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fluentmoviequoter · 1 month

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With You, Even When I'm Not

Requested Here by the amazing @newobsessionweekly!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!cop!reader

Summary: When one of Tim Bradford's enemies is released from prison, he sets out to hurt Tim by hurting you. You trust that Tim will save you, but time is not on your side.

Warnings: angst, car accident, torture (injuries to r), based on 2x11 but this isn't a rewrite (for once lol), crying, fluff and comfort

Word Count: 5.5k+ words

A/N: I didn't include a scene with Tim threatening someone like he does in 2x11 and I kinda regret it because it was hot, but I also really like how this turned out...

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“The almighty Tim Bradford isn’t coming to save you. You know why? Because you’re already dead.”

You force your eyes open and ignore the pain and fear to say, “So are you.”

Less than eight hours ago, you sat beside Tim in roll call. You force yourself to remember that rather than consider what Ferguson plans to do to you.

- 8 Hours Ago -

Your day starts like any other: you wake up, get ready, go to the station, and take your seat beside Tim for roll call. The sun is bright, the sky clear, and Los Angeles is event-free for once. So, it has the makings for a good day.

“What is up with you?” Tim asks quietly.

“What do you mean?” you counter.

“You’re all smiley and happy. Someone puked in my shop yesterday and you’re acting like this is the best job in the world.”

“It is!” You chuckle at his look before explaining, “It’s going to be a good day. Just let me enjoy this one for every hundred bad ones I’ve dealt with.”

“Sure.”

Wade enters, and you give him your full attention, though you never forget about Tim. He’s a constant in your life, and you wish you could have him by your side every moment, not just during roll call.

“Nolan, Harper is back so you can return to your TO,” Wade says.

“That’s why you’re so happy,” Tim muses. “You got rid of Nolan.”

You shake your head and smile before you stand. You’re patrolling in one of the nicest Los Angeles neighborhoods today, so you probably won’t see or hear Tim much today.

“Have a good one,” you tell him.

“Be careful,” he replies.

You exit the room, and Tim watches you go. Lucy walks to his side and stops, aware of what he’s looking at and longing for.

“Let’s go, boot, don’t just stand there,” Tim demands.

“Bradford,” Wade calls. “A word? Chen can stay.”

Tim nods and follows Lucy to the front of the room.

“Ferguson was released on parole this morning,” Wade says. “Sorry to tell you like this, but I thought you should know.”

“He had fifteen years left; how did this happen?” Tim asks.

“Who’s Ferguson?” Lucy inquires.

“Someone I arrested,” Tim answers. “He threatened to kill me when he got out.”

“Oh. Uh, should we-“

“That is up to Officer Bradford,” Wade interjects. “If you want to sit today out, I’ll understand.”

“No. I’m not letting him ruin my life, too. We can handle Ferguson if he’s stupid enough to show his face.”

“The parole board seems convinced he’s reformed, but we both know he’s a good liar and a better manipulator. Keep your eyes open, Tim, and don’t hesitate to call in anything you think is a threat.”

“Yes, sir. Let’s go, boot.”

Tim leads Lucy to the shop, and he's quieter than usual. Lucy hasn’t been a cop as long as him, but she knows what it’s like to have a criminal blame you for the consequences of their actions. She won’t push Tim, not about this, but she has questions about everything she heard.

“Pull up Roscoe Ferguson,” Tim says as he turns onto the road. “Get familiar with his face. If you see him, I want you to know it’s him.”

“You really think he’ll do something?” Lucy asks as she turns the dashboard computer toward her.

“I’m counting on it.”

“Dispatch, this is 7-Adam-9, are there any alerts in my area?” you ask into the radio.

“Negative, 7-Adam-9.”

You nod to yourself and place the radio back in the console. The morning has been quiet and slow. You know you shouldn’t complain; a sunny drive in the hills is rarely a bad thing, but you’re a cop, and you’re getting bored.

“7-Adam-9, switch to channel 4 for Sergeant Grey,” dispatch instructs.

You turn the channel dial and let Wade know you’re there. He doesn’t answer, and you slow at a stop sign as you bounce the radio against your thigh.

“You’re in the hills, right?” Wade asks suddenly.

He doesn't use your name or call number, only asks a rushed question. It concerns you, but you remain professional.

“Yes, sir,” you answer. “Do you need me to come back?”

“No, stay up there. Just wanted to double-check.”

“What’s going on?”

Wade goes silent again, and you repeat the question.

“Nothing, I hope. Just trying to keep everyone connected to Bradford out of the heart of LA today.”

“Why?”

“Ferguson was released.”

“He has 15 years left on his sentence!” you exclaim into your empty car.

“I know. I’m trying to get everything figured out and petition for it to be reversed, but for now, just keep working.”

“Yes, sir.”

You turn the channel back and set the radio down. Roscoe Ferguson hates Tim and would do anything to get to him. Tim knows you're here for him, so you focus on your assignment. The Hollywood hills are quiet this morning, but you know better than to let your guard down.

As you turn onto Tahoe Drive, you notice a black truck in your rearview. He gets close to the tail of your shop but slows suddenly and turns onto Tahoe Place. You roll your eyes; the people who live in the Hills drive like they own the hills. They probably do, but it doesn’t excuse unsafe vehicle operation.

You round the bend where Tahoe Drive turns into Lake Hollywood Drive, and the Hollywood Reservoir comes into view. When you glance up, you see the black truck speeding toward you again. You hit the lights and leave them on for a few seconds as a warning, but the driver doesn’t slow. If they pass you, you’ll stop them and issue a ticket, you decide.

There’s a point on Lake Hollywood Drive where there’s less than 200 feet of terrain between the road and the reservoir. It’s covered in sparse foliage, but it would be easy enough to get to the water or hide in the trees. You realize too late that the truck isn’t slowing down or moving to pass you as you near that point. It rams into you from behind, and you lurch forward before the seatbelt catches and snatches you backward. Steering is pointless as the shop slides into a small patch of dirt. The truck is still driving, pushing your car forward. The driver stops just before you collide with a tree, and you reach for the radio.

It's fallen from the console, and the seatbelt holds you uncomfortably tight to your seat. As you wrestle to free yourself and get the radio, you don’t see the man exit the truck or approach your window. He hits it with an illegal tool used for breaking into cars, and you turn your face away as glass showers over you.

“Hi,” he greets. “7-Adam-9, right?”

“And you’re Roscoe Ferguson,” you answer.

“Bradford, get back to the station,” Wade radios, “Now.”

“What’s going on?” Tim asks as he makes a U-turn.

“Ferguson stole a truck. We don’t know where he went after or what he’s planning to do.”

“We should find him,” Lucy says.

“And don’t say you should go look for him,” Wade adds. “You’re too close to this.”

“He’s not going to kill me, Grey,” Tim argues. “Let me help. I caught him once; I can do it again.”

“Get back to the station. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tim sighs as he continues driving toward the station. The last time he worried about Roscoe Ferguson, you were sitting beside him. Though you’ll never take the credit, Tim thinks you’re the main reason he finally got Ferguson in cuffs.

“What now?” Lucy asks.

“We find a way to help find Ferguson,” Tim replies.

“Get out,” Ferguson demands.

He pushes the gun closer to your face, and you raise your hands slowly. Your left shoulder aches from the impact of the seatbelt, and as you reach through the broken window to open your door, you feel the tiny scratches littering your face and neck sting. Ferguson pulls you away from the shop and pushes you toward the reservoir.

“What’s your plan here, Roscoe?” you ask.

He taps the gun against your back to make you keep walking. With your back to him, you slide your hand into your pocket and remove the laminated piece of paper you keep in it. It falls to the ground, and you hope it’s enough to help Tim find you and Roscoe.

“Kill me to get to Tim? Hurt him without touching him because you know he won’t let you get the chance?”

“Shut up!” Ferguson yells. “Walk!”

Taunting him may not be your brightest decision, but making him mad will make him careless. When you reach the water, he grabs your belt and pulls you backward. Your breath rushes out as your back hits the ground, but you smile through the pain.

“You will never beat him,” you say.

“Tim Bradford took everything from me. Let’s see how he likes the feeling,” Ferguson responds.

He raises the gun to your face and pushes the barrel against your forehead. You keep your eyes on him, unwilling to flinch in the face of death. He changes his mind, however, and brings the butt of the handle down against your temple instead, and everything goes dark as the water blows in the wind.

Tim and Lucy have been relegated to desk duty. With Ferguson on the run and numerous threats against Tim’s life, Wade decided it would be best for him to stay here. Wade watches them from his office and shakes his head when Lucy begins twirling her handcuffs around her finger. His phone rings and Wade steps away from the glass door to answer it.

“Sergeant Grey,” he answers.

He listens silently before lowering the receiver and stepping out into the station. Tim looks up, and his expression drops immediately.

“What happened?” Tim asks as he stands.

“They found the stolen truck. It was involved in an accident near the reservoir. He, uh… Ferguson ran a cop off the road, and they’re both missing.”

“Who?” Tim asks, urgency and panic lacing the syllable.

Before Wade can answer, dispatch reads your badge number in a missing officer alert, and Tim’s blood runs cold. He freezes, staring at Wade as he realizes what has happened and that it’s his fault. Tim never anticipated Ferguson going for the people Tim cares about – loves – and he should have.

“Let me go out there,” Tim demands lowly. “I can find her.”

“I shouldn’t,” Wade answers. He looks to Lucy and adds, “But I will. Don’t try to do this alone, Bradford. Take help where you can get it.”

“I don’t want the credit; I want her back,” Tim snaps.

“Then get to the reservoir and do what you do best, Tim.”

Lucy nods at Wade, an unspoken promise that she’ll do her best to help him and keep him from spiraling. They both know that it’s easier said than done.

“Tim,” you call out when you wake.

“Nope, just me,” Ferguson says.

He’s sitting across from you as he carves a piece of wood into a chipmunk. Your arms are tied tightly behind you, and one of your ankles is secured to a metal pole with your handcuffs. Whatever he’s planning to do to you will hurt you, but it will hurt Tim much worse.

“I hope you’re asking for a lot of ransom,” you mumble.

“You and I both know this isn’t about money. It’s about that little partner of yours and what he did to me.”

“Making you pay for your crimes? Yeah, he’s a terrible person.”

Ferguson moves forward quickly. The half-finished wood carving falls to the floor as he presses the knife under your jaw.

“These whittling knives are small, but I can cut an artery before you can call out to him again,” he threatens.

You swallow, causing the knife to bob in his hand. He presses harder and turns to the left before standing. Warm blood trickles down your neck, and you wonder what he plans to do to you before he kills you. If you didn’t have so much faith in Tim, you’d be tempted to anger Ferguson and trick him into killing you early. It’s a terrible thing to think, but at the end of the day, you’re a cop, and you know when your chances aren’t good enough. Right now, they are.

“When he gets here, he will put a bullet in you this time,” you tell Ferguson.

“You stopped him last time,” he answers.

He’s planning to use you as a human shield; let Tim be the one to finish you off in the darkness. Perhaps that’s why you’re underground. The only light you see is from a small lamp; when it goes off, you will be plunged into complete darkness.

“Stop talking,” Ferguson demands as he retrieves his chipmunk. “We don’t have much air in here.”

You try not to let your shock show, but as you look around and fail to see a single air vent, you worry that Tim won’t make it in time. Forcing yourself to take a steady breath, you close your eyes.

“No, no, no,” Ferguson chides. “No napping. We have to stay awake for the pre-game, and the final score.”

He tips your head back, and your eyes open instinctually. When he sees that, he tightens his grip on your jaw and circles you. Looking at him upside-down, you tug against your restraints. He raises a foot and places it on your bound hands before stepping down hard and fast. Your shoulders pull backward at a painful angle with no room that makes you yell in pain. Ferguson’s laugh drowns out your scream, and he keeps his hand on your jaw as he lays a rope over the back of your neck to hang over your shoulders.

“He’s going to kill you,” you say between pants when Ferguson releases your face.

He hinges at his hip, invading your personal space as he smiles and says, “You too.”

“Bradford, there’s blood,” an officer alerts.

Tim steps to your open shop door and sees a few small, oblong blood drops on your seat. Based on the shape, you were in motion when they fell, and it wasn’t enough blood to kill you.

“Probably from the glass,” he decides. “Let’s move toward the reservoir. We can’t tell footprints apart but watch where you’re stepping!”

“Tim!” Lucy yells from just past the tree line.

He jogs to her side and looks down. She found a small, laminated piece of paper, and Tim recognizes it immediately. Your self-proclaimed “perfect fortune” from one of your first dinners together as P2s rather than rookies. He picks it up and looks toward the water. He’s looking in the right place, you made sure to tell him that, but he feels like he’s missing something else.

“Please,” you whimper, even though you know he can’t hear you.

“How many more times do I have to tell you?” Ferguson asks. “He’s not here.”

The only thing on your mind is Tim because if you stop thinking about him you’ll only know the unbearable pain and the man inflicting it. Ferguson places his foot between your legs, pushing against the chair slowly. It tips back, and you close your eyes and imagine Tim catching you. It doesn’t stop the initial pain of your leg being held in one place by the handcuffs as the rest of your body moves back or the scream you release as you hit the floor, but it does give you a reason to keep fighting. Ferguson pulls you up nearly as fast as he tipped you over, and the rope digs in against the side of your neck.

“This is the best workout I’ve ever had,” he says.

He wipes the sheen of sweat from his forehead, and you notice how hot and thick the air seems. Ferguson admitted that the air supply was limited, so if you start wasting it, maybe he will leave.

“If you call him…” you begin slowly. “Let me hear Tim Bradford’s voice one more time, and I will lure him here for you.”

“Do you think I’m dumb?” Ferguson asks.

You nod and immediately regret it when he pulls the rope and forces your head down toward your chest.

“I’m not letting you take control. This is my plan, and it ends beautifully.”

“I can’t do this!” Tim yells.

He runs his hands over the back of his head and down his face as he squats by the reservoir. There are no other hints about where Ferguson took you, nothing to guide Tim toward saving you, only dirt and broken promises. He told you that he wouldn’t let anything happen to you; Tim whispered the promise in the dead of night when you were asleep during an overnight patrol, yet he’s holding himself to keeping it like it will kill him if he doesn’t. Because it will.

“Tim don’t give up yet,” Lucy encourages. She lowers beside him and lays a hand on his back. “We can do this, but we have to work together. The paper means something right? Could it be more than an indication she was here?”

Tim wipes under his eye, and Lucy’s eyes widen as she realizes tears are streaming down his cheeks. He stops them quickly, but she pats his back to remind him he’s not fighting alone. You’re fighting, too, and Tim needs to remember that.

“Lucy, I lo-“ Tim stops suddenly, though Lucy is confident she knows where he was going. “I know what it means.”

He stands quickly, and Lucy follows him to the place where they found the fortune. The little strip of paper from a fortune cookie has been in your pocket since you read it, but not only for the encouraging message on the front.

“34831,” Tim says.

“Your badge number?” Lucy asks, tilting her head to the side. “What about it?”

“It was on the back of my fortune that night. Hers, though, didn’t have a number. So, we wrote one on it.”

“What’s the number?”

“2 25 12 9. I didn’t think she’d know what it meant.”

“What does it mean?”

“It’s an alphabet cypher, but backward.”

“B, Y, L, I,” Tim rattles off. “If she had this, she may have left more clues at those points: 2, 25, 12, and 9.”

“This would have been about 2,” Lucy says, gesturing to the ground. “That’s what, 2 meters from the car?”

Tim furrows his brows at Lucy’s use of meters but nods anyway.

“We can’t walk 25 meters forward, we’d be in the water,” Lucy points out.

“Then we need to spread out in every direction we can go 25 meters… Unless I’m wrong.”

“Don’t question it.”

“No, she would’ve fought. He wouldn’t have been able to make her go anywhere if she wasn’t willing to. We should assume that she couldn’t leave a trail after this point.”

“Then we’re back where we started?”

“Exactly.”

“Tim, what does that even mean?”

“She’s still here. They both are.”

Tim turns and yells for someone to get satellite imaging of the area and the camera footage from your car. Your body cam and police uniform shirt were discarded by the water but the cameras could tell them what happened before and during the initial attack.

“We’ll find her, Tim,” Lucy promises again.

“Thank you,” Tim whispers.

Running footsteps echo over the top of the tin deathtrap you’re in. Someone yells, and Ferguson ducks his head as he moves out of your sight.

“Tim!” you yell.

Your voice cracks, and as you prepare to yell again, Ferguson pulls the rope around your neck. It digs into your skin and compresses your windpipe. Tears begin leaking from your eyes, and after the day you’ve had, you don’t care to stop them.

“Tim, please,” you whisper.

“Welcome to the final round,” Ferguson says into your ear.

He loosens the rope and pushes your chair forward. His foot pulls down against your hands again, pulling your shoulder muscles cruelly as they stretch to accommodate the impossible movement. You scream in agony as Ferguson pushes you past the point he stopped at previously.

“Did you stop to ask yourself what he’s thinking? Wouldn’t he have found you sooner if he cared? I’ve been out long enough that he knew, yet he let you out by yourself,” Ferguson taunts.

“You won’t win,” you say between ragged breaths.

Ferguson pulls your head to the side to hold the whittling knife against your windpipe, and the cut he made earlier pulls open. Your white shirt is stained with blood and tears, and even as your blinks slow and breathing begins to feel impossible, you trust Tim.

“The almighty Tim Bradford isn’t coming to save you. You know why? Because you’re already dead,” Ferguson says.

You force your eyes open and ignore the pain and fear to say, “So are you.”

Throwing your head backward, you ignore the sting of his knife sliding across the tender skin of your neck. Your skull hits Ferguson’s nose, and he staggers backward with a hand holding his face. Suddenly, you can’t pull a full breath into your lungs. Time has run out, and Tim isn’t here yet. You hold your breath as Ferguson stumbles behind you. He drops, and you see his hand and face are covered in blood. His chest rises and falls slowly, but you’re safe until the rest of the oxygen is used up.

“Tim,” you whisper toward the metal sheet above you.

“Wait!” Lucy calls. “The ground is hollow here.”

Tim returns to Lucy’s side and hears his footsteps echo. It sounds like there’s a metal sheeting under the dirt beneath his boots. He raises a hand to call a few officers over before someone screams. It’s muffled by the metal and earth, but it’s a clear sign of pain. Better than that, it means someone is still alive.

“Find a way in,” Tim demands quietly.

As he searches the area around the hollow spot, he wishes to hear your voice again. Not another scream, but an acknowledgement that you survived whatever caused you such agony.

"Bradford!” Janssen calls.

He waves Tim over and points to a small opening. Together, they lift the heavy steel cover away from the round hole. Another barrier of cloth and metal sheets blocks the entrance, and as Tim digs through, he wonders how much air is getting through, if any. The moment he can see inside the fortified bunker, he pulls his weapon and drops silently into the metal housing.

What was likely meant to be a storm shelter has been converted into a survivalist’s nightmare. A small corridor leads to a wider opening, and a dim light is the only sign that anyone is inside. Tim raises his guns and stays ready to shoot as he nears the opening.

“Tim,” you whisper.

Tim hears your voice and doesn’t hesitate to step into the open room and swing his gun as he clears the small, square area. Ferguson lies unconscious in the corner, and Tim can only see your back, the restraints keeping you in place, and the rope loosely wrapped around your neck and shoulders.

Your shoulders shake as you exhale slowly. When you notice that you can breathe again, you take a deep breath before letting your head fall forward.

“Tim,” you repeat, trying not to think of anything else.

Tim says your name as he holsters his gun. You sit up straight and try to turn your head to the side but are stopped by the pull of the rope and the pain in your shoulders. You hiss in pain before returning to your previous position.

“You can’t trick me, Roscoe,” you mumble.

Tim steps toward Ferguson and handcuffs him. He repeats your name as he moves into your line of sight. His hands are raised to his shoulders, though his expression is pure concern. When he sees the blood, sweat, and dirt covering you and your clothes, he has to fight not to rush to your side.

“Tim,” you say again. Your voice is louder than before but still has an untrusting quality. “Tim.”

When you start crying and lean toward Tim, he kneels before you. He reaches down carefully to use his key and remove the handcuff from your ankle. Your head rests on his shoulder as he moves, and when he sees the damage done to your ankle, the swelling, deep bruising, and handcuff-induced gash, he looks back at Ferguson.

Tim sits up slowly and raises a hand toward your face. He pushes your hair back softly and waits until your eyes meet to speak.

“I need to go get backup,” he says.

“No, no! Please don’t leave me, Tim,” you plead through your slowing tears.

You lean forward and wince when your shoulder meets its new range of motion.

“I need to get Ferguson out of here,” Tim explains. “There’s a lot of people above us waiting for me to signal.”

“Tim, please.”

“Can I yell?”

You swallow as Tim moves closer to you. He stops an inch away from you, with your knees almost touching his ribs.

“I’m not going to yell unless you say I can,” he adds.

Tim waits for your nod, then leans away from you slightly to yell for Janssen and Lucy to come in.

“Help me,” you whisper when Tim’s eyes return to you.

He sits back on his heels as he unloops the rope from around you. It’s heavy, and he sees your shoulders drop once it’s away from you. They drop unevenly, though, and he knows you need more help than he can give you.

“I’m staying with you,” Tim promises, “but I have to untie your hands.”

You shake your head quickly, and Tim moves his hands to the sides of your thighs as he agrees not to leave. He asks Lucy to free your hands and keeps his hands on you as Lucy cuts the restraints.

“Thank you,” you say.

Tim doesn’t answer before you pull your arms forward. With them free, you don’t hesitate to raise them and wrap them around his shoulders. It hurts, and you sob as you fall forward and cling to Tim. He welcomes your touch and wraps his arms around your waist, but he doesn’t touch you, too mindful of how injured you are and where those unseen injuries are.

“I knew you’d come,” you say through your tears.

