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eureka-its-zico · 7 months

Text

Chaos in Their Bones Ch. 3

Ongoing Series

Synopsis: All your life you’d listened to your friend, Usopp spin wild tales about pirates and adventure. Pirates weren’t a thing that came often to Syrup Village, but one straw hat pirate and his crew changed all that the day they arrived. Now, you aren’t so sure if your sleepy little village was always pirate-free or if no one had been paying attention.

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Reader

Genre: friends to lovers, frenemies to lovers, slow burn (I hope y’all like aching) eventual smut

Words: 12.6+

A/N: Guys. Idk where to start, but this chapter needs a warning because it is big and beefy. I didn’t want the 1.03-1.04 story arc to be dragged out further into 4 chapters and, because of that, this chapter exists. I truly hope it is one that you enjoy. It took a lot of time and love. So please, get out some 🍿 cause it’s going to be a ride. P.S. To everyone who has liked, commented, reblogged, and sent me messages about Chaos in Their Bones: thank you. You have all made this such a wonderful experience and a fun one. I hope it continues to be one you enjoy 🖤 Much Love, Jenn

Chapter 1 Previous Next

So far Operation Petty was getting off to a rough start.

Your original plan of stealing every glass of wine Zoro poured seemed like a good one. Golf claps for everyone. Except, that good idea slowly began to disappear five glasses ago.

Unfortunately for you, and to the dismay of the entire table, you were a giggling mess.

After the sixth glass you were lucky you could even see straight. It wasn’t until after Zoro poured the next glass and slid it over to you the wheels in your head finally added all the small clues you’d missed. Zoro had let you think you’d stolen glass after glass of his wine. When in reality, he’d just been trying to get you drunk.

Zoro was already on his fourth bottle of wine and still seemed able to function like a person.

You leaned, not so gracefully, over to his side of the table. A “Psst,” hiccuping out of you to garner his attention. You knew you had it. He was just hiding a majority of his face inside the glass.

Just to make sure though - “Psst!”

“Ugh, Doc, we can all hear you,” Usopp said somewhere behind you.

You waved him off. Your eyes honed in on both Zoro’s.

“What do you want?” He hummed.

“Hey, Mosshead,” you snapped. That got his head to swivel an inch away from the safety of the glass. “You did this on purpose.”

You were leaning so far forward your cheek was almost flush with your arm. Your fingers wiggled near him and you watched as his eyes darted down to watch them before side-eyeing you.

“Yup,” he answered, sharply pronouncing the p. “You want to steal my wine as payback, well I can drink you under the table.” You weren’t expecting him to drop the glass and move towards you. The movement wasn’t huge, but he was closer than you anticipated and it made you scared to blink. “I can be petty too.”

Fuck.

He was so close - almost kissably close and - No! Why are you thinking of kissing at a time like this? When Zoro’s close enough you could see the sun kissed freckles that dusted over the top of his cheeks and nose. The playful glint in his eyes that brightened them to shine like mini constellations.

With a devious smirk sliding across his lips, Zoro regarded you one last time before he straightened up. His hand reaching out to take back the glass he’d previously sat down and brought it back up to his lips.

“You are diabolical,” you huffed.

When you went to straighten up, you felt your world tilt. You were going to need - “Can I get some water, please?”

You needed to sober up and fast. Inwardly, you could already hear your inner monologue being set up to chastise your childish behavior. You were so worried about Zoro and annoying him that it was all you focused on.

I’m not here for him.

You’d come with Usopp with the goal in mind to help Kaya. That was who you’d come here for and who you still had every intention to help. The plan to do so was still there, but somehow within the last few hours you’d allowed yourself to be distracted by a pretty face.

A soft cough from Kaya’s direction was all the clarity necessary to get your head back on straight. Or as straight as it could be in your current state. No more Zoro. No more looking at him, talking to him, looking at him-

You could sense him moving off to your right, but you were not going to look. Nope. Most definitely not going to look, but was your head tilting?

Drunk you seriously needed to work on some self-control.

You were heavily lost in your head again. So lost that you weren’t sure how many times Luffy or anyone else attempted to bring you into a conversation. It wasn’t until a gentle hand on your shoulder jolted you back into the present.

Looking to your left, you saw Usopp waiting for you to answer him. His concern etched into every scrunch of his face.

“Luffy asked how long you’ve been a doctor,” he offered slowly, as if he spoke too fast he’d lose you again.

“Well, technically, I’m a doctor-in-training.”

“So, not a real doctor.”

Of course, Zoro just had to butt in. You still weren’t going to look at him.

“I am a doctor. Naan has taught me over the years how to handle every illness and broken bone that has come through this village. I think one of the biggest things she’s taught me is that sometimes kindness can be the strongest medicine and other times defending those who can’t defend themselves is a bigger responsibility.”

“Wow,” Luffy smiled in response. “You must have helped a lot of people. Your grandma must be really proud of you.”

Luffy looked so…genuine. The very thought of you going out of your way to help others seemed to make him regard you differently. While the smile on his face wasn’t expansive and filled with its usual childlike mischief, it held one of praise. As if it was a rare thing for someone to have the drive to help another person. Maybe over the last decade or so that might have been true, but Naan didn’t raise you to turn a blind eye to those in need.

You couldn’t help but respond to Luffy’s smile with one of your own. Although, you hoped it didn’t wilt as you prepared yourself with your reply.

“She’s an orphan,” Sham interjected as she set down a dinner plate that was intricately decorated with fish and vegetables. “Usopp too. Isn’t that right?”

Not true. Orphan meant that there had been no one there for you. No family to help take care of you when you needed protection, and while Naan wasn’t your real grandma she was family because she chose to be.

You dropped your hands down into your lap and could feel your fingers curl into your palms.

“What does it matter if they’re orphans or not?” Your eyes narrowed in on Nami. She sat beside Luffy, opposite of Usopp, and her cool gaze was trained on Sham. She watched closely while Sham placed the next plate hastily down in front of Usopp. “I’m curious to hear your answer.”

“Forgive my staff, Miss,” Klahadore stepped in. “Sham spoke out of turn when it was not her place.”

“I’m sure she meant no harm, Klahadore.”

Kaya smiled up at him and he responded with a smile of his own. You hated how Kaya was always apologizing for everyone around her, especially for those who didn’t deserve it.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Nami continued. “If she didn’t mean to say it she would’ve kept her mouth shut.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, guys,” Usopp offered.

You weren’t surprised to see him looking at Kaya. The two of them shared a small smile between them and it took everything in you not to lightly smack him on the arm. If Kaya wanted to be peacemaker, Usopp would do everything in his power to play along. Anything Kaya wanted Usopp would make sure he did everything in his power to make sure it happened.

What felt worse was that Sham’s attempt at an insult did bother you. It was meant to remind you that they considered you nothing, which was odd coming from waitstaff and a butler.

A doctor to pirates was about as valuable as gold.

“Yeah, not a big deal,” you mumbled. Your fingers riddled with your fork; debating if eating Buchi’s food was worth the risk. With your luck they probably poisoned it. “I do hope I make her proud someday, Luffy. I still have a lot to learn.”

Luffy was already a mouthful deep into his plate and wasn’t showing any reservation in taking another hardy bite. Thank god he waited to swallow first before he replied, “The fact you came here to help Kaya tells me all I need to know. You’re a good person, Doc.”

“That’s very kind of you, Luffy. Thank you.”

God, I will not cry right now.

Why did random words of kindness - from a stranger - matter so much? Luffy didn’t owe you any act of kindness or to bother being so nice to you or Usopp. Yet, here he was being an actual ball of sunshine. You knew dozens of people in this town who disregarded Usopp and his stories. Who grumbled and complained when he started talking. Luffy had only treated him with respect: he listened to his stories no matter how bat shit crazy they must have sounded.

You knew Luffy and his friends would eventually leave but for the time they were here (besides Zoro) you were grateful.

“It says a lot about who you are. You’re a good person.”

You felt your smile wilt a little as you watched a few flecks of food fall out of his mouth as he spoke. Flying food aside, you were really starting to count yourself lucky that Luffy and his friends ended up in your sleepy little village.

Sham was still depositing plates of tonight’s only special when you heard Kaya ask if she could try some. She’d barely finished asking before Klahadore was there beside her.

“I’m sorry that won’t be possible, Miss Kaya. You know how certain foods affect your constitution. Here,” he waved his hand free from his chest ushering in Buchi. “Buchi has prepared your special soup.”

“Why is it blue?” You blanched.

When all eyes turned to regard you, you realized you hadn’t said that in your head. The wine was seriously starting to make your body too comfortable.

“It’s made with a special fruit,” Buchi growled back.

“What’s the name of the fruit? I’ve skowered this entire island top to bottom with Naan and have never seen a fruit that color here.”

“It’s imported.”

“From where-“

“It’s not important where her food comes from,” Klahadore interrupted. Each word was more forced than the last. “All that matters is it helps Miss Kaya.”

“If that was true then why is she still sick?”

Klahadore’s eyes were practically shooting daggers into your skull. You were willing to bet a million berry’s that if he got you alone in a room, you wouldn’t be making it out. That thought only seemed to ignite something inside you that you’d been pushing down for months.

You rolled your tongue along your bottom teeth as you struggled to reign in your temper. The wine made your blood warm and fuzzy, but now you felt as if you were boiling alive. Your legs were bouncing uncontrollably underneath the table and your hands were curling into fists-

Suddenly a hiccup of a gasp lodged itself in your throat. The tip of a shoe was pressed gently against your ankle and the tip of said shoe belonged to the very moss-headed oaf who’d been plaguing your every waking minute. Yes, you said you weren’t going to look at him, but you didn’t expect him to touch you. Even just this small amount.

When you did glance at him, Zoro didn’t return your stare. His eyes were trained solely on Klahadore with a slight draw of his brow confirming your suspicions. Zoro was starting to notice something was off with Klahadore too and was warning you.

“Kaya it’s your birthday. You should be able to eat whatever you want.”

Nami’s soft voice cut through the tension and brought Klahadore back to the present. His eyes glazed back with mock servitude, but you’d seen it. Maybe now so had Zoro. Your eyes were only for Klahadore as you watched the exchange between him and Nami. You loved the way she was sticking up for Kaya and the challenge in her eyes as she stared him down-

“You need to relax.”

Fuck.

You struggled to keep a shudder from making its way down your spine but you weren’t so lucky in keeping the soft gasp from trickling out from your lips. The husk of his voice was unnecessarily sexy.

Slowly, you turned to look to your right and found Zoro casually sitting back in his seat. His eyes trained forward and his hands took his silverware as if he hadn’t just whispered across your skin like sin.

You couldn’t think past what had just happened. It didn’t matter how much you tried to formulate a sentence. Your brain was just not having it. You could do this. You were an intelligent woman who was not easily swayed.

“What?”

A masterful reply.

Zoro looked at you from his peripherals before placing the napkin down into his lap.

“I would stop antagonizing him before he kicks you out.”

And here you thought he was just worried about you.

“I’m a doctor and Kaya needs me.”

“Has she told you that? Has she physically looked at you and specifically asked for you to save her or do you just need to feel important?”

“Why are you such an asshole?!”

You spoke every word through gritted teeth. The anger that Zoro erased by killing your brain cells, which now felt like an insult to yourself, was stoked back to life. Your body singed with the need to get a hold of him because - who the fuck talked to people like this?

What you hadn’t expected was for that anger - god, that hurt - to soak deeply into your words. Each one raised and sharp with the intention he knew you meant it.

Zoro didn’t respond. He just started eating his fish. You suddenly didn’t feel hungry.

“Are you okay?”

You didn’t want to look at Usopp. Not when he sounded like that. What would happen if you did? Would you cry or scream that you weren’t? The panic you’d been shoving down the last few hours was beginning to weasel its way to the surface. You were running out of options and ideas on how you could help. What if Zoro was right? What if Kaya didn’t need you and you’d allowed yourself to be dragged into a story that wasn’t real?

The thought alone was enough to make you look at your best friend and the panic was replaced with guilt. The shame was enough to make the first sharp prick of tears threaten to spill free from your eyes. Usopp didn’t deserve your anger or your doubt. He may have told a lot of stories, but he was good. His heart was pure. You weren’t worried about whether or not you smiled at him if he could tell you were lying. You knew somehow Usopp would understand your frustration.

“Yeah, Usopp everything is alright.”

He side-eyed Zoro over your shoulder before he brought his attention back to the room. Clearing his throat, he looked over at Luffy and asked, “Luffy, isn’t there something you wanted to talk to Kaya about?”

“Ah, yes. Usopp tells me that you own the whole shipyard.”

Kaya smiled gracefully in reply, before she looked away. A sadness creeping into her voice.

“Well, actually, my parents founded the shipyard, and Merry’s been running the business since…well since they passed.” You watched as Luffy followed her words and glanced over to the man sitting at the table. A courtesy raise of his glass to salute the dead. For a split second, all the joy in Luffy was replaced by something that didn’t seem to fit. A melancholy that didn’t belong. “But all that’s about to change. At midnight tonight I will become sole owner.”

“Ah well, that’s great because we want to buy a ship from you.”

Now this was the Luffy you’d grown to know. All smiles and cheerfulness like a rainbow as he lifted his champagne glass and took a sip.

“I see,” Kaya responded in kind. “Usopp mentioned that you were sailors.”

“Nope, not sailors. Pirates.”

Your head spun sharply back in his direction. He seemed so happy about what he just said. Like it wasn’t the worst kind of omission that could get you all killed or arrested by the local Marines. Usopp definitely had a reason to be choking on his own drink.

You glanced at Nami and back at Zoro and both of them, respectfully, looked worried as shit.

“Pirates?”

“Yep. We haven’t sailed together for very long, but we have already defeated an evil clown, raided a marine base, and taken down a Marine captain with an axe for a hand!”

“Usopp, what is he talking about?” You whispered sharply over to him.

Usopp was still covered in his own spit as he furiously tried to wipe it off. The worry evident in the fine creases in his forehead as he glanced around the room.

“I don’t-“

“These sound a lot like your adventures, Usopp,” Kaya mentioned lovingly.

“Yeah. It’s crazy.”

Kaya thought that Luffy was joking! While you were sure Luffy meant what he was saying you were also incredibly confused. Pirates weren’t nice. The ones you’d met a few times had forced Naan to help them. They’d been rough, mean, and downright nasty. Luffy was none of that.

“Oh yeah, and we are just getting started!” Unexpectedly, Luffy stood up in his chair and began to stand on the table.

“What are you doing?” Klahadore snapped as he came forth from the shadows. “Get down from there this instant!”

“Being a pirate has been my dream for as long as I can remember and I’m finally going to make it a reality. We are heading off to the grand line where even more adventures await us.” With an eager smile gracing his lips, drink in hand, Luffy began to walk his way down to where Kaya sat. “At the end of the journey I’m gonna find the ultimate treasure, the One Piece and become King of The Pirates.”

When he got to Kaya Luffy stopped and took one last sip of his drink before handing it off to Klahadore. You would honestly pay to have this moment replay in a time loop, it was so damn good. Besides the fact that, you know, they were pirates.

“Kaya, you have a beautiful ship out there. A caravel with a sheep figurehead. It spoke to me. That is the ship we need to follow our dreams. I promise we will take care of it. Maintain it. Because a ship isn’t just a vessel; it’s also a home.”

It felt like such a genuine moment. Luffy didn’t appear to be like every pirate you’ve ever met. They were usually selfish, ugly, and cruel men who found pleasure in others misfortunes or creating them themselves. Even now, after his confession, it wasn’t the vibe you got from Luffy, and that’s what made it all the more confusing.

“That will be quite enough!” Your body gave a jump in surprise as Klahadore screamed. His body thundering over to stand next to Kaya. “I should’ve known Usopp would bring rift raft to our doorstep.”

“Klahadore it’s okay-“

Kaya tried to defend them, but a violent coughing fit cut her short. Usopp edged toward the end of his seat noticeably wanting to get up and go to her. The both of you knew if he made any moves right now, unfortunately, who knew what this butler would do.

“Now look at what you’ve done. You’ve all upset Miss Kaya. I want you all out of here, at once!”

“No,” Kaya interjected. “Let them stay the night.”

“Very well, Miss Kaya. But they are out of here first thing in the morning.”

Stay the night?

“Fuck,” you huffed under your breathe.

You had no intention of staying in this manor with any of them. You turned to tell Usopp you should both head back and noticed the way his puppy dog eyes followed Kaya as Klahadore led her away. He wasn’t going to leave her and maybe that meant you shouldn’t either.

“Well, that went well.”

Luffy really needed to learn to read the room.

You waited for Buchi and Sham to follow after their master before you pushed back your chair and did your best not to trip on any of the tulle at your feet. You needed to get out of this dress immediately. It wasn’t because you were much of a fighter. No, that wasn’t you. However, you did enjoy running from danger and this dress made it damn near impossible.

“Where are you going?”

Luffy and his kaleidoscope of happiness. You wondered what it was like to always be so optimistic.

“I am going back to my room and probably leaving.”

“What?” Usopp turned to look at you. “Why are you leaving.”

“Yeah. What was all that holier than thou talk about helping her,” Zoro cut in.

“Oh, what the hell does it matter to you, anyways?” You snapped. “First, you insult me for trying to help and now you insult me, again, for leaving.”

“Cowards give up when it gets hard.”

Was it physically possible to blow smoke out of your nose? It felt like it as your eyes narrowed in on him. He didn’t even have the decency to look at you.

“Zoro, you got a real stick up your ass,” Nami huffed as she grabbed her glass and took a drink.

“That’s not the real reason she wants to leave” he shot back, eyes on Nami. “Is it? It’s because she heard the word, “Pirates.”

“That’s crazy,” Luffy laughed around the words. “We’re good guys.”

“Pirates are not good guys,” you snapped at him. It was your turn to feel like an asshole as you looked between them. Luffy noticeably hurt. “I have met plenty of pirates when they came looking for Naan and her services. She hid me every single time, because she was scared of what they might do. If they would take me. Doctors are more valuable to pirates than gold. That was the lesson she taught me and I learned it well.”

“Pirates have been to Syrup Village?”

Usopp didn’t seem to grasp the fact that they hadn’t come raiding and he’d have to ring the bell for real. No one knew how close pirates really were to Syrup Village. It was one of the reasons why Naan’s home was hidden so deep within the bamboo forest.

“Yes, Usopp.”

You needed to get away. You were tired - drained - from feeling like you needed to apologize to them. You didn’t know what's real anymore and maybe you were being a coward. Maybe you were just tired of being wrong.

With one last tug on the tulle, you moved away from the table and gave them one quick glance before you headed out towards the dining room doors.

————————————-

It’d been over an hour since you’d made your less than graceful exit from the dining room. Even after getting back into the comfort of your own clothes, it didn’t keep the nagging feeling that you’d been an asshole from clawing its way to the surface.

You had been an asshole.

You’d been pacing the confines of your suite chewing on your nails until you were positive you must have gnawed them into dust. There was no denying Kaya’s home was beautiful. It was everything you could imagine money could buy in the form of creature comforts, but there was no happiness within its walls.

The room you’d been given was more than what you and Naan lived in now. When you’d first been shown inside, you’d felt silly having all this space and having no idea what to do with it. It was all lovely. From the four poster bed with intricate wooden detailing to the velvet curtains that ran the length of the wall that held a window overlooking the garden. The wallpaper, you were positive, held gold within its designs.

It wasn’t the fanciest, but you would take your small home with Naan then stay in a place like this. Speaking of home…

It would be so easy for you to turn tail and run. To go out the front door and never come back but what would you tell Naan? That you never got to see Kaya? That you were unnecessarily rude to a group of people who’d been nothing but friendly (except one) all because their captain called them pirates?

Coward. That’s what Zoro called you. The worst part was maybe he wasn’t wrong. So, ninety-five percent of your plan had gone to shit. You at least still had five percent of it.

Neither Luffy, Nami, or Zoro did anything that warranted your hasty judgment, and nothing they did reflected what you’d been exposed to all your life. What you hated the most was that you could feel the need for an apology brewing in your gut, and if you didn’t do it you would never get any sleep.

After you’d gotten dressed and strapped on much more comfortable shoes, you made your way out of your room and back inside the maze of hallways. You were closing in on the main corridor when the sound of a door opening made you stop in your tracks.

What if it was Sham? You prepared yourself to see her unpleasant face when orange hair wrapped in an orange designed bandanna crept out into the hall.

“Nami?”

She startled as you called her name and turned to face you. The sound of clanking caught your attention and your eyes followed the sound to a very filled pillowcase in her right hand.

You quirked an eyebrow as you asked, “Doing some spring cleaning?”

You watched as her usual friendly demeanor changed into squared shoulders and eyes filled with defiance. It made you feel like you were about to embark on a fight you didn’t realize you were having.

“You want to hurl some more generic insults my way? Tell me how much of a bad person I am-“

Now you were raising your hands up but not in surrender. It was an attempt to quiet her down. You’d already been berating yourself about words, and the power they held to equally heal or destroy someone. How many times had Naan chastised you about being reckless with your words? Reminding you that the things spoken can be enough to heal or mend hearts and bodies, but can also easily break them.

“A healer is more than just someone mending a body, girl. Sometimes we heal by listening. Giving dying men the forgiveness they seek.”

And here you were slinging verbal canon balls at these people.

I’m such an asshole

“Nami! Nami! While I hundred percent deserve that, it’s not what I was going to do.” She didn’t seem like she believed you in the slightest. That was fair. “I was actually on my way to try and find you guys.”

“Why? So, you could tell us some more about how you hate pirates?”

“Okay. That’s fair.”

“Oh, I think that’s more than fair. You are not the only one who hates pirates or holds the lottery for the shittest interactions with them.”

Again, your hands were up. Why did this have to feel like you were with a lion inside of a cage? One wrong move and you were sure she was going to bite your head off.

“I never said that, ok? Did I have a shit reaction to finding out that you were pirates? Yes. That’s why I’m here. I came to apologize to all of you. You defended me tonight at dinner. You didn’t have to do that.”

All the anger that swirled in the gray of her irises began to soften. Good. At least she was no longer looking ready to turn you into literal sashimi.

“Yeah, we’ll, she was acting like a real bitch.”

“Agreed,” you hummed, “but that’s beside the point. You didn’t have to say anything but you did and how did I repay that? By being an asshole so on that note: Nami, I’m sorry.”

Why was she just staring? You thought your heart was going to explode out of your chest at any minute. Nami wasn’t smiling or appeared angry or upset. She was completely stone faced and you were desperately trying not to fidget.

“I think that’s the first time anyone’s apologized to me before.”

“That sucks.”

God, you really did have a way with words. Nami was equally as shocked at your bluntness, but in a way that sent a warm smile to lift the edges of your lips. Nami sputtered out a laugh as she placed her hands on her hips. The motion and sound of clinking whatever was in there reminding you both that she was currently doing something illegal.

“Are you going to say anything? Report me to Klahadore?”

Even just the sound of his name was enough to drop the smile from your face. A sneer replacing it as you replied, “God no. I’d rather just let you steal than say anything to that jackal.”

“You and the waitstaff seem to be big fans of each other,” Nami teased.

It earned her a laugh as you looked down the hallway. Just to be safe since you were both equally unwanted in the manor and, well, Nami had a pillowcase full of the house goodies.

“I suppose you could say that.”

You stuck your hand between you both and waited patiently for her to take it. Nami regarded your hand like it belonged to a sea monster.

“Friends?”

“I don’t have any friends.”

Her words were soft and direct. As if she’d come to terms with being alone for a while now. You didn’t pull your hand away and let it fall back to your side. You kept it suspended between the two of you, and patiently waited for her to feel comfortable enough to take it.

“Well, at least now you’ll know you have one in Syrup village.”

A spark of something ignited in her eyes and whatever it was your words made her think of, it wasn’t something happy. When a small smile curled her lips it didn’t reach her eyes. They stayed distant; mourning something you may never be made aware of.

You felt your breath catch in your throat as Nami reached out her hand and gently grabbed yours. You waited to secure your fingers around her hand, just in case she had second thoughts. When she didn’t pull away you allowed yourself to fully smile at her, which earned you one back.

“Where were you headed to, anyways?”

You both released each other, and you started slowly moving around her to get to the corridor.

“I was going to look around for Luffy. I need to apologize to him too.”

“Check the kitchen. If you’re going to find him anywhere it’s going to be in there.”

“Thank you. You just saved me some time. See you later, Nami.”

You were a few feet away when she called your name. You turned halfway to see her still standing in the same spot you’d left her.

“Are you going to apologize to Zoro?”

“I’m still debating,” you answered truthfully.

You aren’t sure what Nami expected you to say, but apparently that hadn’t been it. She immediately erupted into laughter as she turned and headed to the next room.

You really hoped she wasn’t going to get caught by Klahadore or anyone else. You were positive it would get him all riled up and send him screeching for the marines to come. Maybe even throw in some insults, because that was just the kind of man he was.

It took you longer than you wanted to locate the kitchen and you were considering bringing it up to Kaya about putting signs up around the manor. Ones that let you know with arrows which way to go. Why was it so easy to get lost in such a big house? You were still trying to come up with a way to bring up that little suggestion when you heard Usopp’s voice coming from the kitchen. Usopp was there too? Your curiosity spurred you forward - almost at a sprint - until you heard another voice grumble from the kitchen.

“You don’t think she like - like likes me, do you?”

What kind of conversation were you walking into? You rounded the corner to find Usopp and Zoro staring at one another. Usopp looked hopeful while Zoro regarded him with as much emotion as a rock.

“You’re asking the wrong guy.”

“I would second that, Usopp.”

At the sound of your voice all eyes turned to you.

“Doc! Hey! What brings you to the kitchen?”

Luffy sounded like his usual happy-go-lucky self. He didn’t seem to be holding a grudge or feelings about what had happened only an hour ago between you. All Luffy seemed to care about was the leftover appetizers and being amongst friends.

How could you ever think he was anything like other pirates?

His cheerfulness was contagious and soon you found yourself making your way around to the stairs. Luffy waves you down to join him with an appetizer in hand.

“You didn’t seem to eat at the dinner. You should try some of these. They’re delicious!”

“Are you sure there is any left?”

“Oh, I have some in my pockets if you want those.”

He really was digging through his pocket to pull out some appetizers. You didn’t know why it surprised you so much but you couldn’t keep your laughter from bubbling to the surface.

“It’s okay, Luffy. I appreciate your willingness to share, but I’ll pass for now.”

“You sure? These are really good!”

Just to prove his point, Luffy popped whatever he pulled from his pocket into his mouth. His fingers noticeably tinted with a pink hue from it melting.

“Pretty sure.”

You snagged a stool on the opposite side of Luffy, which unfortunately kept you on the same side as Zoro. Who was actively staring daggers into your skull.

“I actually came to find you so I could apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“For how I acted at dinner.”

“Where’s my apology?”

Zoro’s husky voice cut through your good mood and instantly made you bitter. You turned in your seat to look at him, who was opening and closing drawers every two seconds.

“I’m still debating on if you deserve one.”

Zoro had been opening his next set of cupboard doors when he stopped short. His head tilting the slightest to glance at you over your shoulder. You waited for him to make another smart ass comment and when it didn’t come, well, color you surprised. All you got was a tick of his jaw before he turned back to opening and shutting doors.

“What is he doing?” You asked Usopp.

“He’s looking for something to drink,” Luffy offered up in between his next bite.

Where the hell did he find a chicken leg? You fixed yourself to sit more comfortably on the stool and placed your satchel on the table. You looked between the three men again and remembered what it was they’d been talking about before.

“So, what were you guys talking about?”

Usopp scratched the back of his neck and looked anywhere but at you. What was making him so nervous? You’d been friends since you were kids. There literally couldn’t be anything that embarrassing-

“Usopp is in love with Kaya and wanted to know if we think she’s in love with him too.”

Luffy happily continued to eat the chicken that you still couldn’t figure out where it came from. Usopp, on the other hand, looked like his soul was about to leave his body.

“Sounds about right.”

Your response must have been a shock to Usopp because that’s exactly how he looked. His hand was still nervously fidgeting with his bandana.

“You know?”

You rolled your eyes as you looked around the kitchen island. Maybe you were starting to feel a little bit hungry.

“Usopp, even Naan knows how you feel about Kaya. She called it like two years ago.”

You were still looking for something to eat when Luffy slid a plate with chicken thighs and legs between you. They smelled wonderful and the skin was perfectly crisp. It was garnished with what might have been green onion or chive.

“If you guys are going to talk about feelings I’m seriously going to need a drink.”

“Shocker.”

The few steps Zoro took came to an abrupt end just a few feet from you. You had a piece of chicken thigh between your lips as you made eye contact with his award-winning brooding face. There was a millisecond, as you both looked at each other, that you wondered if he would’ve replied.

“There’s a wine cellar down in the basement.”

“Why didn’t you mention that before?”

Usopp opened and closed his mouth. While he was unsure of what to say, you felt like you had plenty. Usopp didn’t waste another second as he grabbed his satchel off the island and started leading Zoro up the stairs.

“Luffy, you coming?”

“No, you go ahead. I’m going to sit with Doc for a while.”

They were walking on the opposite walkway, high up enough to look down at both of you. Zoro glanced over his shoulder at the both of you and it took every last ounce of control on your body not to stick your tongue out at him.

How odd it was that you felt like you could actually breathe now that he was gone. Sure, you knew you should say sorry to him and, realistically, him calling you a coward was part of the reason you’d stayed. Did you ever want to share that information with him? Hell no.

The man was already insufferable enough. You didn’t need to add to it.

The sound of Luffy’s chair scraping against the floor brought you back to where your attention was needed: Luffy. Not Zoro’s retreating back.

Why did he have to look good from both sides?

Shaking your head to bring you back to why you came there in the first place, you watched as Luffy went back to walking around the kitchen. He kept searching until he came across a bronze pot that was left on the stove. When he lifted the lid you could see the neon blue hue of Kaya’s soup from where you sat.

“What are you doing?”

Luffy turned with the large pot in hand and walked back over to the table. He looked like a child who’d gotten lost in a chocolate factory.

“Eating.”

You felt your brows enter your hairline and possibly the ceiling as you watched Luffy bring the pot to his lips, and begin to gulp the contents down.

“Are you seriously going to eat all of that?”

He took a few rather large gulps before he set the pot down to look at you. A blue mustache formed on his upper lip.

“Soup isn’t my usual choice, but it’s not half bad.”

You tried to shake the smile off your face but failed miserably.

“You know, you don’t need to apologize. I understand being protective of the people you care about.”

The change in topics was giving you mental whiplash. Luffy regarded you with a softness you hadn’t expected. Underneath was that playfulness you’d grown accustomed to, but it was submerged under something serious. Or as serious as Luffy could be. It was the softness you hadn’t expected, however, and you quickly looked down at your hands.

“Naan raised me to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong, Luffy.”

“You talk about your Naan a lot.”

“I have a lot of respect for her. She didn’t have to take me in, teach me what she knows, but she did. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to repay her.”

Luffy regarded you coolly as he picked up the pot and took another giant gulp. His mouth was getting bluer by the minute.

“I’m sure she appreciates you helping her, but I don’t think she’d want to keep you from your dream.”

“I don’t have a dream.”

“Everybody has a dream. Mine is to be King of the pirates. Now you say yours.”

