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tortie-tales · 3 years

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Vilkas x Reader

On an impulse decision, I had walked into Jorrvaskr and asked Kodlak if I could join the Companions. I did not realize the price would be fighting my crush.

I followed Vilkas outside, passing Aela who was casually drinking a bottle of mead.

I readied a flame spell in one hand and a shock spell in the other. I faced my opponent, who just looked annoyed.

"Whoa whoa whoa-" Vilkas put his shield down "-we don't use magic here."

"But I don't know how to use weapons," I said, irritated. I relinquished the magic and put my hands down. This topic always seemed to come up in a conversation.

"I don't know what to tell ya." Vilkas glared at me, obviously not willing to compromise. When Kodlak agreed to let me in, he immediately objected. That alone hurt my feelings, but this behavior was just salt on the wound.

Enough is enough. This ends now.

I walked up to him, ready to ask him why he was being a skeever face. "Fine. No magic."

"I thought you didn't know how to use weapons, though." he said, obviously mocking me.

That's it. You asked for it, buddy.

"I don't." I punched him in the face.

Aela, who had been watching from the deck, burst out laughing. "How's her sword arm, Vilkas?!" She bent over and smacked her knee, snorting.

Vilkas slowly straightened up and glared at me. I gulped, knowing this probably got me kicked out.

"That'll do," he mumbled, before storming off, slamming the door behind him. Aela continued to laugh at him.

Well. He's pissed, isn't he?

I walked towards the doors, afraid of the fate that awaited me. I heard yelling coming from inside.

I took a deep breath and opened the heavy wood doors. I blinked a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the difference in lighting.

"She punched me!" I heard Vilkas' complaints coming from downstairs the moment that I walked in. A few others looked up at me, and I blushed.

Silence filled the air, unnerving me.

Great. I should probably just leave. Actually, you know what? No. Vilkas asked for it. Just because I don't use weapons doesn't mean I'm weak!

I walked down the stairs, annoyed. I ran into Vilkas, who gave me a death glare. I returned the look, and continued walking.

"Kodlak? I understand if you don't want me to be here anymore, considering I punched Vilkas in the face." I peeked into his room, and he grinned at me.

"Quite the opposite. You seem to have a strong arm, considering Vilkas' reaction," Kodlak continued to smile.

"O-oh. Uh, is he going to be ok?" I asked, unable to keep the blood from rushing to my cheeks.

"He will be fine. You are still welcome here. I hope you can refrain from punching any more members, at least without a fair warning."

I nodded. "Thank you, Kodlak." I walked out and bumped into Aela.

"Are you still in?" I nodded. She slapped her hand on my shoulder. "You are my new favorite person. Come, let's show you around." She gave me a short tour of where everyone's rooms were, stopping at hers. She started talking to Skjor, forgetting about me.

I sighed, wondering if I would be able to make things right between Vilkas and I. The main reason I joined was because of him, after all.

Aela snapped me out of my thoughts. "Hey, Ice Brain! Come show (y/n) where the newbloods sleep!" I looked up and saw Farkas walk over.

"You were still accepted?" Farkas sounded slightly surprised. I smiled nervously and nodded.

"Alright, well, come on. Let's go, new blood." He walked me over to a large sleeping. "Vilkas told me that you were rather strong. It's disappointing that you aren't using that strength to wield a weapon, but I'm sure you know what you're doing."

"Yeah, I work better with magic than I do weapons. If I get desperate, I can always punch my enemies in the face." Farkas chuckled at my joke.

~~~

It was cold that day; I wore my favorite pair of gloves and a nice pair of boots to keep the chill at bay. I took a deep breath, admiring the orange leaves in the trees.

"New blood!" Vilkas shouted, startling me. I turned around, only to have a sword shoved in my arms.

"Go get my sword sharpened. And be careful with it, it's worth more than you are." He pointed at a forge on top of the hill.

"Why should I?" I shoved his sword back in his arms. "I don't understand why you've been so mean to me. What did I do to you, Vilkas?" I asked, upset. I had apologized multiple times for punching him in the face, asking him how I could make it up to him, and he just ignored me or waved me off.

No. Even before that, when I was first accepted, he was acting like this.

He got in my face. I could feel his breath on my lips as he spoke. "What are you going to do, cry? Suck it up, new blood, the world is tough. Now go get my sword sharpened," he growled, shoving the sword back into my arms..

"Careful, Vilkas, she might punch you in the face again!" Aela started laughing, and Farkas shook his head, sighing.

I was pissed. Punching him in the face was tempting, but a small part of me still knew it wouldn't solve anything.

I need to calm down before I do something I regret.

"Get out of my way," I said quietly.

"No. Go sharpen my sword," he growled, getting closer to my face. I wanted to take a step back, but I felt like that would be equivalent to surrendering. Instead I took another step forward, as though I were challenging him.

Our noses were touching now.

I locked eyes with him, refusing to back down. "No. I won't," I narrowed my eyes, "what are you going to do about it, cry?" I spat out each word, sick of his attitude.

Vilkas shoved me back, sheathing his sword. I stumbled back and glanced up at him. He looked furious.

"You know what, Vilkas? I've tried solving this like adults. I've tried talking to you. But nothing seems to get through that thick skull of yours." I tapped my head, pretending to be in deep thought. "Should we just fight? Will it make you feel better if I beat you in a fist fight? Let's go, little boy." I clenched my fists, furious. I felt a familiar buzzing in my hands, and heard a crackle. My fists were now coated in electricity. "No holding back."

"Fine. No holding back," Vilkas said, putting his own fists up.

I heard Aela cheer and Farkas tell her to shut up.

I was the first one to attack, aiming for the same spot I hit him in last time.

Maybe I can knock a tooth out this time..

My thoughts were cut short when he grabbed my arm and yanked me down. I face planted on the dirt, getting some in my mouth. I heard him yelp, likely getting shocked from coming in contact with my hand. I smiled and rolled over, hopping back up on my feet.

I raised my fists, this time feeling them burn. "Have you ever played with fire, Vilkas?" I asked, trying to be cool. I saw smoke and realized I had caught my gloves on fire.

"AAAAHHHH!!!" I started screaming and tore off my gloves, stomping on them to put out the flames. That only caught my boot on fire.

I screamed some more, this time out of frustration, and cast frost. This extinguished the fire completely, leaving a few blades of grass frozen solid.

But by then it was too late. My gloves had already been burnt to a crisp, and now I had a hole in my boot.

All of my anger from earlier had dissolved; all that was left was a deep sadness, caused by the loss of my favorite gloves and Vilkas' hatred towards me. I sighed, picking up the scraps.

"I surrender, Vilkas. You win. I'm a skeever-face and you are a perfect specimen. Sharpen your own damn sword." I walked away, wondering if my gloves would be able to be saved.

~~~~~

Nothing worked. My gloves were dead.

I held a small funeral service over a trash can, the only attendant being myself.

"You were a good pair of gloves. I'm sorry my stupidity killed you." My eyes watered, sad to see them go. I dropped them in the trash can and sat down.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, surprised to see Vilkas.

"I-" he stopped and sat down before continuing "-I'm sorry, (y/n). I let my temper get the best of me on several occasions. I hope we can start over." He handed me a box, containing a pair of leather gloves.

"They're fire resistant, so you casting your spells and what not shouldn't be a problem." He looked at me, hope in his eyes. I hugged him.

"Thank you, Vilkas. You know, I've always thought you were kind of cute," I hiccuped, only slightly tipsy.

"What? Are you drunk?" Vilkas asked, pulling back from the hug. He looked deep into my eyes.

"HA! You owe me fifty septims!" Aela yelled from across the hall.

"No fair, she's drunk! That doesn't count!" Farkas yelled back.

"I am NOT drunk, I am tipsy. There's a difference, people." I finished off a bottle of Black-Briar Mead, savoring its taste.

Vilkas sighed, smacking my hand when I reached for another bottle. "Why am I the one who always has to babysit?"

"Would you ever consider being more than friends, Vilkas? It's completely fine if you wouldn't-" I started back pedaling, sober enough to realize my mistake "-you know what, just forget I asked."

"In time, (y/n). In time."

#this has a part 2 btw #vilkas #vilkas x reader #skyrim #skyrim x reader #skyrim fanfiction #elder scrolls #elder scrolls v

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vesuvian-american-fics · 3 years

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Something Entirely New Ch. 8

Stolen Glances

As your friendship with Muriel develops, new feelings begin to arise. (AO3)

Words: 2,206

The sweet sounds of your laughter floated through the wind as Asra neared the oasis. A cheeky grin slowly spread across Asra’s full lips; they must be all better now. Silently he crept closer to eavesdrop on your conversation with the gentle giant Muriel.

“Asra really did that?” You asked between stifled laughs, Muriel exhaled through his nose as he shook his head in mock disappointment.

“Yes, I don’t think we’ve ever run so fast, that fake fortune teller was hot on our heels.” Muriel’s broad shoulders jumped as he silently laughed at the memory.

“Asra’s always been one for mischief, but I think you help him stay grounded.” You said, smiling softly as you continued to aid Muriel with weed picking the garden. Muriel was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

“I think you do too.” He reassured; his eyes focused on the task ahead of him as his timid nature began to control him again. As the comfortable silence drew on, Asra appeared from the brush, a basket full of wild daisy's in hand.

“I remember owing you a month’s worth of smoked eel after that incident.” He added, shooting Muriel a knowing glance. Seeing his too favorite people share such a tender moment really made Asra’s heart flutter. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Muriel whipped around at Asra’s voice before stammering out complaints that Asra shouldn’t eavesdrop. You and Asra could only laugh at the scene before you both, Muriel was slowly creeping out of his shell and it was a heart-warming sight.

Muriel stood to his full height and you quickly followed suit, the three of you heading inside as the afternoon sun was high in the sky. Inside, you complained about your aching shoulders and yearned for a steaming bath.

Muriel, being the secret gentleman he is, offered the bath to you first, but Asra quickly interjected.

“Ah, actually, there’s a lovely bath house in town that I think you’d love, Y/N! You’ve been cooped up here since we arrived, I’m sure you’d love to explore town a bit before the festival in a few days.” Asra smiled as he clasped his hands together. Muriel watched as your eyes lit up and the thought of a spa day in town, your face, looking so happy and pure stole his breath away. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

“That sounds perfect!” You chirp, before hopping upstairs for a change of clothes and a bag. In the few minutes Asra was alone with his hermit friend, he shot him a wink, violet eyes sparkling with interest.

“I’ll be back in time for dinner!” You mused, and with that, you were out the door. Muriel’s mossy green eyes followed your movements and when the door shut, he finally released the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Spluttering when he caught Asra’s expression, the magician wiggled his sculpted ivory brows at his friend.

Clearing his throat Muriel quickly excused himself to get cleaned up while Asra stayed downstairs twisting the flowers between his slender fingers. He wouldn’t be able to admit it, at the very least without stressing his dear friends out, but their tense relationship upset Asra to no end. He spent many nights awake staring at the ceiling wondering how he could mend this relationship. This new progress brought him a lot of peace of mind, tension he stored in his own body ebbing away.

When Muriel descended the stairs once more, lunch waited for him on the table. Also there, was Asra munching away at his own food. Without hesitation Muriel sat at the small table and thanked his friend for the meal. As the late afternoon sun light filtered in through the windows Asra sighed to himself at the warmth cascading over his cheek.

Muriel couldn’t help but hum in delight at the warmth as well, Asra taking the moment to speak.

“You’re opening up to them~” He purred taking a sip of his cold drink. Muriel blushed lightly, hoping that the sun shining over his features did well to mask his new rosy tint. It didn’t.

“N-no I’m not. I’m just... not being mean.” Muriel pouted, crossing his muscular arms over his wide chest, leaning back comfortably in his chair.

“Right. Well anyway, I’m proud of you, Muri. It’s nice seeing you talk so comfortably.” Asra stood as he cleared the table of any empty dishes and discarded them in the sink. He turned around and leaned lazily against the kitchen counter as he surveyed Muriel’s reaction to the praise.

Muriel seemed proud as well, his usual frown massaged from his features. As Asra began to busy himself with washing the dishes, Muriel couldn’t help but ask the one thing he'd been meaning to all this time..

“How do I... get more time like that?” He asked timidly, his brows furrowing slightly at his own vulnerability. Asra chuckled at the vagueness of his question but being as perceptive as he was, he deduced quickly what Muriel was asking.

“More time spent talking and laughing with my apprentice? Just be soft with them, that’s easy enough for you right?” He joked, Muriel scoffing at the comment. Muriel didn’t know how to be soft like you, but he got a glimpse at how easy it could be to talk to you today. He just craved more of that.

“Help them cook dinner tonight while I nap.” Asra continued without missing a beat.

“Or if you like, I can stay down here and watch?” He suggested, glancing over his shoulder as Muriel worried his lip at the prospect. To be alone with you, or have Asra there for support. It was natural enough earlier today in the garden but it was also spontaneous. Knowing that he would be alone with you in a few hours caused him a bit of anxiety, and he was afraid he’d mess up and say something stupid.

“Asra... stay. Please.” Muriel’s eyes shifted up to Asra and was grateful that he had his back turned to him, he wouldn’t have to see such a sorry state he was in at the thought of being alone with you and trying to talk all by himself.

“Of course. Anyway, they should be back any minute. Go rest a bit, recharge.” Asra wiped his hands dry on the kitchen towel before sauntering over to his friend. His slender yet toned arms entrapping Muriel in a friendly embrace, calming his friend's nerves.

Clearing his throat, Muriel gave Asra a short, nod. Thanking him for his words and support. Before he continued up the stairs Muriel stopped himself, turning around and reappearing in the dining room.

“Sorry I was so harsh on them. And you.” He said sheepishly but his large eyes were full of remorse and regret. It gave Asra pause, he knew how kind Muriel truly was and he was beating himself for his past actions. Asra knew it was partially his own fault as well, and being as familiar with each other as they were, they both understood each other’s feelings completely.

“No worries, Muriel.” He whispered, leaning against the kitchen counter once more. He watched as Muriel ascended the stairs once more and heard the soft click of his door shutting.

A moment of silence, and as if right on cue, you were shuffling in through the front door with a bit for food for dinner.

“Oh, hi Asra! Whatcha up to?” You asked, your sunshiny personality seeming to brighten up the space. Asra chuckled to himself, a serene smile spreading over his face.

“Nothing, nothing. I missed you.” He said, wrapping you into a short embrace before pecking a kiss to your cheek. He stifled a yawn and you giggled at his sleepy nature. Without missing a beat, you bid Asra a good night as he strode up the stairs for his late afternoon nap.

You decided a nap was in order for yourself as well. You still had a few hours before dinner was due and it would be quick enough to make to where you could relax for a while. A sudden wave of drowsiness washed over you, and your fluffy bed was calling your name. You dropped onto your bed neglecting to kick off your sandals as you drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

“Dinner time!” Asra shouted, poking his head into your bedroom and laughing at the wild position you slept in. You replied with a lazy laugh of your own as you slowly stretched and sighed at the soft pops of your joints.

By now, Muriel was walking in front of your doorway and he quickly averted his eyes as he noticed your loose shirt rising about your waistband with your stretch. The sliver of soft skin he saw in that moment causing his face to heat up feverishly.

You joined the two of them downstairs not long after you were woken up and got to cooking. Asra tapped Muriel’s large foot beneath the table with his own to give him the courage to ask you if you needed any help.

Muriel’s heart fluttered deep within his chest, he fiddled with his fingers as he struggled to speak.

“D-do you need any help?” Muriel asked, worried his voice was so soft in that moment that you failed to hear him. Your eyes widened a fraction, and your heart skipped a beat, you tried to calm yourself a bit before replying, afraid that if you sounded over eager you’d scare the poor man away.

“Would you help me please, Muriel?” You said, offering him a shy smile as your eyes darted around focusing everywhere in the room but on Muriel.

Silently, Muriel nodded and rose to his feet, he towered over you and your neck craned to look closely at his expression. He looked just as nervous as you were, making you all the more appreciative for his offer.

Soon enough the two of you were shuffling awkwardly around the small kitchen preparing tonight’s meal. Small conversation filtered through the air and Asra found himself smiling at the interaction as he shuffled his deck of tarot cards to busy himself.

The close proximity between you two made you giddy; Muriel was a handsome man without a doubt and it took until now for you to realize just how flustered he could make you. He was a little rough around the edges at first but could you blame him, he was so kind underneath it all and his shy disposition was extremely charming.

Muriel found himself having fun cooking with you, you were funny, and very skilled with your hands. It was fascinating watching you work up close, talking him through your work as you moved around the kitchen, and around him, as much as you could.

As the sauce was finished for the main course you gathered a bit on a spoon giving it a blow and offered it to Muriel. Feeling bold, your arm stretched upwards toward his lips offering him a taste. Muriel stiffened at the action, quirking a brow up in question without making a move toward the spoon.

“Taste.” You giggled, stepping just an inch closer to the man. His cheeks dusted pink as he lowered himself toward the spoon but before he could take the sauce into his mouth your hand trembled with anticipation. To still you, Muriel gently held your wrist with his large hand. It was your time to blush now, as Muriel’s lips wrapped around the spoon and he hummed at the flavors. Savory with a kick of spice towards the end, it was perfect.

He simply nodded his head as he stood back to his full height, averting his eyes and looking towards Asra to see if he caught that.

Muriel’s eyes widened at the stargazed look stricken on Asra’s face, even he was blushing at what just happened. Muriel’s face reddened even deeper at that; he hadn’t realized how intimate that moment was as his heart pounded against his chest. He wondered if you could hear it.

Returning his attention to you Muriel’s mouth slightly fell open as he saw you tasting the sauce yourself with the same spoon he just had between his lips. Muriel quickly retreated to the other side of the counter to put space between the two of you as his mind blanked. He tried to will the fiery blush from his features but it was all in vain. Luckily you never turned to look at him much more while you prepared everyone’s plates, unbeknownst to Muriel you were fighting away a feverish blush of your own.

“That was reckless,” you thought to yourself, feeling a bit embarrassed at your actions but Muriel didn’t seem put off by It. For that you were grateful.

The rest of the night continued on without much incident, you and Muriel stealing shy glances at one another. Asra carried the conversation for the evening, as he often did. After all of the dishes were cleaned away by your fluffy haired friend, the three of you retreated to your bedrooms for a night's rest. All three of you replaying the events of the day in your heads on loop.

#something entirely new #muriel x reader #the apprentice #asra #fic #the arcana #the arcana game #ao3 #ah! they flirt

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grouptalekindnesssoul · 3 years

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Run Boy Run

@ratherstarryeyed Here’s your gift! :D I hope you enjoy. @sanderssidesgiftxchange thanks for arranging this

(I promise Patton does not play a huge role. He becomes a background character very quickly)

Summary: Janus was the crown Prince, until a charismatic group of pirates swooped in and stole him away. Featuring mentioned gay pining!

