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whoviancumberbunny · 1 year

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Small Miracles - Part Two of My Scanlan Shorthalt fluff fic

Part one: Tentative Love

Small Miracles

Scanlan Shorthalt and Other Vox Machina characters Created by Critical Role

Story By Melissa C. Scraper

Few months before Scanlan had proposed to Lucy they had all journeyed to the abanadoned Collins Family Estate “I said to stay in the basement for a reason.” Lucy said looking away they had found their way into the formal dining room using Pike’s connection to the everlight, “You asked about the scar on my arm. The secret package behind the south wall has suit of armor in it. When I started running I tripped over it.”

“This was a massacre. Like the Briarwoods did to my family.” Percy sees a portrait of Quentin “I think your father was a business associate of my parents he looks vaguely familiar.”

“Please don’t look at that portrait. I hated sitting for it. It was family tradition for everyone In the family to sit for portrait on their 15th birthday.” She looks “wait a minute, i looks like at some point Gabriel damaged it there is letter in the frame.” She gets it out.

Scanlan “Where is the music coming from?”

“My father’s spirit is playing his piano for me.” It would take all night for them to figure out how to carefully remove the seven bodies of Lucy’s family. ”the trick will be actually burying them in the graveyard. The caretaker never consistently locked the gates.”

A few days later at the Inn “It’s okay everyone this is the Collins family attorney, in name and in title, Desmond Collins this is my..boyfriend, Scanlan Shorthalt.” she didn’t want to call him lover because they were intimate in other ways everyone else introduced themselves “Make Sure my family gets grave markers and bury Eli in my crypt.” They look at her “as soon as we are presented publicly we are assigned crypt in the collins mausoleum. Desmond has one too.”

Desmond “I will make sure everything gets done.”

“Sell the mansion. My home is Whitestone.” She looked at him “Sell the dead to the family company to the workers. I know part of the reason they hate our family is because it has always profited off their work and barely paid them.”

“Are you sure?”

“it never felt like home to me, Monty. I know it never felt like home to you either or you never would have left town with Leticia. The same time my parents met.”

Desmond takes out last will and testament “Your grandmother left everything to you.”

“I know.” she signs all the papers “Time to burn bridges and not look back. I want you to give 10, 000 gold pieces to Mister Stokes the former groundskeeper I saw that he is living in town now. Tell him whatever you wish. He deserves it after years of dealing with Gabriel.” She looks at Desmond “Monty, set aside money so you and Leticia can adopt I know you always wanted kids but never were able to have your own.”

Scanlan stands there mindlessly strumming his mandolin he was still trying to finish the song, he had been trying since they officially started courting to write this song. He sits with Percy “She is so gentle how is it possible that after all she has been through she still wants to help people?”

“The best I can say, my friend is that Lucy wants to help people not end up the way her family did.” He looked at him “Stop trying to r write the song. It will come to you when the time is right. I have feeling her family has enemies in this village. Did you see the people glaring as we arrived.” After Desmond leaves Lucy sits with them.

Lucy takes the note out she found in her portrait out and opens it.

Lucy, I don’t know if you will read this I hope you are somewhere happy and safe. You’ve probably met with Desmond by now. I have feeling I know what you will do with the house. I feel like I was terrible father to you. I am sorry for the things I may have forced you to do in your life, I am sorry for betraying your mother. She tried so hard to change me but I was already of questionable morals when I met her. Your mother had an older sister who lived in town before she. I couldn’t stay loyal to one woman. Their brother came to town intent on shooting me after their sister was found dead.

But I don’t need to burden you with my issues. I left money for you with a friend of mine in Whitestone. Desmond doesn’t know about it but should you ever end up there ask for help. Live your life, I was never allowed to live the life I wanted. I wanted to be a sailor. Do be the light in someone else’s life that you were in my brief and corrupted life, your father Quentin Charles Collins

She hands the note to Scanlan “Her father has money somewhere in Whitestone. That he buried there for her.” After spending two weeks and finally figuring out that it had been buried near the Sun Tree.

“I know normally men kneel when they are about to propose but I am already shorter than you. Lucero Angelique Harridge DuPres Collins will you take this humble jack ass as your husband I will do my best to continue taking care of you.” Suddenly trinket lift him up where he is looking her In the eye “What’s your answer.”

“Yes.” He kisses her as his hand gently caresses her cheek “I love you. I do I do I do.” He looks at Vex “Can trinket put me down his nose is in awkward places.” They laugh as Trinket lowers him to the ground

A little over a year later “Calm down it is not deadly disease unless you think of baby as a parasite.” Lucy says as she returns from her visit with the De Rolo Family Physician. Suddenly it dawns on Scanlan what she just said and he trips over the fireplace hearth as he goes over to her

“Really?” his face breaks out into a big dopey grin “I never thought I could be more happy that I was when you became mrs. shorthalt.” He stands up and kisses her “I guess I won’t be able to sit on your lap for few months. That was one of his favorite things about coming home to her. Sitting on her lap as she’d played with his ponytail “You’re my home, you know that right?” he said

“You’re mine too. You saved me in more ways than you understand.” She whispers “If the baby is a Girl we should name her Daphne Juniper.” She smiles at him “Let’s go for walk we haven’t been for walk in few days.” As they walk “I think the baby was conceived that night at harvest festival in Vasselheim.”

“when you accidentally figured out playing with my ears…turns me on.” He said with a smirk “I can’t believe you remembered I told you my mother’s name, was Juniper.” They sit on the bench Percy, Vax and Grog carved for them as a wedding present. “Your father appeared in one of my dreams shortly after we got married. He told me not be the man he was.”

“He saw his own mistakes too late, his music was the only way he could think of to show me love because he was raised by an emotionally distant father who always waited for him to make mistakes.” She smiled “You are wearing the shirt I made you.”

“I like it more than the shirts I paid for before you gave it to me to keep me warm. I never thought I would be a father. You never explained why you refuse to hold seances.”

“Because they don’t just create an opening for the ones you want to talk to. They create an opening for dark spirits to enter too. My mother’s journal said Shortly after I was born, my father roommate from university showed up at the mansion with cursed mask that belonged to warlock and he put it on while under the influence of the warlock he tried to seduce my mother. My father had to stab him. And he fell off the cliff and into the water.”

“How are you the only sane one born in that house?” he said smiling pulling her out of the morbid mood that she tended to switch to when her family was brought up “If we ever have other children I think we should name one of them Elijah. After your brother.”

“That’s a good idea. I was just thinking about what you did for my birthday. Not in the bedroom.”

“I still can’t believe I convinced Grog and Percy to be part of that dance number.” He grinned “But I love to see you laugh and smile though.” She flinches a little “Should I make a brilliant cover story for he bruise I will obviously get from tripping over the fireplace?”

“Have you forgotten that Percy tripped hitting his head on the dining table when Vex announced she was pregnant. He’s way more dignified than you. I swear he mumbled fuckin’ ow.”

“You weren’t there when Vesper was born. He forgot to open the door first and walked into it.”

Meanwhile inside Percy “I am going to have the craftsman make crib for them.”

“Percy Darling, you are blacksmith. You could give them silver rattle as a token of good luck. Like Lucy has done for our daughter.” They all look down at their wrists, they had gotten so accustomed to the hand woven bracelets she gave them for their birthdays that they almost forgot they had them “She made the dream catcher we have over our bed.”

Vax looking out the window “There’s going to be another death in village soon. Our lady of the ravens is roaming around.” He knew Lucy could see it too but lucy had learned not to spoil their calm moments by mentioning the frailty of existence “She uses the money she has to help others. We should do what we can to make her pregnancy comfortable.”

Vex “Brother, we all agree with that. Come here we are going to show you how to sew and we are going to make baby quilt for their baby.” Lucy had taught her how to do quilts and sometimes she would do it as form of meditation. She laughs as he cusses under his breath every time he pokes himself with needle “Honestly Vax you can handle daggers and swords but 1 tiny needle draws blood.” The intended to work on the quilt when Lucy and Scanlan went for walks. “Why aren’t you making your husband work on this thing too?”

“Because, Vax, he’s making his own gift for Lucy and Scanlan’s baby.” On fact Percy would go overboard and fashion silver rattle and build and cradle for baby Daphne himself. Lucy deserved his respect and he knew she would never accept a title.

A few months later with Pike as Midwife, Scanlan paced nervously outside the bedroom and when he heard the baby cry. He carefully knocked on the door “Is it safe to come in.”

Lucy “Come say hello to our daughter.” She said quietly “Daphne this idiot here is your father.”

“Hello there little one.” He smiled at lucy and brushed her hair out of her face “I can watch the baby while you sleep.” He carefully takes the baby into his arms “Hello Daphne Juniper. Your mom and I promise to do our best to protect you and let you just be yourself.”

“Don’t forget t you need to eventually let her sleep too, Scanlan.” She kisses him and as soon as the door is closed Lucy falls asleep

“Hey everyone say hello to the newest member of our group. Daphne Juniper Shorthalt.” He looked at them “Before you ask. It was my choice to wait outside.” He said to Percy.

“That’s not what I was going to say.” He pulls out gift he made for Scanlan. “I figured it would be good for you to have rocking chair in proportion to your body so you don’t accidentally hurt yourself of Daphne.”

Scanlan “Before I forget again. Lucy wants Vax and Pike to be Daphne’s godparents.”

Vax’ildan “Why me. I was dick to her the first time I said anything to her.”

“Because she wants Daphne to learn about the balance between light and dark. Life and death. One can’t exist without the other.” He looked at percy “Thank you. You went overboard . you hmade an ornate hand carved crib, a silver rattle and whatever that is.”

“it was supposed to be silver spoon but I couldn’t get it right and kept cutting them so I made it into windchimes.” He blushed “What can I say I like it better making gifts than I did making weapons when we were just roaming band of psychos.”

Pike “But gods we have good stories to tell the kids when they are old enough.”

“I never told you about the in the chest with the money Quentin left for Lucy.” Scanlan said “It said we are all stories in the end. Make the rest of your story the best one you can.”

Percy “The people of the town want to make Lucy the first saint of Whitestone.”

“She is not a saint she is just person who wants to atone for the sins of her family.”

Kiki “She found a dead bord in the manor garden and insisted we have funeral for it. Let’s go for walk Vax.”

A few weeks later “I know I am expected to stay in bed for two months. But I hate being in bed.” Lucy looks around “Where are Scanlan and Daphne.”

“He takes her for walk in her pram, to help her sleep when you are sleeping.” Percy explained as Lucy sat down “Here have something to eat.”

“As long as someone else cooked it. last time I ate something you made, Percival. I was sick for three days.”

“What can I say?” he smiled “I am a good blacksmith but apparently cooking requires a delicate touch.” He placed a bowl of stew in front of her “Believe it or not. Scanlan made this. He’s asked Vex and Pike to show him to make food for you and when she starts eating solid food, Daphne. You’ve made him a better man. He was a decent man.”

“I saw the man he hid from all of you. He was afraid you’d reject him if you knew his truth.” She sighed “That’s how I felt.”

When Scanlan gets home with baby daphne. He takes her out of the baby carriage and walks over to lucy and kisses her “Hey princess.”

“Hey there handsome. What is the baby wearing.”

“A gift from Gilmore and Deidre.” It suddenly dawns on the other that h the baby is wearing beret that matches Scanlan’s “I think it is adorable.”

“She’s only three weeks old she doesn’t need to draw attention, people are drawn to babies anyway. It is not the beret I object to. Babies have sensitive skin and Gilmore gave her a silk romper.” She sighs everyone, in their lives, wanted to spoil the baby

A few months later “Pike, can you watch Daphne tonight. My wife and I need time to ourselves for a little while we are going to the Inn.” When Lucy comes out of the bedroom after putting on the clothes that Gilmore just made for her, his jaw dropped “Be Still my heart.”

Gilmore “I told you I could make an outfit that makes him speechless without showing cleavage.”

“Thank Diedre for the hat too.” She said as she went ot pay him

“No. it is gift. I can get paid by other customers you are a friend.” He kisses lucy on the cheek “be careful not to accidentally create another life tonight.”

“You just want a boy to see if I will make you a godfather, Gilmore.”

“If I did have a godson his presentation outfit would be fabulous.” He said as he left

Lucy giggled and went over to him as he stood on the stepstool to kiss her “Hey there handsome.” she said, it would be obvious to people who didn’t even know them well that he made an effort to always show he loved her. “I love you. I didnlt forget you birthday I just hadn’t finished you present yet.” She goes overo the window seat and opens the cabinet taking out a wooden box containing and hand carved bamboo flute

He opens it and stares at it for few minutes “Lucy. Is this why you have been borrowing books from the library.”

“I gave those to her as a gift, Scanlan.” Vax elbows Percy “Ow. You didn’t need to elbow me that hard Vax’ildan.” Scanlan starts playing the lullabye he’s been writing for Daphne, it was obvious to everyone around them that his inspiration was now his wife and daughter and not just self praising prose.

To be continued…

Wednesday, February 1st, 2023

#scanlan x oc #fluff #the legends of vox machina #Vox machina au

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nataliesnews · 7 months

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I go to shul 13.10.2023

This evening I went to shul with my friend, Bettina. I have never been to a reform service before. In fact I don't think that I have been in a shul since Oscar was ill. It was so different from anything I know.

The service was conducted by two rabbis, a woman and a man. But when the rabbi broke down and the rabba comforted him it was a very emotional moment. One rabba whom I know said when she saw me that we must really be in dire straits.

At the end the names of those who have lost family were read out and amongst them one of the foreign helpers who was killed with her employer. So bitter. To come all this way to help her family and then to be murdered. I wish I had faith but not only do I have no faith but I have lost all belief in anything that is being told to us. There is no news. Just discussions. When Bettina brought me home, we agreed that the worst was that there was no one in whom we could believe anymore. In any other country, the prime minister would have resigned.

But in Israel no. He does not mention his two brats. Where are they?

And what is there that we do not know that can still happen to us. How come they are concentrating on Ashkelon? Is there a reason that Jerusalem has been spared until now. Is Hamas preparing a massive attack on the capital of Israel. All the time we are hearing of sudden attacks all over the place.

When I was at the demonstration against one of the ministers,Barkat, a man, not with us, was screaming at the guards pof a useless minister that he had just come from four funerals of friends and why were they guarding a minister of a useless government. I went past Mount Herzl and it was a terrible sight. Worse than Yom Kippur. People going in and coming out. 100s if not 1000s. When we got to the station, I could not get to my feet and had to ask someone to help me.

Now I am forcing myself to eat. I don't want to be a burden to anyone.

My head is like cotton wool. I get up and don't know why I get up. .

El Al will not fly on Shabbat because of the owner even though so many young people are desperate to get back.

This is the post

This is Eli Rosenberg - 28 years old and he is the owner of El Al.

This boy, who was born for money, got everything in a golden spoon and never fought for anything in his life, is the one who decides now not to operate El Al flights to bring equipment that will protect our soldiers.

Why? Because it is forbidden to sell plane tickets and fly on Shabbat.

I want to know who is the rabbi who advises this zero? Both of them have a place in hell alongside everyone who has ever betrayed their people.

This is how it is when you allow a third of the people not to serve in the army and not to be part of the fight for our right to be here.

Neither he nor his rabbi know anyone who has been killed or injured.

Their children did not recruit in Order 8, the money did not stop flowing to them in the finance committee in the Knesset this week.

incidentally. Why Postpone Shabbat? Of money.

If the state issues an order that he does not have to sell and cover the cost of the tickets, he will operate the flights.

There will be no more Friday flights. Too late to take them out

When we came back from shul the streets were empty.

I am sending you a PDF which no one speaks of on tv and I doubt you would have heard about it from anyone else. How the Bedouin whom we have treated so badly have reached out to all of us.

Evidently Netanyahu is going to speak to us. Maybe I should not have eaten beforehand. I must be a glutton for punishment if I listen to it. How can he explain that he has so little pride that he does not feel the need to resign.

How can that bastard stand and speak of those who are serving, those who are grieving, why does he answer us as to where his sons are hiding. If they had belonged to a decent family they would themselves have come back. How can he ask for help of foreign powers when his sons remain overseas. He did not say one thing worth repeating. He looks as if he is under the influence of some drug.

Watch his eyes.

There just came a report that terrorists entered a religious town near Jerusalem. But after that there was no follow up. We do not know from one moment to the next what is happening.

#I go to shul 13.10.20

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rere-the-writer · 3 years

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Title- We can be your new family

Warnings- Fluff, Elena and Co be terrible people, Overly protective Mikaelsons, A bit of angst

Summary- Being the youngest Gilbert isn't easy but You easily found people that wanted you around.

Pairing- Poly!Mikaelsons x Gilbert!Reader

You were what Damon call the weakest Gilbert, not much of a threat as you were Elena's twin sister and under her shadow. When the Mikaelsons came to town you became close friends with Rebekah somehow then got close to the older Mikaelsons and from there you became the object of their affections.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked getting the attention of Damon and Jeremy as both saw you dressed in warmer clothing. You gripped your book bag flushing as nerves settled in your belly.

"Hum....Elijah and Rebekah agreed....to help me with...my history paper...they are going to take me to some historical sites."

"I thought I told you stop hanging around them!?" Elena told you glaring as you stunk back getting more nervous.

"They are my friends." You said quietly but Elena heard you and looked to Damon for help. You opened the door feeling fear as you didn't know what Elena was going to let Damon do.

"Hello little one." You heard Elijah's comforting voice washed over you feeling his hand run over your head. Elena frowned seeing Elijah seemly showering you with affection which was something Elena hated was that the Mikaelsons were slowly stealing you away from her and Jeremy.

"Eli." You mumbled against his chest huddling closer to his warmth making Elijah smile softly as he had just adored you. You reminded Elijah of Tatia with how soft you were but a fiery spirit underneath it all.

"Elijah stop be selfish." Rebekah said as you slipped pass the older man to Rebekah letting her hug you.

"Hello Beka."

"You can't take her." Elena said glaring at Elijah as the sound of your laughter was heard as you and Rebekah were carefully walking on the icy path.

"She needed help so Rebekah and I offered. Y/N said you were too busy." Elijah says watching Elena closely as siblings affections for you grew. Both Elijah and Klaus noticed how you would be pushed away from the Scooby gang but yet pull you back when they would see you with one of the siblings.

"No need to worry we would never allow anything to happen Y/N." Elijah says turning following after you and Rebekah as you spent the day with your favorite Mikaelsons.

A week later you had been feeling fatigued and shortness of breath then times of having fainting spells. You went to Elena worried something was wrong with you.

"Not now Y/N. We are busy I sure you can deal with it by yourself."

You took yourself to see your doctor and called Rebekah who told her brothers rushing to see you.

"Y/N! What is it? Are you okay?" Rebekah asked as her and Kol fuzzing over you as you just leaned into their arms. Elijah kissed your head and Klaus rubbed your back.

"We know what is wrong." Your doctor says seeing the Mikaelsons shift closer to you.

"What is it?"

"You are anemic, don't worry it is treatable." The doctor said as Elijah pulled him aside asking questions and getting a list while the others showered you with affection.

"So no more drinking from Y/N?" Kol asked as Elijah stepped up kissing your forehead as clearly enjoying showering you with affection.

"No more feeding from our beloved." Elijah said as you flushed hiding your face in Rebekah's neck making them all chuckle. Since your diagnosis, the Mikaelsons slowly moved you into their home and Elena noticed making her every angry at the idea of you being with the Mikaelsons.

"How are you feeling, little one?" Elijah asked finding you curled up in Klaus's lap half asleep as Klaus was reading to you while running his fingers through your hair as Rebekah sat by holding your hand rubbing circles with her thumb.

"Tired....might stay in today." You mumbled as Elijah and Klaus soften kissing your head. You didn't know what happened or when it happened but you naturally got into a relationship with them. It started with Rebekah and the others just followed naturally and you had never felt loved and devotion that the Mikaelsons had showered you with.

"I'm sure Niklaus won't mind a relaxing day in." Elijah says softly cupping your cheek rubbing it with his thumb smiling seeing you lean into his hand. There was a loud knock and Elijah frowned when it startled you awake before relaxing back in Klaus's arms with Rebekah nuzzling you.

"I wonder who that could be?" Elijah questioned standing up closing his book and Kol took his spot near you. Elijah answered the door seeing Elena with Stefan and Damon.

"Where is she?!" Elena growled pushing pass Elijah making him take a deep breath as he was a bit annoyed that since becoming a vampire Elena was more brazen than before.

"What did you do to her?!" Elijah heard Elena shout as he headed for the den with the Salvatore brothers following. You were have asleep on Kol and Klaus was standing growling.

"Her new medication makes her tired. Elijah we should talk to her doctor about it."

"We should Kol." Elijah said seeing you yawn sitting up before cuddling up to Rebekah who was more than happy to have you in her arms.

"Doctor?! What. Did. You. Do?"

"Watch your tone young one." Elijah said lowly looking at Elena as Damon moved to protect Elena in case the Originals were not going to put up with her attitude.

"Your sister was sick and we have been taking care of her since you seem hellbent on ours deaths to care for her."

"Y/N?"

"I am anemic....they have been taking care of me." You tell your sister slowly falling back to sleep under Rebekah's skillful fingers that was massaging circles in your back.

"So you stole my sister?!"

"We did no such thing. We naturally gravitate towards your sister." Elijah said watching the Salvatore brothers closely not trusting them while you had fallen asleep.

"Right. More like you are using her."

"We won't never use her unlike you would have." Kol said standing as Elijah put his arm out to stopped Kol from attacking Elena.

"Yeah right you all have done nothing but try and kill us!"

"Stefan it would be best if you take Elena and leave." Elijah said noticing how both Klaus and Kol were getting angerer as now you were getting restless and if you were uncomfortable Kol and Klaus had been known to removed what made you uncomfortable. Stefan took Damon and Elena knowing that Elijah was giving them a chance to live.

"We can't let her be around them."

You had gotten better but that didn't stop the Mikaelsons from fuzzing over you and them every protective of you. You woke up to Kol peppering your neck with kisses and Elijah pulling out clothes for you to wear.

"Goodmorning, darling."

"Morning." You mumbled nuzzling Kol's chest as Elijah chuckled leaning over gently unlatch you from Kol.

"I started a bath for you. Baby, we need to know something."

"Humm? What is it?"

"Would you like to come to New Orleans with us?" Elijah asked sitting you in the bath washing your hair.

"I'll love too." You tell Elijah making him smile as he kissed you then finished washing you up. You took Rebekah with you to get some clothes from your house as they didn't trust your siblings.

"So you are leaving us?"

"I want to be with them like you wanting to be with Damon and Stefan." You tell Elena packing as Rebekah was down stairs glaring at the Salvatore brothers.

"You can't leave!"

"Elena, you're hurting me." You whimpered when she grabbed your wrist as Rebekah was pulling her off you growling as a bruise began to form on your wrist.

"You can't take her to New Orleans."

"So you hurt her?" Rebekah growled fangs flashing as Elena stepped up growling herself but felt a hand on your shoulder and saw Elijah standing there.

"Don't Elena."

New Orleans was beautiful and you found yourself enjoying the lights and sounds with Kol as the vampire watched you ran down the street. Kol had gotten Elijah and Klaus to agree to let him take you out as Rebekah was buying you new clothes.

"Kol!" You shouted and Kol was there in a flash growling seeing a witch trying to grab you.

"I am Sofie and Y/N here got my sister killed."

To say the siblings were surprised that you were pregnant was an understatement and of course they got more protective. You sat cuddling Rebekah and Kol as he read to you both while Klaus and Elijah was dealing with Marcel.

"You both are home." Kol whispered making Elijah raise an eyebrow walking over seeing you and Rebekah asleep on him. Klaus walked over gently taking the book away.

"Yes well Marcellus is proving to be a hand full." Elijah says softly placing a blanket over you and Rebekah. Klaus sat in a chair smiling listening to the baby's heartbeat.

"How is she?"

"Good. So far no problems. Oh Elena and the Salvatores are coming down." Kol says running his fingers through your hair as Elijah frowned sitting in another chair.

"How annoying. But we shall keep her safe."

"And love her Always and Forever."

"Always and Forever." They heard you mumbled back in your sleep making the men smile softly as they relaxed enjoying the peace while they still can.

#rere's stories #mikaelson family x reader #mikaelson family fluff #elijah mikaelson imagine #klaus mikaelson imagine #kol mikaelson imagine #rebekah mikaelson imagine

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cow-smells · 3 years

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You’re Mine [Eli Hawk Moskowitz x Reader]

Requests: 1. there’s a new girl on miyagi-do, she’s classmates with sam, hawk, miguel, tory, robby, demetri, etc... for some reason, she and hawk didn’t like each other (he can be on cobra kai or eagle fangs, that’s your choice), and one day they make a bet, which this girl wins. hawk has to be her slave for a whole week. BONUS IDEA: a stolen kiss during a fight. maybe admitting feelings for each other? i’d love that! ( @berriewrites ) 2. love the hawk smut but i’d also love some fluffy hawk about him secretly liking the reader who’s in miyagido but he tries to act all tough and hide it (anon) 3. AHHH CAN WE GET SOME HAWK FLUFF!? I love the idea where you swear that you don’t like him and you guys make eye contact from a distance when he’s standing with his friend group and you’re standing with yours and you get flustered and he can tell and he smirks and just ahh (anon)

A/N: this took so longggg this came out longer than expected (and honestly i could go on, but i wanted to get this out already) + real life has come hitting all at once and its been overwhelming lol. thanks for being patient and sticking around <3 i enjoyed writing some fluff (amidst a flurry of smut reuests loool :)

Words: 2981

Warnings: none

Read this on AO3

Summary: You don't like Hawk. He's a bad person, that much you know for sure. You're ready to make his life miserable when he loses a bet with you, but then you actually have to spend time with him...

You didn't like this.

Forgiveness seemed to be a virtue that evaded you. Eagle-fang and Miagi-Do were uniting and everyone seemed to be all for the union – except for you.

Some things were simply unforgivable. For you, Hawk breaking Demetri's arm was one of them.

You and Demetri became nearly inseparable friends when you both joined Miagi-Do. He had told you all about his former friend Eli and how he'd abandoned him in the favor of bullying him in any way he could come up with; that bullying taking a turn to the extreme when Hawk took to breaking bones.

Demetri had since forgiven him, but you hadn't.

Demetri had a softer heart than he let on, and he missed Eli terribly, so when the latter suggested they work together he gladly accepted.