Luffy was right. Everyone has a dream. Just not all of them were attainable. There were realistic dreams and unrealistic ones and yours had to be classified under the latter. Luffy’s too.

But who was to say dreams weren’t attainable if you weren’t willing to strive for them?

You inhaled sharply, your words exhaling in rush.

“I want to be one of the world’s greatest doctors. I want to help people. Not just humans, but fishmen and people who have eaten Devil fruits. Their physiology is so changed that no one knows what happens when they get certain wounds.”

“That’s great because I ate the gum gum fruit.”

How could anyone just casually chug an entire pot of soup? Or openly share that kind of information.

“I’m sorry, what was that? Did you just say you ate a Devil fruit?”

“Yup. It turned my body into rubber.”

“I have so many questions.”

“It’s a long story.”

His words came out slurred; as if they sat heavy on his tongue and made it impossible to speak. You watched as he blinked slowly to try and clear his vision and when that didn’t work he went to stand and immediately stumbled backwards.

“Luffy!”

Your body immediately launched itself over the table. You didn’t care that your clothes were covered in a rainbow assortment of food. By the time you’d already made it to his side of the table, Luffy fell back against a cabinet. His body sliding limp to the floor.

“Luffy! What's wrong? Can you tell me what you’re feeling?”

He was obviously lethargic. His pupils blown wide and unable to focus. It sounded like he was trying to answer your previous question, but his tongue had swollen up making none of it audible. You barely reached him before he completely crumbled to the floor. Your hands dove underneath his arms until you pulled him into a bear hug.

Luffy was too damn heavy. If you kept holding him you would end up in a heap together on the floor. With as much strength as you could muster you tried to hoist him onto the table.

“Zoro! Usopp!”

As you pulled him up onto the table, you heard countless silverware and plates crashing to the floor. There was so much commotion surely someone would have to come investigate. You didn’t have time to wait to see if anyone did. After you had him laid out as good as you were going to get him, you rushed over to his head. You pulled up his eyelid and watched as his eye rolled up inside his head.

“Damn it! Zoro! Usopp! Where the fuck are you guys!”

The panic in your voice was tittering on hysteria. You wanted to scream. You definitely were going to start crying if your brain didn’t get it together. Luffy needed you.

You placed two fingers on the artery in his neck. His pulse fluttered against your fingertips and with each beat felt slower than the last. Drawing your hands back you noticed the slight foam that was forming at the corners of his mouth and - “Poison.”

Your eyes zoned in on the now empty pot. Luffy had eaten all of it and whatever was inside was enough to make its effects be instantaneous. It was the same soup they’d given to Kaya. The same color as her tea.

“Son of a bitch!”

They’d been poisoning her this whole time. The only reason she didn’t drop dead in front of them was because she’d never even taken a bite. Every time Usopp told you stories about Klahadore, Buchi, and Sham it always felt off. None of it ever added up and now, now you know why.

Those bastards had been trying to kill her this whole time.

A soft groan huffed from Luffy bringing you back to the very important present. Why hadn’t anyone answered you? It didn’t matter. You needed to help Luffy - Kaya - before it was too late.

“Luffy, I have to go back to Naan’s. I can’t carry you out of here or we won’t make it. I promise I’ll be back. I’m going to save you. I’m going to save Kaya.”

With one last look at Luffy, you tightened the strap on your satchel and bolted for the nearest exit.

——————————

Your lungs were screaming with every breath you took and your muscles burning, threatening to collapse, as you pushed forward. You couldn’t afford to stop running. Not since you left the front door of Kaya’s house. The last time you saw Luffy glued itself to your retinas and refused to let go. A constant reminder that no matter how much your body wanted to give up, you couldn’t let it.

Luffy and Kaya were counting on you.

By the time you passed through the town and started up the hill behind the tree line to Naan’s you were running on fumes. It was probably the reason why you not so gracefully barreled through the front door. Your legs wobble to a shaky halt as you attempt to walk them over to the cupboard that held every tonic known to man.

“Naan! Naan, I need help, please!”

Your voice cracked and melted into the old boards of the house. You were still struggling to catch a breath as you opened the doors to the cupboard. Everything about you felt unstable. Your hands shook as they moved around the bottles, almost toppling them over and threatening to make a bigger mess of your night.

“What in the hell is going on down here?”

Naan’s voice crocked with sleep but her words were full of fire. She was pissed you woke her up, but it was all for a damn good reason. The dim light from her candle grew brighter as she advanced down the stairs.

“Naan, I’m down here. Please, I need your help.”

You rushed to the stars to wait to help her down the rest of the way. The minute she grabbed your hands to help her down, you moved to take her toward the cabinet but she held on tight. She wasn’t budging until you looked at her. She called your name repeatedly to get you to look at her. Why wouldn’t you look at her?

The overwhelming feeling of failure was crashing in on you. You’d known. You knew, in the pit of your stomach, that something wasn’t right with them. You should have fought harder. You could’ve done more and now, now Luffy was dying of a poison Kaya ingested for years and Nami, Usopp, and even Zoro were in danger.

A sob tore its way out from your throat, through your lips, and ended in a guttural scream.

“What in the hell is happening, child?”

“Naan,” you sobbed. “Naan, Luffy has been poisoned-“

“Poisoned?”

“With the same stuff they’ve been giving Kaya for years. Kaya has slowly been poisoned and she’s going to die. We need to help her. I need to help them Naan, please.”

You weren’t sure when it happened. When you were no longer supporting Naan but she was supporting you. Her paper thin hands held your face gently as her thumbs smoothed your tears down. She made you follow her breathing until your breaths were even and slow. Only then did she begin to talk to you.

“Do you know what kind he ingested?”

Fuck.

“No, I-“

Naan held her hand up to stop you. With one hand still supporting her weight on your arm, she came off the last step and moved towards the cabinet you’d massacred. You knew Naan had noticed it too when a displeased click of her tongue filled the silence in the room.

“If you don’t know what it is, it could be tricky. I can give you what I have, but you are going to need to examine them both before you give them anything. Give them the wrong one, and it will kill them as quickly as the poison will.”

Naan calmly went through each bottle. She knew by heart where everything would be. Just like she could blindly feel through ingredients or measure it without actually measuring it. She turned around with five bottles clutched in her hands and shuffled her way back over to you. She motioned for you to open your satchel and placed them one-by-one carefully inside.

“I don’t know if you should be doing this.”

For the first time, you heard the waiver in her voice. She watched as you secure your satchel closed; her eyes trained to the worn leather before she looked back at you. You weren’t expecting her to look so scared. It was your turn to place your hands on her shoulders and give them a soft squeeze.

“You’ve always taught me there is no greater service in life than to serve others. I can’t let them die, Naan.”

“I know,” she smiled sadly. The worry made the wrinkles more severe than before. “It’s just…be careful. Please.”

With another squeeze you did your best to smile at her, to reassure her, before you stepped back.

“I’ll be back, Naan. Don’t you worry.”

You didn’t know that for sure. There was a chance Klahadore or Buchi would spot you before you made it back to Luffy. Who knew what they were doing to everyone while you were here.

With that uncertainty of what could happen stewing in your chest, you leaned forward quickly and planted a kiss on Naan’s cheek before you bolted out the door. This time, your body was prepared for the brutal run back to the manor. You were almost to the edge of town when the bell rang out in warning and moments later the sound of Usopp’s, “The pirates are here!” Ringing out.

At the sound of his voice, you allowed yourself a moment to thank the universe that he was okay. You wanted to stop and turn back to the village. To find Usopp and ask him just to come back with you and the two of you would figure it out together.

Luffy didn’t have that kind of time.

With that truth taking over your thought, you began to pick up the pace. You had a captain to save.

—————————-

The front of the manor was beginning to be covered in the fog that was rolling in from the ocean. This was hands down the creepiest you had ever seen the Manor. It was giving definite horror vibes. The worst part? Even from this far you could see the damn pirate shutters were enabled.

“Fuck!” You screamed.

How in the hell were you going to get inside to help them? Those things were heavy and meant to be impenetrable. There was no way you were going to be able to break it down with a few kicks.

“Think,” you huffed, as your hand slid across your face.

What options did you have? You could go back to find Usopp, but there was a high chance you’d only end up missing each other in passing. You couldn’t just go up to the front door and knock. Not unless, you know, you wanted to die.

You were pacing back and forth when a very loud grunt echoed from the well.

You hadn’t read many horror novels, but the ones you had read, well, this was giving haunted zombie island vibes. You wish you could claim to be unafraid, but when the grunt came again, this time closer and louder than the last, you knew you’d be lying.

So, why were you ever so slowly edging your way towards the well? Curiosity did always kill the cat. Right when you finally got to the edge of the stone, you exhaled to prepare yourself to look over.

Who knows, maybe it was just your imagination overreacting. Right when you went to glance over the side, a hand smacked its way over the top and you felt your soul evacuate your body. A few seconds later, green hair popped over the top that sat on top of a familiar face, but your brain was stuck in fear mode, so when Zoro asked, “Doc?” The only response he’d gotten was your fist connecting with his face.

“What the fuck!”

His scream echoed into the well. You could hear him slipping and knew it was because you’d shoved your knuckles into his cheekbone. Just as he was about to slip, you launched yourself over the side to grab a hold of his arm.

“What the fuck!” Zoro shouted up at you.

“I’m sorry, okay! I thought you were a zombie and oh my god is that a fucking body?!”

You almost let Zoro go as your eyes focused on what looked like very real feet attached to very real legs.

“Yeah. It’s that Merry, guy.”

Zoro grunted as he tried to find purchase for the foot that had slipped. You were struggling to hold him up and each time his foot slipped it seemed to tug you down with him.

“For fuck’s sake, what are you made of bricks?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, is my weight inconveniencing you? If it wasn’t for you I would be out already,” Zoro growled out each word.

“I said I was sorry, okay! What more do you want?”

You move your hand further down until you reach his elbow. At first, it seemed like a solid plan. Strategically, it was a better option to give you more leverage in helping pull him up. The reality of it was Zoro was sweaty - very sweaty - from climbing about twenty-feet up the inside of a well. The minute your hand clamped down on the lubricated skin, it slipped free.

When he started to come loose from your hands you expected him to scream. All you saw was a grimace as his back slammed into the wall of the well and a glare that could give death a run for his money.

“Just pull me up already and stop screwing around.”

“I am trying but you are a hefty, hefty man,” you stated with each word strained.

Okay. You needed to get serious. You’d allowed his weight to lift your feet off the ground. You swung them back until you could get your toes pressed against the River rock of the well. Your heels were still slightly lifted in the air, but you knew this could work in your favor. You took in a deep breath and began to lean back as hard as you could. It may not have been super comfortable, but it was pulling him up enough that you could hear his boot finally find the footing it needed.

“Okay, you can let go now. I said you can let go-!”

You fully intended to let go. Whatever Zoro had done to help launch himself out, mixed with your pulling, sent you falling backwards.

With Zoro landing directly on top of you.

His weight mixed in with the fall knocked your breath clean out of your lungs. You were trying to get your lungs to expand by letting your body relax so you attempted to think of soothing things. The night sky and her stars were looking incredible tonight. It was the clearest you’d seen them in a while. Too bad it was on a night like tonight.

Zoro slowly lifted his head up from your shoulder, his arms on either side of you, until you were both face-to-face. Suddenly, it felt like the air was knocked out of you all over again.

His skin still held a sheen from his previous excretion of climbing. The edges of his hair was damp with sweat giving him a look that reminded you of when you’d run into him earlier wet from his shower. It shouldn’t have made him look this damn good.

You were painfully aware that he was still between your legs. Zoro was close enough you could feel his stomach extend with each heavy breath he took. Could easily count the freckles that endless days in the sun had kissed on his skin. His lips were parted, eyes scanning your face, and for one devious miscalculation of judgment, you wanted to fist your fingers in his shirt and pull him towards you to see if his lips were as soft as you imagined.

Nope. Nooooope!

That moment was enough to bring you crashing back to reality. Plus, Luffy. Kaya.

You smack his chest for good measure. Just to let him know you meant it when you said, “Are you trying to crush me to death? Get off me!”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” he grunted.

Once he was up, you expected him to stick his hand out to help you up. Instead, he was already walking in the opposite direction of what appeared to be away from the house.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

You scrambled up from your spot and hurried to try and catch up with him. Your hands rearranging your satchel to make sure your bottles weren’t crushed.

“I’m going back to the house.”

“Yeah, so am I but the house is back this way.”

Zoro stopped for a split second to look behind you before deciding what you offered was wrong.

“How about we split up and figure out who was right?”

“Fat chance, Mosshead.”

You fell into step beside him and you were positive if Zoro could’ve, he would’ve thrown you down the well. Just to make sure you stayed away from him. If this was a different time, one where you didn’t just pull him from a well where a dead body was, Luffy wasn’t poisoned, and Kaya and Nami were in danger you would have steered clear of him. So, unlucky for you both, you were newfound partners in unfortunate crime.

Neither of you spoke a word as you continued to walk down the path. You were pretty sure that Zoro was sending you the wrong way. You were two seconds away from telling him he was most definitely wrong, and you’d been most definitely right, until you both observed something up ahead.

Was that marines? And were they carrying- “Luffy,” you said in a hush tone.

Zoro saw it too. Two marines were carrying his limp body between them until he launched himself forward and began vomiting in the trees. It shouldn’t be possible. Poison when ingested - by anyone - was fatal. Even with as much vomiting he was doing it shouldn’t be possible. And yet, you saw it happening.

It has to be the Devil fruit…

Zoro waved for you to hide inside the bamboo but you brushed him off. As quietly as you could, you reached down and grabbed a fallen bamboo branch. You made sure you had a good grip on the bottom as you made your way quietly forward.

They were arguing between themselves. One of them with an extremely terrible haircut was holding a gun to the other with glasses and back to Luffy. The two spare marines were just standing watching and-

With as much force as you could muster, you smacked the one on the left on the side of his head. Zoro just used his fist for the other one. At the sound of their bodies falling, bad haircut turned around and when he saw Zoro walking towards him he turned sheet white.

“Zoro!” Luffy called happily as he got to his feet. “And Doc?”

You scratched the back of your head as you watched Zoro knock out bad haircut in one punch.

“Yeah. I came back to rescue you. Surprise,” you joked, throwing your hands up in mock celebration.

“Thanks. Come on. We need to get back to the house.”

Without another word, Luffy pressed between you and started making his way back towards the house. You side-eyed Zoro to see if he was paying attention, because Luffy had just proven you were right. You opened your mouth to tease him when a soft shout of Luffy’s name sent you all turning to see who it was.

They stood in front of you - pale as moonlight - and a little frightened with black rimmed circle glasses and pink hued hair. You weren’t sure who they were but all you needed to know was that they knew Luffy by name.

“Koby, I know you got a job to do. But I’m going to go back and help my friends. Don’t try and stop me.”

Yup. Luffy was officially the most polite pirate you’d ever met.

Koby gave Luffy the smallest of nods. A silent affirmation that he wouldn’t be following suit. You had so many questions about what happened between everyone tonight and would make sure to ask later. If given the chance.

Adjusting his hat back on his head, Luffy turned and started sprinting down the path. Zoro gave you one last look before he ran after him with his hands securely holding onto his swords. A soft groan left you as your feet padded along like the little engine that could.

“Ugh, why are we doing more running? I hate running.”

No one answered you and that was fine. You were going to need as much air as you could trying to keep up with the two of them.

——————————-

Zoro and Luffy were at the door when you came up. The two of them looked at the giant metal shudder. You were ready to tell them there wasn’t going to be any other way inside the house when Zoro bent down on one knee and worked his fingers underneath.

“That’s not going to work.”

Luffy turned to you with a wide smile.

“You don’t know Zoro.”

As if on queue, Zoro let out a grunt and began to push the shudder up. No way. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to even remotely lift it an inch. Usopp told you hundreds of times that pirate shudders were over six-hundred pounds of metal. They were meant to withstand canon balls and here Zoro was lifting it to his waist.

Luffy grabbed a statue and placed it underneath the shudder allowing Zoro to let go, and kick the double doors open. Luffy wasted no time in bending down and looking inside to make sure they could enter without interruption. When he was sure it was clear, he moved inside and Zoro shortly followed. Luffy went to shut the doors when you quickly moved inside.

“Doc, I think you should wait outside.”

“Fuck that,” you seethed. “These are my friends too, Luffy. I’m not leaving until I know they’re safe.”

Why was he smiling?

“Alright, but we split up. Cover more ground that way.”

Neither of them wasted any time taking off in their respective directions. It wasn’t until they were gone that you realized you didn’t have a clue where to go and what were you supposed to do if you found them.

You let out a huff of air that ended in a raspberry as you decided to go down the opposite side of the corridor than Zoro. You may not have any abilities from eating Devil fruit or be insanely good with swords, but you did have your wits. Yeah. That’s what was going to save you. Wits.

Maybe you could just go back to the kitchen and see if the pot was still there. If it was, you’d have a chance to get samples of what Buchi had laced inside the soup. In Kaya’s tea. God, just thinking about it pissed you off all over again.

If the house felt eerily quiet before, it felt even worse now. All signs of life were completely drained from the halls to the point your own breathing felt too loud in the large space. You were tempted to make noise, to call out for Zoro like playing a game of Marco Polo. Probably wouldn’t have been one of your best ideas in a house full of homicidal waitstaff.

When you got to the kitchen you made a quick note that the bronze pot in question was missing. Of course they wouldn’t have kept it. It was evidence of a plot they’d spent three years perfecting, but you just needed to search to be sure.

Quickly, you made your way around to the stairs and into the step down of the kitchen. Someone had done the dishes. It was all gone. You tried not to allow the bitterness of that thought to settle, but damn if it wasn’t hard. How were you going to be able to know what treatment to start giving Kaya if you didn’t have anything to base it off?

You looked around the kitchen one last time when the sounds of fighting erupted somewhere in the distance. It could be Luffy or Zoro. Hell, it could be one of the other three too. Either way, it didn’t matter who it was. You were going to help them.

First things first…

You looked quickly around the kitchen. There wasn’t much in the way of weapons that were going to strike fear in the hearts of anyone. You saw a tiny pot that was sitting on the sink counter and rushed forward to grab it by the handle. As soon as you knew you had it, you bolted back up the stairs and towards the main lobby.

The closer you got the more intense the fighting became. Swords. Those definitely sounded like swords, which meant it was Zoro fighting, but also someone else with swords. And here you were bringing a pot to a sword fight.

You weren’t given a chance to backtrack on your choice of weapon. The minute you came out from the French double doors that lead back into the foray of the house, you watched as Zoro fought off Buchi and Sham.

You never saw a real swordsman or met one for that matter. It wasn’t like Syrup village was brimming with up and coming anything, really, but as you watched Zoro effortlessly move between blocking and attacking you were willing to bet no one compared to him.

You were so caught up in gawking that you weren’t aware that Buchi and Sham were made aware of your presence until they hissed at you. Hissing? Really? You could feel a smart ass comment brewing, but now didn’t seem like the appropriate time to say it. Buchi was who turned on you first with Sham still attacking Zoro. She had her back to you, and when she came up from a missed swing you rushed forward and launched the small pot at the back of her head.

The sound of it connecting with its intended target resonated through the room. Sham’s head was as hollow as you thought.

Everything slowed down for a second as you all waited to see what would happen. Luckily for you, the result was Sham falling face first into the hardwood completely passed out.

“Holy shit. It worked! Zoro, did you see that!”

“You little bitch!”

How the hell did you forget about Buchi? He came stomping towards you causing the floor to shake as he did. You were getting ready to bolt in the opposite direction when Zoro jumped in the way. You took that as your queue to move.

You dashed toward where Sham’s body had fallen and kicked away her sword and - wait, was that a broom handle? You no longer felt embarrassed about using a pot.

Taking hold of the unconscious Sham, you began to move her more towards the front door. Zoro finished with Buchi with ease and knocked him unconscious. It didn’t dawn on you that something was different about him until he dragged Buchi over to where you’d placed Sham. Zoro was wearing a black bandana. And no, you did not notice how the veins in his arms were very much showing.

“We should get some rope to tie them up.”

“Good idea.”

By the time everyone made it down, Buchi and Sham had regained consciousness and you and Zoro were sitting far apart.

There was no denying when you saw them all come down the stairs, a relief so intense flooded your veins and soaked into your bones. When Usopp hugged you, you allowed yourself to hug him back just a little bit tighter.

A part of you knew that the adventures of yesterday would come to an end back in the shipyard. It would end with Kaya giving Luffy that ship he’d so lovingly given his speech for, and more so knew Luffy would ask Usopp to go with him.

It was Usopp’s dream - his real dream. Part of that dream was experiencing the freedom that the sea offered, just like his dad did. How could you ever ask someone you considered your friend - your best friend - to stay just because you weren’t ready to part with them? No. Usopp deserved adventures as grand as his stories.

While he’d been talking to Kaya you’d taken the opportunity to slip away. It’s not that you weren’t happy for him, because you were. The idea of not having him around anymore, however, began to dig a hole in your soul. So, you went to the one place that always mended it.

You were sitting with Naan at the kitchen table folding linens with water boiling on the stove and ingredients beside it. You were still waiting for Kaya to come by so you could perform an assessment. Before you could treat her, you would have to find out how extensive the damage was, and what would be the best form of treatment.

“So, Usopp’s going to be going, then?”

You didn’t expect Naan to sound sad. While she wasn’t mean like the rest of the village, she most definitely was not a fan of rising early just to hear the bell and the yelling.

“Yeah. They should already be out to sea.”

You were folding your next set of linens when Naan reached out and gently took your hand in hers. The act stops you from finishing the next fold.

“It’s all going to work out the way that it should, child.”

“I know, Naan.”

A knock on the door rescued you from having to continue whatever talk was brewing in Naan. It saved you from more than likely crying like a baby on her shoulder too. You got up from your chair and made your way over to the door when another knock came seconds before you reached it.

“Kaya, I’m coming! God, are rich people always so impatient?”

When you swung the door open, you hadn’t expected to find Luffy there smiling or the rest of the crew waiting behind him. Kaya was plainly missing from the group.

“Who is it, child?”

You felt too dumbfounded to speak. Why were they here?

“It’s alright, Naan,” you called over your shoulder, eyes still glued to Luffy. “It’s just Luffy.”

“Luffy?”

“Straw hat.”

The sound of her chair sliding back against the wood was what tore your gaze away. You looked back to find Naan struggling to get to her cane with her left hand holding her weight up by the table. You moved back from the entrance, waving him in as you rushed over to grab her cane and hand it to her.

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you’d be gone by now.”

“We were about to head out when the strangest thing happened.” You crossed your arms as you listened to Luffy. The cliff hanger his words left you on threatened to drop fresh anxiety into your gut. “I turned to get my crew onboard and realized my doctor was missing.”

“What?” You breathed.

“That’s you.”

You closed your eyes for a split second as you tried to collect your thoughts.

“Luffy, I wouldn’t make a good pirate.”

“You don’t have to be. Just like with Usopp, I saw what you did. The way you fought to protect people. I need you in my crew.”

You dropped your arms as you turned to regard Naan. The way her body leaned heavily on the cane. Her once strong body was becoming more frail by the day. You couldn’t leave her.

You swallowed hard before you replied, “Luffy, that is a splendid offer. One I don’t think anyone could pass up but I can’t leave.”

“Why the hell not?” Naan fired off.

“Naan-“

“And if you say it’s because of me, just remember you aren’t too old for me to throttle you with my cane.”

She finally pushed her hip from the side of the table and waddled over to the rack that held your satchel. Naan reached up and pulled it down, turning slowly until you came back into view, and tossed the satchel in your direction.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? You know, for being smart you sure can be dumb sometimes.”

Your eyes looked down at the satchel in your hands. You rubbed the worn leather with your thumbs as you remembered her giving you this very bag on your thirteenth birthday. The pricks of tears came unannounced and most definitely unwanted a few moments later. It made you terrified to look up. For her to see that saying goodbye might kill a piece of you, you’d never get back.

You’d never get her back either.

“Naan-“ You tried to speak but your voice cracked around her name. “Who is going to take care of you if I’m gone?”

A tsk of disbelief shot from her lips. Both her hands now came to rest on top of the cane as she regarded you coolly.

“I’ve been an old woman for a long time now. I think I can manage without you.”

“See - it’s settled,” Luffy began. “You are welcome to join our crew and that way you don’t have to give up on your dream.”

He remembered?

How silly that question was. He was Monkey D. Luffy. Of course, he was going to remember. Glancing down at the satchel in your hands once more you allowed yourself to debate one last time before you grabbed the strap and placed it over your shoulder.

Before you took that first step towards the door, you turned one last time to Naan and took one of her hands in yours. You tried to tell yourself you wouldn’t cry. You never cried, but the first tear slid down your face and called you a liar.

“Please, take care Naan. You’ve done so much for me, my whole life. If it wasn’t for you I don’t know where I would be.”

“Dead,” she stated matter-of-factly.

It was so blunt. So incredibly Naan that you couldn’t stop the sharp bark of laughter that came from you. The soft feather of her hand reached up to cup your face and forced you to look at her. A long silence pulled between you, and you wondered if she was going to say anything at all when a soft smile cracked her thin lips.

“Go, child. Be great.”

Shaking your head in agreement, the both of you broke free and you followed Luffy out of the house. You spared one last glance at Naan’s home - your home - and found her at the door seeing you off. You raised your hand in one last goodbye and watched as she did it too.

Maybe Luffy was right. It was time to go on your own adventure and you had no doubt Luffy and his crew were going to give it to you.

________

As always, comments and reblogs are always welcome

________

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If I missed anyone, please let me know! TY

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gretavanlace · 1 month

Text

Sugar II (part 9)

Jake Kiszka x reader

18+ only! Minors do not interact!

Warnings: graphic sexual content, angst, language, the tiniest amount of alcohol consumption, digital penetration, masturbation, oral sex (fem rec), anal play, unprotected sex, etc

Okay, sweet peas, we’ve got one more chapter to go (maaaaybe two idk), but all your favorites will be back! Plus an epilogue. Thank you so much for sticking with me after I did sugar jake so dirty the first time around ❤️

The air is lush and fragrant with herbs, sizzling eggs, and Jake when you wake - though his side of the bed has already cooled.

He’s all around you. Clothes and scuffed boots tossed about the room. Guitar case propped open sans Gibson - where has she gone? The scent of his skin clinging to yours. The gentle bustle of him milling around in the kitchen. You roll over and shamelessly bury your face in the pillow he rested his pretty head upon last night. Drawing him in with a shiver of content…he is home and you are basking in the comfort that is the great return.

He’s humming something to himself, and though you can barely hear - and you certainly can’t place the song - you try to hum along, laughing quietly to yourself when it comes out sounding muddled and strange as you search for a melody you don’t know.

It doesn’t matter. If he’s humming, you want to hum along. You’d like to walk beside him always, twisted and tangled together like a silken braid of devotion.

Seduced by his silly siren’s song, your feet hit the floor as you search for something to throw on. You settle on the black blazer he’s tossed over the back of a chair and pad down the hallway. Lulled and lured by his quiet chaos.

You find him, back to the doorway, gingerly shaking a pan with one hand and tossing what looks to be diced veggies with the other, totally at ease and at home. A gorgeous, disheveled chef complete with yesterday’s sweats, t shirt that’s torn at the neck, and tangled hair.

Should you stand and watch him awhile? It sounds tempting…to watch him work, a sneaky, head over heels fly on the wall. The way he moves, every shift of muscle is intoxicating. Yes, you are bewitched, but even standing here bathed in his presence, you miss him, and that wins out.

”Morning, Jakey,” you smile, breaking his concentration.

”There’s my sugar,” he tosses you a look over his shoulder that stops your heart. “I’m making you breakfast, my love. Would you like coffee or tea?”

Bare feet dancing over chilled tile, you wrap your arms around his waist and rest your cheek between his shoulder blades, “Whatever you’re having.”

He backs up a little, no doubt worrying about your arms - though they are protected by his jacket - being too near to the stove, and turns, pulling you closer while walking you backwards towards the island, “How about we share a cup of tea? You hungry?”

Flashes of memories burn through your brain…last night, in the foyer wrapped up together on the floor while he kissed your body and wept. On the couch while you talked about how exactly this all might work. Later, in a bed that wasn’t yours, in sheets you wouldn’t wash.

You should be thoroughly sated, but yes…you are hungry.

”How’d I get so lucky, little girl?” His lips curve into a grin that derails your thoughts and replaces them with something much softer. Your heart is weak for the look in his eyes…the unapologetic, worshipful love that blazes there. “How did I manage to earn this?”

”Earn what?” You smile back, praying that the emotion pounding in your heart is as evident in your gaze as it is in his, “Us?”

His eyes duck away with a shy nod, “I just never thought I’d have you like this again. In my arms, not going anywhere. Staying.”

Your fingertips are at his cheeks, sweeping over the perfect warmth of his skin, soft as air, “Jake, you didn’t earn anything. You’ve always held my heart.”

Still unwilling to meet your gaze, he rests his forehead on your shoulder. “You took it away.”

”No,” you argue in a hush. Can he really not see? “I left it with you. You’re the only reason it beats, anyway. But if you don’t feed me soon, I fear I may perish.”

”Drama queen.” He grins, pecking your cheeks each in turn, grateful that you’ve eased his mind and calmed his tender nerves.

The kettle begins to scream and you patter off to the table tucked into the corner, homey and quaint, to watch him work to take care of you. Soon, you’re gifted a steaming mug along with another kiss dropped atop your head. “Splash of rum and a sprinkle of cinnamon, sugar. It’s 9 o’clock in the morning, you lush.”

”Trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me, Jake?” You tease back, watching as he moves to finish things up at the stove, throat seizing with aching affection…he remembers how you take your tea.

”I don’t have to get you inebriated for that,” he sounds gravelly and full of himself, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. “I could fuck you however and wherever I so felt the inclination, my lovely little doll, and you would grace me with your gracious and enthusiastic appreciation.”

You bat your lashes wildly at him as he presents two plates heaped with brightly colored, expertly sautéed vegetables and fluffy, scrambled eggs like cheery, sunny clouds. A bowl of swollen, fuschia raspberries deposited between your plates like a pile of sweetened jewels steals the show. “Oh, be still my heart…you know how I enjoy it when you speak like a dictionary.”

”I know, sugar,” there’s that beaming smile of his again as he offers you a berry, lightly teasing it at your lips until you open up for him. “plenty more where that came from.”

A comfortable quiet sparks to life as you both dig in and pass the teacup back and forth. He finally breaks it, speaking up around a bite of potatoes and peppers. “I spoke to Josh this morning.”

”And how is your missing piece?” You quirk an eyebrow over the top of the cup you have now commandeered.

He leans back in his chair and settles his gaze upon you, clocking your expression closely, searching for a reaction. “Obnoxious as ever. He’s annoyed with me because I haven’t looked over the lyric revisions he sent me, and I certainly couldn’t care less if I actively tried. However, he’s very excited to see you. Cross though he might be with his dear brother.”

”Hello, Oliver,” you wink, “Let’s have Jacob back, shall we?”

You haven’t forgotten Jake’s tendency for trotting out Mr. Reed when he’s dipping a toe or two into the waters of vulnerability.

