

Strauss enters the crowded tent, holding his medical kit. Dutch and Hosea leave to make room.

“Susan, vat is going on?” He looks down at you, his question answered. “Got yourself into a spot of trouble again, Ms. Y/L/N?” He turns to Arthur. “I will need a chair to work.”

Arthur turns and grabs him one of the rickety chairs from near the table, setting it down next to you. Strauss sits on it, opening up his kit. He looks at your leg, the dirty garment soaked in blood. As he begins rummaging through his kit, Grimshaw turns to the two men.

“Let me and the girls take care of her,” she says, gesturing to Strauss for the kit. “I bet she’ll need stitches on that leg.”

Strauss peers at her over his tiny glasses then hands her the kit. She stands, calling over Mary-Beth and Karen and practically shoves Arthur and Strauss out of the tent. “Mr. Morgan, make yourself useful and go get some alcohol,” she barks.

Once the other girls are in the tent and Arthur’s returned with a bottle of whisky, Grimshaw pulls the tent flaps down to shield you from the eyes of the others in camp. The only light you can see is that from the candle Tilly sets on the table and the lantern in Karen’s hand. You immediately begin to panic, remembering being locked in the cage with nothing but firelight to illuminate the darkness. You begin struggling, and Grimshaw grabs you, forcing you back on the cot with surprising strength.

“You’re a’right, Ms. Y/L/N,” she says softly. “Ya need to settle down.”

“Here,” Karen says, approaching you with the bottle. She kneels down and helps you drink some of the firey liquid. It stings your throat, all the way down to your empty stomach. You cough a bit, wincing at the pain from your ribs.

“You think she might have a broken rib?” Mary-Beth asks as she and Grimshaw start working your undergarments off.

“She might, we’ll worry about that later,” Grimshaw says, preparing a needle and thread. You hardly care that you lie half naked in front of them. She reaches her hands and barely touches your naked thigh, causing you to wince in pain again and try to move your leg away from her. Grimshaw grabs the bottle from Karen, tipping it onto a clean rag. Then she starts dabbing at the hole in your thigh, setting fire to the nerves and sending agony throughout your entire body. She’s whispering to you as Tilly and Karen hold you down, but after only a few moments, the pain is too much and you sink gratefully into darkness once more.

*******************************************************************************************

Arthur turns as Grimshaw forces him and Strauss out of the tent, getting one last glimpse of you on his cot. You look awful, your undergarments covered in dirt and blood. He sees your pale face, tear tracks smudging the dirt, your eyes misting over in pain. He knows you’re in good hands with the girls, but he’s still afraid. Afraid you might not leave that tent.

He goes to Artemis and pats her nose fondly. Considering he’s only had her for a short while, he’s already quite bonded to her. She’s a good horse; strong, fast and brave. He notices a trail of blood from the place you were sitting in the saddle, streaking down the leather. He reaches into his saddle bag for a cloth and saddle soap, cleaning it up and then feeding her an apple.

“Yer a brave girl,” he says, patting her neck. Hosea approaches him.

“That poor girl. Looks like they put her through hell.”

“I swear, I’ll kill every one of those bastards,” he doesn’t look at Hosea, continuing to pat Artemis’s neck.

“She’s a strong one, Arthur. She’ll be a’right. Grimshaw will make it impossible for her to die. Besides, she’s too stubborn to give up.”

“I know. I just… I wish I could have told her how sorry I am before all this mess.”

“Well, ain’t no use wishin’ for what can never be. The best you can do now is show her you’ll be there for her. Especially now. I know that horse meant a lot to her.”

“I can relate. I still miss Boadicea.”

“Exactly. Yer the best person for her, Arthur.”

Arthur finally turns and looks at the old man. “What if she don’t wanna see me? I said some bad things to her, Hosea. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to see me.”

“Stop assumin’, Arthur. Least ya can do is give her a chance to prove she still wants ya around.”

Hosea pats him on the back, then turns and leaves, lighting his pipe. Arthur stands for a moment, glancing at his tent, which is still closed. He notices Charles, standing next to Pearson, and heads over to him.

“Charles, thank ya again for helpin’ me. I don’t think I would’ve found her on my own.”

“Of course, Arthur. Just glad we got to her in time.”

“When we found Rain, did ya go through her saddle bags?”

“Yes, I grabbed that, her gunbelt, and her satchel. They’re on Taima still.”

“I’ll take ‘em, put ‘em with her tent.”

Arthur leaves and approaches the dark appaloosa, patting her as he removes your things. He places the saddle bag and satchel by your tent, but notices the flap on your satchel has swung open when he set it down. He sees the rich, dark leather of your journal. He knows he really should leave it alone. He’d be angry if someone read through his journal if he was incapacitated. The temptation is strong, though, and he slips it out.

He sits down in your tent, keeping an ear open to hear any sound coming from his own tent. Coming from you. He opens the journal. If he had been expecting long and deep passages, he’d be dissapointed. He reminds himself that you’re still learning to write, and in fact the first few pages are filled with your practicing with letters and words. Every couple of pages, he runs into a sketch. Nothing as elegant as his own, but they still make him smile. A large horse fills a page, one that could only be Artemis. There are several other sketches of a horse; he recognizes the long slender legs of Rain. His heart hurts for you, knowing the pain of losing such a close companion.

He flips through a few more pages and finds a passage in your childish handwriting. It’s dated from the morning after your argument. He reads it, hesitating when he hits the questions you ask yourself. Questions regarding your feelings for him, why you couldn’t just view him as a friend. He closes the journal then, feeling ashamed for going through your private entries. Guilt wracks through him. He puts the journal back in your satchel and then stares out into the world. Every now and then, Mary-Beth, Tilly, or Karen leave his tent, going back to it with more cloths, alcohol, or some other supplies. He stands up at one point, grabbing Mary-Beth as she’s heading out of the tent.

“How is she?” he asks gently.