Warnings: Swears, Unsympathetic Patton, I switch names halfway.

“Prince Damian, you must get up. Your betrothed will be here in an hour” A servant tugged at the prince’s prone form.

“Then tell her, I am not interested” The prince groaned, rolling out of reach. The servant wouldn’t be deterred however, and continued to yank on his arm. Instead of giving in however, the prince buried himself deeper.

“Crown Prince Damian Eric Stephan Layor you will get yourself up immediately” An growly voice rang out

“And what if I don’t want to, father” Damian didn’t move an inch. King Patton was not used to people disobeying him. In fact, it was downright impossible to go against him. However, his son was firmly against the marriage. And it was placing strains on the relations between the two kingdoms.

“Young man, you will get up, or I will drag you downstairs and forcibly shove you into your suit” The King’s voice went deathly quiet. However, Damian was completely done with it and went limp to make it difficult to move him. The king made true on his promise however, and had his guards drag the 18 year old out of bed and down the stairs. The suit was carefully unsewn and resewn around the prince’s body by the tailor’s magic.

“Damian, stay low, and stay still” Remy briefly dropped xir shades. Damian nodded, trusting xem without a second thought. Never did xe drop xer shades. Something was wrong. Resigned to his fate, Damian walked under his own power to the meeting room. The king was nowhere to be found, though some of the more important advisors were already there. Damian sat in his marked seat, still as a statue as a crown was dropped on his head.

“Now, with Princ-” The chief advisor began, moving opposite Damian. Before he could get more than that, a window shattered inwards. Damian froze, lowering himself to be a smaller target. A group of people jumped in, surrounding the table. The one who appeared to be the leader stood behind Damian.

“Now, I’d tell you to drop yer weapons, butcha already have” A lazy voice began from somewhere to the prince’s right.

“Hand over your valuables, and tell us the location of your king, and we’ll spare you” A clipped formal voice came from the left. Damian made note of the educated nature of the vocabulary. Before any of them could do much else, the door began to shake and loud voices echoed from outside of it.

“Grab what you can and scram!” Another voice burst out. Damian couldn’t tell from where in the commotion.

“Get me out of here. I’m the crown prince and you can ransom me” Damian twisted immediately to grab what he judged to be the leader’s arm. The man looked conflicted before scooping him up and running for the window again. There was a feeling of weightlessness as the man carried Damian away.

_____

The group fell to the deck panting as their ship pulled away from shore. Damian stared at the boards beneath him, wondering why he decided to pipe up. He didn’t regret his decision exactly, but he questioned it.

“What’s your name kid?” A voice cut into his internal crisis. He turned to see the captain of the ship.

“De-Janus. My name is Janus” Damian nodded to himself.

“I’m Thomas. Welcome aboard the Sides Sailing, my ship” The man smiled, nodding as he helped Janus up.

“Are you really the prince?” The formal figure drew himself up, adjusting round glasses.

“...I am. But I don’t want to be” Janus rubbed his head awkwardly.

“Well then, you’ll fit in just fine,” Thomas said, clapping a hand on Janus’s shoulder.

“I am Logan” The bespectacled man supplied, offering a bow.

“Roman. And Virgil is over there with the half shaved head, Emile is the other glasses-wearing fool, and-” Janus’s rescuer began to point out people.

“Ro, they can introduce themselves” Thomas scolded, kicking the darker man. Roman, as the rescuer had been crowned, ducked his head. A deep chuckle betrayed his complete lack of shame to Janus.

“Unfortunately, that leaves only me” The last unidentified person added, a quiet chuckle alongside their introduction. “I’m Delphine, only one on this ship who actively breaks rules”

“Del!” The tallest of the group (Virgil as Janus recalled) swatted at the disappearing figure.

“Anyways, my pronouns currently are they/she. Emile is they/them. Thomas, Ro, and Virgil are he/him, and Lo is ae/aer” Delphine was back, leaning over Janus’s shoulder from a rope. They cackled at the jerk he gave.

“A-anyways, what do you guys do?” Janus asked self-consciously as the gremlin climbed up the rope.

“Mostly trading. The trinkets will sell for massive amounts, if only to the palace staff. If you want, you can join us? We could use someone else of note” Thomas rubbed his neck, shifting feet as the wind caught in the sails. There was a grunt from Delphine, as she leaned down to tug one of the ropes on the port side.

“Let me stay. I don’t want to be crown prince and I can...you can sell my stuff” Janus blurted out.

“Oh, we figured you would stay. None of us doubted it after the name switch, and how you addressed your title” Logan commented, aer hands adjusting aer outfit.

“You can borrow some of my stuff. We appear to be about the same size” Del piped up, taking Emile’s offered hand up from where they were hanging off the ship.

“....Is She always like that?” Janus asked in disbelief.

“Usually. But you get used to it after a while” The rich voice of Roman came from Janus’s blind side. When the (former) prince startled, Roman’s muscled arms were there and his eyes casting concerned sweeps of the other man.

“S-sorry. I just had an accident that left me blind and deaf in that side of my face” Janus started, offering a weak smile.

“Let me look at that, you could have suffered damage on that side of your face” Emile finally spoke up, their hands already wrapping around the arm of Janus’s shirt.

“They are our medic. You’ll be okay” Logan soothed the Prince.

“Okay. Thanks” Janus said, relaxing slightly at the gentle guiding of the unarmed person.

“Delphine, go get some of your clothes. Better to get the exact adjustments needed started” Thomas ordered, and they ducked into somewhere that Janus couldn’t see as he was brought below deck.

___

A few weeks later found Janus settled among the crewmates. He figured out that Virgil and Emile were a couple, while Thomas and Logan considered themselves the unofficial parents of the group. Thomas constantly joked how they were aro/ace solidarity. Delphine was an enigma and Roman seemed to have his eyes on someone else.

“Del, you’re the expert. What should I do?” Janus heard Roman talking from Delphine’s workspace, high up off the ground where a hammock was nestled among the various ropes late one day.

“Ro, I am hardly an expert. But I say, ask him out. Worst comes to worst you say it was a new crush and easily dismissed” The distracted voice of the teen answered after a beat.

“Yea, but like pocket protector he’s used to finer things. And the pair of us...if I were ever to retire I would have little. I can’t do it to him” Janus’s heart stopped. ‘Pocket Protector’ was Logan. Could it be that Ro liked aer? It would make sense, with the fact that they had known each other a while.

“Get out of here if you’re gonna be a hopeless gay romantic” There was a thud and a yelp of pain as Roman came crashing down to the deck.

“Quit fighting on my ship!” Thomas’s voice echoed from below.

“No promises~” The aloft person hummed. A few moments later a shirt fluttered down onto Ro’s head. “Take that to JayJay. He needs another shirt after he ripped through my other one. Those clothes better buy me more fabric as well as food and water”

“No promises” Roman mocked, climbing to his feet. Janus began to duck behind the door. Unfortunately for him, the movement attracted Ro’s attention.

“Oh, hey Janus. Perfect timing, Del just finished a new shirt for you” Roman offered the shirt.

“Oh, Thanks. Uh, what was that crash?” Janus squeaked in attempted nonchalant chatter.

“Del literally kicking off her little space” Roman shrugged, brushing past closer than necessary. The muscles made Janus burst out in blush. A sudden jerk sent both men to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

“I am going to murder whoever is responsible for this shit. Thomas, get your ass up here! We have a problem” Del roared, and the captain appeared out of thin air.

“What is- not today. Can you help us escape” Thomas glanced over to the smoky port side. His face paled as he peered through the smoke.

“No promises! Haven’t used the engine in a while and it looks like they took out a piece of the sail” Delphine was busy tugging on a line that had suddenly appeared from the base of the sail. Ae reached up to pull a few of the ropes above aer head to pull the sails around to catch the wind.

“I..should go” Roman mumbled, squeezing Janus’s shoulder.

“Please. Don’t” Janus held tight to the arm, scared. Ro hummed, wrapping it more securely around the man.

“Ro, don’ move. Th’engine may not be able te take it” Del yelled, a blended accent that Janus recognized from the raid he’d been ‘taken’ in.

“Running out of time! It’s now or never!” Thomas bellowed over the whir from another engine. Delphine growled, yanking upwards with all aer might, and leaping into the air in the same motion. The deck buzzed as an engine burst to life, and the ship took off. Janus loosened his grip on Roman, shaking as both of his other crewmates relaxed.

“Thomas, keep it steady. I’m going to do what I can to repair the sail so we can have full maneuverability” Delphine called as Ro murmured soft words into Janus’s curly hair. The rest of the crew appeared, Emile hurrying to check for any wounds while Virgil stuck close with a hand on his knife.

“You can,” Janus tried to steady his voice “go to your crush, if you wish. I will be fine” Ro glanced down, his face split with a look of confusion. Janus cursed his upbringing as he slipped back into his educated voice.

“You heard?”

“I did, and I wish to assure you I am perfectly fine” A disbelieving laugh bounced around Ro.

“We’ll be able to reach the city early tomorrow now that we’re in the air” Logan interrupted. The moment was further interrupted by the slew of curses echoing from the port side. In a feat of acrobatic strength, Del was hanging on the tip of the sail and sewing up the damage.

“Just tell him Ro. We’re tired of you dancing around trying to figure out how” Vee yelled, a fond smile flickering at the corners of his lips.

“Janus, I am already comforting my crush. He is stupidly selfless at times, smart, witty, sarcastic, and an utter annoyance”

“So....Del?”

“No, you stupid fool! He is gayer than the fourth of July!” Del yelled.

“No. It’s you, Janus. Your bravery weeks ago was the first strike. Everything since has snowballed into a horrible crush. And I ge-hmph!” Ro explained. Sensing a self-deprecation, Janus pulled his shirt down and kissed him. There were cheers as they broke apart.

“Does that answer your lil question?” Janus smiled widely, a sappy look in his eyes.

“Y-yea” Roman stuttered, face bright red. Del ruined the moment with further cursing from her project. Ae finally cimbed back on deck and unfurled the sail further. She went to Thomas, whispering something to him. He nodded, clapping aers shoulder. The pair disappeared below deck as Roman and Janus made out. Finally, everyone drifted below deck as the ship tilted itself towards the destination.

The next day, the pulled into port. Logan immediately went ashore, hailing the harbormaster. Janus watched as the crew unloaded things that used to belong to him. It was oddly relieving as it disappeared to the marketplace with Virgil and Emile.

Roman pulled Janus ashore, running to a familiar figure.

“Remy!” Janus called as he recognized the tailor. He immediately hugged xem, a whine coming from his throat.

“Whoa babes! Careful with the goods” Remy patted the man’s head.

“Hey Remy. I believe you’ve met my boyfriend?” Roman said proudly as Janus let go and grabbed Ro’s hand again. Remy whistled, swirling xir cup.

“Don’t hesitate do you? Well congrats Damien”

“It’s...Janus now. I go by Janus”

“Janus! Knew there was a reason I liked you. Now, where can I take my stuff?” Remy waved to a suitcase behind xem.

“My room is yours now. I’m leaving the crew” Del appeared, his face tired. Remy shrugged and hauled the bag towards the ship.

“Wait, you’re leaving us? And Remy..?” Janus caught Del’s arm in his free hand.

“Yea. Remy is one of us. Or, you guys. Xe started sneaking us stolen goods a couple years ago. And, it’s time I depart. Your story has no more need for me” Del reached up to kiss Ro’s cheek as he explained.

“Good luck. I’ll see you around” Del waved as he walked onwards, leaving the Sides Sailing and her crew to their adventures.

#unsympathetic patton #sympathetic janus #sympathetic logan #sympathetic roman #Roceit #sympathetic virgil #c!thomas #ts sides #dr picani #remy/sleep #emile/virgil #aromantic logan #asexual c!thomas

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itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto · 4 years

Photo

Poker and Cigar Night – Part 3!

Possible triggers: References to sex/smut, swearing, case details (bit graphic) smoking (cigarettes), poker and drugs (weed).

A/N: This is the final part ladies and germs. I’ll be writing more Spencer and Matthew fiction, but it will be slow as I study full time at University, and I work part time! Hope you all understand!

“Pretty boy, for the last time, I will beat you at poker.” Morgan said to Spencer, as they wait by the printer for their witness statements to print. “Rossi is hosting another get together next weekend.”

“When will you get it into your brain that I’m from Vegas?” Spencer says taking his witness statements from the printer.

“When you realise that he doesn’t have a brain, it’s all muscle up there.” You smirk taking your boyfriends witness statements off him and sip your coffee. “And you printed out the wrong file genius.” You say handing the paperwork back to him.

“I really fucking hate that you can read quicker than me pumpkin.” Spencer said groaning at his uselessness when it comes to technology.

Morgan rolls his eyes at your comment, unable to think of a comeback, “Are you coming to Rossi’s pool/poker/cigar party/night next week pretty boy and cupcake?” He asked again. “Or are you scared of a little water?” He winked at you knowing back when you were teenagers when there was a pool party, you’d sit and read whilst Morgan flirted with all of the ladies.

“I don’t like getting wet. Plus, I’d rather have my feet up with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.” You smile thinking back to last night having your feet up on yours and Spencer’s balcony, both of you doing that exact thing after a day of painting and decorating the spare room which now has become a little library/office space for the majority of your books.

“You didn’t complain about being wet last night.” Spencer whispered in your ear, referring to you two having sex last night.

You spat out your coffee back into the mug, blushing. “Spencer Walter Reid. Keep your dirty thoughts inside your head.” You say through gritted teeth as Morgan laughs.

“Looks like you need a new coffee cupcake.” Morgan smirked

“Fuck both of you.” You say as you punch both Spencer’s and Morgan’s arms as you go to the coffee machine.

Morgan winces, even though you look puny, you are from it and regularly train with Morgan. “That hurt cupcake.”

“Next ones in yo dick!” You say in a gangster style tone and go back to pouring the coffee into your mug.

“Y/N.” Hotch says trying not to laugh, “As much as we’d like to see that, save it for next weekend. Also, we have a case. Conference room in 10.”

You salute Hotch as a way of acknowledging what he has said and pour Spencer a coffee knowing he needs his next caffeine fix. “Thanks pumpkin. Do you want to grab a smoke before we go the conference room?” Spencer says taking the mug of coffee you poured for him.

“Sure boo.” You smile up at Spencer and go to the outside area for a smoke where Rossi is.

“Ah, there is my favourite young couple.” Rossi smiled at the two of you.

“If I knew you were here Rossi, I’d have made coffee for you too.” You say.

“Ah don’t worry Y/N. I see you kids are doing the same as me, having a smoke before we find out about our next un-sub.” Rossi said

“Yeah. Make the most of the fresh air before a possible plane journey too.” Spencer said and took a cigarette from his pack before giving one to you and lighting his.

“Thanks Spence.” You smile and light up, even though the team know about both of you being together, you try to keep your nicknames for each-other secret. “Also, I’m not that young, I found myself saying ‘Back in my day’ to a child the other day who didn’t know what a tape deck was.”

“You’re 24 Y/N, Reid is 29. You’re still young.” Rossi chuckled as you all finished your cigarettes and went back inside.

---

The case took you to Florida, it was the hottest week of the year and the un-sub was still at large. “You got anything sugar plum? I really could do with coming back to Quantico right now and enjoying a cold beer.” You say

“Afraid not apple pie. I’m analysing the CCTV footage you sent, and I’ll let you know if anything cones up.” Garcia replied

“Thanks sugar plum.” You say and hang up, loving the nicknames you and Penelope have for one another. “She’s got nothing guys but is analysing the footage, hopefully something will come up.” You say to the team rubbing your temples, feeling a migraine coming on.

Spencer knows what’s coming and knows when your migraines get the worst of you, you need to be alone in a dark room with Spencer cuddling you. “Hotch, do you think we could stop for the night? We’ve been at this for 15 hours, and I can tell Y/N has a migraine coming on.” He says quietly. All of the team know you really suffer when you get your migraines and are of no use to anyone as you can’t even open your eyes.

“Good idea Reid. Everyone get some rest. Back here at 10 tomorrow unless Rossi or I call.” Hotch says.

“Make sure Y/N has everything she needs.” Rossi says to Spencer who nods and takes you to the hotel.

---

The following morning, you wake up in Spencer’s arms after finally getting to sleep at 4am. “Morning pumpkin.” Spencer whispers, just in case your migraine is still bad.

“Morning boo. I’m sorry for being so fidgety whilst you slept.” You sigh, you instructed Spencer to get as much sleep as he could as you didn’t want him to lose any sleep for you.

“I barely heard you, as long as I wake up and you’re in my arms, I know you’re safe.” Spencer whispered as you kissed his cheek. “How’s your head pumpkin?”

“It’s a bit more manageable but having a human teddy bear to cuddle at night helps a lot. I’m going to have a shower.” You say, getting up slowly but suddenly stop.

“Everything okay pumpkin?” Spencer asks, worried.

“What if the un-sub left the body parts of the victims in the bed draws? I don’t think forensics looked in there.” You say, before the FBI you worked as a forensics expert so you will often go to crime scenes first during cases. “Boo, can you pass me my phone please?” You ask Spencer who gets it for you.

You ring Hotch, “Hotch..” You begin explain your theory.

“Good idea Y/N, you and Reid go to forensics in an hour and find out. Meet us back at base when you’re done.” Hotch says and hangs up.

“Quick shower it is.” You say to Spencer and run in. “We have to be at the lab in an hour.”

Spencer nods and ruffles his hair. “That’ll do.” He says to himself and gets ready whilst you give your hair a quick wash. “Pumpkin, I’ll go downstairs and grab us a coffee and pastry for the road. Back in 10.”

---

Thanks to your spot, a forensics analyst had been switching the contents in the bed draws around before the police got there, so they were arrested along with the un-sub who was wanted for other killings across the state.

“Let’s go home.” Rossi says, “I have a pool that needs my attention and you lot are all invited, as always.”

“I forgot about that.” Emily says boarding the plane taking a seat by herself.

“How can you forget; I’ve not stopped talking about it all day?” JJ says getting a bottle of water.

“She’s right.” Morgan said as he takes a seat on the plane.

“Are we still going boo?” You ask Spencer as you deal the cards to yourself, him and Rossi.

“Sure pumpkin.” He smiles taking his cards once you have finished.

---

It’s the following Saturday, and you’re at Rossi’s getting ready for the get together. Everyone takes turns to help, and today it is yours & Spencer’s turn, now his leg is better. You don’t like wearing a bikini so are comfortable wearing a cute floral jumpsuit and converse, Spencer goes for a plain t-shirt, shorts and converse.

“Reid, stop eating the sour cream dip!” Rossi says, “There won’t be enough for everyone otherwise.”

“I can’t help it, I love dairy.” Spencer says as he takes a tortilla chip with the dip and eats it, then backs away.

You roll your eyes at your boyfriend and continue putting the drinks in the fridge. “Oh man, I can’t wait to drink these.” You say to yourself as the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Spencer says and opens the door as everyone flocks in, wearing summery clothing.