But you were more objective about the situation, as you weren't a part of it, and forgiving such cruelty was beyond you.

The one good thing about the dojos coming together was the intense dedication that grew on everyone. Now that you had a common enemy, many participants would hang around in Miyagi-Do's dojo long after training sessions, training until you could hardly move your limbs.

The sun had ago long fallen when you and the remaining students took places around a mat, ready for the sparring session to begin.

With Daniel and Sensei Lawrence gone, you had taken to writing down names and pulling them out of a bowl to decide on sparring partners.

All the negative emotions you felt channeled in to great excitement when Miguel called your name – followed by Hawk's.

You could have sworn you saw a look of something you couldn't read – concern, perhaps, or fear? Before he seemed to share your excitement as he stepped on to the mat with a grin that was almost predatory.

Two could play at that game.

“You're as good as dead,” you said, your voice dripping venom. Hawk's smirk just grew.

“Is that so, princess? I'd like to see you score as much as a point.”

A light bulb lit in your mind.

“Yeah?” you taunted. “What if I get three?”

Hawk laughed. “You got a lot of confidence, don't you? I'll tell you what. If you can score three points on me and win, I'll...” He bit his lip as he thought. “I'll let you boss me around for a week. Whatever you want.”

The blood rushed through your veins, ready more than ever to fight. You were grateful for the lack of your sensei, knowing this nonsense wouldn't stand if he were here.

“Deal.”

“Are you guys done?” Miguel huffed, standing between you two, ready to referee. “Good. Bow.”

You bowed without intent and got straight to attacking. Hawk didn't expect it; he came from the dojo that prides itself on strike first and yours cared mainly about defense. You earned your first point within seconds.

That only served to throw Hawk off his game further. He dived in right away for the attack and was caught unprepared when you fell, sweeping his leg.

You earned your second point.

By that point, Hawk might as well have been fuming out the ears. His brows furrowed in anger as he looked at you like you were the most vile thing he had ever seen; that satisfied something within you.

The flurry of hits and misses was so rapid you were caught unprepared when you managed to land a punch on Hawk, Miguel's voice rising as he named you victor.

Hawk huffed, clearly exerted. You smiled. “You're mine.”

You were fully intending to use this bet to its full potential.

The next day was Saturday, and Hawk, true to his word, showed up at your doorstep at 9 p.m sharp, just as you had ordered.

You paid him no kindness when you opened the door, not exchanging a word with him before demanding: “Helmet?”

Hawk handed you a helmet, not looking particularly pleased about the situation but not being able to stop himself from taking in an eyeful of you anyway.

You needed a ride to tonight's party – that's where Hawk came in, beginning his work for you as a personal valet. Accordingly for the event, you were dressed meticulously, showing off your best features – and if you were to judge by Hawks reaction, you were on your way to turn heads.

You climbed on the motorcycle after him, circling your arms around him loosely; but when he kicked off and started the ride, you couldn't help but tighten your hold.

The party was overcrowded with people from the moment you got there; Yasmine's parties tended to get a bit... excessive.

You ditched Hawk the moment you got sight of your friends, ditching the helmet on his bike to run over to Sam, Moon and Yasmine.

Yasmine didn't hide the dirty look she sent at Hawk. “Ew. Who's the freak?”

You grinned proudly. “My valet. Ignore him. Actually...”

You looked over to the drinks table; someone had tapped a keg and it was being swarmed with people.

“Hey, Hawk!”

Hawk turned to you, the slightest furrow in his brow as he had already joined his own friends. You pointed at the drinks table. “Vodka soda!” you ordered.

He rolled his eyes, but did it anyway. Your friends watched wide-eyed as he obeyed you wordlessly, bringing over the drink. “Anything else, princess?”

“Yes,” you gave him a judging once-over. “Don't drink tonight. I want to get home in one piece.”

He bit his cheeks and glared at you before growling “Fine” and returning to his friends.

At some point you didn't even want a drink any more, it was just fun ordering Hawk to go fetch you another one; and so, you found yourself unintentionally drunk, laughing mindlessly at anything said and swaying on your feet.

You didn't even know how late it had gotten when Hawk came in the living room looking for you, ready to go home as most the others already had.

You had earlier made him promise to take you home as well, and – something you were quickly learning was, Hawk was definitely a man of his word. He spotted you half-sprawled on the couch, laughing with Yasmine at something you didn't fully register. Your cup was askew in your hand, contents about to spill over when Hawk grabbed it out of your hand, placing it on a table nearby.

“Come on, Y/n. It's time to go.”

“Not yet!” you grinned gleefully, taking hold of his wrist and shaking it dumbly as you spoke. “Later! We're having fun!”

Hawk placed his free hand on yours that held him. “It's four AM, Y/n, time to call it a night.”

You didn't reply, instead resorting to pouting like a child.

His eyes softened (the puppy eyes never failed to work) – but his jaw clenched. “If you don't come now I'm leaving you here.”

“Fine!” you hurriedly rose to your feet, using Hawk for balance. “Bye,” you pouted at Yasmine childishly as Hawk pulled you away from her and out of the house.

The sudden quiet of the outside was nearly overwhelming, Hawk's voice sounding too loud for you. “How am I supposed to get you home when you're this drunk?”

“I'm not drunk,” you answered instinctively, knowing that you very well were.

“If you can make it to the bike in a straight line, I'll believe you.” You look at his bike, ten feet ahead. You decide to keep holding on to him. “That's what I thought. Listen. You gotta stay awake, okay? I can't have you falling off in the middle of the road, or making me sway, because then we're both dead. Got it?”

“Dead. Got it.”

Hawk didn't look convinced, but placed a helmet on you and buckled it anyway.

It was about ten minutes in to the ride when Hawk pulled over. He turned to you, his voice as serious as he could make it; you simply smiled, somewhat dazed. “This isn't going to work.”

“Hm?”

“Y/n!” Hawk called, trying to wake you up a little. “Don't fall asleep!”

“Yes, sensei.” you slurred. Had you been any more awake, you might have noticed the way Hawk's eyes widened at that.

Hawk had to refocus himself to go on. “I'm serious. Look... My house is closer than yours. You can sleep it off at mine, and I'll take you wherever tomorrow. Okay?”

“Okay,” you shrugged, your mind not caring about much other than regaining the warmth of Hawk's body pressed against yours.

Minutes later you pulled up at an unfamiliar house. Hawk unbuckled your helmet and set it aside, helping you off the bike and guiding you inside, motioning Shhh as he led you through the corridor of his darkened house until you reached his room.

The most natural thing for you to do the moment you saw a bed was to collapse on it. In the seconds Hawk turned his back on you to find you Pj's to wear, you had fallen asleep.

Looking at you on his bed, Hawk exhaled heavily. He was very aware of your hatred of him; what he couldn't understand was, if everyone else forgave him, why not you?

It certainly didn't help that you looked the way you do, that you were talented, and that everyone loved you.

So Hawk undid your shoes and pulled them off, laying a blanket on you before leaving you to sleep.

You woke up groggy, somewhat hungover and in a strangers room; an interesting start to the day.

You didn't really want to leave the comfort of your lonesome in the room but it was clear you would have to face the music at some point, so you womaned up and left the room.

Following the smell of food cooking, you walk down a hallway to find a red-haired man in the kitchen, his tattooed back to you, muscles flexing as he flipped a pancake.

With his hair down, it took you a moment to register who you're seeing; who's bed you spent the night in.

Hawk.

Your first instinct was to groan, to cower in to yourself in regret; but then you remember how tenderly he treated you the night prior, making sure you got safely to a bed, letting you have his bed.

You swallowed your pride and stepped in to the kitchen. “Morning.”

Hawk's shoulders jumped in fright as you startled him; you couldn't help but giggle. He quickly rightened himself, straightening his back and flexing his abs as he turned to you.

He was good looking and he knew it. You hated him.

However, you felt your power returning to you as he couldn't help but look you up and down, your disheveled clothes revealing a bit more than they had the night before. Hawk inhaled sharply, reminding himself of who he was, how he was supposed to act: unfazed.

“Bout time you got up.”

You frowned, looking at the kitchen clock. “What do you mean about time? It isn't even noon yet.”

“Yeah, well,” Hawk flipped a pancake on to a nearby plate. “You wanted me to take you to the mall today, right? I have practice later, so it's gotta be now.” The Eagle-fangs were holding weekend practices of their own, something you weren't a fan of.

“Jeez, fine,” you sneered, allowing yourself to sit at the kitchen table. Amidst the chaos that was waking up in Hawks bed, you had totally forgot you previously asked him to take you out today. Yasmine's parents were making her take tutoring lessons, Moon was doing some spiritual healing thing and Sam was with Miguel, so you were left all alone – but you certainly didn't intend on spending Sunday at home, doing nothing.

Hawk finally shut off the burner and joined you at the table with a stack of pancakes and two plates in tow. “Eat away your hangover. I'm not gonna hold your hair up if you hurl.”

Breakfast with Hawk ended up being a surprisingly civil affair; so was shopping. There was something exciting about dragging him along after you, shop after shop, having him carry your bags and modeling clothes for him. And honestly, you were loving the effect you had on him. You knew he was trying to hide it, but you could see the way he grew antsy when you tried on bikinis. You loved teasing him, knowing he couldn't have you.

What also didn't hurt was the way you two turned heads walking down streets together. You were undeniably gorgeous, and he... While at first you thought it was the bright red mohawk that grabbed peoples eyes, after a close inspection you couldn't deny he had fair features, too. You had to look away whenever he tensed his jaw, accentuating his jawline, or if God forbid he smiled, you had to deny the way his smile made your stomach knot up.

As though to top off the experience of him, by the time you finished shopping, Hawk would have been late if he was to take you home, so you suggested he take you to practice with him and just take you home once he was finished. And oh my... You did not need to see him fighting. Having a whole hour to see his biceps flexing as the threw punches was doing you no favors; when you were both practicing you were too busy with yourself to notice him, but right then you had a whole hour to do nothing but stare.

At the end of the practice you rose when Hawk approached you, ready to go. When his sensei understood you were waiting there for him, he asked Hawk, “Yours?”

Hawk didn't answer; he merely smirked that Hawk smirk of his. His sensei nodded proudly. “Nice.” Creep.

You had a couple more days to squeeze the most you could out of your bet, and by all means were you planning on using them.

Hawk was taking you to school and home every day on the back of his bike – to Miyagi-do, too. It became a regular thing to see you two together, and if anyone was expecting you, they expected Hawk, too.

Just as the previous mornings, you and Hawk walked in to school together. Seeing your friends, you bid him goodbye and went to join them, your eyes lingering on him a bit too long as he said hello to Miguel.

Yasmine's jaw dropped as she looked at you, her expression scandalized. “What?” you asked.

“You're totally in to the freak!”

“What? No,” you denied – but even as the words left your mouth, you could hear your lack of conviction. “No.”

You looked back to where Hawk and Miguel stood; this time, he caught your eye. Then, with total audacity, he winked at you.

You felt heat rush through your body.

The smirk that grew on him suggested he knew exactly what he was doing to you.

You hated it.

Deciding to put an end to this madness, you wordlessly leave your friends and march up to Hawk, a new rage running though you.

He stopped talking with Miguel when you reached him; Miguel visibly tensed at what he felt was a dangerous situation for him to be in.

“Sidebar,” you ordered. Hawk smirked.

“After you, princess.”

You hoped no one would notice when you lured him in to an empty classroom, but in all honesty, it was you and Hawk. There were always eyes on you two.

You turned to him once you were engulfed in the silence of the room. “Listen. I don't know what you're playing at, but cut it out. I own you, got it? Don't go winking at me in the hallway like I'm your girlfriend or something.”

You expected to see him cower, blush, show any sign of intimidation – but there was no such emotion. The smirk he wore only grew in confidence. “You sure about that?” he asked cheekily. “Because it seems to me like you'll find any excuse to be around me.”

You couldn't believe the audacity of this boy. You were stunted for words; he went on. “Be honest with yourself. Once the week is up, you'll still find reasons to talk to me.”

You bit your cheeks; you hated how he was right, how he read you so easily. “And look, I'm done playing this game too.”

Your stomach dropped. Was he about to reject you, without you even confessing? “I'm not playing with you,” you tried to say intimidatingly, but your voice came out too small for comfort.

“Me neither. So...” Hawk looked down at you; you could have drowned in his ocean eyes. You averted your gaze to the side, crossing your arms.

“Fine. We can call it off early.”

Hawk chuckled. You wanted to punch him. “You still don't get it, do you?”

You returned your eyes to Hawk, ready to chew him out when he placed his hands on your cheeks, pulling you to him for a kiss.

You could feel yourself melting in to the kiss, feeling a rush of adrenaline run through you as you finally got to experience what you didn't want to admit to yourself that you craved so deeply.

When he finally pulled away, he kept his hands on you, your noses nearly touching. “I've wanted to do that for a long time,” Hawk admitted.

You half-smiled. “It's only been a week.”

Hawk had burst in laughter, his thumbs caressing your cheeks. “You still don't get it.” Before you could protest his words, his lips met your once more.

Maybe you could find it in you to forgive him, after all.

#cobra kai imagine #cobra kai #eli moskowitz imagine #eli hawk moskowitz #eli moskowitz x reader #eli moskowitz/reader #cobra kai fanfic #cobra kai hawk

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legends-of-apex · 3 years

Text

‘The Day He Didn’t’

Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider x Reader (angst, fluff)

Word count: 5,100

Rating: T (tw for death and grief, brief suggestiveness)

Summary: *Spoilers for Agents of SHIELD season 4* You, an agent of SHIELD and long-time resident of the Reyes household, deal with the fallout from Robbie’s “death” in episode 8. This fic mainly explores the relationship you had with Robbie and how you come to terms with his death whilst trying to take care of Gabe in his absence. Based on this request for anon. Reader is described as female.

Author’s note: I’m so sorry in advance to anyone who reads this as there so much angst! Some fluff sprinkled in there as well but mainly angst! Hope you guys enjoy it all the same! Please feel free to let me know what you think ☺️

“Cariña?” You stopped dead in your tracks, almost dropping the bundle of paperwork in your arms at the sound of the nickname only one person in the world had for you. You turned to see Robbie walking towards you with Mack and Daisy, “What are you doing here?” he asked, surprise evident on his face despite knowing your profession. The only reason he didn't have many apprehensions about helping out SHIELD in the first place was because you worked for them so he figured they couldn’t be all bad.

“I work here.” You blinked just to make sure you weren’t seeing things, “What on Earth are you doing here?”

Worry instantly seeped into your pores, and knowing it would, he took your hand in his, silently telling you everything was alright as his thumb smoothly dragged over your knuckles. He’d always avoided the authorities like the plague and you worried he’d been captured for all he’d been doing as Ghost Rider recently but given the lack of hostility towards him from the others in the halls, you guessed he wasn’t some escaped prisoner and was working with your team.

“This is your civilian boyfriend from east LA?” Daisy asked, never putting two and two together. To her credit, there were probably thousands of mechanics living in east LA and that was all you’d told her about him for fear she’d go snooping. What were the chances your boyfriend would be the one guy with a flaming head that she’d been tracking down?

They left you alone to talk and the very first thing he did was wrap you up in his arms. You were due home from SHIELD that evening. Having been away for a little over a week, he’d missed you terribly. Gabe had too although he’d never admit it. You sighed into his arms and placed a kiss on his cheek, unable to hug him back due to all the paperwork you carried.

Home had come to you rather than the other way around today, it seems.

“You know when I said I wasn’t worried about you working for SHIELD?” He grinned, “I’d like to officially retract that statement. The shit you guys have to deal with here is crazy.”

“Oh, you mean the guys with flaming heads and stuff?” You joked.

“It’s the ‘and stuff’ that has me worried now that I’ve seen it firsthand.” Your worlds weren’t so different after all and that worried him just because he knew how dangerous it was. You could take care of yourself, of that he was certain, but he never thought for a minute that you were dealing with the likes of him at your nine to five. Given how little you were legally allowed to tell him, he never asked and you never told.

“Oh please, I’m hardly ever in the field.” You assured, not wanting to worry him. What neither of you did was easy or safe but at least you got paid for what you did, he just got tired, “SHIELD is as safe as spy agencies come.”

Three days later Robbie was dead.

You quit SHIELD on the spot in favour of returning home to his little brother Gabe. Not only had the most important person in the world to him just died but the very reason for his demise was their uncle Eli.

You’d lived with him and Gabe for years, since Eli got sent to prison. Gabe had just lost the use of his legs and Robbie became the sole provider for the two of them. They needed you. And you needed them, and a place to stay. You got Eli’s old room. He didn’t mind, if anything he was glad the boys had someone looking out for them in his absence even if you spent half the week at work with SHIELD.

Robbie and Gabe still shared a room at the time despite their age but that didn’t last all too long once you moved in. Soon Gabe was sick of his brother’s late nights and when winter rolled around and the gas bill got too expensive, you were freezing in that room on your own. With the portable heater in Gabe’s room and Robbie sleeping in with you most nights anyway, it was the cold that finally pushed him out of sharing with his brother and into sharing with you.

Even though you’d been living with them for months, you and Robbie only really said you’d move in together once he shared a room with you. He kept your heart and your body feeling warm and safe. He was so endlessly, hopelessly warm in both body and mind despite everything. But it was when you moved in together that you started to notice something more than the trauma of what happened to him and Gabe that one night was bothering him. There was something very, very wrong with Robbie.

You even saw it in his eyes sometimes. The pain. The fire.

One night as you sat straddling his lap, gazing down at him with your hands braced against his strong chest, talking about what happened with Eli of all things when his eyes changed. They took on a molten orange hue. It wasn’t the first time you’d seen it but it was the first time you’d not been otherwise too… occupied…to mention it.

“Your eyes-” you started but you had no idea what else to say. Suddenly the permanent smell of burn made sense and the late nights he said he spent at Canello’s despite the lack of extra income. The Ghost Rider had been all over local news channels. He’d been targeting the same gang that shot up the car with Robbie and Gabe inside. White supremacist gangs too.

His panicked eyes searched your face, desperate for any indication of what you were thinking. His thumbs rubbed circles into the outside of your thighs as you stared at the pillow beside his head, gaze unfocused before you finally swallowed and locked your eyes with his.

“Are you...” You didn’t need to say anymore, he saw the realisation on your face and he nodded immediately. He wasn’t able to voice the answer, far too paralysed with fear as to what your reaction would be but he was done hiding this from you. To his surprise, you flung your arms around his neck and squeezed him so tight it hurt.

You wouldn’t tell Gabe, you wouldn’t tell the cops or SHIELD and most importantly of all, you weren’t going to leave him because of it.

Since then it seemed like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, made his steps a little lighter. The late nights he was out hunting were spent with you worrying about him since then, despite him assuring you that as long as that demon was in him he literally couldn’t die.

Most of the time you waited up for him so you could check him over and make sure he was okay, make sure his mind could ease and return to earth after the spike in adrenaline that came with the Rider taking over for a few hours. Although sometimes he was out so late that sleep took you despite your best efforts.

On one such night, he heard a soft mumblr of his name in the darkness of your bedroom, your voice quiet and strained with sleep. He felt his heart ache with the longing that laced it.

He crouched down at the foot of the bed so you could see that he was alright, that he was home, “Yeah cariña, I’m here.” He replied in a half-whisper, careful not to wake you up any more than you already were. He leant down to press a kiss to your forehead and recoiled at the temperature of your skin, “You’re freezing?”.

The heating got switched off again, but he didn’t need to know that right now. You made sure Gabe had the portable heater and a few extra blankets, knowing you’d have all the heat you needed once Robbie got home. “Got all the heat I need right here,” You tapped his chest softly. He was so inhumanly warm thanks to the hellfire bubbling within. Too warm for you to hold him for long in the scorching summer, but the perfect temperature for when the nights grew cold.

The moment he lay down beside you he was tugging you towards him, enveloping your body with his as much as he could. You nuzzled your face into his chest, clinging on to the fabric of his shirt. He tucked the covers in around your body before bringing his arm to rest across you, letting his fingers run a trail across your back.

“That better?” He asked and you nodded, finally able to exhale a breath at being a comfortable temperature.

“Yeah baby, thank you. Much better now you’re here.” His entire being radiated comfort, “Rough night? You look exhausted.” He truly did. Heavy bags hung beneath his eyes and he seemed like he could barely keep his eyes open.

“I am. But it always makes me feel better knowing I get to come home to you after.” He pressed a kiss to the bridge of your nose, eliciting a giggle, “You comfy?” He asked and you nodded, “Good cause I ain’t moving till well past midday tomorrow.”

“And skip your favourite meal of the day?” You questioned all whilst settling down further into the mattress beneath you, eyes heavy with sleep.

“Baby, the only breakfast I need is nestled right between your thighs.” He was so close to sleep just then that you weren’t sure he even knew half of what he was saying.

You laughed, but your tone quickly sobered, “I was worried about you,” you hadn’t heard him come in. You only realised he was home when you woke up to the faint smell of burnt material filling your nostrils as it often did when he was around.

“You don’t gotta worry about me. You know I’ll always come back to you and Gabe.”

You hummed in agreement, “You better….”

“I will.” He affirmed, pressing his lips to your forehead, closing his eyes for the night as he did.

To his credit, he did come back to you night after night, day after day until the one day he didn’t.

All you could do was watch in horror as his own uncle impaled him with spikes of solid carbon. You had seen the look on his face when it happened. He knew exactly what he had to do but it meant breaking his promise to you and to Gabe but Ghost Rider did it for him anyway. At the very least it was quick for both he and Eli, at least he hadn’t suffered.

“He doesn’t even have a grave!” Gabe was in hysterics when you told him. Although the look on your face when you came through the door that day was telling enough of what happened. No body and no death records meant no grave. Nothing to remember him by except for the people who knew him and the emptiness in that house in his wake.

“Why don’t we go make one then, huh?” You offered.

That’s how the tiny wooden cross made its way into the back garden. A sharpened end so it sank into the ground right next to another one for Eli. It wasn’t much. But it was something and it seemed to make Gabe feel better about not being able to bury them. He prayed in front of it sometimes. Religion was big in their family but he’d never really cared for it until now, knowing their parents would be rolling in their graves with Robbie not having a grave or even a body to bury properly.

Both graves were adorned with marigolds. You brought Gabe to the market each week to buy more so the scent stayed fresh. He said they were usually reserved for Dia de los Muertos, the smell and vibrant orange colour was used to bring the souls of the dead towards an altar or a grave, but he said it couldn’t hurt to leave them there whilst the flowers were in season.

The only family he had left was gone in one fell swoop. Robbie always said he dreaded the day they’d have to bury Eli and add him to the list of family Gabe lost. The thought that he’d be on that list and added to the altar alongside his parents never even crossed his mind.

Despite everything, Gabriel decided to keep going to school and you couldn’t have been prouder of him for it. And you still helped him with homework, despite some of it already seeming like it was beyond you due to how advanced the content he was learning was. You helped him out with essays a lot as he struggled with those the most. Math and science were his true favourites, business too.

You sat at the kitchen table reading over an essay he needed help with as you often did. Although now there was no Robbie to come in from work and press a kiss to your head, or your neck if Gabe was out of the room. There was no one to mess up the neat part in Gabe’s hair or steal a chip from his plate. No comforting roar of the Dodge Charger as he pulled into the drive or rustling of the shopping bags or takeout that he’d bring home. No one to coax you into his lap or out for a drive to nowhere after dinner when Gabe went to his room to game with his online friends.

You missed him. You felt the loss of him in every sense of the word. Like there was a hole in your lives and that house.

It hit you hard sometimes and then the tears would leak. There was really nothing you could do to stop it. Gabe was the same although it was usually on weekends when they’d have spent the most time together that he got the most upset. That’s when he truly felt the loss. Robbie used to take him to a nearby arcade on Saturday mornings and they’d maybe catch a movie after, forever making sure that Gabe got the childhood he never had.

“I miss him. I miss him so much.”

“I know, Gabe. I know.” You’d pet over his hair as soaked the material of your shirt with his tears. And as much as it pained you to hear it, you were always glad he cried. In fact, you encouraged him to. It was healthy and Christ did that kid have a lot to cry about. You’d never forget the way he cried when you told him what happened. He hiccuped in both grief for his brother and uncle and the prospect that he was now well and truly alone. He didn’t expect you to stay with him, he didn’t think you’d want to so when you told him that you’d stay in what was now legally his house so long as he wanted you to, he cried even harder. Neither of you had to be alone and you’d been looking after one another ever since.

These days he made a point of always hugging you goodnight, something he never really did before. And you knew that it was because he was afraid of losing you too. You might not have been family but you’d always treated each other as if you were. Now you bonded over your shared grief of losing Robbie. He was still just a kid and you didn’t put any more strain on him than he already had but he often insisted on making breakfast or dinner, lunch sometimes too so you had something good to eat at work. Meanwhile, you worked to keep the lights on, took him to school or his friend’s house, helped with homework and generally kept his spirits up.

You even went to a parent-teacher meeting with him once. He’d very sheepishly asked if you could come and said it was borderline hilarious the number of guardians he’d had come in his dead parent’s place. First uncle Eli, then Robbie and now you. A few of his teachers remembered his brother well despite him leaving the school a solid eight years prior. His English teacher said she nearly quit when she learned there was another Reyes child who’d be passing through the school as if Robbie hadn’t already nearly given her a stroke in previous years. She said he wasn’t disruptive, in fact, he was so respectful and polite that she could almost overlook the fact that he’d miss class constantly in favour of beating the shit out of the kids who bullied others or working rather than doing schoolwork.

“If I had a nickel for every note I had to send home to his Uncle, I could afford to live somewhere way less shitty than here.” She probably didn’t realise that he had to work because Eli couldn’t afford to take care of them by himself, or why he dropped out at seventeen to work full-time so he could make sure Gabe wouldn’t have to.

Those parent-teacher meetings were a drag. But it was good to know that despite everything, Gabe was still doing well and still on track for a scholarship or two.

You adored Gabe.

For all his rolling over your toes when he went off in a huff or the days where it was difficult being responsible for your dead boyfriend’s little brother. But you loved him like he was your own little brother, and tried to love him just as Robbie did.

It was his eyes that sometimes got the better of you though. He’d say good morning and produce a plate of food for you, brown eyes beaming with the morning dew. And those eyes, the same as his brother’s in colour and size, would crush you and force the memories of all times you’d gazed into those similar pools right to the surface. Gabe never could understand why you got so upset, sometimes seemingly completely at random, and you didn’t have the heart to tell him it was because he had his brother’s eyes. That the sight of his likeness was enough to turn your composure to dust.