Mary-Beth hesitates. “Well, her leg’s pretty bad. Wound’s deep. We thought she might have a broken rib but think they might just be bruised. As long as she don’t get gangrene, she’ll be okay.”

Arthur sighs with relief. “Is she awake? She’s been real quiet.”

“No, think the pain was too much. She’s been gone a while now. Grimshaw’s almost done with her though.”

Grimshaw pokes her head through the canvas flaps, almost as though her ears were burning. “Ms. Gillis! I seen slugs move faster than you! Go get those wraps now!” She disappears back into the tent as Mary-Beth scurries away.

Arthur decides it won’t help to wait and pace around his tent. He goes to the campfire where Swanson sits, pulled away in a morphine-induced haze. He lowers himself down by the fire. After a short period, he dozes off into a fretful sleep.

Someone shakes him awake, grabbing him by the shoulder. He jumps a bit at their touch. It’s Hosea, holding a cup of coffee to Arthur. He takes it from him with a nod of his head, drinking. The sun is just rising over the eastern horizon, turning the trees, grass, and clouds into gold.

Hosea sits on the crate next to Arthur. “Well, Grimshaw and the others are done. Think she’ll be okay. Just needs to rest.”

Arthur whips around on the ground, looking behind him at his tent. The flaps are drawn up again and he can just make out your form on his cot, wrapped tight in a blanket. He pushes himself quickly to his feet and marches over.

Grimshaw sits in the seat close to your head, knitting away at an old blanket. He sees you lying on your back, unconscious. The tiny cut on your temple is clean and free of blood, although a large bruise surrounds it. He can’t see your leg since it’s tucked under the blanket. Your skin is clean, the dirt has been washed away, and your wearing fresh undergarments.

“Good morning, Mr. Morgan,” Grimshaw greets him.

“Mornin’ to ya. How is she?”

Grimshaw sighs, putting down her knitting. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, as long as we can keep her leg clean. It wasn’t a big wound, but it sure was deep.”

“What was it that got her?”

“Arrow, probably. I reckon it’ll be a good six weeks or so before she can use it. I expect she’ll be asleep a few days. Poor thing, she’s exhausted.”

Arthur gazes at your pale face, approaching the cot. Grimshaw stands and steps away from the chair.

“Ya mind sitting with her a bit? I doubt she’ll need anything, but I’d rather someone watch over her.”

Arthur nods. “Of course.” He sits down in the vacant chair, sipping his coffee. He sets the cup onto his table and then turns to you. He watches the steady fall and rise of your chest as you breathe in your sleep. He lifts up the blanket away from your arm, exposing it. He watches goosebumps ripple over your skin. Realizing how cold you must have been, he gently grabs your hand with his and holds it. If only you would wake up.

*******************************************************************************************

The smell of campfires, Pearson’s stew and horses mixed with the pleasant aroma of pine trees and grass fills your nose. You’re lying on your back on something that’s too soft to be the ground but too hard to be a bed. You feel a slight ache in your head, and the pain in your leg and ribs are demanding your attention, although not as harshly as they were before when you were fleeing your captors and when Arthur found you. You dip pleasantly into that memory, although it’s filled with fear and agony. The feeling of him holding you tightly; you can recall his smell, the sound of his heart beating. You remember the feeling of his hand on your back.

You sigh deeply, revelling in the feeling of the memory, when something warm squeezes your hand. Your eyes snap awake and you jerk your head up, trying to wrench your hand away from whatever is touching you.

“Woah, easy girl!” Arthur says, sitting next to you. It’s midday and you spot the Van der Linde camp around you. The campfires burn merrily, the horses snort as they munch on the grass. You can see different members of the gang moving about, going on their daily chores. You remember now that you were placed in Arthur’s cot. You settle back down onto it, quietly warmed to the fact that Arthur’s rough hand still embraces your own. He squeezes it again as you settle down.

“Ya had us worried there, darlin’,” he says. You turn your head to stare up at him, his blue eyes lock with yours. You swallow hard, your throat clenches painfully. You realize how thirsty you are.

“How long has it been?” you ask hoarsely.

“Charles and I found ya four days ago. Ya been asleep most of it, and ya got a bit feverish. Grimshaw thinks you’ll be okay, though. Yer safe now.”

You nod, closing your eyes again.

“Ya need a drink?” he asks quietly. You nod again. His hand leaves yours, making you feel colder. You open your eyes to look for him, but don’t have to search far. He hasn’t left the chair, only turned in it to his table. He rotates back to you, holding a cup of water.

“Here, let me help ya.”

He slides one arm under your head, lifting you up into a sitting position and handing you the cup. You groan in pain; you’re ribs still hurt quite a bit.

“Sorry. I imagine there ain’t a place ya don’t hurt,” he says gently as you sip the water gratefully. You drink the whole cup and hand it back to him. After he sets it down on the crates behind you, he looks at you again.

“Ya wanna lie down?”

“No,” you mumble.

“A’right,” he says, adjusting the pillow behind you so they can cushion your back against the crates and then removes his arm from your neck. He adjusts the blanket so it’s covering your lower half, keeping you warm.

“Thank you,” you say, you’re voice cracking a bit.

“For what?”

“For coming after me,” you say, your eyes watering a bit. You aren’t sure why. Maybe it’s just from the constant pain stemming from your leg. “I didn’t think anyone would come looking for me. Not so soon, anyways. I told Hosea I’d be gone a few days. How’d you know to look for me?”

“I don’t know,” he says, hiding his eyes with the rim of his hat. “I just… felt it in my gut. Glad I did, though.”

“Me too,” you smile, but then you let it fade. “Why did you come, though?”

He looks up at you. “What ya mean?”

“Why did you come looking for me? After I said those things to you,” you hesitate, wondering if you really want to open that door again. “About Mary. I’m real sorry, Arthur. I was dumb. I never should have said them.”

“No, darlin’,” he says, looking at you again. His hand slips around yours again and squeezes. “You were right, ‘bout all of it. I was a fool for gettin’ angry. I always get angry when others mention her. ‘S my fault, really, that this happened to you. If I had controlled my temper, ya never would have left.”