---

A few hours later, and you’re all sat just catching up on things. Morgan is in the pool with Penelope, JJ is talking to Will about a new car she wants, Emily and Hotch are looking at pictures of Jack on Hotch’s phone and you and Spencer are reading books.

You light another cigarette as you put yet another book down. Even though you are able to read quicker than Spencer, when you find a book you like, you enjoy reading it slowly to fully enjoy the narrative.

“I feel so relaxed.” You say to Spencer, who is in the reading zone.

“Hm? Sorry pumpkin?” He turns to you.

“Doesn’t matter.” You smile, kissing his cheek. “It wasn’t important.”

“Is anyone else joining us in this mother fucking big ass pool or not?” Morgan asks

“Because you asked so nicely.” Emily says joining them and passes the joint she was smoking to Spencer.

---

After an hour, everyone is in the pool and is pretty stoned. Well, everyone except you, but you are in the pool.

“Come on cupcake, get in the pool.” Morgan smirked.

“Yeah Y/N, don’t make me get out and pull you in.” Emily said

“I’m perfectly fine, nice and dry like a fresh towel.” You smile sipping your beer and taking a drag from the joint you’re smoking as you only have your legs dipped in the pool but nothing else as you’re comfortable with that.

“Party pooper.” Penelope giggled taking the joint off you.

“Fuck this.” Spencer says, grabbing your legs and dragging you into the pool as everyone gasps, looking at Spencer as if he proposed.

“Spencer Walter Reid!” You whine like a child and splash him.

Spencer kills himself laughing as he addresses you by your full title back.

“I’m sorry pumpkin, but I didn’t want you to miss out on the fun.” He whispers into your ear.

You nod in agreement, “Just don’t do that again.” You whisper back hearing Morgan snicker, so you punch him in the dick as you said you would a few days ago.

“I’ve wanted to do that for years.” Hotch laughed.

“Son of a bitch!” Morgan winces as Penelope smirks offering to kiss it better and they go off to a room.

“Should know better than to mess with me.” You smirk

“Yeah, yeah.” Morgan says rolling his eyes.

---

The rest of the evening is filled with laughter, poker games and just relaxing.

“Everything okay Y/N?” Spencer asks you, noticing you have been day dreaming.

“Yeah, just thinking how even though we have so much darkness in our lives, there is light at the end of the tunnel.” You smile.

“I love you.” Spencer says squeezing your hand gently

“I love you too.” You smile.

“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on...that’s who we really are.” -Sirius Black

Taglist: @pumpkin-goob , @jpegjade , @andiebeaword , @hopebaker , @aperrywilliams

Message me or comment below if you want to be on my taglist!

#my fics #Criminal Minds #spencer reid #spencer x reader #spencer reid fluff #Matthew Gray Gubler

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seertale · 3 years

Text

Talking colors: PaperJam(PJ). Omni. Killer. Nightmare. Dream. Cross. Ink. Error. Stain. Hope. Fade.

Call It A Game Night.

They decided to have a game night together. It had been forever since they’d last done so, so they figured it’d be a good idea. Ink was helping Error set up the first board game, Life. Dream and Nightmare were working on some food while Cross was looking for some other games stored in the attic. They were in Nightmare and Killer’s mansion. Stain came in with some nerf guns, Hope in tow with Fade, and an armful of bottles of alcohol. Fade had their own armful, mainly because they owned the most alcohol and would be able to help everyone find something they liked. They set everything on the kitchen counter and Fade made sure they had all the alcohol they’d brought.

“How much did you need?”

“It’s fine, I have a lot. Besides, I know everyone’s tastes vary. Do you want help with that food?”

Nightmare nodded, moving to let Fade join in helping them cook.

“Sometimes, I’m surprised that you became a rock star instead of a chef.”

“Well, do you blame me? I picked up my first electric guitar at 12, I think I’d like to learn how to play it.”

“Whatever. How are the spouses doing?”

“They’re doing good. Nel’s out helping shop for baby stuff while I’m here. I hope she doesn’t cook.”

“Why would you hope your wife doesn’t cook?”

“Have you seen how badly she burns her food?”

Nightmare just chuckled as he plated what he was working on and brought it out to the living room. He set it on the big buffet table they’d set up for the game night. As soon as Ink saw the food, he moved to take a bite. Despite their past, he couldn’t help still being on good terms with Nightmare and would definitely admit to how good he thought Nightmare’s cooking was.

“Oh my god, Night, this is so good.”

Nightmare passed it off with a wave of his hand, “Just wait until Fade brings their food out. They’re a better cook than I am.”

“Still. This is really, really good.”

“Ya, ya, I know.”

Dream came out with his food next. He’d spent all day roasting a ham since he knew how hungry everyone got while drunk. Cross came down after with a few more games and, after setting them next to the now set out Life, moved to hug Dream. Dream giggled a bit and hugged him back.

“Hey, Love.”

“Hi. Having fun?”

“Oh, plenty. Wanna try the ham?”

“Sure.”

Dream picked up a fork, taking a piece of ham and feeding it to Cross, who immediately hummed in appreciation, “That’s really good.”

“You think all my cooking is good.”

“Ya, but this is really good too.”

He giggled a bit before Cross led him over to the game table. Fade was coming out with their food. Stain and Hope had already sat down.

“Alright, who wants something to drink while we wait for arntul Omni and PJ?”

Multiple hands went up and Fade asked them what they thought they wanted before grabbing them. They grabbed wine and whiskey glasses and poured things accordingly. Killer quickly came with some cases of beer and set them down next to the game table.

“Sorry it took so long, a Karen was arguing with the shopkeep.”

“It’s alright. Sit, Fade’s getting us some alcohol.”

Killer nodded and sat next to Nightmare, opening himself a can of beer as Fade started bringing drinks out. Once everyone had their drinks, they took a quick portal to their house and came back with an alcohol-smoked turkey, just as PJ and Omni arrived.

“Oh, just in time. We were just about to start,” Killer was shuffling the different decks of cards. “Want anything to drink?”

Omni shook their head, though looked at PJ.

“A beer for now, please.”

Killer nodded and got PJ a beer from the case. They cracked it open as they sat and Omni moved to get a large plate of food for them both. Fade sat down next to their adoptive dad, Stain.

“Ok, so we got the expansion pack so we could all play. Everyone chooses a color.”

They gradually chose their own colors and started the game.

~~~

Everyone but Ink and Omni were at least somewhat inebriated by the time they finished playing Life. Ink not being inebriated was a bit strange, seeing as he’d had at least fifteen beers and three glasses of whiskey. Omni hadn’t drunk anything but they did munch. PJ was leaning against them, waiting for the next game. Stain, who'd already finished his last turn, was working on the next activity. Dream seemed the drunkest, but he hadn't passed out yet, so it was probably fine. After a moment, Stain came back with nerf pistols.

"There's enough for everyone to have one. Who wants to play nerf hide and seek tag?"

Everyone was immediately in agreement.

"Alright, so someone is the seeker and carries a nerf pistol. Every time a seeker finds someone, they need to be shot by the seeker or they aren't tagged. If they are tagged, they then become a seeker too. Anywhere is free game for hiders. Who wants to seek first?"

Nightmare raised his hand.

"Alright," Stain handed him a nerf pistol and set the rest on the table. "If you become a seeker, pick one up. Pops, count to 60."

Nightmare nodded and closed his eyes. Shuffling could be heard. Cross currently had his husband on his back, carrying him to a closet on the highest floor. All the kids Nightmare had were being watched by Red and Blue at Ink's mansion since it had a surplus of rooms. They had plenty of rooms. He took Dream into the farthest room from the staircase, carefully setting him down in the walk-in closet.

"Alright, Dreamy. You've gotta stay quiet or they'll find you."

"Is that bad…?"

"No, but you'll lose the game."

He nodded with a small giggle and Cross closed the door, going to find his own place to hide.

~~~

Knowing his husband really well, Nightmare was able to find Killer first. He was hiding in the library, small enough to fit in the shadows of one of the towering shelves. Nightmare just examined the shelves, debating on which one Killer was resting on, before letting off a bullet at random. He heard a small, boney thunk and a whisper of an ow.

"Got you."

"Fine, you got me."

Killer started to climb down. Nightmare moved a tentacle to help him. He couldn't have his husband getting hurt. Not since he was the only doctor that could fix him immediately.

"Alright, go grab a pistol."

Killer nodded and ran off.

~~~

Stain took a deep breath as he finally situated himself with Hope. They were hiding in the tub in one of the bathrooms and it was obvious Stain may have to carry Hope once they were found. Hope, having lower magic, was much more affected by alcohol, so even just a can was pretty much half a bottle of whiskey to him.

When Killer inevitably pulled the curtain back to reveal the two, he immediately became a put worried, seeing as Hope was heavily passed out against Stain.

“We should be alright… we can get him on the couch and we can get him water when he wakes…”

Killer nodded, simply shooting Stain and running off to continue what he was doing.

~~~

He quietly padded down the hall, pistol in his hand. Out of all the places he would know Fade would hide, he could not, for the life of himself, find his adopted child. Stain guessed he would have to look in different places. His first place of search? The kitchen. Fade always loved the kitchen and, with how small they were, he wouldn’t doubt they’d shoved themselves in the pantry. He took a quick peek… only to find out he was wrong. They weren’t hiding in the pantry. So then where were they?

They couldn’t fit in any cupboards. But Stain’s partially inebriated mind definitely thought so, and he started searching the cupboard like he was raiding the kitchen. Fade was in the cupboards! Specifically, the cupboards under the sink. Fade had moved it all to a separate cupboard and squeezed themselves in. Stain quickly shot them and moved to help them out.

“How did you fit in there?”

“I’ve always been small.”

"Still. Wow."

They just nodded and went to get a nerf pistol.

~~~

In the meantime, Killer had found PJ and Omni. It hadn't been hard, since Omni had agreed to make out in the room they were hiding in while waiting. Now, they were teamed and hunting for others. Their first go-to would've been Ink since he was usually easy to find depending on the person. But even then, years of Ink having learned how to hide made him even more dangerous for the seeker. They paused their search for him when they heard a yell and realized that it probably wasn't a good idea for Ink to be hiding from Nightmare. They quickly followed the yell.

Nightmare had Ink restrained, mostly because Ink had gone defensive and currently had his hatchet in his hand. He was struggling to be let go and PJ set their pistol down to comfort their dad.

"Dad, calm down. It's ok. It's just hide-and-seek. No one's gonna hurt you."

"H-How do you kn-know…?"

"Has Nightmare actually hurt you…?"

That's right. It was Nightmare. Not Dark. He hadn't been hurt. It was just a game. Ink took in a breath and Nightmare carefully set him down.

"Sorry…"

"It's ok… I'm just… not gonna play for now…"

Nightmare nodded and PJ picked their pistol up again, going with Omni and Nightmare to find the last ones hiding.

~~~

Error now knew why Ink always felt so safe hiding under the bed whenever he got scared. It was small and cozy and it would be hard to get him out without lifting the bed or him getting out himself. Despite that, he held his breath when he heard a couple of sets of footsteps and a door open. Someone was searching the room for him. It was Stain and Fade. There was the sound of something being set on the desk in the room before the bed creaked, being lifted up.

"Good morning," a nerf bullet hit him smack-dab in the forehead and he giggled a bit, moving to carefully push himself out.

"Why hello there."

"Did you sleep well?"

Error stood, "Very."

"Dad's downstairs on the couch next to Hope. Otherwise, we found Cross and we're gonna gang up on Dream."

"I think I'll go to Inky. What happened?"

"Got a bit scared by Pops, but he's ok."