Tim looks over your shoulder as Janssen and a few other officers carry Ferguson to the opening. He should call an EMT to meet you here, but he can’t let you go yet. His grip tightens around your waist without thinking. When your only reaction is relaxing against him, Tim holds you as tightly as he needs to. Your tears are drying, and you turn your face toward Tim’s neck to speak.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t leave more clues,” you begin. “But I knew you didn’t need them.”

“The paper was smart,” Tim replies. “And I will always find you.”

“He wanted to lure you down here and trick you into killing me. Every time I called out for you he reminded me that we would both die.”

Tim exhales deeply, unsure how to tell you he knows you and he’d never make that mistake. He sits back, twisting you so that he’s holding you against his chest rather than letting you support your own weight.

“It hurts,” you say softly.

“Can you get out of here? Go up the ladder?” he asks.

“There’s a ladder?”

Tim’s brows furrow at your question. How did Ferguson get you down here if you weren’t conscious when you came in? He shakes his head; the detectives (and Tim) will look into the details of your abduction later. For now, your safety is the priority.

“Can you climb out?” Tim asks.

“Not without help,” you answer. “I don’t think I can walk.”

Tim looks at your ankle again, and his eyes catch on the fresh blood pooling against your collarbone. He leans closer to you to find the source. When he sees the cut across the front of your neck, he knows you need help sooner rather than later.

“Hold on,” he instructs you.

“I- I can’t move my shoulder.”

Tim lays you against the metal floor and looks at your left shoulder. It’s out of its socket, but Tim can’t risk pushing it back in without knowing if your muscles or ligaments are still intact.

“Please just get me out of here.”

Tim nods and turns around so your hips are beside his shoulders. He leans down and pulls your legs over his shoulder rather than your arms. With one hand pressing your shoulder to your side, Tim stands and pulls you up in a modified fireman’s carry. You stifle the yell that tries to escape, and Tim’s heart breaks when he hears it. He spent so much time fighting, desperate to find you, that he didn’t consider how different things would be when he did.

With the help of Janssen, Nolan, and Lucy, Tim gets you back above ground. He collapses to the ground but makes sure you’re set down with care. You reach out for him immediately, and Tim pulls your chest to his again. The paramedics are close, but until they arrive, Tim will hold you like he never has.

“I’m so sorry,” Tim whispers.

“You found me,” you reply. “You found me.”

Your right hand squeezes Tim’s shirt in your hand as you hold onto him. You didn’t doubt him for a second. Being in his arms gives you the safety and comfort you need to fall apart because you know he’ll hold you together.

“I know what it means,” you say. “Or I think I do. B-Y-L-I; it’s backwards, right?”

Tim nods against you, and you smile through your tears. The paramedics arrive, and you’re carefully removed from Tim’s grasp, though his hand stays in yours. You’re not sure you’ll ever be able to let go, but Tim has already made a new promise, and he won’t leave your side until he’s forced to.

“Where’s Kojo?” you ask as Tim leads you into his house.

“He’s staying with Lucy tonight. He gets excited when he sees you and I didn’t want him to hurt you,” Tim answers.

He guides you to the couch and sits beside you after placing your things in his guest bedroom. Tim refused to let you return to your apartment alone after being discharged from the hospital, and you didn’t need much convincing to stay with him while you heal.

You lean your head against Tim’s shoulder, careful not to jostle your shoulder in its sling. He moves his arm to welcome you closer and tilts his head to rest beside yours.

“It’s I love you backward, right?”

Tim looks down at your hand, surprised to see your fortune in it. He takes it from you and flips it to see his handwriting. He nods and sits up straight. When you turn toward Tim, he wipes under your eyes as if he can still see the tears you cried when he saved you. Your skin is littered with scars and reminders of what Ferguson did to you, but Tim still seems to only see you underneath all of it.

“It’s I love you, Bradford,” he answers. “Whether you wanted that to mean ‘from Bradford’ or something else.”

“I begged for you to save me while I was down there with him.”

“I’m-“

“Don’t apologize. I just- I need you to know I trust you that much because I know you love me. I’ve known for a long time. But I also knew that even if you didn’t find me in time, I would die loving you. And life was worth living because you were in it.”

Tim’s hands rise out of his lap before freezing. He looks down at your neck and back to your eyes before smiling. His eyes look misty, but you know yours are, too, so you decide not to tease him about it this one time.

“I don’t know where I’m supposed to put my hands to kiss you,” he mumbles.

You hold his shoulder as you lean in and kiss him. His hands raise to your waist without thought, and other than the soreness of using your obliques to search for Tim while tied in place, it’s a painless touch. Tim moves slowly and intentionally as he kisses you, reminding you of everything he said and did, even what you weren’t present for.

“I love you, Tim Bradford,” you say against his lips.

“I love you. I will always love you, and I will never lose you again.”

Tim slides the fortune into your pocket as he kisses you again, and every pain and fear you faced disappears because you know Tim will always find you and make you whole.

#hanna writes✯#tim bradford x reader #tim bradford x fem!reader #tim bradford x y/n #tim bradford x you #tim bradford fic #tim bradford imagine #tim bradford the rookie #tim bradford #requests #fem!reader #the rookie abc

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iwillneverforgiveyousunghanbin · 3 months

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bully⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

the endings

⋆˙⟡ zbully1 smut series masterlist! hanbin, jiwoong, hao, matthew, and taerae included. click here for game day (group) chapter.

⋆˙⟡ wc: member endings are ~1k each, group endings are less than 500 words each! (in total: ~5k)

⋆˙⟡ reader: no pronouns used for reader at all in any of the endings :)

⋆˙⟡ series summary: five bullies. six days. it's gonna be a hell of a week, babe. stay hydrated.

⋆˙⟡ endings summary: choose your own ending! jiwoong, hao, matthew, hanbin, taerae, group (quasi-poly), and group (revenge) are all included. most are angst/fluff and some are suggestive.

⋆˙⟡ warnings: there is no smut in these endings, but they allude to smut that happened previously or suggest smut that would follow these endings. please, minors dni still with this post! member endings are all happy (with angst). revenge ending is also happy, depending on what makes you happy! lol.

I'M SO SAD IT'S OVER. writing the bully series was so much fun! thank you to the anon who suggested it in the first place a couple months ago and for everyone who has given positive feedback/input! i appreciate it so much. these endings are all crafted with so much love! let me know which one you love most. maybe i'll put a poll at the bottom lol. ily, catch you in the next series!!

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

jiwoong 🎭

“so i’ll hand out these scripts and we’ll get started right away,” professor lee announces, walking around the room and handing out scripts for everyone’s assigned scenes. mina sits next to you as usual, except this week she’s staring daggers at jiwoong from across the room. you guess it beats her making googly eyes at him.

mina had called you last night to rant again about how much of a jerk “jiwoong-sshi” is. note the absence of the word “oppa”. you were sorry that he’d stood her up, but you knew what kind of a person he could be long before last week.

and she unfortunately didn’t seem to care how much of a jerk jiwoong was when you were the one bearing the brunt of it.

but you don’t want to dwell on it. you’d just fucked him and four of his friends in the campus activities lounge and had no plans to tell her. she’d asked you how the “revenge” went, but you’d kept it all pretty vague. mina was no prude, but she might have the urge to gossip a bit with news as insane as that. you wouldn’t blame her if she did.

still, you didn’t regret what you did saturday. not even a little bit. in fact, it made you feel kind of proud every time you thought about it.

you spend all of class working on a scene with mina in which you play a really outrageous set of characters trying to escape arrest. it’s a role that you’ve never opted to take before— one that requires you to be bold, funny, and brave.

professor lee praises you after you present it at the end of class. “excellent work. what’s gotten into you, (y/n)-sshi? whatever it is, let’s keep peeling back that shell!”

you smile with pride, eyes scanning the rest of the room until they happen to land on kim jiwoong.

he’s smiling, too.

when class ends, you pick your bag up off the floor and toss in your marked-up script. you’d normally throw it in the recycling bin, but you want to keep it this time. as a reminder of what you’re capable of when you’re sure of yourself.

mina giggles as you walk out the door together and into the hallway. “i’m surprised, but you really pulled that off!”

“i’m not.”

both of your heads whip around to find kim jiwoong leaning against the wall behind you.

“you just needed some... encouragement,” he says with a smirk, but there’s a noticeable warmth in his eyes.

“and what exactly do you need in order to be able to show up to a commitment you made?” mina asks with a scowl. your eyes narrow at him, too.

“listen, i–... i’m really sorry, mina,” he responds sincerely. the fact that he even got her name right has you stifling a gasp— let alone the apology that prefaced it. “i shouldn’t’ve stood you up. that was mean. so i’m sorry.”

mina sucks in her cheek, looking at the ceiling as she considers his sentiment.

“but i actually have something else to apologize for, too,” he adds quickly, gaze moving back and forth between the both of you. “i... i wasn’t really interested in you in the first place. i was—... i used you. to get a reaction out of the person i’m actually interested in.”

his eyes meet yours. your lips part in shock at his sudden confession. you stare at him for a long moment, unspeaking until—

“AREYOUKIDDINGMEYOUABSOLUTEDICKOFAHUMANBEINGYOULIETOANDSTANDUPMYFRIENDANDLEAVEHERINFUCKINGTURMOILOVERYOUANDTHEN—.”

you glance over at mina, expecting to see tears running down her face but instead...

she’s grinning. from ear to ear. and not in a joker sort of way— just genuine happiness.

“i knew it,” she says, clasping her hands together in front of her face and jumping excitedly. “i KNEW it! i knew you both liked each other!”

“you—... what!?” you exclaim, eyes bugging at this bizarre turn of events. “what do you mean, ‘you knew we liked each other’!?”

“i’m also confused,” jiwoong says with a frown. “considering i didn’t really know until, like, yesterday.”

“well, i knew you were going to like each other. eventually,” she says with a nod. “you know, shy, quiet person and arrogant, attractive person trope. it’s destiny!”

“if you really thought that, then why did you wanna go out with him so bad?” you ask through furrowed brow.

“‘cause he’s hot. duh,” she says, shaking her head with a smile as if your question was very silly. “can you blame me for wanting a taste first?”

“well, if it’s just a taste we’re talking about—,” jiwoong starts to offer with a smirk.

“one more word and the only thing you’ll be tasting is—” you interject, balling your hand into a fist.

“aw, first lovers’ spat! i’ll leave you guys to it,” mina says quickly before sprinting off down the now-empty hall.

you look down at your shoes awkwardly. “i have nothing else to say to you.”

“then, you won’t mind if i talk?” jiwoong asks, not waiting for a response to continue. “when hanbin made me start bullying you last year, i honestly didn’t want to. you were pathetic enough already without my help.”

“gee, thanks,” you reply with with a frown.

“but then i sort of started to have fun with it. the way you reacted was absolutely intoxicating. you made it all so rewarding— coming up with a new plan to drive you crazy every day,” he explains. “then last week, when we started that competition, i found a whole new way to drive you crazy. and i liked it a lot more.”

“this is the most convoluted apology i’ve ever received,” you remark with a sigh.

“after saturday, seeing you like that... you were far from pathetic. and it made me proud. i think, somewhere along the way, i just became really fond of you,” jiwoong confesses, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “and i also desperately want to buy you better clothes.”

“okay, i’m leaving now,” you announce, turning on your heel.

“what a coincidence. me too,” jiwoong says, grabbing your hand and lacing his fingers with yours as he starts to drag you with him down the hall. “you’re hungry, right?”

you start to protest, but as you look at his handsome side profile— dark hair covering the tips of his ears— you realize you are, in fact... hungry.

“starving,” you answer.

he stops walking to look at you, eyes widening with surprise. “yeah? what would you like to eat then?”

staring at his lips, you can’t help but lick your own. “mina’s right, y’know.”

jiwoong’s head tilts, the corner of his lip upturning slowly as he registers your expression. “is she?”

“mhm,” you answer, pressing your lips to his. he responds quickly: soft, lazy, and stupidly addictive. you can’t believe you let him get away last week without kissing you. you could give him just one chance, couldn’t you? “but what she doesn’t know...”

he attaches your lips again, free hand cupping your jaw.

“is that one taste of you...”

jiwoong inhales sharply as you gently bite his bottom lip.

“just isn’t enough.”

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

hao 🎻

you rush into orchestra on tuesday, already five minutes late. unfortunately, your regular bus never showed at the stop. and then your back-up bus also never showed. which means you had to walk all the way to campus when you hadn’t planned to— your violin case in tow.

rehearsal having started already, you make a beeline for your seat and frantically open your violin case. luckily you’d warmed up your instrument before you’d left your house this week and your bow is ready to play when it hits the violin strings.

or, it would be, if you didn’t just realize you forgot your sheet music.

“oh, for fucks sake,” you mumble, looking up at the sky and begging for the sweet release of death in this tragically embarrassing moment.

a soft creaking noise draws your attention to your left, where you find hao’s music stand is suddenly angled in your direction.

he doesn’t say anything or look at you. he just keeps playing. and so you follow the first chair’s lead.

rehearsal goes surprisingly well. you’re sure you managed to correct all of your mistakes from last week after being able to put more rosin on your bow.

“third and fourth chair are falling behind the tempo,” hao replies when professor ahn asks him for notes about the performance. your eyes widen when he names a violinist other than yourself that needs correcting. “it makes it harder for first and second chair to successfully introduce and complete the next movement.”

first and second chair? hao was voluntarily grouping you together?

professor ahn seems as surprised as you. she nods, writing down her own notes in the binder on her music stand. she waves her hand, dismissing the orchestra for the day. you clean your violin, getting it ready to be put back in its case as your classmates begin to file out of the orchestra room.

“(y/n)-sshi,” professor ahn calls suddenly from the doorway. your heart drops to your stomach at the mention of your name. “you actually played quite well today. i’ll assume it’s because you had the help of the concertmaster’s annotations. don’t be late again.”

you nod quickly, bowing your head respectfully to her. “thank you, professor-nim. i’ll play even better next time.”

you’re left alone with hao as usual, both cleaning your violins with the utmost care. when you finish, you place your instrument in its case before fishing around in the side pocket and pulling out something small.

hao locks his violin case, placing it sideways at his feet. finally, he looks at you.

you hold out the cake of rosin that he’d given you last week and told you to bring to your next rehearsal. you’d be remiss to notice that even though you didn’t show him until after class, he never told professor ahn that you’d stolen it like he threatened.

hao examines the rosin, completely ruined from what you’d both done with it. there was no cleaning it and you couldn’t use it if you tried.

you expect to catch some attitude, but, to your surprise, he smiles. “guess it couldn’t be salvaged, huh?”

“guess not,” you agree with a shrug. “at least you got some use out of it.”

“mm,” he hums after a moment before reaching down and reopening his violin case delicately. his hand disappears into one of the side pockets and pulls out a fresh cake of his premium rosin.

and then he hands it to you.

you stare at it in your palm, wide-eyed. “w-what are you—”

“you’re a pretty decent violinist,” hao says matter-of-factly. “sometimes— not often— but sometimes i feel like you have the potential to be almost as good as me. but you’ll never reach it if you don’t start using higher quality products to care for your instrument.”

“oh,” you reply, brow furrowing as he locks up his violin again. “so you’ve decided to take pity on me now?”

he smirks. “something like that.”

“i guess it’s better than pure hatred,” you respond, rolling your eyes as you tuck the box of rosin into your own violin case.

“i never hated you,” hao says with a frown. you sit back up, lips parting as your eyes meet his. “i didn’t particularly like you, but i only told professor ahn about the mistakes you were making because they were careless. you always came in the next week with those same mistakes completely perfected.”

“so you were motivating me through public shame?” you clarify, one brow piqued in disbelief.

“doing whatever it takes to improve the sound of the orchestra is what sets a great concertmaster apart from a mediocre one,” he explains, deciding to paint himself as a misunderstood martyr.

“oh, i’m sure it was so difficult for you to step up and take one from the team,” you mock, a laugh escaping you at hao’s audacity. “do you hear what you’re saying? you’re so fucking full of yourself. who gave you the right to play god and—?”

hao leans in, connecting his lips to yours mid-rant. your breath hitches in disbelief as he pulls back.

“would you be mad if i said i wanna get to know you better?” he asks, hand resting on your thigh.

you look down at his long fingers on your soft skin. “furious,” is what you answer.

he presses his lips together in a hopeless smile. “i’ll take it that means you don’t feel the same way then.”

“you always think you know everything about everything,” you huff, grabbing his hand in yours and bringing it further up your thigh. “but you don’t. so i guess you will have to get to know me better if you wanna keep being an insufferable know-it-all.”

as soon as a smile appears on hao’s face, it’s replaced by the cutest frown. “i’m sad now.”

“why?” you ask, not sure how your answer could’ve possibly made him sad when it was the one he wanted.

“i took for granted how absolutely fucking adorable you are when you’re angry,” he whines, a disheartened little pout on his pretty lips. “kind of makes me wish i could keep making you angry from time to time.”

you blink at him, looking around awkwardly as a reluctant smile grows on your face. “i mean—... i guess i’d have to worry about my playing skills suffering if you stop completely. that wouldn’t be very responsible of concertmaster-nim.”

“no, it wouldn’t,” he replies, biting his lip in a smirk. you’re fully aware of what this title does to him. “so what should i do to keep you playing well?”

you look up at the ceiling, considering your options. “maybe you could see what other things in the music room fit up my—” “that’s depraved,” hao scolds, shaking his head at you in shock before a grin peeks through. “are you free right now?”

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matthew 💪

with three weeks left of your soccer unit in phys. ed, you braced for an awkward class on wednesday. as you wait outside in the warm, spring breeze with your classmates, you waited anxiously for matthew to show up.

he doesn’t.

coach yang blows his whistle, signaling for you to form a straight line in front of him. luckily one of your classmates asks the question for you.

“coach-nim! where’s matthew hyung?” the younger boy asks in front of you. “we wanted to talk to him about the game.”

“ah, matthew-sshi is on a strict regimen of weight-training and cardio until the championship,” coach yang answers with a sigh. a little quieter, he adds, “and maybe that’ll teach him to stay in line.”

maybe, you think. maybe not.

it’s a surprisingly pleasant p.e. class. your classmates are respectful, giving you as much grace during the game as possible. your sunbaenim from your calc class even pushes you behind him when a ball comes a bit too quickly towards your face.

“thanks,” you say with a smile.

he smiles back. “don’t mention it.”

this class sure was different when someone wasn’t trying to kill you the whole time. that being said, you’re pretty disappointed that matthew isn’t here. you can’t help but wonder how he would’ve treated you today after saturday night.

when class is over, coach yang hands you a hose, some rags and a ball trolley. he still can’t look you in the eye after what happened. “here’s your supplies. shouldn’t take you more than an hour.”

you nod ashamedly, getting to work right away.

“and a word of advice,” coach yang adds over his shoulder. “don’t be afraid to put him in his place from time to time. you played well today without him. it’s nice to see you have some more confidence, (y/n)-sshi. good luck.”

the last thing you were expecting today was a pep talk from coach yang. you walk over to the right side of the field and pick up a muddy, grass-stained ball and bring it over to the hose. washing it thoroughly and buffing any stains with a rag, you drop it into the ball trolley and make your way to the back of the field to retrieve a couple more.

you grab one from behind the goal, turning around to fetch the other one. but as you do, you come face to face with matthew— tossing the ball gently back and forth between his hands.

“hi,” he greets shyly.

your lips press together in an awkward smile. “hi.”

he doesn’t say anything else for a moment, so you brush past him— bringing your ball back to the hose. he follows behind you quietly, placing his soccer ball on the ground beside yours. you pick up the hose and douse them both in the cold water. matthew picks up a rag and kneels down on the ground next to you, buffing the soccer ball you’d brought over.

you pick up the one he brought over, doing the same. “that one was mine.”

his eyes widen, holding out the ball to you wordlessly in an attempt to give it back.

you can’t help but laugh. “i was just kidding.”

“right,” he replies with a nod, returning to cleaning the ball. “sorry.”

you raise one eyebrow at him quizzically. “are you okay?”

“hm?” he asks before nodding quickly. “oh, yeah. i’m fine.”

“are you sure?” you question further. “because this is my punishment and you’re helping me when you should be getting ready for practice.”

matthew shrugs. “it was my fault.”

“it absolutely was,” you agree, tossing your soccer ball into the trolley. “and you got away with it scot-free.”

suddenly, matthew’s hand reaches toward your forehead— thumb brushing over the tiny scar from where the ball he kicked had scraped your skin. “i shouldn’t have.”

well this is... new. matthew taking accountability for his actions? you never thought you’d see the day.

“i—... um...” he stutters, starting to pick at the grass in front of him. “i think i should probably be punished. for that. and for a lot of things.”

oh.

so he’d really liked it.

“oh. should i tell coach yang to—,” you play dumb, starting to stand up like you’re about to march right into his office yourself.

“NO! ... no. no,” matthew grabs your hand, keeping you seated next to him. he bites his lip, clearly embarrassed by what he’s about to say. “want you to do it.”

“huh,” you reply with frown. “i thought you didn’t really prefer people who were tainted.”

“you aren’t tainted,” he says, shaking his head. “that—... that was really immature of me to say. and gross. and i’m... i’m sorry.”

you look at him for a long moment, studying his eyes to see if he’s being genuine or not. there’s no obvious signs of lying. he’s very nervous, but it’s not because he’s being untruthful. maybe it’s because he finally is.

“and i can also assume that you said sorry to the waterboy?” you ask, pressing your lips together in an attempt to not laugh at his panicked expression. “and that defense player on the other team? actually, you should probably just draft a mass apology and send it to every university team you’ve ever played against. it would save some time.”

matthew nods sullenly. “yeah. i can do that.”

you have to admit, you like matthew quite a bit when he’s like this. he’s agreeable, apologetic, and distressingly adorable.