“Maybe, but you didn’t throw me into the hands of those monsters. That’s my own doing, and I don’t want you to feel sorry for it. Promise me?”

He stares into your eyes for a moment before nodding. You suddenly remember being in their grasp, how those horrible men shot your horse and locked you up. You look away from Arthur as tears begin rolling down your cheeks.

“Ya a’right? Where’s it hurt?” he asks, sounding worried.

“No, I’m okay. Arthur, they got Rain.”

He sighs out heavily, squeezing your hand again. “I know, sweetheart. I know. We got yer things off of her. I’m real sorry, though. I know she meant a lot to you.”

He rubs circles into your hand as you silently cry, letting the pain of your loss ripple through your body, ripping out of your chest in the form of sobs. More than anything, you wish he would pull you close the way he did when he found you and let you escape from the world for a moment, but you don’t dare ask. You remind yourself he doesn’t have feelings for you, he’s only doing this because he feels guilty that you ran off and nearly got yourself killed.

Strauss suddenly marches into the tent. Arthur releases your hand quickly.

“Herr Morgan,” he sniffs haughtily.

“Yes, Herr Strauss.”

“I must say your relaxed stance on collecting debts has not made a great impression on me lately,” he scolds. Arthur turns to him with a glare.

“What you talkin’ ‘bout?”

“While you were out rescuing Ms. Y/L/N, I had to send Herr Bell to collect the debt from that Downes’s fellow!”

Arthur stands up, rising high above Strauss. It’s a rather impressive sight. “Why is that a problem? Debt got collected, didn’t it? Why you care so much about who’s deliverin’ the beatin’s?”

You’re surprised Strauss doesn’t flinch. You’ve known tougher men who would have fled at the sight of Arthur looking at them the way he is now.

“Because you know how Herr Bell is,” Strauss snaps. “I just got back from Valentine. Turns out that Downes’s vas already very sick and ven Herr Bell showed up to collect the debt, he beat him to his death. Despite that, Herr Bell returned with no money! Said they had nothing to offer as payment. If you had gone, I know things would be different.”

Arthur takes a step towards Strauss. “Well that was yer first mistake. Lendin’ someone money who couldn’t pay it off. The next was sendin’ Micah out! Everyone here knows he’s a blood-thirsty bastard. I was gonna take care of it, Strauss, but she needed help!” He gestures to you in his cot where you’re wiping your eyes.

“You should have gone to collect the debt before chasing her! Now I doubt I’ll ever get it back.”

His fists and jaws clench. “You tellin’ me your damn money is more important than her life, ya sack of shit?!”

Strauss suddenly hunches over as though worried that Arthur might hit him. By the look on his face, you wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

“Now, now, Herr Morgan, that is not vat I meant, I was only saying…”

“I don’t wanna hear anymore about your damn debts!” Arthur roars, making you jump. “From now on, ya can find someone else to collect ‘em, I ain’t doin’ it no more! Now get outta my sight!”

Strauss scurries away, tail between his legs. Arthur turns back to you, simmering down. He sits down heavily in his chair, rubbing his eyes.

“You okay?” you ask quietly, your voice still rough.

“Yeah. Can’t tell ya how much I hated that job. Collectin’ his debts from folk who couldn’t pay.”

“So why did you do it in the first place? Debt collectin’, I mean.”

“Ah, started a long time ago. I owed Strauss a favor, told me I could pay it back by collectin’ em. Been doin’ it ever since. Turns out I’m as good at beatin’ people as killin’ em.”

The two of you sit in silence as you study his face. He glares at the ground in front of him. You can tell by the way his jaw sits and the light in his eyes how miserable he feels.

“Are you going to stop?” you ask hesitantly. He turns his face to you, his eyes softening.

“I want to. There’s few things I’ve done that is more repellant than takin’ money from people who’re starvin’. I prefer good ol’ fashioned robbin’ to it anyways. Seems kinder somehow.”

You reach out and grab his hand, folding it in yours. He looks surprised, almost as though he can’t believe you would be comforting him: an angry, bitter outlaw who admits he’s killed people and taken their money. He wraps his fingers around yours and squeezes. At that moment, all you want to do is make him realize how deeply you feel for him; how sorry for him you are. He shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone. You remind yourself of the decision you made before you got captured. For your own happiness and well-being, you will never let Arthur Morgan know how you feel again.

#rdr2 #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption 2 #red dead fanfic #arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan x female reader #arthur morgan x oc #Van Der Linde Gang #r* games #rockstar games #horseshoe overlook #i'm awkward #second chances

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 5 years

Text

S.T. REWRITE - S2:E2; Chapter Two, Trick or Treat, Freak - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

After Will sees something terrible on trick-or-treat night, Mike wonders whether Eleven’s still out there. Tensions grow between Y/n and Mike as does their concern for Will.

||3rd Person POV||

The smell of french toast wafted through the cabin as it sizzled on the frying pan. Hopper glances over his shoulder to see a small figure standing stiff with a white sheet draped over it and two eye holes cut out. The unexpected sight had startled the man.

"Oh, Jesus!"

"Ghost." El stated from under the sheet.

"Yeah, I see that." He said.

Hopper brought the frying pan of french toast over to the counter to serve.

"Halloween."

"Sure is. But now, it's breakfast, okay? Come on, let's eat."

"They wouldn't see me." She said softly, grabbing the man's attention as he brought the food to the table.

"Who wouldn't see you?"

"The bad men."

"What are you talking about?" He said, taking a seat.

"Trick or treat."

He turned to look at her. "You want to go trick-or-treating?"

She stood in silence, confirming his fears.

He frowned and stood up. "You know the rules."

"Yes, but-"

"Yeah, so you know the answer." Hopper softly grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her backwards as he spoke.

"No, but they wouldn't see me." El protested.

"No. Hey. I don't care."

"But they wouldn't see me."