“Do you miss him?” He asks quietly, “Do you want things to be the way they were before? Because I can live with that if it means you’ll stay.” He rushes on as if he fears he may lose his nerve. “I want you to be happy, whatever it takes, I just want you to be happy.”

Fork clinking lightly against your plate as your focus zeros in on his lovely face, you lean forward and reach for his hand “Did he tell you he came to see me? After I ran into Danny that day?”

His fingers slip into your waiting palm with a soft squeeze, “He mentioned that he found you and asked you hide away until we’d gone. I’ve never wanted to hurt him as badly as I did then. Not even when we were young and stupid. Not even that night, when he forced me to let you go.”

“He was only trying to protect you, jake.” Your head tilts, watching residual pain flare to life in his eyes. “I’ve done a great many things to hurt you, it’s a wonder he doesn’t hate me for it.”

“He could never hate you, sugar. Don’t say things like that, it would break his heart to hear them.” The conviction in his words is fierce, and that makes sense…they share a life force at times, it seems.

“He did ask me to hide away, yes…” you nod, wrapping your free hand around his knuckles, warming his touch with your own, “But did he tell you anything else about our visit? Did he tell you how easy it was for us? How we caught up and laughed and looked at each other like very old friends that had been lost to each other for too many years?”

His shoulders tense as though he’s bracing for a gentle impact, but on you march, whispering to him in this unfamiliar kitchen that feels fat full of love.

”Did he tell you that it didn’t even hurt, our being in the same room with everything so fucking different? Did he know that all I could do was sit there, falling silently apart and searching for you in his eyes?”

“But you loved him.” Now it’s his turn to search your eyes, but for what you’re not sure. “I don’t want you to have to tamp that out. Not ever. You love so beautifully, sugar. I can share.”

”I did love him,” you nod. “Very much. A long time ago. I love him still. Differently. And not the way I love you. I have never loved anyone the way I love you. You don’t have to share. Not anymore.”

His grip is pulling at you now, tugging you to your feet and into his arms, creaking the worn wood of his chair beneath the weight of you both as he buries his face into your bare chest, hiding his tears in the lapels of his blazer as he weeps into your skin.

“Shh, baby,” you soothe, stroking through his hair, holding onto him as he clings to you as if you might vanish like a sigh.

His face tilts upward, lips brushing over your chin and jaw, licking and tasting you through his tears. “I love you, sugar. Sometimes I feel like all this love I have for you is just going to break me into pieces, like I can’t hold it all inside. There’s no room for it. I’m too small.”

”Jake,” you feel like you could break into pieces right alongside him as he begins tugging his jacket away from your shoulders.

He shakes his head, hushing you silently, “So, I’m going to take all this love and I’m going to give it all to you. And I’m gonna fill our house with it, press it into the walls and let it seep into the floorboards. Every nail and every window is going to feel it. The pipes and hinges. The chimney is going to breathe it into the night when we light fires in the winter. And we’re going to have babies and I’m going to love them just as much, and I can’t wait to watch you love them…”

You feel baptized in his tears and the wet, warm press of his mouth as he tattoos beautiful promises into your flesh. How could you ever have believed that you wanted anything other than this?

“I’m going to exist for you every single day, sugar…” a sob escapes him, though he tries so hard to bite it back, “I already do…I always have.”

“I know, baby…it’s okay,” you’re kissing adoration into his hair, combing your fingers through the tangles, coddling him and cooing the softest endearments, desperate to mollify his soul, fraught to offer him peace. “Please don’t cry, jakey. You know I can’t stand it.”

Hearing his own words lilting off of your tongue, he pauses and gazes up into your eyes like he sees everything he’ll ever need in them, “When I said that to you, I wanted to disappear. I wanted to be…gone. I didn’t want to live in a world where you wore his ring on your finger with tears in your eyes. Will you miss him?”

Should you lie? Perhaps. But wouldn’t he see the untruths lying bare? Wouldn’t that hurt even worse? Your deception?

“Yes,” you nod, petting him as he presses in closer, “he was kind to me, and sweet. He made me laugh. He made me half-way happy enough to pretend. I’ll miss him sometimes…but never enough to look back and regret chasing after you.”

“I’m glad he was kind to you,” he whispers, kissing a drunken, winding path across the tops of your breasts, “you deserve kind. He loved you, I could see that. I didn’t want to, but I could. And maybe I hated that, but I would have hated the alternative so much more. I’m sure he loves you still.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” you laugh softly, “he wasn’t very pleased with me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, sugar,” he stares up at you with eyes laced heavily in adulation, “you don’t leave a man alone so easily. You linger and overstay your welcome in the worst way. Learn to leave a room, sweetheart.”

He has pulled another laugh out of you, louder and bell like this time…it twists his heart with heated, pulsing adoration.

”Jake,” you pause, waiting for him to give you his honey brown eyes, “You were right when you said none of it matters. This matters.” Your palm finds your heartbeat for a moment, and then his own.

”I know, my love…” tears skate along his lash line like blissful, shimmering quartz, “I know.”

His mouth is at your throat, gentle hand splaying out across your abdomen, holding you down against the cool, polished wood of the table.

Fingers playing at your lips, he breaks a raspberry apart between his fingers before sweeping it over your waiting tongue. “You’re so beautiful, sugar. Aren’t you? Aren’t you my pretty, pretty girl?”

His shirt has landed on the tile, forgotten and worthless to this task at shaking hand.

“Yes,” nails digging into his shoulders to remind him of where you’ve been, of where your touch belongs, you nod fervently beneath his kiss, “I’m your pretty girl, Jakey. I’m your girl.”

Lips beginning a path up your cheek to your temple, he hums euphorically and grasps at your ankles, tugging gingerly until your heels are resting on the table. “Will you show me?” His voice is silken and inquisitive, tongue fluttering over your earlobe to bring chills to life inside you. “Hmm? Will you show me how pretty you are for me?”

”Anything,” you pant, arching away from the table, desperate to be closer to him as he pulls back.

You watch on, body throbbing and screaming for him while he pops a raspberry into his mouth and settles back into his chair, legs spread wide, hands fisted into flexing balls at his knees, “Touch yourself for me, sugar. Rub your sweet little clit, nice and slow, just for me.”

Maybe you’d like to say your body protests, maybe you ought to say that you shy away, maybe if you weren’t so indescribably in love with him you’d do both of those things, but as it stands….

….as it stands, you give him what he’s asked for without thought. There isn’t a breath of hesitation. You simply roll two fingers over your tongue, reach down between your thighs, and begin.

The hushed moan that tumbles off the tip of your tongue tugs a sigh from his lungs that sets you further on fire. He sounds so beautiful, so wholly under a spell that you can’t fathom having the ability to cast over this deity of a man.

“There’s my good girl,” he is so quiet, you’d scarcely hear him were your focus not so completely honed in on jake jake jake, “Does that feel good, little girl? Is my sugar making that pretty pink pussy feel just so nice?”

He is an obscene angel staring you down with snarled hair and wicked sin in his wild eyes.

A trembling sound is all you’re able to manage as your touch dips inside yourself to draw slick back up to your clit.

”Yeah?” he tilts his head, watching you reverently, “It looks like it does. You’re dripping all over the table. I want to lick it up.”

“Please,” your fingers circle faster, but something is missing. He, close though he might be, is missing.

”Please, what?” He sounds as needy and hungry as you feel. “Tell me what you want me to do to you and I’ll do it, baby. Whatever you want…I’ll fucking do it.”

”Your mouth,” your legs spread wider until your hips protest, and then you spread a little wider in offering. “I’d like to have your mouth please, Jakey. Please. lick me, please, please.”

A groan rumbles out of his chest like pained thunder as he wraps his arms around your thighs, tugging you in and burying his mouth exactly where you’ve so politely begged for it. Another anguished sound pushes from his lungs as he drinks down his first mouthful of you.

The tip of his tongue teases over your shivering clit, and then slinks down to dip inside you, and then down farther still to lap against that heavenly little spot where it shouldn’t be.

He hums against you while you whine and yank at his hair, pulling his kiss in closer as your hips lift away from the wood you’re making such a mess of.

“Fuck,” your fingers lace through his hair perhaps just a bit too tightly, but a quiet grunt signals his appreciation, “right there.”

“I know where you like my mouth every now and then, sugar,” his words are hot against you as his thumb slides, warm and thick, inside your cunt “Dirty girl.”

Watching you shy away so endearingly squeezes at his chest. You have always given yourself to him so completely. You have always been his girl. His mouth has known every breathtaking inch of your body in a hundred different lifetimes. His heart has known your heart in a thousand more.

Your fingers search out your clit, neglected and crying out for attention, completing that lovely trifecta as you rock your hips, fucking his face without shame.

He is yours and you will take him.

Your belly is burning, white hot and tight, coiling and churning as your body begins to tremble and flush.

“Gonna cum…” A complete sentence seems an impossible task “I— oh, please, please, please,”

His fingers replace his thumb with a feral growl low in his throat, tucking up in behind your clit as you watch his arm begin to move rhythmically below the table.

”Don’t cum,” you order through whimpers and whines that sound anything but authoritative. How difficult it proves to be to be bossy when his tongue is warm and wet where you shouldn’t adore it so damn much.

”I won’t,” his promise is beautifully muffled. “But I want you to do it. Cum for me, fuck doll…give it up pretty.”

You tighten deliciously around his searching tongue and delving fingers as it crawls through you like sinking into a warm bath that swirls with glittering, lilac goldfish. They kiss your skin soft as monarch wings; strange, swimming beings in the waters that are Jacob. It is lovely, though given the filth that has ushered you into this state, maybe that makes no sense.

He works you carefully until your breathing begins to stutter and gasp uncomfortably, and then there is his striking and stunning face - cheeks blazing with desire - kissing and licking up your body as you squirm languidly.

“Was that good, baby?” His teeth are dragging against the swell of your breast now, igniting a fire within you anew.

Jacob, always so cocksure and confident, sounds famished for your approval. How strange.

You hand it over willingly and honestly, on a silver platter of affection, “So, good, Jakey…I love you so much.”

“You taste like fucking candy everywhere,” his praise is little more than a whispered murmur as he buries into the crook of your neck, “I want you in my mouth and under my fingertips forever, for fucking always.”

The tip of his cock, full and hot like velvet, sweeps across your entrance, teasing inside just a breath before pulling back and then nudging in all over again.

“Put it in,” your fingers are clawing lazily at his hips, silently trying to guide him into action, “Fuck Jake, please baby, just slip it inside and—“

He grinds his hips forward, cutting you off, filling you up, pulsing and slick and hot and…

”My girl,” his words are humid at your throat as he whimpers through a physical shudder. “My sugar, my love. That’s my baby, that’s it…taking it so well. You feel so fucking good.”

His wandering fingers find and sweep over your clit with a glide as sweet as satin, and it has you clenching down around him so wildly his eyes snap shut with a furrowed brow, mouth hanging open in a silent moan.

Buried to the hilt now, those eyes lull open to stare down where your bodies connect. “Looks so pretty stretched around my cock. How’d this little cunt ever get so beautiful?”

Your cheek turns to meet the cool of the oak you're draped across, embarrassed in the most blissful way, but he is positively weak for the way his words cause your thighs to tighten around his waist.

His name begins to burn out of your lungs, smoking into the sun-soaked kitchen like a prayer.

”That’s it,” he sounds faraway, like he’s crooning to you from across the room, “My name, sugar…always my name.”

And then, there is his thumb, soaked in your need and brushing against that spot just below where his cock is dragging in and out of your cunt.

A wanton cry for more bleeds out of you, bringing forth another knit of his brow as he sinks inside you to follow the deep thrust of his cock, “‘Oh my’, right sugar? Isn’t that how my fuck doll reacts? All sweet like a lady, to being filled up so full?”

His loving, mocking tone snatches you back full circle to that very first night with him that seems so long ago…he has been all you’ve ever wanted, ever since. He is all you will ever want.

He is every direction, the night and the day, every song ever written…every poem ever wept onto pages, every star that will light the skyline tonight and all the ones that came before. He is every beat of your pulse, every breath in your lungs - and when you breathe your last, it will be his name on your lips.

White explodes behind your eyes as fireworks detonate down deep inside you, sparkling a crackling-like frenetic energy throughout your nervous system until you are tightened up and writhing with it…cumming so hard, so fucking hard, that you nearly force his beautiful cock right out of your body.

He follows your lead and pulls away, tugging at himself violently as you shower down over him like the filthiest, most exquisite drops of summer-of-love rain.

“Oh fuck, sugar, please,” he’s whining as his release lands hot and frantic against your quivering stomach, but for what, neither of you know.

You’re lost in his faraway expression, watching him fight for a deep breath as you search for your own composure when your fingers sweep through a milky ribbon painted across your navel…you want to taste him, but his grip is wrapped firmly around your wrist in an instant, with your fingers nestled against his cashmere tongue.

“I’ll clean my pretty girl up myself, if she doesn’t mind.” His mouth brushes soothingly at your hip just before he begins licking up his own release, eyes cast upwards to your own as you shake, stunned and blissfully shellshocked.

At last, you find your voice as his bubblegum pink tongue curls over the last drop, “You taste good, don’t you, Jakey?”

“Not as good as you, sugar,” His mouth is on yours now, kissing far too sweetly for what you know him to be capable of. “not even close.”

“Shower?” He pops another raspberry into your mouth and then nuzzles against your nose.

”Bath.” You correct, nearly melting into the table beneath his love.

A sponge, fresh out of its package and now smothered in body wash, drags across your chest as his chest rests against your back.

”We leave tonight?’ Your voice sounds unfamiliar…too content, too relaxed. It’s been such a long time since you’ve sounded this way. Since you’ve been so completely happy.

”I wish we could stay longer,” he kisses at your drenched, now squeaky clean hair, “just you and me.”

”Me too,” you sigh, settling back into his embrace even more, “but I’m also excited to see those idiots you call brothers. Especially the baby.”

”He’s missed you.” More kisses to clutch at your already stolen heart. “Nothing was the same without you, sugar. Time to come home.”

Taglist: @gretasintrees @greta-van-chaos @celestialfauna @s0livagant @groggyvanfleet @kiszkathecook @brokenbellz @llightmyllovee @doodle417 @seventieswhore @jake-kiszkas-smirk @weightofdreams-gvf @imdepressedaf1996 @alisonwonderland29 @gretavanfleas @gretavangroove @jakesgrapejuice @sparrowofthedawn @xserenax-13 @obetrolncocktails @tripthelightfandomtastic @tripthelight-fanfic @jakeslovehandles @poofyloofy @70sgroupielovr @heatmyfleet @age-of-nyahh @sammiboo162 @spicedandicedtea @jakekiszkasleftnutsack @saoirsemaeve @mywickeddivinity @lvnterninthenight @paintmyhouse @mckenna4 @sarakay-gvf @theweightofjake @thewritingbeforesunrise @joshsmama @sammysvanfeet @rhythm-of-space @highladyofasgard @calumspretty @sad1lynn @demolitionndann @gvfpal @starcatcher-jake @gretavangroupie @hugorobinson @jaketlove

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deputyrook · 6 months

Text

Impressions- 4/? Mark Hoffman x Psychic!Reader (18+)

PART 1. PART 2. PART 3.

You're a reluctant psychic. He's a detective. And a serial killer.

(Welcome to the point of no return.)

Word count: 4147

NOTE: I have made an executive decision. The reader has a vagina. In other news, this chapter is explicit.

The fic is now 18+ (but why are you reading a saw fic if you're under 18...?) If you don't like smut uhhh idk skip through this one, I guess. Sorry!

WARNINGS: Explicit sex, degradation (minor), manipulation, corruption, stockholm syndrome, general saw levels of horror.

When you wake up again, you do so suddenly, with a gasp. It's like you're taking your first deep breath of fresh air after being trapped underwater.

"You're awake!" Kerry says with a gasp of her own, the sound of her voice coming from the right of where you're lying. Cushioned in blankets and bandages, you feel a little restrained, and have to fight the desire to rip yourself out of bed.

It takes another moment for your awareness to fully kick in. The world remains dark. Your ability to see is simply gone, snuffed out like a candle.

Instead, you can feel. You can tell Kerry is there, to your right, but also that Mark Hoffman is sitting somewhere off to your left. You feel his presence like a beacon- roiling aggression under a composed front, with a deep sense of pride. His concern is sharper than a knife point.

But is it concern for you, or concern for what you might say, now that you've woken up?

Stretching out from your point of origin, you can feel pinpricks of presence, almost overwhelming in number. Fleeting emotions of loss, panic, sorrow, hope, and anger flit past you, but you're able to keep your distance from them, without getting sucked in to the whirlpool of other people's feelings.

That's new.

"Hey Ally," you croak, your voice hoarse, "How about that, huh? Looks like I made it onto Jigsaw's radar."

You feel Kerry's guilt before she speaks, pouring out of her. Gently, she reaches forward and takes your right hand into hers. My fault, my only friend, first Eric and now this. And I wasn't even the first to notice-

"Um, where's Prawn?" You ask, touching your wrist gingerly with your free hand. It's itchy, and you can feel thick gauze wrapped around your wounds. By the smell of disinfectant and the sound of distant beeping, you're fairly certain you're in a hospital bed.

"He's fine," Kerry says, her voice wavering and watery, "I've been watching him. He's been worried sick, you know."

"I guess that makes three people, at least," you say, nodding your head over toward you guess Mark Hoffman is sitting. Off in that direction, you hear the rustle of clothing, like someone is sitting up.

"You can see me?" You hear him ask, groggy and confused.

"No," You reply softly, "Lucky guess."

"There was no tape left behind," Kerry murmurs, brushing her thumb over your knuckles, "We don't know why you were taken. Usually, there's a tape. Were there any instructions left for you? Any clues that you can remember?"

"Christ Kerry, they've just woken up," Mark mutters. With a creek of his chair, you hear him stand, and then a slow sound of heavy footsteps indicate to you that he's walking over to your bedside.

He's been sleeping by your bed, you note. Probably because he's worried you're going to break down and tell Kerry- Mark Hoffman is working with Jigsaw and he burned out my fucking eyes!

"You know how he likes to play with the detectives hunting him, Ally," You say instead, dodging the question about the tape. You have no idea how to answer that. "I'm your best friend. And..."

You pause, mid-sentence. Frustrated, angry, and more than a little hysterical, it's dawning on you now that you're never going to see again. It's at least partially the fault of the man to your left.

But when Mark reaches out and takes your other hand into his, turning it over to trace a spiral shape into your palm, your stomach still flips. The mounting attraction and sexual tension between you hasn't vanished just because you're pissed off and hurt.

Unfortunately.

"And we're seeing each other," Mark adds, simply, "Makes sense he'd go after you."

"Sorry?" Kerry sputters. She actually lets go of your hand, she's so shocked, "What the hell happened to not interested?"

"I knew you'd make a big deal about it," you mumble, going with the lie as your cheeks burn. You hate lying to Kerry, and not just because you hate lying in general.

"You told her you weren't interested?" Mark asks, and you think you can hear a hint of real amusement in his tone.

"Well, I could tell it was a lie," Kerry replies, "but-"

"HELLO?" You raise your voice, cutting her off, "Jigsaw victim? Serial killer targeted me? Deep, deep trauma? Not allowed to make fun of me right now!"

Kerry laughs, and you think you can hear a note of relief in it.

"This is why I love you," She says fondly. "Jigsaw would never be able to kill you. You're the most resilient motherfucker I've ever met. Who jokes at a time like this?"

"Yes, rub in how weird I am right now," You reply, wrinkling your nose. You let go of Mark's hand and push yourself up to a seated position, and then throw off your blankets. Sliding over to the right side of the bed, you sit on the edge of the mattress, suddenly unsure of yourself.

The entire world is still out there.

"Hey, that was a compliment," Kerry says, "You might want to take it easy, though. For real, you've been through a lot."

Heavy footsteps walk around to the edge of the bed you're sitting on, and you can feel Mark Hoffman, standing in front of you. As you reach out, you feel an arm to steady you, and you grab hold of it as you pull yourself up. Beside you, you hear Kerry stand as well.

"Why are two of the three lead detectives on the Jigsaw-Investigations-Unit hanging out by my hospital bed, anyway?" You ask, brushing her worry off, "Shouldn't you be out there casing the s- wherever I was found?"

"Consider it cased," Kerry replies with a sigh, missing your slip-up, "You're our main lead right now. We're going to need to take your statement at the station, once you feel well enough to go."

Mark Hoffman is a stable anchor to lean on. Looping your hand through the crook of his arm, you consider the endless, vast sea of darkness surrounding you. In the far-off distance, various abstractions graze against your awareness, different from the more localized flares of feeling.

You focus and reach out to one of them, with a slight tilt of your head.

A flash, in your mind, of a man and a woman you've never seen before, side-by-side. Her, with dark tightly curled hair, full lips, and decisiveness like an arrow. Him, with a strong jaw, dark eyes, and a barely contained mania that threatens to leak out from the seams. He knows the water just as you do. Neither of you will drown.

You don't know who they are, but you know they will be important.

"Did you... sense anything?" Kerry asks hesitatingly, as though worried asking the question will offend you, "When Jigsaw took you, or when you were in the trap?"

"Too much," You answer cagily, "But I didn't have time to make sense of it. I was a little distracted by the looming threat of death, in my defence."

"Fair enough," Kerry replies wearily. Something beeps, off by where she's standing, and she curses.

"I have to run," She says, "Our tech guy just got in and I have to brief him on the investigation. Hoffman, are you able to take them to the police station for the statement?"

"Sure thing," He responds, "I was hoping we could talk, anyway."

"Right," Kerry remarks. There's a long pause, and she adds with a grumble, "So weird. I don't know how to feel about this."

You fake a grin, and wave her off. As soon as you sense her presence fading, along with the sound of her footsteps clicking down the hall, you turn to Mark Hoffman, let go of his arm, and whack him on his broad chest.

"You son of a bitch," you hiss, whacking him again.

"Hey, hey-" He snaps back, grabbing your hands and holding them firmly in place before you can hit him again, "Stop it."

"I should tell everyone," you whisper angrily, "You took my fucking eyes, Mark."

"John Kramer took your eyes. You think I wanted to put you in that thing?" You try to break free of his grip on your wrists, without success.

"And you just do everything he says, is that right? Two hundred and fifty pounds between him and Amanda both, and you were helpless?" You say, yanking your arms free. Your brain buzzes with the desire to hurt him the way he's hurt you, and you conclude that it's not by hitting him again.

"You think Angela would approve of that?" You whisper to him, "Do you think she-"

Strong hands reach out and shove you backward. You hit the wall, hard. It's disorienting, and with no way to anticipate it or brace yourself, pain blossoms across your back. You feel Hoffman press you against the wall, one of his hands grabbing you by the jaw.

"Watch your fucking mouth," he snarls, keeping his voice low. It's a dangerous tone, and you can't help but feel satisfied, knowing that you're managed to get under his skin. Once again, you've caught a glimpse of the predator hiding under his cool exterior.

Pressing in so close to you, you can smell him, a light scent of amber and cedar cologne. Trying to catch the breath that's been knocked out of you, you can feel the rise and fall of his chest, panting, so close that it's brushing against yours.

A different sensation floods you, your anger melting into molten arousal. The tension between you feels wound to a snapping point, your blood flushing to your cheeks and causing your skin to tingle. His grip on your jaw is tight, almost painful, but you tilt up your chin ever-so-slightly, baring your neck.

You feel like you're going a little bit insane, frankly. Who could blame you, after what you've been through recently? Your body shouldn't be reacting like this, not when you should be furious with him.

But fuck it.

"Or what?" You whisper, "You going to teach me a lesson, Detective?"

Your taunt seem to hang in the air, and although you can't see Mark's reaction, you hear a noise of frustration escape from him. The hand holding your jaw moves to tilt your chin up.

"You've got a smart mouth," He mutters angrily, the pad of his thumb brushing against your bottom lip. Mark leans his face in close, and you can feel his breath on your neck. One of his thighs presses forward, between your legs. Pinned against the wall, you couldn't wiggle out of this if you wanted to- and you don't want to.

"You really sure you want to test me?" He murmurs in your ear, both a threat and a promise. With your heart beating so wildly that you're sure he can hear it, you try to shift, but his weight against yours keeps you pressed firmly in place. The friction from his thigh, and the heat of his breath on your ear, causes you to let out an embarrassing little groan of pleasure.

"Mark-"

"Not your smartest idea," Mark lets out an irritated huff of breath, and another beat passes between you before he continues, voice rough. "You know, I've wanted to fuck you since the moment I met you, sweetheart."

Fuck. Heat and need crawl up your spine.

"When you were threatening me in your car?" You ask a little too breathlessly, with a raise of your eyebrow. Gathering your bearings, you slip your arms around his shoulders, holding onto him.

"Yeah," Mark answers, lips and teeth grazing your neck, and you shiver. You need more of his mouth on you, now.

Mark freezes, seeming to be momentarily distracted by something.

"Door's open," He mutters to you.

"It is?" You whisper back in worry, grabbing the fabric of his jacket and squirming in his hold, "Can you...close it?"

"You don't want anyone else to see you like this?" He asks with a smirk in his voice, pulling back. You can almost feel his eyes running over you, looking you up and down, "Only me, huh?"

He pulls back not a moment too soon. You can feel another presence approaching your room, and you tap his shoulder hurriedly.

"Someone's coming." Regrettably, and with a grunt of annoyance, Mark lets go of you, taking a step back. You miss the warmth of his body immediately, but you hear someone enter the room not long after.

"Oh, you're up!" A male voice calls out, alarmed, "Detective, please save your questions for later," Footsteps walk over to where the two of you stand, and the voice adds, "I need to check your eyes. Assuming everything looks...stable, there will be some paperwork to go through, and then you should be cleared for discharge."

You hear Mark sigh. An alarm rings out- from his phone, if you had to guess- and he quickly turns it off. Something about the noise nags at your awareness, like you know innately that something is off about it.

"We can do the statement at the station tomorrow. But let me know when you get home," Mark remarks, before adding, "I'll see you later."

And then he's gone too, leaving you with the doctor in a darkened world.

"There's a lot we should go over," The doctor tells you sheepishly, "Things are going to be very different for you, now."

You have a feeling he's right.

---

You are supposed to have a long, cold shower when you get home. You are supposed to come to your senses, re-evaluate your choices, and examine what the hell you thought you were doing earlier.

After thinking it over, you are supposed to realize you're acting rashly, being ridiculous, and playing with fire- you can't want Detective Mark Hoffman, knowing what you know about him. What he does to people, and what he did you.

That... does not happen.

By the time you've fumbled your way through your apartment door, cane in hand and sunglasses on, your desire for him has increased tenfold. It only increases further when you realize you're alone in the apartment, with not even your cat to greet you- Kerry must still have Prawn at her place.

It all seems horribly lonely, all of a sudden. You'll never again see your cat's sleepy expression, or the soft fur on his belly when he rolls over. You won't get to look at the art pieces hung up on your walls, or curl up on your couch to watch a movie in the same way as before. As you stand in your entryway, it dawns on you that you're not even sure how you'll make dinner tonight.

Right now you're feeling helpless.

Hmm. Had you thought those words before?

You may be Kerry's only real friend. But she is also yours. And you could use someone to help you adapt to your new circumstances. You could call her, and she would come over to help you. Make you dinner, clean up your place.

But if you're being honest with yourself, Kerry isn't the person you want in your apartment right now, and you don't want to work on adjusting your life. You want Mark here, to fuck you within an inch of your life and make you forget, paradoxical as it is.

Carefully, you make your way over to your couch. It takes a couple of tries with your cell phone, but with the accessibility features turned on, you eventually find Mark's number.

You hesitate.

If you sleep with Mark Hoffman tonight, that's crossing a line that you're not going to be able to uncross. What would Kerry think, to know that all along, not only have you known who the secret Jigsaw accomplice is, but that you chose to fuck him after you found out?

It's not the heat of the moment, anymore. You are here, alone, with a clear head and the time to reconsider and back out of this. You can even just visit Kerry, grab your cat, and skip town. If you keep messing around, you're going to end up actually helping a serial killer- if you're not already.

The notion doesn't bother you. Not as much as it should.

"Hey. I'm at home," You say into the phone, trying and failing to sound casual, "You remember my address, right? I could... use some help. If you're free." You pause, and add in for good measure, "It's the least you can do. You know, considering."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there soon," Mark Hoffman replies curtly, before he hangs up the phone.

You try to tidy up before he arrives, kicking the clothes you can find into your closet and gently putting away some dishes. What use are psychic powers if you keep nailing yourself on your kitchen island every time you walk past?

It isn't long before you feel Mark's presence entering the edge of your awareness. You can sense him, and the electric feeling up pent up energy as he approaches. What's the radius on that? You'll need to experiment, later. The thought of him approaching makes you nervous, your heart fluttering in anticipation and early arousal.

You open the door for him just before he goes to knock on it.

"Hey," You say, "I know, the glasses are a new look, I-"

He is shoving you back into the apartment, mouth pressing against you before you can react. Walking you backward, he is kissing you insistently, aggressively. A hand on your waist squeezes, keeping you exactly where he wants you. Heat seems to radiate from everywhere he touches, sending a heady need coursing through your body.

Mark leaves you momentarily. You hear your apartment door closing and latching shut, and the click of a lock. Then he's back, his mouth on yours again, hard, unrelenting kisses leaving you dizzy.

Every movement is dominant, unyielding. Mark Hoffman leaves no quarter as he groans into your mouth, a low and hungry noise.

"You want me to take care of you?" He groans, low and rough against your mouth, "You need me to fuck you until you go dumb, baby?"

You let out a needy whine in the affirmative, nodding your head as you clench your thighs together. His hands grip your hips, holding you tight in a way that makes your entire body tremble. You know that your face is burning, and it's embarrassing, how quickly you're falling apart under his attention- and he's barely even touched you yet.

Suddenly his hands have left your hips, and you feel a palm flat on your chest, pushing you back. Your lower back stings as it smacks against the kitchen island, and once again, you're pinned. Exactly where he wants you.

"Mark," you gasp out. You can feel the warmth of his body, so close to yours, but he doesn't touch you yet. You reach out your hands to touch his broad chest, running them across the fabric of his shirt, but he doesn't reciprocate.

"What do you want? Use your words," He murmurs into your ear, condescending and teasing. Shame makes your cunt clench.

"Touch me, please-"

"That it? You just want me to touch you?" He mocks. You can hear the wolfish grin in his voice. His hands trail up your body and under your shirt, sliding across your smooth skin. Surprisingly deft fingers pinch one of your nipples, rolling it in a way that makes you cry out and grind your hips forward, frustratingly, against nothing.

"Jesus, Mark," You snap, desperation straining your voice, "You're a dick. I want you to fuck me until I forget my name, is that better?"

He actually laughs, before sliding a hand down the front of your pants. Another gasp falls from your lips, followed by a ragged moan as his fingers slip past your underwear to find you soaked. Calloused fingers tease you as you lean forward, your forehead resting on his shoulder.

Bliss electrifies your body, and you can't stop the whimpers and gasps that escape from you as you as Mark harshly encircles your clit. The pace is merciless, and you squirm under his touch, the pleasure mounting quickly.

God, but you can't even think. You hold onto his arm and moan his name, a sound broken by lust.

"Fuck," He hisses with a groan of his own, "Can't wait any longer."