“i appreciate your willingness to cooperate,” you reply, patting him on the shoulder gently. “i think... maybe... we could make this work.”

matthew’s eyes light up at this. “really? you’d wanna keep doing... this?”

you smile. “yeah. it doesn’t sound so bad, now that you’re being nice to me.”

matthew smiles with embarrassment, avoiding your gaze. “i guess i should’ve tried this approach last year. but i—... have you ever heard of alpha male podcasts?”

“matthew,” you groan, palm flying to your forehead in disbelief. “you’re gonna unsubscribe from every single one of those, okay?”

he nods frantically. “of course. they didn’t get me anything anyway, except a light ‘roid addiction.”

“do not tell anyone that, oh my god,” you reprimand, hitting his thigh. “you’re also gonna throw all of that out immediately.

“ah, it was so expensive though,” he winces, tilting his head as he weighs the consequences. “can’t i sell them instead?”

“JUST GET RID OF—,” you shout, cutting yourself off when matthew suddenly leans over and kisses your cheek.

he grins. “you’re so beautiful when you’re disappointed in me.”

“you’re—... you—...” you stutter until matthew leans in again, pressing his lips to yours this time. he pulls back, leaving your brain hazy. “please don’t be so mean to me again.”

he shakes his head decisively. “i won’t. i promise.”

you smile, stomach fluttering as he beams at you.

“but, like... you’re okay with being mean to me sometimes, right?” matthew asks, scratching the back of his neck.

“oh, absolutely,” you answer with a nod. “i’ll start now.”

he laughs passively, obviously interpreting this as a joke. “sure, sure.”

you stand up, hovering your foot over his crotch. “finish cleaning these soccer balls. now.”

matthew’s eyes widen with fear, hopping to his feet immediately, bowing his head to you, and sprinting off to the end of the field to complete his task.

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hanbin 📝

“hanbin-ah!” you shout, running down the dimly-lit, empty hallway. how far could he have made it in the few minutes since he’d stormed out of the activities lounge without so much as a word.

“hanbin-ah...”

a banging down the hallway to your right seems to signal his location. you turn down it, running until you reach the end and a long hall of public lockers unfolds before you. to your left is a very distraught hanbin, clanging his locker door about as he holds a small book in his hands.

the floor is littered with torn up pieces of paper, that seem to be coming from the book he’s holding.

“FUCK,” he yells, ripping out another page from the book and crumpling it up— tossing it onto the ground, where it lands at your feet.

you bend down and pick it up, carefully unfolding it and reading what’s written:

what the fuck does (y/n) see in junseo hyung-nim? i thought that poem was for me. could (y/n) really choose him over me? is he better than me? i don’t understand. what did i do wrong?

it’s a diary entry— your name, mentioned twice. the confession contained in it sends a chill down your spine. hanbin had posted your poem about junseo sunbaenim out of spite.

out of jealousy?

you pick up another crumpled paper and unfold it, reading:

i just hung up all the copies of the poem around campus. i got the other guys in on it, too. maybe this’ll teach you not to take people for granted. maybe it’ll keep you thinking about me.

hanbin throws his empty journal across the hallway, sitting down on the ground with his back against a locker as he runs a hand through his hair in distress.

you walk over to him cautiously, standing in front of him and waiting until he looks up at you. you hold out the pieces of paper from his journal and drop them on his lap. “so you decided to ruin my life because you couldn’t have me?”

hanbin reads the writing on the crumpled papers, tears suddenly spilling over and streaming down his cheeks. he wipes them away as quickly as they come. his chin dimples up with sadness. it reminds you of something...

you look in his locker, finding his messenger bag and opening the flap. you dig around gently until your hand wraps around it.

you sit down next to hanbin, back against a locker as you place the little, plush hamster in his lap. he stares at it for a long moment before finally picking it up in his hand and giving it a gentle squish. a tear falls onto the hamster’s nose.

“you found this the other day?” he says, rubbing the back of his hand across his cheeks again.

you nod. “he’s cute.”

hanbin smiles. “i was hoping you’d think that.”

“what do you mean?” you ask, a confused pout forming on your lips.

“i was hoping you’d think he was cute,” he says, running his thumb over the hamster’s fur, “when i bought it for you.”

“what?”

“on the class trip to the national library last year,” he continues. “we sat next to each other on the bus and you pulled three plushies out of your bag like it was the most normal thing ever. and you told me all their names and what they wanted to be when they grew up.”

“hanbin-ah...”

“and we took those polaroids of each other outside on the grass. and ate kimbap at the picnic table in the garden. and ran around together finding the weirdest books we could. and then, in the giftshop, they had a bunch of cute plushies themed off of children’s books and...” hanbin rambles wistfully. “and i bought this one for you while you weren’t looking.”

“hanbinnie, i’m so sorry,” you interject truthfully. you see the full picture now and you never had before. “i shouldn’t’ve been so oblivious as to make you feel like i was leading you on, but i was. and i never should’ve told you about that poem in the first place. i’m sorry.”

he blinks back at you before shaking his head adamantly. “it’s— it’s not your fault.”

“but i hurt your feelings,” you assert, meeting his gaze. “and i never wanted to do that. you were my first friend i made at university. actually, you’re the only friend i’ve made at university. how pathetic is that?”

he shakes his head again, brow furrowing sadly. “it’s not. it’s—... it’s my fucking fault that that happened. it’s... it’s all my fault.”

“hanbinnie, it’s—... it’s okay, you—,” you try to alleviate his burden, like the moral person you are.

“no, don’t do that. don’t say it’s okay, because it’s not,” hanbin asserts, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm. “i made you share something you didn’t want to. and i betrayed your trust. and i—... fucking—... all because i couldn’t handle my own emotions?”

you chew your cheek nervously. “listen, it’s okay—.”

“you’re the nicest person on the fucking planet if you can sit here and say that’s okay,” he says, a sad laugh escaping him. “i don’t deserve your forgiveness, but... i don’t know if i’ll ever be able to fully express to you how sorry i am.”

you don’t respond, stunned by hanbin’s genuine apology.

“i could try, though, if you want me to,” he blathers on anxiously. “i could write a hundred thousand words worth of apologies and you could rip them all up and make me start again and—.”

“he looks like you,” you interject suddenly.

he frowns. “hm?”

“the hamster,” you clarify, holding out your hand. eyes wide, hanbin places the hamster in your palm. “he looks a lot like you.”

hanbin doesn’t say anything, his eyes trained on the side of your face as you squish the little plush.

“it’s funny, actually,” you hold the hamster up for him to see. “looking at this hamster and trying to be mad at him is a lot like how it feels when i look at you.”

eyes still wide, hanbin’s bottom lip finds its way between his teeth— not sure how to answer to your overwhelming mercy.

“you’re right. that wasn’t okay,” you say as you bring the hamster to your lips, giggling after you give him a little peck. “but this is okay.”

“this?” he repeats.

“doesn’t this feel pretty nice?” you pose, eyes locking with his. “us getting along?”

hanbin nods slowly. “yeah. it does.”

“what do you say we continue this?” you ask with a smile. “indefinitely.”

“i—...” he stutters as a smile grows on his lips as well. “i’d really like that.”

“me too,” you agree, eyes abruptly narrowing. “but it’ll cost you.”

his brow raises, swallowing hard at your words. “absolutely. anything. name your price.”

you hold up the hamster to the side of your face, doing your best to mimic his little expression. “i want him.”

if hanbin’s eyes could turn to cartoon love hearts, they would. but because he’s a human person, his pupils simply dilate. “you—... i—... he’s yours. he was always yours.”

you grin, giving the hamster a hug. “thanks.”

“thank you,” he says, still reeling from your cuteness. “i’ll miss him, but he’s where he belongs now.”

“maybe you can visit him sometimes,” you offer, biting your lip shyly. “you’re clearly his biological father, after all. i’m sure your presence in his life is nothing less than enriching.”

he laughs. “some father i am. i didn’t even manage to give him a name.”

you smile. “he has a name.”

hanbin tilts his head curiously. “he does?”

you nod. “his name is binnie. jr.”

his cheeks turn red at this suggestion. “really? you want to name him after me?”

you don’t answer. instead, you ask softly, “hanbinnie?”

“yeah?” he replies eagerly.

“do you...” you start, finding the confidence to finish your question. “do you still like me?”

hanbin’s breath hitches in his throat. “um...”

“it’s okay if you don’t,” you assure with a sigh. “i just... a year ago, i didn’t even know someone like you would be interested in me. you’re so handsome. and smart. and the soccer team’s star player. i never even considered the possibility that you felt that way about me. but now, i—... i have more confidence. maybe you accidentally gave it to me, but i have it nonetheless.”

he looks at you intently, waiting for you to continue.

“and i think i realized that... i want you to like me,” you confess. “i wanted you to like me the whole time. i just didn’t want to admit it because i was afraid it was too much to ask for. and i—.”

“(y/n),” hanbin interjects with the fondest smile imaginable. “i like you so much i think my chest might explode.”

you can’t stop the grin that spreads across your face. neither can he. hanbin brings his hand to cup your jaw, leaning in and pressing his lips to yours.

“oh and i’m sorry i fucked all your friends right in front of your face,” you say, pulling back momentarily.

hanbin laughs, shrugging it off. “i totally deserved it. and... it was pretty hot.”

“keep kissing me,” you request with a smile.

“don’t have to tell me twice.”

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

taerae 🎤

after a completely bizarre session of portraits and quotes for the campus newspaper, the boys all awkwardly grab their things and head out the door. as you place your clipboard and pen on the activities director’s desk, you see a familiar backpack shoved behind a chair. you forgot you’d stashed taerae’s bag and phone in here when he didn’t come back for it on friday.

you walk over to it, picking it up off of the floor and slinging it over your shoulder. you shut off the lights, walking down the hallway until you spot your former best friend— sitting alone on the entrance steps to kang hall in the spring night air.

you plop yourself down next to him, placing his bag on the step in front of him. he turns to you, eyes red and watery.

“oh, tae,” you whisper, head falling instinctively to his shoulder.

“why’re you comforting me?” he asks with a sniffle. “you should be punching me in the face or something.”

“would you prefer it?” you joke, trying to get him to smile. “because i can absolutely just—.”

“this is good,” he says with a breathy laugh.

“good,” you affirm, lifting your head to meet his gaze. “i love you.”

“(y/n),” taerae seems to plead. “i can’t—.”

“i love you,” you repeat. “and i miss you so much.”

“i—...” he stumbles verbally, but grabs your hand in his. “i—.”

“when did you lose your virginity?” you ask, tilting your head curiously.

he gulps. “uh... a couple years ago.”

“and you didn’t tell me?” you question, a little hurt that he’d kept this big news a secret from you even when you were still friends. “to who?”

taerae shakes his head anxiously. “it’s not that important.”

“oh, come on,” you urge, squeezing his hand. “i told you i lost mine to sungchan oppa during that pool party at mina’s dad’s house.”

he flinches at this. “i remember.”

“it was that same pool party where you threw up in the pool,” you say with a smirk. “an eventful night for both of us.”

“mhm,” taerae mumbles shortly. he was definitely growing more bothered with each mention of that party.

“and to think, a couple of years later we’d do what we just did,” you muse in an attempt to dig something more out of him. “we’ve come so far from you throwing up in the pool at the thought of kissing me.”

“i never said that!” taerae exclaims with frustration. “you said that. and i just... went with it.”

you shake your head, brow furrowing confusedly. “then why did you throw up?”

“because—... because i was nervous,” he says softly. “i was so nervous to kiss you that i threw up in mina’s dad’s pool and then i was so embarrassed that i couldn’t even open my mouth to deny that i was disgusted by the thought of kissing you.”

you blink at him in shock. “did—... did you have feelings for me?”

after a long moment, he nods. but there’s more tension lingering under the surface. you know there’s more that needs to be said.

“i really liked you,” taerae confesses softly. “i never wanted to weird you out or anything, but i just liked you from the first day i met you. i loved being your friend, but i just couldn’t help it. when you told me at that party that you’d hooked up with sungchan hyung... i just got so jealous. i thought i could be cool about it, but i was drunk and...”

your eyes are wide, clinging onto his every word.

“and i hooked up with someone, too,” he admits with a pained expression. “i thought it might be the only way to make you jealous back, so i—... i—...”

you hold your breath.

“i hooked up with mina!” he exclaims quickly, looking down at his lap in shame.

“YOU WHAT!?” you scream, grabbing his jaw and forcing him to look you in the eyes. “that’s not fucking funny!”

“i know it’s not,” he replies despairingly. “i regretted it instantly afterwards. no— while it was happening. i was so disgusted with myself. i hated lying to you, but i just couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth. i thought i wouldn’t have to until last year, when hanbin hyung came up to me in the hallway after class.”

your brow furrows at the mention of hanbin’s name.

“he said he knew what i’d done with mina. apparently he had a few friends that went to the party,” he explains sadly. “and that if i didn’t do exactly what he told me to, that he’d tell you what i did and he’d make things even worse for you. i just couldn’t let either of those things happen.”

“how—... how did you even manage to bag mina?” you ask in a daze.

“well, i mean,” taerae grimaces. “it’s mina.”

“she’s a total slut,” you nod, catching on immediately. “more power to her.”

“the most power to her,” taerae agrees quickly.

“why didn’t she tell me?” you wonder.

“oh, that one’s easy,” taerae answers with a shrug. “she said she’d rather die than let anyone know we slept together.”

“that sounds like mina,” you affirm. so the truth was out. it’s hard to wrap your head around everything all at once, but you were definitely relieved that taerae didn’t actually hate you. he was just an idiot.

“i’m so sorry, (y/n),” he apologizes genuinely. “for everything.”

you sigh heavily. “i’m sorry, too.”

taerae’s eyes widen in surprise. “what do you mean? you don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“i’m sorry i bragged to you about losing my virginity. i could’ve been more sensitive with that information,” you reply. “and i’m sorry that i said you threw up in the pool, because you didn’t want to kiss me and never asked you what the truth was. i could’ve been more considerate of my best friend.”

“i love you,” taerae says abruptly. “being without you this year was literally the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

you nod in affirmation. “let’s never do it again.”

“never,” he agrees with a wide, dimpled grin. that smile you missed so much. you watch it fade naturally, replaced by a fond gaze. but you desperately want to see it again.

so you do the only thing that you can.

you kiss him.

he pulls back after a moment, that perfect grin shining back at you. it’s enough to light up the night sky.

“i know i was using the past tense before, but,” taerae says, biting his lip. “i still really like you.”

you smile, pulling him back in to meet your lips again. “prove it.”

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

group (poly) 🥵

you look around the room, every boy avoiding eye contact with you in an attempt to quell the awkward tension. it feels amazing. exactly how you were hoping it would.

"so, uh," jiwoong starts, scratching the back of his neck. "are we gonna do those interviews now?"

you shrug. "you can just text me a quote, if you want. probably easier actually."

they all agree nonverbally, the uncomfortable haze still lingering in the air.

"you can also text me about when you'll be free again," you add, the boys heads turning rapidly to look at you.

"uh... which one of us?" matthew asks with a frown.

you shrug. “whoever’s down.”

“you—… you wanna do this again?” hao asks, lips parted in shock.

“why not?” you answer honestly. “i had fun. but if you’re not into it, that’s okay too.”

“i’m into it!” hao replies a bit too quickly. “i just meant that… i didn’t know you would be.”

“i guess before last week, someone would’ve had a hard time convincing me that i’d wanna do this once— let alone twice,” you admit with a smile. “but i think i’ve proved i changed.”

“and you’re okay with… changing?” taerae asks, worry in his eyes.

you nod definitively. “yeah. i am.”

“so, after all this, you’ve decided you just wanna fuck all of us whenever you want?” hanbin asks, standing up from the desk he’s sitting on and walking over to you. “you really think you’re hot enough for that?”

you smile at him. “no one’s forcing you to participate.”

hanbin frowns, studying you as you hold eye contact.

“don’t be too upset, hanbinnie,” you say with a pout. “you’re the one who wanted me to fuck your friends in the first place. you just forgot to consider i might end up really liking it.”

he stares at you for another long moment. and then, he smiles. “i guess you’ve won your own game then?”

you smile back. “i guess i have.”

“then i have to pay the price, fair and square. we all do,” hanbin nods with respect— an undeniable warmth in his gaze. “congratulations.”

you look at the other boys around you— excitement reaching their eyes as you grin. were they really all yours now?

“thanks,” you say happily. “i couldn’t have done it without you.”

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

group (revenge) 😈

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

you look around the room, every boy avoiding eye contact with you in an attempt to quell the awkward tension. it feels amazing. exactly how you were hoping it would.

"hey, is that camera on?" jiwoong suddenly asks, pointing at the camera you set up by the photo wall to take portraits for the campus activities interviews.

at least, that's why you told them you set it up.

"there's a little red flashing light," hao observes with a frown. "to the left of the lens."

"did—... did you record this?" matthew asks, fear palpable in his eyes as he looks at you.

you hop off the desk you're sitting on, grabbing your shorts and shimmying them on. walking over to the camera, you hit the record button again to stop filming. then you, take the camera off it's tripod and throw it in your bag that's sitting on the ground beside it.

"it was a pleasure doing business with you boys," you say, making your way towards the door.

hanbin stands up, grabbing your shoulder. "what are you gonna do with that?"

you shrug. "nothing."

his brow furrows tensely, not sure whether to relax or not.

"yet," you finish.

"(y/n), please," taerae begs from behind you. "please don't post that."

"i'm not gonna post it," you say, rolling your eyes. "i'm in the video, too, remember?"

the boys look around at each other, not sure what to do.

"but if i have to," you threaten, unlocking the door, "i won't hesitate. could anything be worse than what you've already put me through?"

"wait, (y/n)!" jiwoong calls. "we're—... we're sorry. we're all really sorry for everything."

"i'm sure you are," you reply, opening the door and exiting the activities lounge...

"i'm sure you'll stay sorry for a long time, too."

242 notes · View notes

bronx-bomber87 · 6 months

Text

Happy Weekend all :) First off sorry I forgot to thank everyone last ep. My Chris rage was immense so it knocked me off kilter haha So thank you all for reading ❤️ We’ve hit another fav on my list. The dance alone makes this episode amazing. It’s also the things leading up to it that are also great. This definitely has the why aren’t you together moment? Excited to cover their iconic dance. Let’s get going.

4x18 Backstabbers

We begin with Tim telling Lucy they're not riding together. That she's with Nolan and he's with Aaron today. I love Lucy’s little nose scrunch. Clearly not happy she has to ride with someone else for her shift. Riding with Nolan wasn’t on her list of things she wanted to do today and it shows. I can't get over her dislike of being separated from him for the day. I do love her sassy reply though. Can’t let him know not riding with him bums her out.

Also we all know he would rather be riding with her as well. But you know neither of them can admit as such. Because god forbid we do that eh? So they bury their feelings in their banter per usual. Definitely got that old married couple energy going on here. The sassy eyebrow pump she does is so cute. Tim is gonna miss her we all know it haha We also get that Tall/Smol shot I love so much as well. Always happy to get one of those.

They pass Webb on their way to the kit room. He tells Tim what a good job he did on the Stewart case. Lucy is smiling then putting things together. Saying isn’t she the one who solved it? The one who made the connection? Also that she got punched in the face while arresting him...

Tim cutely says ‘You’re jealous.’ Clearly amused by this reaction of her's. Then goes on a classic Tim rant. Asking if that’s why she does this job? For high fives from Webb? We all know that’s not what she’s asking for here Timothy. Lucy tells him it would be nice to have some recognition. It is part of the reason she took being his side. Amongst other reasons….

He then does what he thinks she wants and it backfires. Pretty badly. This isn’t what she meant by recognition. I do love him winking at her while he’s explaining it to Webb. Saying how he couldn’t have solved it without her. All it does it make Tim look even better. Because Webb just continues to praise Tim. He can't possibly think that's what she wanted LOL Now it looks like he is being selfless and sharing credit.

Lucy’s reaction is hilarious when he asks her if she feels better? Cleary not Timothy... She is still pissed because this is after the fact. She wanted the recognition when the case happened. Not after when Tim’s name was already the arresting officer. It's not the same thing. Oh my love you aren’t getting what’s she’s throwing down right now ha Her body language and facial expression expressing her discontent with him.

Aaron joins them and makes the worst decision he could. Kissing Tim’s ass. Idk why he would think this was a good idea. Especially after riding with the female version of Tim LOL Tim is straight forward with Aaron. Tells him to not kiss ass and set up the shop. He turns to Lucy looking for advice. Wisdom of any kind. She is the Tim dictionary after all. No one better to go to about this man.

Unfortunately she is too caught up in own thing to dispense anything helpful. Just goes off on a rant about credit. How he shouldn't let Tim just steal it from him. Poor Aaron is like 'uhhh but I’m a rookie…so that is not helpful at all' ha I love her pout and restlessness as the scene ends. Lucy is so salty and needs to vent. Aaron is not your guy for that sadly.

We catch up to Lucy full on ranting to Nolan about Tim. Telling him it’s not even about the recognition. I mean…it kinda is ha She continues on saying how every single case file has Tim’s name on it. How she’s the one filing all the reports for it. She asks Nolan how she’s supposed to take on more responsibility if no one knows what she’s capable of? Nolan being the dope he is tries to get factual on her. *sigh* John this is why you are just friends LOL You clueless dope.

Asking her 'Wasn’t riding with Tim her idea?' Lucy says yes cause he takes on all the high profile cases. Which is huge for her. Nolan adds in that she is seeing a down side to that now? She nods and he continues to put his foot in his mouth cause Nolan. Saying she should just get reassigned then. Tim would understand. (I don’t know he would...) Also that's not what she wants at all. She was upset they weren't riding for one day together. So there's no way she's walking away from being his aide.