"I don't care, alright?" His voice rose slightly as he bent down to her level. "You go out there, ghost or not, it's a risk. We don't take risks. All right? They're stupid, and..."

"We're not stupid!" She growled.

"Exactly."

"Now, you take that off, sit down and eat. You're food's getting cold."

With a pout on her face, El ripped the sheet off her head, letting it fall to the ground. She let her small body collapse in the chair across from Hopper and she stared at the floor sadly.

Hopper noticed the longing in El, and he felt the remorse and guilt creeping in. He finished pouring syrup on both of their plates and sighed, head leaning against his palm as he rubbed his face.

"All right, look... how about I get off early tonight, and I buy us a bunch of candy, and we can sit around and get fat, and we watch a scary movie together."

"How's that for a compromise?"

The young girl gave him a puzzled look and the foreign word.

"Co-Compromise?"

"C-O-M-promise. Compromise. How about that's your word for the day? Yeah? It's something that's in-between. It's like halfway happy."

"By, 5-1-5?" She asked hopefully.

He nodded his head. "5:15. Yeah, sure."

She looked down at her lap and then back at him. "Promise?"

He leaned forward, looking her in the eye and nodding his head firmly. "Yes. I promise.

She lightly shrugged her shoulders. "Halfway happy."

She grabbed her fork and began eating. Hopper smiled at her softly and leaned forward and ruffled her curly hair, bringing out a light chuckle from El.

The two fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the morning. El tried desperately to enjoy the company while it lasted, knowing in just a few short hours she would be left alone with her thoughts once more.

+++

"Will? Come on, honey, up and at 'em." Joyce Byers stops at the end of the hall and she can feel her stomach plunge as she see finds her youngest son's room empty.

"Will?"

The dreaded sense of dejavu creeps in and she rushes to the end of the hall where Jonathan is making breakfast.

"Jonathan?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Will?"

"What?"

"Where's Will?"

"He's not in his room?"

"No."

Suddenly there was a small clank that came from the bathroom.

Joyce rushed to the door in a panic, her heart pounding. She threw the door open to find Will standing in front of an open toilet.

"Will?"

"What are you doing?" Her voice came out in a shaky matter as she tried to calm her racing heart.

Will stood there in confusion and he gestured to the toilet. "Peeing?"

"Okay." She breathed out a chuckle and a sigh of relief as she left and closed the door behind her, hearing the sound of the toilet flushing.

***

"Okay..." Joyce had just helped Will into his Ghostbusters jumpsuit.

She reached for the homemade proton pack that rested on his bed, and helped the device onto his back. "Let's get this...on."

"Oh! You need some tape. Hold on." She let go of the loose wire that hung lazily from his pack and walked quickly towards his desk.

Grabbing a piece of tape, she couldn't help but notice a drawing that stuck out to her. It was barely peeking out from under piles of other drawings but she grabbed in and fears began returning.

It was unlike the others. It was extremely detailed, and black white which she noted he almost never did. The landscape was familiar, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. The most unsettling part of course, was the large looming figure that took center stage. It reminded her of spider the way it stood and everything in it's path was shadowed, although she could tell, it wasn't from the swarm of thunder clouds but the monster itself.

It chilled her. She turned to Will. "What's this?"

Will seemed taken aback, but he quickly recovered.

"Nothing." He started to shift on his feet.

"Did you have another episode?"

"No, it's just, um... a sketch for a story I'm writing."

Joyce sighed, discarding the drawing wanting so badly for that to be true, so did believed it.

+++

"Three, two, one..."

"Great. Hold up the photo blaster."

Jonathan snapped another picture of his brother, Will gleaming in his suit as Jonathan continued to instruct him. Their mother was watching giddily as she smiled at her youngest son. The question she'd been dying to ask on the tip of her tongue.

"All right, now turn to light."

Will did just that, aiming his proton blaster towards a spot on the wall across the room.

"So," Joyce drawled. "[Y/N]'s coming over tonight before hand so we can grab some pictures of you two, right?"

Will felt a blush creep up.

"Mom," Will protested, his smile betraying him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she threw her hands up in surrender but persisted in asking more questions. "So, she is going as...?"

"Janine," Will mumbled, as Jonathan snapped another picture.

"Right, right..." Joyce winced. "And she is...?"

"The receptionist and confidant-"

"Spengler's girlfriend..." Jonathan answered, the mischievous grin of an older brother plastered on his face.

Will felt a blush creep all the way up from his neck, Jonathan took this opportunity to "accidentally" get a picture of his flustered younger brother.

"Jonathan!" Laughed Will.

"What? It's so obvious, and hey, you guys are the ones who chose the costumes."

"It's a coincidence..." He mumbled.

Jonathan and Joyce smirked as Will tried to regain his composure, acting as if the exchange hadn't completely flustered him.

Which it did.

||Reader's POV||

"Oh! Let me see those pearls! Yeah! [Y/N], you almost ready?"

"Coming mom!"

I adjusted the big pair of glasses on my head and slipped on the red sweater vest, completing the outfit. On my way out of my room, I grabbed my first piece of gum out of my pocket stash and popping it in my mouth. The plaid shirt we found worked perfectly for Janine, I was so glad we were able to find everything in time.

I ran back out the hall and my mom greeted me with a squeal.

"Oh! You two look so good, get in there with your brother, honey."

We got a few nice pictures in, Dustin had his ghost trap, it it quite impressive, I must admit.

The last photo consisted of Dustin proudly holding up his ghost trap, while I chose to be in character. I had my back turned to him, my arms folded and in the middle of blowing a bubble as I casually roll my eyes.

***

"Na na na Na na Na"

We had just pulled into school on our bikes, and we all parked them on the bike rack. I silently counted myself lucky that I didn't have to lug a giant proton pack on my shoulders all day.

We all finished the anthem with "Who you gonna call?". It was then that I heard q familiar voice call "Ghostbusters!"

I turned around to see Will in his costume, it looked great.

"Hey, Spengler!"