Error nodded and went to find Ink.

~~~

Nightmare put a finger to his lips as Cross led the way. They were all locked and loaded. Once they got to the room, Cross went over to the walk-in closet door. He put his hand on the handle and carefully ripped it open. They were all quickly met with Dream's shrieking laughter as they fired everything at him. Once they were all out of bullets, Cross moved to check on him while the others picked up the bullets. He pulled Dream gently against his chest and Dream started to drift to sleep. He hadn't had alcohol in forever, so it wasn't surprising.

He picked up his husband and took him downstairs to rest. Error and Ink had set up Monopoly while waiting. Cross sat at the table, holding Dream in his lap. After a minute, everyone else took their spots to play. Killer made sure Hope had something to drink upon waking. Dream had easily fallen asleep against Cross. Cross just smiled as they played.

Dream was passed out for about an hour before he started to wake up a bit. The game was still going and he seemed confused since Killer was now yelling at PJ for making him go bankrupt. Ink laughed a bit from next to Error.

“Monopoly, the game that tears families apart.”

Dream giggled a bit and Cross looked down at him.

“Well, hello there, Dreamy. Sleep good?”

Dream nodded and moved to get up. He was kinda hungry. Cross let him stand, watching him go over to the food table and get himself some turkey. He seemed content as he sat down again, this time next to Cross, and ate. Once he was done, he went to put his dishes in the sink and seemed to just completely disappear. Cross was a bit concerned but kept playing.

15 minutes after Dream disappeared, he came back, holding one of the nerf pistols. He pointed it at Nightmare, the banker.

“Gimme the money.”

Ink was starting to laugh. Nightmare didn’t respond at first, earning him a nerf bullet to the nose.

“I said gimme.”

Once Nightmare seemed to process what Dream meant by money, Nightmare took a one-dollar monopoly bill and gave it to Dream. Dream pretty much threw the pistol down.

“Crossy, we’re rich now!”

Ink burst out laughing and Cross stood, hugging Dream.

“That’s great, Dreamy. Now, why don’t we get you some water and go home?”

“Ok!”

This is based on a roleplay with @star-gamerxox

It was an idea we came up with but never got to inact so I had some fun(it's 2206 words, fite me-). It's been in the works for well over two weeks.

Credits:

Nightmare and Dream belong to (insert name everyone knows and I don't wanna say)

Cross belongs to jakie95

Error belongs to loverofpiggies

Ink blongs to comyet

Omni belongs to cereusblue

PaperJam belongs to 7goodangel

Killer belongs to rahafwabas

Hope belongs to pepper-mint

Stain belongs to nimaruu

Fade(a technical fusion but not quite) belongs to me(seertale)

Nel(laya) is the wife in Fade's poly, mentioned as the one they hope doesn't cook, and belongs to @star-gamerxox

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louadorable126 · 4 years

Text

Cherry Blossom falls on a day dreaming devil - Cyberpunk AU: Part 2

>>Soon to be its own spin off fan fic!<<

Click here to read over on Ao3!

Hello there! >U.U<7

So finally back to publish the second part of my Cyberpunk AU story!

I’ve really had lot of fun writing in this universe, so I’ve decided to spin this off into its own fan fic! So when I get around to publishing Chapter 3, I will most defiantly bundle in these first two chapters, so people can catch up! :D

So please do keep an eye out for that! It would be much appreciated!

Moving on, I am happy to say there is quite a bit of Vergil content in this chapter! (Yay!) And I do hope to have him feature much more prominently from here on out!

I’ll also be including a sample in the bottom of this post again. So please enjoy that!

Anyway, I won’t keep you any longer! Please enjoy!

—————————————————————————

Summary:

Cyberpunk AU - In a city controlled by the generally altered race of Demons, Lady's life as a mercenary on the lower floor was never easy. Especially when she ran into Dante. A demon on the hunt for his missing brother.

—————————————————————————

Important information!

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Realtionships: Dante x Lady, Vergil x Lady

Characters: Lady (Devil May Cry), Dante (Devil May Cry), Vergil (Devil May Cry) Morrison (Devil May Cry), Nell Goldstien (Devil May Cry) Eva (Devil May Cry), Sprada (He’s mentioned bless him), Mundus (Also Mentioned)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Genetic Engineering, Sci-fi Fantasy, Strip Clubs and Strippers, Dystopia, Seizures, Flirting, Eva and Sprada are alive! :D

—————————————————————————

“Boys~ Breakfast is ready!”

The smoky musk of cooked bacon was potent throughout the house that morning, as Dante rushed down the manor’s grand stairwell. He was half dressed, only barely managing to get a plain white shirt over his head, before he sleepily stumbled into the kitchen. His guardian was never too pleased when he arrived shirtless at breakfast.

“Mornin’ Eva.” Dante yawned tiredly, standing hunched over in the kitchen door frame. His vision was blurry with fatigue, as he gazed over at the charming woman, happily cooking on an old fashioned stove across the room.

Upon hearing his voice, she spun around to face him with a flourish of her dress. “Ah! There you are Dante!” She beamed brightly.

Eva Redgrave was certainly a beautiful woman for her age. With her blond hair tied back into a loose ponytail; her deceivingly youthful face was on full display in the gentle, sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window.

She wore a surprisingly formal dress, almost as though she had gone to a ball the previous night and was still wearing her tight fitted, delicately embroiled, golden dress. The collar being mainly composed of a see-through, skin coloured material - that made it look as though golden vines grew up around her neck. It was extremely impractical, but his old man never once questioned his Nanny’s choice of everyday clothing. Even if Dante suspected it was just a side effect of going mad from being trapped in this house all these years.

Her gentle emerald gaze slipped past Dante for a moment - gazing beyond the kitchen door anxiously, despite the bright smile on her crimson lips.

This minor eye movement didn’t go unnoticed however, as Dante started back at her with an equally fabricated smile. She’s worrying about him again. Crap!

Dante wasn’t exactly the most punctual of people. A fact that was well known throughout his family, and may as well be a law of nature at this point. He would always arrive late to anything remotely timed. Having barely a care in the world as onlookers would on in annoyance. It was part of his mystique, and he was proud of it.

His brother, on the other hand, was the complete polar opposite. He was never late to even the most informal of meetings. In fact, he would most often be the one scolding Dante for his slacker antics.

So for him to either turn up late, or even miss breakfast entirely for four days straight - certainly hinted that something was amiss with Vergil. A fact, that while concerning for Dante, had practically sent Eva into a spiralling anxiety.

He could clearly see how Eva’s hands were tightly clenched together. Her knuckles grew more white by the second, as she took more subtle glances behind Dante. Waiting impatiently for his brother to appear. So much so, she had completely forgotten about the steaming pan next to her - that looked as though it were about to catch on fire.

“Hey, uh- are you watching that pan?” Dante quickly pointed out. Gesturing to the pan with an awkward glance.

“Ah!” Almost imminently his nanny spun around and quickly turned off the stove. Hurriedly putting on a pair of floral oven gloves, that were hanging off the oven’s rail and swiftly moving the overheating pan onto a cooling mat beside her. “Phew! That was a close call! Thanks for reminding me!”

“Hey! No worries, Eva! Hopefully breakfast is still in one piece!” Dante chuckled heartily.

“Oh, I should think it is!” Eva reassured, waving away the cloud of smoke fuming up from the pan, and taking a quick peek inside. “In fact, I think it looks far better for it! The bacon seems remarkably crispy!”

The blond woman grabbed a wooden spatula from a nearby pot of utensils, and poked the pan’s contents curiously. "I might have to do this more often...”

“What? Almost setting the house on fire? Don’t think dad will be too pleased!” Dante joked cheekily, as he walked over to his old fashioned, wooden seat and sat down.

“You cheeky boy!” Eva smirked over her shoulder at him. Putting down her spatula on the kitchen counter’s sleek, marble surface. “You know your father could have this place rebuilt in a matter of days if he wanted it too!”

“Heh, you're not wrong about that!”

And she wasn’t.

Despite the rustic, old fashioned appearance of the Manor House. All it really was, was a collection trillions of nanobots arranged in the image of a grand home. Nothing Dante touched - be it the tiled floor he walked barefoot on, the wooden table he was currently resting his arms on, or the ornately carved ceiling above him - was actually real.

It was a common technology used throughout the upper floor. Allowing for architectural wonders to be created, that by no means should be able to exist. It certainly showed off their technological prowess to all their neighbouring cities. But while the clean cut, clinical, futuristic style was most commonly used by any sane demonic architect. His dad was….far more flamboyant. Insisting that his house be styled off an old-fashioned Georgian manor house, surrounded by fine countryside for as far as the eye could see.

Well…as far as the holo-deck's dome allowed anyway!

A few moments later, a plate of food - what looked to be a full English breakfast - appeared in Dante’s field of peripheral vision. Surprised, he quickly glanced up to find Eva smiling back at him, as she put down a pair of silverware beside him. When she turned back to the kitchen counter to load up a second plate of food.

The demon picked up his knife and fork, and began to inhale the meal with ravenous glee. Tearing into the crispy strips of bacon and ripping them to shreds in a matter of seconds, before letting out a joyous sound of glee at its delicious taste.

“Dante?” His nanny asked all of a sudden. Carefully placing down the second plate of breakfast next to Dante; before sitting down heavily on the wooden chair across from him, with a loud creak.

“Yeah Eva?” He responded in a muffled voice. His mouth stuffed full of small mushrooms as he looked up at her.

“Do you think Vergil’s going to come downstairs soon?” Eva asked nervously. Once again gazing out of the kitchen door with an anxious expression on her face.

Dante gulped down the remainder of his food and he slowly lowered his knife and fork. He knew he had to say something. Anything that could at least act as a gentle reassurance for her. Even if Dante himself couldn’t guarantee brother was actually going to show up at all.

“He’s...probably just fixing up his hair. You know how Verge is about those kinds of things!” Dante slicked back his hair in a mocking fashion, before shrugging. “He’s a princess! Can’t leave the bathroom unless everything about him is perfect!”

“I can hear you, brother.” Snapped a familiar, nasally voice. Accompanied by the sound of the garden door slamming shut behind him.

The pair quickly turned their heads at the sound. Finding Vergil standing there, the stark opposite in appearance to how his hot-headed brother had just lovingly jokes. To the point it made Dante’s hardened stomach feel grossly uneasy at the sight of him.

He looked…exhausted. As though he had been running around all night without a wink of sleep. His deep blue eyes were bloodshot with fatigue; framed by heavy bags of skin drooping underneath.

His usually pristine hair was a disheveled mess. Only barely managing to maintain its stubbornly slicked back form, as his stray, silvery locks dropped dead with exhaustion around their master's face. A face that clearly had remained unshaven for the past few days, if the stubble peaking up around his hard jawline were anything to go by.

Jesus christ Verge! Where the hell have you been?! Dante shouted loudly in his head. Opening up his mouth to let out a silent scream of shock at the state of his brother.

“Ah….Good morning Vergil!” Eva exclaimed in a jolly, yet uncertain tone, as she got up from her chair and strolled over to him. It seemed as though he was struggling to keep his balance, leaning ever so slightly against the stone doorframe. Not seeming all that there, as Eva reached up to touch his cheek. Her fingertips barely making contact with his freezing skin. “Are you alright dear? You look far too pale-“

“It's none of your concern, Eva!” He growled angrily, as he grabbed a hold of her delicate wrist and ripped it away from his face.

It only took him a second of contemplation, in the awkward silence that followed the shocking incident, to suddenly comprehend what he had just done. A horrified expression shooting up his face, as he quickly averted his blurry gaze towards the tiled ground; bowing his head shamefully before the blond woman. His voice painfully soft as he spoke; "I’m…..doing just fine.”

He hesitantly stumbled past Eva, towards his assigned chair. Taking a quick glance at Dante’s half eaten plate with a solemn gaze. “I see you've made breakfast. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back sooner"

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Eva reassured softly. Waving away his concerns with her hand. "I’ve only just served it up, so it should still be warm."

Vergil slumped down onto his chair, and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. After a moment of hesitation, he delicately picked up his fork and took an uneasy bite out of a slice of bacon. Dante could have sworn his twin was about to throw up, as he painstakingly gulped down his food, with an uncomfortable shiver. His face twisting in vile rejection of the substance entering his digestive system.

He can’t keep that up for long with Eva around. She’s going to expect him to eat the whole thing. Dante quickly glanced up at his Nanny ideally twiddling her thumbs, as she patiently observed his twin eat from behind. I’ve got to get her to leave somehow.

“Hey Eva, can you leave us for a bit? Kinda wanna to discuss super secret military business with Verge!” Dante asked nonchalantly. Keeping a close eye on his ill-looking brother, as he struggled to down yet another bite of bacon.

“Sure! The laundry should be done about now.” Eva nodded in agreement, strolling over to the kitchen door. "Enjoy your meal boys! I’ll be back soon!”

When the pair couldn’t hear the sound of her heels anymore, the brothers let out a collective sigh of relief. Vergil imminently put down his cutlery, and rubbed his aching temples with his thumbs. "Thank you, Dante. I wasn’t particularly in the mood for eating right now-“

“What the hell have you been up too!?” Dante snapped accusingly. Slamming his hand down onto the table. “You’ve been worrying Eva sick these past few days!”

Vergil was visibly taken aback by his brother's sudden outburst, a look of panic - with the slightest hint of guilt - sneaking onto his face for just a moment, until his usual stoic demeanor could take over again. His stern eyes now sent a cold glare towards Dante, defying any hint of emotion that he might have shown moments before.“Did no one inform you? I’ve been put on double shifts for assignments until father gets back from Vigrid.”

A lie. Even at the time, Dante had thought it odd his twin had been given assignments without him. Their father had forced his hand a long time ago, to allow for the pair to always be assigned to missions together.

Sure, there had been times when they had been on separate missions. But that was normally because one of them was severely injured (Dante still swore it wasn’t his fault Vergil had fallen off that building. It...was just that the wind was far too strong that day!) and required a couple of days off to recuperate.

It was only later, when he had been asking around dispatch, that he learnt that no missions had been posted for either of them. That Vergil had been making the whole thing up to hide what he had truly been up too. Why hadn’t he noticed sooner?

Yet, despite this foresight, Dante found himself blurting out a familiar set of lines without thinking. His eyebrows raised in suspicion; “Seems kinda strange that I wasn’t invited along for the party! You sure they didn’t want me too?"

“They….wanted someone with...negotiation skills. Somebody who could speak subtly with culture and nuance. Something I know you particularly struggle with, brother.” Vergil stated bluntly. A tired smirk playing on his lips.

“You wound me, bro!” Dante cried dramatically, clutching his chest with a childish pout. “Come on! You know the babes love me down there!”

Vergil ignored his younger twin’s ramblings, and shook his head with a sigh. “They didn’t want you, ok? Can we just leave it at that?”

“Sure! But seriously Verge, you’ve got to take better care of yourself. You’re a complete mess right now!” Dante gestured to all of Vergil’s unkempt being with his hand. A concerned look uncharacteristically etched into his boyish features. "I’ve never seen you look so- well….scruffy! It's just so unlike you!”

Vergil looked incredibly self-conscious - as though he had only just become blatantly aware of the severity of his appearance. Without hesitating, he slicked back his messy locks with one hand. Trying to preserve what little of his dignity remained, as his ghostly pale cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. Awkwardly adjusting the embroidered cufflinks of his rich blue, velvet coat; as he spoke in a breathy voice, ladened with hidden stress beneath its surface:

“I….I will, Dante. Just please give me a little more time-“

A cheerful knock at the kitchen door cut him off. Startled, the twins quickly turned face the door. Seeing the pale shadow of their matriarch peeking out behind it.

“The washing’s done!” Eva’s gentle voice chirped from outside the room. “Am I allowed to come back in boys?"

“Yeah we’re good now, Eva! You can come back in!” Dante called out.

A second or so later, their Nanny walked into the room holding a basket of washing under her arm; her golden ponytail flowing behind her. The clicking of her high heels swiftly came to a sudden stop however, when she caught sight of the boys untouched plates. She raised her eyebrow curiously.

“Have you been forgetting your food over all that military talk? You know life isn't just about fighting, boys! Even if your father certainly makes it seem that way these days."

Crap! I completely forgot about the food! Dante almost wanted to mentally slap himself for his stupidity - and given the searing glance Vergil gave him, he certainly wanted to do the same. As the pair awkwardly looked down at their now less-than-steaming plates. Neither not really knowing what to do.

Dante began to rub the back of his neck sheepishly, as he blindly stumbled around his mind for a suitable cover answer. “Ah yeah…sorry about that-“

“I’m done with eating, Eva. I’m afraid my appetite isn’t exactly all that there today.” Vergil admitted honestly. Pushing his plate across the wooden table towards her.

Wordlessly, Eva slid her hand beneath its ceramic surface and lifted it from the table ever so slightly - looking as though she was going to simply head straight for the kitchen bin, and cast away the plate's delicious contents into its murky deaths. But when the plate simply hovered in the air, Eva gently placed a soothing hand onto Vergil’s broad shoulder. The elder twin let out a startled sound, and quickly tilted his head up to look at her.

“You know, that’s exactly what your father used to say to me.” Eva chuckled lovingly. A dreamy look in her gentle eyes, as she gazed down at the young man. Reminiscence of a distant past playing on her lips. “He'd often forget his food because he was talking so much back then.”

All of a sudden, Vergil’s muscles grew stiff beneath Eva’s fingertips. A strange look of horrifying realisation crossing his features, as though he had just solved some grand conspiracy theory - or at least gained a cursed insight into one, with how unsettled he appeared. His deep blue eyes wide in disbelief, as his pinkish lips trembled with temptation. A forbidden question itching to leave his mouth.

Without saying a word, he bluntly rose from his chair; causing Eva’s hand to slip pitifully from his shoulder. His face was clouded in shadow, as he practically ran out of the room and into the hallway.

“Hey Verge! Where the hell are you going?” Dante yelled, throwing his hands down onto the table and quickly rising from his chair, perusing his irrational twin. Rushing past the elegant nanny, who stood there in stunned silence, her fallen hand barely reaching out after the elder twin but soon retreating back to her side. An expression of hurt marring her beautiful features, as she shook her head mutely in defeat.

Dante practically threw himself out into the grand hallway. His right shoulder colliding with the kitchen door painfully as he did so, causing a hiss of pain to escape his mouth. But he didn’t stop moving. He simply couldn’t. Vergil was never this irrational. Never this secretive. Something was horribly wrong, and every inch of Dante’s identical body screamed at him to do something about it. Even if that meant forcibly tackling his unstable twin to the ground, and forcing him to spill the beans before he tried something stupid!

“Vergil get back here!” Dante cried out, desperately trying to gain ground on his brother as the pair ran down the insanely long corridor. At least if felt that way to Dante. Every step his twin took, it felt as though he needed to take six more to catch up with him.

Yet, the younger twin’s pleas did nothing to slow his brother’s pace, as his long blue trench coat fluttered elegantly behind his fleeing form. Finally managing to reach the mansion’s ancient front door only to find it locked.

Now’s my chance! Dante thought determinedly, as a wild, fang-like grin appeared on his face. Watching his elder brother flounder with the out of place steel keypad beside the front door. Frantically tapping its buttons, with the occasional worried glanced over his shoulder; as Dante closed in on his helpless prey.

Yet, just as Dante got within touching distance of his brother’s azure coat. Vergil spun around with an inhuman efficiency, and kneed his little brother hard in the crotch.

“Aw, fuck!” Dante whimpered. His eyes rolling into the back of his head from the sheer pain emanating from his nether regions, as he crashed dramatically to the ground. Curling up into a tight ball as he withered in pain. All his previous bloodlust lost, as any remaining energy he had left drained from his body.

Dante weakly lifted his head. His vision hazy from the pain and hair falling in front of his face, as he saw his brother’s silhouette standing over him. The bright artificial sunlight emanating out from behind him giving him a ghostly, almost angelic appearance. In a way that almost made Dante question whether he ever truly existed. As stupid as that thought was.

“I’ll see you again soon….little brother” Vergil uttered ominously. Before he started to walk away into nothingness. The room now has a white box. Growing unbearably brighter and brighter with every second that passed.

“Vergil….you’ve gotta come back. Please!” Dante wheezed weakly, as he shakily reached into the plain white nothingness that now lay before him. His every cry growing quiet and quieter in comparison to the void’s high pitch buzzing. The sound of a heartbeat banging erratically in his ears like an overworked war drum.

All of a sudden, the louder clatter of pots and pans crashing to the ground smashed through the nightmarish illusion; it's sound far too crisp and real compared to the floatiness unreality of the world around Dante. Soon accompanied by a familiar feminine voice yelling-

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Click here to read more over on Ao3!

#devil may cry #dmc #dante sprada #vergil sparda #lady dmc #dante #vergil #dmc hanami week #nell goldstien #eva dmc

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lovehugsandcandy · 5 years

Text

It’s Only a Game (Part 6)

A/N: This is completely AU now. Also, I am still heartbroken. In this universe, no one knew who the Brotherhood were and Colt and Ellie were the ones who tailed Kaneko to the factory for the drop in Chapter 8. I also thought that this was angsty when I started it, but nothing will ever top Chapter 13 in that department.

Pairing: Colt x MC

Rating: PG-13 (Swearing.)

Length: 3068 words

Summary: Everything falls apart.

Tags: @deimosensblog @alegria1580 @choicesarehard @thefarrari @client-327 @moonlit-girl-wonder @going-down-downtown @jolietmaraud @soniadotalves @flowerpowell @hazah

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is only for fun.

Ellie tried to focus on the bolt in front of her but it was impossible. She had already made two mistakes on the car and really didn't want a third, but her brain was fuzzy. Toby was standing close by; he already had to save her when a pair of wires started smoking because she connected them incorrectly. He obviously didn't want to take any chances, which was smart, but Ellie's could not, would not focus. She desperately wanted to look away from the bolt, to peek, just one peek, but absolutely should not do it. This was the hardest test she had ever taken.

Two turns of the wrench left and, crap, she peeked. Colt was sitting on the floor next to his motorcycle, working on putting the parts together again, brow furrowed in concentration. Almost like he had the same problem, he glanced her way at the same time. She felt her cheeks redden and he winked at her, lips curving into a smirk. Her heart started beating faster and she could not wait for this evening to be over, for Logan to fall asleep, for her to sneak downstairs under the cover of darkness.

She didn't really understand it, when Riya and Darius started dating. Darius was all Riya could talk about or even think about; she had spent hours listening to every detail about their dates or his hair or their kisses. She attributed it to infatuation or hormones but oh, now she knew. She now knew that attraction and desire could be all encompassing and intoxicating and, even worse, she never wanted it to stop.

She managed to peel her eyes away from Colt and drop back down to the wrench. She could do this.

As she was settling back in to attack the bolt, there were three sharp knocks at the back door and it swung open. She heard a sharp intake of breath next to her and Toby dropped the screwdriver he had been holding, sound echoing around the now silent garage. She turned to the door and her heart dropped in her throat. Two LAPD uniforms were sauntering through the garage, leisurely looking around. She didn’t recognize them but stayed down, partially hidden behind the car; she knew that it was a bad sign that they walked right in.

Everyone else in the room seemed to be in shock. Colt stood up from his bike as Kaneko walked out from the office. They exchanged a tense look and Kaneko spoke first, calmly. “Hello, officers. Can we help you?”

The male officer nodded; big and burly, she could see the envelope in his hands. “Kaneko?”

Kaneko nodded. “That would be me.” He did not seem surprised by the sudden intrusion and continued calmly hobbling forward.

The officers shared a puzzled look, the female officer taking the envelope to squint at it. “Ah, no.....Colt Kaneko?” Ellie felt her heart drop and had to steady herself on the tire so she wouldn’t fall over. She felt Toby’s hand land on her arm, steadying her. They shared a terrified glance and she turned to Colt. His eyes were hard and she could see his jaw clench.

“Yeah?”

The officer nodded. “We’re going to need you to come with us.”

Colt raised his eyebrows. “Do you have a warrant?”

The officer handed over the envelope and Colt opened it, skimming the papers inside. Frowning, he put the papers back. “Can we do this outside?”

“Colt...” Kaneko widened his eyes.

Colt turned back. “It’s fine, Pop. It will be fine.” Ellie thought that she saw Colt’s eyes flicker to her but it was only a millisecond and then he and the officers were walking out the door.

The silence lasted for thirty seconds before Toby let out a loud “FUUUUUCK.” Everyone looked uneasily at each other.

Finally, Ximena spoke. “Boss? What do we do now?”

~~~~~

Apparently, the answer to that was clean. Kaneko had them cleaning the shop for hours and anything of...questionable legality was moved or destroyed. Ellie was physically and mentally exhausted; she could feel the blisters on her fingers and Logan’s bed, usually so comfortable, wasn’t soothing her sore muscles. However, she could not sleep. She knew, had known all along, that this was one of the hazards of this life. Not only did you need to avoid murderous gangs, but you also lived under constant threat of arrest.

She got out of bed silently, making sure Logan was still breathing deeply, and walked the familiar steps to the shop floor. There, she wandered aimlessly. She knew in her head that Kaneko was right. He had to convince her that it was an awful idea to try to see Colt in jail. Rationally, she knew that it would be a mistake; she was just having a hard time convincing the rest of her to sit and wait.

Silent tears rolled down her face as she passed by Colt’s motorcycle, wiping her face as she remember Colt, eyes cold, walking away.

Could she really do this? Now Colt and her dad were on opposite sides, completely opposite sides here, and she couldn’t possibly choose between them. She had this fantasy that everything would work out, maybe Colt would go straight, maybe the police really wouldn't care about the crew but, after today...

Maybe she was not only mourning Colt’s arrest but also the hope that she could thread the needle between her two lives and come out between them unscathed.

As she continued on her third lap of the floor, Kaneko walked out of his office. “Ellie.”

She turned to him, eyes wide. She hadn’t known he was there but it made sense that he couldn’t sleep either. She wondered if he had prepared for this day, if he had prepared for the possibility of seeing his son led away in handcuffs. She wondered if he blamed himself for this, if he would send Colt away again.