Nolan is being such a man right now. Trying to solve her problems when she just wants to vent. To hear ‘yeah that sucks .’ Or ‘Tim should give you credit’ I love her calling him out on it. Like listen John you are here to listen not problem solve haha Luckily he does as such and repeats back that Tim is the "worst" (I mean he’s not she just stupid frustrated with her work hubby ha). Lucy’s cute little smile after he does is adorable. Like good boy Nolan. ha

We flit back to Tim and Aaron. He tells Tim he’s ready for any test he wants to throw his way. Tim says that’s why he’s not going to. That Harper is a great T.O. (Look how far we’ve come since s2. My heart.) He’s been on the job long enough he doesn't need them. He lets Aaron know today isn’t about if he will make it. It’s about what kind of officer he will become when he does.

Aaron asks Tim how they’re gonna find that out? Tim says by figuring out his superpower. He starts to list everyone’s. He’s spot on for Harper and of course for his girl. I mean her empathy is one of her biggest strengths. She is very good at adapting to any situation. I mean her biggest adaption was Tim at first. Hehe It is her superpower no doubt.

He then says Nolan talks a lot LMAO Aaron isn’t disagreeing….I love Tim’s answer to his follow up question. That if he doesn’t have one he’ll be Smitty Haha Aaron looking nervous and feeling like this is still a Tim test somehow…I mean it is. Just a character based one. Which is pretty damn important to Tim Bradford. So...you should be nervous. lol

This next portion for Tim and Aaron is hilarious. They’re called to a guy magnet fishing. He tells them he found something strange. It’s a sword. Aaron mentions a murder that involved decapitation recently. Tim tells the man they’ll need to take it. He looks bummed but says at least he can get money on something else.

Aaron panics and levels Tim. Knocks him to the ground immediately. Poor Tim and his back issues. I have those now it hurts to watch him tackle him to the ground like that. Tim makes a crack saying 'Clearly being able to identify fake grenades is not his super power.' LOL Aaron makes a face and we see Tim’s back covered in goose crap hahaha Oh Aaron is bombing left and right.

They're back in the shop and Tim is eating his potential super powers for breakfast. Kudos to Aaron for suggesting more and more though. Except Tim is destroying every single of one of them…It’s so funny to watch. I mean it’s not funny for poor Aaron LOL Just more proof no challenges him like Lucy. Truly no one can match what she brings to their dynamic. You know Tim feels it when she’s absent. So he is just mowing down Aaron in the process haha poor guy. I do love Aaron though. He’s such a goober and it shows through out the rest of this season and into the next. He was a great addition to the cast.

Tim and Aaron respond to domestic call. This man just got paroled and wants to see his son. His ex is fighting him saying he can't be anywhere near them. Tim takes the man's ID to run him and Aaron asks to talk to the man. He does a good job calming him down with his own experience. Tells him I’m sure he’s dreamt of this moment for years.

He’s also sure this wasn’t how he expected it to go down. That he needs to remember it’s been years for them. They've been living their lives while he was gone. So they might not be ready but someday they might. Gives him his card and the number for James if he needs it. They can help him get back on his feet when he's ready for it. Tim walks up and tells him good job. Finally got one right. Yay Aaron.

Tim walks up to Aaron at the wedding reception to discuss his super power. Wanting to make sure he knows what it is. He's been searching for their entire time together. Tim tells him that it’s experience with being incarcerated. Clearly he has a connection to those that have been in prison. That empathy and compassion is what he can build his career on. Gah I love when he’s in teaching mode. Fine af. *fans self* Teach away sexy. This scene ends with funny bit about the park moment haha I enjoyed them together a lot.

This next moment is an all time fav of mine. Tim surprising Lucy not once but twice with his actions. First off by bringing up that dance he 'owes' her from 3x14. You know Tim kinda made the first move with her more than once before they were together. 3x14 being one and this being another. He’s the one to bring the dance back up. A dance I’m sure she never expected him to bring back up. We all know he wanted to dance with her and this was his sly way of doing that. So he uses the guise of saying it's still owed to her.

Tim ‘I don’t do weddings’ Bradford wants to dance with his girl. This is his way of getting that but still being himself about it. Acting like he has to do this. When I’m sure that dance has been on his mind on and off since that moment happened. We see right through you Timothy but it's ok hehe The absolute sass from Lucy is on par for her. Always toe to toe with him. She too is excited he’s cashing this in. You can tell she is happy he remembered this dance. A debt was owed hehe Tim making a face but you know he loves it. She is his equal in so many ways but especially for banter. Tells him like it is and he keeps coming back for more.

Ahhh these two idiots in love. Looks at this man when she takes his hand. That is his full blown Lucy smile. That 'I’m a goner for this woman and would do anything for her.' smile. She is the only one who brings that out in him. He’s so love with her at this point you’d have to be blind not to see it. He lights up when she takes his hand and makes a classic Lucy expression at him. You could power a city with that smile of his. The way they walk onto the dance floor you'd think they were each others date to this party.

Harper’s daughter earlier said she liked her mom with James. Noting that ‘You’re happy when you’re around him.’ These two are never happier than when they are around each other. Their true self’s come out and they are radiating joy. Look at those two above. They are carefree and light as a feather in this moment. Projecting heart eyes as far as the eye can see. You’re never gonna see them be this way with their current SO’s. They don’t bring out the best in them. Anyone around them can see they’re gone for one another. Except them….

Tim is heart eyes galore for his girl from the minute they hit the dance floor. Lucy is flying pretty high herself. Look at the way she is looking at him in that first gif. Transparent as ever at hiding her feelings for him. Tim starts off with the thing he knows is bugging her. He didn’t spend the day with her but he knows her. Knows it ate at her all day long. He also knows it's something he needs to rectify.

Lucy has simmered down at this point about it. It’s evident in her reply to him. Tim forges forward anyways. I do want to note the eye contact between these two. It never breaks as they speak to each other. It's so intimate. I love him gesticulating his fingers around her hand. Re-wrapping them around hers as he explains himself. It's a cute fidgety thing he does while trying to get what he needs to say out. It's the little things I love so much .

He starts out STRONG complimenting her. Not only complimenting her but saying she is in the top 5 he’s ever trained.(Psst. She was the best one.) No better praise she could receive in this moment than that. Lucy being Lucy has to make a joke. She craves his praise but also can’t handle it at the same time. I feel that girl I’m the same way. Tim is looking down at her with massive heart eyes might I add. Saying he wants her to have a successful career.

He wants to support her career the way she’s always supported his. No hesitation and putting her first. Look at the way she is beaming up at him when he says this. The way she's searching his face as he speaks. Gah how do these two not know they’re in love? Honestly. She looks so enamored with him as he’s talking. Their smiles and heart eyes are so loud. They’re screaming how they feel to the entire party.

Tim shocks her even further with his next set of comments. Lucy is already on cloud 9 as is. He’s asked her to dance, he’s complimented her in the best way and said he wants her career to be successful. She is in serious shock when he tells her he’s listing her on all future reports as the arresting officer. Lucy is in awe of this man right now. Not only for doing this but for how he’s grown. As a person and as a sergeant.

For him to step aside like this and give her the glory. To put her career ahead of his so she can succeed. The way she says ‘But you’re senior officer.’ Reminds me of her in 5x12 being in the same amount of disbelief replying ‘But that’s a desk job….’ Lucy can’t believe what he’s giving her and putting aside. He finishes it off with his version of I love you at this point. Saying she deserves to be recognized. What he's also saying is she deserves to be recognized by him. He's so damn soft in the delivery of his words. His body language also as relaxed as we've ever seen it.

The way he looks at her while he says this. Be still my heart. Screaming his feelings in this moment without realizing. Showing Lucy he hears her and has done something about it. That he cares, wants her to be a success, and that he’s putting her first just like she always has done for him. Lucy is sassy in her retort because she can be. (Ain’t no one else talking to this man the way she does) She is looking up at him with the same amount of affection he's shooting her way. Telling him 'You’re right I do. Thank you.' haha Look at her. She’s saying I love you right back in this moment. *sigh* These two.

Everything about this moment makes me squee. The non stop romantic looks they’re throwing each others way. The way they’re gazing into each other eyes the entire time. Forgetting everyone else there and the fact that they can see this love fest. Then comes the cutest most carefree part. Look at the smiles on these two! They’re so gone for each other at this point. I imagine this would be similar to how they’ll dance at Nolan’s wedding. With a little more closeness and kisses ha

Seriously though. Have we ever seen Tim this happy and relaxed? Only when he’s with her. It’s oozing out of him in S4. The laughing, the smiles, Lucy complimenting his moves. That glorious smile of his when she does. Be more in love you two. If someone just saw these gifs no context. They’d think they were a couple in love having the time of their lives on the dance floor. It’s hard to believe they were dating other people at this point. I mean look at this scene. They look so damn happy together. Truly just enjoying one another’s company.