"Egon! Looking sharp!" I beamed, greeting him with a quick hug.

"Janine! Venkman!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mike frowned, gesturing to Lucas's name tag.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Why are you Venkman?"

"Because I'm Venkman." Lucas shrugged.

"No, I'm Venkman."

"Why can't there just be two Venkmans?" Will asked, and I nodded looking to the boys.

"Because there's only one Venkman in real life. We planned this months ago." Mike snapped.

"Mike, calm down. It's alright,"

"I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stantz, Will is Egon, you're obviously Janine, and you're Winston." He finished, pointing at Lucas.

"I specifically didn't agree to Winston." Lucas said.

"Yes, you did!"

"I don't think he did." I said gently.

"No one wants to be Winston, man."

"What's wrong with Winston?"

"What's wrong with Winston? He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a scientist!"

"Yeah, but he's still cool." Mike argued.

"If he's cool, then you be Winston."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

Mike started to stutter, "Because..."

We all fell quiet as the argument got bad quickly.

"Because you're not black?" Lucas finished.

"I didn't say that!"

"You thought it."

I took a deep breath as they continued fighting. However, something clicked in my head as I looked around the school.

"Oh, no."

I nudged Dustin as I continued to look around, dread and regret creeping in.

Dustin looked to me and then around, realizing the same awful fact.

"Guys..." Dustin mumbled.

"Guys!" I finally snapped, grabbing their attention.

The other three fell silent and we all watched in horror as everyone got off the bus. In regular clothes.

"Why is no else wearing costumes?"

"Well, shit."

+++

Tag List: @dickkwad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa @miscellaneoustoasts @acexattorney

DM me if you want to be added!

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szopenhauer · 4 years

Text

How was your day?: it wasn’t good.

Would you ever try to count to 5,000 for $5,000?: I’d try

When is the last time you took a picture of yourself?: last days

When did you last take a shower?: I’m going to take a bath soon

What song are you listening to?: The Weeknd - Blinding Lights

Last sentence you said aloud?: not sure what was last

What is the point of scented pens/pencils/erasers? ppl like to smell stuff I guess Do you buy/wear band-aids with cartoon characters on them? they’re usually not sticking well enough What do you think your reaction would be upon entering the White House? meh, they could spend those money better by helping ppl, nobody needs such a big house - president or not, we’re not in medieval times and guards would have less to do

Do you buy and wear crazy looking socks? I would like to Would you run down the street wearing a tutu, fishnets, & flippers? topless? for how much tho Have you ever grown your own sea monkeys or dinosaurs? nope

Did you ever own an Etch-a-Sketch? yes, I loved it so much, I miss it Do/did you ever have glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling? on my wall and furniture, I still have some left Does your house have an attic? it does Have you ever gone white-water rafting? no and don’t want to Does your grandma wear an apron when she cooks? she did How often do you need “me” time? all the time? :x Does it bother you that almost everything is done on computers now? sometimes, a little bit Have you ever gotten stuck in a revolving door? I haven’t What animal do you most resemble while eating? dunno but it reminds me of that yt video - how animals eat their food lmfao Would you play Jumanji, if given the chance? someone already plays it this year

Do you text/call while going to the bathroom? I might but prefer not to Do you always make sure your cell phone is charged before going somewhere? and powerbank too Did you get Happy Meals just for the toys as a kid? only once, I got Eeyore that I still own Have you ever seen your parents cry? of course

Do you often shift blame towards others? usually it’s other way around? Do you ever feel like you’re smarter than your boss? I don’t have a job Your very first best friend: Is he/she STILL your best friend? not counting my family - no Have you ever witnessed a crime? minor What’s the coolest personalized license plate you’ve ever seen? I saw a bunch :D Do you write grey or gray? grey, it doesn’t have 50 shades

If you make surveys, how do you decide about its title? I don’t add titles as you can see, that’s stupid

When are you going back to school? never?

What do you do when you tell a really bad joke? my jokes are so bad that they’re good if you know what I mean ;)

Do you like having a huge group of friends or would you rather have few close friends? few close

Do you watch the TV Show Skins? If so, who’s your favorite character? fragments

Can you get a strike at bowling? I never tried bowling but would like to

Do you swallow chewing gum? wtf

Were you into the Beanie Baby craze? nah Would you ever wish to ride a dolphin? nope, I’m not fond of dolphins Do you ever watch the news just for the weather forecast? my parents did and that was dumb, I don’t like/believe in weather forecats If your remote was missing, where is the most likely place you’d find it? in dad’s stuff Ever considered the thought that kangaroos technically have fanny packs? hehe

When was the last time you blew bubbles? not that long time ago from what I remember Did the last doctor’s office you were in have a crappy magazine selection? it did indeed Have you been to a restaurant where they cook the food in front of you? bakery only The last ball you threw was a… (baseball, basketball, etc.) childish ball for my niece Have you seen how much candidates for president are willing to spend for their campaign? it’s insane Have you ever caught a friend snooping in your room? I have and that’s why I am afraid of leaving ppl alone in my room Quick! Name the longest word starting with the letter ‘J’ you can think of: jurisdiction was the first that came to my mind Do you still write letters to people, even though there’s e-mail now? no longer but not because of e-mail’s existence

Have you ever taken a survey with a friend, listing both answers?: I tagged my friends in the past

Do you know a guy who has hair longer than yours?: not currently

What color was the last cup you drank out of?: it’s a llama mug (minty color)

If you’re in school, what do you do to fill in time between classes?: there was never enough time for me

Where was the last place you got lost?: mall or park

When was the last time you had cheesecake?: this year

When you last shed tears, was it because of a person?: partially

Other than yours, whose house did you last fall asleep at?: John and P

Have you ever had a significant other whose parents didn’t like you?: looks like it

What’s so unique about your computer?: what’s on it - pictures/memes/documents

What’s one thing you have never done? I didn’t do lots of stuff and don’t want to many of them actually