Part of you missed working for SHIELD too. You missed your friends and the good work you did at your job. You didn't, however, miss the uniform. But even seeing the logo now just reminded you of that day. Being a civilian with a civilian job was so strange to you. There was no dealing with aliens or anything nearly as threatening on the day to day but some small part of you missed it.

Mack, Daisy and Coulson came around sometimes. Mack mainly came to check over the Charger but his face was a friendly one and you were always glad to see it. Coulson and Daisy usually came bearing groceries and news of how things were at SHIELD, with Coulson still trying to convince you to re-join after you quit on the spot when Eli and Robbie died.

“How’s Gabe?” Daisy asked, knowing he wouldn’t let her ask him herself. He blamed her partially for Robbie’s death having warned her not to get his brother mixed up in anything so dangerous as SHIELD. He hadn’t known then what his brother did at night but even now he still won’t look her in the eyes.

“He’s good. Somehow still on track for Harvard if he keeps his grades up. He’s even got a girlfriend now.” You told her and she smiled, “I think he’s trying to distract himself, keep himself busy so he doesn’t have to come to terms with the fact that he’s gone. Either that or he’s just putting on a brave face.”

Then she’d ask you the same thing she did every time she came to visit, “Are you doing okay?” and every time, you gave a weak “I will be,” in reply.

“Are you sleeping?”

“No, not really.” You were trying, truly you were. But every time you closed your eyes all you saw was the bright flash of orange that took him from you and every time you opened them you just saw the cold sheets at his side of the bed. When you did eventually get some sleep it was almost always whilst clinging to one of his old shirts on which his scent still lingered. You wouldn’t dare wear more than one or two for fear that you’d one day need to wash them all so you just cycled through his shirts until the smell on each one faded. It was the only way you could ever get to sleep.

Money was of course an issue and you received very little help from any authorities other than SHIELD due to the unorthodox nature of the situation. You weren’t a widow as you were never married and you couldn’t really be classed as Gabe’s guardian because of his age and your non-relation to him. But you’d sooner be damned than let him fall into the foster system. You’d do anything for that kid.

“SHIELD’s gone legit now. We can get you good lawyers.” Coulson said.

“Even with good lawyers, I don’t know how you’re going to sell the fact that the kid wants his dead brother’s girlfriend to be his legal guardian. Robbie doesn’t even have a death certificate.” Coulson’s heart was in the right place, it always was. But sometimes his optimism was misplaced.

Daisy’s eyes brightened, “We can forge one but Gabe would need to sign-“ you cut her off.

“No.” You stopped her from saying another word about it, “I’m not about to make him sign his own brother’s death certificate. He’s been through enough.”

It was a few weeks later when you heard a single creak in the floorboards at your bedroom doorway that was loud enough to wake you from what little sleep you had managed to get. It didn’t sound like Gabe’s wheelchair and he didn’t have any friends over so you were immediately on edge.

It smelt like something was burning, the air thick and bristled. You rolled out of bed immediately for fear that the house was on fire but then you saw a silhouette taking up most of the doorway. Based on the outline, it was a person and you stared for a second, just a second, before grabbing hold of the baseball bat at your bedside and making a move. When the shadow took one step inside your room, a hand outstretched towards you as the moonlight illuminated his features, you faltered and let the bat fall to the floor

“Robbie?” Shit, you must’ve been dreaming again. But you didn’t care.

You reached for him regardless, breath hitching when you touched something solid. You flattened your palm out on the centre of his chest where his jacket hung open, feeling the warmth and hellfire that bubbled within. His hand came to cover yours then and you looked up to see those brown eyes you’d gazed into so often and loved so dearly now damp and threatening to spill over with tears.

“I’m so sorry-“ he started but you engulfed him in a hug the second he opened his mouth. At that moment you couldn’t care less about why he wasn’t there, only that at that moment he was. You threw your arms around his neck when the tears started.

With a heave, he lifted your knees around his waist and carried you to the bedside where he sat with you in his lap.

He’d thought for so long about what to say and now that he finally had the chance, he told you everything. He told you about Eli, about the book of dark magic he’d read and been corrupted by was still around somewhere. How when he died, he clawed his way through hell. Literally. To get back to you. The demon inside him fought through hell to get back to that book and destroy it for good, he’d had the reigns fully in hell. Robbie was reduced to a passenger in his own body down there. Months without being able to live in his own skin.

“I can’t stay,” He told you, swallowing thickly, “He wants to take that book back.”

“Back?” You asked, already knowing full well what he meant. You just didn’t want it to be true.

He nodded solemnly as his jaw clenched, “To Hell.”

You held his cheek, searching his eyes. For what you didn’t know. Any indication he was kidding maybe? You didn’t find any. Instead, you only found pain and sadness. Guilt too.

“He said I can say goodbye to you and Gabe,” his voice cracked, “Then I have to go.”

He was lucky the demon allowed him that much of a privilege. It was only because the entire time he’d been in hell he had to deal with Robbie’s worrying, his longing nagging at the back of his mind. It was a courtesy only because he didn’t want to deal with that again.

“The thought of coming back to you has been the only damn thing that’s kept my heart beating. I would do anything to stay with you for good but I made a deal and he won’t let me stay until that book is gone.”

The last thing he wanted to do was give you false hope. He didn’t want you waiting up for him as you often did or putting your life on pause waiting for him to return when he had no idea when that would be. You deserved more and he wanted you to have that, even if it meant he might not have a place in your life when he did eventually return from the land of the dead. It wouldn’t be fair of him to expect that from you and so he never did.

He had that look in his eye he got when he was about to do something stupidly self-sacrificial for someone else’s sake and you weren’t about to hear it. Not now. You had a vague idea of what he wanted to say, that he never really deserved you in the first place and that he was sorry for all the pain he’d put you through, that he wouldn’t be upset when he got back if you chose to move on. But you knew he was damned and the risks and pain that came with it. And as much as he would never accept it, he was worth the pain.

You held him for as long as he could stay, knowing he was on borrowed time.

“Gabe’s got a girlfriend now. He finally made a move on Janet’s sister.” He blinked at you in awe, a smile spreading across his face, “You might wanna give him the talk before you go if you haven’t already.” As much as you loved that kid there was no way that was a conversation you were about to have with him.

He smiled wide at that and shook his head, “Already taken care of, chica.” They’d had that conversation far too early if he was being honest.

You held each other for what wasn’t nearly long enough to make up for the months apart. There was so much you both wanted to say and so little time to do it. You didn’t even know where to start, neither did he. So you just lay there in each other’s arms for as long as you could or until the demon got antsy.

You knocked on Gabe’s bedroom door and received a definitely still asleep reply.

“There’s someone here to see you.” You stood in his doorway, Robbie at your side waiting for Gabe’s eyes to open. When they did, he beamed and shouted in delight. You left them to it, not wanting to impose.

You waited in the living room, playing with the keys to the Dodge Charger in your fingers. When Robbie finally emerged from Gabe’s room, his eyes wet with hastily wiped tears, he made a beeline for you once more. “Thank you,” He kissed your forehead and tugged you as close to him as he could, “For everything you’ve done for Gabe. And for me.”

“He’s family and so are you.” You mumbled. He dragged a palm over his face again, wiping his tears.

“Gabe said I’m to ask you to marry me when I get back. To make you officially a Reyes.” You looked to him in question, “I told him that it was entirely your decision cause I’d marry you in a heartbeat. And it’s bold of him to assume you’d take my name.”

“Kid’s got some bold assumptions for sure.” You played coy, there was no way he was getting an answer out of you that easily. You knew he wasn’t asking you anyways, just telling you what Gabe had said.

“I’ll take that as a maybe.” He laughed. The prospect of marriage would never be a question for the two of you, it would always be a conversation. Something you’d decide on together.

“Take it as an order to get your ass back here and find out.” You smiled and kissed his cheek, “I love you. Please come back in one piece.”

“I love you too, Cariña. Take care of yourself,” he closed your fingers over the keys to the Dodge Charger so they were safely caged in your hand, “and my baby.”

Oh, you’d take care of his baby alright.

With one last bone crushing hug and a kiss, he was gone again. And for the first time in months, you felt whole. Even if he was going back to suffer, to trudge his way through Hell once he got ahold of that book. The promise that he’d return to you for good this time was one you knew he’d keep, no matter how long it took him to do so.

It was enough for you and it was enough for Gabe too.

The next time Daisy visited she said it’d probably be the last for a while. She and the team were in hiding from the authorities. She said she didn’t have the time to explain.

“You okay?” She asked as she usually did, knowing Robbie had been back to you before going to help them get that book back so he could bring it down to Hell.

“I will be,” you replied, and for the first time in a while you meant it.

Tagging (the horni for Ghost Rider squad): @icy-spicy @spring-soldier

#robbie reyes x reader #robbie reyes #ghost rider x reader #ghost rider #agents of shield #angst #fluff #my writing #fic #mine

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dannyboyzone · 3 years

Text

Samuel, if he would have a child

this was not requested, but it's children's day in korea! and who is the most fun to read about if none other than our tiddy king Seungeun! yaaay! Also, I could like, make one of Eli and Yenna, but we all know Eli is the best dad in the lookism world 🖤

꒰ 🍨 ”♡ᵎ꒱ˀˀ ↷ ⋯ Sammy with his child...

baby life

- Samuel isn't the type that necessarily loves kids, however that doesn't mean he necessarily hates them. He wouldn't know how to react if his partner says they are pregnant or want to adopt. - or anything of the sort! - He would react in a polite and pleasant manner, but the heaviness wouldn't shrink in until a few weeks or month.

- Not going to lie, he would prefer a son over a girl. It's not that he is sexist, it's that he is afraid that he would kill whoever hurts his little princess, which would scare and distance her.

- However, he doesn't mind what the end result is, he would just want to be a good parent because he never had an actual good one. You would expect him to have the mentality of 'I suffered, so why shouldn't they?' But he truly doesn't.

- He would absolutely be lost with babies, but would be very willing to learn about how to take care of them. He would surprisingly smile at them a lot, and even speak in a babying voice. Big scary gangster has a heart.

- The crying would sometimes drive him crazy, but he would absolutely never take it out on the baby, just try to learn which cry means what exactly. If it goes on for long, he might as well cry too.

- He would absolutely never trust anyone expect his s/o with holding his baby. That's his baby, whoever hurts it will die. He has set his mind on that long ago, truly. He had a terrible childhood, he won't let that happen to his own kid.

- People are absolutely not allowed to be loud around his baby, or even smoke around them. He would go out of this place to protect them, but maybe be a little tense during it.

- Honestly, when he would be around his family, he would be very very vulnerable. It would be his special safety net, and his weak spot. He wouldn't try to show that though, so people don't hurt his family, he can't let that happen.

- He still wouldn't become a full on softy though, but when he is around his baby? Lord! He has a whole personality change. Samuel who? There is only SuYoung's dad here!

- Ah, did I mention? He would want the baby to have a name that starts with an S. It will either have Seung in it, but even if not that, it will definitely have 'Eun' in it. If that's not an option? Y'all are going to look at baby-name sites at 2 am. The! baby! needs! a! name! that! starts! with! an! S! Seriously, if the child is adopted and has a name already, it will just become their middle name. Samuel will not chill out.

- However, whatever happens, the child will either be his Princess/Prince/Snowflake. He will probably buy a lot of things that will make not only having a baby easier, but having a baby life easier. As in; Both the child and the parents will have it easier.

- Samuel would absolutely love to dress up his baby in ridiculous clothes, like a baby overall with a hoodie, that just makes them look like a big carrot. He would just take pictures of them, but dress them back up in normal baby clothes, to not make the baby uncomfortable.

- What he would love as well is to take pictures with the baby, and record important moments. Like first words, learning, saying first word ect. That baby would probably become the most important person in his life.

- Absolutely not going to lie, Samuel is the kind of person who would love his child(ren) way more than he loves his s/o. Sure, it's great to have a loving s/o, but his son/daughter/child? They are top priority, he is responsible for their birth, and he will make them have the best living experience possible. He isn't going to put them through what he went through.

- I think he would also feel very loved. Especially if the baby falls asleep on his chest or tummy, he would definitely feel like he is a good dad. He would just be proud 'hey! i created that! It's beautiful and lovely!'

- Sammy is also the type of person that would peck his baby since he loves them so much. Please don't think of anything sick though, it's pretty normal and a lot of parents do it. However, if the baby hits him or pushes him away due to uncomfortable, he would of course stop and stay with hugs. It's just that his monkey brain would go 'woah!!!!!!! princess/prince/snowflake!!!!!!!!!!!'

- Talking about hits, babies hit people since they are developing and don't know that it's not fine. Whenever he would get hit by the baby, he would stay totally calm. He would kiss their little hand and kindly say that hitting papa/dad isn't nice. He would find it quite adorable, actually. He would probably have a hard time to not laugh if the baby bites his nose even.

- He would absolutely be the best dad. He would feed the baby, bath the baby, change diapers, cut their nails so they don't scratch themselves! Literally best dad.

- Maybe, if in the future he will be on good terms with Eli, he would even ask for advice. He is a good dad, and that includes admitting that he doesn't know everything, and he needs help.

kiddo big baby life

- Samuel would honestly be the kind of dad other kids are jealous for. They would want a dad like him, you know? But at the same time, they would all respect and fear him because if they hurt his little baby? It won't have a happy end for anyone. Samuel wouldn't need to raise his voice or hand for that to happen.

- Samuel would always prepare bento for his kiddo, and definitely even make them breakfast. No matter how picky they are, he would try to make the food they ask for. However, he would never let them eat in bed, unless they are sick.

- Talking about that, sometimes he would pick up his kid from school earlier than he is supposed to, either because he feels like his kid doesn't want to be there, or just because he wants to make family memories. He would also lie to the teachers.

- Also! 'Hello' and 'Goodbye!' hugs and cheek kisses are a must. Samuel is not an affectionate person, but both him and his kiddo would agree that they should always do that. Also, 'goodnight' and 'good morning' forehead kisses are a must too. He does it because he loves his kid, but also because you can never know when will you see someone for the last time. He would never say that out loud tho.

- He would do it even if he is mad, but when he is mad he would be scary. Not because he would get violent with his kid, but extremely silent. The kind of silence that screams disappointment. Funny thing is though, he would be like that exactly to not turn violent. He doesn't trust himself, so he has to control himself. It wouldn't happen often tho.

- He would be a little strict, but nothing too much. Just general healthy strictness. Like no chocolate after 6pm, limited tv time, children lock on the tv, computer ect. He is protective, but not overwhelming.

- If his kid would as a lot of questions he would be fine with that. He would just look at it as an opportunity to teach them, so he would answer all in an appropriate way. Also, hey, at least he can teach his kid that cheating is disgusting.

- Talking about that, he would be terrified of becoming like his dad. So even if he wouldn't love his s/o after a few years, he would still keep in the relationship and hide his feelings so his baby can grow up in a happy environment. He would never cheat though, so that's that.

- He would still be a good dad though! He would be happy if his child has independence and his own interests. He would let them pick their clothes, but also choose aesthetic matching outfits for them.

- Also, Samuel wouldn't really care what their sexuality, gender, religion, style and thought manners are, as long as they have morals and don't have disrespect in their heart. He values respect a lot.

- Also, he would teach them to be polite because that brings them far in their life. However he would also teach them to never do what they don't want to. Seriously, he would at some point teach his kid to remember the quote that says "The hill that you carry was only supposed to be climbed"

- He would also like, be chill if they fight. Teacher calls in that his kid fought? Cool, he would calmly tell the teacher to watch out properly next time. At home he would ask how they stand and hold their fist while fighting. To teach them how to do it properly.

- He would probably also prefer to have them in a fighting class of some sort. He would list multiple material art styles, explain the rules and ask his kid if they would be fine to go to at least one. It's not that he wants his kid to be violent, but he wants them to be able to protect themselves.

- HEALTH IS TOP PRIORITY!! Sammy is the type of dad you can tell anything to because he won't judge. That includes health and mental health, he would be careful and set up a comfortable mood. He wouldn't be ablist at all and just take care of his kid the way he is supposed to.

- Also, when the kiddo needs to get a shot or their blood taken, he would be next to them, holding their hand. Softly talking to them so they can get through it. He would also praise them, probably buy stickers and ice cream.

- He also absolutely wouldn't mind spending money on his kid. Their room would look like a dream land full of plushies.

- The support in this house would be above the roof. His kid likes painting? There is a whole art room. His kid likes biking? There is a whole biking day each weak.

- He would also help the kiddo study, although he wouldn't always be the best. Samuel didn't get rich by studying after all.

- He would also teach them stranger danger, and have a secret word with them that means 'something is wrong, please come here and help me'.

teen ♡

- He would probably stop babying his child when they become 14, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be affectionate! He just wouldn't want to embarrass them.

- Not going to lie, he would hit his kid if they do something big enough to deserve it. For example, if his kid would willingly do drugs - forced is something different - he would definitely hit them. Or if they hide smoking, or smoke in general. It wouldn't be abusive, or a daily thing. He would only use if necessary. He saw how those effect people, and he experienced how bad smoking is, he would have strict rules and he wouldn't let his child go through it. They will either choose the easy way, or the hard way.

- Do not misunderstand though, he won't get mad at every single little mistake. He would be a smart parent, just a little stuck up to his own views. He would tell them that he would rather get a call from them saying they snuck out and need to be picked up than a call from the police that his child is dead or went missing.

- Also, he wouldn't tell them what they should wear or not, but he would always make sure to put something in their bag that they can cover themself up with incase they are around someone that makes them uncomfortable incase their outfit shows skin. The gender wouldn't matter, as he is not sexist.

- He would be supportive with whatever their dream is, but would make sure to tell them that dreams can change and that they should make a back up plan incase it does. He is just realistic.

- Talking about that, he would make sure that his kid has a safe to work at next to him incase they want that. He wouldn't force them, but he would like to be a good role model.

- Funny enough, he would know how dumb teenagers can get. His worst fear would be his kid becoming as dumb as him when he was a teenager. Literally, he knows he made bad decisions and let his worth be measured by others, and he wouldn't want his kid to be like that either.

- He would also be fun though, he is the type of parent you can have inside jokes with. He would sometimes not laugh, as he is used to kids saying dumb stuff, but if it's a good joke he definitely will just have a great time with you.

- He is a proud parent too! Literally, even if his kid is a dumbass or a himbo, he would love them and their achievements whatever those may be.

- Absolutely wouldn't know slang, but would still attempt to joke around and do it. It would be fun because he would use words incorrectly.

- A must is definitely teaching his kid about life. In how to view humans, how to treat them and that he should understand that everyone is different.

- Samuel is the type of dad that knows his kids every interest, but not because he is pushy but because they feel comfortable talking with him. It would make other parents jealous for sure. He doesn't understand though, he thinks it's normal.

- When it comes to dating, he wouldn't be a helicopter parent. However, he would teach his kid to not just trust anyone and choose wisely, also, to always have protection. Let that be pepper spray or condom, it works in different situations. Poor person who dates his kid tho. They would constantly get looks that say 'I am watching you, better be careful.' He wouldn't be watching.

- Well, there would be CCTVs around the house though, so if they come home drunk, or past their bed time he will know. And wait. It's not that he would scold, it's that he would have a serious conversation.

- He would still do fun things with them too though! Like having bike fridays, vacation weekends, movie marathons ect. He would be a mix up a lowkey fucked up parent and a mix of the fun and loving parent that's always there.

Yaaaayyaaay its done! Hopefully, it was enjoyable. I tried to focus on the positive aspects, but still be honest. Of course it's fine if you don't agree with me! Please be understanding if there is a mistake, I made 57 points and my brain felt like it was melting the more I wrote. Thank you for your time! ♡

#mmm i love this man #lookism #외모지상주의 #samuel #seungeun #seoneun #idk how yall write his name

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doc-pickles · 3 years

Text

all's well that end well to end up with you (p.2)

Welcome back to part two of this fic! If you missed part one it’s right here! enjoy!!

xoxo nina

The absolute last thing Jo had expected when she came to New York for a medical conference was running into her ex-husband. It should’ve been on her radar, Arizona was headlining the conference, but she hadn’t thought that Alex would be interested in maternal-fetal medicine. Yet there they were, staring at each other across a crowded hotel lobby. Arizona interrupts her train of thought, welcoming her and gushing about how excited she is that Jo is now an OB.

“I have to run but I see your husband over there,” if Arizona registers her shock she doesn’t show it. “Good to see you, Jo!”

As soon as Arizona is out of sight Jo finds herself marching up to Alex and slapping his arm, “Ow! What was that for?”

“What was that for? Arizona just called you my husband,” Alex flinches and Jo can’t help rolling her eyes at him. “You didn’t tell her?”

“It never came up.” “Alex! It’s been three years,” at the mention of their separation reality seems to sink in around Alex and Jo. They haven’t seen each other in three years, not since Jo dropped him off at the airport. “Hi.”

“Hey. You look… wow,” Alex realizes his blunder almost immediately, stuttering over his words as he tries to correct himself. “Sorry, uh, about Arizona. I’m scared she’s going to hit me for letting you get away. Which, fair enough, you know?”

Jo takes Alex in fully for the first time. His hair is a bit grayer but he looks good with his sun-kissed skin and toned arms. He’s dressed in a button-up and slacks and in other circumstances, Jo would find him devilishly handsome.

“Yeah, you’d have to be pretty stupid to let this get away,” Jo sends a subtle wink Alex’s way and watches as he sighs in relief. “So what are you doing at an MFM conference anyway?”

“My hospital is opening a brand new neonatal and MFM wing so the board decided that the chief and some of our surgeons should come out and learn a bit more. It also helps that Arizona taught me everything I know,” Alex nervously rubs the back of his neck, watching Jo carefully. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m an OB now,” the shocked expression on Alex’s face makes Jo giggle. “I know but after… Well after everything that happened I needed some change, something to make me happy. So I switched to OB, adopted a baby, and dyed my hair blonde. The blonde didn’t stick but the baby and the career switch did.”

There’s an overhead announcement for the start of the conference, people moving inside all around them. Everyone else seems to fade away though as Jo and Alex meet eyes again. He’s wearing that dumbstruck look that he wore when she dressed or after she said I love you or when they’d lay in bed together. Despite the years and distance between them, Alex still wears the undeniable look of love he always did when he looked at Jo.

“I gotta find Carina but… I’ll see you around?” Alex nods, still entranced with Jo as she turns to walk away. Their interaction is brief but it makes her crave Alex all the more.

Late that night Jo finds herself alone at the hotel bar. Carina had initially joined her but had gone back to their room to call Maya and their daughter. Jo is about to head up herself when someone sits on the stool next to her.

“Jack and coke for me and a whiskey sour for my friend here.”

Jo’s head whips up in surprise as Alex settles down next to her, a smirk gracing his lips, “It’s still a whiskey sour right?”

“Yeah thank you,” Jo nods to the bartender as he hands her the drink. “So… we’re friends now?”

“I’d like to hope so,” Alex picks up his glass and Jo gladly toasts him. “To new beginnings”

“To new beginnings.”

Alex and Jo sit together and discuss what’s changed for them. There’s no awkwardness or hostility like Jo might have thought. Instead, it genuinely feels like catching up with an old friend. She talks about Luna and proudly shows a video of the young girl counting to 10 in Spanish. Alex brings up a photo from Izzie’s wedding of himself squished between Eli and Alexis, all three bearing matching crooked smiles and bright eyes. Jo can’t help the swell of pride that mounts in her chest at the sight. Eli looks more like Alex but she can still see the Karev shining through Alexis as well. For a moment she wonders, goes through the what-ifs, but she quickly pushes them down.

“I think I’m gonna head up but I really enjoyed catching up,” Alex leans down, pressing a kiss to Jo’s cheek. Her skin flames up under his delicate touch and she knows she’s wearing a deep blush. “Goodnight Jo.”

“You missed.”

“What?”

“You missed,” Jo leans up, her fingers brushing Alex’s cheek as she pulls him down into a deep kiss. She brings her other hand up to tangle in his hair and pull him closer, sighing contentedly as his hands find her waist and pull her flush against him. She pulls back only slightly, leaning her forehead against Alex’s. “Are you still leaving?”

“Not without you I’m not,” the words sound so natural as Jo melts into Alex’s embrace, his arms wrapping fully around her. Their lips meet in a chaste kiss before they’re stumbling out of the bar, not drunk enough to blame their actions on the alcohol but just enough to begin to heal the open wounds of their failed relationship.

Everything after that comes naturally, the lost lovers escaping upstairs and falling into bed with practiced ease. Jo feels right at home in Alex’s bed, both of them remembering each other’s bodies as if they’d never parted. Neither of them thinks twice about the pillow talk they share after or the way they drift off to sleep in each other’s arms. It’s not until the next morning when Jo answers her phone that she realizes things are amiss.

“Mmm hello?”

“Thank goodness, I thought you were dead.”

“Carina?”

“Where are you? You missed the first speaker of the day.”

Jo bolts up in bed, finally realizing where she is. Alex’s arms snake out and around her waist, his gruff voice slightly muffled by his pillow, “Come back to bed, I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Carina I’m going to grab a shower and I’ll be down as soon as possible.” There’s a light laugh on the other side as Carina confirms Jo’s plan, “I’m glad you’re having fun, Jo.”

Jo hangs up, jumping out of bed and searching for her clothes in a rush to get out the door. Her frantic pace brings Alex out of his sleepy stupor as he rubs his eyes and watches her, “Where are you rushing off to?”

“Well it’s 10:30 so I already missed the lecture on in utero surgery,” Alex rolls over, groaning when he sees that Jo is correct. “I’m hoping I can fit in a shower before Arizona goes on.”

Once she’s finally dressed Jo walks back to Alex, her lips brushing over his lightly before she pulls him in for a sweet and sensual kiss. She watches him for a moment, taking in the shocked look on his face, “What?”

“Why aren't you mad at me? I left you.”

“I forgave you a long time ago for that Alex,” Jo runs her fingers across his cheek, meeting his eyes with a serious stare. “As soon as I held Luna I understood why you did what you did. I knew that if I felt that way about a baby that wasn’t even mine yet that you couldn’t leave two kids who were half you. I always knew you would be a fantastic dad. Even if it wasn’t with me I’m glad that you got that.”

Jo presses one more chaste kiss to Alex’s lips, leaving him staring dumbfounded at her, “Can I come back tonight?”