Lucy is beaming with happiness when he spins her around. How he leans into her as he spins her around. Her laughter as she leans into him after he does. My heart is gonna implode from the cuteness everyone haha There’s a reason it’s one of my all time fav moments. It’s so sweet Imma get diabetic. Such a good episode I cannot. One of my favs of the season. For this moment alone right here. *sigh* I love them. Moments like this I knew were cementing them for s5. Slow burn at its finest.

~~~~

Side notes- non Chenford

James and Nyla ❤️

Grey, Wes and James making the video while Silas critiques them is hilarious. Makes me laugh everytime cause they’re so bad LOL

Thank you again to everyone. You all are the best for your continued support. The likes, comments and reblogs are everything to me see you all in 4x19 :)

71 notes · View notes

weixuldo · 1 year

Text

Allow me// ch 4

Vader x Reader

a/n: Hello hello!! sorry for the wait! I will say that were entering more of the “x reader” content that I know most of you are looking forward to heh, but who doesnt love a good slow burn?? hah ty for reading :)

Your boss is not happy about your absence yesterday

warnings: Cannon typical violence, force choking, real choking (and not in the fun way lol), Death, implied death, cursing, anxiety

_____________________

“You never arrived at your posted station yesterday officer y/n, so where in the galaxy were you?!” your red faced manager shouted at you as he dabbed at the sweat forming above his bushy brow.

“I was pulled aside to complete-”

“I don’t give a fuck about who asked for your assistance, you report to me. And unfortunately your task was not completed yesterday so who do you think got chewed out? Me!” he huffed, not allowing you to finish your sentence. This was causing a bit of a scene in the semi-public hallway.

If he weren't always like this, a passerby might think he was going to go into cardiac arrest.

“Sir, I am truly sorry, but when Darth Vader himself asks for your assistance, you can't really deny him,” you tried to explain calmly.

The winded man in front of you let out a gargantuan laugh, “You're tellin’ me… Darth Vader? The most revered Sith lord in the galaxy… asked for your help?! Hah! You gotta be outta your mind little girl”.

“It is true sir, I didn’t get a chance to tell you after I finished because It was late and our wing was closed”.

“Oh yea, I'm sure you did get back pretty late” he laughed.

“Pardon?”

“We all hear what the troopers say about you little miss, surprised you didn’t take your knee pads yesterday, well with all that dick you’ve been sucking”

Wow, this puny man was really proud of himself, wasn't he. It was honestly disgusting.

“I do not think that is appropriate workplace behavior, sir” you tried to remain as cordial as possible; with basically the whole executor aiming for the target on your back, you felt like you had to be on your very best behavior all the time.

“Yea, well in my department, I make the rules and since you carelessly neglected your duties yesterday, I’m giving you the highly acclaimed task of cleaning the restrooms in the communal sector, and once you're done with that I think I’ll give you a task all the way in the bridge” the man smiled a toothy grin before insisting time was “of the essence”.

The cool bathroom floor made you shiver as your knees hit the tile, you went through so much schooling and apprenticeships to do ….this.

Wonderful.

To make it even better you had to keep the door open because the cleaning chemicals needed to be aired out or else they would be too strong; that gave your whole department the lovely view of your ass bent over the toilets, scrubbing away the grime.

It was humiliating, but what were you going to do? Defy your manager and possibly lose your job? No.

It was bad enough that everyone here seemed to hate you, why would you lose a decent paying job too?

You sighed as you heard some of your co-workers snickering;

“I bet that tile is uncomfortable”

“I wouldn't worry about it, she’s probably used to being on her knees hah!”

Finally, you reached the last stall and you were getting high off of the fumes of the cleaning materials. You felt gross and you were getting a headache, your boss didn’t even give you the health regulated mask to use as you worked with the chemicals.

You were gathering up the cleaning bottles and rags when you heard the bustling of your office grow silent. That wasn’t normal, usually there were at least a few yappy voices gossiping about some dumb drama within the department.

You were inclined to peek around the doorway of the bathroom, but you decided not to do anything that could get you yelled at…again.

Suddenly you heard a hushed voice, “He’s coming”.

At that, your senses heightened. Could it be?

Him.

You had no reason to be excited for his arrival, after all it's not like you were in a fantasy story where he would whisk you away and make you his-

The familiar sound of the steel door sliding to the side filled the bay and in came those heavy boot steps, patterned breathing, and demanding aura.

Darth Vader was here.

“My Lord, how may I be of assistance” your boss bowed at the dark figure before him; his face finally cooled down from the bright red it was when he yelled at you earlier.

“I need to speak with one of your mechanics” the Sith spoke, surveying the room.

“Yes, of course! We can get you someone right awa-’

“You misunderstand, General. I need one specific mechanic” Vader corrected.

“Oh! My apologies, who may you be in search of?” Your boss recovered his mistake, though you could see the redness creeping up the back of his neck again.

“F/N L/N.”

Did you mess up your details yesterday?

You felt less worried for your safety then you once did because you had shared a few one-on-one moments with the dark lord.

But

His sudden appearance in your wing did confuse you.

You peeked around the bathroom door’s opening and saw your boss nervously glancing at the bathroom door.

“Ohh, um, of course My lord…. Though might I add, if some repair was done incorrectly I apologize on behalf of the mechanic’s branch… she tends to do faulty work– and we will deal with her accordingl-”

“Quite the contrary, general.”

The-now- red faced man blinked in surprise at the Sith’s words.

“M-My Lord?”

He stole another glance back to where you were.

“What is in the bathroom that is so interesting that you cannot focus on our conversation?” The cloaked figure demanded as he made his way over to where you were.

Quickly you scurried away from the entrance and went back to cleaning on the other end of the facility; You'd rather not be caught actively eavesdropping.

The Sith stomped into the bathroom with a determination that gave you butterflies. His helmet turned towards you before he commanded you to rise.

Oh… maybe he was frustrated with you.

Your excitement turned into uncertainty as you followed the man out of the restroom.

“Leave the bucket” he added, talking about the pail with all of the cleaning supplies and rags.

You stepped out of the chemical filled bathroom and inhaled a deep breath of clean air; as you followed the flowing cape of the man in front of you, everyone’s eyes were on you.

Vader suddenly stopped, causing you to almost run straight into his broad shoulders.

“Would you care to explain why a mechanic of the empire was wasting time sanitizing the restroom facilities and not a cleaning droid?”

“Well, My Lord, she had not arrived at her posted work station yesterday, so we thought it best to punish her accordingly” Your boss replied with a nervous toothy grin.

“Who approved that method, General?”

“Well- Umm” the shorter man stammered.

“Because I see no advantages to this situation. More work is delayed and the cleaning is less efficient”

Damn, he really just implied you didn’t know how to clean a toilet.

“Yes, Of course My Lord, My apologies… it will not happen again” Your boss profusely apologized.

“Very well. I am not pleased when workers take their own liberties when abridging protocol on MY ship” The Sith proclaimed irritably.

The sleazy man cowered and stepped aside, allowing the cloaked Sith passage.

“Y/N, you are to come with me” Vader spoke, without turning to look at you.

Your whole body felt tingly as you walked behind him (and not in the fun tingly way…. More like dread). You weren’t used to him taking a demanding tone with you.

You followed him out and his squadron followed closely behind you; the hallway was silent except for the shuffle of the trooper’s boots and the man’s breathing. What had you gotten yourself into?

Only around halfway down the hallway the man in front of you suddenly stopped, prompting you to halt abruptly behind him. You were so close that his cape brushed the tip of your nose before you took a few steps back.

Vader slowly turned his head to the side as if he were sensing something. Was he feeling your fear?

The profile of his mask seemed more and more ominous with every second.

You were about to ask him what was the matter, but before you could he walked past you back towards where you both just were.

Were you supposed to follow him?

He had already entered the room when you caught up with him. You weren't sure what he was doing, but you sure didn’t expect to see him choking your boss in the middle of the room.

The smaller man had no chance as the dark giant held him firmly in his gloved hand. It was almost sad how much your boss was struggling; he kicked his feet and clawed at Vader’s iron fist.

“Would you care to repeat what you just said, general?” Vader questioned.

All the man could muster was broken chokes and gasps as his face turned bluer by the second.

“First you think you can change protocol and then you have the audacity to insinuate my business with one of your mechanics” he scoffed before dropping the man from his grasp.

He fell hard with a thud and gasped for air.

Vader straightened his form and took a look around the room at all of the terrified workers.

“Do not be so ignorant as to think I do not hear your childish gossip on my own ship.”

Suddenly you realized what this was all about…

the rumors.

Of course a mighty sith lord wouldn’t want to be talked about behind their back, especially if people were insinuating they were getting their rocks off, but there was a certain double standard among the men of the galaxy. It was seen as something to be proud of when a man would bed many women or have “sex slaves” (for lack of better terms).

You really didn’t understand why he was so heated… was it because it was you?

A sudden wave of nausea washed over you; was he only disgusted because they were pairing him with you? Did he think you were that embarrassing to be associated with?

Vader turned his attention back to the man on the ground.

“Pathetic” he huffed before turning back to the gallery of shocked workers.

“Let him be an example for you all”

In a swift motion he turned his clench fist and the man’s neck snapped with a sickening crack.

Your eyes widened and you heard others gasp; you had only ever heard of the Sith’s capability, never seen it.

Vader turned on his heel and promptly left the room, strutting down the hall quicker than he was before; you were frozen for a moment, but then you hurried after the Sith. Hopefully what he needed you for would be something less… deadly.

___________________________

The room was freezing and the fabric of your uniform was not doing much to help with the cold.

After the ordeal at your workplace, Vader brought you to a room that you had not previously seen. In keeping with the rest of the ship, the room was the rich obsidian that you grew accustomed to. There was a large seat in front of the window that beautifully displayed the vast view of space.

Currently you were seated on a couch that was in front of the chair; much to your surprise it was a pretty comfy one.

None of the troopers entered the room with you and the Sith, so you worried this was it. You were going to die.

He asked you to take a seat but then disappeared into another connecting room.

In his absence, you recalled all of your interactions with him, trying to figure out what grounds he had to kill you? Nothing you had done was out of line, it was more the mistakes of those around you… but what were you going to do, protest the Sith’s plans?

You became sad when you reminisced on your feelings for the man… What a fool you were. You really thought that the cold and stoic man liked you. You thought you were connecting with him- and he even allowed you to drop formalities around him-

What went wrong?

You were too naiive, that’s what was wrong.

Your nerves began to settle a bit when he hadn’t returned, it had been around two hours by now. Whether he wanted to play a cruel waiting game or not was becoming more and more irrelevant to you.

You were sure your fate was sealed, so what was a few more hours? Plus you had a very emotionally taxing day and your lack of sleep was catching up with you.

This couch was feeling more and more appealing and your eyelids were getting heavier and heavier…

Maybe a little nap wouldn’t hurt, you would just make sure to set an alarm on your watch for you to wake up.

yeah… just a quick-

***

a/n: alrightyyy thank you for reading and if you guys have any questions about the pacing of this story or enigma, dont hesitate to shoot me an ask! Love you all :)

taglist: @vadersassistant @sxoulohvn @khaleesihavilliard @kashasenpai @darling-murdock @beautifulbearpolice @salvatoresister1 @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @blueninjablade3 @jujuba096 @missmannequin @jellydodger @mirastark @wyvernthekriger @duckyhowls @monada43 @lauriidoesstuff @vienettacream @ray-rook @itswhatever06

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thebiggerbear · 14 days

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WIP Wednesday - 5/29/24 - Beau Arlen x Reader

A/N: Oh wow, I haven't done one of these in a while, but I've still been a busy bee behind the scenes. This is from another short series for Beau x Female Reader that I've been working on since, sheesh, July 29th of last year (don't judge me lol). It's another project I really love with my whole heart because it's allowing me to go to places with Beau and this world that I haven't gone to before and explore some...things about his character that we got a glimpse of in the show. Without giving too much away, this is going to be a bit darker than my average Beau story. I will start posting this very soon. I took out any specific spoilers. This takes place a bit after season 3. All unbeta'd.

Warnings: mentions of domestic violence; injury/blood; a split second of violence

Please do not do any of the above. Thank you for your understanding.

dividers by @firefly-graphics

Taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187

Beau Taglist: @deans-spinster-witch; @birdiellie; @heartlessdelusions; @nancymcl; @illicithallways; @muhahaha303

Jensen Taglist: @samanddeaninatrenchcoat

You and Poppernak had responded to a domestic disturbance call and the husband was obviously at least twice past the legal limit for blood alcohol. Seeing his wife’s rapidly blackening eye, you talked her into pressing charges to at least get him out of the house for the night, if not for longer. When you went to arrest him, he pulled a knife on you and you saw it just in time. As you moved away, dodging his blows, thankfully Poppernak snuck up behind him and knocked him to the ground. You both then tackled him and forced him to drop the knife. Once he was in handcuffs, Poppernak radioed for backup and a bus.

“You okay?”

You glanced at your bloodied shirt sleeve. “Yeah, I think so. Just a scratch.”

Poppernak shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You’re getting that checked out.” He pulled a bandana from his pocket and placed it against your arm, urging you to keep it there and steadily apply pressure.

You rolled your eyes but didn’t argue. Usually, you would have but the wife was watching you and you knew what you had to do. Without realizing it, the stupid son of a bitch had just given the justice system the perfect reason to keep him from going back home right away, even if his wife changed her mind regarding the charges. Now, he had assaulted an officer, so you had even more reason not to resist the full process of reporting and medical follow up.

So here you were, in the ER, waiting on the nurse to finish up so you could get out of here.

“There. All set.” She snapped her gloves off and threw them in the trash.

“Thanks.” You carefully slipped your injured arm into the sleeve of your jacket.

The woman held up a sheet of paper. “Now, here are the care instructions. You’ll need to—”

You took the form from her and gave her a reassuring smile. “I appreciate it but I already know the drill. Not my first rodeo.” You slipped the other arm into your jacket and shrugged into it, wincing at the slight jab of pain.

“Okay,” she replied in a singsong voice, obviously assuming you were that type of patient. “You go home and get some rest now, you hear?”

She was gone before you could roll your eyes at her fake cheeriness. You pulled out your phone, about to text Poppernak that you were ready for pickup, when a young male nurse strolled in. “Oh, good. I’m glad I caught you.”

“I was discharged so…” You held up the paper in your hand as proof. No way were they keeping you any longer. You had a job to get back to, though you had a feeling you would be arguing with Beau not that long from now about you being able to complete your shift.

“Oh, I know. Dr. Strickland wants to see you quickly before you leave.”

Dammit, just when you were about to get out of here. “Do I have to?”

He gave you a look. “If Dr. Strickland is asking to see you, it’s probably best if you hear what she has to say.”

“Fine,” you groaned. “Where is her office?”

“Down the hall, make two lefts, then a right, first door on the left,” he directed as he began to clean up where you had just been sitting.

“That’s not confusing at all,” you muttered under your breath as you left the room. Much to your surprise a few minutes later, his directions had been spot on.

The door was open and you rapped on it, sticking your head in. Dr. Strickland glanced up from her desk and gave you a smile. “Deputy Y/L/N. I’m so glad Ryan caught you before you left. Please, close the door and have a seat.”

“Okay…” You did as she asked, plopping down into the open chair facing her. “Everything okay? My insurance should cover all of this, I’m pretty sure.”

Dr. Strickland waved a hand in dismissal. “This isn’t about that. If it were, you’d be sitting in the Billing Office instead.” She chuckled at her own joke.

Right. You had already had a rough few days; you weren’t really in the mood for jokes or being polite for politeness' sake, so you cut right to the chase. “What’s up, doc? Why did you need to see me?”

The older woman typed something up on her computer. “When you were brought in, even though it wasn’t a deep cut, I ran your blood work just as a precaution. In case a tetanus booster was needed.”

“I remember.” You weren’t afraid of needles but you weren’t exactly a fan so anytime one came near you, you made sure to look away until they were done doing whatever it was they were going to do with it.

“Well,” Dr. Strickland glanced over her glasses at you. “We found something.” She swung her gaze back to her computer, continuing to type.

Your heart dropped into your stomach. You should have fucking known. Ever since you’d come up here to Helena at Beau’s insistence, everything had been wrong. Why wouldn’t they find something in your blood work on top of everything else? “What did you find?” You nearly whispered.

The doctor’s eyes snapped to you and she gave you a reassuring smile. “Oh, nothing like that. Don’t worry.” She hit a button and the printer started up. She then folded her hands on her desk, patiently waiting for the paper to finish printing. “You’re pregnant.”

There was a ringing in your ears and you began to feel light-headed. There was no way you heard her right. “I’m sorry…what?”

“You’re pregnant,” she repeated, picking up the paper as it spit out from the printer. “Here is a copy of your test results.” She offered it to you and for a moment, you considered not taking it. There was no way; she must have made a mistake. Perhaps your results got mixed up with someone else’s.

“That’s impossible.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Actually, it’s quite possible. A blood test is ninety-nine percent more accurate than urine tests. It’s hard to know exactly how far along you are without a proper examination but the results don’t lie. You’re pregnant.”

The ringing and light-headedness got worse, so much so that you barely heard her telling you that you needed to make an appointment with your OB-GYN to start prenatal care and get your first ultrasound to determine how far along you were in your pregnancy. Pregnancy? What the hell was she talking about? There was no way you could be pregnant...no fucking way. Not the moment that you had finally put your foot down with Beau — oh God. Fucking…Beau!

A/N: Please let me know what you think. 👉👈

#beau arlen x reader #thebiggerbear writing previews #wip wednesday

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imzadi-caskett-huddy · 2 months

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It Started With a Kiss (3/?)

Thanks to everyone for reading and leaving reviews on this story thus far! I know a lot of you are frustrated and screaming for her to just make her choice already, but Kate Beckett is a complex woman, and it’s complicated, lol. There is a difference between knowing what you really want and going for it, despite its potential to wreck you, and staying with the safe choice, especially for a woman with Kate’s emotional baggage. Be patient, there will be a payoff! I’m pro-Caskett…you NEVER have to question who Beckett will end up with eventually in my stories; it's simply a matter of the journey for her to get there.

This chapter is based on the episode “The Final Nail” and takes place a week after the previous chapter. Just a reminder, I am following the same basic outline of the show with regard to cases and episodes, so imagine everything happening in the episodes that you’ve seen, with the only changes being my alternate or added scenes.

I still don’t own anything from Castle.

xxxxx

Beckett was waiting for him outside of the Westlake house. This entire case had been difficult for him; when Castle really believed in someone, he believed in them with his entire being. Finding out someone who had been so important to him, who he had put so much unwavering faith in was a killer took its toll. She knew he had to be devastated. That’s why she was here–not to rub it in his face or to arrest Damian herself…in fact, she had made sure she was not the arresting detective on record…but to support her friend, her partner. “‘Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald said that.”

Castle gave her a sad look as he came down the steps. “It must’ve been Ernest Hemingway who said, ‘Man, I sure could use a drink right about now.’” His tone was deflated.

She gave him a small smile. “Lead the way. I’m buying,” she gave a small gesture with her shoulder.

Her offer shocked him slightly, but he started down the street anyway; it may have shocked him, but he wasn’t going to turn it down. “It’s Valentine’s Day. Shouldn’t you be at a nice candlelit restaurant wearing a new dress ordering surf and turf?” He refused to add with your boyfriend. He didn’t need to think about that.

“I’ve got a couple of hours. You okay?” she asked, falling into step alongside him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he insisted.

She knew better. “Liar,” she said with a playful nudge of her shoulder to his as they walked.

He sighed. “I just can’t believe my trust in him was misplaced all this time,” he shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “You were right about him this whole time. I should’ve trusted you. And I owe you an apology.”

She shook her head. “You don’t owe me an apology. I wasn’t right about him killing his wife. In fact, your belief in him was the reason we caught the real killer,” she told him softly. “And for the record, I didn’t want to be right about him,” she added, placing her hand on his arm gently as they stopped at a crosswalk.

“We caught the real killer because you continued to dig and look for the truth, even though you were convinced Damian was behind her murder.”

“Like I told him…you believed in him. And I believe in you,” she replied softly, meeting his eyes for a moment. When the light at the crosswalk changed, she let her hand drop from his arm and began crossing.

It took him an extra second to process her words coupled with the look in her eyes and the fact that her hand had been on his arm...because they didn't touch like that...before he followed her.

xxxxx

Castle hadn’t even paid attention to the name of the bar he’d led her into; it was just the first one he’d seen that didn’t look like a dive as they had been walking. Now he sat on a stool at the bar, looking into his glass of Scotch silently.

Beckett had situated her stool a little closer to him than usual, her body turned slightly so that she was open and facing toward him. She took a drink of her beer, allowing the silence to settle as she studied him. She knew better than anyone that sometimes just sitting in companionable silence was better than talking, so she was hardly the one to push him for conversation before he was ready.

“Thank you for everything you did for me on this case,” he finally stated, taking a drink of the alcohol in his glass. He meant it. She’d handled him gently when she’d had the boys bring in Damian. Before she’d interrogated him, she’d been understanding and soft as she reminded Castle he wasn’t going to want to be in the interrogation room when she took his friend apart. When she’d arrested him, she’d brought in a uniform to place the handcuffs and pull him out of the room instead of doing it herself; she didn’t have to do any of it that way, but she had in order to try to lessen the blow of it all, and he appreciated it. “I was less than objective, and you didn’t have to let me stay.”

She offered him a smile. “You’re my partner…even when you were being less than objective,” she shrugged. He may not have been objective, but after she had let him back on the case, he hadn’t interfered. If he had, she would have kicked him off the case for good; but she had

definitely given him a little more leeway than she would have given someone else. And she of all people knew how difficult it was to find out someone you’d believed in wasn’t who you thought they were; he’d been by her side last fall when she’d had to arrest Royce.

Her words brought a genuine smile to his face. “Still…thank you.” He was quiet for another moment as his smile faltered a little. “I guess I’m not as good at judging a person’s character as I thought.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I told you…the version of Damian you knew was the version a homesick little boy needed him to be. I don’t think anyone would fault you for clinging to that; I certainly don’t,” she started, lightly resting her hand over his. “People change, Castle, and they only let us see what they want us to see. I know all too well about misplaced trust in old friends,” she said softly, taking a drink of her beer. “It doesn’t mean your judgment is flawed. You know…I actually wish I were a little more like you.” Seeing his questioning look, she continued. “You’re able to trust so easily, you always see the best in people…” she trailed off with a shrug. “I’ve been a cop too long to do either of those things. I can count on one hand the number of people I have complete, blind trust in, and I’m sure you’ve noticed I don’t exactly see the best in people or situations.”

He gave a soft chuckle at that. “Maybe I should adopt your strategy. It would let me avoid looking like an idiot when my blind trust in someone is misplaced.”

She shook her head. “Don’t. You’re an optimist, Castle…that’s who you are. Don’t let what Damian did destroy that part of you,” she told him seriously. “I like that about you…sometimes I need your optimism. Your silver linings remind me that there’s still hope and light out there. Some days I really need that,” she admitted.

Before he could respond, her phone chimed to signal a text. Seeing her frown slightly as she read it, he raised an eyebrow. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah. Josh is just stuck at the hospital tonight,” she answered, taking another swig of her beer. “No surf and turf this Valentine’s Day,” she made a joke from his earlier words. She realized she should probably be upset that her boyfriend had just canceled their romantic dinner plans a couple of hours before they were supposed to take place, but she honestly felt more relief than anything, and she knew that didn’t bode well for their relationship. He’d been out of the country for a month; she should have been excited to spend the evening and night with him, upset that he’d canceled again, but she just…wasn’t, at least not really.

He studied her for a moment, trying to gauge how upset she was over her plans being canceled. She seemed a little perturbed, but not overly sad. “Well…it’s not surf and turf, but can I tempt you with burgers and shakes at Remy’s?” he suggested cautiously, just in case she was more upset than she was letting on.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, considering his invitation. She wasn’t sure she should agree to dinner with him on Valentine’s Day of all days. There was definitely something more than friendship between them…enough that agreeing to his suggestion could potentially be dangerous considering the lines that had occasionally blurred between them during the last few weeks, first with that undercover kiss, then with his confession that she had simply shrugged off to too much alcohol at the time, then with their undercover date at the club a week ago. On the other hand, burgers and shakes from Remy’s were hardly romantic, and he’d had a really difficult day. Would keeping him company so neither of them had to be alone really be the worst way to spend the holiday? “Sure, Castle. Why not?” she agreed.