What is one trend you wish you have been a part of? I’m not into trends in general

Do you enjoy reading fanfictions? About who? Or do you write fanfictions, too? nah

What is something you own that you wish was in your favorite color? it’s not that important

Is there someone from your past that you wish you had dated? used to think that way, no longer

Can you snap with both your hands? If not, which hand can you snap with? both but not every single time

Do you like cosplays? I tried cosplays but it’s not for me and I’m a bit traumatised by it due to experiences from the past, they remind me of someone and not only so I prefer not to follow/look at those related to anime mostly

If you were to participate in one, what/who would you dress up as? I’d dress up as characters I relate to

Do you sometimes answer surveys with “Idk”/“Idr” because you’re too lazy? I just realized that I don’t, wow, I used to do that all the damn time

Are you usually open to trying a new food that you aren’t familiar with? am not

Have you ever acted like a bitch and used PMS as an excuse? I don’t use PMS nor period as an excuse as it’s actually a stereotype and shouldn’t be an argument besides painful/uncomfy/annoying physical sensations and being unable to do some stuff due to that fact

Do you know someone who brushes their teeth in the shower all the time? *shrug*

Have you ever tried doing that? Did you like it? Why or why not? tried and it’s not that good

Are you patient when it comes to instructing others? I’m not, sorry...

Do you listen to Panic At The Disco? nah

Name a band/artist you like that isn’t that popular.: I like many bands/artists that seem not very popular

Can you lift your significant other (your best friend if you’re single)?: can’t :(

Have you ever lost a pet you were attached to?: we had to give away

You can read minds; Whose mind do you snoop around in first?: hmm...

Do you ever talk to inanimate objects?: stuffed animals, kettle and fridge

Have you ever tried to fold a piece of paper more than 7 times?: possibly

Your best friend needs a kidney to survive; Do you give them one of your’s?: oh my...

Your brother breaks into your house; Do you press charges?: ... ghost?

Would you rather have a huge cat or a tiny dog?: tiny dog <3

Do you use your hands when you talk to emphasize what you are saying?: do I?

Are you afraid to ask for help when you know that you need it?: depends

Should adopted kids be allowed to find their birth parents if they want to?: I guess

You’re writing a novel; Is it horror, mystery, romance, etc.?: sci-fi/fantasy

Will you usually admit it when you’ve made a mistake? would say so

Does your name begin with a B, L, R, or T?: Z

Could you go a day without texting?: but she couldn’t and we don’t want to

Do you have a step-parent?: I don’t

If so, do you get along with them?: -

Do you have any nieces or nephews?: one

Does your current/last job require that you wear a uniform?: one of jobs that I had

Who is your 23rd phone contact and how do you know them?: I don’t have this many

If the last person you kissed proposed to you what would you say?: try me

Where is your dad right now?: sleeping

Are there any writing utensils close to you? several

Look up, what do you see? ceiling

Do you have a bigger upper or lower lip? lower

Do you have any screen names with spelling errors? luckily not

Open the nearest drawer and tell me what’s inside it: I know it’s empty, don’t have to open it

How many other rooms can you currently see into? my door is closed

Do you need to take the trash out? already done

Do you need to clean out a litter box right now? we don’t have a cat anymore

Are these questions reminding you of things you put off to do this survey? nah

How many days have you been wearing those clothes? 1

Do you like listening to 60’s music? some songs

Can you move your nose? many ways

Can you wiggle your ears? my dad can

How many songs have you downloaded this week? I don’t download songs

Would you rather be a pirate or robot? robot, can’t robot be a pirate tho?

Would you rather be a ghost or a zombie? ghost

Have you ever considered living in a bomb shelter? I’d be scared to live underground

If I gave you a piano and told you hit middle c, could you? nooo

do you think it’s weird for someone to have never tried soda? not really

which floor of your house/building are you on now? there’s basement under me and attic above me

would you ride a motorcycle if given the chance? (or have you?) I would, haven’t yet

what are your thoughts on reincarnation? (have you ever read up about it?) it’s possible

does your home have a balcony/deck/porch? balcony

how would you feel about traveling abroad alone? anxious

do you have an interesting passport? I don’t have a passport

what happens to your old clothes? I donate them, give them to ppl I know, reuse them, sell them etc.

who supports you financially? my parents

if you wanted to go to the movie cinema, how would you get there? walking then by bus then walk again

have you ever had a crush on a sibling’s friend or a friend’s sibling? minor

do you know much about feng shui? (do you use it?) not much, I don’t use it

what’s your favorite spot to read? librocubicularist

did you know that buddha is not considered a god to buddhists? ok

do you save tickets from movies, etc.? saved some

without looking him up, who was jim morrison? vocalist

do you have a nervous habit? several

would you be/are you a good role model to a younger sibling? nah

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elk-and-thearchivist · 5 years

Text

The (Mis)Adventures of Two Children and an Irresponsible Chaperone, Ch. 1: Enter the Peak

The first chapter of my RP with @heart-the-vessel / @zykaben ! The beginning of a beautiful friendship. Also, the beginning of the shenanigans of a True Chaos Trio

This chapter’s artwork is a collab between me and @zykaben ! I did the composition and sketch, she did the flats and shading, and then passed it back to me for effects! You can see a process gif here.

The streamlined, edited version is on AO3 here.

Words: 2542 Characters: Wiki, Elk, Heart Regular is me, indented is @heart-the-vessel Dashes are POV shifts.

Crystal Peak was truly a marvel unlike any other in Hallownest. Its glittering spires were visible from any point on the surface—though, admittedly, most of Hallownest was underground.

Of most interest were the crystals, shining with their own unique light. And with their own mysterious properties. Enough bugs certainly felt drawn enough to spend their entire lives and subsequent un-lives mining away at the ore.

Indeed, the crystals and their unusual properties were what drew Wiki and Elk to the caverns this day.

It wasn't long before they found themselves trailing behind a crystal crawler, Elk walking slowly behind it as Wiki observed its processes.