“I’m sorry,” Alex seemingly ignores Jo’s last statement, looking up at her with a sorrowful expression. “Leaving you… leaving you was my biggest mistake. I love my kids but you were everything. You’re still everything. And I know you say that you forgave me but I never apologized. I’m so sorry Jo, you didn’t deserve how I left you.”

There’s an amicable silence as Jo and Alex just stare at each other, both of them with tears welling in their eyes. There’s not much else to say, but they both know that their newfound relationship wouldn’t end with the weekend.

It's three weeks after Alex‘s surprise weekend visit to Seattle and Jo has never felt so terrible in her life. Despite Carina‘s prescription of an anti-nausea medication Jo’s morning sickness and vertigo continue to plague her no matter what she tries. She hasn’t operated or delivered any babies in almost a month, her work routines now consisting of doing chart work and checking on patients when she’s not trying to keep food down. Between trying to maintain her work schedule and keeping up with Luna on top of her pregnancy, Jo is exhausted and completely depleted of any energy she might have once had.

She finally hits her breaking point an hour into her shift when she’s thrown up for the fourth time that day and nearly passes out. Her head is swimming as she leans against the bathroom stall, the only thought she can focus on is how much she wishes Alex was there. He always knew exactly what she needed when she wasn’t feeling good. There’s a knock on the door and she barely lifts her head when she sees Carina walk in.

“I’m admitting you. You need rest and fluids and you’re not going to get that if you keep running yourself into the ground,” Carina places her hand on Jo’s forehead. “You’re burning up, mi amor.”

“I’m fine, I don’t need to be admitted,” Jo attempts to brush off Carina as she grabs her hand, but the rush of blood to her head stops her. Carina barely catches her as her knees go weak and her vision blurs.

“What am I going to do with you, Jo? Come on, let’s go.”

Jo doesn’t put up any more of a fight, following Carina to a room and all but collapsing onto the bed. Her brain is foggy, words incoherently falling from her mouth as Carina asks her questions. Finally, her eyes flutter shut and Jo is enveloped in silence.

When she pries her eyes open again the sky outside is dark. Jo realizes this is the longest she’s slept in over a month and lets her eyes fall shut again. Only a moment later she remembers her morning with Carina and a deep panic sets into her bones.

Her baby.

As if sensing her unease, Alex reaches his hand out to grab hers. Jo then realizes that he’s sitting at her bedside, eyes tired and body restless in the small chair, “The baby’s okay, you don’t need to freak out.”

Jo nods, rubbing her hands over her face in exasperation. Even though their baby is okay Alex’s worried expression tells her that things might not be all rainbows and sunshine.

“Carina called me after you passed out. Scared the shit out of me, I thought you were dead or…,” Alex doesn’t finish the statement out, Jo putting the pieces together and settling her hand on the slight curve of her stomach. “You’ve gotta take better care of yourself.”

“I didn’t pass out, my vision went spotty and I was light-headed. And then I took a nap.”

“Jo, you slept for 15 hours straight. You were out long enough for me to finish a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, drive an hour to Kansas City, hop on a four-hour flight, and sit in traffic from the airport to get here. You’re running yourself into the ground,” Jo avoids Alex’s gaze as she fights back tears. “Carina took your blood when she put you on the IV drip. On top of being dehydrated and having iron deficiency anemia you also have an untreated UTI that’s bordering a kidney infection.”

“What?” Jo sits up abruptly but is immediately overcome with a wave of dizziness. Alex moves faster than her, placing one hand on her back while the other holds a basin in front of her. Head still in the basin, Jo speaks up, “Are you serious?”

Alex confirms the news once more, his hand rubbing Jo’s back gently, “She’s got you on strong meds to combat the infection and the baby is doing fine. You just need to take better care of yourself, Jo. Between work and Luna and now this baby you’re stretching yourself too thin.”

She can't help the rush of emotions she feels or the loud sob that breaks from her as Jo lets the last few weeks finally take their toll on her. Alex is quick to wrap her in his arms but even that does little to calm her down.

“I’m sorry, it’s just been really overwhelming and I’ve been doing everything alone,” Jo wipes at the tears pooling under her eyes and settles into Alex’s side. “I’m just exhausted from everything.”

“You’re not alone Jo, you have me and Mer and Link. All of us are more than willing to help you out.”

“Meredith and Link have their own families to take care of. And you live halfway across the freaking country, I can’t keep expecting you to drop everything and come to my rescue,” Jo knows that Alex wants to refute her statement but she avoids looking at him. “It’s just me and Luna and it’s so hard. I thought having a medically fragile infant was hard but that was nothing compared to all of this.”

Alex leans down and presses a kiss to Jo’s forehead, pulling her closer to him, “We’ll figure it all out, okay? I’m not letting you take all of this on by yourself.”

The words comfort Jo, if only slightly. She knows Alex has changed, knows that he really means it when he says that he’s going to take care of them. She’s not entirely sure what the future holds for them but she knows that everything will work out.

Meredith isn’t entirely sure what to think when she uses her key to unlock the penthouse only to find it empty. The furniture is still there but the personal items are all gone. The photos of Jo and Luna are gone, all of the drawers and closets are empty, and the place is eerily quiet. When she loops back to the living room Meredith finally notices the note taped to the fridge written in Jo’s loopy script.

Link or Meredith-

Luna and I are fine, there’s no need to worry about us. I promise we’ll call soon.

-Jo

The note gives Meredith a strange sense of deja vu, taking her back to when she had packed up Zola and Bailey and gone to San Diego. The memory instantly worries her, she can’t blame Jo for running but she also knows that their situations aren’t the same. Meredith pulls out her phone and dials Alex, hoping that he’s heard from Jo but the call goes straight to voicemail.

As she walks out of the penthouse Meredith hopes that Jo is okay, hopes that Alex knows where she is and that he’s able to help her through the rough road she has ahead of her.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself. How was the flight?”

“Besides the rambunctious three-year-old and constant nausea it wasn’t too bad,” Jo grins up at Alex as he takes Luna from her arms. “I can’t believe we’re here.”

Alex lets out a laugh as he folds Jo into his arms, squeezing both girls tightly, “Finally, it only took a month of begging.”

“Yeah well I figured now was a good time, you know before I get any bigger,” at the mention of her expanding baby bump Alex lets his hand float down to the curve of her stomach. She’d hidden it well with sweaters and baggy scrubs but now there was no denying that she was pregnant. “This is kinda crazy, isn’t it?”

Alex and Jo both laugh at that, knowing that nothing they’d ever done was traditional or normal. They’d divorced almost four years ago and now found themselves with three kids between them and a fourth on the way.

“What? You moving to Kansas after we’ve only been back together for a few months? I’d say it’s not completely sane,” Alex takes in Jo’s shocked face with a smile. “What’s that look for?”

“So we’re together now are we?”

Alex laughs before he bends down and captures Jo’s lips, only parting upon Luna’s insistence, “Only if you want to be.”

“I do.”

“Good because I fully intend to have you say those words for a third time,” Jo’s jaw drops at Alex’s words and it takes everything in her to calm down her racing heart. “You think I was just gonna bring you out here without marrying you?”

“Well, I-”

Alex takes the opportunity to press another kiss to Jo’s lips, “It’s okay princess, I promise this is the last time.” Jo finds herself standing in awe as she watches Alex and Luna look for their bags on the conveyor belt in front of them. There’s a flurry of tiny flutters that erupt in her stomach, partially from the baby wiggling around but mostly from the joy, she felt at Alex’s proposition. Since their reunion in New York, all Jo has wanted is exactly this, a life with Alex. She had thought that wasn’t in the cards for them anymore but as she watched him hoist Luna onto his shoulders she knew that everything around them had worked out perfectly.

#jolex #alex karev #jo wilson #jo karev #greys anatomy #jo x alex #jolex fanfic #greys anatomy fanfic #nina writes

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shadowhuntertrash · 3 years

Note

Hii I’m in the mood for some pain sooo I was wondering if you could write a fanfic with prompt #8 (angst) for malec?

(Sorry this is kinda trash <33)

Alec worked at a small coffee shop in the middle of Brooklyn. It wasn’t very well known but it was cozy and they had a lot of regulars. Alec typically worked the register due to his constant tiredness and inability to move around too much.

Alec was diagnosed with lung cancer when he was twelve, they had all expected him to die by the time he was thirteen at most he would live to be fifteen, but here he was eighteen years old and still suffering.

He often wondered if it was really worth it, being alive. If being dead was the only way to stop the cancer why couldn’t it just kill him already. But it hadn’t and so he tried his best to live a normal life. Go to school, work, be a good sibling.

He wasn’t sure when his last day would be, but he tried to ignore that. The only thing he did that was a conscious decision because of his illness was the fact that he didn’t make friends, or bond with new people. It wasn’t fair when he was past his expiration date.

Which was why he found it annoying and endearing at the same time, when one of their regulars would ask him out every time they came in.

His name was Magnus Bane and the only appropriate way to describe him was sparkly. He was always wearing glitter, and he always had a smile. He was such a bright presence that you wouldn’t help but look up when he came in.

In all honesty Alec would absolutely love to go out with Magnus, but he couldn’t do that. He didn’t want to cause this stranger unnecessary pain so everyday when Magnus came in at exactly noon and asked him out he said no. He had gotten creative at this point, it was basically a game.

Everyday went the same, Magnus would throw him a flirty wink as he took his coffee and would ask him to dinner or for a walk or for coffee (which Alec thought was the best date but he may just be biased) and everyday Alec would kindly decline, “Sorry I have homework.” or “Sorry I’m not gay.” Which was the biggest lie he could tell but Magnus didn’t need to know that, not that he believed the lie anyway.

So when Magnus came in that day, looking fabulous as always, and started flirting with Alec, Alec got terribly annoyed. He wanted Magnus. He wanted to go on a date. He wanted to date, period. He had never had a girlfriend or boyfriend due to his illness and it was torture having to turn this incredibly hot guy down six days a week.

Magnus winked at him when he handed Alec the money. Alec smiled politely back, wiping his hands on his apron before taking the money. “You know Alexander, I do love a man in a uniform.” Magnus said biting his thumb while he let his eyes travel unselfconsciously over Alec’s body.

Alec lost his cool and put his hand on the counter so roughly Magnus’ eyebrows raised. “Could you not? Maybe some people enjoy this but I don't. It's creepy, stop it.” Alec said, glaring at Magnus who actually looked a little sheepish. “I didn’t know it really bothered you that much. I'm sorry.” Magnus said quietly looking at his shoes, a rosy blush raising on his cheeks. Alec cursed and closed his eyes.

He hadn’t meant to hurt Magnus’ feelings; he was just annoyed. “I-I’m sorry that was mean. It doesn’t bother me. I mean it does but not for the reason you’re thinking.” Alec muttered under his breath looking anyway but Magnus.

Magnus lifted his eyes back up, their normal light dimmed considerably. “Then why does it bother you Alexander?” Alex blushed at the use of his full name. No one called him Alexander except his parents when they’re mad but Alec didn’t seem to mind much when Magnus did.

Alec let out a deep breath and turned back to Magnus. “Well you see… it’s just… umm… I’m kinda...chronically ill? So you don’t really wanna date me, sorry.” He said cursing his cancer for the umpteenth time.

Magnus’ eyes widened considerably and he opened his mouth only to close it multiple times. Alec sighed knowing he had just scared this hot guy away. He turned away from Magnus and went to make his coffee while Magnus thought that over.

He hesitantly stepped back towards Magnus who was staring at him again. Alec shifted awkwardly before handing Magnus his coffee. “I’m really sorry, just so you know you don’t have to keep asking out of pity. I totally understand not wanting to date someone chronologically ill.” Alec said scratching the back of his neck, biting his lip. Magnus sat his coffee on the counter giving Alec a hard look.

“Alexander, I apologize if I gave you that impression, it just shocked me is all. I would like you to know that I am still going to ask you out and it’s not because of pity I guarantee you.” Magnus said softly, Alec laughed a little. “I don’t think you understand, it’s not just chronic, it’ll kill me.” Alec said slowly.

Magnus visibly flinched, frowning at Alec. “I will still ask you out unless you genuinely wish me to stop. As sad as that is, and it truly is Alexander, it just gives me more reason to ask you out now.” Alec stared at him for a few moments before slowly shaking his head, a smile crawling across his face. “Okay.”

Magnus’ eyes widened again, a smile breaking across his face. “Wait really?” Alec laughed and nodded, laughing harder when Magnus literally jumped up and down. “Yes! I don’t have to drink coffee anymore!”

Now it was Alec’s turn to raise an eyebrow, Magnus pursed his lips and looked at the ground. “I-I just mean, haha well, umm. I don’t like coffee.” Magnus said laughing again, Alec blinked at him in surprise. “Then why do you come here everyday?” Alec asked confused.. Who would come and get overpriced coffee every single day if they didn’t like coffee?

Magnus watched him with amused eyes. “It gives me an excuse to see you and ask you out everyday.” Magnus says nonchalantly, the shy blushing side leaving as fast as it came. Alec laughed loudly, his head thrown back, eyes shut. “You came here, every, single, day, just to ask me out?” Alec asked incredulously, Magnus smiled confidently as he said, “Yep.” and popped the ‘p’.

Alec laughed again before taking Magnus’ cup back and writing his number neatly on the side. Magnus looked at his cup as if it had just done something beautiful. “Ah how cliche this is.” Alec shook his head a stupid smile still on his face. Izzy was going to freak out when he told her.

Magnus shook himself out of his daze and raised his coffee. “Thank you for this and I will see you, Alexander, after work.” Alec nodded, watching amused as Magnus walked backwards out of the coffee shop, not once hitting a chair. Alec knew if he tried that he would have fallen almost immediately.

Alec turned away from the door, not bothering to try and cover his growing smile. He had a date with an attractive guy who didn’t care that he was sick. Alec grabbed his phone, thanking whatever god there was that it was a slow day at work as he pressed Izzy’s name on his phone.

She picked up on the second ring and Alec smiled as her voice floated through the phone. “Aren’t you at work?” She asked him immediately. Alec rolled his eyes, smile never faltering. “You’ll never guess what just happened.” ________________________________________

Alec and Magnus ended up having a great date, which led to many more, and then they had been dating for three months.

They were basically inseparable and when Magnus wasn’t at Alec and Jace’s apartment, Alec was at his. Alec’s health was getting better much to everyone’s amazement, Alec stayed cautious as he always was and Magnus was amazing and always asking if something was too much or if he just wanted to stay in. Magnus liked going on walks and so did Alec but he always had a hard time so Magnus would give Alec piggy back rides everywhere.

They were in Magnus’ apartment watching Eli and Niomi’s No Kiss List when Alec felt a burning in his chest. He was rubbing his chest attempting to calm it before Magnus noticed. He was hoping that it wouldn’t be the start of something that would eventually lead him to the hospital but when he found it getting harder to breathe he excused himself and went to the bathroom to call Jace.

He knew Jace would stay calm and make sure he was alright, he knew Magnus would too but he doubted Magnus’ ability to stay calm when Alec was in so much pain.

Jace picked up on the first ring with a chipper ‘hello!’. Alec let out a shuddering breath, his chest felt like it was caving in. “Hospital.” He said quietly holding his chest, waiting for a break from the pain. Jace’s playful tone left immediately.

“Alec where are you?” He asked urgently, his keys jingling in the background and then the sound of the door shutting. “Magnus’. About to leave.” He said weakly. Jace cursed and Alec heard his door shut. “I’ll meet you there.” He said before hanging up. Alec sat the phone down and looked at himself in the mirror.

He was too pale and his eyes held too much pain. Alec cursed quietly, embarrassed at this having happened in front of Magnus. He was worried it would scare him off, seeing it in person as opposed to hearing about it.

Alec walked into the living room slowly, walking getting hard with the lack of air he was getting. “Magnus.” He said quietly, too quietly since Magnus didn’t turn around and laughed at something in the movie.

“Mags.” Alec said louder this time. Magnus turned around with a smile on his face, one that quickly fell when he saw Alec. “Hospital.” Alec said shakily as he walked to the door. Magnus cursed loudly and started frantically looking around for his keys. Once he found them he came over to Alec who was bracing himself on the door way, breathing too heavily.

Magnus watched him with wide eyes and Alec felt a wave of guilt wash over him for having scared Magnus. Alec tried to smile reassuringly, but it was interrupted by the worst pain yet. Alec gasped and his legs gave out sending him crashing to the floor. Magnus caught him before he fell, adjusting him so he could carry Alec to the car.

Alec finally let himself cry and buried his head in Magnus’ chest whimpering softly. “It hurts.” He said quietly, shaking from lack of oxygen. Magnus was running now, he hadn't waited for the elevator instead running down the stairs. Normally Alec would be scared that Magnus was running so fast and concerned he would be dropped, but Alec couldn’t focus on anything other than the immense burning in his chest.

Magnus kissed the top of his head murmuring a comforting, “I know.” quietly before finally reaching his car and setting Alec as gently as he could in the passenger seat. Alec just curled into himself as if he could protect his lungs from the disease currently killing him.

He had a small moment of panic realizing that this could be it. He could genuinely, truly be dying right now. He quickly decided he would rather have death than having to endure the pain any longer.

Magnus was driving crazy and Alec wanted to tell him to slow down, to stop and focus but he couldn’t force anymore words out of his mouth. His vision was starting to spot, little stars messing his sight up. He closed his eyes instead, willing them to go away but they just got worse.

Alec reached blindly for Magnus’ hand and Magnus quickly latched onto it. Alec squeezed his hand tightly, something he always did to Jace when he wasn’t able to talk anymore. It was comforting to feel Magnus squeeze his hand back. He was going to be fine, he had to be.

And with that thought everything went black.

_________________________________________

Alec had expected the event to scare Magnus away but Magnus did the opposite. He seemed to understand the severity of Alec’s condition and Jace had talked to him while Alec was unconscious.

Magnus was now constantly asking if Alec was okay and if anything hurt. It was annoying most of the time but it was nice to know Magnus cared so much.

When they reached their tenth anniversary, Alec moved in with Magnus. It had been good timing since Jace had been wanting to live with Clary. Clary moved into Alec’s old apartment with Jace and Alec moved in with Magnus.

When Alec’s birthday came around everyone threw him a big party, a ‘congratulations you haven't died yet!’ kind of party. Quite honestly Alec was also surprised.

He had never had much to live for, just his siblings, but Magnus made him want to live. He made him want to try things, not just to exist, but to make the best of it. For once he was living not to die, but to have fun. He was living for himself. Magnus made him happier than he ever thought possible.

Which was why when the expected happened, he was ready.

_________________________________________

Alec got a lot worse around the time of their one year mark. He found it harder to breathe a lot of the time, as if an elephant had taken permanent residence on his chest. Alec knew it was coming, so did everyone else but Magnus refused to accept it.

“You’re not going to die. It’s not allowed, you can’t leave me.” Alec frowned. There wasn’t much he could do about the fact that he wasn’t always going to be here. “Mags. I know you don’t like thinking about it but it will be so much worse if you don’t accept the fact that it’s happening.” Magnus glared at him. “I don’t want to.” He said as if that was the end of the argument.

“Magnus, stop it. I’m going to die and you’re going to have to find someone else to make you happy. You’re my boyfriend and I love you so much, but I am not going to be here and you have to move on when I’m gone. You have to.” Alec was winded by his short rant but he stopped breathing completely when Magnus said in a quiet voice, “I don’t want to be your boyfriend.”

Alec froze for a moment before looking away, embarrassed at the tears in his eyes. He knew this was coming so why was he getting so upset? “I-If you don’t want to be my boyfriend Magnus i am not going to force you to.” Magnus eyes went wide and he surged forward hugging Alec tightly. “God no. No, no, no. That is not what I meant.”

Magnus was rubbing soothing circles on his back and Alec had to take a few shuddery breaths before he found his voice. “Then what did you mean?” Alec asked, weaker than he meant to.

Magnus pulled away from his with a determined look in his eyes. “We should get married. I don’t want to be your boyfriend that sounds too insignificant. I want to be your husband. I want to give you your happy ever after.” Alec froze again before shaking his head. “Mags no. I can’t do that to you.” Magnus shook his head, eyes narrowed in thought. “Yes you can. I’m asking you, Alexander.”

Alec smiled sadly at him and shook his head. “It’ll just break your heart.” Alec said slowly, eyes cast downward. Magnus tilted Alec’s head up with his finger, eyes locked on each other. “Then break it Alexander. I give you permission. Shatter it.” Alec faltered at that. Was Magnus so sure of this he would break his own heart?

Alec watched Magnus for a minute before stating quietly. “I will but you have to really think about this. I’m serious, not some spur of the moment thing. Think about it, I probably won’t last more than three months.” Magnus flinched at that but nodded anyway, giving Alec a shy smile. The kind of smile that was reserved for Alec and Alec only.

“I have thought about it. A lot actually. Alexander, I’m serious about this. I really want to get married.” Alec watched Magnus with contemplating eyes, before a bright smile stretched across his face.

“Okay.”

_________________________________________

Magnus and Alec went and got married the next week at the courthouse. They were planning a wedding but they wanted to do this just in case something happened beforehand. Jace, Izzy, Clary, Simon, and Rapheal were all there.

Magnus and Alec both cried, both refusing to admit the fact afterwards.

It was the best moment in Alec’s entire life and he thought back to that fateful day at the coffee shop and silently thanked his short temper.

Alec and Magnus spent the next few months planning the wedding, they had moved the date around a lot but finally settled on waiting a month. Everytime Alec looked at Magnus he felt a warmth bloom in his chest.

Everything about their everyday lives was great. Magnus had gotten a cat who he named Chairman Meow, Alec had pretended to hate him but Magnus often came home to Alec asleep on the couch, Chairman Meow nestled on his chest.

It pained Magnus to see Alec grow weaker everyday, it pained Alec to see Magnus in pain. They had many late night discussions on what was going to happen after. Sometimes there were tears, other times there were laughs, but mostly they just held each other and thanked god for the time they had spent together.

Everything was busy the day before the wedding. Magnus and Alec both had their suits and were spending the day together before tomorrow happened and they were crowded by everyone.

They spent the day eating ice cream and watching movies. They played games and fondly referred to each other as husband even though they had technically been married for a little over a month.

That day Alec had felt more at ease than he ever had before. He felt at peace.

That night when Alec woke up gasping for air refusing to go to the hospital Magnus had cried begging him over and over to not go. To not leave him. Alec had begged him in return to not be mad.

Only when Magnus had forgiven him for leaving him did Alec reach out tentatively kissing Magnus one more time before falling into a peaceful sleep.

The only pain he could feel was the emptiness where Magnus had once been.

#ask answered #sorry lol #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood bane #alec lightwood #angst

21 notes · View notes

newagesispage · 3 years

Text

JULY 2021

THE RIB PAGE

*****

They are still uncovering statues on Easter Island.

*****

Everyone is talking about ‘Exterminate all the Brutes” from Raoul Peck.

*****

Vampire bats, prevalent in Latin America may be on the way to the U.S.

*****

What they call faith, I call strength.

*****

Criss angel will open CABLP, a restaurant in Overton, Nevada. The letters stand for breakfast, lunch and pizza and will include a free meal outreach program to help under privileged and pediatric cancer families.

*****

A fifth ocean in Antartica??** There have also found 4 new ocean species: Apolemia, Tegula Kusairo, Leptarma Biju and Duobrachium Sparksae.

*****

In China they have found a possible new species in a skull that is 140,000 years old.

*****

Why would Jeffrey Toobin be back at CNN?? Surely there are more young deserving talking heads around.

*****

The Keystone pipeline is dead.

*****

5,000 pounds of explosives were discovered in a home in South LA. LAPD seems to have detonated the fireworks in a truck right there in the neighborhood. They were too dangerous to transport but not enough to blow them up??? How stupid are these people??

*****

Days alert : So glad to see Clyde again even if it is only for a moment!! **BTW, I do not understand the Daytime Emmy noms this year as they relate to Days. I really was pulling for Victoria Koneful (Ciara) and she won but George DelHoya (Orpheus), Tamara Braun (Ava) and Cady McClain (Jennifer)??? I was shocked when Cady McClain won. I mean, she was so whiny. I question my own ability to judge a performance. In most categories, the winner was usually the one I thought was the worst option. I was happy for Max Gail and CBS Sunday Morning. Some performances were sure overlooked. What about James Read (Clyde), Paul Telfer (Xander), Bryan Dattilo (Lucas), Robert Scott Wilson (Ben), Daniel Kerr (Eli) and Lindsay Arnold (Allie) ?? As annoying as the Kristen character is and as long as it took me to get used to Stacy Haiduk in the role, she kicked ass this year. Did they even submit clips?? And, they are not often on but Tony and Anna forever!!!!!!** And how wonderful is it to see the Dimera boys all together and recounting the whole fam for the votes? **And one more thing, Days was not even nominated for writing while Bold and the Beautiful spends every other show with the Liam character standing in front of the fireplace making excuses for the same shit! Just push repeat, C,mon!!**Philip had a great line for Brady about following Kristen like a zombie.** Dis Eli really say, “Peacock and chill??’ Are these the things they will have to do to do to stay on the air? It took me right out of the show. It was the same day the ads for Days on Peacock started. OMG

*****

Texas Gov. Abbott vetoed a bill that would make it illegal to chain up dogs without water.**ATexas churches have lost their 501(c) (3) status because it actively ‘educates’ its members on electing specific Republican politicians. –Pete West* This should have been happening long ago. Many churches I know of do this and should not be allowed to have it both ways. #tax the church

*****

Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Christopher Lloyd, James Caan, French Stewart and Ann-Margaret in Queen Bees and directed by Michael Lembeck?? Yes please!!

*****

NY has suspended Giuliani’s law license.

*****

Miracle Workers: The Oregon Trail is coming to TBS, this will be season 3 in the series.

*****

What is this about Bowen Yang?? A podcast about a sperm bank heist?? Yeow!!

*****

David Geffen has given $150,000,000 to Yale drama school: Every student will be tuition- free in perpetuity.

*****

Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years.

*****

The latest in sexual assault news: James Franco has agreed to 2.2 mil settlement in sexual misconduct case.** Kyle Massey was charged with immoral communication with a minor.**Bill Cosby is out and here are some reactions: A terrible wrong is being righted.: a miscarriage of justice is corrected. I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward.- Phylicia Rashad*I really don’t ever want to hear again as to why many survivors don’t report their rape or assault.- Charlotte Clymer* Women are showing great restraint in not burning everything to the ground right now and I don’t know how they do it.-Jeff Tiedrich

*****

Amazon is making a series of A League of Their Own with Nick Offerman as the coach.