She looked at him, silent, for so long that Kaneko sighed. “Come in.” He gestured back into the office and turned, slowly padding back through the door. Ellie followed, heart in her throat.

“Sit.” Kaneko had turned to some papers in front of him, jotting notes and numbers that she couldn’t read. “Trouble sleeping?”

She nodded, focused on the bags under his eyes. “You too?”

Kaneko looked at her, sharply. “He knew the risks.”

“Yeah....” Ellie trailed off, looking out the side window. The world was dark, the quiet weighing on her.

“He knew the risks and he knows what to do.” Kaneko caught her eyes. “You can’t do anything stupid. You can’t help him now.”

Ellie sighed. She really wasn’t planning on doing anything, she just... “I just feel so powerless.” Tears started to form, the tightness in her eyes a familiar ache now.

Kaneko dropped his pen on the deck and studied her. For a while. She felt herself wilting under his gaze and sat on her hands so she wouldn’t fidget. Finally, he nodded. “Come to my office. 6pm. Tomorrow. Exactly on time.”

She raised her eyebrows but didn’t question him; she felt like she was being dismissed from the principal’s office. Finally she nodded and turned to go.

“Don’t be late.” He called after her, turning back to his work.

~~~~~

At exactly 5:59pm, Ellie stood outside Kaneko’s door and knocked. He quickly opened it and ushered her inside, closing it firmly behind her. Without a word, he turned back to his papers. Ellie hovered for a second, unsure of the protocol, then sat down across from him. A clock in the corner ticked. One minute went by. Two. Three. Finally, Kaneko broke his silence. “One more minute.”

Ellie watched, amazed, as, true to his word, sixty seconds went by and then his telephone rang.

“Hello.” Kaneko put his pen down and cradled the phone in his ear. She couldn’t hear who he was talking to.

“Any new information for me?” He nodded, frowning. The wrinkles on his forehead looked more pronounced. Maybe it was just the lighting in the office...but maybe Colt’s absence was hitting him as hard as it was her.

“There is someone here who wants to talk to you.” Kaneko turned to her and handed over the phone, going back to the paperwork.

Ellie took the receiver gingerly. “Hello?”

“Ellie?!?” Colt’s voice hit her like a wave of cold water and she felt tears spring to her eyes.

“Colt, are you ok? Oh my God, Colt.”

She could hear his sharp intake of breath, a slow exhale. “Ellie, I can’t really talk where I am.” It sounded slightly muffled, like he was covering his mouth. “I’m fine. How are you?”

“How do you think I am? What are they charging you with? Do you have bail? What’s going on?”

He sighed, slow to answer. “Ellie, it’s fine....don’t worry. I should be back in a couple days, ok?”

“Colt....” the tears had started to spill out of her eyes and onto her cheeks. She thought of how lucky she had been, when he was here, to be able to touch him, secret stolen moments that she thought would never end. Now, she ached to even see him.

“Ellie, I’m ok, I swear, but I can’t talk where I am. I only have a minute left, will you look out for my dad for me?”

“Of course...”

“Ellie...” the phone was muffled again and he was whispering, hard to make out over the line, more breath than speech. “Ellie, I miss you.”

“Colt.....” The tears were falling fully now, she couldn’t stop them if she tried.

~~~~~

Colt laid, uncomfortably, on the thin mattress. His conversation with Ellie had thrown him and he couldn’t really afford not to be on his game. His dad had mentioned this possibility and he knew the general plan if something like this ever happened, but thinking about it and living it were two different things. It was hard not knowing what was happening at the shop, if Pop was staying safe, if Ellie was ok. He wondered if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and whether she would even be there when he got out.

Colt sat up as keys came down the hall again. He could not afford to get distracted. “Kaneko?” He stood. He had been expecting this since he got here. His dad’s lawyer said that they could only keep him for three days without officially filing charges, but to expect multiple conversations, interrogations into his dad, the shop. Might as well get this over with. He would never give up his father, regardless of the offer on the table.

He was walked down the hall and into the interrogation room. After a wait, a long wait, an interminable wait designed to make him reconsider all his life choices, finally, the door opened.

Two detectives walked in, one clutching a folder overflowing papers and a couple of glasses of water. “Colt? I’m Detective Shaw and this is Detective Foley. Sorry about the wait.”

Colt nodded. So this was the Good Cop. “No worries.”

Good Cop sat down, pulling a picture from the folder. “Hopefully we can get this cleared up really quickly. We just need some help from you and then you can go on your way.” Colt raised his eyebrows and waited. “Do you know what this is?”

Colt looked at the car. “A Maranello.” Of course he knew what that car was. He had stolen it from the owner of the LA Badgers and Mona had driven it to a storage container off an East LA highway. “My Pop owns a garage.”

Good Cop nodded. “It was actually stolen last weekend.” Colt looked at him. Waited. Waited more. “We think you know something about it.” Waited. The only sound was the clock in the corner, dulling clicking away the seconds of Colt's life. “Can you tell us about it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Good Cop frowned. “Colt, you seem like a good kid. Made it into a good university. But your dad doesn’t exactly have your best interests in mind.”

“What does Pop have to do with this?” Colt sat as still as he could.

Bad Cop moved away from the wall, bending down in Colt’s face, arms huge on the table. “You know what your father has to do with this and you were in on it, kid. We’ve got you.”

Colt sighed, already bored. This looked so much more exciting on Law & Order. He tilted his head so he could look up at Bad Cop. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Bad Cop started and pushed a chair over, the clatter loud in the small room. “Stop the bullshit, kid.”

“Foley, enough.” Good Cop put his hands up, placating him. “Colt, you have to know that your dad doesn’t exactly run his business on the up and up. Three cars were stolen from a charity event. We have witnesses who place you there.”

“I’m not big on charity,” Colt shrugged and slouched down in his chair.

Bad Cop pushed the table, aggressive. “You and your friends lifted the cars because your dad doesn’t care about you or your future or if you end up a pathetic punk ass like him."

“Ok, this is ridiculous.” Colt sat back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. “I’m done here.”

“You’re done when we say you’re done.” Bad Cop banged on the table, spilling the water cups, and Colt felt his heart stop.

Drip.

The water, sliding across the table, had started to drip on the floor, echoing in the silent room.

Drip.

The anger came suddenly. Colt was no stranger to anger, to a fury that built in his blood and churned in his veins and grew and grew until his fists moved of their own accord. He knew anger but this, this....he had to take a breath, deeply, in through his nose. He couldn’t see the table, the detectives, he could see nothing but the red behind his eyes.

He knew that voice. He knew that fucking voice.

Drip.

Colt knew he had to keep his cool. He knew he couldn’t ball his hands into fists and come up swinging until the anger had morphed into bruised knuckles. He knew he couldn’t stand and bash the detective, the dirty dirty cop, couldn’t pummel his face in until the anger in his blood had cooled.

Drip.

He bit his tongue, tasting the blood pooling in his mouth. He needed to keep his temper in check. He bit down harder. More blood. Metallic in his mouth.

That’s the fucker who hurt his dad. That motherfucking-

Drip.

He took a breath, then another. Swallowed the blood. Breathe in. Out.

Drip.

Slowly, he turned to face the cop, dead in the eyes. He looked at the detective, Foley, was it? He looked at his features, memorizing his eyes, nose, cheek, mouth. Stared him down. The roaring in his ears was starting to subside.

Finally, he smirked. “What’d you say?”

Colt couldn’t say what happened in the rest of the interrogation. The beginnings of a plan to hit The Brotherhood where it hurt were starting to form in his mind. And, in jail, he didn’t have much to do, other than think.

~~~~~

“That’s me.” He signed the property retrieval form and grabbed his things, quickly looking through his wallet to make sure he had some cash. Phone was dead, but that was probably a blessing. For the seventh time in the last hour, he played through his moves in his head as he walked through the precinct, dodging multiple uniforms in the busy entryway, trying to get out of this godforsaken place. However, at the door, steps from freedom, he paused; he could tell that eyes were on him. Eyes darting through the lobby, he caught sight of a small room, surrounded by glass, probably used for questioning suspects or delivering bad news. An older man stood standing, staring straight at him, glaring, face filled the typical hatred he had come to expect from cops. Colt paused, taking in the badge around his neck, arms folded across his chest. Maybe it was the lead detective on his case?

After a quick double-take and a caustic salute, he stepped out the front door and blinked as he stepped into the sunlight, reorienting himself to the city.

Time to move. He ducked into a convenience store for a water to break his hundred and then hopped the bus, seven stops. Ducked into a door that looked like it was made solely of graffiti and ducked out with a burner. Bus again, more stops, out of the city. He stared out the window and wondered how far his thirst for vengeance would take him. Based on the boil in his blood, pretty damn far.

Once he got to the beach, it was deserted. Quiet cliff, no one for miles. Perfect. He pulled out the burner and dialed a number he knew by heart.

“Hello.”

He waited, listening to his dad’s footsteps walk through the shop, waited until he heard the door shut behind him.

“You missed our call yesterday.” His father chided him, but it was without heat.

“I had some thinking to do. We have 20 minutes on this phone.” His father listened, actually listened, as Colt went through what he knew and the plan he had come up with.

Once he finished, he heard his father sigh. “I’m not sure...”

“Do you have a better plan?”

Pop paused. “No. But how do you know who you can trust?”

Colt bit his lip. “...I have an idea.”

~~~~~

It took another bus ride, waiting for a connection, jumping on a new route, Jesus forever, and, finally, a short walk before he was in front of a squat house in a fairly nice neighborhood, a world away from Gramercy Park. He stopped to look around. A quiet road, well-maintained houses. He didn’t know what he expected.

Hands in his pockets, he made his way up to the door and knocked. Mere seconds later, he heard quick footsteps hurrying over; the door opened and he found himself looking into a familiar pair of very suspicious eyes. The two considered each other for a minute until, finally, Colt spoke, “I need help.”

The door opened wider and Colt stepped inside.

#colt kaneko #colt x mc #colt rod #playchoices fanfic #choices rod #amy writes

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todaysbiggesthits · 4 years

Text

The Exam

Best Music Moment of 2019

BC: Three straight hours of this

youtube

in my Chapman Ryder Cup match with Code -The Robert M. Chennault Playlist in my Ryder Cup match with Laser -Vampire Weekend's "M79" with Parks and Rec theme interlude in Pawnee Peytonville with my babe -Late night music game with JD and Chaps this Fall -My kids competing for best air guitar solo to Daft Punk's "Digital Love" -The Stones soundtracking Raceday morning with Counterfeit Kenny and the Kennel Boys

Codem: -Picking up the keys after closing on #our house and listening to Arden's dreams for the pad while listening to the songs that brought us together in the first place. -Perched in the balcony of Park West watching Chromatics live and in person. -The Chapman format playlist that Brendon and I put together. It was just one song on repeat. Xtal - Aphex Twin -Plugging in my klipsch's for the first time in the new house to listen to elliott smith on the day of his death. the sound of his discography wafting throughout the whole house was a true delight.

Bronco: My 6-year-old discovering Green Day. My 9-year-old discovering Metallica. Both discoveries have awakened something in them that is hilarious and awesome to behold. And seeing Tool was pretty flaming awesome.

JD: March: Realizing I’d never heard this Stones song, nodding along to the opening riff, and exploding into my biggest laugh of the year at the first line.

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June: The Joni Mitchell performance in the Rolling Thunder Review documentary on Netflix. June: Catching the Thom Yorke Anima short film at the IMAX theater on the Upper West Side. July: Code and I getting a perfect 99 score on the greatest rendition of “Emotional Rescue” karaoke you’ll ever see. October: Playing the music game WAY too deep into the night with BC and Chap (look for the next day’s hangover on my worst moments list).

Chap: Patrick Stickles singing "I'm sorry dad no I'm not making this up" to his dad in the audience.

Nasty: Listening to music at BOB. Nothing but jams that whole weekend. Driving in with Laser - GOOGLE MUSIC JAMS. Trip to the casino - JAMS. Hanging out on the deck - JAMS. Driving to the course with Blazer Black - Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth aka JAMS. In the cart with Code - JAMS. Driving Chappy and Sfreddo to the rental car - JAMS (but quietly).

Larse: Greta Thunberg speech dubbed to metal

youtube

Best Shows Seent in 2019

Nasty: The Killers @ Summerfest. Hot Fuss will always be an all-time favorite album and Mr. Brightside is the best pop song of our lifetime, IMO. Also, my wife loves them which is about the only band in middle of the venn diagram.

Larse: The Lonely Island at Summerfest

BC: Dead & Company

JD: 1. The Rapture at Music Hall of Williamsburg 2. Viagra Boys at Bowery Ballroom 3. The Strokes and Parkay Boys at the All Points East fest in London with drunk lads screaming along to the guitar parts 4. B Boys at Union Pool 5. Titus Andronicus at Bowery Ballroom 6. Avey Tare at Market Hotel 7. Tame Impala at MSG 8. Weeping Icon at Elsewhere 9. Priests at Elsewhere

Code: interpol - chicago theater illuminati hotties - hideout it looks sad - subT downstairs robyn - riviera steve malkmus - art institute eleventh dream day - hideout colleen green - sleeping village swearin' - lincoln hall surf curse - subT shura - the bottle

Chap: TA was the only show I saw. It was great!

Bronco: All of them. They were each great in their own way. Aside from Tool I was able to interact with the band members at each of the shows. One I didn't have a ticket for and scored one at the door. One was in the tiniest venue I've seen a show at. One had a surprisingly entertaining opening act. And Tool surprised me with how much I enjoyed an arena show despite being so far away I couldn't see the facial features of the band members. And there was SOOOOOOO much weed being smoked in the Garden that night. And I was with a few good buddies. And I was able to sell my fourth ticket for twice what I paid, simulatenously covering me and my fourth friend who had to bail because his life sucks because his wife sucks.

Confession of 2019

Nasty: I consume more music at my cushy, suburban OrangeTheory workout classes than in my own free time. S/O to Coach Vanessa for having some Girl Talk on her playlists.

Codem: i had more fun listening to stuff that i already knew about than stuff that was coming out.

BC: I saw a Yacht Rock cover band and didn't hate it -I succumbed to social pressure and saw DMB -I didn't realize until the last minute that my favorite album was released in 2018 (Wild Nothing). Removing it greatly reduced my loyalty to my list.

Bronco: I'm losing my edge. I enjoyed way more lady singer bands this year than in any other year.

Chap: Couldn't get my shit together on the tracks list so just posted a random playlist

Larse: Not really a confession but more of a TIL (today I learned), but Raphael Saadiq was an original member of Tony! Toni! Tone!

Biggest Disappointment of 2019

Bin: The National @ Summerfest. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "the frontman was completely detached, even confessing at one point that he was excited to get back home to his family. The result was an incredibly depressing show — which, given the band's dour songs, is really saying something." ... Huge Bummer.

BC: Didn't see nearly enough shows with nearly enough of yous

Chap: Sturgill Simpson... unlistenable!

Bronco: Baroness.

Laser: Modest Mouse opening for The Black Keys

Code: i was really messed up by dave berman's passing. i had tickets to see him play at the end of august. it was going to be my first catching him live and in concert. i had waited for this moment since i picked up american water back in 2003. two weeks before he was supposed to come through town, he up and died. also, much less of a bummer, the chromatics show in miami that Arden and i were going to attend got canceled two days before the show.

Most Overrated of 2019

Nasty: Kanye's shoes

Chap: LEGACY! LEGACY! – Jamila Woods seems to have been highly regarded? Not my thing

BC: FKA Twigs

Bronco: Baroness.

JD: Big Thief

Code: cancel culture

Larse: Mayor Pete

Make it Stop 2019

Chap: In my house, the Nutcracker Suite. It's great, until the 300th time that day.

Nasty: Cage the Elephant (but children, instead of elephant, and in real life, not the band)

BC: Lizzo

Code: lizzo

JD: Memes

Larse: Trump

Bronco: News

Biggest TBH Regret of 2019

Chap: Can't seem to get to more than one show per year; Jessica Pratt in a church by my old place

JD: Missin’ dat Pratt yet Nick!

BC: Should've listened to the Kanye album. Should've spent more time with the Deerhunter record.

Rotty: Skipping CHVRCHES at Summerfest

Code: another year with no fog party

Nasty: Not going to Indy 500. lol jk.

Bronco: I didn't buy tickets to a few shows I would've liked to have seen. One of them I went to the venue and didn't get in. That bummed me out, but I crossed the street and had a few beers by myself for good measure, so it wasn't a total loss.

Detective Murtaugh of 2019

JD: Everything.

Bronco: Shows that don't start until 10pm. That Girl Band show nearly wrecked me.

Chap: How much I loved Bruce Springsteen's adult contemporary western-themed old-man album.

BC: The ten seconds I lasted with 1000 GECS

Nasty: For the life of me - I cannot figure out how to operate the "play next" queue on these apps.

Laser: Lizzo at Summerfest - lot of younglings running around; people were racist towards Lizzo's security guards, she vowed not to come back to MKE, one of the most segregated cities in America :(

Resolution for 2019 Status

Laser: — How It Went: Who can even remember this shit...I'm sure it was that I'd do better at keeping track or listen to more shit people suggest and I'm sure I failed.

BC: Listen to one new album a week; reboot the Classic Album Review Club How It Went: Noooot toooo gooooood

Code: catch ovlov, pictureplane, washer, chromatics, EMA and colleen green live this year. How It Went: i saw chromatics and colleen green. last i checked .400 gets you into cooperstown.

JD: Greater consciousness of how I’m using my attention - an ineffectual and meaningless protest of the ways the world is burning down in pursuit of it. How It Went: Not bad! I especially nailed the “ineffectual and meaningless” part.

Chap: Learn Piano; Guilt Joe Dons into finally inviting me to a concert. How It Went: Learned some piano but got to busy for it... Couldn't guilt JD to invite me anywhere but I DID invite him to a show! The same one I went to! With him!

Bronco: Read more 'classic’ books. I didn’t read many of them, even in school (especially in school? Never could read a book I was told to read). But I’m leaning in the sci-fi direction of 'classics’. I just read Dune this summer, and wrapped up Fahrenheit 451 the other day. I’m feeling an unexplained need to beef up my nerd credentials and this seems the way to accomplish it. How It Went: Nope. Fell back in to zombie-apocalypse genre series that I've been reading for a while. But I am currently reading arch-nerd Neal Stephenson's "Fall; or, Dodge in Hell". It's almost 900 pages, I feel like I've been reading for months now, and because I'm a stupidly slow reader, I read only before going to bed, and can only make it 10 minutes before falling asleep and hitting myself in the face with my phone, I'm only 25% of the way through. But man is it painting a creepy yet eerily plausible scene of the near future. Guy just knows how to write.

Nasty: Hope last year I was smart enough to leave this blank. (editor’s note: [removes shoes, pets cat, puts on slippers, retires to favorite easy chair, sips martini, slowly pulls reading glasses out of cardigan pocket, dusts them off, loads todaysbiggesthits.tumblr.com, scrolls to ‘Resolution for 2019’] “Nasty: I’m sticking with it - get to NY for a show with JD.”)