With a yank, your pants and underwear are around your ankles. You barely have time to step out of them before Mark has flipped you around, bending your body over the kitchen island. His movements are forceful, almost brutal in their execution.

Mark's body leans over yours, and you can feel the press of his hard cock through his pants as he lays his body over yours to speak in your ear.

"You're so fucking needy. You're going to take me so well, aren't you sweetheart?"

It only takes a moment for him to pull back and undo his pants. A jagged, filthy moan is torn from you as he presses his cock inside of you, and with a snap of his hips, he fills you completely. His hands grip your hips so tightly that you're sure they're going to leave bruises across your skin.

His cock feels perfect inside of you, so thick and full that you're sure it's going to drive you insane. It's going to ruin you.

Gripping onto the edges of the kitchen island for purchase, you whimper as he begins to move.

His weight bears down on you, the hard edge of the counter nearly cutting into your stomach. You can't find it in you to care, not with the way that Mark starts to thrust into you, setting a ruthless pace.

He fucks you hard.

"Mark," you eke out, barely able to hold onto the counter. Your entire body jolts with each snap of his hips, slammed again and again against the surface. Heat is building in your stomach, burning through your core.

"Come on baby," He says, voice almost hoarse with lust, "You're making me feel so good. Come on, come on, come on my cock."

A hand reaches around your body, and his fingers find your clit again. They rub harsh, hot circles into your skin. The sensation is overwhelming, the pleasure taking you to the edge of your release and then kicking you over it. You feel utterly helpless, utterly undone.

You writhe under Mark Hoffman, coming with a cry.

And your reality seems to crack apart. A million futures narrow to a thousand, and as you breathe, you feel the world breathe with you. You feel Mark behind you, inside of you, his cruelty and his oppression, the hunter, the killer, the lover, the sinner-

It's going to rain blood down upon him. Upon you both.

With a few more brutal thrusts inside of you, Mark grunts as he reaches his own climax, slowing to hard, deliberate strokes as he spills inside of you. You moan weakly, already sore, as he continues to move until he's fully spent. Eventually, his movements stop, and you can feel as his cock finishes pulsing inside of you.

Slowly, Mark's hands let go of your waist. He pulls back, off of you, and steps away.

You peel yourself off of the counter and stumble over to your couch, laying down as you catch your breath. After a few minutes, you hear Mark sit down beside you. A hand grazes your leg, touching it almost affectionately.

"We should have used a condom," you mumble.

"Yeah," He agrees, "Doubt you regret it, though," and you have to admit, he's right about that.

You sit in a comfortable silence together for a while. His hand strokes your calf, his fingers running up and down the bare skin of your shin in a soothing motion. It feels good. Calm, after the ferocity of the sex you just experienced.

"I think... I've got to go to the bathroom," you say suddenly, sitting up and surprising yourself with your words.

"I'm not stopping you," Mark replies, and you shake your head.

"No- no, the underground one. The Jigsaw one," You shuffle on the couch, turning fully to him, "I think... I don't know why, but I think I'll be able to find answers there. About the third apprentice."

Mark hums in thought.

"John doesn't know that you know about that," he says, "He and Amanda will be gone pretty soon. And I sure as hell want to know about any secrets waiting for us."

"Then we'll go," You say decisively. You think of your vision of the two other mysterious figures later, and the rainfall of blood. Suddenly, you feel exhausted. And hungry.

"...We'll go tomorrow."

---

A/N- I'm thinking there are one, maybe two more parts left in this story. I had a tricky time writing this chapter, so please leave a comment if you enjoyed! <3

TAG LIST: @icarusinstatic @honimello @haven-is-happy @karmaswitch @the-jester-calamity @teamhawkeye @thebrideofcaliban @mjrkime @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @mrs-hotforhoffman @aliengutzstuff

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NEXT CHAPTER

#mark hoffman #sawposting #slasher fic #costas mandylor #my writing #slasher x reader #detective hoffman #mark hoffman x oc #mark hoffman x reader #smut #psychicverse

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lorre-verie · 1 year

Text

₊˚ʚ ᗢ. ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ ᴏʀ ᴅᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴛ. ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

aka, the chapter where shit really goes down (i CANNOT emphasise this enough)

the unfortunate pair: ao’nung x fem! sully! reader

chapter summary: after experiencing so many issues with your health (and beating the crap out of Ao’nung), a relaxing visit to the spirit tree was exactly what you needed. Or is it? In the end, you and Ao’nung have a bit too much fun with each other, considering your shared hatred.

warnings: mentions of death, cussing (somewhere here), fighting, crying, idk, sad stuff

word count: 6k

“Y/N? Can you hear me?”

“I think she’s waking up.”

“Y/N, please don’t die!!”

You slowly opened your eyes to the muffled voices that surrounded you. Your body jolted forward, head spinning, still feeling like you were trapped inside the deep blue.

“Woah woah woah, slow down, tiger.”

You felt a pair of hands steady you by your shoulders; your dad.

A gentle hand rested on your back; your mother.

You could hear tiny sniffles as you tried to make sense of what was going around you; Tuk.

The world was becoming more comprehensible with each breath you took, so you focused on that. Chilly hands shaking, you placed them on your face to wake yourself up, fingers delicately massaging your eyelids.

“That’s it, princess, come back to us.” your father half-whispered, his warm hands still planted firmly on your shoulders like if he let you go, you’d start levitating.

You blinked a few times, looking at your entire family staring at you in a rather spacious tent. You were laying in a hammock. The strong scent of herbs wafted in the air, you could almost taste them on your tongue. It seemed that you were in the metkayina’s healer tent.

You heard Kiri’s voice somewhere behind you, “Do you need anything?” her words echoed in your brain.

You opened your mouth, rubbing your temples. “He..hejolum,” you managed to utter, “please.”

note: hejolum is a concoction I completely made up and used for curing dizziness and nausea.

A slight pause ensued, but was followed shortly by the sounds of Kiri rummaging through the herbs to make the mixture.

“How are you feeling?” Neteyam asked softly. He was next to your mother, Lo’ak behind him. “I think I’m good,” you responded a little bit hesitantly.

“What happened?” your voice picked up its volume, you were finding the strength to move the rest of your body.

Neteyam and Lo’ak shared a look. Kiri walked up behind you with a warm bowl of a greenish liquid, tapping your chin for you to open it.

“I can drink that myse–” She disregarded your words and started pouring the liquid down your throat as you opened your mouth, and you nearly choked and spat it all out. When you were done, you gave her a sharp glare.

“That’s what you get for requesting hejolum instead of fyorl leaves.” she smiled innocently, putting the bowl away in a corner. You wondered if she even got permission from Ronal to start using her herbs, but you didn’t feel like bringing it up.

“Hejolum is more effective!” you scrunched your eyebrows together. “Yeah, but fyorl leaves work just as fine and I don’t have to work for it,” she rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky you had a near-death experience, or I’d be shoving those leaves down your throat right about now.”

Your ears perked up at ‘near death experience’. Memories of the purple shell and your struggle flashed through your mind like a really badly put-together slideshow. And then it dawned on you.

“Who brought me here?” you looked at Neteyam. His hesitancy to answer said it all.

You hopped off the hammock quickly, your body almost toppling over. “Hey, hey, easy! You still need to rest!” your father called out to you, but you were already sprinting away in search of Ao’nung.

Neytiri sighed next to him. As he watched you stumble over yourself, Jake couldn’t help but feel a small grin make its way up onto his face.

“She’s definitely her father’s daughter.” he smirked, earning a groan from your mother.

You didn’t know why, exactly, you were running. You just knew you wanted to thank him for saving your life.

It felt exhilarating to feel the wind in your hair and the sand beneath your toes, and you ran to where you usually saw Ao’nung hanging around, slowing your steps.

The broad leaves of the trees swayed with the soothing breeze, and you slipped in between the dense foliage, just so that in case you did find Ao’nung you could surprise him and make him yelp. A mischievous grin appeared on your face as you thought about it.

And then you heard voices. They were laughing, and you recognised his deep tone among the others. You quickly headed left, towards where you could hear them.

Weaving in between the trees, you finally spotted them. You hid behind a tree that was thicker and taller than the others, listening to their conversation. Just because.

“Wait, did you guys hear something?” a boy that had similar hair as Rotxo said in between their laughter.

“You’re being delusional.” Ao’nung chuckled, but his head turned to see if anyone was there. You didn’t show any signs of life, even going as far as to hold your breath.

“You’re the one being delusional. Do you like that girl now?” another friend of his commented. You assumed that he was talking about you, because everyone thought you two were interested in each other.

But still, you wanted to hear what he was going to say. His friends jeered at him, one of them mimicking kissy faces. You gagged at the thought.

“No way,” his tone was one of disgust. “I wouldn’t like that freak even if the fate of the world depended on it.”

You felt a sudden emptiness in your chest at those words.

“Their whole family is a bunch of freaks, I’m going to be honest.”

Your fingers curled inwards, your thumb pressed tightly against your palm. Your breathing became shallow as he went on.

“And did you see how temperamental the girl is? She’s a pain in the ass to deal with,” he laughed.

Your blood was boiling.

That fucking,

bitch.

Before you knew it, your arms and legs were moving on their own, hoisting you up on the tree. You made your way up on top of the tree, not caring for the way the bark dug into your palms, scratching up your hands, as his friends laughed at his remarks, his insults towards your siblings and you.

You crouched on top of the thick broad leaves, balancing yourself with your hands and your feet planted on the section where the branch separated into leaf.

One of his friends looked up and saw you, making eye contact. He backed up and ran without a word, making everyone else confused.

The other two looked up and Ao’nung continued to talk shit, even mocking you and your brother. “Ao’nung–” the rotxo-looking one gasped.

“And can you believe it? They’re such slow learners!”

“Ao’nung!” the other one hissed.

“And– What?” he looked confused, before looking up to see what his friends were looking at. His eyes widened in horror, he didn’t even have time to react as you pounced on him from above, knocking him down onto the dirt.

His pathetic little crew ran for the hills as you delivered a hard punch to his face, an absolutely deranged look in your eye. He fought to get you off his body but to no avail, and the only thing he could do was scream bloody murder.

You thrashed and clawed at his skin, the feeling of something wet flowing underneath your nose making you stop abruptly, and the distinct red of blood tinted your fingertips when you wiped on the spot above your lips.

The skxawng beneath you took the opportunity to try and push you off him, but you bit his arm in retaliation and he yelped in pain.

“You’re CRAZY–”

You were laying down on top of your sleeping bag in your marui, playing with your hair in between your fingers as your father paced around angrily. His heavy steps as he scolded you were the only thing you were even processing, too busy thinking about the million different methods you could use to murder that two faced donk–

“Are you even listening to me right now?” he groaned, the wrinkles on his forehead were more prominent now than ever.

“Mhm. You can’t attack people for no reason, why would you do that, I’m growing old and I can’t see the brave sacrifice and revolutionary importance of what my daughter did for her family,” you listed, mimicking his low gruff voice.

“Princess, you know I hate having these kinds of talks with you,” he sighed, crouching down next to you, and you let go of your hair, crossing your arms to look at him.

The small sound of something dropping to the ground came from outside, and you both turned your heads in the direction of the source. “Lo’ak! Don’t touch anything you aren’t supposed to!” he shouted.

More sounds of rummaging and a faint “damn it, how’s it he always knows?” followed, before silence returned.

You turned your heads back to each other.

“But it’s vital. You’re my daughter and I care about what you do. And anyway, I’m not the one you should be afraid of.” he raised his eyebrows, shaking his head. You frowned, realising what he was implying.

“Your mom is gonna freak out, I’m telling you. And I suppose that’s punishment enough for you.” he ruffled your hair with his hand, winking as if to say good luck, I can’t save you as he picked himself up, leaving through the flap of the marui.

Your mother stepped inside, and your ears flattened. You knew how she was when she was angered. You got up quickly as she walked to you.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, her eyes searching your body for any sign of injuries. You shook your head no, ignoring the fact your palms had tiny cuts on them.

“Good. Now tell me why you did that to the boy.” she looked into your eyes patiently.

“He called our family freaks, he mocked 'Teyam's accent, he said Kiri’s nose looked weird, he said dad looks 30 years older than he actually is,” you went on, listing every scathing comment he said about your family, your mother’s face either morphing into one of outrage or shock after each thing.

“And…yeah that’s it I think.”

“So you beat him?”

“...yes.”

“How?”

“Well I climbed a tree, and then I jumped down from the tree onto him, knocking him down, then I punched his face and then bit his arm when he tried to slap me off–”

“He tried to slap you??” she fumed.

“Yeah, and then I kicked him in the crotch before Neteyam pushed me back,” you said with a matter-of-factly tone, shrugging. You left out the part where you got a random nosebleed in the middle of the fight. After all, it was probably because you were just so enraged by Ao’nung’s stupidity.

She angled her head upwards, not saying anything for a few moments. You heard a cough from outside.

“I am very disappointed in you,” she said loudly, but with the hint of a prideful smile on her face. Pulling you into a tight hug and pressing a kiss to your forehead, she whispered ‘play along’.

“You have disgraced our family and I hope that you understand the severity and the consequences of your actions, Y/N.” Her tone of voice was ruthless, but the look on her face said otherwise.

You put on your best fake pout, “But–”

“No buts.” she crossed her arms, still smirking.

“See, Y/N? What did I tell you?” your father sauntered in, playing the good cop once more. He walked up behind your mother, rubbing her back reassuringly. “Don’t worry, my love. You don’t have to get so mad at her, she’s only a child.”

Neytiri rolled her eyes lightheartedly when he wasn’t looking at her, causing you to desperately hold back a smile that was fighting its way to your face.

“But,” your father said pointedly, “you must go and apologise to the boy.”

“What?” you uncrossed your arms, staring wide-eyed with your mouth hanging open.

“You heard me. Go find him, and apologise. You can’t be on bad terms with the olo’eyktan’s son, especially when half of the village already hates us.” he stated, hands still around your mother’s shoulders.

You knew it was no use to fight him against it, so you let out an exaggerated sigh and slumped your way to find the dumbass. As you left, your mother turned to your father. “You were right.”

He looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“She really is her father’s daughter,” she laughed, remembering when her mate beat up Tsu’tey (may he rest in Eywa’s arms). Jake looked down, slightly ashamed.

It wasn’t fair at all. Not the slightest bit. He was the one that spewed all that goddamned nonsense about your family, and you were the one that needed to apologise?

“He had it coming.” you huffed to no one but yourself, kicking the sand as you “tried” to find Ao’nung. (You were hoping you would just never catch sight of him.)

To your utter surprise, he was also slugging his way across the sand in the direction of your marui, with the exact same sour look on his face. Your eyes met, and you both begrudgingly moved within arm-length of each other.

His face was absolutely beaten, his right eye with a huge bruise around it. There was a bloody scratch on his lip and as you glanced down you noticed the marks of your teeth still near his wrist.

Damn, you really messed him up.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered, looking down to not have to look at his face anymore. Cause if you did, you’d just look at his black eye the whole time.

He crossed his arms, sighing “I’m sorry as well. I got an earful about it from my mom and she said I deserved it.”

You pressed your lips in a thin line to avoid smiling, but he saw right through it. “Ha ha, very funny,” he rolled his eyes, continuing. “Your siblings are invited to visit our spirit tree tomorrow night. You can’t not go.”

“The spirit tree?” you half gasped half shouted.

“Yes, little forest imp. Do you need your ears checked? If so, I can bring my mother over to have a look.” he smirked, tilting his head to the left in the same manner he always did.

You wanted to hold him against his previous actions, but you thought it was better to forget about it. But if he ever did that shit again, he wouldn’t walk out of the fight with just a black eye.

You turned around, flipping him off as you walked away. “Bye, shit piñata!” A big smile tugged at the corner of your mouth as you imagined his offended look. Oh, how stupid he would look.

The scrumptiously delicious smell of food drifted through the air as you arrived back home, and ducking under the flap of the marui you could see dinner was ready, and your family already sitting down in their places.

Neytiri smiled at you as you came in, gesturing for you to sit in your usual place next to Neteyam. It had only been around 3 weeks since you’d moved to Awa’atlu, but you were already addicted to the food.

“How’d it go?” your older twin asked. Lo’ak and Kiri looked at you expectantly, hoping you’d say you beat him up again.

“It went alright. We had a normal, civilised conversation.”

Kiri groaned and Lo’ak slapped one side of his face, Jake clicking his tongue for them to silence themselves.

Your mother nodded and took hold of your father's and Tuk's hands, signalling for everyone to join in prayer. As all hands interlocked with one another, Neytiri started,

“Great Mother Eywa, we offer our gratitude for the bountiful meal that we are about to share. As we partake in this meal, we ask for your continued blessings and protection for ourselves, our loved ones, and all living beings on this planet. May this food provide us with the strength and energy to carry out your will and serve our purpose in this life.”

As she finished, Lo’ak quickly rubbed his hands together and started scarfing down his food. Neteyam side-eyed him judgmentally, secretly wondering how they came from the same parents.

In between bites, you realised you almost forgot to tell everyone about the invitation. “Oh, guys.” you cleared your throat. “We’ve been invited to see the spirit tree tomorrow.” you looked towards your siblings, and Kiri’s eyes lit up immediately.

“At the cove of ancestors?” she said, mouth full of food. You nodded, and she slapped her palm over her mouth. “Hey that should be fun,” your dad smiled, nodding.

“Can I also go?” Tuk looked up at you with hopeful eyes.

“Of course, Tuk, all of us are going.”

The next day, you, your siblings, Tsireya and Rotxo set off on your little journey on your ilus to see the spirit tree. Ao’nung and you are doing what you do best; annoying the crap out of each other and everyone around you both.

Even while on an ilu, Ao’nung moved with a swagger like he was superior to everyone else, annoying the hell out of you. Snide remarks were exchanged constantly during the trip when you were above the water, which made everyone hold their breath for as long as they possibly could handle.

But despite his annoying habits, you found yourself strangely attracted to him. There was just something about his confidence that made your heart race the slightest bit faster when you were around him (and when he kept his mouth shut).

You weren’t sure if it was just the adrenaline from the constant bickering or if there was something…. more.

“You always have that dumb look in your eye like you think you’re invincible.” you scoffed, sending Ao’nung the next round of insults. He shook his head, looking down with a smile as Neteyam sighed behind you two, exhausted. “Honestly, it’s cute.”

His gaze flicked up to you almost immediately. You swore there was the smallest amount of purple dusted across his cheeks, causing you to double-take. But it was gone.

“But not as cute and positively pathetic as your feeble attempts to fight back,” a subtle, but unmistakable smile of satisfaction spread across your face as if you had reached the punch line of a stand-up comedy act.

“What can I say? You’re a challenge I can’t resist.”

At this, your head whipped towards his direction. But he dove beneath the water, leaving nothing but bubbles on the surface of the sea in his wake.

“Oh my god. That was disgusting,” Kiri practically sobbed behind you, Tuk agreeing as your hand clasped your mouth, unable to fully process what the frog had just said to you.

Can’t resist? Does that have some other meaning behind it? Why’d he have to SAY IT LIKE THAT? Was he teasing you on purpose? Holy jesus fuckballs.

Shaking it off, you dipped underneath the water with your ilu. There were rocks with plants growing on them suspended in the water, unmoving. You weaved in between them, ducking underneath a larger one and following Tsireya’s lead.

As you resurfaced, you audibly gasped at the beauty of the cove. “We are here,” she smiled warmly. “This is the cove of the ancestors. Our most sacred place.” she turned, watching as you and your siblings held your breaths in awe.

It was glorious, like nothing you’d ever seen before, much like the rest of Awa’atlu. A huge almost circular structure protruded out of the beautiful blue water, towering over you all.

“Eclipse is the best time of day to be here.” she stated as the light slowly dissipated, you needing to shield your eyes from the sight momentarily. The darkness engulfed the sky, leaving almost no light source except a giant brightly glowing flower-like plant underneath the water as you approached.

“This is it. This is the spirit tree,” Tsireya gestured, looking happily at Kiri’s overjoyed face. You gawked at the centre of the tree, which beamed with an intense glow.

The metkayinan siblings dived in first, the rest of you following shortly after. What seemed to be the glowing leaves of the spirit tree were absolutely huge, they were bigger than Ao’nung himself. The metkayinans gestured for you all to grab your queues and make the connection; but you stayed floating, watching the others make their bonds.

You felt a tap on your shoulder; it was Ao’nung. He motioned and pointed at your queue. You shook your head.

He rolled his eyes, using sign language. You deserve to experience it too.

You tilted your head. And you?

I’ve already experienced this a lot of times. Go, he insisted, not wanting to reveal the true reason for his actions, and you smiled to yourself, excited.

As you made your way to one of the huge fronds of the tree, he still couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in his stomach that something horrible was going to happen.

He stayed put, watching everyone intently, subconsciously looking your way more often than the others.

All of a sudden, the spirit tree’s leaves started shaking, the lights flashing violently. Everyone was ripped out of their moment bonding with Eywa, all except you. The bioluminescent freckles all around your body blazed with light, your body trembling uncontrollably.

Ao’nung immediately pushed his way through the water to you, disconnecting your queue and pulling you up to the surface, Neteyam and the rest of your siblings close behind. His heart pounded vehemently against his chest, looking at your unconscious body as he pulled you onto his ilu.

“What’s happening??” Tuk cried, trying to reach for your hand. “Is she breathing?” Neteyam asked in a panic.

Ao’nung bent his ear to your nose, praying desperately that you were. He heard your staggered breaths, trying to gather the lost information in his brain of what his mother taught him.

“She’s having a seizure,” his eyes widened in recognition. “We need to get her to my mother, now,” he snarled, taking off on his ilu immediately.

Ronal could not find any spiritual fault with you or find a way to wake you up, as everything she tried had failed. Your father had no choice but to call Norm and Max all the way from the forest, and it took them an incredibly painstaking full night to arrive.

Your whole family waited anxiously, your father kneeling down next to you on the mat as Norm and Max did their thing. “Alright, I’m seeing from her brain scan that it was, in fact, a seizure. But the thing is,” he paused, looking at Jake.

“What? What is it?”

“That’s not the only thing we found that didn’t look right.” he looked at your peacefully sleeping body nervously.

“The state she’s in right now is some kind of defense mechanism from her body because she doesn’t have the energy to fully function right now. But this injection can help her.” he gestured towards the tiny needle that Max was administering into your veins.

“She’ll regain consciousness soon, but Jake, there’s something seriously wrong–” “Please, get to the point.” your father croaked, he hated seeing you this way.

“Defense mechanism? Wha… What kind of defense mechanism is that? Is that normal?” he asked, worry laced in his words.

“No. This is some kind of reaction from the mixed DNA she has. She’s part avatar and part na’vi, which means she’s part human as well. Somewhere in there.” Norm explained.

Your dad’s ears flattened as he heard that his own genes could be one of the reasons that you were suffering right now, and he looked at Norm expectantly, to keep going.

“I took a sample from her DNA, and it’s not looking good.”

He showed Jake the tablet he had in his hands. “See that?” he zoomed into one of the strands of your DNA, pulling the digital version of your gene out to inspect it. “That singular gene right there is one that increases the risk of cancer. Specifically, leukemia.”

“Leu- Leukemia??” Jake rubbed his hands against his face in distress. “She has leukemia?”

“..Not quite. The na’vi genes she has directly interfere with that, and if she does have leukemia, it somehow causes a mutation of some type of disease similar to cancer, running through the blood. But we need to ask her if she’s been having any symptoms.”

“If she’s been having symptoms, there’s an extremely high chance she has it. We can’t take a blood sample right now because she’s too weak. So, that’s our only option.”

“Oh.” Jake thought for a while, looking at the woven floor of the marui, trying to remember if you’d brought up any problems with your health. Besides the fever, he couldn’t think of anything that couldn’t be explained with some other reason.

“I think she’ll be fine, right? She hasn’t said anything about any issues,” he said, trying to calm down his own heart.

“Well, then there’s nothing to be worried about, pal.” Norm nodded, slapping Jake’s back and rubbing it reassuringly.

At that moment, your eyes fluttered open, and it felt like you’d been hit by an ikran flying at full speed. “She’s waking up,” Max said.

As the world came into focus (felt like deja vu), you were able to make out the blurred silhouettes of your father and Max and Norm’s avatar.

“Hey princess, how are you feeling?” Jake smiled, gently shoving Max away, looking down at you.

“Where..where am I?” you muttered, lifting up your hands and putting them in front of your face.

Outside the marui, Neteyam and Lo’ak were sitting in front of the entryway playing with the iPad Norm brought over for them, tasked to ward away trespassers.

“No, you skxawng, press ‘O’!” Neteyam hissed, trying to take the iPad from Lo’ak’s hands. “I’m trying, bro! Stop pulling! These weren’t made for na’vi fingers!” he retaliated, his grip on the device tight.

As they played tug-of-war with the considerably delicate piece of technology, Ao’nung walked to them. “Hey. Move, will you?” he crossed his arms, head tilted downwards. “Go away, shit piñata.” Lo’ak grumbled, trying to slap Neteyam’s grubby not-so-little hands away from their pride and joy.

Ao’nung exhaled sharply, raising a leg to try and get past the two fighting brothers. “Hey! No entry!” Neteyam stopped his leg with his hand, pushing it back onto the sand and successfully nabbing the iPad from Lo’ak. “Give that back, idiot!”

“Let me through.” Ao’nung insisted, practically pleading. On a normal occasion, Lo’ak would’ve made fun of him for how desperate he was being. But this was not a normal occasion. An iPad was within his grasp for the first time in weeks, and he wasn’t about to let his stinky older brother ruin it all.

“You aren’t family. Get lost!” Lo’ak grumbled, waving him away before putting Neteyam into a headlock.

He huffed, walking away. “Tch. Watch me become part of your family, skxawng.” he scowled, as Kiri and Tuk ran past him, intent on getting to the iPad.

Of course, he was referring to Lo’ak and his younger sister. No other implications.

You sipped the water from the cup Norm handed to you, sitting up straight. “Now, I’m going to ask you a few questions, alright?” Norm smiled, pulling out his tablet to write on. You nodded slowly.

“Have you been getting any fevers?”

One nod.

“Any unnatural fatigue?”

Two nods. You should have been able to handle the dive. It really wasn’t as deep as Ao’nung made it out to be.

“Lost any weight recently? Wait no, you guys don’t weigh yourselves here, sorry. Any nosebleeds?”

Three nods.

“Okay.” Norm’s gaze was starting to feel a bit unsettling. “Have you..coughed up blood? By any chance?”

You remembered the time you were training with Veyä. Four nods.

Your dad looked at you accusingly, wondering why on earth you didn’t say anything.

His eyes darted between you, Jake and the tablet nervously. “You said…she’s been paler than other na’vi ever since she was a kid?”

Jake’s heart sank deep into his chest. At first, he couldn't fully comprehend what his friend was implying. But as the reality set in, his lips parted in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His little girl, his precious 15-year-old daughter, had been living with chronic leukemia for a decade without anyone noticing.

The weight of the realisation was absolutely soul-crushing. His mind raced back to all the times he had brushed off symptoms as normal childhood illnesses. The knowledge that he carried the gene that increased the risk of leukemia only added to his guilt.

As you looked at him puzzledly, not a clue as to what was going on, his whole world fell apart. He struggled to keep his composure as the pain tightened his throat. Tears streamed down his face as he tried to process what this meant for his family. The wonderfully bright and happy future that he had imagined for his eldest daughter was now uncertain.

Norm looked at the horror-stricken look on his friend’s face. He inhaled, and Max brought up Jake’s arm, pulling him up to bring him to the other corner of the marui, where you couldn’t hear them.

Norm gave you a sad smile. “Wait here, we’re going to talk about something for a bit.” Five nods.

“There’s- There’s gotta be treatment right?” Jake stuttered.

“I’m so sorry, Jake.” Norm sighed, looking down. There was nothing more he could do for you.

“What? There’s gotta be something you can do!”

“We aren’t sure if normal cancer treatment would even work. Her illness combined with the na’vi genes mixed into it- It would be super risky to even try anything. We don’t have the equipment or the knowledge, and this has never, ever happened before, Jake.”

Tears started welling up in his eyes. “So- She’s just going to die?” The silence they gave him as they looked at them with pity in their eyes, it broke him.

His little girl. His first daughter, his princess. He couldn’t protect you from this. How was he going to tell the rest of the family? What would be the reactions on their faces? Most importantly, what would you think?

You had a flame that blazed brightly in your soul just like his and your mothers, you were their family’s first troublemaker. For it to be extinguished so soon, for such a reason as a terminal illness,

it was unimaginable.

Upon your family hearing the news, it felt like the world was ending.

Truly.

Neteyam had his head in his hands, tears falling down to his lap.

Kiri had a hand over her mouth and nose to prevent her violent sobs from reaching anyone else’s ears.

Lo’ak looked at you in horror, still unable to believe what he’d just heard.

Tuk was already crying, hugging Jake tightly.

And your mother. She was a mess. Her pupils constricted, her hands tangled in her hair. She tried not to scream, the only thing coming out of her mouth was an ached, hoarse whisper.

And then there was you.

Head tilted down, looking at the floor, you sat curled up in a ball as Neteyam went to embrace you in a hug.

Your life was ending so soon. Just around one year left, they said.

But to your own surprise, you weren’t sad.

You were motivated.

That night, you were left alone in the marui to your own thoughts. You played your favourite happy song on the speakers that Norm graciously gifted you with before they left. You scribbled in na’vi a few things on a piece of paper.

Someone walked in through the flap, and you craned your head to see who it was. Ao’nung. “Hey. You alright? I was wondering where you were,” he rubbed a hand on the back of his neck.

(recommended time to play I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston, at just 4 clicks of volume (put your volume all the way down and then turn it up by pressing the button 4 times), think of it as background music, or u can put on any fun happy song suitable for dancing to)

You looked at him silently, putting the piece of paper away. “I noticed a distinct lack of spears to my throat today,” he continued.

Ah. He didn’t know. Of course he didn’t know. “Why? Did you miss me?” you smirked, getting up from the floor and brushing yourself off. A lightbulb popped into your head, the song playing in the background giving you a gloriously fun idea.

“What is that? Sky people contraptions? Is that- supposed to be music??” Ao’nung looked behind you, bewildered. You snickered at his reaction to the alien technology and noise, kneeling down to the speakers and turning them up. (recommended time to turn the music up as much as u want)

You walked up to him and leaned in, dangerously close to Ao’nung, and gazed up at him with an intense yet playful look. Your eyes sparkled mischievously as you locked eyes.

With a sudden burst of confidence, you leaned even closer, noses almost touching. Your lips curved into a sly smile as you watched his ears turn the faintest purple.

You pulled away, but only slightly, maintaining a tantalisingly close distance. You looked up at him with a normal gaze, as if nothing had just happened, before uttering the words, "Dance with me."

“What?”

“Dance with me. Come on!” you pulled his arm into the center of the marui as the chorus began, and the energy of the song pumping through your veins and causing you to dance, uncaring for the horrified expression on his face.

Your movements were outlandish to him, he’d never seen anyone dance this way before. Not to mention the incredibly strange music.

But the way you danced happily without a care in the world amused him, and not in a condescending way. He felt himself smile as you twirled and lip-synced to the lyrics that the singer was saying.

He couldn’t understand it at all, but he felt his heart soar somewhat when you motioned for him to join you.