*****

Does anyone else have family members that are rich, transient, know it all snobs??

*****

It looks like New York’s ranked choice voting is leaning toward Eric Adams for Mayor.

*****

Michigan republicans investigating voter fraud found 2 incidents. One is for a lady who voted by mail and then died, the other was confusion over a man who had the same name as his Father. That was it!

*****

Jamie Lee Curtis will get the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Fest in September.

*****

Jerry Seinfeld will star in and direct ‘Unfrosted’ about Pop-Tarts.

*****

Why is Airbnb still listing properties in illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian occupied territories? –James J. Zogby

*****

Merrick Garland has announced that the Justice department sued Georgia over the voting rights.

*****

The NFL says that it will halt the use of “race norming” which assumed black players started out with lower cognitive functioning in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for black players to qualify. –The Associated Press.

*****

Scary Clown 45 ended his ‘From the desk of Donald J. Trump’ blog after 29 days. Word is that he felt he was being mocked in the media.

*****

Religious leadership keeps engaging in partisan politics on behalf of politicians that are particularly unpopular with younger people and they wonder why younger people are disenchanted with the church. – Schooley ** Give young people credit as well for seeing through the hype and lies of these religious hypocrites who use God only as a weapon and a threat. –Larry Charles

*****

Amazon will stop drug testing for employment. Can every other company jump on this bandwagon? Let’s judge employees on the work they give.

*****

The Backstreet Boys and NSync are going to work together??!!

*****

Showtime is bringing back American Gigolo with Jon Bernthal.

*****

If Biden can carry out air strikes without proper authorization, the Senate can raise the minimum wage without the Parliamentarian. –Alexandra M. Hunt

Reality Winner is out!!

*****

Judy Woodruff has been given the Peabody award for journalistic integrity.

*****

Donald Glover is bringing us Hive. Malia Obama will be a writer.

*****

Nicholas Cage has married Riko Shibata.

*****

Catch and Kill: The podcast tapes, is here on HBO.

*****

Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening will star in Jerry and Marge go large.

*****

Amblin Partners and Netflix are partners.

*****

Fall 2022 will bring the Roybal School of film and television production for underserved communities. They are looking to help 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. Among others, the program was cofounded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling and Eva Longoria.

*****

Will there be a Wedding Crashers2??

*****

The Mysterious Benedict Society stars Tony Hale.** I would love to see he and Danny Pudi in something together.

*****

Actor Stephen Amell from Arrow was removed from a plane after getting into it with his wife. A source said he was drunk and screaming. An official source said that they removed “an unruly customer.”** Andy Dick was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, allegedly assaulting his partner, Lucas with a metal chair.

*****

So.. Fox news was digitally altering the faces of people they did not care for??? Is there no end to their bullshit????

*****

Mark Ronson is set to marry Grace Gummer.

*****

Crime shows seem to be in the cycle of prisoners and the women who get a thrill from helping them escape.

*****

Wolfgang Van Halen has released a debut album: Mammoth

*****

Everyone seems to love Danny Trejo’s memoir and its honesty.

*****

David Spade will take over as host of Bachelor in Paradise.

*****

I am sickened when I see the first question that pops up on an online search is the net worth of a person. Oh this twisted world.

*****

Life is a short pause between 2 great mysteries. –Jung

*****

Prince Harry and Meghan had a daughter that they named Lilibet ‘Lili” Diana.

*****

Michael Flynn’s brother Charles (who withheld help from the capitol on Jan. 6), leads the U.S. Army Pacific and commands 90,000 troops.

*****

I am so excited to read ‘The Boys’ from Clint and Ron Howard, due out in October.

*****

Dave Chappelle closed out the Tribeca film fest with a surprise concert. This was the first in person film fest since Covid. Look for This time, this place which premiered there.

*****

Ron Wood will release the album Mr. Luck: A tribute to Jimmy Reed on Sept. 3

*****

Howard Stern signed a new $500 mil contract with Sirius XM. He is taking the whole summer off and many fans say they will cancel their subscription because they don’t want to pay for a summer of reruns.

*****

Acorn will bring Jane Seymour back to a series. Seymour will be co -executive produce on Harry Wild. Her character will be a retired University professor who loves her whiskey and solves crimes.

*****

Annie Murphy stasr in ‘Kevin can f*** himself about a sitcom wife which airs on AMC.

*****

I still do not understand why Rep. Mike Nearman hasn’t been arrested for letting insurrectionists into the Capitol.

*****

There is a wing shortage??

*****

The Pulitzer prizes have been announced. The list includes Ben Faub, Barry Blitt, Katori Hall, Emilio Morenatti, AP photographers Marcio Jose Sanchez, Alex Brandon, David Goldman, Julio Cortez, John Minchillo, Frank Franklin II, Ringo H.W. Chiu, Evan Vucci, Mike Stewart and Noah Berger. There was a special citation for Darnella Frazier who filmed the death of George Floyd.

*****

Conan’s last TBS guests were Martin Short, Jack Black, Bill Hader, Mila Kunis, Dana Carvey, Patton Oswalt and JB Smoove. There were some surprises. The big musical number never happened when Jack Black hurt himself. It was all funny and sweet but Conan never mentioned the band in the last show WTF????????????????????????????????????????? Music is so important to him and he does not thank the band? ** Colbert and Brian Stack gave Conan a cute send after4, 368 shows on CBS calling him a ‘Slenderman Ron Weasly’. Kimmel wished Conn well also.** Hope his HBO MAX variety show goes well.** BTW, the Duvall interview with Colbert was great to see but why does nobody ever mention ‘Get Low?’ What a performance!!

*****

Tattoos are on the rise.

*****

Fast food drive thru’s sometime close with fake excuses like the equipment is down or something because they don’t feel like working. Good people can’t find work and so many waste the opportunities they have. AAAAGHH!!

*****

Valerie Bertinelli and Demi Lovato will star in ‘Hungry’ on NBC.

*****

Hulu will bring us David E. Kelley’s Nine Perfect Strangers with Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy.

*****

R.I.P. Gavin Macleod, Frank Bonner, Joy Vogelsang, Benigno Aquino, Champ Biden, victims of the Miami building collapse, Robert Sacchi, Stuart Damon, Johnny Solinger and Clarence Williams III.

5 notes · View notes

sadclearance · 4 years

Text

smile

pairing: elle greenaway x female!reader

summary: the progression of elle's relationship with y/n throughout season 1 episode 20: charm and harm to season 2 episode 6: the boogeyman

category: fluff and angst i think

warning(s): none

word count: 3510

"what?" elle asked as she felt morgan staring holes into her for the millionth time this morning.

"we've only been here an hour, and you've made two calls," morgan said as he leaned back in his chair.

"so?" elle asked as she grabbed her mobile phone from her desk.

"you hate the phone, elle."

"i don't hate the phone," elle almost laughed.

"actually, you do," reid added to the conversation. "did you know that alexander graham bell and eli gray simultaneously invented electronic sound transmission devices? it came down to a race betwixt the two."

"yeah, and bell beat gray to the patent office by a matter of hours," elle finished. her cell beeped, but she only put it away and continued, "common knowledge."

"why are you acting so weird?" morgan asked as he twiddled his pencil.

"i'm not."

although she said that, the next time she checked her phone, she couldn't help but let a smile slip.

"you're getting some loving, aren't you? you got a boyfriend," morgan said with a smug smirk.

"you're basing this on what exactly--the fact that i don't like the phone? that's all you got? that's your best? you've been a profiler for how long, derek, and that's--that's weak. that's weak," elle said, defensive and flustered.

morgan knew he shouldn't have, but elle made it so easy. she had left the building without her phone.

[9:13am] y/n: still on 4 tonight? miss u xoxo

morgan shrugged and forgot all about it.

that is until he left work one night.

tonight, the team had found c.i.a. deputy director bruno hawks guilty of treason and murder.

morgan had gone back to the office to get to his car, and elle had gone back as well for presumably the same reason.

he was about to get into his car until he saw a stranger leaning on elle's. he was about to step in to help ward off the unwanted stranger when elle started laughing.

"i told you not to come to my work," elle let out the most carefree laugh that morgan had ever heard from her.

it was bad to eavesdrop, but morgan couldn't help himself.

"i'm no profiler, but you don't seem to be too mad about it," the stranger smiled.

"y/n, you're unbelievable," elle playfully rolled her eyes. "how long have you been waiting?"

morgan recognized the name from a few days ago when he snooped on elle's phone.

"not long," y/n tried to shrug.

"yeah, right. you're shivering," elle said as she shrugged off her jacket and wrapped it around y/n's shoulders. "you should've at least waited in the car."

"and miss out on the chance to get your jacket? yeah right," y/n giggled as she opened the door to the passenger seat. "i'll drive. you look beat."

"you're a terrible driver," elle laughed but accepted the offer.

"kiss for the chauffeur?" y/n asked as she leaned down.

"we're at my workplace," elle said, being the voice of reason between the two.

"please?" y/n dragged on.

"fine," elle smiled as she leaned forward and gave y/n a quick peck.

"your smile's as pretty as ever."

"what a charmer."

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"reid, are you sure you don't wanna come?" elle asked one last time.

"thanks, but i have to go--i'm going home," reid said as he shoved cds into his bag. "have a good one."

"since reid's not using it...you think you can swing that deal for a friend of mine?" elle asked morgan once reid rushed out of the room.

"is your friend cute?" morgan asked playfully.

"is that a yes?" elle asked.

"yes. a friend of yours is a friend of mine," morgan nodded with a cheeky smile. "hope your friend's packed and ready to go."

"actually—"

"elle!" the girl from the other night waved excitedly.

"this is my friend y/n. y/n, derek morgan," elle smiled. even as she introduced them, she couldn't take her eyes off of her.

morgan let out a dopey smile at that.

"what?" elle asked when y/n got in the car.

"nothing," morgan shook his head.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"may i have this dance?" y/n asked as she gave a theatrical bow to elle.

"you're so dramatic," elle rolled her eyes, unable to keep the amused smile off her face.

"is that a yes?"

"what about morgan?" elle looked to where her coworker was at at the other side of the club.

"his attention's already locked on the hundred something girls he's with. c'mon, elle. you owe me for ditching me to play frisbee with that guy," y/n pouted.

"okay, all right," elle sighed as though this wasn't something that she too wanted. though, the wide smile on her face said otherwise.

their nimble fingers intertwined while both held each other close by the other's back with their free hands.

they swayed to the slow music, and y/n twirled elle with the hand that held her's.

elle had a look of pure bliss on her face when she was once again facing y/n.

y/n stared in awe at the beauty that was elle greenaway.

"do i have something on my face or something?" elle asked when she noticed that y/n was staring.

"if you had such a beautiful view, wouldn't you wanna keep looking, too?" y/n said with a sly smile.

"you're such a flirt," elle said as she leaned in for a kiss.

y/n raised her hand from the small of elle's back to the back of her head. with their eyes closed, bodies close together, and the upbeat music turning into dull background noise, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

"i know your friend went through the trouble of giving me a discount on the room, but..." y/n trailed off.

"yes," elle answered in an instance, grabbing y/n's hand and leading her away.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"our forensics expert and your coroner agree that the time of death was no less than twenty-four hours ago. neither agent greenaway or y/n l/n could've committed this murder because they've been in this country for less than twenty four hours," hotchner came to the rescue.

"thank you," y/n said once they were on the plane ride back.

"aaron hotchner," he introduced himself as he reached across the table and shook y/n's hand.

"yeah, i figured," y/n laughed lightly only to realize what she had said, "i mean--"

"i talk about my coworkers sometimes," elle explained with a dismissive hand.

"sorry, elle..." y/n said as she played with the edge of elle's jacket which she was wearing.

"no, don't be," elle shook her head.

"you okay?" morgan asked.

"yeah, thanks," y/n nodded.

they settled into an uncomfortable silence.

hotchner sighed as he looked over the autopsy report of the man that his agent was accused of murdering less than an hour ago.

morgan tried to shut his eyes but failed to get any rest.

elle sat incredibly still, the most tense that both morgan and hotchner had ever seen her.

y/n went between dozing off to being as attentive as a soldier.

"you don't have to sit here. you can sit anywhere on the plane," elle eventually said. "here, follow me."

morgan had fully given up on getting any sleep, and his eyes followed as elle lead y/n to the long seat by her hand.

elle sat down on the edge and patted her lap.

y/n hesitantly looked toward morgan and hotchner--to which morgan quickly looked away as though he hadn't been watching--before lying down on the couch and using elle's lap as a pillow.

"i'm sorry," elle said in a somber voice as she brushed away the hair that was covering y/n's face.

"if this is your apology, i don't mind being accused of murder," y/n smiled as she grabbed the hand that was on her face and held it.

and although she had tried to laugh it off, the team could see that she was clearly affected by the events of this morning.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"you're welcome to come with us as a guest," hotchner said once they landed.

"thanks, but today's grocery day," y/n shook her head.

"i'll send an agent to help you on your way out," hotchner said as he gestured at the closest agent.

y/n gave a weak wave before she let herself be escorted out.

"do you guys want to go home? get some rest?" hotchner asked his two agents.

"hell no," elle said as she turned to look at hotchner as if he had just said the most outrageous thing in the world.

"i'm good," morgan shook his head.

"how much sleep did you two get in the last twenty-four hours?"

"i am not sleeping until i find whoever this frank giles is," elle said, full of determination.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"my eyes are so heavy, i can barely see the board," elle sighed as she turned to reid.

she could barely comprehend the explanation that he was giving about the book code.

she slumped into the leather chair and rested her chin on her hand as she racked her brain to try to find ways to figure out what book they needed, but she couldn't come up with anything.

"the answer's gotta be up there somewhere," elle yawned as she tried her best to focus her eyes on the board of clues in front of her.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

hotchner walked into the room to find morgan and reid going over all of the clues that they had been given.

he walked over to elle, who was sleeping on a couch. it looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"elle," hotchner said as he shook her shoulder.

"i'm awake," elle said hastily as she sat up.

"i'm sending you home," hotchner said as he looked at her exhausted state.

"no," elle frowned, voice still raspy with sleep.

"you need to get some rest. you haven't slept in thirty-six hours. we won't do anything without you, i promise," hotchner said, trying to convince her to get the rest that she clearly needed.

"elle, we're not any closer than we were. get out of here. go home," morgan reasoned.

"it's an order," hotchner said in a lighter tone, letting her know that it was just out of concern.

even as she got up and walked down the stairs, she could barely keep her eyes open.

"anderson," hotchner called to one of the agents. "take greenaway home."

"yes sir," anderson got up from his seat.

"no, i'm fine," elle tried to reassure.

"you're clearly worn out. you can't drive like this," hotchner shook his head.

"all right," elle sighed, "come on, anderson."

"get some sleep," hotchner said as she left.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

as gideon waited in front of elle's hospital room, sitting in one of the many chairs available in the hallway, he saw a woman sitting with her head in her knees right next to elle's door. she was as close as she could be without getting in anybody's way.

he wondered who she was. perhaps it was somebody mourning over the person in the room next to elle's.

for hours, they both sat in their respective places in complete silence.

gideon kept his phone close, waiting for someone from his team to call him and let him know that the case had been closed.

a doctor eventually came, and the woman on the floor raised her head for the first time, looking up at him.

"she's gonna be fine," he said with a smile. "you can see her, but she's sleeping."

gideon was about to get up from his seat when the unfamiliar woman raised from the floor and entered the room.

the door was left open, and gideon could see the woman shakily reach toward elle's sleeping face, her movements so gentle and slow as though anything more might break elle like a fragile doll.

she brushed the hair out of her face and moved to pull a chair closer to the hospital bed.

gideon let out a small smile and decided to leave. elle would have somebody waiting for her when she woke up.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"what's wrong?" y/n asked as she grabbed elle's plate. "was it bad?"

"no, it was great," elle shook her head. "i just feel kinda restless, i guess."

"if you say so," y/n frowned as she washed the dishes.

"four months out of work, i feel kinda useless," elle said as she sat down on the couch. "i feel like a freeloader."

"for the millionth time, you're not," y/n said. "i like spending time with you."

"i just don't wanna feel like a complete bum all the time."

"you're not a bum. everybody needs breaks," y/n tried to reason.

"nobody takes a four month break."

"tons of people need long breaks. especially after what you've... what you had to go through..." y/n's frown deepened.

"i'm completely fine now. i promise," elle tried to reassure as she turned to y/n. "you don't have to keep worrying about me."

"yeah, okay..." y/n sighed.

a beep caught elle's attention.

"it's a text from the bureau," elle said after a pause. "i have to go."

"i thought you weren't going back until next week," y/n said, turning off the sink immediately and turning around to face elle.

"they texted me," elle repeated as she grabbed her stuff and made her way to the front door.

"i love you," y/n said with a worried look as elle closed the front door behind her.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

elle opened the door to the bedroom that she had been sharing with y/n.

it was sometime around two in the morning. elle couldn't really tell.

y/n was on her side of the bed, sitting up and thoughtfully staring at the ceiling.

"you didn't have to wait up for me," elle said as she flicked the light switch off.

"i know," y/n said, her eyes still on the ceiling.

it didn't take a profiler to know that something was wrong.

"how's your week been?" elle asked.

"it was okay. uneventful," y/n shrugged. "what about you?"

"i went to california for a case."

"how'd it go?"

"in the end, the unsub had a knife to a little boy's throat. he lived."

"that's good. you're his hero."

"no, hotch is."

"you're all his hero."

"maybe."

silence. terrible, unbearable silence.

when did things become like this between them?

"i think you've changed."

elle would've laughed if the air between them wasn't so tense and serious. y/n had always been a mind reader.

"what are you? a profiler?" elle asked. she meant for it to come out lighter and less snappy than it did.

"when it comes to you, i can't help but be one, i guess," y/n sighed. "i love you so much, of course i notice things. elle, i've said it before, and i'll say it again. you're the most breath taking view i've ever seen, of course i wanna keep looking at you as much as possible. but... keeping my eyes on the view means having to see all of the sadness that comes with it. you're still gorgeous, elle, but you've changed so much. before, i couldn't even get mad at you for leaving in the middle of a date because your face lit up so much. i knew how much this job meant to you, and how happy it made you when you finally got the position, but now... i hate what this job's done to you. it doesn't even make you happy anymore. you look tormented, elle. your face is always full of so much worry, your body's always so tense, and your smiles..."

"i smile," elle tried to defend, giving a forced laugh to try to prove her point.

y/n finally turned to look at her.

"this is what i mean. you're miserable, elle. your smile's the most beautiful thing in the world, but it doesn't reach your eyes anymore."

elle tried to open her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"i can't sit here and watch you wilt away like this anymore," y/n got up from the bed and walked toward the door.

"where're you going?" elle finally found her voice.

"honestly... i don't know."

the door shut quietly behind her, and elle was left all alone in the dark room.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

gideon walked down the stairs and saw that half of his team was still there.

"doesn't anybody ever go home?" he asked.

"you're here," elle shrugged.

"exactly my point. you don't wanna model your social lives after mine," gideon said as he opened the fridge for a late night snack.

"if it makes you feel any better, hotch and morgan are gone," jareau said.

"hotch is married, and morgan is... well, they've both got partners to get back to," reid said.

gideon shot a quick glance toward elle, but elle was too busy staring at her coffee mug and sulking to notice.

"so what's this case about?"

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

as elle took out the small complementary bottles of alcohol out, she heard a two bits knock on her door.

"hey," reid said with a small smile once elle opened the door.

"hi," elle greeted back.

"are you okay?" reid asked, getting straight to the point.

"yeah, why wouldn't i be?" elle asked.

instead of answering, reid entered the room.

"no, really, come right in," elle said, her lips flattening out into a line.

she grabbed the small bottles that she had gotten out and made her way to the table.

she almost rolled her eyes as reid gave her a confused look.

"what? you wanna check my i.d.?"

reid followed her to the table.

"so... why're you here?" elle asked as she opened one of the bottles.

"i thought... maybe you'd wanna talk," reid shrugged.

"don't go all profiler on me," elle scoffed and shook her head.

"elle, you got shot in your own home, and then you came back to work like nothing even happened. thinking you might want to talk isn't profiling you. it's psych 101," reid said, trying to keep things light.

elle sighed and took a sip of her drink.

"please?" reid asked in a slightly begging tone.

elle gave in and offered one of the small bottles to reid.

in response, he hesitantly grabbed a glass and took the seat across from elle.

"after he shot me, he reached into my wound, so he could write on the wall in my blood," elle paused. "i was barely conscious, but i could feel his hand in there... and sometimes it's like i can still feel it."

reid took some time to think of what to say. "elle, he's dead. and you're... you're right here. you won."

elle kept herself from scoffing or sighing. instead, she raised her glass.

"then here's to winning."

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

as lee's body was loaded, hotchner shook his head in disbelief.

sure, the officer had told him that elle was cleared, but hotchner knew the truth.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

"she hasn't confessed to anything?" gideon asked.

"no," hotchner shook his head even though the other couldn't see it.

"well, you're doing the right thing," the man on the phone reassured.

"i know." did he know?

"i'll see you when i land."

"gideon?" elle asked as she leaned into hotchner's office.

"yeah."

"tell him i said bye."

elle fully walked into the office with her gear in hand, placing them down on hotchner's desk.

"this is not an admission of guilt."

"right," hotchner said, holding back a scoff.

"you know, when i first started this job, the sound of my phone ringing, a call from the bureau... i used to get so excited. the blood would race through my veins, but now... that same sound paralyzes me. i'm not the same person anymore," elle said with her arms folded around her. "that day, i was alone in the one place i have the right to feel safe, and that's my home. just like those women have the right to feel safe in their homes. our homes were stolen from us. that night, if i had to do it all over again, i wouldn't change a thing."

"even though you killed someone?" hotchner asked.

elle let out a sigh that was close to turning into a scoff. of course hotchner wouldn't even try to understand.

"garner stole everything from me. my home, and the one person that made it a home in the first place," elle said, her voice so shaky that if hotchner didn't know any better he'd expect her to start crying.

"elle," hotchner tried. he didn't know what to say.

"i guess that's it then," elle said with a slight shake of her head.

she turned toward the door and opened it wide enough to get past it, but she paused.

"you know, when i first joined the team, i couldn't figure out why you never ever smile," she said bleakly. "now, even if quitting the job i desperately wanted is what it's gonna take, i'm gonna go find my smile again."

and with that, elle walked out of his office.

elle to y/n: i'm chasing after my smile. wanna help me?

❥๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑❥

a/n;

as with apparently all of my works, i had an idea and then had no idea how to execute it.

idk elle's last scene in the boogeyman broke my heart, and i wanted to believe that she left to lead a happier life.

i thought "smile" would be a cute idea, but i feel like it's just really messy and incomprehensible like you never know what's going on in the text because the transitions are weird idk.

#criminal minds #elle greenaway #elle greenaway x female reader #elle greenaway x female!reader #x female reader #x female!reader #female reader insert #wlw

18 notes · View notes

dontshipiknowwhatuthink · 4 years

Text

First day of Elippoweek and this is my first fic. Versione italiana qui

How to make Elia Santini falling for you ( in Quaratine)

Elia seemed strange in the last days. Very strange. Filippo had never seen him showing signs of hate or intolerance from him in the months they had lived toghter. And they would be giustified, Filippo knew he was the worse roommate in the world and not only because Elenora said that, but beacuse it was true: no sense of the word order, no knowing of privicay and lack of respect for personal space, inability in care for his Sister's plants or cook something decent. Elia, however, didn't complain: he took his jokes, talked about his problems, he even let Filippo chose the movie for their movies night and he didn't complain when the blonde univinted himself in the Contrabbandieri's nights. Elia cooked for him when he was on his shift at work or in a class at uni, he helped him with his uni project and in everything Filippo needed.

What have been a simple and small crush, from some talking at parties and eyeing at nights with their friends, began to tramsform in a huge crush for the younger boy. He decided to try to conquer him, sharping his strategies to make Elia fall for him. If it didn't worked out, they would laugh on it one day, thinking about their shorter time as roommates, with their partners and the whole contrabbandieri team. He could see already Martino laughing at him for thinking he could make fall for him "quel morto di fregna" ( trad: really into girls and their vagina) of Elia Santini.

Then lockdown arrived, quaratine and Covid19 and everything changed.

Elia's strangeness continued all week. Filippo thought that was lockdown who made Elia like that: maybe he wasn't feel so safe, he was scared of the global situation more than he said. If this was the case, Filippo didn't want to pressure him into talking. When he wanted he knew how to stay at his place and not meddle in people lives. But then he began to notice things like how Elia was less talkative then ever, like he didn't try to engange in conversation or their usually activities or even like the angry glare that he shoots to Filippo when the blond didn't do domestic stuff, forgert to write down the correct food for the grocery store or when he drank more coffee than usual. Elia was angry with him and it wasn't because Filippo was a terrible roommate. So, he decided to master his plan: make him go crazy enough to confess what were going on, he had a talent for that.

Elia began to be more nervous but didn't respond to his provocations. He knew that the boy complained about him with his friends because Martino wrote to him to "take it slow" with his friends and Filippo blantlay ignored the message. He tried another plan: he stopped planning things to do with him, talking unless necessary or entering in Elia's room anunnounced to sit on his bed and discuss about the younger's discutible music taste while that was playing at high volume. Elia was at the edge of a nervous breakdown, but still no real reaction. There was only a last thing he could do.

-Eli don't sit on the sofa, you have got dishes to do - he said, seeing him on the sofa after a day of lessons and really poor sleep. Filippo knew he wasn't in the right place to do so and his plans was based on that.

-Fili I'm really tired. Between lesson and the match at Fifa with the guys yesterday, I went to bed at 4. I need some rest, can you do the dishes today? - he knew that Fifa became an emotional intervention, he tryed to respect Elia's privacy with loud music but he ended listening clearly Luca said "What is a bisexual?". Hope started growing in him, even if his previous plan was not on the table anymore... Or it was?

-No- he had to insist, it was the right time to start pushing - it had been two weeks since you started been nervous and lose the joy of living but that doesn't justify you in doing your duties. So get up and help me - when he heard Elia walking in his direction, he knew that he succeeded.