Resolution for 2020

BC: See Phish in 2020

Codem: i'm making it easier this year. catch ovlov, washer, EMA and colleen green live this year. bonus points: see dom's much anticipated return to the stage.

Bronco: Build a vinyl collection. I know I dumped on Brendon for suggesting he press copies of Carpet Affair, but my kid's getting way into music and listening to it on his own (via Alexa in my bedroom which is super fucking annoying), so we're getting him his own record player and I think it's going to be a cool activity to go record store diving for whatever classics we can scrounge up.

JD: Get to more shows. Take more aimless strolls spinning tunes.

Bin: Send an email about music on the TBH! thread.

Larse: None

Chap: Eh I'm cool

Most Anticipated of 2020

Code: my man dom said that he is coming back to the world this year. i have to believe that he'll keep his word. i'm thinking 2020 is going to be the year for chromatics' Tommy.

Chap: TWOD, Perfume Genius, Jason Isbell

BC: Huey Lewis and the News, Tame Impala, Run the Jewels

Bronco: Kvelertak and Mastodon, maybe some surprise extra Tool material?

JD: Working Men’s Club

Nasty: Spotify getting Jay-Z's catalog back.

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orihara-infobroker · 5 years

Note

Awright, gimme 21 with teenage akashiki from S&L :D

“I said create a distraction, not this!”

“This is a terrible plan.” The reserved young man gazed at his companion with resignation. “I honestly don’t know what I’m expected to learn from you when all you do is rush into things without any thought.”

“Listen, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow. No other way to find out what they’re really up to.” Akabayashi responded with a grin, wrapping an arm around Shiki’s shoulders. “All you gotta do is go in and play the rebellious youth. You’re here to waste your father’s money on a good time. They’ll be more than happy to take your money and once we’re inside, we can see what this gambling operation is really about.”

“Or they see right through this whole charade and we learn nothing.” Shiki countered.

“Guess you’ll just have to make sure they believe you, then,” Akabayashi responded as he walked Shiki toward the tea house that the Asuki had been using as a gambling front. It hadn’t been the gambling on its own but the very large sums of money that had been transferring hands that had been concerning. Shiki’s father hadn’t thought anything of it, of course, but when Shiki had raised concerns to Akabayashi, the redhead’s solution was to ride straight there to investigate, dragging his reluctant student along.

“I should ask Mother to send you back to Echigo,” Shiki muttered sullenly as they approached, earning a chuckle from Akabayashi.

“You’d regret it if I wasn’t around.” The redhead replied, earning an eye roll from Shiki. “Ladies! My lord and I are here to have a good time!”

The pretty young girls working in the teahouse turned to look at the pair, giving them charming smiles and giggles. An older woman stepped forward to greet them.

“Of course, my lords. What is your preference?”

“Pretty girls and sake!” Akabayashi announced with a grin. “My lord has also heard that there are games of chance to be played here and a desire to waste his father’s money.”

The matron gazed from Akabayashi to Shiki, giving the young lordling a scrutinizing look. “You’re a young one, aren’t you? First time visiting this kind of establishment I bet.” She gave Shiki a knowing smile then escorted them through the teahouse to the back rooms where girls were entertaining men twice their age as they sat around tables drinking and gambling. As they settled at a table, two pretty young girls descended upon them with sake bottles and a deck of hanafuda cards.

Card games were something Akabayashi was very familiar with, Shiki learned as he watched the redhead play. He was able to hold his own, of course, and even when he knew he was likely to lose a hand, he made sure to bet lavishly to give the impression that he didn’t care about the money he was losing. After some time he beckoned the matron over and, adopting a look of boredom, questioned her.

“I had heard there was more high stakes gambling going on here.” He let his words slur, resting his head on his arm. “If I wanted to play card games I could have done that anywhere.”

“I see the rumours have travelled far.” She replied with a smirk. “I do hate to disappoint, my lord, but the rumours are exaggerated. What we offer is not gambling but an investment opportunity.”

“Investment?” Shiki asked, arching a brow. “In what?”

“Pets, my lord. Unique and special pets.” She replied. “Would my lord like to see?”

“You have my curiosity piqued, Madam.” Shiki replied as he rose to his feet, giving Akabayashi a kick. “Maybe you can find a new hunting dog.”

Akabayashi snorted as he followed Shiki and the matron.

“Oh, not those kinds of pets, my lord.” The woman clarified as she led them up to the second floor of the tea house. The rooms here were exactly the sort one would expect from this type of establishment, the sounds that escaped only confirming it. Shiki side-eyed Akabayashi but the redhead just gave him a grin. The matron led them into a room, sliding the door shut behind them.

A girl sat in the middle of the room, no older than Shiki though it was hard to tell. She had been painted up much like the girls downstairs, though there were tear streaks on her cheeks and a redness around the eyes that couldn’t be hidden with makeup. The most notable feature though were the slender red horns that curved up from her forehead.

“Oni,” Shiki commented flatly. “You’re selling oni girls.”

“Only the most beautiful ones, of course. Lord Asuki goes to a great deal of effort to find these girls and bring them in.” The matron walked over to the girl, tilting her head up. “For all the rumours, they tend to be remarkably docile. The perfect playthings for a lord, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes, she looks like just the thing for my lord, wouldn’t you agree?” Akabayashi’s arm dropped over Shiki’s shoulder as he gave the woman a grin. “Is she the only one? I wouldn’t mind getting a taste of a pretty oni girl myself.”

“At the moment, my lord, she is the only one available. Of course, if you don’t mind sharing, perhaps a discount can be arranged.” The matron replied.

“Whatever price is fine,” Shiki replied, giving the matron a smile that was not friendly at all but she didn’t seem to notice, distracted by the open-ended offer from the young lord.

“Of course my lord. If you need anything, just call.” She withdrew from the room, leaving the two samurai with the girl. Shiki shoved Akabayashi’s arm off his shoulder, lips twisting into a sneer.

“Kidnapping girls and selling them to the highest bidder. Asuki has sunk pretty low.”

“I don’t think he had very far to sink,” Akabayashi replied with a shrug. “Your father won’t give a shit about this.”

“I know,” Shiki replied coldly. “So I will. Go create a distraction then meet me at the horses.”

“Distraction you say?” Akabayashi grinned. “Yes, sir.” He slipped out of the room and Shiki turned his attention to the girl who was looking at him with a mix of confusion and fear.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to you.” Shiki walked over to her and offered his hand. She shook her head then carefully raised the hem of her kimono to reveal that her legs had been hobbled together. He pulled out his tanto and quickly cut the ropes then pulled her to her feet. “Can you run?” She nodded. “Good.” He slid open the door and led her toward the stairs as shrieks filled the air. Shiki let out a sigh as the smell of smoke floated up the stairway. At the screams, other doors slid open, confused and half-dressed men looking out into the hall. Shiki led the girl back past the gawkers, looking into rooms as they passed, hoping to find one with an outside wall. Near the end of the hallway, he found one with a window, striding past the surprised couple to throw it open. He beckoned the oni over and lifted her up. She pulled herself onto the ledge, looking down with fear and shaking her head. Another exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he climbed up beside her and jumped. He landed in a tuck and roll, quickly regaining his feet and moving beneath the window to beckon her to follow. “Jump, girl, or you’ll burn with the building.” That was enough motivation for her to fling herself out of the window.

Shiki had never tried to catch someone before. Certainly not someone falling from a window. She wasn’t as light as she looked, either. She bowled him over and he landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. He stared up at the smoke that was steadily rising from the building, contemplating how it had come to this. The girl sat up, staring down at him with concern as she patted his cheek as if to revive him. His gaze shifted to her and she quickly retreated, giving him room to stand. “Follow me.” He told her as he moved quickly toward the horses.

Akabayashi was already there and mounted, of course, holding the reins of Shiki’s horse. “Hurry up. They’re too distracted to notice if we leave now but I heard them calling for a water brigade.”

Shiki mounted, pulling the girl up behind him. “I said create a distraction, not this!” He criticized the redhead.

Akabayashi merely grinned and shrugged. “It is a distraction, Shiki!” He laughed.

“At this rate, the entire town could burn. Did you knock over every lantern in the building?”

“Oh, no, I visited the kitchen.” The redhead replied as he spurred his horse to a gallop. “Besides, they won’t be selling anyone if the town burns, will they? Sounds like perfect retribution for the crime.”

Shiki couldn’t deny that he took satisfaction in watching the fire consume the teahouse, spreading swiftly to the buildings beside it as they rode away. “Do you even understand the concept of subtle?” He insisted with a scowl.

“Not really my style.” Akabayashi laughed as he leaned in and clapped Shiki on the back. “Besides, people miss the point when you’re subtle. Can’t miss this point, now can they?”

Shiki just sighed in defeat. “We weren’t here to make a point.”

“We weren’t here to rescue oni-girls either.”

“I never should have listened to you.”

“Admit it, this was fun.”

“Fun? Clearly, your idea of fun is twisted.”

#writing prompt #akashiki #shadow and light #this got long #aka is shiki's perpetual headache #my writing

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diredigression · 4 years

Text

New adventure from Courier Carrot!

Carrot gets to push some big red buttons at Helios One.

—–

That Lucky Old Sun

Carrot sprinted down the dark hallway. “RUN!”

Behind her, a small army of protectrons teetered towards them. Bright red laser flashes from the bots shot past the three, perilously close to contact. Seconds earlier, Carrot had spotted the laser tripwire in the doorway, but not soon enough to keep herself from charging through it as she fled a Mister Gutsy. Luckily, Boone had taken that one down before the protectrons activated. As for them—

An ear-shattering explosion threw Carrot and Boone to the ground and ED-E into a wall as a dome of crackling blue lightning enveloped the bots. The plasma grenade, one of Carrot’s new favorite toys, blew tangles of metal from them. The remaining parts sparked, smoked, and collapsed in the hallway.

Carrot and Boone scrambled to their feet and ED-E, beeping angrily, launched himself back into the air. Otherwise, there was silence. They clung to the wall, listening for anything besides the ringing of their ears and some residual static from ED-E, until they were reassured that the threat was past.

“Damn,” giggled Carrot. “That was cool.”

Boone glared at her. “Let’s just get moving and hope there’s no more up ahead.”

Of course, getting moving took some time, as Carrot was unwilling to leave any loot behind. She quickly emptied the toolboxes and bins in the area before moving on to the mangled bots. She didn’t know hide from hair on electronic things, but she recognized a few of the easier-to-remove bits as common stock in scrap sellers’ bins. No reason to leave free caps behind—especially now that she had Boone to lug it.

“Gonna be hard covering you when I can’t move my legs,” he grumbled as Carrot loaded him up with scrap. ED-E twittered in an amused sort of way, until she started piling the remainder onto him.

Now, ED-E — his acquisition had been utterly unexpected. Even Boone, whose repair abilities outstripped hers, had taken one look at the pitiful pile of metal on the Mojave Express desk and offered to take it to the Gibson scrap yard himself (as long as he got to keep the caps). But as Carrot had emptied her bag of loot in front of Johnson Nash for trade, his eyes had slowly widened. “Youngster, I reckon you just brought me exactly what I need to fix that old bucket of bolts.” And with a startling amount of sprightliness for such a weathered man, he had swept up an armload of Carrot’s junk and set to work tinkering on the eyebot. His intensity had left Carrot and Boone in slightly stunned silence, just wanting to trade their loot and move on.

And now the eyebot was part of their little party, singing fierce beeping war cries and taking down protectrons with his laser gun.

Eventually Carrot finished scavenging and they continued on through the dark hallways. The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and finally they discovered their goal: the elevator to the Helios One Observation Level. Here, as that idiot wearing sunglasses in the basement had informed them, they would be able to…do something to get the shiny mirrors outside flowing juice to the region. They’d done something about “resetting mainframe connection” outside the plant, and Fantastic said they needed to “do the rest” up here. Past all the killer robots.

Carrot was a huge fan of Fantastic, really. Dude knew his way around the NCR grunts and was totally shameless about it. Gotta respect that.

But now they were up here, slightly singed from the killer robots, and the computer was complaining about not getting enough juice even though it was in the damned juice plant, and he’d given them no actual info to go on. Oh, and a cable was chewed to bits and emitting an acrid smoke that gave Carrot a headache.

She began organizing the loot. It was a good way to pass the time while she waited for either her brain or the universe to give her something useful.

Or Boone, apparently. “I think I found something,” he called from upstairs. “Dormant Mister Handy. Maybe it’s only for maintenance. Might be able to fix the system.”

Carrot trotted up to where he waited. The Mister Handy floated over a charging pad lit in pale blue. The flamer and buzzsaw on its curled legs (she was far too familiar with those) were still in place, but other tools seemed to have been retrofitted wherever there was space. It wasn’t often she got to see an undamaged Handy this close without the distraction of being flambéed. She couldn’t resist the impulse to reach out to touch it.

The robot jumped to life.

Carrot screamed and leapt backwards. Boone jerked, tried to grab his rifle off his shoulders, and tripped over a chair.

The Handy swept past them as if they didn’t exist.

Bewildered, they stared after it as it descended the stairs. ED-E’s startled beeping was heard as the Handy approached, soon changing to a slower, more confused sound. Carrot and Boone hurried to the railing, where they watched the Handy descend upon the smoking cable. After a few minutes of deft movements and a remarkable amount of sparking, the Handy collapsed next to the cable, once again dormant. The smoking from the cable was gone, and it looked as though the output on the monitor screen had changed.

“What…the hell,” said Carrot.

Boone looked at her, back to the bot, and then back to her. With his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses, only a twitch in his frown indicated increased scrutiny. He pointed at her hand. “What are you holding?”

Carrot looked at her hand in surprise. Apparently she was still holding one of the loot items she’d been sorting, a small square computer drive. A holodisk. “An employee ID card, looks like. Guess waving it close started up the Handy?” Her confusion morphed into a cocky grin. “Glad I grabbed everything now, huh?”

Boone snorted and headed back downstairs. “Lucky us.”

Finally into the computer, Carrot eyed the terminal options. “Configure Power Grid”: that was probably to shift the juice around the region. More interesting was the one at the bottom, with the name ARCHIMEDES prominent. That was exciting. Options all in caps felt like the boring-green-terminal version of a big red button. She was disappointed to find that it only contained a memo, though, so she continued to the power grid option.

There it was again. ARCHIMEDES II. She vaguely caught notice of the other options around it, names of Mojave towns, but they were far less fascinating. Hadn’t that other guy, the sciency one working with Fantastic, mentioned something about it? ARCHIMEDES was calling to her. She selected it and the terminal returned to the original menu, which now included a new option:

Arm ARCHIMEDES Plant Defense System

What the hell. She was always a sucker for big red buttons. Besides, an important place like this could always use some extra defense measures, right?

Suddenly a siren blared. ED-E twittered nervously. For some reason, Boone eyed her and started murmuring, “Carrot, what did you—”

She cut him off. “No time, Boone, don’cha hear that? We gotta get moving before whatever’s happening happens. Looks like the last switch is up top.” She charged up the stairs and out of the building into the noon sun.

Out on the tower observation deck, far above the broad field of shinies, the control console was easily identified by the massive switch. Carrot wriggled in delight—she got to press all the big red buttons today. She leaned over the railing, spending a moment to take in the view of the Mojave and the array of mirrors below. Then she pulled the switch.

——

Bubbling over with excitement, Carrot charged into the room where Fantastic was working. She couldn’t wait to tell him the incredible thing she’d just seen. How lucky it was that she had been there out on the observation deck, gazing across the Mojave, right as that column of heavenly light shone from the sky! Even Boone had showed some emotion, although it seemed more angry than amazed? Her good mood couldn’t be swayed by his grumpiness right now, though.

But Fantastic’s reaction was equally disappointing. “What the fuck, man?” he shouted. “Are you loco? You just killed my paycheck!”

“What do you mean?” she asked. “I moved the shinies and sent out the juice, just like you asked!” But Fantastic just huffed and turned away.

The sciency guy was also unimpressed, but Carrot had expected that. He wasn’t as cool as Fantastic. Still didn’t know what or why he was blaming on her. Maybe he was just jealous that she’d figured out how to fix the shiny plant without him.

Carrot left the plant, Boone stalking darkly behind her and ED-E over his shoulder. All the NCR guards had vanished. Maybe they’d left to check out the light show too. She couldn’t blame them. But as for her, she’d had enough excitement for the day. Off she jogged towards her Novac bed and a well-deserved rest.

#Courier Carrot #courier #fallout #fallout new vegas #fnv #fnv courier #fallout oc

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catch22inareddress · 5 years

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Twin Phœnix Chapter Six Destination Unknown

OK SO THIS CHAPTER ISN’T AS LONG BUT IT FELT RIGHT TO END IT WHERE I DID. I WILL HAVE ONE MORE CHAPTER THAT I WILL PROBABLY BE A BEAST. MAYBE TWO MORE CHAPTERS. THEN DONZO.

PLEASE COMMENT AND SEND SOME LOVE MY WAY. YOU KNOW IM A SUCKER AND I LOVE IT SO. FUELS MY WRITING!!!

As you lay in bed, waking to the loud murmurings from downstairs, you took in your surroundings. Last you remembered when the shock gave way, and you finally spoke with Bucky. It wasn't very calming. Not in the least. You hashed out the text and call situation with Eddie and Bucky was near frantic with his fidgeting. That was his only tell, that and the ever constant twitch in his jaw. He pleaded with you to call in the FBI, but you were too afraid it would only make things worse. While you trusted him, you were terrified to your bones.

Alexander Pierce had his claws in everything, and we had no idea who he had in his pocket. You could only trust the club and Wanda, that was it. What scared you most was the thought of putting everyone in danger the longer you stayed here. You and Wanda had become attached, too much so. You knew she felt it also, the fear of them getting hurt because of the both of you. You saw it in her eyes today, and it left an unsettling pit in your stomach. It was the end of the line, no matter which route you took; the time was coming for the choice to be made. When you threw off the covers and walked downstairs, you couldn't have prepared yourself for what lay before you. The decision was going to be made for you, and much sooner than you had planned.

Wanda was in Vis' arms, curled up and afraid from all of the yelling. Bucky and Steve were toe to toe and shouting at one another, and they were eager to throw some blows. The words weren't even making it to your mind as you took in the two extra bodies standing there, as one noticed you on the stairwell; he nudged the other. The room became silent as every meeting you had with them playing in your mind. Every promise made to get you and Wanda out safe. All the intel that you had acquired just for them only to run and bury it when everything fell apart.

"Look who it is Rhodey. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Y/N. We got a call and thought it was too good to be true." Tony fucking Stark stood before you in his cocky smirk and old money suit. Charming as ever, while his part Rhodes just stood there, calm as ever. They reported to Peirce himself and these...these were the men the Bucky and Steve trusted? They called them in even though you said no? They...betrayed you and Wanda for what? To keep the club safe from HYDRA? Your mind was racing with muddled thoughts as tears burned your eyes like acid rain pouring from the sky.