But he wasn’t a dancer. So he looked on as your arms lifted high above your head, your movements fluid and graceful as if you were in your own world, dancing with reckless abandon. You moved closer to him, lifting his arm up and twirling under it.

You only laughed as the song ended, looking at him. “Looks fun doesn’t it? You should join me.” you smiled at him. A genuine smile.

“I don’t dance.” he crossed his arms.

“Oh come on, I’ll teach you!”

“There’s really no need for that–”

You pulled his arms, hands interlocking with yours as the next song on your playlist (Love on Top - Beyoncé or anything u want) started up. “I love this song!” you looked at him. “Just feel the rhythm. Freestyle it. I won’t laugh, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, forest imp.” he rolled his eyes. But he couldn’t deny it, the song’s beat was irresistible.

“Move your feet, at least.” you beamed, your movement as your hands still held onto each other tightly affecting his own. He begrudgingly moved his feet to the beat of the song.

“That’s it, let loose!” you laughed, and it sounded like an angel’s call to him.

As it turns out, you weren’t so annoying when you were having fun.

As the night passed and Ao’nung left after you guys had a little dance competition, you crawled over to your sleeping bag, pulling out the lone piece of paper from underneath.

You crossed out the first thing that you listed.

Bucket List!

Dance with a partner to my favourite song.

Drink alcohol

Go on your first date

Have a sleepover with my friends and siblings

Karaoke night

Have my first kiss

Receive an oshalia flower

Important Fun Fact!

An oshalia flower is any flower that comes from the family Oshalia (made up by me, again), which is beautifully stunning and a commonly used way on Pandora to express interest in courting someone. Remember this for later.

YAYYY omg i finally finished this, it's the longest chapter by far! I really hope you enjoyed this u guys! Like PLEASEE i hope its good and that i didn’t make any mistakes bro 😭 thank you so so so much for everyone’s support on this series, it’s really motivated me to keep it going. anyhow, i wonder which parts of the bucket list will be completed and which ones wont? well, all in due time, i suppose.

Taglist: @eywas-heir @elegantkidfansoul @yeosxxx @whoreforpomegranates @fanboyluvr @thecrazyswamp @shkudss @stvrligghtt @ratchetprime211 @dearstelll @littlecrisisworld @itssomeonereading @goodiesinthecloset21 @ilovejakesullysdick @larkkyoris @opalescentblog @lovedbychoi @plzfeedmebread @holysaladapricothero @arminsgfloll @lovekeeho @evans-bitch

note: usernames in red are the ones I couldn’t tag

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earthtoharlow · 11 months

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Previous Chapter

SERIES MASTERLIST

THESHADEROOM

liked by 975,085 users

theshaderoom: Look who’s back! #Y/NY/L does her first interview since leaving social media for over a year! Y/N talks about becoming a mother and dating #Drake and ex #JackHarlow

“Sometimes, I look in the mirror in the mornings and just say to myself “Oh my God! Bitch you’re someone’s mother!” It’s hard work, but I love every part of it. “

Y/L continues “it doesn’t feel like work though, having Ariel has made me look at the world with a new set of eyes. This sounds spiritual, but I really do feel born again.”

The rapper/model couldn’t hide the smile on her face when asked about Drake!

“Aubrey, brings me so much peace. After everything that happened in my last relationship, the idea of a new relationship was out of the question. Starting a family with him has made me finally understand why it didn’t work out with anyone else. He was always meant to be the one for me.”

Additionally, Y/N reflects on her past relationship with Rapper Jack Harlow.

“I’ll be honest, the day his Vogue feature came out. I immediately called him. What people don’t understand is that I was with him for 2 years, we were planning our whole lives together. I won’t go into details about our conversation but after that I sat back, watched, and cried while letting them have their moment. Which hurt a lot but I’m grateful for it because now I’m with the person I’m supposed to be with.” Click the link in our bio to read more!

view all 14,689 comments

user: aw I’m really so happy for her

user: something seems fishy about them idk

user: see how y/n can do an interview and not talk shit about Jack Harlow?! Even though he deserves it!!

user: Drake can’t keep a women so they’ll be broken up soon

user: I know Jack and all his baby mamas shaking and crying

user: no wonder Stacey is jealous of Y/N

user: she’s so mature because if my ex was slamming my name in interviews I would raise hell!!!

user: she seems to be in such a great place mentally!

user: damn she’s really a mother

THATGIRLSTACEY

liked by jackharlow, haileybieber, kimkardashian, justineskye, chrissyteigen, oliviaculpo, neelamthadhani and 783,529 others

thatgirlstacey: that look when bitches can’t keep your husband name out their mouth

view all 5674 comments

user: girl, you need to be worried about if Jack had another baby on you

haileybieber: 🤦🏼‍♀️ tell me about it

user: yeah y/n is weird

user: so y’all can talk about her but she can’t?

user: y/n didn’t say anything bad about you or your relationship

user: you lucky y/n didn’t drag tf outta you both

kimkardashian: sending you love 💕

user: ok enough about y/n girl you look good af

user: bitches stay jealous

jackharlow: love running their mouth 🙄

user: you ain’t broken up with him yet?!!

user: you won, you got the man! Leave y/n alone

JACKHARLOWSOURCE

liked by 5,790 users

jackharlowsource: Jack Harlow and Stacey James-Harlow at the “White Men Can’t Jump” movie premiere!

view all 635 comments

user: my parents

user: damn sorry to hear that

user: they’re so cuuuute!

user: Glad to see they’re still together! I was getting worried especially with reports saying they separated!

user: she’ll never leave that man, same tbh

user: he was never that happy with Y/n

user: goals

CHAMPAGNEPAPI

Liked by yourinsta, icespice, partynextdoor, chubbsview, Beyoncé,SZA, urbanwyatt, druski, and 1,425,116 others

champagnepapi: I would clear a whole town for you 🤞

view all 836 comments

celeb: that’s twin!

celeb: love y’all!

celeb: now when something happens in Kentucky we know who did it 🤣

yourinsta: don’t play bout mine 💕

celeb: wipe that white boy like a snotty!

celeb: yeah they need ass beat

YOURINSTA

liked by selenagomez, saweetie, dojacat, sza, summerwalker, urbanwyatt, flomillishit, 1dessdior and 678,367 others

yourinsta: For him it’s whatever with whoever 🤞

view all 8,457 comments

saweetie: I know that’s right bby!

user: goals

user: yeah fuck Jack and his wife!!

selenagomez: 💕💕💕

user: love seeing you so happy

user: between Drake’s post and this one, I think Jack about to get touched 😵‍💫

SZA: 🤭 kill bill

TMZ_TV

liked by 996,468 users

tmz_tv: Details are scarce, but according to a report on Hollywood Unlocked Jack Harlow was celebrating the release of the White Men Can’t Jump reboot when he was punched in the face.

According to a source, the celebrity-filled after party was going well until Jack Harlow reportedly acted rudely towards wife Stacey James for unknown reasons.

A few guest tried to intervene but the situation got worse. He was confronted about his behavior to his wife and mother of his child.

The source told Hollywood Unlocked that a physical altercation occurred between the guest with Harlow leaving with a “bloodied nose."

view all 13,678 comments

user: HOLY SHIT

user: ovo crew definitely jumped him

user: deserved

user: imagine getting jumped in front of your family I’d cry

user: drake said he’d spin bout y/n and he meant that

user: I think this is just karma

user: what a dick

user: omg can someone check and see if he’s okay

—————————————————————————-

AN: damn that’s crazy 🤪 I’ve missed toxic Jack so much so I wrote this up! Next part of this AU series probably won’t be up until Father’s Day because we still have to find out if Jack had another baby 😳 so much drama

Tag List:

(message me if you'd like to be added or removed)

@heavyhitterheaux @hoodharlow @neon-lights-and-glitter @babiefries @toocriticalharlow @mace23477 @jackmans-poison @dstark-0706 @harlowsbby @itsyagirljaz @leftapricotprofessorlover @laylasbunbunny @ilyangelsxo @comehomeimissyou @minkookie95 @harlowcomehome @jackharloww

#jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow reader #social media au #jack harlow instagram au #jack harlow #toxic

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justmeinadaze · 1 year

Text

Good Neighbors Part 13 (Steddie X Reader)

A/N: Some sugar to go with the sour from yesterday ;) This is the final chapter of this part of the series. Due to popular opinion and my own need to keep these beautiful fictional souls in my life I will continue their story in another series.

Love you, guys <3

Warnings: Steddie content and all that that implies ( I regret nothing!) There is a disgusting amount of fluff. I knew what I was doing when I was writing this lol Idk why but I felt like they need this.

Word count: 4300

Baby, head straight home after work. I’m picking up Dylan. Love you ;)

Steve Harrington, what are you two up to? Lol.

You spent the rest of you workday thinking about all the things they could be planning. Next weekend was the big move and you were ecstatic that everyone would finally be under the same roof.

After your shift, you did as you were told and headed back to the apartment. As soon as you opened the front door you were greeted with your beaming sibling.

“Hey Kierra.” Your eyes scanned over her smiling frame. She looked gorgeous in a stunning pink sunflower style dress with her hair pulled up in a tight bun. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, my sweet sister. That is not for me to say but I AM supposed to help you get ready.” She takes your hand and guides you towards the bedroom where a beautiful white dress was laying on the bed. You glanced at her as your fingers delicately traced the material.

“Kierra—”

“Come on, honey. Let them do their thing. They’ve been planning this for a while.”

The tears start to fall as you change especially after you catch you reflection of you in the garment. The silky fabric flowed down to your ankles as the lace hung delicately on your shoulders.

“I know this may surprise you but Eddie wanted something shorter.” You both laughed as you whipped your eyes.

“Kierra, I don’t deserve this.”

“Who says? Your idiot ex? Our mother? This narrow-minded town? Y/N, you deserve all the good things in this world. You were lucky enough to find not one but two people who love you unconditionally and seem to want to do anything for you to make you happy. You AND your son. Trust me, you deserve this.” She pulls you into a hug as you smile.

“Now…hair up or down? I’m thinking down.”

##################

Your sister holds your hand as she guides you across the way into the guy’s apartment.

“Keep your eyes closed.”

“I’m starting to think I’m being kidnapped again.”

You grin when you hear Dylan giggle somewhere in the room.

“Ok, you can open them now but please don’t ruin the absolutely fabulous make up work I did on your eyes.”

There was no way that was going to happen. As soon as they opened, you felt like you were going to burst into tears.

Everything in their living room had been moved out of the way as a makeshift runway was made leading towards an archway made of white Christmas lights on their wall. Steve’s friend Robin was standing in the middle with a little book in her hand and a costume judges robe around her tiny frame.

The man himself was practically shining from head to toe next to her with his black suit and, of course, well styled hair. Eddie was beside him with a sexy, formal black suit as well with his hair pulled back away from his face. Dylan was standing behind them in a little green suit of his own and the men’s eyes followed yours to look down at him.

“Yeah, our best man didn’t want to wear black to. He felt like he should stand out.” Eddie grinned as he lightly tapped him with his shoe.

“I…I don’t understand.”

Kierra placed a headband in your hair with a tiny veil attached to it before handing you a small bouquet of roses for you to hold. She loops her arm in yours as you both walk down the aisle.

“Since daddy isn’t here, I’m talking over as the person giving you away but I’m still your maid of honor, God damn it.”

Dylan giggles but you’re still so in shock you can’t reprimand her.

“We have a jar for that now, Kierra.”, Steve grins as he reaches for your hand. “Eddie and I thought that… since we can’t legally get married, we could do our own wedding.”

“No, no crying.” Your sister quickly comes around to dry your eyes, not able to hold in her own tears as she takes the flowers from your hand.

“Are we ready?”, Robin smiles as Eddie grabs your other palm. “Cool. Hear ye, hear ye!”

Steve cringes as he laughs at her.

“We have gathered her today in the eyes of God, the dope kid, and badass sister to witness these three come together in holy fake matrimony because this town is stupid.”

“Robin!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Do you have the rings, Harrington?”

Dylan jumps forward and hands Eddie a box who passes it to Steve. You can’t help but gasp when he opens it. Inside is a gorgeous three studded diamond ring around a silver band. The diamonds were small but you didn’t care.

“We wanted to get something bigger but—”

You cut him off with your lips. “No, no. It’s perfect.”

Steve grins as he slides it on your ring finger. “The first time we saw you we knew we wanted to marry you. I know we can’t give you that but we at least wanted to be able to give you a symbol or something…”

“Sorry for skipping a few steps.”, Eddie cut in. “We wanted to do the whole get down on one knee thing but we also knew you would insist we didn’t have to do this so…”

“Are those your vows? Because they kinda suck.”

“Robin! Oh my god.” Steve playfully pushes her as she laughs. “I’m not good with the words. He’s the musician.”

“I play guitar. I’m not a front man.” He smiles at you. “But I do love you and of course your spawn.”

“Hey!” Dylan pouts making you giggle.

“You know you never have to worry with us.” Eddie continues. “We never want you to feel like you did when you were married to Charlie.”

“You’re safe with us to. In sickness and in health and all that.” Steve chuckles. “I love you to AND your offspring.”

Kierra taps your shoulder, handing you a box of your own. “Now, this was tasked to me and Dil. We didn’t tell you guys but he had engraving placed in each wedding band. I paid for that myself because I thought it was the sweetest thing.”

She handed you the one for Steve, beaming after reading the inscription and handing it to him.

“Hear this now, I will always come for you.”

The Princess Bride was one of the few movies Steve was able to introduce to Dylan and was actually surprised he hadn’t seen it already.

“Dude, it has sword fighting and a princess and all that fantasy stuff you like! How have you not seen it?” He looked at you with wide eyes. “How have you not shown this to him yet?”

“I don’t know! We just never got around to it.”

Steve smirks as he playfully takes you in his arms and dips you to the side.

“Hear this now, I will always come for you!”

You dramatically throw your hand over your forehead. “But, how can you be sure?”

He laughs as he pulls you upright and places a soft kiss on your lips. “This is true love. You think this happens every day.”

He smiles at the words before sliding the ring on his finger. “Thanks, Little Man.”

You grin at Eddie’s as you pass it to him.

“Life is ours, we live it our way.”

“Eddie!”

He stops strumming his guitar to look up at you from the chair he was sitting at in Dylan’s room.

“Hey, sweetheart. Welcome home.”

“Why thank you. What are you two doing?” You smile as your son flashes you his guitar.

“Eddie’s showing me Met-al-ick-ah.”

The metalhead smiled at his pronunciation.

“Oh yeah? Well go on, rockstar.” You jump onto Dylan’s bed behind him as Eddie starts playing again.

“Never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words, I don't just say And nothing else matters.”

He winks at you as you blush.

“Dude, this so metal. Thank you.” Eddie slides on his ring as well before glancing at you.

Both men notice you fanning your face with your hand, trying not to cry.

“Ugh, you people are going to kill me.” You let out a breathy laugh, handing them your ring to read.

“I had to cut this quote down a bit, I’m afraid.” Your sister wrapped her arms around you.

“We are only as strong as we are united…”

“Like us, right mom?”

“What do you mean, weirdo?” You close the Harry Potter book around your hand so you can focus on him.

“Well, right now, Eddie and Steve are over there and we are here. But soon we will be together at the house. That will make us stronger. Right?”

“When did you get so smart?”

Dylan smiled as hugged your torso. “I was born with a big brain.”

You slide the ring down on your finger, staring at how it looked. After you left Charlie, you told yourself you were never going to do anything like this again. It just hurt too much and Dylan didn’t need all that stress. But seeing your hand, your son’s big grin, and all the effort these two men but into you…you wished this was real. Well, the wedding anyway. Their love for you was more than real and greater than anything you had ever experienced.

“Y/N.”, Robin tapped your arm. “Did you want to say something?”

“God,” you laugh as you wipe your eyes. “There’s so much I want to say but it’s either cheesy or too much.”

“I’m sure it’s not too much.”, Eddie grins.

“That right there. You guys saying things like that and actually meaning it. Before you two the only man I ever trusted was seven years old.” Dylan beams at your comment. “Thank you for…for everything. In sickness and in health and all that.” Everyone chuckles especially the boys.

“Y/N Y/L/N, do you take Steven the Hair Harrington and Edward the freak we need to come up with a different nickname for you because you aren’t a freak Munson to be your unlawfully wedded husbands in sickness and in health and all that… till death do you part.”

“I do.”

“And do you Steven the floofy Hair Harrington and Edward not a freak Munson take Y/N Y/L/N to be your unlawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health and blah blah… till death do you part?”

“Of course.”, Steve smiles.

“Fuck yeah.” Eddie grins as you reach over to smack his chest.

“Hey, kiddo? You take them to?”, Robin leans over so she can see Dylan who was now sitting on the couch.

“Yup!”

“Awesome. By the power vested in me by no one because who would trust me with that kind of power, I now pronounce you fake husbands and fake wife. You may now disgustingly kiss.”

Steve jerks your arm, bringing you closer to him as his lips fall to yours. You smile as he spins to Eddie who dips you in his own arms before tenderly placing a kiss on your lips.

“Ew!”

“Agreed, kid.” Robin smiles as she shimmies out of her robe. “Ok, love birds. Let’s eat! I’m starving.”

#####################

You, your sister, and the boys lay on the floor casually passing a flask between each other as Dylan snores on the couch. Robin had already left, needing to get home to her girlfriend.

“You guys seriously didn’t have to do this.”

“We know. That’s why we didn’t tell you because we knew you would try to talk us out of it.” Eddie laughs as he runs his hand through your hair.

“Dad would have loved it.” Kierra cranes her neck to smile at you.

“Do you think he would have liked us?”, Steve asks.

“Oh yeah. One guy to watch football with and another to talk shop while playing guitar? Hell, HE would have asked to marry you.” You cackle at your sister’s comment.

“Alllllright, kids…” She clings to the bottom of her dress as she stands. “I’m exhausted.”

Instead of heading for the door, she loops towards the couch to pick up your son.

“Um, excuse me. That little human is mine.”

“I know.” Dylan wraps his sleepy arms around Kierra’s neck. “I’m going to tuck him in for you and crash on your bed.” She leans in to kiss your cheek before opening the door and heading across the way. “Enjoy your honeymooooon.”, she sings.

You smile as you lock up and as soon as you turn around you bump into a broad chest who abruptly lifts you in his arms.

“Steve!”, you giggle as he carries you across the threshold of his bedroom.

“You know, this is probably the last time for a while that you can be REALLY loud.” He grins as he places you on the mattress and lays down on top of you.

Your body bounces as Eddie jumps in beside you. “Boys!”, you laugh at them as two sets of lips find their way to your neck. “You act like I’m going off to war or something.”

Steve shimmed down to the end of the bed, lifting each one of your legs to take off your shoes before gliding his hands up your skin bringing the dress along with him.

“Wait, hang on. You have to…Eddie…in the back.” You sit up, giving the man some room to unhook the tiny buttons holding it to you. He lifted the fabric over your head and casually tossed it to the floor.

“Wait!” You hand reached Steve’s when you noticed he was unbuttoning his shirt. “Can you guys keep them on for a while?” You push up your knees so you can bring your lips to his. “I just think you look really handsome.”

“Harrington,” Eddie beckoned him with his finger. Steve’s hand held the lower part of your back as he lifted you up and laid you back down, leaning his head to his friend as the metalhead whispered something in his ear.

“What are you two planning now?”

“Just lay back, sweetheart.” His lips reached down to kiss yours as you felt Steve rest his upper body between your legs. His own lips placing small kisses along your inner thigh before using his fingers to open your folds.

You moaned into Eddie’s mouth as he licked long stripes up towards your clit, stopping to suck on it with a slight pop before repeating the process.

“Steve’s always really good with his mouth, isn’t he?” You nod at his question as you lick your lips, throwing your head back as you mewl. His mouth traveled down your frame, stopping to flick his tongue around one of your nipples making your pussy clench around nothing.

You whined his name as he continued his trek down your body.

“I’m not going far, Princess. Trust me.”

“Fuck!”, you exclaimed as Eddie’s tongue grazed your nub.

Steve made room for him bringing his own tongue to your entrance while the other boy hung over one of your legs, wrapping his mouth around your little bundle of nerve.

With nothing to hold on to you clawed at the sheets, panting at the overwhelming feeling of both of their lips and tongues between your legs.

“Fuck, please. Please…” They pushed you over the edge as you came not even slowing their pace as you did.

You leaned up on your elbows to watch them as Steve inserted two of his fingers in your hole while Eddie did the same with your clit, using two of his digits to rotate fast circles against you. They pressed their lips together, tasting you on their breath.

Steve groaned as Eddie’s mouth followed his jawline to his neck. The pleasure on his face drove you wild as you felt the coil in your belly slowly tighten. As you viewed them through hooded eyes, you had a realization. They didn’t just “marry” you but each other as well.

They had told you before in previous relationships they had never been allowed to explore that side of their relationship until you. They loved each other as much as they loved you.

A small smile spread across your face as the coil snapped and you came harder than you had before.

“St-Steve.” You shakily sat up with Eddie quickly shuffling behind you to be your chair. “We…we have never… fuck that was amazing.” The three of you laughed as you fell back against the man behind you.

“Take your time, honey. We have all night.” Steve’s beautiful smile warmed your heart.

“How would you feel…being in the middle…”

“Oh. But tonight’s about you, baby.”

“No”, you corrected. “It’s about us. I mean, of course, you don’t have to. I just…seeing you just now practically come apart with his lips on your throat. Oh my god… Imagine what his cock would do.”

You can’t see it but Eddie is beaming with pride behind you as he winks cheekily at Steve.

“Let’s do it.” He grins as you squeak with delight. “Are we allowed to take the suits off, ma’am?”

“Why yes, Mr. Harrington. You may.”

Eddie is the first to get his suit off, not really taking the same care as Steve does to take off one piece at a time. You crawl to him on the bed with your knees and wrap your arms around him as you kiss his lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you to, Princess.”

You mimic his early motions, leaving open mouth kiss down his chest and stomach as his hands gently pull through your hair. He moans above you as you take his dick in your hands and glide you tongue along the tip. Your eyes flick upward when you hear small smacking sounds to see Steve cupping Eddie’s cheeks as he kisses his lips.

“Fuck…”, he groans as your mouth wraps around his length, steadily bobbing your head. You take him as deep as you can causing him to grunt with every gag. Steve sits beside you on the bed, licking his fingers before reaching under you to stroke your clit.

“Yes, Sweetheart. Fucking hell.”, he responds to the vibration from your moan. You pull off him continuing to pump his cock with your palm as you look at Steve.

“Are you ready, baby?”

He nods as he removes his fingers and waits for direction. You whisper to Eddie who responds with a smile and small peck on your nose. As he heads for the dresser to find the lube, you guide Steve towards his pillows, laying his head back against them.

You straddle his waist as his hands come up to grip yours, holding on to you as you position his cock near your entrance and slowly slide him inside of you.

You grind your hips against his, your eyes rolling back at the feeling. “Jesus, Steve. You always feel so good.”

When you stopped moving, his eyes opened as a nervous breath escaped his lips. Eddie positioned himself between the man’s legs, rubbing the lube over his cock with his fist. You leaned down, hovering your face over his.

“It’s ok, baby. If you start feeling uncomfortable just tell us.”

He smiled up at you, holding his breath as he waited.

Steve’s mouth opened slightly, his eyebrows furrowing as Eddie began guiding his dick into him. You felt his fingertips dig into your skin as the boy behind you leaned his forehead on your back.

“Are you okay, Eds?” He responded by kissing your spine.

“What about you, honey?” Steve didn’t say anything either but his face had relaxed a lot more. When you slowly started grinding your hips again, the sound that left his mouth made your pussy flutter around him. “Does it feel good?”

Eddie froze when he bottomed out and you took the opportunity the drift back down towards the man underneath you. “Talk to me, Steve.”

“I can’t…”

“You can’t what?”

His body began to move as the metalhead began doing small thrusts into him. “Can’t talk.”

“Does it hurt?”

He adamantly shook his head. “Feels…good. Really good.”

Steve’s mouth opened into a silent moan as you straightened so you could ride him. Eddie’s chin landed on your shoulder.

“How does he feel?”

“Sweetheart, you have no idea.”

“Eddie, you…you can go faster.” Steve’s voice came out whiney as if he was begging.

“Lean back down, Princess.”

You did as you were told as he began thrusting into Steve with much more purpose. When his hips pushed into him, his stomach nudged against you allowing your waist to grind on the cock inside of you.

You whimpered as two sets of hands gripped your body; one set pulling you back the other moving you forward. Steve’s neck craned up to wrap his mouth around your breast as you moaned, reaching up to run your fingers through his hair.

“I’m… fuck…”

You sat up, grinding faster against him as Eddie’s arm came around to hold your chest. Steve watched in aw as you turned to kiss the metalhead, your tongues dancing with one another. He swallowed your moans as you came, trembling as you leaned your head back to shout their names.

You grinned as you panted, climbing off of Steve and falling to the side. Without you in the way, Eddie leaned down closer to the other boy’s chest as he pushed deeper into him.

You watched them in an aw of your own. The way they moaned especially Steve was obscenely beautiful. Rolling on to your side, you kissed his shoulder up to his lips.

“He feels amazing, doesn’t he? Eddie knows how to hit just the right spots.” His honey eyes stare at you as you lick your palm and reach down to stroke his cock.

“Fuck me…”

“Cum, baby. Cum for us.”

Steve eyes close as Eddie delivers a few hard thrusts. He searches for you as he pulls your mouth to his, giving you a sloppy open mouth kiss as he cums, spilling ropes of his seed onto your hand and Eddie’s tummy.

The other man chases his own high, gripping on to Steve’s legs. The sound of skin slapping fills the room as he releases inside of him. They both pant aggressively before Eddie gently pulls out of and falls onto Steve’s chest. You stroke his hair, pushing it out of his face and finding a soft smile.

Tumbling off the bed, you disappear into the bathroom and come back with a wash rag.

“Eddie, sweetie, you have to move.” You grin as he shakes his head before groaning and rolling to the side. To both of your surprises, Steve wraps his arm around him, bringing his head back to his chest. His fingers tangled through his hair as you cleaned him up.

After throwing the rag in a near by hamper, you grab one of their shirts off the floor, throwing it around your shoulders before lazily buttoning it up.

“I love you guys.” Steve’s voice is low and gravelly as you crawl back into bed beside him. “I’m serious. I know I don’t say it a lot or as much as I should but—”

You tenderly place your hand on his lip, cutting him off. “We don’t doubt you, baby. Trust me. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me. Even just the bare minimum, ya know? Eddie tells me stories all the time about you two and how you’ve been there for him.” The boy turns on to his chin to look up at Steve and smile.

“Oh my god and Dylan. Weirdo never shuts up about how cool he thinks you are and how happy you make him when you hang out with him. Steve,” you lean up on your elbow so you can look down at his face. “We know you struggle with words but its ok. You show us every day that you love us.”

He grins, craning his neck to kiss your lips.

##############

Eddie runs up behind you and quickly takes the box you were carrying to the house out of your hands.

“No ma’am.” He sticks his tongue out at you as he jogs inside the front door.

“Are you guys seriously not going to let me help!?”, you call after him.

He sprints past you stopping to kiss your cheek before jumping into the moving truck. You smile as you watch both men bring down the couch with Dylan laying on top of it.

“Oh sure. I can’t lift boxes but he can get carried around?”

“Shit, she’s right.” You lightly smack Steve’s chest as they set down the sofa. “You, off.” He points to your son who giggles as he slides down. Strong arms suddenly lift you in the air and lay you on the furniture.

They grin at each other as they lift the piece of furniture again. “Yeah, that’s better.”

“I hate you both.”

“No you don’t.” They set the couch down in the living room and Eddie reaches for your hand helping you back up.

“Why don’t you and little man start going through stuff?”

You scowl jokingly at Steve.

“Oof. Beware that look, gentleman. It means trouble.” Eddie’s uncle strides through the doorway.

“Hi, Wayne!” Dylan runs to him and gives him a hug.

“See? We got more help. And Robin’s coming over later to.”

“Oh? Are you going to make her stay inside to? I’d love to see that.”

“Are you kidding? Robin’s scary. She can do whatever she wants.” Steve chuckles as he rapidly runs away back towards the truck with Eddie and Wayne in tow.

“What do you say, weirdo? Want to help me get our new home put together?”

############

@adequate-superstar @kalinaselennespeaks @luna-munson83

@decadentwombatmiracle @katie-tibo @marsupiooo

@local-stoner-bitch @steamystrangerfics @lunatictardis

@actuallyspencerreid @moviefreak1205

@waylandmorgernsternherondal-blog

@kik51199 @strngrlytn @idkidknemore @damon-loves-pie

@k-k0129 @micheledawn1975 @eddie86baby

@justmeandmymeanderingthoughts @3rriberri

@sashaphantomhive @chelebelletx @big-ope-vibes @skyesthebomb

#steddie x reader #steddie fluff #steddie smut #steddie fanfiction #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie fanfic #eddie stranger things #steve fanfic #steve smut #steve stranger things #joe keery #joseph quinn #stranger things #fan fiction

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rowretro · 3 months

Text

𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

WARNINGS: Hardcore Drug usage, underage drinking/smoking, abuse

✧taglist✧: (Idk if there is anyone who asked, but Im starting to confuse every taglist on each series)

✧CHAPTER 4✧

“Are you seriously high this early in the morning? The first lesson hasn’t even started yet fucksake y/n… Riki can’t race tonight because of your junkie ass.” Heeseung complained as the girl rolled her eyes. “Im sober when i'm high or drunk broski, not my fault he’s weak” y/n added as Heeseung facepalmed. The male had walked in on his high sister, snuggled up with a high Riki who had a race scheduled for this very day, beside them a broken, burnt out guitar that had homework stuffed in. She’s one hell of a bad influence on him.

The male wasn’t racing due to his recent high, he couldn’t take the risk of going on the track, speeding and seeing stars before he even got to the juicy part of his young age. He was too young to die. He hated it. God he’d never even look in the direction of coke ever again… So he called her up to smoke some weed after school. “Why did he even do that shit he’s never even done it before…” Heeseung mumbled as y/n frowned, turning to him “That was his first time?” the girl asked, now feeling bad for even agreeing to do coke with him.

“Yeah, guess he wanted to try and since you're a junkie who knows literally every dealer to even breath in South Korea” Hee added as the girl rolled her eyes “he does weed though right?” She asked as Hee frowned “Yeah, anyone could get weed if you think about it, anyways point is, let him influence you, stop influencing him, if you deal any hardcore drugs with anyone, dad will happily give you his position as a drug lord.” Hee pointed out as the girl turned to him, glaring holes into his head, the poor girl failed to notice the obviously closed door before her as she walked into it, hitting her head pretty hard.

“AHH FUCKING FICKLE HEAD- ” She groaned as she sat on the floor "every goddamn time" Hee snickered. Heeseung sat beside her, the two sitting on the freshly mopped school grounds, by the tall lockers. They had arrived early to school since Heeseung was dropping her off. "You know... Riki used to race illegally... and well some one who had connections to a more legal company saw him and his skills which is how he's so famous now." Heeseung pointed out as he turned to her.

y/n sighed as she took a sip of some cold, refreshing gin out of her flask, as she turned to Heeseung "It's not going to happen Heeseung... racing is just a princess dream." Y/n simply said as Heeseung sighed. If it was anyone other than Heeseung Jungwon or Sunoo who dare to even bring up racing with her, that person oughta go home with a rearranged face. It seems Riki was lucky.