He genuinely smiled at that. Sure, she wasn’t his girlfriend, and it wasn’t a romantic dinner, but he still got to spend Valentine’s Day with Kate Beckett. After this whole Damian Westlake case, it seemed that the universe was doing him a solid.

xxxxx

They had stopped by the precinct so Kate could grab her things. She’d decided to hold off on finishing the paperwork on the Westlake case until the following morning before Castle showed up. She didn’t need him looking over her shoulder as she finished processing everything. They’d opted to walk the few blocks to Remy’s and were now seated in a familiar booth with their mostly eaten burgers and shakes in front of them.

“Can I ask you a question?” Castle asked her seriously.

She arched an eyebrow, setting her shake back on the table and resting her forearms on the flat surface. “Since when do you ask permission to ask me anything?” she pointed out.

She definitely had a valid point; he typically just asked her whatever was on his mind and it was her decision whether or not she would answer it...and how irritated she would be that he asked whatever it was. “Earlier at the bar…you said you could count on one hand the people you trust completely.”

Ah, she understood where this question was going. He wanted to know who she had that much trust in. “My dad, obviously. Montgomery. Espo. Ryan. Lanie. And you,” she answered him easily.

“Me?” he was a little surprised by that answer. He’d obviously hoped to be on the list, and he knew she trusted him to a point, but he hadn’t realized he had earned that level of trust from her. He also couldn’t help but be pleased Josh’s name was not on the list.

“You,” she nodded, suddenly a little more interested in the fries left on her plate that meeting his eyes. “You’re my partner. Even when you annoy the hell out of me, you always have my back,

you always back my play. You are the only person I’ve ever shown every detail of my mom’s case to, the one I trust to stop me before I fall back down the rabbit hole, the person I want with me when I take down whoever is behind it,” she explained, knowing that she wouldn’t have to tell him anything else beyond the fact he’s the only person she trusts with her mother’s case; that alone would completely explain the level of trust she placed in him.

Her admission shocked him enough that he didn’t know what to say for once. “Wow. I…uh…I’m honored,” he finally managed.

“You’ve earned my trust,” she told him honestly. “I mean it when I say, you are my partner.”

They stared at each other for a few moments, the air between them growing thick with the unspoken tension. “You know, technically you listed 6 people. So…that’s really 2 hands, and not 1…” he finally broke the moment with a little humor to lighten the mood.

She rolled her eyes. “I can just kick you off the list,” she teased. “You are the most recent addition.” But they both knew she wouldn’t, not unless he broke her trust. And that was something he was going to do everything in his power to keep from doing. Her trust was too valuable, too hard-earned; once it was gone, he wouldn't be getting it back.

“You know, now that I think about it, Ryan and Espo are kind of a package deal…they only count as one. So you’re right…one hand,” he chuckled.

She couldn’t help but laugh a little, shaking her head. “I’m going to make sure they know you said that.”

As they were walking back to the precinct after dinner so Beckett could get her car, they passed by a man with a table set up on the sidewalk selling long-stem roses as a last-minute offering for Valentine’s Day. Castle, of course, stopped to purchase some, for his mother and daughter she assumed. But then he offered her one of the single, long stems with a smile.

“I’m allowed to give my partner one rose for Valentine’s Day, right?” he asked her.

A shy smile spread across her lips, and she was careful not to prick her fingers on the thorns as she took the stem from him. “Thank you.” Her own boyfriend hadn’t even sent her flowers for the holiday, and here was Castle, giving her a single red rose. Not that she was the type to overly care about receiving roses…or flowers in general…on Valentine’s Day, but the gesture was nice. “Can I give you a ride home?” she offered as they got back to her car.

“You don’t have to. I’m like, 20 blocks in the opposite…” he started to decline.

“Castle, get in the car,” she interrupted him, rolling her eyes.

xxxxx

The ride to his loft was made in comfortable silence. “You want to come up? Alexis should still be out with Ashley, and I operate under a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy with Mother, but I’d be willing to bet she’s got plans of some kind. I can offer you wine…” he offered. Realizing how it may have sounded by offering her wine, he quickly added, “Or I can make you coffee.” He didn’t want her to think it was a romantic offer.

She thought about it for a moment before turning off her car. “I can come up for a bit,” she decided. It’s not like she was currently in a rush to get back to her apartment to spend the rest of Valentine’s Day alone.

“So, coffee? Or wine?” he asked once they were inside.

“Well, I’d prefer to be able to relax and not be so wired when I get home, so wine,” she answered with a small smile.

“Right,” he nodded. He placed the roses for his mother and daughter on the kitchen island and moved to get a bottle of red wine and a couple of glasses before gesturing to the couch to get comfortable.

She sat on one end of the couch, slipping her shoes off before curling up on it. “Thanks,” she smiled once more as she accepted the glass from him, taking a drink.

“You’re welcome,” he took a seat on the opposite end, making sure there was the entire middle couch cushion between them. He turned so that he could comfortably face her.

“So Alexis’s first Valentine’s Day with Ashley, hmm?” she asked him with a smile.

He gave a soft laugh. “Yeah. Should I be worried?” he asked her.

She shrugged with a smile. “Probably not. Alexis is the most responsible kid on the planet, so I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“It’s not her I worry about. It’s the teenage boy with her.”

She laughed into her glass as she took another drink of her wine. “Says the man who still acts like a teenage boy sometimes.”

He nodded. “So you understand why I’m worried.”

“Castle, it’s Valentine’s Day, not prom. Relax,” she assured him. “All the adults have the hotel

rooms booked up for themselves tonight anyway, so teenagers aren’t going to be able to get one,” she teased.

He shot her a look, and she couldn’t help but laugh. He was too easy.

Their conversation continued easily as the bottle of wine slowly disappeared between the two of them. “So the event planner I hired to do the fundraiser we talked about last week is supposed to send me a few dates where we can meet with her to go over the details,” he told her as he finished his glass.

The fundraiser. Right. For the scholarship in her mother’s name. She still couldn’t believe he had come up with this way to honor her mother. Even a week later, it still made her heart do somersaults. “Sure, Castle…just let me know, and I’ll do my best to be there. But you have all the plans we came up with. You could plan it without me there.”

“And I will if you can’t get away, but it’s important to me to involve you.”

She smiled and shifted slightly so that she was close enough to touch his knee. “I appreciate that, I really do. And I want to plan this. Unfortunately, murders don’t always stick to a schedule,” she smiled. “I just want you to know that if something comes up on my side, I trust you to do this. I trust you won’t go over the top.”

He smiled, leaning forward to set his empty glass on the coffee table. He shifted a little closer, resting his hand over hers. “I promise, everything will be perfect. Nothing over the top,” he assured her.

She leaned forward to place her empty glass on the table as well. “I know I already said this, but thank you. I can’t even come up with words to tell you how much this means to me,” she told him honestly.

“Thank you for letting me do this for you,” he said softly, his eyes meeting hers and getting lost for a moment. He was grateful she’d accepted his offer; he knew how closely guarded she was about her mother. The Kate Beckett he’d met a couple of years ago would have probably shot him for even making the suggestion; then again, the Richard Castle from a couple of years ago probably would have planned the whole thing without consulting her or getting permission from her at all. They had both grown as people since then.

She let her eyes hold his, not realizing she’d shifted closer to him. Her eyes drifted from his eyes to his lips, and she knew what she wanted. It was a bad idea, but between the events of the day…the past few weeks, really…and the wine in her system, the feelings she had for him had fought their way to the surface and she couldn’t remember all the reasons why or even bring herself to care that it was a bad idea. For once, she stopped thinking and just acted,

closing the distance between them and pressing her lips against his.

The kiss was tender and slow, her fingertips gently caressing his cheek. She deepened the kiss after a few moments, melting into him. The tip of her tongue had just slipped past his lips and touched his when the sound of the door opening and Alexis’s voice telling Ashley goodnight hit her, causing her to break the kiss and pull back abruptly, as though she’d been burned. Shit… Realization sunk in and her eyes widened. “I…need to go…” she quickly distanced herself from him on the couch.

“Kate…” Castle started softly, but before he had a chance to say anything else, Alexis approached and hugged him from behind, seemingly unaware of what she had interrupted. “Hey, Pumpkin. Have a nice time?”

“I did,” she smiled. “Detective Beckett, I didn’t know you’d be here.” She wasn’t accusatory, simply surprised. She’d figured the Detective would have plans on Valentine’s Day.

Beckett was in the process of slipping her shoes back on and froze for a moment at the teenager’s words. “Oh, um…your dad and I were just…”

“That case I was looking into…my friend was arrested, and she was kind enough to try to cheer me up a little,” he broke in to offer an explanation.

Alexis frowned slightly. “I’m sorry your friend was guilty, Dad,” she told him sympathetically.

“Yeah, me too,” he nodded. “Hey, I got you something,” he said then, pushing himself up from the couch to give Kate a little time to try to recompose herself. He dragged his daughter to the kitchen and handed her the single red rose he’d picked up for her on the way home. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Alexis grinned and kissed her dad’s cheek. “Thanks, Dad. You know you’ll always be my favorite Valentine.”

Kate watched the scene in front of her; seeing Castle being such an amazing father had always been a soft spot for her where he was concerned. She realized if she didn’t get out of there now, she was going to end up doing something really stupid that could easily end with her in Castle’s bed. “Well, Alexis is here to cheer you up now, so I’m going home,” she said in a lighter tone than she felt as she approached the door.

“Thank you for keeping him company until I got home, Detective. And don’t worry, he’s in good hands. I’m going to break out the ice cream,” Alexis assured her with a smile. “I just hope he didn’t ruin your Valentine’s Day plans.”

“Uh no. Josh was stuck at the hospital, so it’s fine,” she answered quickly, avoiding Castle’s eyes as she brought up her boyfriend…her boyfriend…who was not the man she’d just kissed on the couch. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him. “Goodnight Alexis, I’m glad you had fun,” she added to the girl and then letting herself out of his loft before he could try to get her to stay. She was absolutely running.

xxxxx

I know this is a longer chapter, but I really didn’t want to split it up into two. I want to try to keep each chapter its own episode if I can. I’m still not sure I’m overly happy with how this ending turned out, but it felt organic to me…this last scene is one I’ve spent longer on than almost any other scene I’ve written, so I hope you guys are all okay with it.

I hope you enjoyed the additions I made to this episode, and as always, I look forward to your comments!

#castle #caskett #kate beckett #richard castle #castle fanfiction

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daniwib · 2 months

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Hiiii 💕💕💕

For the fic never have I ever:

1) have you ever written anything about buddie and sleeping (like an insomnia fic, nightmares, cuddling and falling asleep, etc)?

2) have you ever written anything about buddie and chronic pain?

3.) have you ever written anything about buddie and hurt/comfort? What about angst?

4) have you ever written any sort of buddie AU?

-❤️🪐

Hey, hii!

(Me, holy shit, someone actually sent me an ask? Stay cool, stay cool, it’s cool everyone!)

(Also me, oh shit, I did not realise that this means I have to remember what I’ve written. Hmm. This may have been a mistake, I have the worst memory, I really do. Goes and checks out own ao3 profile for the answers…)

Ok here we go.

Nightmares. Oh hey look at that! I’ve actually got a fic with the word in its title, who knew! A spell for nightmares & fractured hearts is a short and fluffy lil fic about Buck helping Chris heal after the tsunami, and then Chris (and Eddie) helping Buck do the same. And because I’m allergic to fluff, I followed it up with part 2 in that series being long, whumpy and angsty. As for falling asleep, cuddling or insomnia, I can’t find anything in my quick search but I think I’ve written all of those in several of my fics, just not as a major part of the plot, more as part of the comfort part after the hurt usually.

Similar answer for chronic pain, I think? I’ve referenced it here and there in various fics but haven’t written on just about that. It’s a little bit too close to home for me, my dad has had 3 hip replacements (first because of major injury as a firefighter when I was 10, he fell through 3 floors in a burning building) so having lived with someone experiencing it, it doesn’t really appeal to me to write.

Buddie and hurt/comfort – um. Pretty much every single one of my Buddie fics?! I filtered my works with that tag and got 30 hits, so…. Here’s one I’m posting right now that I’m kinda proud of Pictures of You, in which Abuela dies post season 6, Eddie hurts and Buck comforts.

Buddie and angst – refer to above answer lol. If I had to choose a favourite, I think I’d choose empty, broken, lonely, hoping, my beloved presumed dead fic where Buck and Christopher are thought to have perished when Buck’s apartment building burns down and Eddie goes through several chapters of angst. It’s unrelenting really, poor guy. 4. Buddie AU – again, I’ve got several depending on your definition.

If you want a truly Alternate Universe, try I Once Was Lost. It’s a Peter Pan fusion where Buck is Peter, Eddie is Wendy Darling and almost all of the other characters feature in Neverland too. It covers from their childhood up until the end of season 5 and I have a particular soft spot in my heart for it.

If you prefer Canon Divergence, try There Walks Darkness. It’s basically What If Maddie didn’t kill Doug and he was arrested instead – and was one of the prisoners who took Buck and Eddie hostage in season 5? It features a lot of hurt Buck, Buck whump, worried Eddie and the 118, some of my favourite tropes to write.

And lastly, if you prefer supernatural AU, try Returned for a shorter read, which perhaps unsurprisingly is based on the movie and tv show… Returned.

Which reminds me of another supernatural AU that I can’t believe I forgot because I adore it! Trust Me, Darlin’ is my first collab, with the lovely @hella-cious! It's a Supernatural / 911 crossover in which Buck runs into an old hook up (Dean Winchester ofc) at a scene in LA and is promptly kidnapped before the 118’s eyes. Lots of angst and whump in this one and while there is Buck/Dean because lets face it, those two are far too hot not to ship together, it ends in Buddie (and Destiel too, for SPN fans!)

So, wow. There you go. This was a lot longer than I expected it to be but then I’ve never done one of these before. Thanks for being my first ask @steadfastsaturnsrings !!

#ask game #never have I ever #fanfic writing game #911 #buddie #supernatural #SPN #destiel #Peter Pan #Wendy Darling #evan buckley #eddie diaz #9-1-1 #911 abc #whump #angst #hurt/comfort #fanfiction #9-1-1 fanfiction

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mothmans-wedding-photographer · 9 days

Text

Hi this post was from a week ago apparently I never posted it whoops

Mothman's Buffy Rewatch, Season 3, episodes 7 and 8, "Revalations" and "Lovers Walk"

Revalations

"I wouldn't saying dating, but I'm going out with someone" Faith appears and wraps her arm around Buffy. I know what you are

I do not remember this new Watcher woman at all lmao

I love Buffy's bomb hat

The offense Giles takes to becoming "too American" is hilarious but also if someone told me I was becoming too American I would also take offense

There's 12 cemeteries in Sunnydale??

"Interesting lady. Can we kill her?"

Tai chi with Angel again. I do not care

No stop playing the sweet music fuck I hate this don't make them kiss again

NOT AGAIN KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS FUCKING CHEATERS

What do Cordelia and Willow see in Xander anyway

Lmao SMG is so much shorter than Eliza

"You can trust some guys" correct! Definitely not Angel though

That guy has nice tusks

Oops Xander spotted Angel

NOO XANDER SEES BUFFY AND ANGEL MAKINH OUT if I walked in on that I would immediately yell "ew"

"So. No touching. Kind of like us." Because your relationship is illegal?

I wish Angel got arrested for sleeping with a minor actually lmao how would that change the show

This is like an intervention I'm crying

Ok Xander calling Angel is a vicious killer.. like that's Angelus not Angel are you stupid?

Lmao they actually did call it an intervention

Blaming Buffy for Ms. Calender. You asshole

Why is everyone acting like Angel and Angelus are the same guy

"Word of advice. Vampires don't usually knock. Especially in the daytime." There's other demons?? You'd think a Watcher would know that

Aww poor Faith :(

Massive projection on Willow's part

Faith and Xander bonding moment?

They're going to try to kill Angel.. wish they succeeded

LMAO THE WATCHER IS EVIL she got him good

Willow just break up with Oz omfg

Man that poor person's tombstone that got destroyed

Xander with the crossbow

Xander blames Angel with no proof he's so ANNOYING

LMAO SHE GOT ANGEL TOO that was so satisfying actually I love her

She snaps it over her knee and tries to fight Angel she's amazing

Girl fight!!

I love how the glass and the doors just disappear after that shot lmao

SHE JUST THREW XANDER AWAY IM CRYING

She got Willow girl's going three for three

The spikes digging into her skin reminded me of a springlock suit I'm so sorry

"Hey, word of advice. You're an idiot." SENT ME

Buffy just chopped her arm off so easily I'm crying

I actually love Ms. Post so much I wish she didn't die she should've been a reoccurring villain and her thing is just that she hits people in the head a lot

"Oddly enough your boyfriend, again"

"They swear there was a memo"

Aw Buffy and Faith :(

Lovers Walk

SPIKE IS BACK WOOHOO

"That was my sarcastic voice" "it sounds a lot like your regular voice" "I've been told that"

Cordelia: Now you can leave, and never come back! /pos

Rip the Sunnydale sign

Dru dumped Spike LMAO

Awww he got her a pez witch that's so wholesome (it is ruined when I remind myself of Willow cheating)

"Giles. You pack like me."

"There's no going to be any rash." STOP

Joyce is actually being nice and supportive of Buffy???

Does he have to be invited in to the castle?

Drunkard Spike lol

Spike on fire 🔥 🔥

"We don't carry... leprosy."

She's going to de-love herself and Xander lmao

Aww poor lady

He's just funning

"It smells like church in here! Wait, evil church."

Aw nice try Willow

"I'm taking what's mine." oh that's not (I know he's a literal demon I'm just commenting)

He's going to get Willow to love-spell Drusilla lmao

He's sitting so close to Willow it's like he wants her to comfort him I'm crying

SHE TOLD HIM THEY COULD STILL BE FRIENDS

Oh poor Willow this scene is so uncomfortable

HES VENTING TO JOYCE IM CRYING

Why is she nicer to Spike than to Buffy

He wants some little marshmallows !!!

HIM MIMING BITING JOYCE

Whys Buffy choking him he just said he can't breathe

Oz still has some werewolf powers even when he's not in wolf form

"Well if you close your eyes and wish real hard"

"We killed a homeless man on this bench." God he's such a weirdo

"I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."

Xander's head looks like caved in

OZ AND CORDELIA WALK IN ON THEM

Shit Cordelia and was pierced by a metal bar. Wait didn't that happen in Brooklyn 99

I didn't think the mop handle would work because it's not wood

"I violently dislike you"

Spike overusing the word "baby" is hilarious but I'm laughing at him not with him

"I just want him to talk to me again." Yeah cheating tends to hurt your significant other

"Xander. Stay away from me." LMAO?

Poor Cordy :(

I do not feel sad about Angel and Buffy not seeing each other anymore

Damn everybody ended this episode miserable (except for Spike)

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #btvs #willow rosenberg #mothman's buffy rewatch #rupert giles #xander harris #spike btvs #angel btvs #oz btvs #cordelia chase

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giurochedadomani · 2 years

Text

So I dub thee unforgiven

Billy's going to find a creepy ring who grants him every single one of his wishes… for a price. Eventual mungrove.

This reads like the most one sided hellcheer ever, and also I really needed a Chrissy wake up spooky death scene for plot related reasons. What I mean to say is @ sorry Chrissy, sorry Eddie, I promise I love you both, I'll write some hellcheer at some point to compensate 😂

I'm doing a very liberal mix between s3 & s4 with a creepy possessed ring instead of the Mindflayer and Vecna. The timeline of when which characters gets to know which other character is altered to fit the plot. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. I really wanted to hype myself up to do a longish fic instead of my usual word vomiting.

Enjoy

Chrissy dies from cardiac arrest on a cold spring night in 1984.

Or at least that's the official version.

“I’m going to miss you”

Chrissy’s pale as a ghost, shining like moonlight in the glade of the woods near the school. Eddie puts his cigarette out on the grass, under his boot, and tries not to feel disgustingly pathetic when she accommodates her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulders. “You’ll write”.

With her flowery cursive and her thousand markers collection, probably, during the first couple of weeks of her trip. Up until she meets someone cool during the summer holidays and consequently forgets about him, if Jason doesn’t sour her taste for rebelion first.

“I’ve told him about you”, oh, no, they don't need to have this conversation. He’d rather break his guitars into bite sized chunks than have this conversation— “He comes to me at night, you know”.

—which, gives him pause. He can’t quite picture Mrs. Cunningham being very welcoming of midnight visitors sneaking into the room of her precious Chrissy, even if said visitors turn out to be her perfect, beloved son-in-law. And anyway it’s hard to imagine Carver doing it, it’s not as if he has the imagination.

“Jason?”, and tenses when Chrissy’s hand. Sparks? He rubs it gently after a moment. Her ring feels almost scalding to the touch in contrast with Chrissy's freezing hand.

“He wanted to make me his, but I lied to him. Told him to wait. That we could trust you”, wait, what? He feels as if he lost the plot of the conversation five minutes ago. Cold sinks into his stomach like tap water, drops falling little by little until Chrissy grasps his hand, looks up at him with dull, black eyes and clarifies– “I came to say goodbye”– and he panics.

“Fucking hell—?!”

She stares at him with a beatific smile and a cold, dead grip crushing his knuckles.

“He wanted you, you see—”.

“Chrissy”, he shakes her. Then again, rougher, his heart at his throat. “You’ve got to stop, listen to me—”.

“He tried with my father, first, and my brother, and Jason. He won’t leave me alone until I give him someone, you understand”, Chrissy’s head lols when he shakes her, black eyes unseeing Eddie’s fingers when he snaps them in front of her. “But I couldn’t”, she giggles. “And I won’t”.

Every single fiber of his being is telling him to do— something. Run and get help— somehow. He tries to grab her under her arms, push her up to go— they need help, she needs help and she needs it now. Maybe he could drive her? She has to go to the hospital, she has to— see a fucking priest, or something, taking into account how her giggles have transformed into a screeching laugh that wrecks her body into convulsions until— “Chrissy, I swear to fucking God!”— she drops like an abandoned mannequin in his arms.

…

“Chrissy. Chrissy, wake up. Chrissy—”.

#Mungrove #Billy hargrove #One year later Billy arrives #And they become besties because after all it's me writing this fic #Then Billy finds the ring #Or the ring finds Billy #😈😈😈😈😈😈

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bronx-bomber87 · 5 months

Text

Happy Saturday lovely Fandom. Zero Chenford in this one but it is very good ep overall regardless. They’ve got good separate moments. Still a good ep for them as characters. This will probably be way way shorter than usual ha. We haven’t had this small of content since the Fed eps in S4 which were meh af ha Let us get started.

5x15 The Con

We start out with Lucy and Aaron doing some leg work for Angela's OP on Elijah. This entire ep centers around it and everyone's part in it. I do love how Aaron fits in with both Lucy and Tim. Fun to see them work this OP together to take down Elijah. Lucy moving like a skilled bad ass planting the bug on his car. Aaron being the decoy pretending to be a clueless bystander. I adore her ‘Tell your dog I said Hi’ Feels like a Melissa shirt and I love that. I recall her wearing it in 4x03 as well. Always enjoy seeing pieces of Melissa appear on the show. Anyways fun to see her being a BAMF in the field. They work well together.

19 minutes into an episode to see my boy isn’t acceptable LOL Mmm but what a shot it is though my god. Metro Tim in his tight shirt, can see his badge near his hip, and his gun also hanging out on display. Mmm yummy. That duty belt is doing thing to me clearly haha *ahem* Back to the SL though... They’ve captured Elijah’s top lieutenants. Trying to give the illusion Abril has captured them. Trying to get Elijah to spook for their OP tonight.

I do love the crossed arms. One of my favs Tim positions. Those sexy biceps will be the death of me. But then so will this entire ensemble of his. Then we get a nice shot of him staring into interrogation as Garza leaves. ‘Metro Police’ Stretched deliciously across his back. Man is fine af. Oozes sex just standing there.

Aaron and Lucy are still following Elijah around. Listening into his phone calls. Seeing if their spooking is working. It would appear that it is. He is in a panic since his Lieutenants have been snatched and now his lawyer. It is fun to watch Lucy in her element in the field. Her and Aaron make a solid pairing to watch. We needed this since her and Tim can’t always be together on job now for most part.

Elijah calls for Angela. Earlier in the cold open she offered him a deal. To help him take out Abril’s heavy hitters in exchange for her family’s safety. He scoffed at her offer and passed. Now he’s in a panic and wants the deal. Angela telling Elijah her hitters are at a house in North Hollywood. That he can take them out tonight. It’s a smart trap to set for him and he’s taking the bait.

Celina is involved in this OP as well. Nice to see all hands on deck for this. She is being used as decoy for Elijah’s guys to see. Make them look like they’re distracted and weak before they move in. Mmmm love Tim leaning against that door frame. Sexy beast of a man. Just waiting with his team to spring into action. I love watching Tim in the field. See how his mind works. Always have because he's just so damn good at what he does. Watching him in full tactical gear doing same thing? *fans self* I'll take Metro Tim in the field all damn day.

I also love watching Lucy in field as well. They’re both in their element in this OP. It’s really fun to watch them do what they do best. They're both so good at their jobs and this episode is a good reflection of that. I'm just so proud watching Lucy in these scenes with Aaron. Getting to see Lucy command her portion of the OP. Directing Aaron on what to do. Making calls for them on the fly like above. I know Tim would be so very impressed just watching her handle herself like this. I know I am.