Gripping the rail and shooting daggers to men in the room they all fell silent, awaiting your words. Bucky was the first to break the silence when you refused to, only being able to maintain your breathing. "I-I told them to wait until I could talk to you, baby. I didn't call em' in." Your head was spinning, and you made eye contact with Wanda who silently nodded and pulled away from Vis, his face in pain from her pulling away, knowing that this was her putting distance between them. He knew it would happen this way. He knew that's why he stood beside Bucky in the meeting but no one, save Nat was on their side and look at the mess that was forming. He shook his head as she made her way to your side. Bucky's eyes never left yours with a watery plea for you to believe him. "Save it, Barnes." Was your cold reply causing him to grip his bent knee on the stair, bracing himself.

"These two report directly to Pierce himself, I don't trust them. You assholes went behind our back when we trusted you. I trusted you!! You said you would try and find another way. You're a fucking liar James Barnes!" You put Wanda behind you as she retreated to your room. You knew that you could make an exit from the balcony where they wouldn't expect it but never through them and out the front door. Not without a fight that both of you would certainly lose, the odds were never in your favor.

Bucky looked sorrowful, and Steve looked like he was fucked, well because he was. He screwed everyone closest to him by trying to do the reasonable thing, even if he did trust Agent Stark and Rhodes he didn't listen to his heart. He did want he "knew" was right even though he felt it was wrong.

"Baby, please." Bucky pleaded and grabbed your arm more forcefully than he intended to in absolute desperation and you did something that you always wanted to do to Eddie. All of the pain, angst, betrayal, love lost, and anger came out of you in one wave of emotions. You drew your fist back and decked him square in the mouth. Bucky stumbled down the steps, tripping on his feet and falling the ground; blood trickling from his mouth. Steve went to help him up, but Bucky violently pushed his hands away.

"This is your fucking fault, Rogers. Always thinking you know what is best and never taking EVERYONE into consideration. It's time to get off of you high fuckin horse and see it for what it is. Your fuck up!"

You and Wanda ran to your room and shut the door harshly while you yielded against it. Urging your tears to remain at bay, now was not the time to indulge in emotions and let your heart give in. You could deal with it later. "Wanda, it's now or never. I know..I know you have feelings for Vis and we can always come back to him when the dust settles. If you want, but I need to know now..." Wanda took you into her arms and held you cutting you off so you wouldn't have to keep going.

"We both are walking away from a lot here. It's safer this way though. For them, everyone. If Tony and Rhodey have turned, then we need to bail, we can just hope that maybe we can come back later and be with them." You stifled a sob at the thought of leaving Bucky even though he lied to you and pulled away to wipe her tear stained face. "C'mon Wan. Looks like we're gonna be jumping." She nodded as you grabbed your keys, phone, and jacket.

Bucky was at your door pounding loudly but speaking softly, a complete contrast to one another. "Baby, please. I didn't...I didn't betray you. You gotta believe me...I lo" You jumped before he could finish his sentence, unable to listen to words. You desperately wanted to believe his promises but you couldn't, not now. It would only make leaving him harder. You and Wanda jumped out the window and onto the hay piles on the side of the house, softening your landing. You made a speedy escape to your car, but as soon as you turned the engine, you saw the front door open.

Vis came running out with Steve hot on his tail, Bucky came from where you and Wanda had, jumping out the same window himself. You heard yelling for both of your names as you peeled out and down their road. Bucky was running towards his bike, but when you got to the end of the driveway, you shut the gate and broke the lock, turning down the road out leading out of town.

Destination unknown.

Eddies POV:

Eddie was sitting at his penthouse looking out over the city, smoking a cigarette to calm some of his anger and frustration. As a plume of smoke rose above his head, his phone rang pulling him out of his dark and ominous thoughts.

"Hey, boss. Looks like your woman and her sister are running again." Eddie chuckled into the phone, finally some good news. "What else ya got for me?"

The voice on the other end continued on. "Feds came, ya know the ones Brock tried to buy off that wouldn't budge. Well, they came, looks like some kind of fight went down. Damn girls jumped out the fucking window and sped off in the car like a bat outta hell. Heading north. Want me to follow em?" Eddie tossed the cigarette off the balcony.

"Yea, I'm about a day out. Keep me informed. I know Brock will get word soon enough, but I gotta get my woman first. Then he can have the scarlet bitch to himself. I'll have another job for you too when I get there. I'm gonna kill, Barnes and she's gonna watch." There was a pause on the other line.

"Better bring another man or two, boss. Barnes isn't someone to mess with." Eddie gripped the railing so hard it bent under his strength. "Yea, well shithead. Neither am I."

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elounorfluff-blog · 5 years

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Inhaling Every Moment

A/N: OK I already apologized for this in my previous post. The whole thing isn’t heart-wrenching, I promise. Like and comment, reblog or DM with feedback! And a super fluff-filled nothing sad at all Christmas one-shot is coming in December. So here’s Christmas 2016....

The air felt colder than usual, but it had nothing to do with close to freezing temperatures outside. Louis wasn’t sure his life could have been in a more horrific state than it was that chilly night in December. The funeral had been held two weeks ago and he didn’t know how there were any tears left in him. After that awful day, it had been too much for him to keep leaning on Dani. Snapping at her when she was just trying to help and then apologizing over and over again until their relationship had more tension than comfort. She had left two days after his X-factor performance, on amicable terms. He knew it wasn’t her fault he was so upset with the world right now, but he didn’t think he could be with anyone in his current state. And of course, she had been at the funeral. Some part of him had expected to see Eleanor there, but when he actually saw her in living, breathing, form, it was like someone had sliced open freshly sewn stitches. He’d barely been able to say more than a few words to her.

His birthday had passed yesterday without any festivity beyond reading a hopelessly long letter his mother had left behind for him, telling him how proud she was and that she wished him only to find peace in the coming year. Lottie had also made him eat something and changed his sheets, and then taken him and Fizzy, along with the older twins to get hot chocolate. It had been a sort of quiet he wasn’t used to, but he had never been more thankful to have so many sisters. They were all in this together, at least.

And there had been today. Christmas. In their rented London home close to the hospital that no one could bear to leave just yet. Nobody woke up early to open gifts, but Dan and Fizzy had started making pancakes around noon as people drifted downstairs. It was an odd kind of relief to have things to do that day. Traditions that simply had to be upheld lest they have one more reminder of Jay’s absence. And so, they had decorated the tree that had sat neglected for the past month as they had been too busy with goodbyes and funeral plans and grieving to worry about something as trivial as ornaments. The memories held in each little trinket he hung up ended up being of far more comfort than he thought they would. He had found all the little things he’d made her in primary school, ornaments from different years which read “the Tomlinsons”, and listed names on some item. The first looked like a cookie sheet and simply held Marks name, his mum’s, and his own. The most recent was in the shape of a large snow globe and held at the top “The Tomlinson-Deakin Family” and read on tiny name plaques, “Jay, Dan, Mark, Louis, Lottie, Fizzy, Daisy, Phoebe, Doris, Ernest”. He’d smiled, wondering what the person who had done the calligraphy must have thought, writing all those names. Every single one of the kids had some creative ‘Baby’s 1st Christmas’ one as well, his own simply stating those words on a tiny silver frame that held a photo of his Mum with him at one day old, not even discharged from the hospital yet.

They had sat in the living room and opened a few gifts from each other, before they had finally addressed the tense absence hanging in the air. Each of them had gone around and told the happiest story they could think of about Johannah. And for awhile they had laughed even though the pain was still fresh. She had brought so much joy to their lives. They had stayed in their cocoon of togetherness, not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort of seeing their mum in each other’s eyes, but then children started to fuss, and the night had to end as Lottie and Fizzy got the younger twins off to bed. He had to let the great world spin, whether he wanted to or not.

It was close to midnight now. He knew all the older girls were probably crowded into one bedroom, asleep on each other, as they had been since the funeral. He sat downstairs, in a back room with vaulted ceilings that was full of windows to let light in during the day. He was curled up on the couch, with his knees hugged to his chest feeling completely numb. He took out his phone in hopes of finding a distraction, scrolling mindlessly through the names in his phone. Louis wasn’t even sure how or why he had hit call on Eleanor’s contact, it just happened.

Meanwhile, El sat in her sweatpants alone in her London flat. She couldn’t bring herself to go home to Manchester. She’d tried to enjoy herself earlier with a friend who’d invited her to dinner, but now she simply felt alone, save for Bruce, who she was currently using as a pillow. She missed Jay with everything in her, but more than that, she missed the normalcy of being around the Tomlinsons and how comforting it had been just to wrap Daisy and Phoebe in her arms at the funeral. His family was the only one that was going through this process with her, but she felt like an intruder, so she kept her communication to a minimum. When her phone rang, she didn’t intend to answer it until she saw the contact name flash.

“…. Hello?” She answered hesitantly.

“Hey,” Louis said quietly.

“You’re up late,” she mumbled.

“Surprised you’re still awake,” Louis replied awkwardly.

“I haven’t really slept much since….you know. Did you need something?” She asked with curiosity rather than annoyance.

Louis paused as if trying to remember something. “Not…not really, I guess. Just can’t sleep either, although apparently everyone else can.”

Eleanor spoke before she thought, “Do you want me to come over?”

“I can’t say the answer is no. I promised you no more lies, but if you’re tired, I understand” he told her, which was true. They had spoken briefly after Jay told her about Brianna’s pregnancy. It had been a strange conversation where she questioned why he felt the need for her to know before the public, and he’d answered her that despite not feeling they could reconciliate, he felt he owed her honesty, and that honesty wasn’t letting someone you had been with for three and a half years find out you were having a child from the media.

“I’m a little tired, but that doesn’t mean I can fall asleep anytime soon. Be over in ten?” El didn’t know why she agreed. A little birdie (actually twin ones with iPhones) had informed her when Danielle had gone back to America and their general understanding that Louis and she had split.

“Yeah that works…. See you soon.” The line went dead as he hung up.

El turned to Bruce, “I have to go, love.” The dog answered by putting his head on his paws. “….Actually? Do you want to go for a ride in the car…yeah?” The dog’s ears perked up and he sat, pawing at her. “Alright, but we have to be very quiet.”

She grabbed a clean sweater, double checked she had on deodorant, and didn’t bother beyond that. She packed up her golden-doodle and started her car.

Lou texted her to come in the side door, where the deck was waiting off the room where he currently sat. He heard her pull up but didn’t see her until she was at the glass door, holding a giant bundle of tan fur in her arms. Lou gently slid the door open as she stepped in and set Bruce down. “You brought your dog?!” He whisper shouted.

El shushed him in reply, quietly telling Bruce to lay down. “Yes, I brought my dog. You have to take care of them you know.” She wasn’t sure why she was being so forward, although Louis had purchased Bruce for her and known him quite well. He had been their dog. “Besides, you can’t tell me that fluffball is anything other than comforting,” she told him quietly.

Louis gave her a look but then his eyes softened as he crouched down to pet the dog. “Hey Bruce-y. How’s life been?” He sat down on the ground against the back of a couch and pet him.

El joined him on the ground, still wearing her coat and boots, rubbing her dog’s belly as she talked mindlessly. “He’s been okay. Definitely missed you when you first left.” She tried to fill the endless silence. “What’s on your mind?”

Louis sighed, “Just…how lonely things seem without her. I didn’t even see her all that often before she was diagnosed, I was busy living it up in LA, but then I was here constantly after that call. I was afraid if I left for too long, I might never see her again,” he said without looking up. He scratched Bruce’s ears as a distraction.

“At least you got to say goodbye?” El tried to look for something comforting but wasn’t coming up with much.

“You’re only the hundredth person to say that to me”, Lou rolled his eyes, standing up. “I need to smoke,” he told no one in particular, slipping on his shoes and heading out to the deck. Eleanor followed him, since Bruce had fallen asleep in the warmth of the house.

El pulled her coat tighter around her in the still night air, watching Louis take a pack and a lighter out of his sweatshirt pocket. She leaned against the railing and put one of her hands out. “Give me one those,” she said.

Lou gave her a strange look, “Didn’t you quit smoking…. four or five years ago?”

“I quit because I was dating someone in a band who had in image to uphold for millions of thirteen-year-old girls in 2011, you hypocrite”, she deadpanned, but he still didn’t look like he planned on surrendering any. “Give me a fucking cigarette!” She whisper-shouted.

Lou looked he had been shaken out of trance as he handed one over to her and lit it for her. “Well at least I can count on you not to lecture me about the hazard”, he told her, taking a drag off his own.

El almost laughed as she exhaled, “I’m pretty sure the fact that Jay hated smoking is enough of a lecture by itself.”

“You’d think. I’ve been awful about it though. I can go through a pack in two hours easily,” he informed her. It was true. His nerves never seemed to calm down and for some reason the routine dispense of nicotine into his system felt at least somewhat relaxing.

“Well, we all have our vices,” she knew it wasn’t worth lecturing him about anyway. He was going to do it either way until he worked through Jay being gone. They were silent for a few minutes as they smoked, until she stomped hers out on the ledge, too cold to continue. “You almost done, it’s bloody freezing out here?”

Louis saw her shivering and threw his in the ashtray. “It’s warmer upstairs, inside I mean,” he said as he offered his hand to her to walk back in. El glanced at him suspiciously before accepting it.

“What have you been doing down here, then?” She asked as he slid the door open.

“I…I couldn’t fall asleep alone. The girls are all piled in with each other, and if you hadn’t heard, things weren’t really working between Dani and I. She left two weeks ago,” Louis pat his leg to call Bruce over while El took her boots off. He had forgotten how much he cared about the dog.

“I heard,” she said quietly, looking for a subject change. “He remembers you. I can tell, he wouldn’t let Max near him for months, but he doesn’t even make a sound when you pet him”, she said watching the two interact, “are we going upstairs?” She gestured to the staircase down the hall as she hung up her coat above her boots.

He figured she was cold from being outside, and it wasn’t going to hurt anything for them to go up to his room, “I guess…as long as Bruce is quiet.” El nodded in reply and picked up her overgrown puppy. Lou shook his head at her, hinting at a smile. He crept down the hall and up the stairs with her in tow, until they got to his room. He shut the door and turned on a lamp.

El set Bruce down on the bed, while Lou cleared away random things from it. “What’s that?” She asked of an unopened gift bag sitting on the ground.

Lou looked to where she pointed, and his heart sank, “birthday gift from Mum. I read the letter, but I haven’t opened it yet.”

“Oh…well do it now then. While I’m here for moral support,” She knew it might be months before he got around to it if she didn’t push him. Lou gave her an annoying look but picked it up and sat down next to her.

He took out the tissue paper and removed the two items inside. The first one was an engraved picture frame with one of the last photos of him and Jay before she was hospitalized. It simply read ‘Love you always, Mum Xx’ in what was clearly her handwriting. He smiled at it before setting it down gently on his dresser and picking up the other gift. It was a flat silver circle with an inner an outer ring, hung from a ribbon. The inner circle had a teddy bear holding a gift etched into it, while the outer one read ‘Baby’s first Christmas 2016’. He blinked back tears as he showed it to El. “She has one of these for all seven of us. And everyone’s is different, even Daisy and Phoebe’s. They were some of her favorite ornaments, she always talked about getting one for Freddie.”, he said it solemnly, leaning against her shoulder without thinking.

El squeezed his hand gently and set the trinket down next to the photo. She went to kick the bag aside but noticed something white in the tissue paper and picked it up for Lou to see. It was a Polaroid of all things, from Jay’s wedding. “Is that us?” Eleanor asked, even though she knew it was her because she remembered taking the photo.

It was while everyone was still getting ready and somehow the bridesmaids had found themselves running around barefoot as they finished up. Sophia had come to help her fix her hair, and brought Liam with her, who had brought Niall, and before she knew it all of One Direction was in the house and her hair still hadn’t been fixed. Someone was taking Polaroids for fun and had gone to grab one of Louis and Liam after he first walked in. Joke was on that photographer, because Lou had called her over, which of course led to Liam calling Sophia over, and then Louis told Zayn and Perrie they may as well join, which led Niall and Harry to sarcastically complaining about not being included. Louis had told them it was a couples only photo, and they needed a date, which they responded to by waving over Daisy and Phoebe, also barefoot and dresses still untied, and putting the girls on their backs.

The end result had been a set of laughing twins on the backs of Harry and Niall with linked arms and ridiculous facial expressions on one end and Zayn and Perrie looking relatively normal on the other end. In between that mess was Louis holding El’s waist and kissing her on the cheek while she looked slightly to the side, bursting with laughter at Sophia who was standing on her tiptoes in her black dress, trying to be as tall as El in her bare feet while Liam had covered half his smile, trying to hide his laughter at Soph’s attempt to be taller.

Louis took the photo from her after studying it, wondering why his mum had included it. He turned it over where the back of it had written in sharpie, ‘Louis, never stop making people smile. :)’. He looked at El, “that is definitely us.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. The photo only stirred up more feelings, although not all of them were bad.

“Can I borrow a sweatshirt?” El asked out of the blue once the silence got to be too much. Her sweater felt tight and uncomfortable now.

“Yeah, I’ll grab you one”, he exhaled heavily as he set the photo down and pulled one of his drawers open, surrendering the warm fleece. “Did you want one of the guest rooms?” He turned to pet Bruce while she changed.

El pulled her sweater off and unclasped her bra, before discarding that as well. She pulled on his warm sweatshirt and scooted back, “I’m fine here.”

“You want to sleep in my room? As in….” Louis was confused.

El rolled her eyes, “I’ll sleep with you. Wait not like that, I didn’t mean-”

“I got it,” he cut her off, understanding her meaning. Bruce stayed curled up at the end of the bed as he went to lay beside her, taking the Polaroid with him to examine it further.

She put a hand on his arm out of habit, “You alright?”

Louis shook his head. “I know that was probably one of the happiest days of her life, but it’s definitely in me own top three. I got to walk down the aisle with you. And nobody was fighting, not the band or my siblings, or…us”, he tilted his head slightly.

“You really want to do this right now?” El turned on her own side to face him, leaning on her arm, “talk about us?”

“You say it like it’s such a bad thing”, his tone didn’t convey any particular emotion, besides the grief he was clearly carrying in general.

“Not bad, per say…. just doesn’t do anybody a lot of good. Reminiscing about a girl you used to be in love with,” Eleanor stated like it should be obvious.

Louis raised an eyebrow at her as if she had just told him something completely inconceivable, like the sky turning green. He took one of her hands and looked straight at her, “Eleanor, I didn’t used to be in love with you… I still am.”

El blinked back a tear and looked at their hands instead of back at him, “You promised… no more lies.” She didn’t ever want to risk having her heart shattered again.