-That don't justify you in doing your duties? This week I had to do my "duty" twice, because you didn't do it. I'm not complaining at all about your manners, the amount of coffee you had that I couldn't even drink in one year, your inexistence shopping list and the worried messagge from Eleonora about her plants that you are not caring for, like your not caring for everything that happen around, and -

-and you? - Filippo had to interruped him, stroked instantly with the realmatter with Elia. He knew what had going on. - Are you angry with me because I do exactly the things I know that make you crazy, just to attract your attention? You had rarely look at me and always furtively since quaratine began. Am I right Elia? -

-It's not true I don't look at you - Filippo laughed. Elia couldn't lie, at least his eyes couldn't because their were watery.

– Am I right, Elia? -

It's seemed that Elia wasn't breathing, trying to come up with a plan to kill Filippo. His watery eyes became fire, ready to attack.

-I don't know Fili, if pissing me of its so natural for you, you can write it down in your CV. Because, Yes, you pissed me of like no one other, I would slam you against the wall everytime I see. It takes talent to do so -

-So do it - Filippo prayed that he didn't misunderstand. Delusion would burn him after if high level of sexual tension will go unresolved. And after he realized how much care for Elia emotions and wellbeing.

-What?-

-Slam me agaist the wall, we would see if you to can write down something new in your CV other than been a pain in the as- and then he was on the wall, Elia's lips on his, kissing him desperatly and he forgot everthing: every plan, strategy, thought, world pandemic.

Until Elia broke the kiss and run towards his room.

He couldn't fogot that kiss so easily. Kissing Elia was like the perfect match between a romantic and a porn movie. In his mind there were so many thoughts, most of them very negative and pessimistic. He knew Elia was on phone with his friends and this time we didn't want to hear anything.

Did the boy feel something for him? Was he ready to admit him to himself and the world, showing who he really was? Fillippo couldn't bear it other way, he wasn't keen on hiding and he endend hating who did it.

Was he ready? Was he ready to lose a friend, the best roommate of the world and the boy who was in his head like no one other in one day? Was he ready to accept a rejection and live it by until quaratine was over?

He couldn't wait for Elia to decide for him, He had to confront him again. When he heard a desperate sigh, he took the chance right away.

-You don't have to fake a call with your friend to ease the tension in your pants, honey, I'm here - he heard cleary Martino's laughs and Elia's curses and then silence.

-Filì?-

-Uhm?-

-I was really calling my friend-

Elia was feeling guilty and that was not good for Filippo.

-I know, I was trying to make you leave that computer to talk to me. If you ended the call to avoid me, I'll go shower and we will see each other tomorrow - Filippo said. He wanted to control this situation in his own ways.

-I want to talk to you. - Elia said in respons- I'm sorry, I didn't have to treat you like that - Elia was sincere, Filippo saw that. Damn.

-I would like to tell you that you can treat me this way when you want but I don't want boost your ego that much - he couldn't have a normal adult conversation o maybe he could, but it wasn't what him or Elia needed in that moment.

-I'm not good with words, I can do letters like Garau, it's not my thing. I like you Fili. I like you from that december night, when althought the Argentina was there, I couldn't be able to take my eyes off you. When I got the courage to ask you out, you were with Dario and so I closed the chapter to move on - Filippo didn't see it coming. It couldn't believe Elia had noticed him from that night and that this mess could been risolved, maybe and with much fortune, months ago - When you asked me to live with you, I knew that I had to think about it more that I've done but part of me wanted freedom too much. The same part of me that wanted you again. This time I want try and tell you: I like you, Filippo Sava and I really want to slam you against a wall every second of my day -

At every world Filippo was more shocked and he didn't know what to say. He only heard his heart beating too fast and If this life was not a romantic movie, I could swear that Elia could hear that. But that was life and Elia was in front of him, terrified so he decided to talk it throught.

-I didn't notice you was looking at me, but I couldn't say that I have noticed you that night. The Santini's charme doesn't go unnoticed. I really thought what I said to Silvia that night, but I didn't think that I had a chance and I was really tired of lost causes. From when you had entered this apartment, there wasn't a single time that I wouldn't do what happen before between us and making you crazy, poking you, it was my way to see if you want it to-

-You had your answer- Elia's smile didn't help to stop his heart from beating like crazy.

-Uhm, Do I? Before you were very angry, it could have been an impulsive gesture, not intentional - it could have been a very beautiful dream and Filippo could woke up everymoment from now...it would be take advantage of every time he had got.

-If you insist this much, I would like to try again - Filippo smiled.

-I accept you offer, just because I can't say no to that lips - if their fist kiss was unforgettable, this kiss was even better. Slow and sweet, burning slowly in pure fire thanks to Filippo's lip piercing and Elia's full lips, so easy to kiss.

-I'm crazy about you, Elia Santini- he said between kisses, before everything became fire. If this was a dream, it wouldn't forget even a single second and it had to be remarkable.

A few hours later, they were on Filippo's bed, wrapped in each others arms.

-What you said to Silvia?- Elia asked, trying to making sense of what had happened that day in every small detail.

-Nothing much. That you had beautiful lips and I would fuck without a thought-

-Martino told me that I mustn't living with someone I would like to fuck -

Both laughed.

-We can't dissapoint our friends, can we? - Filippo said, moving his head torwards the boy.

-Definitely not, it wouldn't been kind of us treated them this way-

#elia santini #elippo fic #elippo #elippoweek2020

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years

Text

Lost in Time - ch 4

The next morning Dr. Xu and Eli were already waiting for Arlo and Sam outside the Corps building; the initial plan had been to put Eli on Spacer and then walk out together but Eli had assured them she knew how to ride so they'd changed to Eli on Spacer, Arlo and Xu on Arrow, and Sam on Teddy, with the group heading out together with everyone mounted.

And she did seem comfortable enough on Spacer's back so they'd sped up to a light trot; with everyone mounted and out of the mud they were actually making good time in getting out to the sinkhole.

"Was horseback riding a popular hobby, in the Old World?"

There was a pause before Eli answered Xu. "For some. For me it was just part of training."

Sam, at the head of their little procession, turned to look back at her curiously. "Training? For what?" ((Continued below cut))

"Armed forces."

Arlo blinked. "Armed forces? You're a soldier?"

"Was, am, still will be. I am one of thirty seven 3-star gold rank Ranger Captains - the only person higher in the chain of command in the Ranger division is the Ranger General. The Rangers of Dubei were one specialized arm of the Dubei Armed Forces, our partner division was Spec Ops. Then you had your various rank and file for air, land, and sea, and we all answered to the High General of Dubei."

Arlo heard a very quiet 'that explains a few things...' from Xu sitting behind him. "I see. Did the Dubei army ride horses a lot then?"

"Not the army in general - the Rangers did though, Spec Ops too. We were the ones expected to be ready for anything so we were taught a lot of skills that most people assumed couldn't possibly be useful. Such as riding a horse when there were thousands of different types of personal and multiperson flying or motorized craft available."

"Were you in the war that-" Sam stopped abruptly, gaze flicking to Arlo and Xu. Xu was making a 'cut it out' gesture as he leaned around Arlo to be seen. "-nevermind."

Eli snorted. "Was I IN a war? Probably. We'd been having unrest and diplomatic breakdowns for about three years, last I remember. It was one of those unofficial deals -- everyone was doing warlike things, but no one dared declare it a war. Not yet."

"DID they call it a war, ever?"

Eli was silent for a long period of time; they were almost up to the familiar red tent at the platform's edge when she finally answered. "I remember my post being shelled. If that didn't get called out for open warfare I don't know what would've been."

When they were at the tent they all dismounted, with Sam helping lift Eli down; with the horses tied to a nearby tree they made their way onto the platform and there Eli paused, shielding her eyes against the sun as she slowly (and carefully) spun in place and scanned their surroundings.

"Not even the cliffs..." she muttered, huffing out a sigh that sounded more annoyed than anything else.

"What about the cliffs?"

Eli slowly began making her way to the elevator car. "I said, not even the cliffs look familiar. I was hoping I'd recognize SOMETHING out here...anything, really. I can't for the life of me see anything of Dubei in what's left. Even the ruins that're mostly intact -- I can recognize WHAT they were but not WHERE they were in Dubei." She paused, then gave them a strained smile. "Not surprising, I guess -- Dubei was huge. Portia's nothing at all like it."

"How big was Dubei?" Sam asked, stepping into the car.

Eli followed her in and as the elevator began to lower Arlo heard her answer "um...big. Millions big" and then they were out of sight on their way to the bottom of the shaft.

Arlo looked to Xu, and then to Selene as she came out of the tent weighed down with two toolboxes and two duffel bags across her chest and back. "We ready?"

Xu nodded; Arlo took one toolbox and one of the (extremely heavy) duffel bags, and waited for the elevator to come back up.

------------------------------------------

Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it.

It was a mantra running through her head -- one that was familiar, that had been taught to her a long time ago-

Don't think about it.

-that had popped up over and over across all the training it had taken to rise to the rank she carried.

Don't think about it. In those lessons, "it" was whatever was not immediately crucial to the mission.

That this world wasn't her own wasn't crucial. The fact Dubei was...gone, wiped off the map without a trace, wasn't crucial. Nothing was familiar, everything was new and wrong and wholly alien to her, but these facts were not crucial to the mission.

They didn't matter right now.

Her mission as it stood was:

- get to the heart of this facility and see what power system was installed - determine the extent of damage done and calculate probability of a total system meltdown - corollary to above: determine level of danger to facility and surrounding area should total system failure occur - create plan of repair if repair is possible - if repair is not possible, figure out how to fully and properly shut down the equipment and de-couple it from the system as a whole and disable it enough that it can't be turned on again - adapt as needed

There were many details that were up in the air -- did this time period even have the tools needed to do any of the steps she'd mentally laid out? Rangers were taught to adapt at any cost but adapation had its limits; if there wasn't any tool remotely similar to what she'd need to detach conduits or activate the safety measures or repair a damn reactor then she couldn't just 'adapt' a suitable tool out of thin air, and this time period may not have the infrastructure in place to try to recreate one.

Were there any AIs left down here? Based on the time-ravaged halls they were walking down it didn't look likely...where had the AIs gone? Why had her people taken the AIs but left their dead behind?

Yes, she knew about the skeletal remains in the halls these Civil Corps folks were keeping her away from (not that it mattered - Eli knew nothing immediately important would be found in the office or dorm areas). If anyone would have the details on this facility and how to stave off a reactor meltdown, it would be an AI - either one of the assistants or even the installed All Source, if it was still here.

Don't think about it.

What had happened here was a mystery she'd need to work on, secondary to securing the reactor. Additionally, what this place WAS was a mystery needing solving - if she knew what this facility was for and why she was down here that would answer a few personal questions she had.

Don't think about it.

She had to stop and rest several times, bracing her cane against the wall and leaning her backside into it like a tall, terrible stool. To be this weak and unreliable in a situation like this irked her -- she'd never been one who needed to be carried or coddled, not even as a child. Her mother liked to say she came out of the womb at a sprint and never sat down since; she'd love to be sprinting right now, or at least capable of walking ten feet without getting winded or weak in the knees.

Don't think about it.

---------------------------------------------

"I'm not sure which building this was because I'm not sure where we are, locationally, within Dubei, but I do know Dubei itself had at least 1763 hospitals and that's not accounting for specialized facilities, long-term care, rehabs, or anything else that wasn't considered general or acute care."

"Really?" Xu asked, looking amazed. "The entire Alliance doesn't even have that many between them."

Eli shrugged and waited patiently as Arlo, Xu, Selene, and Sam stepped out of the elevator ahead of her; all of them carried either a flashlight or wore a small headlamp (Eli had a headlamp herself) and the two Civil Corps members led the way to a shattered glass door across the room from the elevator's opening. "Dubei had a population of 2.7 million if you counted all the outlying suburbs and territories. With that many people you have to have enough places for folks to go. No amount of peaceful times can keep you from getting sick or old, and the human body has quite a number of failure points even if you're at the pinnacle of healthy."

Arlo stepped through the door and aside to let the other three through, then offered Eli a steadying hand as she picked her way over the broken glass in the floor. "Were hospitals normally underground like this?"

"No," was Eli's simple reply. "But I never said this WAS a hospital."

"You sure sounded like you were implying it."

"It's a possibility but not a definitive fact at this time," Eli sighed. "The only facilities that tended to be underground were research facilities. Being underground shielded delicate equipment from outside interference. We might be in the underbelly of an especially large hospital, or we might be in a research center. Neither is more likely than the other at the moment."

Ahead of her Sam and Arlo kicked away broken glass and twisted metal left over from the light fixtures that had fallen from the ceiling; it wasn't entirely needed but the gesture was appreciated all the same as she followed in their wake and walked up to the lone console she could see in the light of their flashlights.

"Did you bring a power source?"

Selene nodded. "Yep. I brought four, in fact."

"Good. I can already tell we'll need in that center panel there but let me get a look at what else we're working with."

As Selene began digging for the right sized wrench to start removing bolts from the panel Eli eyed the computer console from where she stood; it was rectangular in shape but slightly curved, came up to a little taller than her waist, and was covered in buttons, dials, a few wide slots and some sockets, a single lever whose head could fit into her palm, the grill of a speaker, and a pair of keyboards on either end. The console was long enough to fit four people, five if they stood shoulder to shoulder.

Pretty standard really, aside from the fact she didn't see any displays or monitors nor did she see where they might have been if they HAD been here and had since been removed. The slots she could see suggested that, for this room at least, they might have relied entirely on the portable displays (both portable screens as well as self-contained computer units). It was a lot more efficient to carry copies of your work around on a personal computer where you could later connect to the main system to update the files either in the database or update things on your screen rather than be tied to a stationary console -- the problem was Eli doubted they'd have any chance at all at finding a still-functional screen after all this time, which would leave them reliant on verbal communication with the AI system (assuming THAT was even functional, and she wasn't holding her breath).

With a grunt Selene popped the panel loose and Eli moved her attention to the woman and the revealed inner workings of the console. With an offered arm from Xu she carefully lowered herself down to the ground to sit cross-legged in front of the opening and hunched so her headlamp shined inside.

Familiar wiring and conduits met her gaze - the dust coating everything in here was thick enough she couldn't see coloring or labels but she could mostly guess what was what based on connector rings, sizes, and where everything was running to or out of.

"All right... See that wide cap there, in the very back?"

Selene got on her hands and knees, peering into the open panel as Eli leaned back. "-the one that kind of looks like that's where the tube wires come in?"

"Tube wi- oh. This is the room you found me in, I recall now. No, those should be routed to the left there -- that one there with the 3-way split."

"Oh, ok - I see that one. So the wide cap one is... Aha, I see it. Is that the incoming power?"

"Yes. What you'll want to do is follow it in about eight inches and then take the top off the box it looks like it's feeding in to. See it?"

"Yep," Selene answered. Eli scooted out of the way and the woman moved in closer; she took off her headlamp and tapped the builder on the shoulder with it, swapping it out for the flashlight she held. It wasn't an ideal angle but Eli shined it over her shoulder into the opening anyway to supplement the headlamp and then had nothing else to do but wait and hope the woman was able to get the relay box's lid off.

There were a few clanks, the sound of something breaking loose followed by the sound of metal clattering against plastic, and then Selene pulled out of the opening with the lid in hand. "There we go. Now what?"

"Now you're going to want to carefully unplug those wires from that box, and hope we can hotwire it to whatever power source you brought with you."

"Hotwire?"

"Uh... That's a term basically meaning to bypass an ignition or relay point."

"Gotcha."

Eli shuffled back over and watched as the builder dropped the wrench back into her toolbox and dragged over one of the duffel bags they'd carried down; inside was the familiar gleam of power stones (thank the Three that THOSE had persisted through the centuries) held within a metal bracket with wires and switches attached. Selene handed the cobbled together device to Eli before ducking back inside the open panel to examine and remove the plugs.

She didn't recognize the plug ends on the device but that wouldn't matter much so long as they had a means to strip the wires and solder them together. Definitely wouldn't be the first time she'd had to wire something on the fly like this - it'd be sloppy and slightly dangerous but if it worked it worked.

The builder pulled back out a moment later with a handful of wires and Eli waited as she carefully threaded them through and under the other components of the computer until she had about three feet of wire length freed from all the little clasps and hooks that had held everything neatly in place; as Selene handled the wires she smudged away the dust and Eli began picking out individual wires by color -- that one was for the cooling system, that one for a display (still needed to figure out that part), the thickest one was for the console entirely, there were two that powered the input devices on this end...that last thin black-looking one had to be for an on-board audio input/output system.

Bare minimum she'd need power to the console, the cooling system, and the audio (they wouldn't need the keyboard or buttons since there wasn't a screen to work off of - that would be less drain and strain on the power stones at least. The device Selene had put together held four of the yellow condensed power stones together in a completed circuit; she was glad to see the yellow ones since if it had been blue or lower they'd need way more to have any hope of powering a console this large. Four...MIGHT be enough. They'd have to see.

"Right, now - do you have a wire stripper?"

"A -- I use a sharpened part of my wire snips for that. Is that ok?"

Eli nodded. "Should work - cut the wires right at the base of the plug then clear off about a half inch of the coating. Does solder still exist?"

"Yep. I'm guessing I'll be doing the same to the plugs on my portable power device, right?"

"Correct."

Eli held the ends of the wires steady as Selene snipped and stripped, then sorted them out and lined up ends of wires so the builder woman could slowly solder them all together without having to juggle tools and align ends (strangely, she was using a mini welding torch to melt the solder...well, whatever, it was working). When they were all connected Eli searched over the device until she found the on/off switch and flicked it on.

There was a loud crackling noise out of the console's speaker, causing everyone to jump; after a few more bursts of static there came a series of pleasant tones and then a low chime before-

"-Laboratory Assistant AI, online." The voice was feminine and robotic - most AIs tended to have that metallic-like quality to their voices so that wasn't out of the ordinary at least.

Eli briefly glanced around - the others were staring down at the console as buttons and the slots lit up across its surface. "-state your designation and assigned task category, please."

There was a tiny stutter and staticky noise again. "I am known as Pauline. My assigned tasks were to monitor laboratory experiments, issue instructions to medical assistant AI systems, provide back up storage for all experiment-related documentation, and record all meeting minutes and conversations that take place within my designated region within this facility. May I ask who I'm speaking to? I seem to be having trouble with my optics and my sensors beyond this immediate station are offline."

Eli carefully moved the power device out of her lap and onto the floor near her feet. "I am Ranger Captain Elizabeth Summers. Do you have me registered in your system?"

"Let me check... I have you registered on the patient roster, ma'am."

"But nowhere else?"

"No."

Eli nodded - she had expected that. "All right. I need you to register me as primary administrative contact for this entire facility."

"I can't do that without prior administrative permissions from the All Source AI of the facility, ma'am. Please wait a moment -- oh dear. My chronometer says I have been offline for 25 years, 8 months, 12 days, 2 hours, and 36 minutes. Auxiliary power is offline."

"I know. And unfortunately I am the only surviving member of this facility so I will need that administrative access."

"Please give me a moment to verify such a claim, ma'am - I do apologize for the delays in my responses. I don't have the needed power level to run at full speed."

"Move as fast as you can safely process, Pauline. We're in a dire situation. While checking your logs run a cursory maintenance check on yourself for any data corruption."

"Yes ma'am."

The AI went quiet and Eli could hear a low whine from somewhere inside the console - age, dust, and the relative power level of the power stones were definitely putting a strain on Pauline's processor cores but there wasn't anything they could do about that at the moment.

"-I'm detecting no internal corruption. I am showing that 115 years, 3 months, 6 days, 14 hours, and 16 minutes ago the auxiliary power systems came online .0034 seconds after the primary reactor went offline. My logs indicate a connection failure between relay box 5372A-2 and 6981-B17, which placed undue stress on connected sectors and radiated out to effect the entire northeastern quadrant of floors 19 through 47. As a precaution the reactor was closed off from the rest of the facility but it doesn't appear anyone answered the maintenance request."

At that Eli let out a huge sigh and leaned back against the wall behind her, feeling lightheaded with relief. If it was a connection failure then the safety measures purposely took the reactor offline. That meant they were in no danger of anything exploding. At everyone's looks she gave them a smile and two thumbs up. "That means we're in the clear - no explosion worries."

All at once an unseen tension melted from the room and the rest of them looked as relieved as she felt.

"Thank goodness," Xu sighed.

"Oh. I didn't realize there were more than one user present," Pauline interrupted. Xu seemed surprised that the AI had heard him as he'd been barely above a whisper. "Please identify yourselves."

"They're not anyone registered with this facility, Pauline," Eli replied before anyone else could. "Please search back through your logs and tell me what happened prior to the relay failure."

"One moment."

As they waited Xu dropped down to his knees beside Eli, gingerly resting a hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing?" he asked - this time he WAS whispering, and Pauline either didn't detect it or was too preoccupied with her task to respond.

She smiled faintly at him. "Like I want to fall over, but in a good way. Knowing we're not going to explode any time soon is a big relief, and now we're in no rush to do anything down here."

Xu frowned. "You're still recovering, exhaustion is to be expected."

Eli briefly clapped her hand to his on her shoulder. "I'll be fine for a bit longer, doctor. Don't worry about me."

His fingers carefully squeezed but his look of concern didn't budge; there WAS a creeping ache born out of tiredness coming over her but she didn't actually feel on the verge of collapse. She glanced around and saw Arlo looking at her with the same concerned look on his face - Selene and Sam were both focused on the computer console at least.

"Ma'am, I am ready to provide my log report."

She returned her attention to the console as well even though there wasn't anything to actually look at. "Go ahead, Pauline."

"Approximately 329 years, 7 months, 27 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes ago, I am showing that the facility went into emergency lock-down with the lock-down tagged with 'status: invader, armed, dangerous.' Approximately 26 minutes later I am showing a mass evacuation of registered users leaving the building though the roster indicates there were 115 people unaccounted for based on automatic logging at all exit points. 3 minutes after the evacuation the 'hazardous material release protocol' broadcast issued."

"This place was attacked?" Arlo asked into the silence that followed Pauline's report.

"It would seem so, Unknown User Male A. I do not have any further information beyond what is contained in the logs however. For more detail you would need to speak to the All Source AI of this facility and I do not detect him online."

Arlo blinked at the AI's words; Eli inwardly laughed -- assistant or administrative AIs always gave odd designations to users they weren't familiar with. "When did he go offline?"

"Checking. -- when auxiliary power went offline."

Selene straightened where she sat, looking up to Arlo. "The auxiliary power went out right as we rescued Eli -- that All Source hasn't been offline for long."

"Correct, Unknown User Female A," Pauline responded. "The All Source AI has priority when there is any power issue. As auxiliary power reached critical levels all non-essential services were disabled, followed by non-essential sectors, then I was put into standby and then deactivated completely to preserve what remaining power was present when auxiliary power dropped below 20% - unfortunately this means I am reliant on passively obtained system logs at this time and my access to those is hindered due to alarmingly low system power."

Arlo blew out a sigh. "I can't believe there's another All Source here... We had enough trouble protecting the first one we found."

Pauline's tone shifted from the pleasantly proper one she'd been using to one that had a tinge of amusement to it. "Of course there's an All Source AI here - it would be silly to have a facility of this size and importance without one."

"An All Source AI is just a central AI that controls and coordinates a system of lesser AIs," Eli said, glancing up to Arlo again. "Even every house had one."

"Indeed!" Pauline chirped, sounding pleased. "And Stewart is quite a pleasant AI - I look forward to interfacing with him again. It's been a very long time. -- ma'am, considering the situation I have decided to give you full adminstrative access to all protocols, sectors, and documentation that are registered as being within my job designation. Further access will need to be provided by Stewart."

"Got it," Eli replied. There was a burning starting behind her eyes and she rubbed a finger in one idly, trying to encourage it to water a little bit. "Pauline, we're going to leave you hooked up to this current emergency power. Can you tell how long before it'll run out?"

"Checking... I estimate the current power source attached to my system will last approximately 6 days, 4 hours, and 19 minutes."

"Is that at your current activity level or without activity factored in at all?"

"With activity. If I put myself back into standby my estimation goes up to 14 days, 19 hours, and 47 minutes."

"Good enough. I want you to put yourself into standby and only awaken on the command of myself, or one of the the four people currently here with me. I'm going to have them state their names - get a voice imprint for your access logs."

"Yes ma'am!"

Slowly draining energy was something Eli had in common with the AI; she pressed her back fully against the wall and pointed a finger at Xu, then to Selene, followed by Sam and then to Arlo. "In that order, go. All you need is your name."

"Uh...Dr. Xu?" Xu said, sounding as uncertain as he looked; Eli gave him an approving nod and dropped her gaze to Selene.

"Selene!"

"Sam."

"Arlo."

After everyone had had their turn there was a brief period of silence before Pauline responded. "Users: Dr. Xu, Selene, Sam, and Arlo voice imprints registered. A pleasure to place names with voices. If that's all then I'll place myself on standby and await future orders."

"That'll be all, Pauline. We'll be back later."

The glow of the buttons all dimmed to barely noticeable and the whine of processors faded; Eli closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The anxiety from not knowing the reactor's status had been mostly keeping her alert and on her feet - anxiety and adrenaline both, really - and now that she knew they were in the clear she was approaching a point where all she wanted was a warm blanket and a relatively clean horizontal surface to stretch out on.

Again there was a hand on the shoulder; she opened her eyes to find Xu had dropped down beside her on his knees. His other hand moved to her wrist where his fingers found her pulse. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Just tired, doctor. Don't need to be so tightly strung now that I know we're not going boom."

Xu nodded and looked from her to Arlo. "Let's get back to the surface and to the clinic. It seems we're done here."

"Right," Arlo said; he stepped down from the dais to give Sam room to get out of his way, then he came back up and offered both hands to Eli.

She hated how her hands were shaking as she reached up to take them, and with Xu at one side and Arlo pulling up both men got her on her feet; before she could reach for her cane Arlo swept her up into his arms, carefully adjusting his grip so his fingers weren't pinched against the backs of her knees. Xu had her cane in hand and was following close at Arlo's elbow as he turned to carry her toward the elevator.

"Sam, if Selene wants to poke around stay with her, all right?" Arlo called over his shoulder (he was considerate enough to shout it over the shoulder opposite from the one Eli's head was currently drooping toward - she appreciated that, even if it rubbed her the wrong way to have to rely on someone carrying her to get out of here).

As they walked away Eli could hear Selene giving Sam instructions on securing the exposed wires; she closed her eyes again and focused on keeping her head upright as the three of them got into the elevator and began the long walk back to the surface.