“Walking” was more “using amorphous tendrils to climb the walls” and “processes” was more “firing lasers,” though.

“Fascinating. Very fascinating!” Wiki floated in front of Elk, their tendrils hovering around the crawler. “Periodically focusing the energy in the crystals into a point of destructive light… They do say that these crystals can help you focus your energy. Perhaps it could improve your own focus, if we are able to refine its properties…”

“That would be pretty helpful… ” Wiki could feel Elk's spark of interest. “I don't often gather enough soul to easily heal. If the crystals help…?”

“Mm.” Wiki hummed. “They can, I'm sure. Just not sure how.”

No sooner had Wiki finished their sentence than they and Elk heard the faint sound of something—or someone—scrambling hastily against the rocky ground above them. Whatever it was sounded small, but they both knew that assumption wasn’t grounds to guarantee their safety, not in a place like Hallownest.

Then, with an almost startling amount of speed, something was dropping from above and to the ground, landing not even throwing-distance away from them. The both quickly made out the small figure, standing somewhat shorter than Elk and looking similar in build—a vessel. One with horns that curved up and inwards, ending in what looked to be sharp points. The only other real thing of note was that they seemed to wear a red scarf around their neck.

The vessel stared at Elk and Wiki before they took off towards them at a break-neck pace, arms waving frantically above their head as they did so. The vessel barely managed to skid to a halt before crashing into Wiki and Elk, still waving their arms spastically.

"Wh-" Wiki jerked back in surprise, leaving Elk to receive the brunt of the impact.

Said vessel could do little but try to catch the newcomer by their flailing arms, almost toppled by their momentum. "U-uh..." Elk pulled backwards, looking over the vessel before glancing to Wiki.

They placed a tendril on their chin as they drew near. "Hello, there! We didn't expect to see another vessel here. Where did you come from?"

The vessel waved at Wiki for a few more moments before stopping. Once they had stopped, they pointed upwards, head craning back as they did. They looked back to Wiki and Elk, letting their gaze drift between the two of them. They then reached under their cloak, seemingly rustling around for something.

The length of quiet stretched before the vessel perked up and jerked their arms back up. Held in their clutches were a sparkling necklace of gold with a royal blue gemstone strung from the end, a smooth, sparkling rock with a soft green hue, and a pink crystal—the same kind that grew unrestrained in Crystal Peak. The vessel held out the items towards Elk and Wiki, practically bouncing as they did so.

"Oh?" Wiki leaned towards their collection. "Ohoho?"

"These are so pretty!" Elk reached towards the vessel's handful of items, before hesitating in their approach. "Are these..."

"I do hope you wouldn't mind if I just-" Wiki used a tendril to lift the necklace with the blue gemstone (despite a half-hearted protest from Elk), eyes riveted on the glittering facets. "The way the light catches this stone! Hardly any skilled jewelers exist anymore, yes this is cut quite well. Oh, interesting... very interesting..."

Elk fidgeted nervously. "Sorry, uh... Come to think of it, we don't know what to call you. Do you... have a name that you'd be able to share? If you can emote, or write, or..."

The vessel seemed to perk further up at Wiki’s words but quickly turned their attention back to Elk. They nodded to them, reaching under their cloak once more before producing a wrinkled piece of parchment and a simple quill. They scribbled on it hastily. After nodding to themself, satisfied with their work, they turned the parchment around. Sketched messily onto its surface were several hearts, an arrow pointing towards the largest one. They then gestured towards Elk and Wiki with their quill before cocking their head to one side.

Elk looked intently at the paper. "A bunch of hearts... oh! Heart! That's your name?"

Wiki gave a huff of amusement at the enthusiasm clear in Heart's scribblings. "Aheh... it suits the shape of their mask." Wiki traced a vague shape of a heart in the air, following the curvature of Heart's horns. "And, oh! If you were asking about us - this is Elk," Elk waved as Wiki gestured to them, "and I am Wiki, the Archivist. We share the same voice, sometimes the same body, and occasionally the same mind."

The vessel—Heart—nodded excitedly at Elk and Wiki before waving at both of them one last time in greeting. Once they had stowed the paper and quill away, they made a large, sweeping gesture around the area before pointing at Elk and Wiki, letting their head fall to the side in question again.

Wiki tapped their chin in thought. That would be... "Are you..."

"Asking what we're doing here?" Elk mirrored Heart's head tilt. "If so, it's mostly Wiki wanting the study the crystals and me wanting to see the sights."

Heart nodded, obviously pleased with Elk's deduction. They threw their arms around Elk in a short but strong hug before stepping back and swaying cheerfully.

Elk squeaked a but in surprise, Wiki chuckling a little in turn. They could feel Elk's slight embarrassment at that filtering through their connection. I wasn't expecting it, alright? Not a lot of bugs hug bugs they just met.

Understandable. But still amusing. Wiki turned to Heart. "You seem... much friendlier than I'd expect for a vessel. Certainly, more than most bugs, but my point still stands. I do wonder how long you've been wandering around here, free to develop your own mind..."

Elk smoothed out their cloak. "And it isn't really... safe, around here. I suppose you'd have to... hmm. Do you know your way around this place?"

Heart nodded to Elk’s question, their chest puffing up slightly with pride. They glanced at Wiki as they rambled before stepping forwards to deliver another quick hug to one of their tendrils. Once they had, they darted away and trekked a decent distance away from Elk and Wiki. They stopped and turned back, waving towards the two of them and then making sweeping motions towards themself.

Wiki blinked. My turn to be dazzled by such friendliness? They shook their head a bit, before looking towards Elk. Well... looks like they want us to follow.

Elk met Wiki's gaze, before turning back towards Heart. They seem nice. Might as well.

"Then, let us follow!" Wiki melted back into Elk's void, and they swiftly made their way over. "Lead the way, friend."

Heart gave a quick nod to Elk and Wiki, skipping along as the two trailed behind them.

——

Heart was so excited that they were practically shaking.