It's funny how something someone loves so dearly and always dreamed of having some day, could turn into something they dread so much, they don't want to even hear anything of it. To y/n racing was her first love, her bittersweet lover who left her with a fresh wound that can never be treated. Maybe she stuff a human in that car shaped hole in her heart.

Heeseung patted her head as he got up "The offers always up if you're down to make your dreams come true." Heeseung said as the girl scoffed "I don't have dreams... dreams are for losers" she remarked. "Well, I know a little 7 year old who always annoys me with her dream plans to be a racer in her flaming pink race car with a nice disco ball inside... I'm sure you wouldn't mind making her dreams come true" Heeseung added with a smile, seeing that she didn't spit any snarky comebacks at him.

"Even if she's being a stubborn, annoying and showing me a little attitude, she's still my baby sister... I'd hate for her dreams to disappear like that" Heeseung simply said before leaving the girl with her own thoughts. It's true, her whole childhood, she always wanted to be a racer. She never actually watched any racing programmes, just the fast and furious movies, her favourite being 2 fast 2 furious. Perhaps why the specific pink colour of car

✧𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓✧

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mj3llyfish · 16 days

Text

Fallen angel!Adam x Moth Healer!Reader

Chapter 3: The beautiful light

(Ch.1) (Ch.2) (Ch.3)

Warnings: Swearing, nightmares, cannibalism, and smoking

A/n: Just wanna thank all the peeps that were able to vote on the poll I made a few days ago <33 Had no idea what to do for the story so voting really helped me. Also this one’s kinda L O N G, I just had a lot of ideas for this part. (Also this song just reminded me of this fic listen to it PLS)

Adam’s pov:

Another weird ass dream, ever since I moved in this chicks hip-dip apartment I’ve been getting them. It’s mostly the day of the extermination, I can’t believe I didn’t turn back as soon as they started fighting back. Now I let everyone in heaven down, even Lute.

Whatever, I need to go wiz. I should probably stay quiet otherwise that butterfly bitch might wa-

Third dream pov (idk what to call it):

Before Adam can finish his thoughts, he looks towards the mirror, revealing his angel form but severely injured, and with a large gaping wound in his chest, surrounded by blood. Adam lets out a startled yelp, backing up against the bathroom door, awakening him.

Normal third pov:

Adam wakes up, startled at his new dream. He had still been lying on the couch, but his eyes wider than ever. He sits up, some of the leather couch sticking against his sweaty body, scratching the back of his head. The grey morning sky shined between the window blinds, he wanted to go back to sleep, but who could after a dream like that?

Adam rushes to the bathroom, quickly opening the door and turning on the lights, heading straight to the mirror. He gently touches his left horn, feeling a mix of relief but also disappointment that he’s back in his new body.

A lousy cough escapes his chapped lips, feeling that his throat is dry, and decides to get water from the kitchen tap, grabbing a mug and filling it up with water. Sure it tasted weird and warm, but he didn’t care. He chugged the nearly the whole thing in one sip, with some water spilling from the cup to his chin hairs. Adam slams the cup against the table.

Suddenly, a displeasing alarm goes off in the distance. He realizes that he’s not alone in here, what could that alarm be for tho? Y/n steps out of from her room still in her pajamas, yawning.

“Oh Adam!... What are you doing up this early?” She asks while heading to the kitchen. “I dunno man, just felt like it.” He responds in annoyance, “What are you doing up this early? You’re the one with the annoying ass alarm.”

Y/n rolls her eyes a bit while opening the fridge and taking out a box of frozen waffles, “I just have somethings to do today, so I thought I’d wake up early. I’m planning to pick up something from cannibal town.” She begins putting some waffles in a toaster while making herself a latte. “Gasp, you should totally come!!” Y/n exclaims excitedly.

Adam looks alarmed, offended even, and just stairs in confusion. “Y/n, why in the fuck, would I want to go anywhere, in this miserable place.” He says in a brutally honest manner. “I mean seriously, are you blind? Have you seen what goes on out there??” Adam pulls y/n to the window opening the blinds, revealing a guy getting his brains blown out.

Y/n cringes at the sight, “okay yeah it’s not great, but cannibal town is pretty enjoyable! Cmon you’ll see what I mean when we go there, plus you get to try out those wings of yours.” She says pointing at his scaly two scaly things, leading Adam to spread one of them a bit.

Y/n stares at Adam waiting for an answer, he sighs in annoyance, “eugh, fine I’ll go. Whatever means I can crash in here.” She then jumps in excitement, “Yess!! Also you’re going to have to pay at least half of the rent here if you wanna stay.” (He really thought 😭)

Time skip: 2hours

Adam waits on the couch waiting for y/n to finish up getting ready, y/n was lucky to find her old roommates clothes in his size. He has a leather jacket, along with black jeans and a Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt. He’s wearing the same boots he wore when he got here tho, he thought they’d look good with his jacket. Adam flinches at the sudden steps of y/n who just finished up, walking in the room.

“Sorry, I didnt scare you did I?” She says chuckling whilst brushing her hair. She had a long forest green skirt, along with a brown laced top and a cardigan that only reached her elbows. “So do you wanna fly or walk there? I can teach you how!”

Adam realizes, he has to pretend he doesn’t know how to fly, otherwise she might get suspicious. He assumes that since one angel has fallen, then there must be a shit ton. He can’t let her know that he’s the reason for the exterminations. “yeah, yeah totally totes you can definitelyteachmehowtoflymanandstuffhahahha” He rambles on while his eyebrows are furrowed and making finger guns to him, noticeably sweating his ass off.

Y/n notices this, then coming to a conclusion. “I know why you’re nervous, Adam..” She says gently, while looking up at him. Adam panics, nearly choking on his spit, “Ar-Ar you serious?”

“Yeah..

you must be afraid of heights!” She exclaimed happily, truly a eureka moment for this woman. Adam sighs in relief, the most unbearable relief anyone has ever felt. “I knew it from the moment I saw you, it’s always the tall ones.” She says shaking her head. “We don’t have to fly, Adam. It’s only a mile or two away, we’ll get there in no time!” Y/n adds picking up her messenger bag. “Now, let’s get going!” She says with a bright smile.

As they step onto the sidewalk, y/n notices that Adam seems a bit cautious. Normally when he was in hell it was to commit a massacre, not having to worry about a sinner hurting them because-well they couldn’t at the time. But now things are different, he’s one of them now.

“Relax,” Y/n starts, “just stay out of trouble, and stick with me. Oh and also watch your step, these guys are open to just taking a dump anywhere they’d like.”

The two begin to walk on the dirty sidewalk, y/n being extra careful about where she’s walking, but Adam doesn’t really mind stepping on a used condom or some junkies bag of coke.

“So, what’s it like up there?” Y/n asks, Adam gets alarmed at her question, stuttering a bit. “uuuUUP WHERE?”

“On earth! I heard that the sky is blue instead of red. And the animals there are not as scaly” y/n begins to stroke the soft hairs on her left wing, she was truly torturing this poor man. “How do the animals look here?” He asks, before y/n can respond,

splat!

A large red fleshy snake falls onto the ground, not really moving that much, just there. “I think that should answer your question” y/n then walks over the seemingly dead snake, while Adam does the same.

“So like, what do you guys do here all day?” Adam questions while sneering at the explicit posters causally displayed out in the open. “I mean, that depends on who you’re asking. Most people go on a rampage as soon as they get here, at least from what I see.” Y/n shrugs. “But sometimes you find a stable part of hell, or at least as stable as hell can be.” Adam becomes slightly intrigued about what she’s saying about hell. “Like, I work at a cafe around here. It’s nice but it’s a bit hard to keep up the wage when angels and demons wreck the place every now and then.” She says sadly, Adam feeling a wave of shame, that she has to live in constant fear while working because of others, and sometimes him.

Eventually, both y/n and Adam finally enter cannibal town. Adam being a bit wary, since he sees many familiar faces around the place, but not for good reason. Y/n then noticing, “Adam? You don’t look so good, is something wrong?” She questions. Adam begins to snap out of his cautious mode, “uhh, yeah?It’s not like on earth people are open to just eating each other out in the open-and NOT in the good way.” He scoffs, pointing to a gentlemen eating another’s guts out. “Oof, Rosie might wanna get that checked at.” Y/n says looking over at where Adam is pointing.

“And who the hell is Rosie??” Adam asks pretty loudly, “The mayor, but I’m sure she’s busy today. Anyways, I’m gonna go to the florist shop. Whole I go you can..” Y/n begins to look around, trying to find a place for Adam to get distracted, then finding a smoke store nearby. “-go to the smoke shop!” She suggests pointing nervously to the shop, hoping that her assumption wouldn’t offend him.

Adam stared at the shop for a bit, he had smoked before, but it was mostly when he was able to disguise himself as a human and go to earth. But he hasn’t done that in a while, last time he smoked he found himself passed out at the back of some hippies van. Ever since Sera made sure he was always watched whenever he went to earth.

“…yeah sure I’ll go smoke.” He submits. Y/n taking a breath of relief, “good! I’ll be in the shop if you need me” Y/n quickly gives him a nice 50, then going off to the flower shop.

Adam finishes his shopping trip pretty quickly, to be fair all he had was 50$ and the store was quite small. He just bought a bubbler and a pack of cigarettes, along with a lighter of course. He sits on a bench that had been between the two stores, then smoking one of the cigarettes.

He sat on that thing for at least 6 or 7 minutes. As he was sitting, he did notice that this place was nicer than every other part of hell. A bit weird to think about, how just a few days ago they were trying to kill each other. A huge gust of wind blows his cigar onto the floor, and into a puddle to his left. His attention is then drawn into the reflection for a few seconds, but he shrinks away from the pain of realizing he’s a demon now, and turns away closing his eyes.

After a good 9 minutes, y/n comes out with a woven basket of lavender, as well as candles with flowers inside of them. “Oh I took so long didn’t I?” She apologizes. “They just had a great sale on candles I couldn’t resist!” Y/n begins to sit down with Adam, hoping to rest a bit after standing round for a bit. “So, how have your last few days been down here?”

“Shitty. Do you have any eyeliner?” Adam replies manspreading, him being slightly slouched down. Y/n then scurries in her bag, hoping to find some. “I didn’t strike you as the type to wear eyeliner.” She chuckles, handing him the small stick along with a hand mirror. “What shape do you like putting it? I like a thin feline, it’s cute but basic.” Y/n shrugs, “Do I look like Jeffery star to you? I don’t know the fuckin species of eyeliner.” He laughs shaking his head giving himself a soft Smoke. Y/n laughs along with him, setting down the basket of lavender and candles between them.

“I got the lavender stuff for you.” Y/n says, Adam pauses, looking over at y/n. “…you’re not that smart are you?” Adam stares judgmentally, y/n taking lots of offense to his comment but keeping quiet. “Why do I need flowers right now? I don’t need a pity gift, especially if they’re some fucking flowers.” Adam scoffs. “No, they aren’t a pity gift or anything, I can tell you haven’t slept peacefully ever since you’ve gotten here.” Y/n removes a bit of the cloth on the basket to take one of the lavenders out. “These will be able to help you, I can make tea out of them and they’ll help you out. Or we can use the aromatherapy I got with it too, just in case you don’t like tea.” Y/n offers, she reaches over to gently grab Adam’s hand places it on hers.

“I know you’re going through a lot Adam. You don’t have to tell me why, but I need you to know that hiding your feelings wont do any good for you.” She explains giving a worried but weirdly comforting look at him, “so please, let me help you.”

Adam stares into y/n’s maroon and green eyes. He then feels as if a big weight of pressure left his chest, he’s never been able to have a person understand him like this. Especially when they don’t really know who he is. Tears slowly form in his red eyes, as y/n pulls him in for a hug. Feeling the warmth in her body made him feel safe in a way, that he could trust her. That she can always help him when he needs it. He didn’t know the exact words for it, but all he knew is that he hadn’t felt this way ever since Eden.

Adam’s dream pov:

Both Adam and y/n had gotten back to the house, it was a nice trip back since Adam finally trusted her a whole lot more. Once they got back y/n gave Adam some lavender tea, sure he would rather drink a cup of literal vomit than tea but he was desperate to sleep soundly for once. Hell, he could even sleep in jeans if we wanted to.

Adam practically throws himself on the couch, immediately going to sleep as soon as his cheek hits the pillow. He dreams of nothing but a void of darkness, as others do, but in that void he sees a familiar face in it, carrying a beautiful light with it. As the light came closer, it transformed into something Adam can only described as beauty.

He wasn't sure who it was tho, he's seen many women in his life, but he couldn't poke out who it was, only little things.The way she laughed, felt like small bubbles popping in his head. and her teeth coming from her smile, like beams of light, peaking through clusters and clusters of trees. And her eyes, oh her gorgeous eyes, like two pearls shining against the sunlight. Whoever it was, was truly gorgeous. But who was it?

Lilith?

Eve?

Lute?

No, it can’t be

You just met her..

Y/n? ♡

#Spotify #hazbin hotel #adam hazbin x reader #Adam x reader #viziepop #idk #hazbin hotel adam #lol #x reader #Fanfic #adam hazbin hotel #jellywrites #dividers by dolly

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humanitys-strongest-bamf · 9 months

Text

"get me a damned matcha" | Chapter 8: January I

{{ Chapter 7: December I | Chapter 9: February I }} Chapter Directory

fun fact i had this chapter written back in like may

if you wanna get tagged for updates, fill out this form here!

✧ pairing ➼ levi ackerman x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au ✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence. ✧ content/warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, strangers to lovers, alcohol, college-typical parties ✧ word count ➼ ~5.4k

It was already 3:00am and Levi found himself frowning at his bedroom window. He knew that he was going to get even less sleep than usual due to the fireworks that would be going off throughout the night, but it was particularly annoying because the constant bombardment of the colorful explosions in the night sky would also distract him from being able to continue reading his papers. He had set aside time throughout winter break to catch up so that he would be prepared for his research update presentation in April. It was still a few months away, so he knew he had time, but he would prefer to have the heavy reading out of the way before the semester started up again.

However, given the events of the past few weeks, he found himself annoyingly behind on the schedule that he set himself. It seemed that every time he dedicated a night to get caught up on work, he would find something come up that needed his immediate attention. Last week, it was that Hange's friend that promised to petsit their hamsters was suddenly unavailable, so Levi had to sub in for them. The week before, it was when you called him drunk crying over the phone and he had to spend the night with you at a diner to try to get you to sober up so that you could actually speak coherently over what had happened. It seemed like the world was throwing everything at him to prevent him from finishing anything related to actually securing his PhD.

He set the packet of papers down onto his desk with a sigh and shut his eyes as he rubbed at his forehead after another set of fireworks were set off outside, contributing to his rapidly approaching headache. His eyes opened again when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Levi pulled his phone out and turned on the screen, cursing when his phone lit up with the brightness turned all the way up, setting his vision on fire.

A frown was already plastered onto his face once he finally got to opening your text message.

> [Matcha Girl (3:04am)]: levi can u come pick me up > [levi (3:05am)]: From where, it's 3am. > [levi (3:05am)]: Also no, it's 3am. > [Matcha Girl (3:10am)]: oh cmon it's not liketou sleep anyway > [levi (3:12am)]: You're drunk, aren't you? > [Matcha Girl (3:15am)]: noooo > [Matcha Girl (3:15am)]: a lil > [Matcha Girl (3:15am)]: just toiiipsy > [Matcha Girl (3:18am)]: leviii PLSLAEEASE idk where i amm > [Matcha Girl (3:19am)]: n my phones about to die > [levi (3:21am)]: You're so annoying.

Levi sighed to himself as he rolled his eyes. He got up, internally questioning why he always felt the need to get you out of these stupid, shitty situations. He was already in outdoor clothes since he wasn't planning on sleeping tonight anyway, so he just had to grab his jacket and brace himself for the cold.

He shot you another text.

> [levi (3:25am)]: Where's the last place you remember being?

He frowned at your lack of a response. He usually wasn't one to get impatient while texting, but this wasn't just an everyday situation in which he was checking in with you. However, given the events of the past two months, his instincts told him that your delay in responding was indicative of bad news.

Levi immediately pressed the call button, tapping his finger against the back of his phone in anticipation as he waited for you to respond, hoping that your phone hadn't died yet. There was no answer.

> [levi (3:30am)]: _____, answer the phone.

Frustrated at your lack of a response, he shot you another text message. Your phone had rung, so he knew that your phone wasn't dead. His mind immediately began wandering over the reasons why you weren't answering: maybe you were distracted, maybe you lost your phone, maybe you got into trouble. He immediately pressed the call button again, tensing up once he heard your voice mailbox message again.

> [levi (3:32am)]: _____

Feeling increasingly pressured, he immediately shot you another text. You had been fairly quick in responding to him in the past, so an increasingly heavy feeling began to build in his gut as he continued to wait for a response that wasn't coming. He called again. There was no answer.

> [levi (3:35am)]: For fucks sake

He called you again. There was still no answer.

"For fucks sake," he repeated out loud, immediately heading out the door, speed-walking through the dimly lit lobby, grimacing once he opened the door to the outdoors parking lot as the cold air hit his face. The sky was clear and there was no wind, but the winter night was chilly enough that he was relieved when he finally pulled himself into the car and turned on the heat.

Luckily, there was no snow or ice on the ground, so he didn't have to deal with defrosting. He just needed to turn on the car, turn on the heat, and then drive to wherever you were. The hard part was finding out exactly where you were.

Of all the scenarios he had imagined for himself for his second year in the graduate program, this was not one of them. He never imagined that he would drag himself out of the house on a freezing winter night at 3 in the morning to go rescue some drunk undergrad from a New Year's Eve party that went too far—but you weren't just some drunk undergrad. You were his roommate and someone that he now begrudgingly called a friend. He'd have to deal with your bullshit in the morning whether he came to pick you up or not. At least he'd be able to do some sort of damage control if he went to pick you up now instead of waiting for you to pop up in the morning at the front door.

He pulled out his phone again and looked through your text messages, scrolling up to see if you had mentioned the party you were planning on going to tonight to him earlier. You didn't.

He stared at the last text that he sent you.

> [levi (3:35am)]: For fucks sake

He recalled how you had called him last month, drunk and in tears over something shitty that your friend said that reopened some old wounds that had appeared a month prior. While that situation had resolved itself, the way that you were essentially incoherent as he tried to ground you from all your chaotic thoughts did not give him confidence in how you were coping with the situation you found yourself in now.

"Shit," he muttered to himself underneath his breath. He couldn't get this heavy feeling to go away. He couldn't trust that you didn't throw yourself into another shitty situation. The last thing he wanted to do was drive around the town through crowds of drunk students to find you, but he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he dragged your ass home.

The new year had just passed, so there were plenty of New Year's parties littered around campus. Levi briefly recalled you mentioning a party you had gotten invited to and were excited to attend. He found himself frowning at the fact that you likely went alone or somehow got separated from your friends, who would also be too drunk to be reliable in locating you.

"What a pain in the ass," he muttered, cranking up the heat in the car, with it barely being able to keep up with the cold seeping in from the outside.

Your dumb ass better have dressed up warmly enough to be wandering around in this shit.

He paused for a second upon having that thought. As much as it irritated him, he couldn't deny that he was deeply concerned for your safety and well-being. He was adamant on ignoring you and possibly finding another place to live once the lease renewals came around when you first started living together, but that intent was nowhere to be found now. He did enjoy having you as a roommate, even if you were a constant pain in the ass to him.

Levi sighed as he scrolled through the socials that he knew you frequented to see if he could get any clue as to where you were, but there were so many parties going on around town that it would be difficult to track you down. He never would have imagined himself sitting in the cold playing detective in the middle of the night. No matter what he did, he couldn't get his concern over your state of being out of his head. There were too many wild cards.

The streets immediately off-campus were nowhere near safe enough for you to be wandering alone while shit-faced. He didn't trust you to not get lost on a bus route. Even the parties themselves were not safe, given how wild some of the undergrads can get. If your phone really was dead, you wouldn't be able to call an Uber or even the police in case something happened.

His thumb hovered over his phone as he noticed that he had stopped scrolling, being lost in his head over all the things that could have gone wrong throughout the course of the night.

"God fucking dammit, _____," he cursed to himself, tossing his phone into the cup holder in between the driver's and passenger's seats before shifting the gears in the car to officially begin his journey of perusing through the town to figure out where you were.

~~~~~

In the end, Levi found himself walking through the cold, his hands buried into his coat pockets as he pushed his way past the undergrads that were too drunk to feel the cold. He had been driving around campus for around an hour, stopping periodically at the bigger parties to ask if anyone had seen you around. Although most of the undergrads were absolutely shit-faced, every party had at least one sober contact that was on bouncer duty or standing around, looking as irritated as he would be if put in that situation.

"There's way too many people coming in and out for me to remember her," one would say.

"I dunno, I might have seen her around. She your girlfriend or something?" others would say.

"No, she's my roommate and I'm going to take your answer as a no," Levi responded in reference to his question as to whether they had seen you.

Some of the other undergrads he had asked had more than distasteful commentary upon him pulling up your picture, with some asking if he had "lost control of you" and let you get too into the party, which immediately placed a scowl on Levi's face.

"She can fucking take care of herself, you ass."

Levi found himself being oddly defensive at some of the distasteful comments coming from some of the younger undergrads. Those comments would have pissed him off no matter who they were directed at, but he found himself especially pissed off when they were directed at you.

After approaching his fourth or fifth house party, he eventually caught word of a parade that ended at a food truck festival downtown. He vaguely recalled that one night in that diner in which you chatted about being an emotional eater and gravitating towards food whenever you were intoxicated. It wasn't a clear lead, but you at least had a higher chance of being there than sticking around at one of these rowdy parties.

As he approached downtown, the crowd got thicker, so he had to find street parking a block or two away and walk on foot to where the food trucks were. The one positive from being in a crowded area was that everyone's close proximity kept them (Levi included) warm due to their own body heat, although being this close to people grossed him out. He knew that there were certainly pathogens flying around everywhere from how close people were to each other with no regards for personal space.

He looked up as soon as he began to smell food and saw the line-up of trucks that had merchants desperately trying to keep up with the drunk, hungry students that were sinking their money into overpriced food at 4 in the morning. He pulled out his phone again to see if you had texted him back.

You didn't.

~~~~~

Why do the lines have to be so long?

That was the only thought that was running through your head. You had been wandering down the line of food trucks in hopes of finding something that both satisfied your drunk cravings and wasn't packed with other students. You finally found one (sort of) at the very end.

It was a hot dog stand that had a line of around 5-6 people, which was pretty short compared to the 15-20 people that crowded every other truck. You felt yourself begin to salivate at the prospect of finally getting some food and reached your hand into your pocket to dig out some cash so you can get yourself a hot dog.

Your hand brushed against your phone and you frowned in confusion, recalling a blurry memory about texting your grumpy roommate about a ride.

How long ago was that? Did it even happen?

Deciding that you cared at the moment a bit more about getting the hot dog than you were about checking in on Levi (when you weren't even sure if you actually texted him or not), you continued to fumble around until you finally pulled out a small wad of cash.

The hot dog was within reach.

"_____!"

You thought you heard someone vaguely call your name, but by the time it registered in your mind, you were pushing your way past some of the stragglers that weren't in line to get up to the hot dog stand. Nothing was getting in between you and your hot dog.

"_____!" that someone called out again, a bit more urgently this time.

You turned around to see who it was that was trying to get your attention.

However, since you were already moving forward with quite a bit of momentum and since your ability to balance yourself was a bit compromised due to the alcohol, you quickly found yourself tumbling towards the ground.

However, before you could hit the ground, a sturdy arm wrapped itself around your back, preventing you from falling straight onto your ass. You finally looked up and looked into the intense, gray eyes of your grumpy roommate.

"The least you can do is to try to watch your step, you dumbass."

A small smile appeared on your face as your eyes lit up upon seeing him.

"Hi," you said, sounding slightly dazed without taking your eyes off him. "Have I ever told you your eyes are really pretty?"

Levi raised his eyebrows at your comment, shooting an unamused expression your way.

"Your face too," you continued.

Levi rolled his eyes.

"You're drunk."

"No," you said defensively, "just tipsy! Just, tipsy."

You took a breath mid-sentence, feeling winded after losing your balance.

"What a pain in the ass," he grumbled as he lifted his arm to get you back on your feet. "Get up. We're leaving."

"Why?" you asked, tilting your head.

"Did you not ask me to pick you up?"

You blinked at him a few times as you recalled that the memory of you texting him actually did happen and wasn't just a figment of your drunken imagination.

"Oh yeah, I guess I did."

"For fuck's sake," Levi said with an exasperated sigh before whispering underneath his breath, "and to think I got all worried for nothing."

"What was that?" you asked, having gotten distracted by the person at the front of line receiving their order.

"I said you're a fucking pain in the ass," he spat. "Let's go."

He nudged you in the opposite direction and then glared at you when you provided resistance.

"But I want a hot dog," you said with a pout, looking genuinely upset at the thought of not being able to get your long-awaited meal.

"At this hour?"

"Yes!"

Levi groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, almost unable to believe that of all the situations he had imagined while searching for you, that this was the one that actually occurred.

"Fine," he said with another exasperated sigh. "But you're eating it before we get into the car."

He barely finished his sentence before he briefly lost his ability to breathe when you basically body slammed into him with a tight hug. His eyes widened a bit, not expecting the sudden act of affection.

"My hot dog hero," you said quietly before pulling off of him, eyes gleaming.

He rolled his eyes at you again, shrugging you off of him before pulling out his wallet and walking up to the food stand.

You stared at him, a smile appearing on your face as your cheeks warmed up.

Levi, who irritated you beyond belief the minute you started interacting with him and who made sure that you knew that he felt the same way towards you, was here, standing in the cold in the middle of the night, buying you a fucking hot dog. It seemed silly, but it made your heart flutter.

No one's really gone out of the way for you like this before.

It was silly—but it meant a lot to you.

Your eyes glimmered as he shoved the hot dog into your hands.

"Let's go."

~~~~~

It was nearly 4:30am at this point, so the crowds were starting to clear. You barely felt the cold on your way to Levi's car. All you could focus on was the warm hot dog in your hands. Every bite you took felt like bliss. You weren't lying when you said that you were an emotional eater. If nothing could bring you happiness, at least food could.

"Hope that shit at least sobers you up," Levi muttered, looking back at you as you continued to happily munch on it.

You noticed him looking and nodded.

"-think so," you said, your voice slightly muffled since your mouth was full.

You immediately saw Levi's face scrunch up in disgust. Feeling your face heat up in embarassment, you instantly covered your mouth with your free hand before muttering a quiet, "sorry".

Once you finally got into the car, you realized how cold your body was and you felt yourself instantly relax upon the heat coming on and washing your freezing body with warmth. The hot dog had sobered you up at this point and you smiled to yourself as you felt the rumbling of the car as Levi began to drive home.

"Hmm," you muttered to yourself as you watched the night lights pass through the passenger window.

"What?" Levi asked, glancing over at you real quick.

"Why is driving with you always so relaxing?" you asked, as you pulled up your memory of the drive you had together in November after the not-so-pleasant encounter with your aunt.

"What are you talking about?"

"In November," you said, looking towards him, "when you drove me around because I was upset and-"

Your words were interrupted as you brought your arm up to sneeze into your elbow, facing away from Levi.

Levi groaned.

"You better not be getting sick."

"Nope," you said with a sniffle.

Levi grunted, not really believing you.

After driving for a few minutes in silence, you shuffled around in your seat, an uncomfortable feeling arising in your throat. You knew it wasn't due to the drinking, you've suffered through that enough times to know your limit. You couldn't tell if it was anxiety, guilt, shame, or all three.

"Thank you," you said quietly, looking down towards your knees.

"Hmm?"

He had heard you, but didn't quite know how to respond himself.

"For picking me up," you clarified. "I'm sorry I made you come out so late."

Levi looked over at you, the look in his eyes softening as you continued to stare at your knees, afraid to look at him.

"Just don't make a habit out of this," he said, bringing his eyes back to the road. "I can't drop everything to go looking for you all the fucking time."

A small smile pulled on the edges of your lips.

"You dropped everything to come find me?"

The question was directed towards yourself as much as it was at him.

"You know what I mean."

You didn't respond, but you couldn't hide the growing smile on your face.

He cared. He really did care. Even with how annoyed he was with you 24/7, Levi Ackerman really did care for your well-being and that was enough to make you smile like an idiot. You didn't have very many people in your life that you could confidently say that they cared.

Levi glanced over at you, noticing that you fell silent.

Tonight was not a good night. Levi had been forced out of the house at 3am and had been on panic mode all night out of fear that you had gotten yourself into a stupid situation when you had just gotten lost while wandering around looking for a fucking hot dog stand. He was annoyed beyond belief—but also incredibly relieved that you were okay. Everything was okay.

A frown grew on his face and his grip on the steering wheel tightened as an irritating thought popped up in his head: he didn't trust himself to not do this again.

If you texted him tomorrow with the exact same messages, he didn't trust himself to not immediately worry for your safety and then wander out to find you again. He really was depending on you to not make a habit out of this.

Once you finally got home, you immediately planted yourself face-first onto the couch. You were exhausted. The alcohol was wearing off, the headache was coming on, and you felt yourself barely able to keep your eyes open or move another muscle. You weren't making it into your bed tonight.

You felt something soft land on you and looked up. Levi had tossed a throwover blanket in your direction, seemingly in sync with your thought that you were just going to crash on the couch tonight.

"Just don't get sick on the floor," Levi muttered quietly before walking away towards him bedroom. "I'm going to bed."

"Night," you said quietly, shooting him a lazy wave with your hand as you placed your head down onto the couch pillow, hugging the blanket as you slowly drifted off into sleep.

Levi sighed and glanced back at you right before reaching his bedroom. He couldn't tell what he was feeling. He was relieved, pissed, and annoyed at the same time. He was glad you were okay, pissed that you got yourself into a shitty situation, and annoyed at himself for getting as worried as he did.

"For fuck's sake," he whispered to himself again as he stepped into the bedroom, unable to shake this feeling off, hoping that sleep would help it normalize out, and that he'd wake up tomorrow morning with the events of tonight becoming a distant, detached memory.

~~~~~

You felt like your head was literally on fire. Opening your eyes—even to your dimly lit living room—set them on fire.

You buried your face into the couch pillow, desperately pleading that your hangover would just go away so you wouldn't have to deal with this all day. After a few minutes with no sign of your hangover disappearing, you slowly turned your head towards the coffee table and forced yourself to peel your eyes open.

It took a few seconds for your eyes to adjust and you had to blink a few times—which did not help your headache.

How did I get home?

You had vague recollections of what had happened the night prior. You remembered panicking on your way to a food truck festival before texting Levi, but you didn't remember much after that.

Your eyes fell onto the dining table and you blinked a few times at what you found.

There was a cup of coffee on the table, sitting in a thermos to keep warm, as well as a cup of water, and two tablets of Tylenol. You forced yourself to sit up and saw that the coffee thermos was sitting on a piece of paper with a note written on it.