The tension leading up to Elijah getting up to the house is immense. They can’t arrest him unless he is physically on the premises. Not only that but has break into the house with their illegals firearms. If they do anything before then it won't stick. It'll look like more retaliation from Angela and nothing more. Tim and his team waiting inside for him to enter guns at the ready. Yum.

Lucy and Aaron coming in as backup. They’re entering the perimeter when Aaron kicks a bottle…loudly ….It ruins the entire OP. Elijah bails on the attack. They head back to their cars. They spent the entire day setting this up and it's ruined in an instant because Aaron wasn't looking where he was going. Oof.

The angry glare Lucy gives Aaron. Phew Lord. Man if looks could kill.... This is my favorite part of the episode. She learned that disapproving glare from her man. Aaron is feeling the weight of it as he follows her. Deflated and knowing he is the one who blew this OP. It's a rough night to be Aaron.

Also i’m just continuously proud of the bad ass Lucy's become. Running her own side of this OP like a boss. Aaron following her without question. It’s why he’s feeling crushed she is disappointed in him. That look said more than she could ever yell at him in this moment. LOVING her hair in a pony tail for this OP too BTW. Fantastic.

That’s all she wrote for this one. Zero content but still good field moments. Watching them both in their element always fun to watch IMO.

No side notes since this was basically all non Chenford ha

Thank you thank you to all who like, comment and reblog these reviews. Insane we're barreling towards the end of this season. You all have made this so much fun. I shall see you in 5x16 :)

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felidaeng · 2 years

Note

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what is Hilda up to in your RayTracer AU? As in, what's she doing during the events of the games, KyuBert and in the future when Bert and N are settled down?

raytracer as a whole belongs to @deathsofglitter, the hilbertverse is simply background context regarding unova.

while i can't answer the latter two questions, during bw hilda is one of hilbert's rivals! she and cheren are caught up in a pretty intense competition to become champion with bianca and hilbert lagging behind, more preoccupied with enjoying their adventure than getting badges... at least, that's what it's like at first. hilda never saw too much past the surface of team plasma- knocking them around if they got in her way, but not actively investigating them, while hilberts curiosity about them and n (separate ventures until the ferris wheel scene) leads to him getting deeply involved with them, and suddenly he has to get to the league as fast as possible. by the time hildas collected 7 gym badges, he's now pacing her. which she thinks is really worrying, and even a little frustrating.

if any of them from their little group was going to be a hero, anyone would've guessed that hilda was it. when her unassuming, softhearted brother is handed the dark stone instead, it doesn't sit well with her. just outside the gates to the elite four, she challenges hilbert to a battle, implying that if he can't beat her, she'll face n with the dark stone instead. hilbert does, and you know how it goes from here.

hilda is really, really upset with the outcome. hilbert got himself very hurt in more than one way, and she knows if it'd been her, things wouldn't have turned out so badly (she doesn't say this, but pretty much everyone feels the same anyway). she starts training full time in the battle subway, unaware (because hilbert never tells anyone anything until after the fact, lol) that hilbert is getting right back to his hubris because he's been employed by interpol to find and arrest 6 of the 7 sages.

when hilbert leaves to look for n, hilda stays behind to continue her apprenticeship under the subway bosses. she doesn't like it, she and cheren are both furious towards n for leaving hilbert in the state he was in and for bringing about this hollowed, bitter version of hilbert that's so outside of his usual character, but she lets him go because this is something between n and hilbert, so whatever.

when hilbert drops all communication some time into it though, hilda leaves unova herself to track him down, thinking he just shut down again and needs to be talked into coming home in person. when the end of bw2 rolls around and she learns this isn't the case, she insists that she's not coming home until she finds zekrom.

#asks #anonymous

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delicatebluebirdruins · 1 year

Text

the last hours spoilers below the cut

thoughts as i read Chain of Thorns so spoilers duh and it got long so under a read more (also as a safety measure against spoilers and tumblr tags not working) feel free to chat with me about it

In april i will change the tags to something more general (I say April because not all versions of the book are out yet I think Italy doesn’t get their editions until March so)

James honey tell your Dad.

Matthew fight me and get help outside of Cordelia asking you not to drink in Paris

did i mention how much i hate the misunderstanding of chain of iron? yeah still hate it... quick moment

youtube

much better

honest about his love for Grace for the love of god Cordelia

Matthew is not keeping to his promise is he? one way or another he is up to something and I don’t like it

23 lmao Will same Magnus i can’t believe it either and lmao James “I haven’t not since last Thursday“

why is Grace arrested? was she arrested? I very vaguely recall her admitting to the shenagins

i love Kamala by the way I hope she goes back to her true name... what was the letter

Lucie is up and atom

*through gritted teeth* what good reason? to dislike Allistair? *eyes twitch*

Thomas’s note *clutches heart* I want to watch that scene in 10 things i hate about you again but also lmao i think the message would get to who its addressed to

Tatiana can fight me... poor Grace

oh Malcolm

Jessamine mention!!!!. finally adults knowing what do. Aww Will singing to James in rusty welsh

back to Matthew and Cordelia *grits teeth* ohh poor faeirie having to deal with this shit. Cordelia admitting that Matthew and Allistair don’t like each other and I loathe it, I loathe her not defending her brother

MADAME DOROTHEA???? oh the waking up theme is back (Madame channeling Elias). wow fun

Malcom don’t steal food... I feel uncomfy please for the love of god grab the poker and impale me with it... Dad has arrived

No you won’t conquer the pain in Paris Matthew. It wouldn’t be that easy to overcome pain WITHOUT THE ONES CAUSING YOU PAIN

.... the truth will out with the Herondale family reunion (Tessa is there we just don’t see her as she’s yelling at Malcolm) and Magnus being upset at not being asked for help as he is the warlock they usually annoy first lmao i love him

73 yes be proud of Jesse “the last bulwark of Englishman under stress. Tea? he suggested“ lol Malcolm

ah the letter Kamala found was blackmail... towards Charlotte maybe?

80 laughing hysterically

Jem is here.... Allistair! i knew the note would be read

97 Matthew are you sure you’re not a idiot

a good plan i suppose... good old Ezekiel

Alexander Bridge (another song coming on)

youtube

110 FINALLY SOME DEMONS... fuck off both of you (also I thought Matthew got bitten by the demon?)

Aw Kit/ Christopher best boy

yay back to this hell and now James is here (also looked at later at art so accidently spoiled myself to some dark haired guy wearing a crown)

Thomas I love and LMAO Will and Magnus best bros

I knew Matthew was lying... can i bang Cordelias head off a wall? Oh James... Eugenia! I missed you baby

I don’t wanna go back to Cordelia... yes it was as painful as expected

Matthew shut up. James use your fucking words

Magnus I love you... I wish I was Balios right now

Jesse’s “helpful fellow called brother Zachariah“

Cordellia is annoying me

tell it like it is Allistair they are idiots

@ James (image id: GIF of the Genie from Aladdin in front of white board reading tell her the truth)

I love you Allistair and Risa never leave me with these three again (Magnus, Efffie and Eugenia as well)

Oh Christopher I love you, Thomas yay

actual footage of Cordelia getting Allistair into the carriage

image id: dog on a leash being dragged text around it reading “um no/no mean no/ do not want/ heard you say vet/ wow no/ such abuse/ um wtf r u doing/ not wow/ so forceing“ end id

185 Cordelia and Matthew not planning on saying anything yet why

good idea Allistair and plans on how to find out who is being blackmailed. hatred of ducks is a noble cause

BRIGDET I LOVE YOU

Will is being great embarresing James and scolded by Tessa for quoting Charge of the Light Brigade at the table

I like Jesse I think, lemon drops? lemon drops

Albert Pangborn is great... Lucie you’re making me feel cold and Cordelia i know you are going through it but why

With Jesse and Lucie I am kinda hoping for a Pushing Daisies scenario

Oh Kamala why lie to yourself... Poor Grace kinda... 231 happy place Christopher and Alistair talking about books and languages (showing their brain works)

new day

Jesse spill the beans?

yay back with Cordelia *sigh*... poor Jesse.... No Cordelia you do not know what you saw you are a coward who is certain what you saw was the whole truth and nothing but the truth

would love to see the full evil vanity set it has to exist I won’t accept other wise

i do like Hypatia and Jesse is great... Hi Winston and Ari and Aratia is pretty so back to calling her this then

poor Oscar he is such a good boy

James good with words? I am not so sure

I am scared of Tatiana... but also every single time (image id: screenshot from Lion King 2 Simbas Pride song My Lullaby)

Beliel is making zombies apparently

so close yet so far... lmao Effie

308 if you spoke to your wife you’d know... I thought Letty be possessed good job me

312 Christopher deserves the world honestly. Go on Grace do the things

aww Mama Tessa, never shut up Thomas you’re great to be with. aw Mama Sona... the fear of god that Malcolm just experiences is priceless and relatable

laughing at the things like the weapons tree

parents what to do? oh chatting and we came so close. Also Esme i love you

Anna and Ari finally got that dance

FOR FUCKS SAKE this is the bad place... no its not Alistair and Thomas almost kissed but got interupted by Cecily screaming

FUCK OFF TATIANA AND EVERYONE LISTENING TO HER

it would also cast more suspicion to be honest

pick up a rock or something Cordelia, poor baby Alex and I DO NOT TRUST this

poor denzins of the Cornwall Institute

Alistair was not wrong and not to bring up lion king 2 again but not one of us? fits kinda well

FUCK YOU CHARLES!!!! FUCK OFF BRIDGESTOCK

go on Ari, Jem is bae and I love you guys

Charles might be the one being blackmailed and yes he is a pompous git

Lucie saw Edom I think

please not on the staircase think of your back it would hurt i imagine

what did the door knob do to you (reread that section oh it was jammed) still poor door knob

yeah big bath tubs for the win (dream home item big bath tub and swimming pool if i can’t live by the sea/ sea where it is private then i will have to make do)... oh no the adults are leaving

poor Effie can’t wait to see her opinions on everything

also side note last book James was pracitcally begging Cordelia to top him will that make a return?

aww Grace and here is Tatiana of course who i can’t wait to see die... what is going on

come Matthew tell them, James told them about Grace its your turn

Christopher is too good for this world

Matthew fight me (i was actually warming to him and now its two steps back)

lets go help Charlie. Go on Alistair (update i’ve been tabbing as i go and i am running out of pinks)

I love them feeling about conflicted about Grace and her actions... Grace is here and lets go zombies (or guys from black cauldron?)

there is so much kissing and so many characters

and lets go face Tatiana.. oh wow possession is every where apprently

go on Lucie do what needs to be done which is summon RUPERT buddy I missed you

Grace why are you following your “mother”... hi Lilith

CHRISTOPHER NO

I saw this picture in the run up it is really cool (side note i do like the illustrations my favourites being the blackstairs beach kiss in queen of air and darkness though- also if TWP does not start with the Clace wedding that we have two full chapters of I will sue)

Tatiana is dead? yay... but Christopher no

poor lady under the milkcart... poor people being possessed by Beliel

oh wow Beliel is... yeah this is a lot

James is going with Beliel, and Beliel took Matthew as well good grief

Lmao the title for the next chapter is Intermission: Grief

what if the escape route is a lie? what if its a trap?

new day?

490 Winston is a pretty bird, Oscar what is it puppy? oh it was planned thank god

girl talk time and James/ Matthew being in Edom is so funny to me for some reason

thomas watering the fairchild plants, watered my plants and cleared my skin

Carstair siblings rise!

Jessamine you good?

sup Lilith... if beliel dies by Cordelia’s blade this is strange wording

I love Jesse and Graces dynamic actually

yes destroy the wound

Anna what’s up?... good point

finally the truth comes about Matthew part 2/ bye Carbos it was fun I will remember you next time I read TMI

I want Christopher back (564 I ran out of pink)

They did! they got the fire messages working! I am so proud

oh Lucie, hi Filomena and are we going to be told this plan?

ahh Beliel wants to crown himself and all I can think is this image

Image id: Queen Elizabeth the 2 and text from christopher eccleston reading “parasite in chief in her idiot hat“

Go on Charlie *pumps fist*

I love you Eugenia

Statues attack and I am out of green tabs

stay safe everyone... Lucie what do?... aw Anna and Ari

Bridget is god and you can’t change my mind

I did think that wording was strange... bye Lilith see you later

herongraystairs mention... JEM YOU ARE OWED A FAVOR FROM BELIEL I have so many questions like does he still have it in SoBH? will he have it TWP? is this thing something I kinda remember being Ghosts of the Shadow Market? (its been awhile okay)

Aw Alastair I forgot you were blonde for a bit... good for you bud

oh so this is how the things got in the coffin like the gun Christopher made for James :(... I hope the locksmith recovered the bullet from it

Alastair the best big brother

(I didn’t put this in my physical notes so I don’t know where it fits in but i am so glad Matthew told his family)

666 Malcolm is here for a chat and it went well

OSCAR GOT A MEDAL!!!

Eugenia remains the best... croquet lmao yes

image id: screenshot of Pall Mall scene from Bridgerton season 2

I like the ending

bonus story: love you Jem... I cannot imagine why people would be twitchy at seeing the robes of Silent Brothers (and I wonder if they feel the same?)... the ghosts made me tear up

random thoughts

- too many characters having povs just made it not work for me? especially when a few of them know things that others don’t (like the Gracelet and the fallout)

- Matthew grew on me which surprised me with how much he irritated me during Choi heck I downright hated him. And the same goes for Grace and Anna

- I don’t think I will ever like the love triangle

- scared for Charlotte and her pregnancy is going to be fun

- I wished we could have seen the trials for Wessa and Jesse (and other random scenes)

- because of things do i think we could potentially have something in between TLH and TMI? yes yes i do (i say things because its just the vibe I got from finishing it. I’ll get a better idea when i reread)

hello people who made it to the end of this long ass post go treat yourself with something nice

#chain of thorns #chain of thorns spoilers #ellie reads #herondaisy #jordelia #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #lucie herondale #jesse blackthorn #matthew fairchild

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kiroons-hyperfixtations · 2 years

Note

6, 9, 10, 17, 29, 31, 32 and 50 for Fate?

6. If they were badly injured, and for whatever reason couldn’t go to a hospital, who would they go to for help?

Calamity. He’s just always been there for her so he always the one she goes to first for help. Unfortunately, Calamity doesn’t have skills to heal wounds that require hospital treatment rip.

However, in Aevium she doesn’t have Calamity. So in that case she wouldn’t know who to go too. She probably instinctively try looking/calling Calamity only to realize oh, right, he isn’t here. She’d eventually get help from one of her friends though.

9. When they’re sick what do they do to feel better?

Watch funny videos and take as much medication as possible. Also not leave her bed and just PILE the blankets and pillows. She be comfy.

10. Do they have any regrets?

OH BOY DOES SHE.

She regrets not doing more in order to save those she’s witness the deaths of, Keta and Nancy to be specific. Also tangent but I feel ROBBED that we didn’t get a scene where Aelita and the MC talked about the grief of losing their parent figures (especially since it was in such a small timeframe between the twos deaths). I know the MC is a semi silent protagonist but- it feels like a missed opportunity. Unless I missed/am forgetting it cuz I would do that.

Anyway back to Fate- She also regrets waking up Alain too (even if she didn’t mean too). Going through the Nightmare Realm and seeing what they went through. She’d be angry at herself too if she was in Alain’s shoes.

Also like- everything going on with Nim because OH BOY THATS A LOT OF ANGST.

She also had regrets when she got Flora arrested at first. That quickly disappeared though when she literally almost killed her friends in an explosion.

There is probably more I’m blanking on at the moment cuz damn the rejvu MC really goes through it.

Her biggest regret however was the fight she had with Calamity. It was the final convo she had with him before she found herself in Aevium. And as far as she’s concerned right now… she’s never gonna see him again.

17. How easily would they be convinced to do something that goes against their morals?

It would very much not be easy lmao. She be a stubborn bitch. Usually you’d need to threaten a friend or family member of hers. Unless that person specifically tells her not to bend to said demands (*points to the whole Eldest scene where her life was threaten for the Flame Orb*).

29. If they were real would you be friends with them?

I would NOT approach her lmao. I’ve got a lot of social anxiety and never approach anyone unless I absolutely have too. Hell, I’d even considered not asking my teacher if I could go to the nurse even though I was having cramps because of my anxiety. Most of my irl friendships were made because others approached me.

Fate probably would approach me tho, I’d think we’d get along! So yeah, probably.

31. What superpower would you choose for them and what would they choose for themselves? If they have one would they choose something else?

I mean- I already gave her various different powers lol. I don’t know what Fate would want for herself honestly. Maybe she’d choose healing powers, again given the shit she and her friends go through.

32. If they could change one thing about themselves what would it be?

Probably to be more smart lmao. Seriously though there’s not a lot about Fate she hates about herself. The worse she thinks about herself is that she thinks her natural black hair is boring af now and she looks so much cooler with white hair (she is right).

50. What is your favorite thing about them?

She is a fucking dumbass. Dumbass characters my beloved. She is also one of the things keeping me sane through the rejuvenation hyperfixation lol.

#thanks for the ask!#oc; fate

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euphoricfilter · 1 year

Note

OMG WTF "FAIRYTALE DREAMS" WAS SO GOOD! (idk i feel like your writing got better or something in this fic? it feels different in terms of pacing, wording, and smut idk. or is it bc i love the concept hm idk) I love both of the characters and their relationship dynamic. Shy, spoiled mc. (ipad baby tho lol. im a lil like that with my phone tho so yeah hm) Simp Namjoon who takes care of her so much and never wants her to be sad omg TT I love the intro section and the usage of fairy tales. "That sickly feeling you get...the main cast of the story, fall in love and find their god-awful happiness that you can only dream of." This paragraph hit hard. Mood while watching kdramas and good fics omg TT His thought process and obsession feel realistic. The cafe section was really good. Patient Namjoon and the sleeve holding. so cute TT "Namjoon feels his cock twitch in his pants as you bend over the table slightly," I love this part bc it seems like he doesn't even take his eyes off her omg. (right?) such a simp aww. and the casual hair pulling omg. SIZE AND BULGE KINK OMG! The dirty talk is so good. The fleshlight line got me so flustered omg. (i love it) The murder part was interesting. He waited for a long time wow. Why? Him writing his fantasies was good omg. How did he kill him? And he goes to Jin's home bc he doesn't want to risk her seeing the blood? Does Jin know about the murder or not? Namjoon also said he lied to her in the beginning? I wonder if he had a bad past or job. My first thought was he was in a gang with Jin. What's his current job?

-🖤

NDJSJSNWJE THANK YOU

this one probably is different, i think this is closer to my actual writing style. i seriously find writing requests and drabbles kinda hard and idk why it’s like i need to see ever individual paragraph split up otherwise everything feels jumbled and i’m constantly second guessing myself

i think for this, i had a clear idea of what i wanted and how i wanted to write it, so it was less, always second guessing what i was doing throughout the whole thing. i think this also took me 3 days 🥲 when usually i can get a request done over like an afternoon and then edit everything at night

honestly i think i was projecting because super simp namjoon just 😋 it’s what i need in my life and maybe this is why i have yet to date because this is what i expect from a relationship

the cafe scene made me giggle or whatever and i had a very clear idea of how i wanted it to be and think i did okay in explaining it 🥲

oh yeah if the m/c is in the room then namjoon’s eyes are on her no matter what, this man does not care

idk where the fleshlight line came from, that wasn’t me i swear something just consumed my body and then uh oh my fingers were typing it out

ah yes the murder scene, he waited because if he’d gone after jimin right from the bookshop then it would have been kinda obvious he had been the killer and he’s not trying to get arrested, luckily he has the patience of a saint so he didn’t mind waiting a little while before he did what he needed to do

i think i’ll write a second part at some point to fill in the gaps that weren’t touched on in this because jin plays a significant role in namjoon’s murders and how he always seems to get away with it that’s why he wasn’t all that fazed when he showed up at his house after dealing with jimin

yeeah i think the foundation of their relationship was probably based off lies, though i doubt it would have taken much convincing on namjoon’s part to woo the m/c, because no matter what he was going to be a good boyfriend to her

nope no gang in this one

namjoon works in an office, among other things 😋

#ask #🖤 anon #fairytale dream

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muns0n86 · 2 years

Text

Red Lightning | Eddie Munson x OC (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: Cursed Times

pairings: eddie x fem!oc

synopsis: With struggle but without much choice, Dana joins her two worlds together by bringing the gang to Eddie, who tells them what he saw last night.

warnings: slightly graphic descriptions of violence

word count: 6434

previous chapter: chapter 1: raining hellfire

a/n: sorry this took so long to get out--got super busy... but anyways here you go lol

Pinned against the ceiling of Eddie’s trailer. Limbs snapped in half. Slack jaw, blood dripping from the sockets of her skull.

Jesus.

I couldn’t stop imagining Chrissy’s body contorted like he had described. My head ached. A chill rippled up my back as I thought back to last night and how I passively noticed her in the gymnasium. She was doing a routine with the cheer squad, all smiles, like always–just like in middle school. I couldn’t imagine that face being the one that Eddie saw. How could a face so gentle and radiant so suddenly become something horrific?

I chewed on the back of my finger. It was about 11 AM now. Eddie’s uncle Wayne must’ve gotten home two hours or so ago from his night shift. But the world was still normal. Kids still fought over who got to play first game. People were outside, driving their cars like the only thing they had to worry about was the traffic that’d come around in the afternoon. Robin and Steve were still next door, alternating breaks to come and bother me–not so much Steve that day but Robin, definitely. I’m not sure what I was expecting.

I hovered my pen over the legal pad, trying to act normal and draw like I usually did. But I couldn't bring myself to think of anything other than Chrissy. So the page remained blank.

Eddie. He was so scared. I didn’t know what to do or say. I mean, what do you say? What was there to say?

“Dana!” Richie burst in through the back door, tugging his work vest on.

“You’re late, Richie–”

“Switch the station to the news!”

There it was. What I was expecting.

As he punched in his time card and came to stand beside me, I pulled the radio at the end of the counter closer to me and turned the dial, cutting the song that was playing short. Some of the young patrons turned around and groaned at the interruption. I raised the volume and stared straight ahead. Through the crackle, a firm, female voice began to form.

“...the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning…”

“Oh, God,” Richie said under his breath. I leaned my elbows against the counter, a fist over my mouth.

“...Police have not yet released the victim’s name, although we are told they are currently in the process of notifying the family…”

At that moment, I expected a squad car to come screeching into the parking lot and a cop to storm in and arrest me. For all they knew, Eddie Munson was no longer just a disruptive young adult. Eddie Munson was now a suspected murderer. And last night… I helped him get away.

“You believe me, right?” His voice was strained.

“Of course, I believe you,” I whispered back, interlacing my fingers with his. Still trembling, he squeezed my hand.

Eddie would never hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it–least of all, some student just trying to get high. And the way he described what happened… No human being could have done that. Not anything of this Earth.

“Eddie, you have to go.”

“Where?” He tilted his head toward me but couldn’t look me in the eyes. “Where am I supposed to go?”

I tried to think of any place he could hide out for a few days. It couldn’t be anywhere too close to his trailer, the crime scene, but not anywhere too far that I couldn’t get to him in an emergency. We would have to wait this out. I would be his eyes and ears in Hawkins until something popped its ugly head out. I needed him somewhere safe.

I always knew that I would eventually have to tell him about the goings-on here in Hawkins but I never... I never wanted him to get involved. I never thought that he would get involved. Amidst the chaos, I never really thought of… him. Us… What it could mean if either of us got into trouble.

For the second time that day, last summer came to mind.

The Mindflayer died. The Gate was closed. Miss Byers–Joyce, she wished I’d call her–and Chief Hopper closed that gate. Hopper gave his goddamn life to shut that Gate up. But what if something got left behind? Some tie that wasn’t fully severed? It’s happened before. Knowing our luck, it could damn well happen again.

Suddenly, I remembered.

Hopper’s cabin. He kept El hidden there for months without anyone finding out. Eddie needed to hide someplace like it.

“Rick’s,” I whispered. “Hide at Rick’s.”

Rick Lipton was Eddie’s supplier, who lived down by the lake. Well, used to live down by the lake. That bastard was in prison now, leaving his house behind. Without a supplier inhabiting it, no one had any reason to visit the house anymore.

It was the perfect hiding spot.

In the parking lot, I spotted Dustin and Max riding in on their bikes. They pulled around the Ford Bronco parked outside and left their bikes there on the concrete. I craned my neck as they headed to Family Video. I would’ve brushed it off, since Dustin usually passed by, but when I considered the news and the fact that Max lived right across from the Munson’s, I knew that they knew something was going on.

“Richie, tell Jeff I’m taking five,” I said, getting off the stool and pulling up the counter extension.

“You do it!” He called after me. I shot him a glare. He held eye contact for a second then shrunk back. “Fine.”

I cut through the crowd forming at the counter. They were murmuring about who they thought it was and who they thought might have done it. I swore I heard Eddie’s name.

I stood outside the doors and watched them through the glass. They were all behind the counter. Dustin was on the computer, frantically typing, with Max and Steve hovering over his shoulders while Robin racked up a stack of tapes. They were blabbing over each other. I took a deep breath and walked in, trying my best to act nonchalant.

“It’s our busiest day–”