So far as she could recall Dubei had 47 research centers within the capital -- most of those were tech-based but 13 she was certain had been strictly medical research. The problem with that was she could recall all the numbers she wanted but she still had no means of matching where they all were on Dubei's map to try and mentally overlay that to what the land looked like now.

Don't think about it.

'What kind of damn war could alter the landscape to such a degree...' she found herself thinking. It would've need to be one hell of a war to have removed Dubei from the map like this.

Don't think about it.

Her eyes started watering. It didn't help the aching, burning feeling behind them.

After a bit she felt the first hints of a cold wind blowing down the entry-point elevator shaft, and then sunlight hit her eyelids; Arlo's boots thumped across the wooden platform underneath her as he carried her out to the horses.

"You get up first, doctor - I'll hand her up and you can ride together back to town."

Eli could do little aside from wait to be passed from one man to the other; Xu wasn't willing to go faster than a walk with the horse so the trip back to town took longer than the trip out this morning had, but that was all right -- the cold woke her up a bit so she was able to slide down from the saddle with Phyllis's help once they were back in the clinic, and then with Xu on one side and Phyllis on the other she was helped back inside and to the bed she was becoming incredibly familiar with.

"Are you in any pain?"

"Minor headache, doctor - just tired."

"Do you feel you'll be hungry after you rest?" Phyllis asked then, helping her get her boots and coat off.

Eli shook her head and fumbled her legs up into the bed, and Phyllis pulled the blanket up as she sank into the pillow and shortly after she was out like a snuffed candle. When she woke there was still daylight coming in through the clinic's windows so she couldn't have been out for long.

'Not nearly so long as...as the last big sleep I took...'

Her eyes started burning again, and watering; with an irritated huff she scrubbed the back of her hand across them to smear the moisture away.

From nearby she heard the rustling of paper. "-are you all right, Eli?"

"Yeah, doc - bad dream, is all. Just a really bad dream."

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 4 #Arlo #Sam #Dr. Xu #Builder #Eli #Phyllis #My Time at Portia

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twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years

Text

Starcrossed Losers XX (Josh Wheeler xReader)

A/N: There’s something so pleasing about finishing this on chapter #20 // Also, thank you all for reading up to this point! I just hope it reaches your expectations, or at least, doesn’t suck as much. Remember to leave a comment! It’s the last part, after all. Love you, and see you this summer! <3

Words: 8,274

Warnings: Some killings, some blood, some injures, Oh! And major character death, but is it really major? lmao

Previous chapter

“I’m gonna let this world die,” I hear my friend gasp, “I yearn for the sweet release of death”

“You can die once we reach the school,” I grunt, skating faster.

Alex and I used to be very active people, but with the nuke our physical condition has self-induced into a coma.

It all right though! I’m running on spite and love, it’ll keep me active enough to reach the Highschool on time.

Unfortunately, Alex is only running out of patience.

“You know,” He wheezes, “if it wasn’t for you, starcrossed losers, I would be in the mattress store having my healthy eight hours of sleep!”

“It’d be like that sometimes,” I reply, “stop talking before you pass out.”

You wanna know how I feel?

You guessed it! I’m McFreaking out.

But Alex’s comment reminds me of something, and it’s that I haven’t added songs to the soundtrack of my life! What a terrible narrator I am.

Allow me to introduce you not only to the next song of our list, but also the one that gave this story its iconic title.

You’re welcome.

Things have changed since the first time we met back in that alley, huh?

I was a loner, you were... uh, living your life, I guess. Being a good member of society.

“It started out as nothing in the strangest sense He was never in his right mind, no defense She prayed for his attention, often on repeat Every time she heard his name and his heartbeat”

Josh was alone and hurting, not knowing how to express his feelings and just hiding all inside.

Never do that kids look how it ends, with you painting an apology all over the neighborhood. And I mean all of it. The phrase is not the same as the one outside my house, these ones say ‘I’m with you’, ‘Where are you?’ and ‘I’m sorry’ not the same but it gives out the same vibes.

It seems that ever since I cured Josh’s hand, all we’ve done is to play this game of jumping back and forth in our boundaries, throwing our bones at the wrong times.

“He was in denial in his own backyard Pleading for the rain just to come down hard She bought him a bracelet and put it on his wrist Like every time before she got close but missed”

“By the time we reach the school it’ll be too late, you know that, right?”

“The School,” I reply, breathing heavily, “has to be saved. We can’t let it rot in hands of someone like Triumph, he’s gross!”

“We’re gross,” Alex grimaces, “I stink, and now we’re sweating like pigs. Imma smell like a Ghoulie.”

“Pigs don’t sweat,” I say simply.

It takes us another half an hour to arrive, we’re on time. I’m just thankful that Alex could hold on for so long, he’s almost fainting.

“Okay, we can take a break,” I say as I watch him lose all color from his face, “you want water...?”

“I need to sit down...”

I hear noises in the distance and I see Triumph arriving at school.

Only this time he’s with someone. I’m glad to see them, it means we can still help.

It’s my favorite knock-off Triumph and stupid Josh.

“Alex, do you mind if I leave you for a second? Josh and Eli are over there-”

“Go, I hate you I can’t even see you right now,” He groans, poor dude.

They don’t notice me as I get closer, I watch them silently as Josh gets inside the cage and Eli closes the little door, that’s when I decide to walk up to them.

“So by ‘have it under control’ you meant giving yourself to Triumph as a peace offering?” I ask.

Eli and Josh curse and look at me with wide eyes.

“I told you not to follow us!”

“Yes, I wonder why you thought I would actually listen,” I cross my arms, “Sacrificing yourself is not a fair move, I can’t stay mad at you like this, you look ridiculous”

“That’s the plan,” Eli smirks, “We’re gonna pretend I’m Triumph so the kids won’t attack us, and once we’re inside we’ll save those kids and we’re out”

“Uh-huh,” I tilt my head, “How do you know Triumph isn’t inside the school right now? Like, what if the kids just saw him go to the bathroom when a second Triumph walks in through the main entrance?”

“We... improvise?” Josh offers.

“No. Never improvise, that’s awful,” I shake my head, “don’t you remember what happened last time?”

“You walked out unharmed and with half their spare weapons,” Eli says.

“Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example-”

“Look, Y/N it’s alright,” Josh shifts on the cage, “we got this okay? Go to the mall, we’ll do fine”

“No, you’re not,” I insist, “you’re not going back to the mall, what are you going to do?”

“I’ll survive,” He shrugs, “you read the note...”

“Romeo, Romeo I'm your Juliet I'm the pot of gold that you haven't found yet I'm here, right here”

Someone runs to us and tackles Eli to the ground, screaming like a maniac.

“Hi, Baron Triumph! Die!”

Oh my god, Jayden Hoyles it’s still alive?

“Get off of him!” I circle the byke and grab Hoyles’ arm trying to separate him from Eli, but he’s way stronger than me.

“Hoyles, you twat that’s not Burr, that’s Eli Cardashyan!” Josh yells from his cage.

Hoyles stops his movements instantly, sitting back and observing as Eli takes off his mask.

“’Sup turd?” He smirks.

“Fuck! Fuck!” He stands up and looks around in confusion.

“Hey let me outta here!” Josh demands, pushing the cage’s door.

Hoyles starts running away.

“Yeah, you better fucking run!” Eli sits on the ground as I walk over to the cage and unlock it.

“Hoyles you asshole! Hey!” Josh stands up in the cage, still screaming, “Hoyles!”

Then another miracle happens: Hoyles is tackled by a mutant pug.

“Oh, fuck” I cover my mouth in disgust.

“Holy shit,” I hear Josh whisper, “mutant pug mating season”

I wish I didn’t have that image pierced in my mind forever.

Josh crouches next to Eli and checks on him.

“Hey man, are you okay?”

“I’m the lord of illusion!” Eli chuckles, “I even fooled Hoyles!”

“Hoyles is not exactly a smartass,” I retort, “but yeah, good for you I guess. C’mon”

I try to help him get to his feet but Eli whimpers, falling back.

“What? What?!” I step back, thinking that maybe he’s got a broken rib.

Eli touches his stomach and his hand gets smudged with blood.

“Oh shit,” I mumble, kneeling beside him.

“N-Nah man, it’s fine,” Josh stutters, “we got you, Y/N will heal you, right Y/N?”

“I need to see how deep it went,” My hands are starting to sweat and I feel something cold run down my back, “Eli, I need to take your clothes off”

But Eli is not listening, he’s got a panicky look on his face as he puts pressure on his injury.

“No, Eli!” Josh tries to carry him but Eli whimpers again.

“Alex!” I yell, “Alex, come quick! Eli is hurt!”

“Oh fuck,” Josh is holding onto Eli like his life depends on it, “what do we do?”

“Eli, don’t move,” Stab wounds are off-limits, you’d think I’d read a fic that had stabbing on it, but it turns out the world is lacking some good old-fashioned stabs, “Uh... keep applying pressure to it, we need to stop the bleeding and-and we need bandages... oh god, but I don’t know how deep it went, Josh! if his organs aren’t intact...”

I look at Eli, who’s now coughing blood. I don’t dare to finish my sentence.

“What?” Josh asks anxiously, “if his organs aren’t intact what?”

“He’s...” This can’t be happening, not after all we’ve done, “we can’t help him, Josh”

“This blood is gonna get the Ghoulies fucking fast,” Eli speaks up, finally gaining a little bit of control.

“No man, don’t die,” Josh pleads, “Eli, don’t fucking die!”

“Josh,” I try to get his attention.

“What the fuck happened?” Alex is paler than before, “Y/N?”

“Hoyles stabbed him,” Only then I realize that I’ve started crying, “I-I don’t know what to do, Alex I can’t see his injury!”

“We’ll drive you back to the mall, okay?” Josh continues, “We’ll get Mavis. We’ll help you”

“Dude,” Eli speaks again, this time weaker than before, “Mavis is a mannequin. I don’t have the luck you got with Y/N, I don’t have anybody”

“Stop fucking around!” Josh exclaims.

“Just... when you get to the Highschool...” He mumbles.

“What? What man?” Josh gets closer, “Anything”

“You touch my ‘Magic: The Gathering’ cards, and I will hunt your ass,” He gives him a pointed look, “You don’t wanna fuck with paranormal Eli. I’m terrifying as shit”

“Jesus Eli,” I sob, “are you being serious right now?”

“More than ever, princess,” His breathing’s uneven now, and I know he’s about to go, “you do me a favor too, don’t go into sick dictator mode? Stay cool”

“Eli-” I cut my sentence as I notice he’s lost conscience, “No!”

“No, wake up, wake back up!” Josh shakes his body, “Get up, man! Get up! GET UP!”

“He’s gone,” Alex kneels beside me and touches my shoulder, “he’s gone...”

“Wake up,” Josh whispers, giving our friend’s body a final push.

Eli’s inert on the ground, he’s not breathing, and blood is still pouring from one of his sides. I feel the same numbness as with Katie.

“Fuck,” I sit back, whipping the tears from my face and accidentally smudging blood on my cheek, “I fucking hate this town”

“Josh?” Alex asks beside me, “Josh, we need to leave before the Ghoulies...”

I raise my eyes and see Josh still holding Eli’s body, he’s looking at some point in the distance, crying but not making any noise.

“Wheeler,” I move over to his side and I kneel in front of him, cupping his face between my hands, “now is not time to lose it, alright? Deep breaths...”

Josh is facing me but it’s like he’s looking through me, then he closes his eyes and takes deep breaths, three times. He nods slowly and looks at me, now I see he’s back on this plane of existence.

“Let’s fucking end this shit”

We’re arriving at school when Josh starts acting weird again, he stops walking from time to time and I hear him breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on the ground.

At some point, he turns around and sits on the ground next to a car.

Alex and I share a look and I step closer.

“What’s wrong?”

He vaguely shakes his head.

“Okay,” I reply softly, “you need help..?”

“I need closure,” He rasps, “I’m... I’m trying to...” He looks at me with pleading eyes, “Please don’t think I’m crazy”

“I won’t”

“I’m trying to imagine a conversation with my father,” He says to me very slowly, “you know, if I only had answered my phone on time... I need... I need that conversation now more than ever”

I feel a lump in my throat when I hear him, so I just nod.

“Course,” I mumble, “take your time”

I go back with Alex and tell him Josh needs a moment to calm down, so we sit at the main entrance of the school.

“It’s too empty,” Alex tells me, “the school, it’s too quiet.”

“Yeah,” I shrug, “maybe they’re gone, but we should make sure no one got left behind.”

“What is Josh doing, exactly?”

“He’s talking with his dad”

Alex gives me a weird look.

“Not he’s real dad, obviously. Like, the version inside his head,” I shake my head, “Look I know it sounds crazy but I get what he’s doing, don’t worry, he’ll be fine after this. He needs to talk it out.”

A memory flashes before my eyes:

-------------------------------------------

I’m thirteen and my cat just died, he was pretty old and fat, but I thought he would live forever. When I found out that wasn’t the case I sat next to his grave in the backyard and cried for a whole day until Katie came back from school.

She sat next to me in silence for a while, not even having physical contact.

“You know, dad says it’s better this way,” She says after an hour passes, “he died in his sleep, he wasn’t in pain.”

“But I am,” I cried, “he wasn’t supposed to leave me so soon!”

“You don’t know that,” Katie grabs my shoulder softly, “maybe he left so you could get another cat, maybe that cat is an orphan right now, and it’s waiting for you to save him”

“I wanted Lou, not an orphan cat,” I sniff loudly, “he was my best friend”

“It’s okay,” Katie slides closer and hugs me, “He’s still watching over you, I bet he’ll stay with you forever. That’s what happens when you die, you get to take care of the things you love in subtle ways.”

“You think?”

“Definitely,” She smiles, “if you ever feel scared during the night time he’ll warm your bed, or if you’re ever hungry and forgot your money for lunch, a friend will offer you cookies. Those kinds of things are stuff they sent to us, subtle reminders of their love”

----------------------------------------

God, I miss my sister so much.

I hadn’t thought of that conversation in a long time. She was clever, always knew what to say.

She was also right, about the subtle ways someone can send you their love.

I feel my sister on every kid that thank me when I heal them, my mom and dad are there every time Wesley and Angelica give me a speech/lecture about how I’m doing a good job and shouldn’t give up.

And Josh is...

Josh is every little thing I used to love about my home: the laughter, the secrets told at midnight, the goodnight kisses, the vibrant colors...

I look at my skates with a warm feeling on my chest, all of them, every person that I can’t see, they’re still with me. Looking after me, sending their love in subtle ways.

Josh walks up to us, looking determined.

“It’s done?” I stand up.

Josh hugs me without saying a thing.

“Oof!” I grunt, taken by surprise, “okay?”

“I don’t want to hurt people anymore,” He says, voice muffled by my hair.

“That’s good,” I pat his back.

“I will keep my promises this time,” He assures me, but I think he’s still talking to himself, “I won’t push you away”

“I believe you,” I respond, stepping back and looking into his eyes, “but Josh, keep in mind that you aren’t perfect, so please don’t push yourself too hard or you’ll break again”

He nods, smiling lightly.

“Ready to finish this?”

Instead of replying I turn around and extend my hand to Alex to help him get up.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” I apologize wholeheartedly, “you could be traveling around the country if it wasn’t for me”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Y/N” He smiles.

I look back at Josh, his usual energetic attitude is slowly coming back.

“We’re ready.”

“You’re something else, Y/N,” Josh replies, eyes beaming.

“Well it started out as nothing in the strangest place Beating like a drum in a hard work space He swore that he could feel something tugging on his sleeve He had the strangest sense that he was Adam, she was Eve”

The school is completely abandoned, no one is on the halls, they’re clean like someone made sure to leave everything in their place before escaping.

“We should look in every room, just in case,” I say, Alex and Josh agree silently.

We search in the principal’s office and the classrooms.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Alex whispers.

“Wait,” Josh stops, “you heard that?”

“What?”

We don’t move for a second. Then, a clanging sound echoes through the hall, we share a look of excitement before sprinting forward.

“Over here!” Alex opens the door of the chemistry classroom.

We step inside as the noise gets stronger, Josh moves quietly and points to the closet in one of the corners.

We join him to see Sam Dean, desperately trying to open a heavy metal door with chains around its handle. We get closer and she doesn’t seem to hear us, too focused on breaking the chains.

“She was in chains by her own good hand Keeping all the angels under her command He saw every detail burning like sun Couldn't get it straight that his race was run”

“Sam?” Josh asks loudly.

The girl screams and raises the crowbar, almost hitting Josh on the head.

The three of us step back and shout that we come in peace, raising our hands so she sees we have no weapons.

Well, I do have Katie on my back, but like, I’m injured so I can’t grab it fast enough.

Her eyes widened and urge us with an alarmed voice.

“QUICK! BURR’S GONNA-”

An explosion sends us all against the opposite wall, I hit the side of my face with a chair and when I open my eyes I’m on the ground. Blood is coming from my mouth and I feel my lip has a cut. I’m too disoriented to get up, so I stay still on the floor.

A shadow stands above me and I look up, is that... Sam Dean?

She helps me to get on my feet and it’s then when I realize my ears aren’t working as they should.

“I...” But I can’t hear my own voice, so I assume they can’t hear it either.

Well, fuck.

I search through my bag ignoring the pain in my shoulder and pull out my notebook (the one I always carry around, not the one Josh gave me, I left that one behind, remember?) and a pen, quickly scribbling away.

‘Triumph?’

I show the page to Sam and she nods, she grabs my notebook and writes back.

‘My fault. Need to stop him.’

Josh and Alex walk up to us, Josh is looking good overall, but I can see Alex will have a pretty nasty bruise on his eye in a couple of hours. Josh rushes over to my side and examines my face with a worried expression, I brush him off and grab my notebook from Sam’s hands, pointing to what’s written in it.

Josh reads it and shakes his head, taking the pen and writing messily.

‘We have no weapons’

I snatch the notebook from his hands and write in all caps:

‘MALL’

I show the notebook to Sam and she nods excitedly. Then she mouths ‘LET’S GO’ and guides us outside.

She leaves the classroom with Alex following close behind, Josh and I are left alone.

I scribble quickly.

‘Ur <3 is with me?’

Josh reads and nods, not understanding what I’m trying to say.

‘R U going to tell her?’

He gulps and looks over to where Sam was moments ago, then takes the notebook from my hands and writes five words.

‘Kill Triumph 1st. Talk later’

Right. Priorities.

We get out of the classroom and soon are on our way to the mall, my lip has stopped bleeding but it’s swelling and it hurts. I landed on my shoulder and that’s also hurting, you can add this to the list of injuries that I’ll have to deal with later.

It’s around five o’clock when we arrived, we are battered but we need to gather our stuff and think of what we’ll do next.

The kids spot Sam and most of them run to welcome her and give her a hug, but she tries desperately to let them know what’s going on, I don’t know if they’re able to hear or not, so I hit Josh’s shoulder and give him a sharpie I had in my bag, pointing to the column in front of us.

He grabs it and writes on it ‘TRIUMPH IS GONNA NUKE GLENDALE’.

KJ snatches the sharpie and writes ‘We have to GO!’

Sam glares at her and takes the sharpie back, writing ‘We have to stop him!!’

I drop the notebook and grab the sharpie, quickly adding ‘We need the spare weapons! We need to kill Triumph!’

Sam and KJ keep pointing to their signs and then KJ does it harder, giving Sam a pointed look and walking away.

I walk over to KJ and grab her arm, frowning at her, trying to communicate my thoughts: ‘What THE FUCK are you doing?’

She points with her thumb over her shoulder and then to the things on the ground, like saying ‘I’m done with this shit’

Well, smartass so am I.

Most of the kids start to join KJ, they don’t want to fight or kill, they want safety.

I should know that, I heard them before.

I walk back to where Sam is and I see slight relief in her eyes, she knows she’s not alone.

Josh starts to walk over to KJ’s side and both of us look at him with wide eyes.

I pull the pen out of my pocket and throw it at his head.

He turns around, holding the place where I hit him and asks silently ‘What?’

Sam’s mouths ‘What the fuck?’

Josh shrugs and points to the kids, ‘Let’s go?’

KJ crosses her arms and raises a brow, expectant.

For fucks sake, I like her but sometimes I want to kick her ass.

Sam shakes her head and picks up the notebook and the pen from the ground, she opens it on the page where we were writing before and just when she’s about to start writing, her eyes find my conversation with josh.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Please kill me now, oh fuck, I fucked up. I’m the worst.

Her eyes widened, throwing the notebook she looks up at Josh and then at me.

I step away from her.

It’s embarrassing really, how long it takes Josh to realize Sam found out about us... ugh, that sounds disgusting, it sounds like we cheated or something.

She gesticulates dramatically and Josh only seems to get even more confused as she keeps going until finally she stops moving and asks, very loudly:

“You FUCKED Her?”

Oh, I can hear now.

Oh no, I can hear now.

“I’m going to get those weapons,” I say, face completely red and unable to look at either of them in the eyes.

Fuck is a stretch, to be honest. We barely kiss like two times, this is not middle school.

“Alex can you..?” He tilts his head and frowns.

Am I... am I the only one who’s able to hear right now?

“You can’t hear me?”

Alright then, they can’t. I lower my head and walk straight towards the pharmacy, thinking what will I do to live with the humiliation of being ‘the other girl’.

________________________________

Well, Josh had a blast being insulted nonstop by a bunch of colorful post-it notes.

Sam was pissed. She had the right to be, Josh had been unfair and had offended her for no reason, so he just let her write everything she wanted, he wasn’t going to defend himself.

When the girl stick the last note on his forehead ‘U R a coward’ Josh pulled the old, raggedy yellow note that said ‘Where are you?’ and handed it to her.

Then he grabbed the post-its and wrote:

‘Fixing my mistakes.’

Sam read it and spoke up.

“Am I a mistake?” She raised a brow.

“What I did to you was,” He replied, “I know saying I’m sorry sounds like I’m not actually sorry. I am, though. I’ve been working on fixing the way I cope with things and it’s taking me a while to get used to it.”

“Good for you,” Sam replied harshly, “that doesn’t mean everything will go back to normal and you know it, right?”

“I wasn’t counting on it,” He admits, and when he said it, the pain in his chest was minimal, “you deserve better Sam, I really liked our time together but I know that what I said to you was just plain awful”

The girl tilted her head.

“I’m right,” She squinted, “You and Y/N are a thing?”

“No,” Josh saw her skeptical expression and sighed, “for a moment we kinda were, but... Let’s say I’m a pro at making girls hate me”

Sam nodded.

“It looks like karma got to you, I have nothing to add,” Sam started to walk away, but stopped to look over her shoulder, “the things you wrote on the notebook... is it true? You love her?”

“I don’t know,” Josh felt his heart flutter at the thought, “it does feel like it sometimes”

“Like it felt with me?” Sam asked ironically.

Josh groaned, passing a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry I was so pushy”

“Josh,” Sam insisted, “you can’t be falling around for every girl that treats you nicely”

“Y/N doesn’t ‘treat me nicely’,” He replied, “when I cut my finger she almost tied me to a bed and forced me to recover. She insults me a lot, recently threatened to kill me”

“And you like her?” Sam frowned, “Are you sure you’re working on your issues?”

“She’s done all those stuff but she also cured my hand, and she’s cured every kid on this mall, she got us weapons and she watches our back. When I talk to her I just feel that she gets me, you know? She’s... I feel I finally found my place,” He looked over to the pharmacy, where Y/N was hurriedly putting weapon after weapon inside a plastic box, “I feel happy when I’m with Y/N”

Sam gets closer, also watching the girl in the pharmacy.

“Y/N L/N a.k.a Vinchi-”

“She doesn’t like that nickname anymore,” Josh is quick to correct.

“Alright,” Sam gives him a funny look, “just Y/N, then. Artistic type of person, creative, funny, a talent for kind words. Yes, I can see you falling for someone like that. Actually, I don’t understand how it didn’t happen sooner,” Sam eyes him up, “didn’t you do a project together?”

“Yeah,” He smiles, “I did have a thing for her, but you know, I was with you...”

“How considerate,” Sam shakes her head, “time’s up, we need to go and stop Triumph.”

_______________________________

I hand the box to Alex and dry the sweat of my forehead.

“That was the last crossbow,” I sigh, “well, we need to go again”

“Not gonna lie, being a hero is way harder than expected,” Alex grunts.

I put an anti-inflammatory cream on his eye, the bruise is fully formed now and it gives him a shitty look, I wave of appreciation washes over me and I hug my friend by the shoulders.

“I love you, Alex. You’re the only family I have left”

“Hey, that’s not true,” He looks down at me, “things are not over yet, we still can get Wesley and Angelica back, and... I mean, Josh is still pretty much into you, right?”

“Right,” A voice replies behind me, “but she’s not ready to forgive me, so I decided to do the next logical thing and fight against the cannibal to win her back”

I turn around and I see Josh standing at the entrance, a tiny smile on his face.

“Ready to go?”

“Where are we going first?” Alex asks.

“We need people, we should go for Angelica and Wesley,” Josh looks at me, “I shouldn’t have kicked them out in the first place, I know.”

“Wait,” Alex interrupts, “we can’t leave the weapons here alone and we can’t take them with us, it’s a lot to carry. Someone needs to stay and wait”

“I’ll stay,” I reply instantly.

“Are you sure?” Josh asks me.

“Yes, I’ve always been the one to look after the mall, right?”

I’m trying to make it look like I’m being heroic, but actually, I’m just finding an excuse to not confront Sam just yet.

“Okay,” Alex pats my back, “I’ll stay too then”

“No, you have to help them, you don’t know what could happen while you’re out,” I push his hand away, “Go, I’ll be fine”

Josh holds my hand.

“I’ll fix things, I’ll get everyone back... I hope you can give me another chance once this whole thing ends”

Little does he know, I would give him the second chance right now if he’d ask.

If only he had asked.

“Romeo, Romeo tell me where you've been I would be complete if you'd only let me in I'm here, right here He said Juliet I told you I was only passing through If I had a moment I would spend it just with you I'm here, right here”

So I sit on the mattress store with the box of spare weapons next to me for what it feels like hours, but it’s really just like one. Finally Josh, Sam, and Alex arrive with Wesley... and Turbo.

“Well hello,” I raise my eyebrows, “it’s always a pleasure to see the guy that tried to kill us a few nights ago”

“He’ll help,” Josh tells me, “he’s with us now”

“I assumed he was, otherwise he wouldn’t be so chill, right, big guy?”