[For the hangover. PS. Your phone's on the kitchen table charging.]

Your face started to heat up as more memories of what happened the night before began to arise.

Levi had driven out to you to pick you up when he had no idea where you were to begin with. He had dragged himself out of the house in the middle of the night into the freezing cold just to find you, when you weren't in any actual danger. You then vaguely remembered looking into his eyes before drunkenly telling him that he was pretty.

You groaned and placed your face in the palm of your hand, trying to get rid of the rising embarrassment that you were beginning to feel.

Luckily, Levi had left for the day to go do lab work, which meant that you didn't have to deal with the consequences of your shenanigans right this minute.

You grabbed the coffee and sniffed at it. Levi said he didn't make the specialty coffees at his café, but he was still able to whip up a pretty good batch. You gently took a sip of it before immediately wincing once the hot liquid hit your lips.

You cursed to yourself as you put the thermos back down, having not expected the beverage to still be as hot as it was. You quickly switched over to the cup of water to cool off your burning mouth, promptly taking the two Tylenol tablets afterwards to attempt to soothe your headache.

You threw the blanket that you had wrapped yourself in to the side and slowly pushed yourself off the couch, groaning as your head pounded in protest. You slowly made your way over to the kitchen table, rubbing your forehead in an attempt to soothe the pain.

You picked up your phone and checked the time: 11am. Since it was still in the middle of winter break, you didn't have to worry about classes or important obligations for the day.

Having decided that staying awake while working through this headache wasn't worth it, you dragged yourself into your bedroom, shut your blinds, and collapsed into your bed so that you could sleep the hangover off.

~~~~~

It had been a week since you found yourself wandering in the middle of the night during a freezing winter's night after getting fixated on food after attending a New Year's party. You had insisted that you weren't getting sick as a result of it, but that was getting further and further from the truth.

You sneezed again into your elbow, grimacing when you saw Levi glance over at you. You were sitting at the kitchen table on your laptop, attempting to write more of the light novel that was required for you to graduate, and Levi was on the couch, catching up on the papers that he hadn't been able to read.

"Thought you said you weren't getting sick," he said without looking up at you.

"I'm not," you said, scowling at him for a few seconds before glancing back down at your computer. You squinted your eyes at your screen, trying to remember what your train of thought was before you had been rudely interrupted by your body requiring you to sneeze.

You felt yourself getting increasingly frustrated at your inability to focus on writing. The words weren't really coming together—you couldn't tell the difference between affect and effect, then and than, how to use a semi-colon properly, or if your dialogue to exposition ratio was balanced. You weren't getting anything done at this rate.

After hearing nothing from silence from you, Levi glanced up at you.

"You've been staring at your screen without moving for like ten minutes at this point. Go to bed."

"Hmm?" you said as you shook your head, snapping yourself out of your daze. "It's only 8."

You sneezed into your elbow again.

A frown appeared on Levi's face.

"If you sneeze one more time, I'm going to have to wear a hazmat suit just to come home."

"God, not everyone's a clean freak like you, Lev'," you said as you rolled your eyes at him.

He gave you a deadpan expression upon you using your nickname for him. It wasn't that different from his actual name and you had just started using it after he came to pick you up. It weirded him out last week when you used it for the first time, but he did find it endearing in a way.

"You're sick," Levi emphasized again.

"No I'm not-" you began retorting before being interrupted with your itchy throat that prompted some coughing that you failed to suppress.

Levi simply stared at you, raising his eyebrows again.

"Okay fine," you mumbled. "I think I caught a cold, probably from running around last week during New Years."

"Wonder whose fault that was," Levi mumbled.

You frowned at Levi and threw a clumped up wad of paper at him across the room.

He immediately caught it and chucked it back at you. You were slow to react and it bounced off your head as you looked back at him with an irritated expression.

Levi sighed as you continued to glare at him.

"How much writing have you gotten done in the past hour?"

You were reluctant to respond, so you didn't.

"Go to bed," Levi said again.

You let out a defeated sigh before gently closing your laptop. Now that you've had a minute to think, you realized that Levi was right. You felt absolutely horrible. Your head was pounding, your sinuses were so inflamed that you felt it in your eyes, and you felt chills incoming, which meant that a fever was approaching.

You shot an annoyed look towards Levi as you walked past the couch into the kitchen, placing your tea mug into the sink.

"Always gotta be so bossy," you grumbled underneath your breath as you turned away from him and walked towards your bedroom.

"I heard that, you brat," Levi responded without looking up at you.

You turned around and stuck your tongue out at him, which earned you a prompt eye roll.

By the time you actually collapsed into bed, your body was more than ready to pass out. You were lucky that Levi called you out when he did, as it saved you from having to embarrass yourself in front of him and be subjected to being taken care of by him again. Last week was enough.

You couldn't get that memory out of your head.

~~~~~

The next time that you opened your eyes, you were completely wrapped up in your blanket, encasing yourself in a cocoon. Your head was pounding and your breath was warm. As soon as you reached your arm out of your blanket to reach for your phone, you felt a chill run through your body.

You were most definitely sick—and likely with a fever.

Fuck. I really can't afford this right now.

You groaned as you rolled yourself out of your comfortable cocoon and forced yourself to stand, having to hold onto your nightstand for balance at the sudden movement. Your body was protesting at your every movement.

You glanced around the room with a frown, annoyed that you left your laptop out in the dining room instead of bringing it to your room so that you could work while in bed.

You held your head in a vain attempt to soothe it as you took a few steps forward towards your door, pausing when you stepped on a piece of paper. It was a note.

You bent over and picked it up, squinting so that you could read what it said without having to turn on your obnoxiously bright ceiling lamp.

[Made a cup of tea for you on the kitchen table near your computer. Don't burn yourself this time.

P.S. If I catch you working while you're still sick, I'm tossing your computer out the window.]

#: @levisbrat25 @gothgril69 @sckerman @berrijam @notgoodforlife @meowjaa @averysmolbear @roseofdarknessblog @bejewelledd @hhighkey @ayame236 @sad-darksoul @velouria17 @kamyru @l1zk4 @layenacreates @lamees004 @whoami-72 @highgoon69 @chaotic-on-main @levishotgf @nube55 @chosos-mascara @heichoucleanfreak @svftackerman

#cw: alcohol #levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi heichou x reader #captain levi x reader #levi #levi ackerman #levi heichou #captain levi #modern!au levi #coffeeshop!au levi #college!au levi #attack on titan #aot #shingeki no kyojin #snk #fics: matcha

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chaosduckies · 10 days

Text

Restoration (Chapter 8)

A bunch of scenes because why not? On another note, it is extremely hard to write a scene in winter when it’s the middle of April. I hope you enjoy anyhow! Because now I’m really getting into the plot.

Word Count: 5.9k

CW: Death, crying, vague thoughts of suicide, severe trauma, (anything else idk??)

8-Ryker

It was Thanksgiving break. The first official break from school until Christmas. Words could not describe how grateful I was for the week-long break. There was no reason to have so much work piled up a couple weeks before the end of first semester.

I was laying in my bed on my phone. It was about to turn six, which meant I should probably get started on dinner, but I just couldn’t bring myself to climb out of bed. I was physically and mentally tired of keeping up with everyone and whatever plans they had with their friends, taking care of Isabelle and Angela since they were still little, and on top of that keep up with the chores around the house.

I grabbed my phone off the charger, stretched out my arms and legs from laying down, and opened my door to get started on dinner. The living room was oddly quiet, with Dylan and Lucky playing a game. Isabelle playing a game with Angela on the carpet that consisted of a bunch of stuffed animals and blankets. I smiled to myself.

“What do you guys feel like eating for dinner?” I leaned against the kitchen island, waiting for an answer.

“Spaghetti!” Isabelle and Angela answered at the time, giggling at one another. I think I could do that. I don’t know if Lucky can though. It was the first weekend of the break and I’d probably need to go grocery shopping tomorrow anyways.

I looked in Dylan’s direction, making them pause whatever they were playing together. He just shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever’s easier for you.” Always with the same response.

“Ummm, I can go check what we have.” Lucky told me, getting Dylan to let him onto the floor. All I could do was wait now. Jasmine was staying over at her friends today and tomorrow. I just told her to text me if she goes anywhere far and if she needed anything. Weird, right? Usually the parent handles these kinds of things, but in the situation my siblings and I are in it’s literally impossible.

Lucky came back, shaking his head, “We don’t have the things for spaghetti,” He laid down on the arm rest of the couch and grabbed his remote, “You should call Nathan to come over. He hasn’t been here in a while. Plus, he’s so much better at cooking than I am. Right, Angela?”

“Yeah!”

I bit the side of my cheek. I don’t know about that. Just asking Nathan to come over to cook and then ask him to leave? That was wrong. Plus, he told me before the break that he’ll be pretty busy. Or… texted me. Either way, I shouldn’t bother him. Maybe he actually has a meal with his family for Thanksgiving and they were all getting ready for it already. On the other hand, Lucky makes something else for him and Angela, Angela doesn’t eat, and then everything goes downhill from there.

Looking at my phone, I picked it up, opening the messages app, and clicked on Nathan’s name. The last time he came here, Jasmine did kind of freak him out. I remember him not being able to leave anyone’s side if she was in the room. I wonder if he’d even want to come over after that. At school the next day he was a little nervous, but otherwise fine afterward, but I’m sure whatever Jasmine told him is still stuck in his mind. Ugh. This was such a bad idea.

Ryker: I have a huge favor to ask you

I waited for a response, watching Dylan and Lucky play a fighting game against one another. I had no idea who was winning, but I’m pretty sure it was Lucky. Actually… it was kind of weird how Lucky seemed to want Nathan around more often. Like, really weird. Especially when every time Nathan came, he would practically ditch him with me. I honestly don’t mind, I liked having Nathan come over, but still. I had wondered why, but I wasn’t going to ask.

Nathan: Yeah?

Ryker: Do you mind coming over to help Lucky cook something?

Ryker: You don’t have to

Well, if he says no Lucky will have to make whatever he can and I’d have to break the news to Angela. If you didn’t know, four year olds can be a little hard to deal with sometimes. So, this might just turn out to be a very, very bad day.

Nathan: Sure!

Nathan: Anything specific?

I stared at his text, relief washing over me. Dylan let out a cheer from winning against Lucky. Wow. Perfect timing. I was just so grateful right now. Nathan was literally the greatest friend ever. Now I have to think of someway to thank him. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Ryker: They wanted spaghetti

Ryker: And thank you

Nathan: No problem :)

Ryker: I guess I’ll be at the bus stop in about twenty minutes?

Nathan: Okay

I stuffed my phone in my pocket, “Okay, I’ll be right back, just text me if something happens.” I told Dylan, who nodded his head. And with that, I walked out the door and into the cold air.

———Nathan———

Winters in the city were bad. But not as bad as when we were still help captive. Now those days were terrible. Horrifying even. It was still freakishly cold here. Not something I enjoy. For several reasons really. One being that I already get cold really easily. Two, I just hated being cold and sick. And the most important reason being that it was during this kind of weather when my dad had died. Actually, in three days it’s officially been nine years since my dad died. November 24. A long time, right?

It hurts. The memories. Not just of him but how they brutally murdered him in front of his own child. I shuddered at the sight pictured in my mind. Nope. Can’t think about that. Right now I should probably be getting ready to head over to the bus stop. I already had packed a tiny bag with the things I needed to cook. Weird enough, it was kind of a therapy for me at this point. To be cooking I mean. I guess that’s why my mom always gets worried when I’m baking for no reason. Because she knows.

I sighed, giving my mom a quick text that I was heading over to Ryker’s for a little while. The last time I went, I thought everything was going great before Jasmine talked to me alone. everyone had left to go looking for something and it was just her and I. I was scared of course. We’ve never, ever talked before and from what I’ve gathered she’s really intimidating.

Her exact words to me were: “If you hurt my brother in any way I will personally murder you.” and that was was it took for me to have an entire mental breakdown for nearly two weeks. I mean, who wouldn’t be scared if someone’s sibling threatened you like that? So, the week before the break, I might have been acting a little weird around Ryker, afraid that I might actually do something wrong or hurt him in any way, which I don’t really see how I could.

Otherwise, I haven’t really been doing anything. I told Ryker that I would be busy during the break, but really I wasn’t. Only because I do actually have something to do on November 24, and I was already feeling the depression spikes as the day came closer and closer. As for Thanksgiving itself, my mom and I never do anything. Last year we were barely getting used to being in the mental hospital so we didn’t really do anything. This year she’s working so it’ll just be me. Nothing new.

I made my way down the icy streets, the sun setting faster and faster. It was only getting colder, and I didn’t really have a winter jacket. Just some to wear in the classroom like when it’s freezing in there. So, yeah, I was basically freezing my face off. Not to mention that my mom told me it might snow later tonight since it was already under twenty degrees outside. I wasn’t used to cold weather.

Once I made it to the bus stop, I snuggled up with my bag on the bench, trying to have some kind of warmth. Also because there were several people (giants) who were going back home from stores or getting off of work. The bus stop was actually used for both humans and giants. The human was a little ways from the huge one that was practically as tall as a skyscraper. Maybe taller.

My hands were shaky from the cold, but it was only another five minutes before Ryker would come and hopefully I wouldn’t be as cold. Maybe. Hopefully. I don’t know what today has in store for me. All I knew was that I just wanted to wrap myself in a blanket with some hot chocolate and binge watch something on tv.

Ryker came a few minutes later, smiling and giving a thanks before offering a hand. I threw the bag on first before struggling to get on. It was hard when the ground underneath you was starting to freeze over, but I figured it out after trying for a good minute.

“You’re freezing.” Ryker told me, cupping his hand just a little. Sure, it was scary to have his fingers closer to me, but still, it was warm. How could I deny something that was practically calling me?

“That good?” He smiled, for some reason making sure I was comfortable. But I was not about to complain. I was desperate at this point. I nodded my head, bringing my knees closer to my chest to keep some of my body warmth with me. And yet another reason I hate winter.

“Thanks again. Sorry for bothering you.”

I continuously shook my head, hoping he would get the message that it was fine. Plus, I liked going over. Everyone was nice (Besides Jasmine I’m pretty sure she hates me) and never really tried to do anything too crazy with me. It was great. I’m not as afraid anymore, which was a miracle given I thought I could never trust anyone ever again, and I’ve actually made some friends.

Ryker opened the door to his house, where we found them all watching a movie together. Everyone turned their heads as soon as the door closed behind Ryker. I jumped slightly, but relaxed after a while. Nothing to be afraid of. Dylan’s eyes landed on me, giving a smile and a two fingered wave. I waved back, but I doubt he could see it.

I was set down on the ground, not entirely expecting to be in a tight hug the second I balanced myself. Lucky bursted out laughing, letting me go, “You are literally the best, Nathan.” I laughed with him, following Lucky into the room.

——————

I didn’t eat anything. I wasn’t hungry. Of course Ryker tried to convince me to eat something, but I always answered no. Otherwise, dinner was okay. They had Lucky, Angela and I on the coffee table, which wasn’t really too big of a deal. I’m pretty sure Ryker and Dylan just didn’t want to handle any humans while they were eating, and hey, I was not about to say anything about it. There are just some things that will never leave my mind.

After everyone ate, Dylan and Lucky started playing a game on the tv while Isabelle and Angela were playing hide and seek I’m pretty sure. I just hoped that no one would get hurt, but Ryker quickly reassured me that they would never harm one another. I just had to believe him. Most of his siblings are stuck together like glue. Which is a good thing.

“It’s supposed to start snowing in a little bit.” Ryker announced, earning cheers from the other room where I was guessing Angela and Isabelle were. I was sitting on the arm rest of the couch by Ryker. I kind of wished that their house was a little warmer, because I was still annoyingly cold, but beggars can’t be choosers. I should have asked to grab a blanket.

“Nice. Are we gonna go out?” Dylan asked, eyes glued to the screen. I had no idea who was winning, but I think it was him.

“If you want to.”

Ryker threw his phone on the other side of the couch, turning his head to the screen. I don’t want to go outside, but I’ll go if that makes things easier. I just don’t want to be in the snow. Reasons. Remember?

It was about ten minutes later that it did actually start snowing. Angela and Isabelle were begging Ryker to let them outside, which he just laughed to and told them to get jackets on and to bring their hats. Dylan paused their game to go get on a jacket, and Ryker left to go help Isabelle. So I was alone in the living room while everyone was busy to go have some fun. I hated winter. In just three days. I reminded myself.

What would happen? Would someone else be claimed victim? Something bad always happens during this time. I don’t know if it was just me. It probably was. Everyone else was smiling while I was crying in the corner. It’s how it was in the hospital. They all went outside if they could, and I stayed in my room, under the blankets and shove my face into my pillow to drown out my tears. I couldn’t do that now though. Not when so many people had their eyes on me. Not when a trip back to the hospital was a very viable option for me. I didn’t want to go back. Not because of something… traumatic that happened nine years ago. I should be over it, right? But I’m not.

There goes one of my depression spells. Great. Just great. At a time like this? I sucked in a deep breath, calming myself down before anyone notices. This was embarrassing.

Ryker came back into the room, eyes landing on me with an unsure look on his face. He walked up to me, holding a hand out. Was he not going to wear any gloves? He wouldn’t be cold? I stood up, keeping my balance on the soft surface underneath me and walking to climb onto his hand.

“You don’t mind if I just keep you in my hand, right? I don’t want you to be freezing.” He asked. I shook my head, sitting down in the middle of his palm. That was actually what I preferred. I did not plan whatsoever to go into the snow anyways.

Once everyone was outside, Ryker sat down on the stairs, cupping his hand and keeping me close. A little uneasy about it, but there was really no reason to be. It’s just instinct. And everything in me right now is saying to get the hell inside. But I wasn’t going to say that. Mostly because I don’t want to be alone.

They were all screaming and laughing. It was snowing pretty hard too, already covering most of the frosted grass just after ten minutes. Other people were also sitting outside. Their kids playing around with the snow. I tried not to focus on that. Instead, I found myself scooting back slowly, almost to where I couldn’t see the heavy fall of the white flakes.

My body was still freezing. It was so much colder than before. Was this how dad felt? The cold pricking at his skin I mean.

“Nathan?” My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice above me. I groaned, body shaking and stuffing my hands in my pockets to preserve some of my body heat. I shuddered a breath, trembling. It’s so cold… How could they even be having fun like this? I looked ahead, seeing Dylan helping Isabelle make a small snowman with both Angela and Lucky stuffed in his scarf. This was just another one of my depression spells.

“Still cold?” Ryker asked me. I took a deep breath, “Y-Yeah…” It came out more like a quiet mumble, and I was surprised that he even heard me. Did he want to help them make a snowman? He probably did. I should just tell him to leave me inside. It would make things a million times easier for everyone.

Ryker moved his hand a bit, making me worried about what he was trying to do, but he just kept it the same. I wondered why he was going through all this trouble just for me. There was really no point. There was only a couple more months until graduation and then we’d go our separate ways. That’s how it always goes. I’d be alone again, figuring out what to do with the rest of my life. That’s how my story goes.

“Better?”

I nodded my head, getting to a comfortable position and decided to just watch what they were all doing. Finishing up the head of the snowman. It was comfy even though I was kind of scared from being in someone’s hand. At least now that is. Currently I was just afraid of falling into the deep snow. I’m pretty sure if I fell I’d sink into it. Not something I would like to see or imagine.

“You okay?” Ryker asked, softly smiling above me. There was no other response other than to nod. I couldn’t just say no. That wouldn’t do any good. But.. maybe if he notices that these next few days would be hard for me. Maybe. Just maybe. I doubt it though. I don’t plan on being here all of the time anyways. I couldn’t.

Isabelle finished the snowman, grabbing some loose twigs for arms as they stepped back. It was still snowing, just not as much. Was dad watching me right now? Was he shocked just as much as I was? I never thought I’d ever be able to be around another giant for as long as I had lived, and here I am, sitting in one of their hands. Would he think I was crazy? Delusional? Psycho? Happy like my mom even? I would never know, but even I think I was crazy.

Actually… why did I even trust Ryker? Or really anyone. They’re all so nice of course, but about four months ago I was so sure that every giant would only hurt me, and it almost became true with that lunch incident that felt like forever ago. So why did I trust these people with my life? In the back of my mind I keep thinking that this was all just a sick joke being played on me. But… I don’t think these people are lying about anything. They don’t have a reason to. And Ryker’s been nothing but patient, and kind, and… understanding. No one would go through all that trouble just to fool someone as gullible as me.

I sighed, snuggling up closer to Ryker’s thumb and watching Isabelle throw snowballs at Dylan who was shielding Lucky and Angela from the crossfire. Was it scary being there? In the midst of everything? Having to trust someone at least fifty times your size to keep you safe? I sucked in a shaky breath, just watching. It wasn’t so bad really.

———Ryker———

Today was November 24. Thanksgiving was here, and everything was a complete mess. I never learned how to make a turkey like the tradition, so usually I just made something that all of us had liked. Along with that, I had to make sure no one did anything too crazy while I was busy in the kitchen. Jasmine and Dylan were helping out cooking while I ordered something for Lucky and Angela. They both agreed on pizza (Because what else does a fourteen year-old and a four year-old want) so now I was busy with that. That part was mostly because Angela didn’t like when Lucky cooks something different.

It was just pure chaos now. Everyone was running around the house, and at that point I had to ask Jasmine to keep an eye on Angela to make sure she didn’t wander off where we couldn’t find her. I wasn’t too worried about Lucky since he’s almost always with Dylan, plus he’s smart enough to stay off the floor when it’s something like this.

I took out the lasagna, letting it cool down before making separate plates. Yeah, I know, super weird, but I can’t do anything better. I only know the basics thanks to my parents, and that was all I needed to know.

There was a knock on the door, and I asked Dylan to open it. It was just the pizza. I washed whatever dishes I had and called everyone that dinner was ready. It’s days like this where I wished that my parents never left. I feel like I can never be like them even though I was the oldest. I mean, was I just supposed to let CPS split us all apart? I couldn’t do that. My siblings would never forgive me. I like to think that they’re all happy, but I doubt it. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything to help any of them. Like I’m doing this “parenting” thing all wrong. Of course I was. I was seventeen in my last year of high school taking care of five kids on my own while also juggling a job and trying to do fun things with them so we can forget about what happened a little over a year ago. There was no reason for one person to be doing all of this.

It was snowing outside again. Not really surprising when you’ve lived here for your entire life. It was really nice though. I loved the cold. Weird, because most people don’t, but I do. I remember my parents freaking out when I would just be outside making a snowman in just a short sleeve and sweatpants when I was a kid. Of course it was so cold it burned, but I guess I kind of liked it? It was hard to explain. Or sometimes we’d stay inside and watch movies or play a game. I missed it really.

“Ry.” Jasmine snapped her fingers in front of me to get my attention. I blinked a couple times before giving a clueless look. She groaned, “I asked if I could go shopping tomorrow, I have work the next three days so I just wanna go do something.”

“Oh, um, sure.”

The tv was playing in the background, but I wasn’t paying attention. Come to think of it, I don’t think I was paying attention to anything. Dylan, Jasmine, and Lucky were all laughing about something. What were they laughing about again? Something about going back to school? I don’t even want to think about that right now. I needed a break anyways. Most of my classes love giving me piles and piles of work anyways.

I sighed, pushing away my plate that I had barely eaten. The sun has already set, everyone was done eating, Angela asked Jasmine if she could go outside in the snow. She said yes, and so Isabelle followed. Dylan and Lucky were helping me wash the remaining dishes. Honestly I already felt so tired. It was only 8 p.m but my eyes threatened to close at any moment.

“You okay, Ry?” Dylan asked, putting a plate up in the cabinet.

“Yeah.” I replied, handing him another to dry. Lucky shook his head while continuously saying “no” over and over again. At some point Dylan grew tired of it and pressed the pad of his thumb into Lucky’s entire upper half of his body.

“He’s not wrong. You’re always like this on holidays.”

“I am?” I sighed, not really knowing how to get out of this one. These two have always been vigilant anyways. They would have noticed at some point.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. I just feel really tired today.”

“That’s it?”

“Mhm.”

Dylan gave me a skeptical look before putting in another plate. He doesn’t believe me. I don’t think he ever will about these kinds of things.

“Why don’t you call Nathan? You always seem happier around him.”

I stopped only for a second, then continued to scrub off something on the pan I used. No. I won’t call him. Not this time. No matter how many times he’s actually made me feel better just by being here. I’ve noticed I was happier around him too, but it’s only short lived since he always goes back at the end of the day. Do I know why I was happier? Not really. I’ve thought of a few reasons. Because he’s the only friend I’ve made since middle school. He listens to me ramble on and on about the most useless information. Best of all he’s really nice. Doesn’t really seem like he’s tricking me either. Not that I think he could even if he wanted to. He was too sweet.

“No.” I sighed. Cleaning out the sink and handing off the last dish.

“Why not?” Dylan asked leaning against the counter.

“Cause I’m tired. No point in calling if I’m just going to fall asleep,” I countered, drying my hands and heading to my room, “Make sure Isabelle and Angela are asleep by 10? Please?”

Dylan nodded his head, I closed the door behind me and buried myself under the covers of my bed. I can’t keep on relying on Nathan to come fix every problem I have. He’s probably off dealing with whatever he’s doing right now anyways. But still, my hand reached for my phone, grabbing it and opening the messages app. I’m just gambling with myself at this point. If he answers in the next ten minutes I’ll ask to call, if he doesn’t, I’ll head to sleep. Either way it’s really a win-win. And here it goes.

———Nathan———

I was laying on my bed, under the covers. No lights, no sounds, just nothing. I had cried earlier this morning when I visited his grave. My eyes were dry now. Red and puffy. I just sat curling in on myself while clutching the same teddy bear he gave me when I was still just a kid. It was childish, but if it’s all I have left of him then I’m taking advantage of that.

Ironic, huh? How this holiday was supposed to bring family together. It was actually the opposite for me. Even though he didn’t actually die on this holiday, it’s just ironic how it happened this year. When we’re finally free and live like a “normal” family now. Was he watching me now? Sad and lonely in my bed? I hope he wasn’t. He’d scold me.

My phone went off, but I didn’t feel like looking at it. It’s not like I wanted to be alone. Usually my mom would cheer me up by taking my mind off of it. Whether it was playing some makeshift game or just doing something I liked with me. What else was there to say? This year was the year I was completely alone.

I sucked in a deep breath, picking up my phone with sore arms. I spent most of the day digging out the old flowers on his grave and replacing them with new ones. It was hard to do when a thin sheet of snow was covering most of the dirt and grass, but it was worth it to see the bright a beautiful colors. His favorites were lilacs. I remember mom telling me that.

My eyes shot up when I saw who texted me. Ryker? I mean it was already night, so I doubt he was going to ask if I wanted to go over. But… I was kind of curious now.

Ryker: Hey

Ryker: How was your day?

Ryker: You’re probably doing something right now but I’d just thought I’d check what you were doing

Sent five minutes ago. Why did he want to know what I was doing? It seemed weird to me, but maybe he was just bored. Did they celebrate? I hope they did. They seem to be happy with each other.

Nathan: It was okay :)

Nathan: And yours?

Ryker: Chaotic

Nathan: Oh

I wasn’t technically lying. My day was okay despite crying for most of it.

Ryker: Yeahhh

Ryker: Do you feel like calling?

Ryker: You don’t have to of course

I thought about it. It wouldn’t be that bad. Might keep my mind occupied.

Nathan: Sure

And so he called.

“Hello?” His voice sounded tired and sad, like he just woke up or something. I couldn’t find my voice. It’s become rasp from sobbing anyways. It’d be embarrassing for it to sound like that over the phone. So hopefully it’ll get better in the morning.

“Oh, right,” He sighed, “Sorry. I just felt like talking and usually you listen. You can just hang up if you don’t want to though.” He sounded nervous, but I didn’t want to hang up. Not only because it was the wrong thing to do, but because I always loved listening to what he was saying. No matter how irrelevant it was. It distracted my mind from everything wrong with me. And he seemed to like it when I did.

Nathan: I’m listening

I heard him let out a little chuckle before talking. I could hear at some points it sounded like he was going to cry, and some he sounded like he was so hurt, and sometimes he’d laugh. He changed the subject multiple times, but I kind of liked it. I just wished I could help in some other way. It sounded to me like he was stressed out and just wanted someone to be there, and I’m surprised none of his siblings were. Or maybe they were, but he just doesn’t want to put all of this on them. It seemed like something he would do.

By the time he was done, it was an hour before midnight. Funny thing was, I wasn’t tired anymore. I was putting together pieces in my mind still about everything he had talked about. How he was mentally tired of juggling five things around at once. I would be too if I were him. How he’s been more and more exhausted by the end of the day. How his parents usually did all of these kinds of things. I was going to ask what happened to them, but I feel like that was a touchy subject. Especially when he just vented to me. I don’t mind though. Not at all.

“Oh crap. Sorry for keeping you up.” Ryker apologized, saying sorry about five times before I texted him that it was okay. I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.

“Thanks. Y’know. For listening.” I heard him yawn on the other side. He was the one tired. I silently laughed to myself, hugging the bear closer to my chest. If only he could see me now… this was embarrassing. He’d probably make fun of me for it. I wouldn’t care.

“You’re too nice, you know that?” I heard shuffling on the other side of the phone. Probably Ryker getting ready to go to sleep. And I know this was selfish, but I didn’t want him to hang up. I didn’t want my mind to realize that I was alone again. Was is it really selfish then? To me, yes. It feels like I was making him do something he didn’t want to.

“Hey, um, remember when you tried hugging me that one time? Why’d you do it?” He had asked, and I could practically see his face. Confused and happy at the same time. He was talking about when I had to stay overnight. I knew that would come up eventually, just not so soon.

Nathan: Nobody’s ever been so nice to me before. Besides my mom of course

Nathan: But I was kind of shocked you agreed without complaining

Nathan: Are you mad about it?

“Mad? Nononono. Um, the complete opposite really,” He laughed quietly, “I was shocked, yeah, but happy too.”

That gets rid of the guilt. I swear I thought I ruined everything between us, but now I know what he really thought. He wasn’t mad at me for anything.

“What about the other day? When it was snowing. You looked comfortable. Like you were about to sleep.” My cheeks started blushing from embarrassment. I had hoped he didn’t see me snuggling closer into his palm to stay warm, but apparently he did. So embarrassing. I groaned quietly to myself, tightly hugging the bear closer.

Nathan: Sorry

Nathan: I was cold

Nathan: You were warm

Nathan: Sorry again

It was silent for a second.

“Why do you apologize for things like that?”

I didn’t know the answer to that question. Usually my mind just takes over and then I spiral into the worst possible scenarios. So I have no idea why I do. Maybe because my brain thinks I’ll get hurt if I don’t? My body was scared of getting another broken bone or something getting hurt?

Nathan: I don’t know

It was silent again.

“Do… do you like being around me? I-I mean most people stop talking to me as soon as they get what they want. So, I was just wondering.” His voice sounded hurt. Obviously this ha sharpened once or twice to him. And it hurt to hear that these things have happened to someone so amazing. I could never do that to Ryker. It’d hurt me more than it’d hurt him.

“Y-yes.” I almost immediately replied, my voice a little raspy. It hurt to speak, but it was fine. It’ll get better in time.