At the sound of the bell, Steve and Robin turned their heads. “Hey,” Steve said. “You hear the news?”

“Yeah… yeah,” I said, nodding my head.

“You okay?” Robin asked, slamming a fallen sign back up on the counter. “You look like you’re about to barf.”

Dustin and Max snapped their gazes toward me. We shared a knowing glance. By the look in their eyes, it confirmed they knew the murder had to do with Eddie. Dustin’s eyebrows furrowed with concern. Don’t say anything about him and me, I begged them telepathically. Not yet. When they each found out that I was with Eddie, I forced them to swear into secrecy. I needed them to continue their sworn silence. In my head, I told them, It wasn’t him, and hoped that they received the message.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just really shaken up by the news.” I nodded at the computer. “What’s going on?”

Steve picked up a tape and reached around to put it back on the counter. “Dweebs are trying to find that freak Eddie Munson’s… friend’s number or something.”

“They’re messing around, even though it’s our busiest day!” Robin yelled over her shoulder, dramatically shaking a couple tapes in the air.

Dustin returned to his notetaking and Max to her supervising. “Robin, I empathize, I really do but this cannot wait,” he said, scribbling something down.

Steve scrubbed his face in annoyance. “Oh, my God,” he muttered under his breath.

“Calling Eddie’s friends is an emergency?” Robin asked.

“Correct!”

She rolled her eyes.

Steve turned around to face me and Robin. “I think I’m gonna strangle him. Or do either of you want to take first dibs?”

“We could always take turns,” Robin said. I chuckled superficially. More an exhale than a chuckle, really.

Dustin nudged Max. “Fill them in while I do this?”

Steve and Robin spun around and we all stared at Max. Robin spoke first. “Fill us in on what?”

After Max recounted her view of last night’s events, they were all partially caught up to speed: something weird was going on. Dustin suggested we start calling up Eddie’s friends’ and find out what we could. He ripped out the scribbled papers from his notepad and spread them out on the counter, while Steve went to assist another customer that fit the ‘babe’ category.

“I’ll go get the other phone,” I said, stepping out from behind the counter. “It’s just in the office, right?”

Robin confirmed with a nod, one of the phones already tucked between her ear and her shoulder.

“I’ll show you,” Dustin said. As he passed in front of me to walk ahead, he stared in a way that meant We need to talk.

Silently, we entered the office. He rounded the executive desk and gestured for me to do the same, before ducking behind it. I crouched down with him where the desk made contact with the wall. There, the landline was hooked up to the cluttered outlet below. He waved his hands over the bundles of cables, pretending to unravel them.

He raised an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to initiate conversation.

“It wasn’t him,” I whispered. “He would never…”

He pursed his lips sympathetically. “I know,” he whispered back.

“He came to my house after he drove off.” I shook my head, remembering how badly Eddie was trembling. “You should’ve seen him, Dustin. He was scared. Really scared.”

“Did he tell you what happened?”

I nodded.

“They have to know–”

“I know.”

I dropped my eyes to my folded knees and the room went silent again. Dustin moved to actually start unraveling the cords, then he paused to reach under his hat and scratch his head.

“Steve was going to find out eventually.”

I looked him in the eyes again and objected, “That’s not what this is about–”

“Yes, it is–”

“I don’t want him to find out like this!” I flung my hands in the air and let them drop on my lap with a slap. “This would… God, Dustin, years of excuses and not exactly lying but not exactly telling the truth. It would open up a whole can of worms– a giant can of worms I’m not ready to deal with at 12PM on a Saturday in a goddamn Family Video… Shit.” I scoffed in disbelief. I am an awful person.

“What?”

I shook my head. “My boyfriend’s an innocent murder suspect, who needs help, and what I’m worried about right now is having to tell Steve that I am, in fact, dating Eddie Munson.”

“What are you so scared of?” Dustin asked, glancing up at me below the brim of his cap.

This was a question I’d asked myself already–many times before. In the normal context, telling Steve about Eddie scared me because, despite not being the douchebag he was before, I felt like he’d mercilessly judge. In this not-so-normal context, the answer to that question came to me that morning in the form of another question. “What if we can’t find anything to prove that Eddie’s innocent?”

“Dana, we’re gonna–”

“No, it’s different this time, okay? I’ve thought about it. It’s not a kid disappearing, or a secret lab, or a military base under the mall. It looks like a straightforward murder. No cool Russian codes, no climbing through vents. We can’t just chalk it up to a case of mistaken identity or a mall fire. People already hate Eddie and it would need a lot of convincing to turn this shit around. If he goes… I just don’t want to lose Steve in all this, too.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “We’re going to fix this,” he whispered. “And you should give Steve a little credit. He can be really stupid and stubborn but… I’m sure he’ll understand. They probably wouldn’t act like ol’ chums but, hey, if you told me back in seventh grade that Steve Harrington would be my friend, I would’ve laughed at you.” He shrugged then returned his attention to the tangled wires.

Steve’s upper body appeared over the edge of the desk. “What is taking you guys so long?” He leaned forward. In his hand was a Doctor Zhivago double feature.

“We wouldn’t be taking so long if you or Keith actually kept your wires organized,” Dustin replied, pointing a loop of tangled wire up at him.

Steve pushed off the desk to an upright position then headed back out. “Just hurry up,” he said over his shoulder.

Dustin shook his head and asked, “So you know where Eddie is, right?” He weaved the phone cord out of the tangled mess and unplugged it from the wall.

I nodded.

“The only way we can help Eddie is if they know. If he–” Dustin nodded in Steve’s direction. “--knows.”

“I. Know.”

He bunched the cord in his hands and pulled the phone off of the desk. He stood up. I did the same. Nearly eye to eye we stared at each other, then just as silently as we went in, we left the office without another word.

The only way we can help Eddie is if they know. He was right. He usually was. I was tempted to misdirect them, leave them in the dust while I went to Rick’s alone and tried to figure it all out on my own, but if there’s anything the past few years have taught me, it was that I couldn’t do this alone. If I was going to help Eddie, I would need help. I had no idea what I was doing. Dustin wanted to help. So did Max. Robin seemed a bit more thrilled by the chase but I believe she was willing to help, too. And with Steve… Well, this wasn’t how I wanted them to meet, but if Steve met Eddie, and saw how scared he was, he’d want to help him.

I would tell them.

But… the only information they really needed to know was his whereabouts and his statement, his point of view, right? I tell them where he is, he tells them what happened, then we leave him at Rick’s to do what we apparently always do now–figure this shit out. Leave out the part where he came to my house and climbed up to my window. Leave out the part where it was normal for him to do so because he did that almost every other night. In the grand Scooby Doo scheme of things, what were the odds the topic of me and Eddie would come up?

Robin and Max were working the phones like party line operators while Steve was escorting his latest failed conquest out the door. Dustin took his place beside Robin and set up the phone beside the computer. I remained on the other side of the counter. He shot me a look over his shoulder. I remained silent and thought about what I would say. I would tell them that… he might be at Reefer Rick’s. What the hell is Reefer Rick’s, you ask? Oh, well, you know, drug supplier’s house. How do I know about a drug supplier’s house? Um… Richie smokes. Richie told me about it a couple times. Do I know where it is? I know an approximate location–

Max got off the phone and said, “Guys, I think I got something. Apparently, they’ve seen Eddie sometimes around this guy’s place… Reefer Rick’s?” Oh.

Robin said her goodbyes to whoever was on the phone. “Sounds promising. Where does this Reefer Rick live?” Robin asked.

“See, that’s the thing. No one knows,” Max replied. I knew.

“Dana, you know anything?” Dustin asked, staring me down. Tell them, his eyes said. Just wait, my eyes said back.

I opened my mouth. “I–”

“Why would she know anything?” Steve asked, coming over to the counter. “She doesn’t even know Eddie personally.”

Dustin brushed him off. “Let her answer.”

“I’ve heard of it,” I muttered.

“I didn’t get a last name, though,” Max said.

I started to rattle off my false story. “Richie–”

“Bet the cops know a last name,” Steve said. “If this guy is an actual drug dealer, I guarantee you he’s been busted at some point. Could be he’s in the system.”

“That’s your suggestion, Steve?” Dustin goaded. “The cops?”

Steve shrugged. “I think they should be filled in on what we know, what’s going on.” Christ.

Dustin scoffed. “You think Eddie’s guilty, don’t you?”

“Woah!” Steve flounced his hand around. “I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just… don’t think we can rule it out.”

Suddenly, my worries about telling Steve melted away. It was one thing to call Eddie a freak. But assume he’s a murderer? I would not wait for him to give his testimony.

“Yes, we can,” I said. “I know he didn’t do it. Because I know him.”

In just a few words, I told them–though more directed at Steve–everything. I told him that Eddie and I were together, have been for a while. I said that he would never do anything like this and that in my years of being with him, I knew it to be true, and that I knew where he was hiding. Nothing beyond that. Steve didn’t say anything, didn’t ask any questions, didn’t show any sign of thought. He just stared at me until Dustin broke the silence, reminding us of the seriousness of the current situation; to which Steve just mumbled, “Uh huh,” in response. I clocked out of work, telling Jeff that I had a family emergency, and met them outside. Steve tossed me his keys and the silence continued as we got into his car.

The silence made the long car ride awkward. The atmosphere within the vehicle felt thick with the awkwardness. A bit of confusion from Robin, some annoyance from Max, as well as Dustin, mingled with the stoic distance of Steve made for a tense ambience. It was usually a bit easier to tell when something was bothering Steve. His emotions always leaked out in his expression. If he was pissed, he looked pissed. If he was sad, he looked sad. If his veins could spell out words to tell people how he felt, they would. He was easy to read. But this time around, he stared out over the hood of the car completely stone-faced, like a dam plugging up water–seemingly unbothered. And nobody dared to speak, just in case their words were the chisel that breaks the dam.

By the time we arrived, I had driven well into the evening. The woods were dark and still, my headlights guiding us down the dirt path. Soft moonlight filtered through the tops of the trees, like sunlight through water. The path seemed never ending. But as it started to become parallel to the edge of the lake, Rick's place emerged from the nothingness. There it was in all its shabbiness. 2121 Holland Road.

I turned into the driveway. We all got out of Steve’s car, flashlights at the ready. The others headed over to the porch, shining their lights through any pane of glass, and I hung back by the hood. I didn’t dare go any closer.

I’ve been here before. Only once. When Rick and Eddie were actually still on good terms.

Black Sabbath blasted in the living room and the smell of cheap beer permeated the night air. Smoke from an assortment of burning substances creeped out the door and into the front yard. College kids were keying cans and young couples sucked faces in dark corners. Eddie slid his hand into my back pocket and pulled me closer to him, leaving his hand there. Tipsy already, I laughed boisterously. He got the move from Sixteen Candles, which I forced him to watch last Tuesday.

“You okay?” He whispered in my ear. His breath fogged against the near-November air and warmed my neck.

I lifted my cup to take a sip and nodded. “Mm.” My hummed response reverberated inside the empty plastic vessel.

He chuckled. “Empty, huh? I’ll go fill it up.”

“No.” I swatted his hand away dramatically. “I’ll do it.”

He ran his tongue along the edge of his teeth, grinning. “Come on, I’m trying to be chivalrous here!”

“Oh, my knight in shining armor,” I mumbled. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, leaving a lipstick mark. “But I’m not a damsel in distress. I can fill up my own drink.”

“Alright, you go do that,” he whispered and tapped me on my ass as I walked away.

I raised my cup away from all the prodding elbows and shoved my way to the dining room. Jenna and Benji were cheering on Gareth as he stuffed his cheeks with peanuts. He got to about 35 before he started gagging and had to spit them all out into an empty chip bowl by the window. They keeled over laughing as I ladled some more punch into my cup.

We had a short discussion about the last Hellfire session when chanting drifted in from outside. “Fight, fight, fight!”

“Holy shit!” Gareth exclaimed. Jenna and Benji joined him and peered out the window. I set my cup down on the table and peered over their shoulders.

A fight appeared to have broken out in the front yard, a circle of people surrounding them and egging them on. In the spaces between the bodies, I caught a glimpse of Eddie’s red flannel. Shit.

Yelling drowned out Black Sabbath and everyone seemed to sober up enough to absorb the fight. I struggled to break into the circle and by the time I did, Eddie was getting up from straddling his pinned opponent. He wiped the blood off from under his nose and jerked the shoulders of his flannel back on. On the ground, Rick was limp, his face battered up, and his shirt torn. Blood sputtered out the sides of his mouth.

Eddie bent over. “Talk about my mom or my girl like that ever again…” He scoffed, a smug look on his face, and spit on the grass. He stepped over Rick’s body and walked in my direction.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

Without answering, he took my hand and led me to the truck. In a second, we were barrelling down the road. And when the house disappeared from the rearview mirror, he pulled over.

“Goddamn– Piece of shit–” He seethed, slapping his hand against the wheel.

I reached out and wiped the lipstick still on his cheek, which was now swelling up. “Eddie… What happened?”

He froze under my touch. “Rick was…” He sighed and lolled his head back against the headrest. “Rick is drunk. He said some shit.”

“About me… and your mom?”

He rubbed the corner of his eye and sniffled. “Yeah.”

Eddie’s mom passed away long before I had the chance to meet her but by how much he talked about her and how he talked about her, it was like I knew her personally. He told me many stories of the fun they had together before she passed, his dad got arrested, and he got dumped at Wayne’s. He missed her deeply.

Rick must’ve said something truly fucked up to warrant that beating.

Eddie would still go to Rick’s after that, but never for long and definitely not for the night, only to pick up supplies.

I assessed the house. It was even shittier than I remembered it. Rusted water stains streaked the gutters, the result of months of unattended to gunk blocking the flow of rain. Piles of leaves stuck out above the edge and some brown sludge had overflowed onto the ground below. The front door still had a wreath from–I assumed–last fall, when Rick was arrested. I scoffed at his attempt to make the place homey.

Dustin kept ringing the doorbell.

“Okay,” Steve mumbled, finally speaking. “Well, that’s settled. I guess he’s not here.”

“He’s here,” I said, lowering my flashlight to the porch.

Dustin pounded on the door. “Eddie! It’s Dustin! Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help… Eddie!”

Robin and I shushed him.

“Rick!” Dustin yodeled. “Reefer Riiiick!”

“Dustin!” Steve and I yelled in unison. I continued, “Rick isn’t here. He was arrested last year.”

Steve turned his flashlight at me. “And you didn’t think to tell us that in the car or before we started yapping our heads off?”

“I didn’t think it was important, we’re just here for Eddie. And the house is obviously abandoned,” I retorted.

He hiked up his shoulders and threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know what a drug dealer’s house looks like!”

“Well, welcome to the real world, Steven!”

He bounced his head mockingly. “Oh, that’s rich coming from you, Miss Dungeons and Dragons–”

“Oh, my God! I’m sorry I missed one game! Lucas has three more years of high school, there will be others!”

“Christ! It’s not just about the game–”

“I know that! But–”

“Shut up!” Dustin screamed. He definitely picked that up from Eddie. “Can we help Eddie first and then you two can argue like children?”

Steve rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the front door. I dropped my glare. Max rounded the corner again and stared at the four of us, confused.

“Did you find anything?” Dustin asked, breaking the silence.

Max nodded toward the other side of the house. I joined her where she stood and upon seeing the boathouse, I jogged ahead of them. I had no idea there was a boathouse. If Eddie wasn’t in the house, the boathouse was second best.

“Dana, wait up!” Steve called after me.

The boathouse was dank and smelled of mildew. The wooden planks of the floor were swollen from the moisture and they creaked under my feet. Squinting in the darkness, I scanned my surroundings with my flashlight. Frayed ropes hung from the beams, ladders leaned against the tin walls, and all sorts of boating junk were strewn about the place in a discombobulated manner. In the center was a parked boat with a black and blue tarp covering the top. I brushed past a table that had a bottle of beer, some open bags of chips, and an M&M packet. Oh, shit. I didn’t think to give him some food before he left. Thankfully, Rick left behind some snacks along with his house.

Something behind me shifted and clanged against the metal wall. I spun around, screaming. The flashlight’s beam landed on an oar by the entry that had tipped over and slumped against the doorway. Then came the rustle of the tarps. I turned back around, screaming again. Emerging from under the tarps in the boat was Eddie, who had a finger raised to his lips.

The others burst into the boathouse, calling my name. Steve, at the helm, armed himself with the oar by the door and gave a guttural scream–reminiscent of how he screamed last summer at the Russian guard before attacking him. But before Steve had a chance to make a move, Eddie pulled me behind him, grabbed the beer bottle, and smashed it on the edge of the boat.

“Woah, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Steve cried out.

He rushed Steve and pushed him against the wall, pressing the jagged end against Steve’s throat. I screamed and shambled after him.

“Eddie, stop!” I yelled, grabbing his shoulder and pulling myself up to him. I gripped the edge of his denim vest, trying to pull him away, as I wrapped my other hand around his wrist. A few feet away, opposite of me, Dustin pleaded with Eddie. I eyed the bottle and Steve eyed me, panicked and silently pleading. Eddie looked at me, too. His eyes were wide, like they had been the last time I saw him. “It’s Harrington, it’s Harrington,” I huffed, out of breath. “Middle school Harrington. Steve.”

“He’s not gonna hurt you!” Dustin called out. “Steve, maybe drop the oar?”

Steve strained his neck. “Oh, yeah, Dustin? Drop the oar? Drop the goddamn oar?”

“He has a bottle on your neck! Drop. The. Oar!” I shouted into his face.

Steve relented and the oar clattered on the ground. Eddie’s cheek twitched from the noise. He glanced at me once more for confirmation–to which I nodded–before eventually pulling back. Steve went limp and I caught him before he slid down to the floor.

“You okay?” I whispered, hauling him back to his feet. I rested my hand on his chest. His heart was beating against his ribs.

Steve shook his head faintly, avoiding eye contact, then moved my hands off him. He sagged against the table and rubbed his hand against his throat. As Robin came up to evaluate him, I slumped against the wall where he had just been and caught my breath. The cool of the tin felt nice against the tension building in my head. My eyes traveled to Eddie, who’d sunken to the floor. He white-knuckled the neck of the shattered bottle and, with his other, he wrung his wrist where I had grabbed him.

Crouched down in front of him, Dustin spoke to Eddie in a slow, controlled manner and raised his hand to signal forward Max and Robin. They approached slowly, like Eddie was a wild animal. With his frazzled hair and the feral, glazed-over look in his eyes, he kind of reminded me of a lion.

“We just want to talk,” Dustin said. He reached for the bottle but Eddie recoiled.

“Dustin,” I whispered. “Give him a second.”

He took a deep breath then continued, “We’re here to help.”

“Dana told us what happened,” Robin said, “But we want to hear about it from you.”

“You wouldn’t believe me,” Eddie muttered. He gaped up at me like a lost kid.

I rested the tips of my fingers on his shoulders. “I wouldn’t have asked for their help if I knew they wouldn’t.”

“So…” Max said, “Try us.”

Eddie talked us through Chrissy’s death, like he had in my room–slowly, intimately, reliving it again in his mind. He gave us all the gory details that couldn’t be made up. And just like I had listened, there were no interruptions, no questions. When he was finished, we couldn’t do anything but stare.

“You all think I’m crazy, don’t you?” He scoffed.

“No,” Dustin whispered. “We don’t think you’re crazy–”

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how it sounds–”

I took hold of his hands. “Eddie. They believe you, okay? Just like I do.” Everything that I’ve done to try and protect him from this was unraveling. “Three years ago, when Will Byers was missing, I came into school with a giant burn on my arm. I said it was because I’m a shit cook. It wasn’t.” But now that he was involved, keeping him out of the loop would’ve only made things worse. I sighed. “There are… things going on in Hawkins that you don’t know about. But we do–we’ve witnessed it, we’ve fought it, we’ve killed some of it. And we think that what happened with Chrissy may have something to do with what’s been going on the past few years.”

We explained the concept of the Upside Down to him and our experiences with it. The dark particles, imprints pressing in from the walls, Democreatures. We asked him for any physical evidence that might indicate a connection to the Upside Down. But besides the supernatural horrificness of Chrissy’s death, zip, nada, zilch.

“No, man, like I told Dana. There was nothing you could see or… touch,” Eddie said. He shifted uncomfortably on the crate. “I tried to wake her. She couldn’t move. It was like she… She was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell,” Dustin said.

Eddie looked him in the eyes. “A curse.”

“Vecna’s curse,” Dustin added.

“Who’s Vecna?” Steve asked.

Dustin’s breathing became jagged. “An undead creature of great power.”

“A spell caster,” Eddie muttered.

“A dark wizard,” Dustin said.

“An executioner,” I whispered.

After promising Eddie that we’d bring over a walkie and some food as soon as we could the following day, I trailed behind the group as we headed back to the car. Before going through the door, Eddie caught my hand and clasped it tightly. I looked back at him. His eyes were looking down at our rings.

On our right ring fingers, we wore matching rings–a little silver thing that resembled two slingshots holding up a gray-speckled black stone. There was no real rhyme or reason as to how we got it. It was my junior year, we were an hour out of town, hanging out at some mall to kill time before a concert. We were walking around a jewelry store, acting like money was no issue for us and, frankly, getting some weird stares. I pointed out a ring on the display, said it looked cool, and then went to get some pretzels for us. I didn’t think much of it. When I met back up with him at the atrium, there he was with a new ring added to his knuckles and a ring box he must’ve shelled out an extra $20 for. He gave it to me without a word. No explanation or anything. He wasn’t proposing, I knew that. But I didn’t bother asking.

Though, one night, about a year later, I figured it out.

Mom was out of town for the week, some stupid thing I couldn’t recall. We laid in my bed. A gentle breeze was blowing in through the window and the sounds of crickets and croaking frogs mingled with our heavy breathing. We didn’t talk–just stared at each other in the partial darkness, catching our breath. I could barely make out the tattoos on his chest. I didn’t get the chance to turn on a lamp as we stumbled into my room, so we were left bathed in the weak light pouring in from the hallway. We were hot and sticky and his bangs clung to his forehead from the sweat. With his back adjacent to the window, he loomed over me, his elbow propped up on the pillow next to my head. The beads of sweat on his shoulders were illuminated by the distant moonlight. His hand was cupping my chin, lazily caressing my cheek with his finger. I stared intently as he glanced between his hand and my eyes. I was in awe of the way his big eyes caught the light.

Then I realized why he bought those rings.

There, in the dark, his eyes–usually a nearly hazel color–were black, glinting with gray specks of light.

Mine must’ve looked just like his. Two gray-speckled black stones.

Without taking his hand away from my face, I wrapped my hand around his fingers, feeling his ring against my palm, and smiled.

“How are you feeling?” I asked softly.

“Like a goddamn pussy,” he said. He glanced over my shoulder then looked me in the eyes. “Meanwhile you’re like… some… Amazonian woman who’s not freaking out at all.”

“Hey.” I squeezed his hand. “I am freaked out. But you’re here now so I can’t afford to be freaking out. Not externally, at least.”

He kissed me. Gently, tenderly. Lingering.

Someone honked the car horn. Steve I guessed. Maybe Dustin.

“I gotta go,” I whispered against his lips.

“Hurry back, please,” he whispered back.

The ride back was not as awkward as the ride to Rick’s. Dustin, Max, and Robin sat in the backseat theorizing back and forth about what Vecna could be, what we had to do, what we could do. But while they chatted away, in the front seats, Steve had reverted back to his stoic disposition and I went quiet again, too.

This wasn’t how I wanted them to meet. Steve going to smack Eddie with an oar and Eddie going for Steve’s jugular didn’t exactly help for first impressions, either. I tried not to let my mind linger on it too long. This wasn’t important right now. Without the usual evidence of Upside Down evil, we had no idea what we were in for.

We pulled into the shared parking lot of Family Video and The Palace. After agreeing to meet up first thing tomorrow, Dustin and Max took off on their bikes, leaving me, Steve, and Robin to our devices.

I went around to my car and unlocked the door. “Goodni-”

“Ah, crap, I forgot my house key inside,” Robin said, patting down her jacket and pockets.

“Here.” Steve tossed her the keys for Family Video. “Don’t forget about the alarm!” He called after her.

“Won’t forget this time,” she said, tapping her temple. She laughed. “Dana, did we ever tell you about that?–”

“Robin, just get your keys,” Steve muttered.

Steve and I watched her turn on the lights and punch in the security system code behind the counter. With a grin, she gave us a thumbs up. We returned the gesture with forced smiles and continued to watch her as she went down the hallway leading to what I assumed was the employee cubby area, like we had in The Palace. In the silence, Steve and I quickly glanced at each other, then stared at random targets.

At the same time we started to speak, “So– Oh, sorry–”

“You go first,” he said quickly.

As hard as I tried not to think about it, I said the first thing on my mind. “This isn’t how I wanted you guys to meet.”

The fluorescent light coming from within Family Video was harsh against the night, casting shadows that split his face in two. Steve stared silently. His eyes were widened a bit and his mouth was open like he had something to say. Then Robin emerged from the doors.

“Alright, got my keys,” Robin said. Steve shut his mouth. “Oh, were you about to say something? I can go back inside, if you want to finish talking–”

“No, just lock up,” Steve said. He hesitated to look at me again. “Get home safe, Dana.”

I pressed my lips together tightly, then smiled. “Yeah, you, too. ‘Night.”

Later that night, I would lie awake until 3AM and dream about holding Eddie’s hand while we waited with Steve outside Family Video, where Robin had once again forgotten her house keys.

#eddie munson #eddie x oc #EDDIE MY BELOVED #joseph quinn #joe quinn #stranger things #stranger things 4 #steve harrington #friends #found family #robin buckley #dustin henderson #chrissy cunningham #eddie munson fanfic

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