They had been scouring Crystal Peak for more shiny trinkets and pretty baubles when they had happened upon Wiki and Elk—and they were both so amazing! The fact that the two of them shared a mind was so interesting! Heart wondered what that would be like... maybe they could find a way to ask them. After all, they had taken Heart’s gifts, so that meant they were all friends now!

But that could all happen later. For now, Heart wanted to show their new friends what they had been leading to.

They had finally reached their destination: the large, decrepit mining machine that leaned against the cavern wall. The Crystal Heart (at least, that’s what Haunt had called it) had been a lucky find, one that Heart wasn’t looking to give away any time soon. There were probably more scattered about the mines, but Heart hadn’t found any yet.

Regardless, Heart turned back to their new friends and raised their hands up in celebration. They hoped that they would both be excited about the machine.

"Oh!" Elk craned their neck, peering at the machine. "That's... so cool. Do you know what it is?"

Wiki interrupted before Heart could respond. "A mining golem!" They all but exploded out of Elk, tendrils splaying across the stone and rails as they drew closer to Heart - and thus closer to the machine. "Amazing! I thought they would all be destroyed by now, a lot of bugs were concerned about their safety... And its core is still intact!" They turned to Heart. "How did you find this? Are there any more?"

Heart remembered all too well how they had found the machine. They pointed upwards to the hole above them. They still remembered the feeling of panic that had overtaken them when the ground under them had crumbled. But it led to such a beautiful discovery that they had long since made peace with it.

For the second question… Heart shifted their balance from one foot to another as they tried to remember. They might have seen another one, but it was on the other side of a tunnel that was filled with all sorts of hostile bugs—they hadn’t even tried to get to it. But maybe Elk and Wiki were strong enough to get through? Or maybe they were at least braver than Heart was, which wouldn’t surprise them.

It wouldn’t be a direct path, but Heart knew the way. There was a bunch that they could rest on that wasn’t too far away, and there was that fun area filled with all of the conveyor belts going up and down. It would be a fun adventure with their new friends!

Heart finally nodded to Wiki’s last question. Maybe there would be another Crystal Heart that their new friends could have!

Their eyes practically lit up with excitement, a contrast to their mildly concerned expression mere moments ago. "Truly? Do you- could you- do you think-"

Elk patted one of Wiki's tendrils, shaking their head. "What we want to ask is: could you take us to where they are?"

"Yes!" Wiki was near vibrating. "Oh, we'd love to study them, but I didn't know if you'd be alright with us messing around with this one if it was the only one you found."

Elk gave a huff of a laugh. "Though I suppose we should ask if they're easy to get to, as well."

Making sure to look directly at Wiki, Heart gave a cheery nod. They were more than happy to guide their friends to the other golem, especially since they seemed so interested in it.

Turning to Elk, Heart swayed from side to side before settling on a shrug. It wasn’t a particularly hard area to get to, but there might be problems if they encountered strong opponents. Heart could probably shield them all with their spell, but it was… less than ideal. If the journey ended up not working out, they could always show Wiki and Elk the Crystal Heart they had stowed away in their inventory, maybe even give it to them if they both really wanted it.

But for now, they’d leave the decision of whether or not to go up to Elk and Wiki.

Said two were looking at each other meaningfully, as if having some kind of silent exchange. Elk gave a one-shoulder shrug, turning back to Heart. "We'll take that as a 'sort-of.' Is it trouble from the mines if some parts are unstable, or trouble with the bugs around here?"

Wiki hummed. "Mm. We're quite good with maneuvering around environments. Having a number of amorphous limbs is quite useful, heh. As for dangerous bugs..."

Elk fidgeted with their hands. "We... I don't really fight. We're generally good at avoiding them and running away, heh, but we're not too familiar with this place..."

Heart watched Elk’s fidgeting. Plum said that some bugs did that when they were feeling nervous and that simply wouldn’t do! Heart stepped forward and gave their friend a big hug before they stepped backwards and brought out their parchment and quill again.

They sketched the ovular shapes of the miners and made sure to draw on very angry eyes to represent their hostility. After a moment of deliberation, they also drew on the crystals that some of them used to fire beams of energy. They added a quick depiction of a crystal hunter above them as well, giving it a smirk and the same angry expression.

Satisfied with their work, they turned it around to show Elk and Wiki.

Elk seemed to lean into Heart's embrace, moving a little towards them even after they pulled away. Wiki shot Elk a look, but the vessel simply gave a subtle shake of their head - Heart barely caught it.

Elk moved to look over to Heart's drawings, and despite their inability to make expressions, their eyes seemed to sparkle. "Oh! You draw so well!" They clapped their hands together once. "We saw a few of these earlier - we did our best to avoid them, though."

"That one, though." Wiki pointed to the crystal hunter. "That one was truly a pain. We got away, of course, but that doesn't make them any less irksome."

Heart perked up at Elk’s compliment, something warm and cozy settling in their chest. Maybe they could draw something for them later as another gift, something without mean monsters that wanted to hurt people.

Heart nodded in commiseration with Wiki’s comment. The crystal hunters were the worst. They flew around and attacked anyone they saw—and their crystal attacks just shattered into dust after less than a minute! It was a cruel thing, making something so beautiful that caused so much hurt and then just disappeared. At least the miners kept their crystals.

Heart stowed the paper and quill away before turning back to Elk and Wiki. They gestured vaguely back to where they had all came from and cocked their head to one side, trying to ask what the two would like to do.

"Are you asking if we still want to go?" Wiki tilted their head.

"We still do!" Elk pumped a fist, punctuating their statement. "A little danger can't hold us back from a fun adventure! Though we'd have to take your lead for this one."

Heart nodded eagerly, finding themself getting caught up in Elk's excitement. They rushed forward and pulled Elk in with one arm and Wiki's tendril in with the other and did their best to hug them. They let go and bounced back towards the entrance of the cavern and waved, ready for an adventure.

Elk bounded after them eagerly, Wiki once again merging into their void.

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