Turbo smiles awkwardly at me.

“Y/N,” Wesley smiles at me, “can I have a hug?”

“You can have all you want!” I quirk up, hugging him tightly I take the opportunity to whisper, “I missed you, man. You were great on Harvard’s podcast”

“You listen to them?” He steps back, shaking his head, “nevermind, of course you do”

“What’s that supposed to-”

“Hey,” Sam walks up to me, “can we talk?”

If I could pronounce the way I write a key smash, I would. I do not want to talk to Sam Dean.

“Sure!” I say, maybe too excitedly.

She takes me outside the store and sighs, just letting things out.

“I know about you and Josh, I just want you to know that I’m fine with it, you can stop looking at me like I’m about to jump on your throat”

“What?” I laugh nervously, “I’m not- Okay, fine, holy shit I’m so sorry, I’m under a lot of pressure”

“I understand,” She pats my shoulder, “it’s okay, Y/N. We’re good.”

“Thank you,” I let out a heavy sigh, “you’re great”

“I’m just not a bitch,” Sam smirks, “besides, he really cares about you”

“Okay,” Josh speaks up from the store, “Burr has Angelica, an army of jocks, and a big nuke.”

We go back in the moment he turns to look at Turbo.

“What’s your plan?”

Turbo stands up and grunts, pacing up and down. He’s upset.

“Kids need the strongest leader,” Sam mentions, “Turbo isn’t that anymore”

Turbo grunts louder and I reach for his arm to gain his attention.

“If you keep grunting like that your throat will never heal,” I warn him, “and you probably need a humidifier... or something, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor”

Turbo stares at me for a few seconds and then back at Josh. He points to him and then to me. Wesley eyes me up with a sly smile and then at Josh.

I’m: confused.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Josh stands up, “I can’t make a plan, I’m not a leader, I’m just... I’m just Josh!”

“Alone, yes,” Wesley retorts, “with Y/N? That’s a different story.”

“Uhm, what?” I frown.

“He’s right,” Alex says, “Josh is an expert at survival, but you know how to find shortcuts to solutions. Creativity and knowledge, that’s enough to succeed.”

“No one will follow us,” I reply, “Josh and I are nobodies, we have no friends!”

‘I’ll be your friend!’ A voice that triggers my panic speaks up from the hall.

“SHIT!”

We jump to hide and Sam looks around.

“Aw! What’s your name? Guys look!”

“It’s not exploding?” I peek over the couch, “What a nice way to find out I have PTSD”

“Sorry!” KJ appears at the corner, “Sorry! Thought it was cute... My bad, too soon. I want to apologize for running away. We came back to help you fight. And... we’re not the only ones”

I’m shocked to see that the Cheeramazons are here. I’m even more surprised when I see that Josh knows sign language.

“Besides,” KJ smiles at me apologetically, “must of us feel like we own you big time, Y/N. You’re like a mom”

“I’m not a mom!” I scoff, “But... thank you, I guess.”

“Do you have a plan?” Sam looks at us.

Josh hesitates, looking around like he’s lost.

“Josh?” I hold his hand, “I’m right here with you.”

He looks down at our hands and a smile appears on his face, he drops my hand, but only for just a second so he can sign what he says:

“Let’s save the world.”

“And they all fall down And they all fall down”

“You don’t actually have a plan, don’t you?” I ask.

“I don’t have a plan,” Josh looks at me with pure fear, “I was expecting you would give me one?”

“Hmm,” I nod, “well, you can’t expect me to solve every problem, you know?”

“But you’re great at solving things!”

“Yes, but this is a difficult one!” I reply, “we are so few, and they are so many... shit, we could barely form a...”

My voice dies at the end, an idea making its way to me.

“I know that look,” Josh says, a smile growing slowly on his face, “tell me what you think”

“We need to form a marching band.”

Josh frowns, having no idea of what I’m saying.

“Just- Come...” I grab his hand and rush to the main entrance of the mall.

I know I’m making a lot of time-skips. But those parts are boring and let’s be honest, you’re not here to listen to our crazy plans, you’re here to read some classic romance.

Maybe I should skip to the end of this? Would you like me to?

Sike! you’re gonna sit and wait for me to end narrating cause I want to talk about my goddamn day.

Where was I? Oh right, so we take the truck to the mall and Josh parks right outside, lowering the ramp so everyone can climb up the back.

“Alright!” Josh tells aloud as I circle the truck “Let’s hop in!”

I stand next to the ramp and watch as kids hesitantly climb.

Sam grabs my arm and pulls me towards Josh, whispering:

“Hi, what the shit?”

“I’m relatively confident this is gonna end well,” Josh points at me, “it’s one of Y/N’s plan, those never fail”

He gives me a bright smile but I almost wish he didn’t cause I am not even close to confident.

“Fighting Baron Triumph, with the surviving members of the JV marching band?” Sam asks in disbelief.

“Hey, don’t underestimate the power of music,” I state.

“Besides,” Josh continues, “they don’t have to be any good, just loud!”

A Cheeramazon stands in our way and mouth ‘it’s going to be loud’ she winks, high-fiving Josh. He chuckles (his cute, childish laugh) and guides us to the front seats of the truck.

“Yes, that makes total sense, thank you,” Sam mumbles.

“If it doesn’t work, I guess we can just follow plan b,” I shrug.

“What’s plan b?” She asks.

Josh and I share a goofy look and respond in unison:

“Improvise!”

The kids start playing the instruments as loud as they can and it happens: a Ghoulie walks out of his cave, mindlessly following the noises.

“Fuck, Josh!” Sam gets all defensive, but Josh and I only get excited.

“Keep playing! Keep playing!” Josh runs over to the driver’s seat and I grab the hammer that’s hanging on my back.

“Y/N?” Sam looks back at me, “you’re not coming?”

“Oh, yes” I smile, “just not inside the car.”

“What do you mean?” She frowns.

“I mean I could, but where’s the poetry in that?” I respond.

I can see that she doesn’t get what I’m trying to say, but that’s okay, no one could. Only you guys, you’re the one seeing the whole scene unfold.

So picture this:

The former loner who knows every corner of Glendale like the back of her hand, now skating along with her best friend from childhood ahead of a huge truck that carries her old Highschool classmates playing loudly (and badly) the marching band’s instruments so they can get as many Ghoulies as possible to make the dirty work for them.

We make our way through the dirt that’s lifting from the ground, the Daybreakers make their dramatic appearance in front of Triumph’s army.

Yeah, you like that name for our tribe? I wish I could say it was my idea, but it seems that my imagination is better at stupid plans rather than naming important things.

I don’t mind, really, as I smugly arrive at the scene, backed up by a gigantic bee face, I feel more powerful than ever.

Josh and Sam get out of the driver’s seat and stand on each side of us, I bet we must look pretty badass. Or at least I hope our vibe feels like we know what we’re doing.

“Hey Josh!” Burr yells.

Then his army starts walking towards us, and I keep my grip firm on Katie.

“Is this your plan?” Sam asks loudly.

“We need an army to fight the jocks,” Josh retorts, “so we got an army”

Now, I did feel a bit bad watching as the Ghoulies feasted on those poor athletic souls, but hey, they had it coming! How can they support someone like Burr?

Turbo’s bus stops next to us and we climb up on it, I have a hard time climbing without using my injured hand that much. Jesus, at this point I don’t think my hand will ever properly heal.

He drops us where Angelica is and she receives us with a hug -first time she hugs me, I feel validated- and tells us the wonderful news about how the nuke is ready to blow up in our faces.

KJ and she try to deactivate it but the instructions are in a different language and it’s hard to read, Angelica has a little breakdown and Josh tries to calm her down.

“Hey! Okay then, we’ll just unfuck it,” He says calmly, “Angelica, you’re a Mensa-level genius with flexible morality... and I need you.”

Alright but you agree with me when I say that this is not fair, right?

That was so sweet! Why is he so sweet when I try to keep my distance?

WHY?

“I need help,” Angelica replies, “there’s a biological weapon on this nuke, I don’t know what it is, Ms. Crumble does. I need her”

“We’ll get her,” I say.

“Well, where is she?” Sam inquires.

Angelica points to a building behind us.

“In there, with the other kids”

When we walk inside we see a bunch of kids trapped inside two school busses.

“I’m gonna get them out,” Sam says.

But before she can, Triumph attacks Josh and pushes him over the ramp, he falls from a reasonably high distance and Sam ends up fighting Burr, so it’s up to Alex and me now.

“Go get Ms. Crumble!” Sam demands as she runs, “Angelica needs her!”

Josh runs away and Alex and I go towards the busses.

“Get away from the door!” I warn the kids on my bus as Alex does the same with his.

I hit the small window on it and I break the glass, I hear the sound of a gun being fired and some glass falling to the ground, so I assume Alex shot the door to death.

“Get out! Come on!” I urge the kids to run away as they desperately climb out of the bus.

I hear Sam grunting and screaming and I look up to see her on the ground. I don’t get to worry much cause soon enough Josh appears behind Triumph and stabs him in the back, Ms. Crumble is next to him, along with Mona.

I have to make a quick choice, and I decide that the four of them can easily kick Burr’s ass, so I make my way outside to cut some Ghoulie heads.

Or more specifically, smash them.

But when Alex and I get out we see Wesley and Turbo being cornered by some jocks and we stand beside them, Alex points his gun to someone but I see he really doesn’t want to use it against a live person.

“Well, look what the plague brought,” Maya comes out to the front, “Vinchi.”

“Bite me, Maya”

“I rather leave it to the Ghoulies,” She smiles, “go ahead, boys”

The jocks move but Sam appears behind us, trying to calm everyone down.

“Woah, Woah! Hey, guys” She peeks over Wesley’s shoulder.

“Hi Sam!” a boy at the back waves at her, “Nice jacket!”

“Thank you Michael!” She exclaims, “Okay, so if we could all just... relax. Principal Burr is dead, but we need to get Ms. Crumble here, up there to disarm that nuke and save everyone. Good?”

“You got it, Sam!” Michael replies.

“Thank you, cooperative”

We go back to Angelica and Crumble tells us that the bomb made her, I don’t really understand what she means, but right after she says it Angelica tells us she can’t deactivate now.

But, she can fire the missile to a different location. Up to god, apparently.

Unfortunately, it can only be done from here, and being this close to the missile when it shoots up equals dying a really shitty death.

“I’ll do it!” Crumble offers.

Angelica refuses the idea, but deep down... it’s our only way out if we want to stay here.

It’s hard, I see myself reflected in the way she holds onto Crumble’s waist. She doesn’t want to let go of the only family she has. However, it’s imperative we do this soon, so we have to take her away.

She fights, kicks and yells as hard as she can, but eventually, we drag her out.

“Get to the trucks!” Josh yells and we all obey.

Crumble makes sure we are all safe before she presses the button.

The explosion is massive, impressive. Angelica turns her back to it and hugs Josh and I close, Wesley joins in.

“We’re here, An” I tell her as I pass a hand through her hair, “we’re with you”

“I never thought I would see anything like this,” Alex mumbles behind us.

“I never thought I would be this close to die so many times in just one year,” I scoff, “apocalypse, am I right?”

The missile explodes but is too far out of our reach to even feel scared. It’s like four of July, and we’re just watching fireworks.

“We did it?” I ask.

“It’s done,” Sam says.

“Holy shit,” Alex pulls me away from my other friends and hugs me tightly, “We did it! We saved the world!”

I hug him back and laugh loudly.

“Fuck yes!” I step away and hug Wesley, then Turbo, then Sam... and Josh and I are standing face to face without knowing what to do.

“Uh, good job,” Josh smiles.

We hear Angelica sob and the bliss disappears.

Josh puts a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry”

“We have so much to thank her,” I hug her again, “it’s okay...”

Wesley joins in, the three of us looking at the flames surrounding the place where the nuke used to be.

“What are we looking at?”

“SHIT!” I jump away from Crumble, “How are you so quiet- No, how the fuck are you here?”

Angelica gasps and hugs Crumble.

“I told you!” Crumble laughs.

“What are you?” An asks her.

Yes, that would be the right question.

“I don’t know,” She shakes her head, “but aren’t we gonna have fun figuring it out together?”

“Yeah!”

I don’t know why, but a need to run away invades me. I feel like this is all too good to be true and something will explode in our face.

Now, that could be my PTSD talking, but either way, I quietly start to skate away from the people, trying to find a place that is lonesome enough to control my nerves.

“Y/N!” I keep skating, not noticing someone’s calling my name, “Y/N! Wait!”

Josh grabs my arm and stands in front of me.

“Where are you going?” He frowns.

“Oh, hah, I’m just-I’m just trying to... I...” I swallow the lump in my throat, “I’m scared, Josh”

“I know,” He nods, letting go of my arm, “but I thought we had agreed that you didn’t have to go to feel better, right?”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” I blurt out, “Cause if you’re not, I just can’t do it, Josh. I can’t be wondering every day if you’re into me or if it’s just you pretending, I need... I need to know that you know”

“I know,” He repeats, “I want to be with you, Y/N. You and your silly socks and these horribly blinding lime-green skates. If that’s what makes you happy then I’ll get you all the lime-green things in the world. I’m okay with whatever you want as long as I can keep listening to your voice calling me stupid Josh and urging me to brush my teeth, I... I like you”

I’m not going to cry over this cliche speech. I refuse.

Fuck, I’m crying.

“Shut up,” I half-laugh, half-cry, “I think... I like you too, stupid Josh”

“Can I have a second chance?”

“You just saved the world, you can have anything you want”

“You saved the world too”

“All I want is you”

I grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him down to kiss him.

“Ouch! Bad idea, bad idea,” I step back, holding my swollen lip, “I was trying to be romantic”

“Are you okay?” Josh laughs, cupping my face, “Wait, hold on let me see, did I make it bleed again?”

“I don’t know,” I raise my head so he can examine it, “I’m sorry, I ruined the moment”

“You didn’t,” He shakes his head, still chuckling, “let me just...”

He leans slowly, giving me a moment to step back if that’s what I want.

That’s obviously not what I want.

He kisses me again, softer this time.

Oh, how little matters the end of the world on moments like this.

Suddenly it’s like we’re back at the beginning, the school is celebrating their homecoming and I’m kissing my boyfriend after a long day of cheering for our football team. Alex must be waiting for us to get to the mall so we can watch a movie with him and Stuart. There’s not a ‘What if’ on sight to wonder about, I’m living in it.

“She said Romeo, Romeo I'm your Juliet I'm the pot of gold that you haven't found yet I'm here, right here He said Juliet I believe every word you say Time is running backwards every single day...”

“Hey, lovebirds!” Sam calls out.

We break apart to look at her and Josh smiles.

“Hey! Listen, I think we’ll be a bit uncomfortable at first cause we are too many, but we can make it work, so if you just gather everyone...”

“What are you talking about?” Sam tilts her head.

“Uh, about the jocks joining our tribe?” Josh shrugs, “Now that Turbo is no longer their leader, you’ll need a place to stay. I know I’m not the best leader, but perhaps we can take care of you just fine”

“Says who?”

“Sam, you have no leader, you need protection,” He replies, “that’s why we rescued you”

“Rescued me?” She rolls her eyes, “I’ll always be thankful to you, Josh. And you Y/N, of course,” She walks up to the ramp, “when you posted that video you showed me who I could be. I don’t need to be saved! I just need a little guidance, something Y/N could be very helpful at?”

“You want me to join your tribe?” I frown.

“What? What are you talking about?” Josh asks, “Sam, what are you saying, who are you?”

She walks up to the center and turns around, looking down at us.

“I’m Sam Dean,” Sam replies like it’s obvious, she looks at Mona and nods.

Mona hops into the truck, ready to follow.

“What do you say, Y/N?” She asks me, “We might need your brain to rebuild our home”

“I-I don’t...” I stutter, not knowing what’s going on.

“She won’t leave her little boyfriend behind, she’s too needy,” A voice says.

The Jocks step aside and Maya reveals herself.

“I’ll be more than happy to help, though.”

“No!” I say in outrage, “Don’t listen to her, she’s not-”

I can’t find the words and it’s making me frustrated.

“Sam, you’re not like this,” Josh helps me out, “you don’t want Maya, she doesn’t play nice”

“Things change, Josh” Sam extends her arms, “this is my life now, these are my people and they need a leader. Y/N can understand that, don’t you? You wouldn’t just leave your mall kids abandoned, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” I reply dryly.

“No, you would do anything to keep them safe. Well, the jocks... they need me, and I know Maya can be quite resourceful, she spent some time with the Cheeramazons after all, I might need her talent for strategy, you know, just in case,” She smirks, “who cares about stupid morals nowadays?”

Maya walks up to her and stands on her left side, giving me a satisfied look.

“The apocalypse wasn’t the best thing to happen to you, Josh. It was the best thing to happen to me,” She looks at the rest of us and adds, “follow me.”

The jocks kneel and Sam sits on her throne... a queen bee finding its hive.

“Y/N?”

“What, Josh?”

“Remind me to never doubt you ever again,” He looks at me with a worried expression, “I should’ve listened to you and just leave her alone...”

“you did that because you’re a good person,” I reply, “but I think it’s time we face it, ‘good’ won’t assure our safety, we’ll have to be smarter than that.”

“Now what?” Alex asks next to me.

“We stay together,” Angelica replies, “we won’t get intimidated that easily. We’re a tribe now! We have to make them respect us”

“I’m in,” Wesley says, then looks at Turbo next to him, who nods, “Turbo’s too”

“Me too,” Alex agrees.

“We’ll find our way out, right?” I ask Josh, reaching for his hand.

“Together, or not at all,” He nods intertwining our fingers.

“I'm here, right here...”

Taglist.

@letsbloodmagic @slythermyg @loving-u-3000

#twoidiots writing #daybreak fanfic #daybreak #josh wheeler xreader #eli cardashyan #angelica green #wesley fists #baron triumph #ms crumble #turbo bro jock #sam dean #netflix

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brooklynislandgirl · 4 years

Note

five times kissed {in boots or not}

Sweeter than Wine || Not Accepting

I. The darkness breathes around them and there are no moons to shine down in the vaulted space between their sleeping mats and the impossible ceiling above their heads. There is not really silence either with the breath of twenty younglings scattered about as she creeps her way on hand and knee, dragging pillow and blanket along behind her. She cannot see where she is going and relies on a rudimentary grasp on the Force to offer her a compass point. The fits and starts of his breath help. The distress is palpable. It feels like a burning stone in the middle of her chest. Feels like the way the sky looks just before a sudden squall.

It takes an eternity for her to finally get to where she intends to go, and it is there she hesitates. She knows instinctively were someone to touch her in the dark when she can’t see what is coming, she would lash out in fear and terror. And while the Masters say that one must control one’s fear because it is not a good thing. Bad things should be eli...elem...should be done away with. She doesn’t want to do away with the boy with sun coloured hear and lakes for eyes. Her boy.

She curls up around him. Forming a cocoon of flesh and blood, sharing warmth as she settles her pillow beside his and draws her thin, scratchy blanket across them both. Like her fathers would do, she rubs small circles against his back and leans in close to kiss his cheek. In a voice that is more Force than whisper, she says, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far away there was a beautiful world. And on this world there was a boy and a girl and an enormous garden...” ~*~

II. Her lungs burn. Her muscles threaten to seize. She doubles over. Hands on her knees, gulping in breath after breath, wincing at the sudden stitch in her side. Sweat pours down her back. She doesn’t have half the length of his legs and it’s so unfair! Only a standard cycle ago she’d been taller than him, faster. But now he’s out matched her, even if he’s paid for that growth in pain from bones, from muscle, stretching to new heights. He can now take the stairs two at a time, sometimes three when he’s daring, and all she can do is to try and catch up at a far slower pace. To add insult to injury, he doubles back. Cloak flapping behind him and robes threatening to wrap around his boots. He’ll need a new pair soon. She can tell, being so close to them in the moment, trying her best to not look like some mottled green, sweat coated disaster of a near-human. She is about as successful at that as she has been in keeping up with him.

“You almost had me until the stairs.” Oh yes, he’s just so helpful, isn’t he? “I know.”

“You’re mad.” Thank you, Captain Obvious. “I know.”

“There’s something you don’t know,” he says, and there’s an edge to his voice. She’s hurt his feelings, unable to keep her internal comments to herself. She risks straightening, determined to meet his gaze when she apologises. That doesn’t happen because as soon as she can meet him eye to eye, she catches the thoughtful look on his face. Eyes too bright, pink in his cheeks, lower lip caught between his teeth. And the next thing that happens is he steals a quick but unmistakable kiss to her forehead. “You just-” “I know.” And with that he’s gone again, only the echo of his laugh teasing her to catch up. ~*~ III. Even apart there’s always something extra, something indefinable that others take note of even if it’s only at the edges of their animal brain, the senses enhanced by their training in the Force. A feeling like neither one is entirely in the physical space they occupy. It is like gravitational pull, perhaps. Something that extends out into space in all directions, for an infinite distance.

On Naboo, Anakin walks in a garden, the grass bending softly beneath his boots, the sun dappling his face as he turns it upwards toward the sky, eyes closed in something very similar to meditation were he not so aware of his surroundings. On Coruscant, Melakeni runs her fingers over a work bench, feeling the cold metal along the edges of her arm as she turns her gaze downward at half-sketched designs. Pod racers, strange ships, a new hand. A moment later, she picks up a neatly folded shirt and holds it up to her face.

She breathes the scent of him in. He feels the breeze waft across throat. They reach for each other across the vast distance because they both know what it is like to be surrounded by people and be very alone. Some time later, he arrives in the common room and is greeted by the familiar faces that have always been there like stonework or stars ~hazy but really indistinct. They all have names, he even remembers a few of them. It isn’t long after that she arrives. A thousand new suns are born in the clash of blue and green, even if not a single word is spoken, if the only thing that happens is that look.

One person whispers, “Wasn’t he sitting by the window?” Another nods. “Wasn’t she reaching for a book on the shelf?”

And so it goes until the others filter out to get something to eat, called to another part of the Temple, or simply to not be HERE right now. He gestures and her page turns. She hands him a new stylus.

Only a hand-span separates them.

Lips do not have to touch for a kiss to be so profound. ~*~

IV. She lies motionless in his arms as he carries her solemnly to her resting place. A single petal drifts down from her hair to land at his feet and he will mourn that just as much as the any other part of that except that at least the petal he can keep secreted in a pocket, where fluttering and twitching fingers can close around it, careful not to crush it. It will leave its scent on his skin no matter how often he washes that hand, because it will always and only be the one made of flesh, never the other.

It is both boon and bane that she still looks alive.

He lays her gently amongst the pillows. With the utmost exquisite care, he strokes her hair. Her still warm cheek. Brushes the pad of his thumb along the curve of her lip. There is no political statement to be made now. No other thought but that in her demise she looks tranquil. As death, tender in its enactment, should be...or so she’d said once. His chest is tight and it’s so hard to breath when hers neither rises nor falls. Pressure builds behind his eyes as he tries to stand still, gazing down at her. His throat dry. Because he’s done this, hasn’t he? It’s all his fault. One moment she was laughing, and the next...

Her eye cracks open.

“Only way this works is if...you know... you can come down here for my dramatic turn to undeath and I savagely tear your throat out in a gush of hot, pulsing blood.”

This Impending Doom comes too close to the real thing for a moment before what she says actually registers somewhere between the layers that he so often exists between.

“And how am I supposed to be horrified at the punishment for my crimes if you keep talking. You’re supposed to be dead at least until I’ve eu-logised you.” The word is not one he normally uses, and there’s a catch in his pronunciation of it that sets butterflies adrift in her belly, and suddenly their game...isn’t one. Before she realises it, she’s scrambled up to her knees on the impossibly thin mattress. Her hands become steel fists in the seams of his under-tunic. The tip of her nose caresses the underside of his jaw as her lips press into his throat. The desire is there to sink into his flesh. To drink down his freely given essence. But she doesn’t. Even when she can feel him pressing even closer into the kiss. Can savour the shudder that passes through him both in body and in Presence, more radiant than anything she’s seen, all heat and light when her lips part and she traces lines around cartilage there. Can feel the weight of one arm that wraps instinctively around her waist, the other becoming lost in her hair. Every single ounce of her writes into his skin; I love you, I love you, IloveyouIloveonlyyou.

~*~

V. He bolts upright. Sweat sticks to him like a second, clammy skin. His heartbeat sounds like thousands of troops marching at a pace that can never be achieved or sustained even by the most extraordinary means. The breathes he takes are far too quick and far too shallow for her liking. This has happened to Anakin throughout his life, from the first time he slept into the Temple, to now, in the aftermath of all that has happened. They would tell him that it was only nightmare. They would tell him to control himself better, that the dreams have no power over him that he does not give.

And she knows just what a load of bantha dung that is.

It’s been a while since he’s had a nightmare that powerful, that has ruined and will continue to ruin his sleep for days. She keeps a hypo in the drawer on her nightstand, but she’s not wont to use it, hasn’t before. Forcing him to sleep is just as horrific, if not more so than telling him it’s all in his head and to simply let it go. She shifts under the covers that he’s thrown off, and doesn’t take offence when his body stiffens at her touch. She waits for him to become acclimatised to the feel of her. Because nothing is as important in moments like this than for Anakin to feel safe, that he has the power to consent or decline as he wishes, even when all he might want to do is give himself over to her so he doesn’t have to make himself think. So that he can just be, which is often taxing enough without adding anything else to it. When she feels him relax even slightly, she curls an arm around his waist. Leans into his back and presses small, soothing kisses against his shoulder, against his back. With them comes a kind of clarity, not exactly of mind, but of body. She lets go only long enough to allow him to rise. At times like these he has a biological imperative to move. To stop him is to hurt him in an unforgivable way. He chooses pacing and that’s fine. “Do you want to talk about it, Za’lali?”

“No.” He sounds so young and yet so terribly old. Eventually, he walks himself into exhaustion and comes back to bed, where she’s waited patiently. His head cushioned in her lap as he curls up as tight and small as his body will allow. She never really knows what it is he sees in his dreams. What they show him, what they warn of, but one thing she’s learned, is that they must be listened to. And he will tell her in his own time. In bits and pieces as he’s able to, and she will stitch them together into whole cloth.

She contorts at an odd angle to brush another kiss, this time to his hair. “A long time ago...”

#Mahalo!Shady <333 #Images of Broken Light|Anakin Skywalker #Pools of Sorrow-Waves of Joy|Anikeni #Across the Universe|Star Wars AU #mynameisanakin

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