I heard him let out a sigh of relief, and I smiled. I was finally doing the right thing for once in my life. I’m kind of glad this was how the day ended.

“I would give you a hug if you were here… and if you were comfortable enough with it,” We both laughed quietly, “I’ll let you go to sleep. I’ve kept you up long enough.”

I shook my head, forgetting that he wasn’t here to see it. I didn’t want him to go. Then again he sounded exhausted. Then I would be the one keeping him up. Or he doesn’t even have to stay awake. Just the knowledge that I knew he was just on the other side of the phone was enough to make me feel like I wasn’t alone.

“U-Um you d-don’t have to s-stay up b-but could we stay… stay on call? P-Please.” I waited for an answer, biting my tongue for stuttering so much. My body was shaky for no reason. I was nervous. He was going to say no. He was going to say no. He was going to-

“I would love that.”

I wish he could see the smile I had on my face. How fast my heart was beating. I laid down under the covers, getting comfortable and staring at my phone that read: Ryker: 3:14. Three hours and fourteen minutes. Another seven won’t hurt.

“Thank you.”

I fell asleep a couple minutes after he did. No nightmares haunted me tonight.

—————————————

My heart is meltinggggggg

By the way, this was not the great scene I was talking about. This was just one of many to make the one I actually want to write make sense.

Anywayssss I told you guys it would be a little plot heavy for a while! I loved how this chapter came out though.

Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading! Love you guys!

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hellfirexhoe · 2 years

Text

Death of Me - Chapter 7: Curveball

Chapter 7 | Series Masterlist

2.5k words

Warnings: 18+ content, minors DNI, pregnancy, angst, injuries mentioned, maybe there's some smut in this chapter idk, you might want the tissues for this one too to be honest.

"Please tell me who 'us' is referring to. Because I know its not you and I."

Eddie knows what you're referring to, he knows deep down. He knew the second the words left your mouth. He thinks part of him was suspicious when he felt the gentle curve of your belly against his body.

"Eddie, I wanted to tell you but then everything with Chrissy happened and I couldn't find you to tell you before it all went to hell."

Eddie is shaking, ghostly white and staring into space,

"How, uh, how long have you known?" His voice is still hoarse,

"The night you met my parents I realised I was late. But I didn't test until the Friday." He nods, trying to do the maths but his brain is currently offline.

"How long? Like how, how many months or is it weeks?"

"14 weeks." Eddie watches as you grab your purse from the floor where it had fallen when he grabbed you. You hand him the envelope with the sonograms in,

"Shit." He drops the sonogram into his lap, hands shaking too much to hold onto it.

"Please tell me what you're thinking, Eddie." He glances up from the sonograms in his lap, abject terror on his face,

"It's triplets?!"

"What? Oh! I - " you cut yourself off with your own laughter, helpless for a few seconds while Eddie protests that this is not funny, not at all.

"Eddie, sweetheart, it's one baby. Its just three photos." You manage to breathe out between fits of giggles, watching the relief wash over his face, the colour returns a small amount to his face, relief of there only being one baby as opposed to three overrides his initial panic.

"And it's mine?"

"Excuse me?" You raise an eyebrow at him as you pick up the sonograms from his lap and tuck them away into their envelope carefully. "Seriously?"

"No, shit, no I didn't mean it to come out like that. More like, are you sure?"

"Eddie, you are digging yourself into an extremely deep hole right now."

"Fuck! Okay, let me try again, are you sure you really want to have my baby? Like I'm not exactly the poster child of having a healthy parental unit. I don't want to fuck a kid up like that." Oh, oh that's not as bad as what you thought he was trying to say.

"You think I'd let you be a shitty parent?" You drop down in front of him, resting on your knees, taking his hands in yours, "Eddie, I detect even a hint of you being a shitty parent and I'm stepping in. We're a team, I'm not leaving this baby on the doorstep of your trailer and swanning off to Hollywood. We're in this together, if that's what you want."

Eddie nods, tears in his big brown eyes, wondering how he got so lucky that even after all the shit he's put you through you're willing to forgive him and even want to have his baby.

"Team Munson?" He manages to speak finally, furiously wiping at his eyes,

"Go team." You tease, shifting up so you can plant a kiss on his nose. He pulls you close, shifting you sideways onto his lap,

"I know literally nothing about babies, you're aware of that right? Like this kid is going to be wearing diapers backwards unless you're there."

"And I've obviously raised many children in my lifetime?" You quirk an eyebrow at him,

"Fair. Fair."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just, um, just a lot to take in." Eddie rubs your arm, hoping to reassure you.

"It is. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just dump it on you like that."

"No? Did you have something planned?"

You shake your head, "What in the 15 minutes between finding out you're alive to getting here? I was busy wondering if this was real."

"Yeah I'm right there with you on the wondering if this is real. Can I see those pictures again?" You hand the envelope back to Eddie, a small smile playing on your lips as you watch him bringing the images closer to his face,

"Want to know something funny?" Eddie looks up at you expectantly, you turn the photo slightly so you can point to your baby's nose, "Wayne says that's a Munson nose if he's ever seen one." Eddie peers closer still and laughs,

"He's not wrong." Then it dawns on him, "Shit. Wayne knows?" You nod, "So I get to have a safe sex lecture as well as a very specific how dare you pretend to be dead lecture?"

"I mean, he'll be justified in giving you both." You put a hand over the small swell of your stomach, lifting the shirt that covers you to emphasise your point. Eddie's eyes follow your hand and he reaches out,

"Can I touch?" He hesitates, waiting for your approval,

"You can, but you won't be able to feel kicking or anything for a while." You slip your hand over his as he places his hand down gently, softly stroking your bump, you rest your head on his shoulder carefully and he tips his head to rest on yours. Eddie recalls something he once said to you and chuckles softly, you tilt your head to look up at him, curious as to what's tickled him,

"Told you I'd get you pregnant some day." You roll your eyes,

"I'm not putting the uniform on." You stick your tongue out at him, recalling his other comments that evening.

"But you'd look so cute, all round with my baby in your uniform."

"It's not happening!" You laugh at the mock devastation on his face, wrapping a hand around his neck to pull him closer into a kiss, Eddie's own arms wrapping around you and pulling you close until he flinches slightly.

"Ow." You slip off his lap onto the sofa next to him, kneeling as you look for the source of his discomfort, Eddie lifts his shirt slightly but is reassured by the lack of further injury, and so makes grabby hands at you, pulling you back onto his lap,

"You think you're getting away that easy? Nice try." Your sassy retort to this is interrupted by the sound of a door opening at the top of the stairs,

"Hey, uh guys? I'm just gonna take Dustin to go visit Max, so you've got the place to yourselves for while. Don't break anything." Steve calls down to you both, unsure of what position he'd find you both in if he went into the basement, opting to remain at the top of the stairs.

"Fucking finally." Eddie whispers to you as the door shuts, pulling your body flush to his, a filthy smile on his face, that disappears as he starts kissing your neck,

"Are you really trying to fuck in Harrington's basement?" You giggle as you feel his hands sliding from your waist to your butt, Eddie pulls away from you,

“Actually… can we? I mean with you being, like, is it safe?”

“For me? Yes, for you?” You vaguely gesture at his torso, “I don’t want to fuck up any healing or anything.”

“Guess you’ll just have to be gentle with me then.” Eddie smirks as he pulls you back to him, one hand tangled in your hair, the other slipping into your trousers, toying with you through your underwear, you whimper into the kiss and Eddie pulls away enough to speak,

“You good?” He’s practically panting as he speaks, forehead resting on yours, brown eyes practically staring into your soul,

“Mhm. More. Please.” You shift your hips against his hand desperate for more, Eddie contemplates making you work for it, beg for it, but he’s just as eager as you, so he pulls your underwear to the side, fingers finding your clit almost instantly, your hips seemingly developing a mind of their own as they rock against Eddie’s hand,

“Shit, you just going to use my hand to get off?” Eddie bites softly at your shoulder when you don’t reply, making you cry out, “Asked you a question.”

“N-no, not using you. Just feels so good.” Eddie’s fingers trace mindless patterns around your clit, a smile on his face as he watches you fall apart before he’s even stripped you of your clothes.

“Up. Now.” You stand before him, shimmying out of your trousers after he unbuttons them and pulls them down to your thighs, giving Eddie a chance to rid himself of his sweatpants, tugging them down,

“Do you mind if I keep my shirt on?” You can see the insecurity plain as day on his face,

“Of course I don’t mind.” You reassure him as you slip your legs to either side of his, using a hand to guide his face to yours, capturing his lips in an all consuming kiss. Eddie’s hands find their way to your waist, sliding up until he’s got your breasts in his hands,

“F-fuck, did these get bigger?” Eddie gasps as he pulls away from you, one hand coming away from your chest to lift your shirt, grinning like a cheshire cat, “Shit. You have no idea how fucking hot you look.” His hands fly to your back, undoing your bra and pulling your shirt off at lightning speed before he’s burying his face between your breasts like a man possessed.

You roll your hips on him, just once, just enough to pull him out of his stupor, enough to bring him back to his senses as you slip your hand into his boxers and wrap a hand around his length, taking him out of his boxers and lining him up with your entrance,

“May I?” You ask, a teasing lilt in your tone, Eddie nods, biting his lip,

“Take it baby, it’s all yours.” You sink down slowly, arms around Eddie’s shoulders holding him close, you shut your eyes as you feel the slight sting of your body adjusting to him.

“No, no, eyes on me, let me see you.” Eddie tips your chin with a gentle touch, his brown eyes lock onto yours and it's intoxicating, you can’t look away, not even when you start to lift yourself and slowly sink back down, drawing out lustful moans from both of you.

“Missed this. Missed you.” Eddie moans, big hands holding you by the waist, holding you close and supporting you, your own hands are tangled in his long hair, holding his forehead to yours as you pant and whine,

“Missed you so much. Love you so much.” Eddie smiles breathlessly at your words, silently wondering if maybe he did die and now he’s in heaven.

“You still with me, pretty boy?” You tease Eddie, noticing his blissed out expression, he nods, hands tightening on your hips as he raises his own to meet you halfway,

“This feels like heaven.” He pants, “You’re so tight and so, f-fucking wet.” You feel yourself throb at his words, the sudden squeeze making Eddie groan, loudly, “Not to be cheap but I really fucking love you.”

You speed up ever so slightly, a smile on your face as you watch Eddie’s head tip back on the sofa, breaking the eye contact he’d insisted on. You lean forward, lips pressed to his ear,

“You love me, or you love my pussy?” You bite the lobe of his ear and sit back up, increasing your speed a fraction,

“Oh shit.” Eddie twitches inside you in response to your speeding up, “Obviously you. ‘M all yours, and you’re all mine.” Eddie’s head comes back up, eyes entrapping you once more as he holds your hips, holding you in place while he fucks up into you, one of your hands leaves his hair, tracing his face, resting on his lips until he opens his mouth and flicks his tongue along your fingers, reminding you of how talented that tongue is, your breath catches and Eddie notices,

“Yeah? Thinking about how good my tongue feels on that pretty pussy of yours?” That coil building in your stomach tightens further, “Then why don’t you…” Eddie takes your hand in his and trails it slowly down your body, “Touch. Where you want my tongue.” your fingertips brush your swollen clit and he releases your hand, eyes darkening as you play with yourself,

“There she is, keep going.” Eddie rains praise down on you with every thrust, that, combined with the eye contact intensifies every sensation in your body until finally you snap, crying out in ecstasy, tightening around Eddie’s cock as he curses loudly at the way your walls grip him, fucking you through your orgasm until his thrusts turn sloppy and you feel his cock pumping his hot release into you.

You both stay eyes locked, waiting for your breathing to settle, as you come down your highs.

“Well that was worth almost dying for.” Eddie says with a grin as you slide off of his lap, you frown at him as you pull your panties and trousers back on, Eddie following suit,

“Eddie, no joking like that.”

“Sorry, that was in bad taste.” He grabs your hand and pulls you back onto the sofa, noticing the way you wince as your body makes contact with the firm cushion, you get an apologetic smile but you can see a hint of smugness behind it, then he pulls you into his arms, resting his chin on your head. You settle into him, listening to his heartbeat grow less erratic.

“I really do love you,” Eddie kisses the top of your head, “Promise I wasn’t cheaping out saying it during sex.”

“Oh damn. I totally was cheaping out.” Eddie snorts and your head bounces slightly with the movement of his chest,

“Yeah, right. You adore me.” Eddie taps your nose,

“Guilty as charged. I do love you. Very much.” Eddie’s arms squeeze you tight as he plants more kisses on your head, until you tip your head back so he can kiss your lips.

“So, you ready to be Eddie ‘The Dad’ Munson?” You joke, giggling as he wrinkles his nose at the nickname,

“Absolutely not. I’m shitting myself.”

“Eddie, I'm not changing your diapers too.” Eddie’s turn to laugh, feeling more at ease. “I know it's a big, scary thing, and it's so soon but we’re a team, and I know you will be an amazing parent once you get out of your own head.”

“Fuck. You’re supposed to be the weepy hormonal mess, what are you doing to me?!” Eddie chokes out, giggles turned to choked back sobs, you wrap your arms around him,

“You know this baby is going to love their daddy so much right?”

“Okay if you’re trying to make me cry just know it's working and I don't like you right now.” Eddie glares up at you from watery eyes, so you hold him tighter and he leans into you. head on your chest, clinging to the fabric of your shirt.

“Also, you’re going to be a total DILF.” You whisper, joining Eddie in a fit of giggles.

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angel-eyes05 · 10 months

Text

bite the hand (chapter 8)

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

pairing: spider-woman!oc x miguel o’hara

summary: lorena's whole world was taken away from her in the blink of an eye, after she accidentally broke a canon event. lucky for her though, she was able to find a portal watch in her dimension and used it to get out before she glitched out of existence. unfortunately though, running from dimension to dimension, she's been named as an anomaly by the spider society. now, she's constantly on the run from them, their leader in particular. when she eventually gets caught though, she's recruited onto a mission to catch another anomaly who might be from her past. to her dismay though, her partner on this mission is her very captor. will she be able to stop arguing with him for long enough to get the job done?

info: enemies to lovers, maybe a slow burn depending on chapter count, oc is 24 and miguel is 27, both oc and miguel are super sad lmao, they're also both super violent so, they also hate each other what a slay, in regards to my oc you can read her character sheet right here

warnings: there might be spoilers for atsv in this so watch the movie before reading this, i made up some weird rules for miguel's suit and idk if theyre entirely accurate to canon so just go with it, tension lol, cursing, drinking

word count: 3.4k

notes: i gotta start repeating the banners at the top cause i ran out LMAO. also, expect less frequent uploads cause 1) i kinda have low motivation rn and 2) im pretty busy rn (going out, vacations, and doing job applications). writing also gets a little draining for me after a while and i gotta put me first😔✊ ill keep uploading though dw i just gotta do it at my own speed to make sure i dont drop the series cause if i try to push stuff out too fast, im gonna end up dropping it so just bear with me lol. also i didn't proofread this before posting cause its 3:30 when im dropping this, and im so tired lmao

-----------------

It was the sun that slithered into the room through the cracks in the blinds that woke her up. Lorena preferred that to the normal wakeup call from a nightmare, or the sounds of honking cars next to her on the street. The way the bed had molded itself to her shape made it impossible for her to move. Almost like it was trapping her in its comfort. Even if the mattress was old, the fact that this had been her first time sleeping in an actual bed, and not a bench, sidewalk, or cot, in months was enough to provide her ease.

She turned to face the other side of the bed, surprised when no one was in sight. Miguel was probably in the bathroom or something. She was more focused on a different fact: this had been the first sleep in weeks without a nightmare.

Huh. Weird.

She sat up in bed, noticing she was still in her robe from the bathroom. She rubbed the drowsiness off her face as the click of the door lock called her attention. Letting in a stream of early sunlight with him, Miguel walked through the door, pitch black sunglasses covering his eyes, a box in one hand, and a cup tray in the other. “Figured you’d be hungry when you woke up,” he said once he noticed she was awake. He softly kicked the door closed behind him, setting the tray on the desk near the door and the box on the bed.

Pulled by curiosity, she moved her hands towards the box and opened it to see what was inside. Her mouth immediately started watering when she opened it to see assorted treats such as conchas, bigotes, and mantecadas. “I was in the mood,” Miguel said, pulling the drinks out of the tray. “I didn’t know how much cream or sugar you liked so I just got you black cause that's what I get,” he said, handing the hot cup of coffee to her.

The smell of the pastries mixed with the coffee was enough to make her want to cry. It reminded of the smells of her aunt’s kitchen in the morning. The bitterness of the coffee stung at her throat, but it was overshadowed by the comfort it brought her. She picked up one of the bigotes, and had to hold back her tears of joy when she took a bite. “Gracias por todo,” she said, mouth full of food and covered in sugar. Miguel smiled at the sight of her. “De nada, cariño,” he said sweetly, taking one of the conchas for himself.

As he walked away with his food, towards the bathroom, Lorena noticed something about him. “Where’d you get the clothes?” she asked, mouth still filled with food. He was now wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. “It’s part of my suit,” he responded, fixing his hair in the bathroom mirror. “¿Cómo?” He sighed. “Remember what I said about the whole nanotech thing last night?” “Yeah, what about it?” Suddenly, the shirt and sweatpants shifted into his blue and red suit just before her eyes. “Woah…” she exclaimed in awe. “I can change its appearance as long as the outfit is downloaded to my suit’s database.” “Oh,” Lorena expressed, even if she still didn’t fully understand what he was talking about.

“Why’d you get to be born in the crazy, futuristic dimension with all the fancy tech,” she complained to herself, just loud enough for Miguel to hear. “Why, do you want one?” he asked, in between a small chuckle. “I mean it would be nice to wear something other than a tight spandex suit for once,” Lorena joked, getting an actual laugh out of Miguel for once. Lorena blushed and smiled at his reaction. “Well lucky for you, you’re gonna need one for tonight,” he responded. “What do you mean?” she asked, after taking a sip from her coffee.

He tossed her a small, golden chain. “The outfit should form around that chain. I had Lyla upload different outfits for the day, since she probably knows better than I do. When you’re ready, put it on.” Lorena admired the golden material. She was lucky she wasn’t a silver jewelry girl. “So what’s on the to-do list for today,” she said, still looking at the chain. “Stay undercover for the majority of the day, then head over to the Moonlit River club at night. Lyla should have that outfit uploaded by now,” he responded, brushing his teeth with the provided amenities in the motel.

“Why, are you finally deciding to take me out dancing to pay me for my troubles,” she joked, taking a sip of coffee after. Miguel spit out his toothpaste and sighed. “Brock meets up there on Thursday nights to trade weapons.”

Silence filled the space between them.

She knew this day had to come. She just wasn’t expecting it to be so soon.

“I see,” was all she could manage to say, before taking another sip of her coffee.

Miguel could feel the turmoil radiating off of her from the bathroom. He washed out his mouth, and splashed a bit of water on his face before walking over to her. He pushed the box of pastries to the side, and took a seat in front of her on the sheets.

“Mirarme,” he softly spoke, using his pointer finger to guide her eyes to his. She looked up at him, trying her best not to get lost in the crimson shade of his eyes. “I-” He cut himself off before he could continue. He melded her hand into his before speaking again. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I want you to know that if this becomes too much for you…you can back out.” His inflection was weird. As if he didn’t want her to, but still wanted to keep her comfortable. A wrestling match between what he wanted and what was best for her.

“And I’ve said it before too. I’m not running away from this,” Lorena said back, voice strong. “Ok. Just know if things get bad for you in there, I’ve got your back,” he said, concern in his voice. He had also found his eyes roaming her face, not realizing they had both subconsciously moved closer to each other. “And I’ve got yours too,” she said back. Once he had realized Lorena’s robe was loose enough to see inside to her chest, Miguel cleared his throat and got up from the bed quickly.

“I’m gonna go into town, see if I can pick up any information on the street. You can do whatever you want until its time, but make sure to-” “Yeah, yeah, lay low. Relax big guy, I’ve got this,” she cut him off, reassuringly. He exited the room quickly, like he was in a rush to get away from her. He was gone for almost the rest of the day.

-----------------

About 8pm that night.

Miguel was outside in the main room of the motel while Lorena was getting herself ready in the bathroom. Miguel had gone out earlier and bought her some cheap makeup and perfume from a local drugstore, a sweet gesture.

Once she finished with her makeup and straightening up her hair, she tapped on the middle part of her gold chain, causing a menu to pop up. She scrolled through the options until she came across the last one, labeled by Lyla as “night time😉”. She clicked on the option, as she watched in awe as her casual t-shirt and sweatpants shifted into her outfit for the night. A tight black dress, cut asymmetrically to show one of her thighs, and a turtle neck part detached from the rest of the dress, with glove-like sleeves. This feature allowed for the perfect peephole towards her chest. Lorena had a feeling Lyla would try to do some matchmaking with her outfit.

With a quick spritz of perfume, a double check of her face in the mirror, and quickly putting on a black headband for her hair, Lorena quickly exited the bathroom. Miguel was standing there, waiting by the door and checking his portal watch. He was sporting a black, silk, button up shirt, tucked into black dress pants. The fact that the shirt was way too tight for him was accentuated by his muscles sculpted by the fabric and the fact that the first two buttons were open. His eye was caught by Lorena when she stepped out of the bathroom, his mouth slightly agape in awe and his eyes almost stuck to her.

“It’s flashy, I know. But it’s better that I fit in,” she said, trying to divide the tension in the room as she walked closer to him. “I-...um,” he stammered. “At a loss for words for once O’Hara?” she teased. Noticing a stray hair on the top of his head, she reached up to him to push it back. “Quédate quieto,” she commanded softly, while she stuck the piece back into the gel, trying to ignore how he was admiring her.

“There you go. Ahora te ves guapo,” she teased, patting his chest with her hand. Miguel still had that stupid smile on his face. “Y te ves hermosa,” he said softly, and with utter sincerity.

She couldn’t tell if she was caught more off guard with his words of affirmation, or the fact that the blush quickly forming on her cheeks was confirming her secret love of it.

Clearing her throat, she unlocked the door, opened it, and gestured her hand to outside. “Lead the way big guy.” He smirked at her as he walked outside. He even got the courage to offer her his hand. This confidence was quickly deflated when she smacked away his hand, giggling to herself as she took the lead down the stairs.

The night life of the city was bustling on the streets. Couples together, arm in arm, surely walking to a fancy restaurant for a night out. Lines forming outside of nightclubs, patrons with an urgency to get in. Everyone walking down the street with their own story to tell, just like Lorena.

After walking for a couple of miles, the bright, neon blue sign shone in front of the entrance. The door was a mahogany red, with three stairs leading down to the entrance. But opposite to Miguel’s eagerness to get inside by opening the door, Lorena slightly froze, eyes blank.

This was it. It was going to happen. Whether she was ready or not.

“Hey.” Miguel’s calm voice pulled her back to reality. “Stay with me. Okay?” He held out his large hand for her. This time, she decided to take it. “And remember to try and fit in,” he added. Her smile quickly turned sour and annoyed.

The atmosphere was loud, a mixture of people talking and the bass of the music filling the room. The fact that the lights were out didn’t seem to matter much with the amount of strobe and neon lights flashing within the bar. Lorena noticed Miguel quickly putting on a pair of sunglasses hidden in his jacket pocket. “I thought you said we needed to fit in,” Lorena stated as the two walked towards a high top near the bar. “I did. And?” “You really think you’re blending in with a pair of sunglasses on indoors? At night? In a club?” Lorena joked. “The lights hurt my eyes,” Miguel said, puppy dog hurt. Lorena had to fight to contain the laughter rising in her chest.

Once they sat down, and the reality of events settled down on Lorena, she began to look around the club. People sprayed out on couches, drunkenly conversing or making out. People out on the dance floor. Men walking into booths in the back, shielded by curtains. Eddie was probably in one of those. “I’m heading to the bar. You want anything?” Miguel asked, snapping her out of her daze. “Uhhhh, just get me something strong,” she brushed off, still not entirely paying attention. He shrugged and walked off to the bar.

Lorena continued to inspect the area, her thoughts bouncing all over the place. What did this Eddie look like? Did he have black hair instead? Was his voice higher? Her Eddie always had a particularly deep tone. Smooth like silk as well. She would spend days on end focusing on the way he would say a single sentence back when she was first crushing on him. Would he act like her Eddie? She realized quickly she probably wouldn’t get the opportunity to find out. She didn’t necessarily want to find out anyways.

…

Would she have to kill him again? Would Miguel make her?

The smack of the glass on the table brought her back to reality. “You weren’t really specific, so I just got you a negroni,” Miguel said, open bottle of beer in his hand. Without a second thought, Lorena downed half the glass just then, proven to be a mistake with how strong the drink actually was. Her mouth curled inwards as her eyes shut closed, letting out a few coughs quickly after.

Miguel laughed slightly, and slammed his hand against her back to help her cough. “What the fuck was that?” “Hey, you told me to get you something strong!” Miguel defended. “I thought you were gonna get me a margarita or something,” Lorena said, rubbing her chest with her hand. “Haven’t had alcohol in more than a year and you hit me with that straight away,” she said to herself. Subconsciously, he handed her his bottle. “Take a sip of that then.” She smiled to herself as she put her lips to the bottle and took a good sip of the beer. “Better?” he asked, like she was a child. “Yes, thank you for your charity sir, you’re so kind,” she responded sarcastically.

“Find anything interesting yet?” Miguel asked, taking back the bottle. Lorena’s eyes went back to the curtains. “Those booths back there look promising. Are we sure he’s here yet though?” Lorena asked. “I have a hunch.” Lorena looked up at Miguel, annoyance on her face. “We’re going…off of a hunch?” “Just trust me on this okay.” Lorena sighed and took another sip of her own drink, wincing again when she put it back down.

Her eyes were drawn away from the drapes and over to the lit up dance floor. She had always been the first one to bring her friends to dance with her when she was younger. Seeing it again brought feelings flooding back to her heart. Spontaneously, she jumped up from her chair and held out her hand to Miguel. “...What are you doing?” he asked, incredibly confused.

“You said we had to blend in, right? We’ll do that better if we’re out there dancing,” she said. “Oh, no way. I don’t dance, chiquita,” he said, almost embarrassed. “Oh come on, for someone with your build? You’ve definitely danced before. Don’t be a debby downer Miggy,” she encouraged, both of them caught slightly off guard by the nickname slip. He rolled his head back, wiped his hands over his face, and let out a deep, annoyed groan. Once he stood up though and took her hand, it was impossible for Lorena to lose the smile growing on her face. “You’re taking the lead though, Loré,” he said, having come up with a nickname for her as well. She hoped the sunglasses he had on would keep him from seeing the blush on her face.

…

They didn’t.

Hand in hand, Lorena led Miguel over to the brightly lit floor, music blasting in the speakers next to them. Miguel stook out like a sore thumb, his huge build making him extremely identifiable among the other strangers on the floor. Lorena fit right in though, immediately beginning to dance to the blasting music. Miguel tried his best to copy her moves, but ended up looking like a fool. “You were right, you really aren’t that good at this,” Lorena teased. “Ha ha, very funny,” Miguel said monotonically. As the music changed slowly to a slower pace, they noticed the people around them grouping to dance into a pairs. She looked up to Miguel. He raised his eyebrow at her, asking her without words. Her smile was confirmation, as they inched towards each other.

Almost as if they were pre-programmed to do so, Lorena wrapped her arms around Miguel’s neck, and his wrapped around her hips. They swayed together slowly to the music, melting into each others touch. He rested his head on her shoulder, his hot breath leaving goosebumps on her skin.

“This isn’t my wheelhouse,” he quietly whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. “Why, better when other music is playing?” she whispered back sarcastically. “Everyone here’s lucky they aren’t playing salsa right now, or I’d be stealing the show.” Lorena let out a laugh. “Is that so?” He nodded, a huge smirk on his face. “I’m more of mambo person myself,” she responded. He smiled at her remark. “You’ll have to teach me some day.”

She struggled to keep the smile on her face as those words entered her head. You’ll have to teach me some day. She hadn’t even begun to think about it. What she would do after this mission was over. The whole point of doing this was so she could be granted her freedom. She wanted it so badly a couple of days ago. But now. She hadn’t even thought of staying as a possibility. Because to her, it wasn’t. She couldn’t invade Miguel’s life like that. She wasn’t even 100% sure how she felt about him, much less on how he felt about her. Besides, no matter how much she just wanted to settle down with someone. To live an actual life. She didn’t deserve it.

Pulling away from him was like separating herself from her source of life, but she did it anyways. “You okay?” Miguel asked concerned. “Yeah, I just gotta freshen up for a second,” she said, wiping her nose. She turned around quickly to get away. Too quickly though, bumping into someone’s back on her way to the bathroom.

Knocked off her balance, and her headband knocked out of her hair, she fell to the floor on her ass. “Sorry about that,” she said, slightly dissociated, reaching out for her headband. The stranger also reached down to help with her headband. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it gorgeous.”

Her heart dropped to her stomach.

That voice.

“Don’t lose your heart.”

She desperately wanted to keep her eyes glued to the floor. She didn’t want to look at him. But she had to keep her cover up. So she did, as slowly as she could though. And it was the worst possibly outcome.

He looked just like him. Strawberry blonde hair. Deep blue eyes. Small scar just above right eyebrow. His bottom two teeth fighting for room on the bottom row of his mouth. There was only one difference though. One of her favorite parts about him. This Eddie was missing his freckles. His beautiful light brown freckles.

She gave the stranger with her dead boyfriend’s face a strained smile while she grabbed her headband and rushed behind to the door. Her own brain pounding in her head was too loud for her to hear Miguel as she nearly ran passed him. She slammed the door to the outside open as she took in the air like it was her first breath ever. Even if she was outside now, she kept running. She sprinted down the streets, not taking any of her surroundings into account. She saw him in everyone’s face. His ghost had always been haunting her, but she wasn’t ready for him to move from behind her back to in front of her face. She ran so far and so fast until her legs ached, and even after that. She didn’t even know where she was going. She didn’t care. She just needed to get away from him as quickly as possible. Even if that meant leaving Miguel behind too.

Her sprint was interrupted when her foot was caught in a change in the elevation on the sidewalk. Her face slammed into the concrete sidewalk, scraping her cheek and her knees. She used the rest of her strength, all drained out from her bolting, to crawl into a nearby alley. She made her way to the back and slunk down into the corner, hoping to meld into the brick behind her. Especially if it meant she never had to see him again.

-----------------

a/n: THIS TOOK ME SO LONG OH MY GOD. sorry if i messed some stuff up with the drinks, i dont drink so i really have no idea (im just a stoner instead lmao). UGH BUT I THINK THIS WAS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER TO WRITE I LOVED IT AND I HOPE YOU GUYS DID TOO

taglist: @the-ikran-man @jenniferdixon05207 @yuuuumii @elwyn7 @waniesss @lust-for-pan @natthernandez @pix-stuff @ang3lf4c3 @artfulthoughtswp @notwildlyfamous

#miguel o'hara x oc #bite the hand #spidersona #across the spiderverse #spiderman 2099 #miguel o’hara #into the spider verse #fanfic #spiderman across the spiderverse #fanfiction #spiderverse #oc x miguel o'hara #spiderman oc #spiderverse oc #spiderman

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