Louis wasn’t holding back his tears as they slid down his cheeks. “I’m not lying. You’re my girl, Eleanor,” El tried to look anywhere but at his eyes. “I know I fucked up, and got really lost the last two years, in too many ways to count, but I promise I’m not lying about this,” he pleaded with her.

El let the tears fall down her face. “Why did you call me?” She asked through her tears, swallowing thickly. She stared at their fingers, still laced together between them.

“Because”, Louis choked out, “because you’re my family. Nobody can ever be you, which means no one can ever understand losing her the way you would. You don’t treat me like some…broken, fragile thing. And because…maybe, I missed you.” He blinked hard and wiped at his eyes with his sweatshirt

“Maybe?” El finally met his eyes.

“No. Not Maybe. I did miss you. Shit, El. I missed you so much”, it was like a million emotions came flooding back in one second.

El wiped at her own tears. She crept closer to him, feeling her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She lost herself in the ocean of his eyes.

“I missed you too,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure why she admitted to that so freely, but she knew with every part of her that it was true.

Louis didn’t stop to wonder if her reply was genuine or second guess her, at least not with words. He just gave her a half smile and squeezed her hand gently, “Yeah?”

El nodded and pushed her palm against his so he fell on his back and pressed her lips to his. Her thought process was completely gone at this point. She had meant to be gentle and quick, but before she knew it, his other hand was tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she found the familiar taste of cigarettes and some expensive whiskey he must have been drinking earlier and him. She surrendered all her oxygen to it, kissing him as they both cried silent tears.

Lou wanted her back the second she pulled away to breathe, but he decided he could definitely settle for her body pressed to his as she curled around him and rested her head on his chest. He swallowed and found his tears finally subsiding as he wrapped his arm around her. “I can’t lose you too, not again.”

El didn’t look at him to argue or try to declare her love enough to convince him she wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t have the energy or the motivation to do any of that. She simply snuggled closer to him and ran her thumb over his where they knotted together. “You won’t,” she stated simply, glancing at the clock reading eleven fifty. “Merry Christmas,” she said sleepily. And then her eyelids were getting heavy as she wrapped her body around his and shifted most of her upper bodyweight onto him.

He yawned under the comforting pressure of her head tucked beneath his chin and her chest against his abs, one arm wrapped lazily around him. Eleanor drifted off with her nose tucked to his shoulder. Louis’ breathing finally became slow and even as he listened to her breathe and smelled the same perfume that had been a constant for almost four years of his life. Bruce came and laid beside them. This was the furthest thing from happily ever after as their tear stained faces dried, but there was no denying it was love. It didn’t matter how many mansions he bought, or how hard he tried to escape his feelings for her, she was his home.

“Merry Christmas, Eleanor, I love you,” he whispered in the darkness before sleep finally found him.

A/N: Please like and comment! Title from “First Time” by Ellie Goulding and Kygo

#elounor #elounorfic #elounor fanfiction #eleanor and louis #eleanor calder #louis tomlinson #christmas fic #oneshot #im sorry

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danibuck58-blog · 5 years

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Why I started blogging.

Life comes with it’s share of ups and downs, we all know that. There are the downs that we can breath through and the downs that take the breath from our lungs. There are days we wish we could repeat forever and days that will haunt us forever.

On May 1st, 2017, I was driving home from the grocery store with a million thoughts in my head. I’m a mother of four. My two oldest were in school and my two youngest asked to stay with a dear friend of mine for a few hours. I was busy planning my to do list of all the things I could accomplish before the bigs got home from school and the littles came home from my friends. Free time doesn’t come often and I was planning on taking advantage.

My little brother called and said ‘where are you? I need you to come to my house. It’s about Dad, Mom is here and I’ll tell you everything when you get here. Just come over now.’ I kept asking what was wrong and he wouldn’t tell me. Finally he said ‘Dad’s in the hospital, I’m so sorry, just come over.’ I knew right there, that this would be a day that would haunt me forever. You see in my family, there are no secrets. There is no ‘I’ll tell you when you get here’. I could hear the heartbreak in his voice. I knew in my heart, this was going to be bad. When I got to my brothers house, I immediatly knew something was wrong. My sister in laws car was in the drive and I knew she should be at work. When I walked in the door, the faces of devastation I saw made me loose my breath. I’m not sure why but I walked into their bathroom and stared in the mirror. I told myself that whatever I was about to hear would be okay. I told myself to get my shit together and go back out there and face what was going on. So, that’s what I did. I sat down and looked into my moms eyes as she repeated the events of her morning. I was told that morning that my dad had lost his eye site for a few minutes and my mom made him go to the hospital. They found tumors throughout his brain. I’ve worked in the medical field for years and knew that once cancer spread to the brain there was little hope. I also knew my father and he would never go through chemo and radiation. All of this was swirling in my head and all I wanted to do was see my dad. I kept thinking is he okay? If I can just get there i’ll be able to put his mind at ease somehow. I told my mom how sorry I was. My heart was breaking for her. She just found out that the man she had spent her entire life with wouldn’t grow old with her. My baby brother held me and let me have my moment. I cried so hard in that moment, for everything we had and everything I felt we were loosing. I went to my husbands work and broke down. I’m not someone who cries easily. So this was all new to me. I was trying to hold it all together. I was trying to talk with intelligence and strength. I just couldn’t do it. It was as if someone had a brick on my chest and I just couldn’t breath. My husband tried to calm me down. Told me he would take care of everything, not to worry. Once I knew my girls would be okay, I left for my dad.

You see my entire life, I had been a Daddy’s girl. He was the one person who could say anything to me and I would listen. He knew how to keep me in my lane. He was the person I ran to before making any decision. He was the hug I needed to make it through the bad days. He was the calming voice in my head when I felt alone. He would listen to me rant and cuss and yell when I needed to vent. He was my everything.

I can still remember walking across the bridge to the hospital. I don’t remember the car ride there. I walked by the labor and delivery waiting room. So many families smiling and showing each other pictures, I felt so sorry for us. The elevator ride took forever. When I got to the door way leading to my dad, I had that feeling that I couldn’t breath again. I walked in and gave him the longest hug. We both had tears in our eyes and we both just knew somehow that our days together were numbered. The next couple of days went by in a blur. They found tumors throughout his entire body. We would learn that he had small cell lung cancer that had spread. We were told he probably had it for a while. We were told if he did nothing he’d have weeks with us and if he decided on radiation to his brain he may have the summer. He ultimately decided he just wanted to go home. I spent most nights at the hospital with him and we would stay up all night talking for hours and going to the parking deck to smoke. He showed me how I was supposed to live and then he taught me how to die. That may sound strange but I’m not sure what I would have done knowing I had celebrated my last Christmas, birthday etc. I never saw him break down. Those nights were spent with him laying out all of the things I would need to do moving forward. His number one priority was my mom. He said ‘She’ll tell you she’s okay and wants to be alone. But don’t let that happen.’ Then my brothers, he told me all of the little things he does for them ‘when this one calls you upset, he doesn’t want your opinion so just listen’ and so on. He gave me advice on raising the girls. Two of my daughters suffer from genetic diseases and he told me he’d pull some strings when he got where he was going. He told me not to spend money on psychics or sit at the cemetary for hours because he wouldn’t be there. We planned his funeral like we were talking about the weather. We picked the songs we would play, Holding my own by Eric Church was one of them. We also joked about playing Willie Nelson’s Roll me up and smoke me when I die, we both agreed my mom would never forgive me. We laughed and cried and laughed again. I’ll always be thankful for those long nights together. Its not that we had unfinished business or anything that needed to be said. Those nights were just ours.

I drove my dad home from the hospital thinking, this could be that last time he’s ever in a car. What an odd thought during a time our entire world was crashing around us. My families strength during this time never faultered. My mother, brothers and I had one common goal and that was to make sure we were together and could take care of my dad. My brothers took leave from their work, and we all moved into our parents house. We all agreed that there would be no hospice aide, we would be the ones taking care of him. My aunt and husband took care of the kids. I would stay up all night with my dad, come home for breakfast and to get them ready for school and then go back to my parents. I was an emotional zomby. Reassuring my girls that everything was okay, Papa just didn’t feel good right now. My brothers and I being as strong as we could for my mom and dad, and spending more time together than we had in a while. It’s funny how life works. I would consider us all incredibly close but as life goes on, we are all so busy with work, spouses and kids, we don’t have a lot of time to just be together. They would stay up at night with me and I just loved the ball busting, jokes and sarcasm. It reminded me so much of my child hood. Sharing a lifetime of memories, day after day. I could share a million amazing and horrific memories of those days but there are some things that don’t need to be shared.

On May 13, 2017 my aunt woke me up and told me she didn’t think my dad had much longer. I walked downstairs and watched him in his hopital bed. My mom holding his hand. My brothers sleeping on the couches. Other family in and out of the living room. The t.v. was on and I can remember thinking, he hates this show. So I asked my uncle to hand me my phone. I pulled up Eric Church’s Holding my own. Set the phone by my dads head and held his hand. His breathing became so calm. We woke my brothers up, during that time I hit replay on the song. My dad took his last breath. It was peaceful and without a doubt made me believe there was a heaven. Thirteen days came and went from the time we found out he had cancer to the time he was gone. My entire world was shattered in thirteen days. My heart physically hurt for my mom, brothers and most of all for the four little girls I had sitting at home. He was still a young guy, 55 years young to be exact. He had so many plans for the future. Plans that would never happen now. I was 32 years old and didn’t have a dad here anymore.

My entire family loves Eric Church music. My brothers and dad especially. Music was always on in my house. We are always playing new songs for each other. Eric Church’s song Holding My Own will forever have a special place in my heart. It’s become my families hashtag of sorts. My dad passed the day before mother’s day. He’s now in heaven, Holding His Own. A torch was passed to me. I am still here grateful everyday to be Holding My Own.

I don’t think you are ever prepared to not talk your parents again. Especially for me, a man that I put on pedestal my entire life. My anchor and guiding force. He always told me I had a knack for writing and that I should do something with it. Maybe he was just being a supportive parent. You know, like those kids that try out for American Idol and can’t sing a lick?

Either way, I’m off now. Learning how to design a web site and social media. Writing my stories, opinions and advice. God help you all…. for better or worse, my hat is in the ring. Even if nobody reads what I write, I’m content with what I’ve accomplished so far.

This isn’t a whoa is me story. It’s a story of love, laughter, strength and hope. Even on my worst days, I straighten my crown because I’m Dan Brown’s daughter. In my 34 years of life, he prepared me for everything. I still see him, feel him and hear him everywhere I go.

For my father, my family, my girls;

I’ll Live Love and Die, Holding My Own.

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reylo-solo · 6 years

Note

Reylo neighbors

I had way too much fun writing this and I DEFINITELY got carried away, lol. Thanks for the prompt!

Read it on AO3.

➳ Say It With Roses

The house at 515 ParkwoodCrescent was built in the early 1950’s. It had a beautiful widow’s walk and anenclosed porch, picture windows, a cobblestone walkway, and a lovely fenced-inbackyard, perfect for parties. It had also been vacant for two and a half years.

Every morning when Ben Solo wokeup, he would take his cup of coffee and drag his feet over to his living room,where he would gaze sternly out the bay window and his eyes would always roamover the weathered ‘For Sale’ sign next door to his house. He would think tohimself, For Christ’s sake, is the placehaunted or something? He had seen any number of people get a tour inside bythe realtor over the last two and a half years, and not a single one had madean offer on it. They always left smiling, but it never amounted to a damnedthing.

Thecompany that oversaw the management of the lot consistently forgot to mow thelawn, and Ben consistently had to phone and complain to remind them. It drovehim insane. The picketed half-fence his property shared with that house waspristine on his end, but was peeling and hideous on the other side.

BenSolo was a perfectionist. He liked things to be just as he wanted them to be,no more, no less. He liked things to be kept tidy. 515 Parkwood Crescent hadnot been tidy in almost three years. So obviously, this was a big point ofcontention for him.

Untilone fateful morning when Ben’s alarm roused him from his deep slumber at 7:30.He all but fell out of bed, stretched, and put his comfortable sheepskin suede slipperson to walk downstairs to the kitchen. This time when he looked out his window,something was different. The ‘For Sale’ sign had changed. Now, it boldlyproclaimed ‘SOLD’.

“Holyshit,” Ben cursed under his breath, “it’s finally happening.”

Nowcame the anxious wait. Who had bought it? Was it a family? A single person,like himself? Would they be lazy, or proactive? Would they keep their lawn niceand orderly? Would they have children? God forbid they had a dog, whoever it was. Dogs always chewedup gardens, and Ben had a lovely row of prize roses along his side of the fencethat he would sure like to keep planted in the soil.

Therest of May went by quickly, with no signs of life next door. But Ben knew howthis worked. They would get possession on the 1st of June, and afterthat he would know who his new neighbour(s) would be.

Hehad grown oddly used to having no one living on that side of his house. Forinstance, he had enjoyed walking about naked with the blinds on that side open,because no one could see him, especially when he was upstairs in his room withits window that faced the vacant house. It would suck not to be able to do thatanymore, but if it meant the fence would get painted he supposed he should begrateful.

June1st came and went. There were no moving trucks that day, but Ben didspot an old Volkswagen car parked out front and some lights on inside thehouse. He wondered if he shouldn’t go over and say hello, but then heremembered that Mrs. Graham, who lived on the other side of his house, had donethat when he had first moved in, and he still kind-of resented her for it. No, he thought. I’d better give them a few days to get situated first.

By June 2nd, the moving trucks werethere. He saw them in the morning when he was going to work, and spotted some movingcompany workers laboriously hauling a heavy-looking leather loveseat into thehouse. But still no sign of the occupant(s).

Hedidn’t have to wait much longer, however. When he came home from work at 6:00on the dot, grabbed his briefcase from the backseat, and began heading up hiswalkway, he was surprised to hear excitable yipping getting closer and closerto him. When he looked down he saw a small blur of white and brown.

“You’vegot to be kidding me,” he grumbled under his breath. “A fucking dog.”

Indeed,the rambunctious little pup, with the brown spot on its rump and the streaks ofrust colour in its ears, was jumping up at Ben’s legs, stubby little tailwagging in pure euphoria. Ben looked down at the dog with unbridled distaste.

“Bo! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

Ben’shead snapped up at the sound of a human – female – voice. A petite brunette waslaunching herself off the porch of 515 Parkwood Crescent, rushing down thecobblestone walkway, crossing over into Ben’s yard, and scooping the pup upinto her arms. Ben was stunned into paralyzed silence.

Shewas young, not far into her 20’s, with lively eyes and a sun-kissed, bronzecomplexion. Wherever she had come from, it had been warm there. Freckles weresplashed across the bridge of her nose, a few dabbled along her cheekbones. Hersmile was 10,000-watt; so bright and intoxicating in nature. She had her hairpulled up in a bun and she wore a ragged old tank-top and camo cut-offs. Shehad a touch of periwinkle paint smeared across her left shoulder and dirt underher fingernails. She extended a hand to Ben.

“Hi,I’m your new neighbour, Rey.”

Benswallowed, surprised at just how dry his throat felt. He shook her hand firmly.

“Myname’s Ben. Nice to meet you, and your, uh, dog.” He said the last word with justthe right amount of sour inflection.

Reyblushed lightly. Ben could feel his own face warming significantly.

“Yeah,again, I’m sorry. He slipped out right when I opened the door. He really likesmeeting new people.”

“Howcute.” Ben muttered.

Thetwo spoke for a short while. Rey told Ben all the minor details he couldpossibly want to know. She had grown up in London as an orphan, and had justfinished travelling the world with a photography scholarship. Apparently shewas world-renowned, but Ben had never heard of her. She was doing a lot ofrenovation work to the house and couldn’t wait to “put down roots here”. Benhad been as cordial as he possibly could be. In truth he didn’t mind listeningto her speak. Her accented voice was intoxicating. But eventually her spellbroke when little Bo took to barking at a biker riding down the street,squirming in his owner’s toned arms.

“Ah,you’ll have to excuse me. I need to get him back inside before his little heartjust can’t take the excitement anymore. It was really lovely to meet you,though. I hope we can talk again soon over the fence someday!”

Bensmiled stiffly, eyeing Bo with a healthy amount of wariness. “I’m sure wewill.”

Thetwo parted ways. After that their contact was minimal for a couple of weeks.Ben was busy with work and was out of the house six days out of the week (onthe seventh he stayed in his man cave watching terrible movies on Netflix inhis pyjamas, smoking one premium joint at around 5 p.m. – his special secrettradition to thank himself for getting through the week without killinganyone). Rey, on the other hand, clearly remained busy on her renovations. Benwould see lights on in the house into the wee hours of the morning, and if hewent outside on his deck and listened closely, he could hear muted hammeringnoises and soft, echoing music playing from somewhere inside the house. Hecan’t say he wasn’t curious about what she was doing in there. The interior ofthe house was beautiful wood and tile, with a stone fireplace, and crown moulding. It was a mid-centuryantique-lover’s dream. Surely shewasn’t making the mistake of trying to modernizeit?

Theymet once more in the evening on a Tuesday, when Ben was on his knees along thefence line, pruning his roses. Rey walked by with a heavy-looking camera bagslung over her shoulder and a binder full of papers in her arm. She gave himthat dazzling smile of hers, which made his heart actually skip a beat, on herway by.

“Evening!”she chirped. “Your roses are absolutely lovely. I’d love to have a garden likeyours someday!”

Hesmiled back, somewhat awkwardly. Ben’s smile was usually quite crooked innature; kind-of goofy-looking but in a charming way, like when a dog ‘smiles’.

“Thanks…”he replied belatedly.

Shewas clearly in a hurry. She unloaded her burdens into the backseat of her carand drove off somewhere. Ben went back to work, the look of her smiling faceburned in his brain for the rest of the night.

Reyhad barely been living next-door for a month when The Incident happened. Oh, it was a doozy, in more ways than one.

Benwoke up that morning and sauntered to the kitchen in his slippers and plaidflannel pyjama pants. His hair was a chaotic mess – he had tossed and turned alot in the night; June was turning out to be a hot month, and the fan in hisbedroom couldn’t keep up with the heat. He was just barely awake. He nearly forgotto put a fresh K-cup of breakfast blend into his Keurig. That would have beendisgusting.

Crisisavoided and with a fresh, aromatic mug of hot coffee in his hand, he wanderedover to his window. The sun had just come up, and the morning sky was streakedwith pink and yellow. A rose gold palette of natural beauty. Speaking ofroses…what was wrong with his roses?!

Heblinked and rubbed his eyes, forcing himself to wake up completely. Rich, darkdirt was scattered across his freshly-trimmed lawn, interlaced with shreddedrose petals, leaves, and a couple whole stems, dug out from their home in thesoil. And there, in the midst of it all, was a little white dog butt with abrown spot along the back.

“Areyou fucking shitting me right now?!”Ben bellowed. His coffee was instantly set down and forgotten about.

Bo,having heard Ben’s outburst from the garden, lifted his dirt-stained face up,floppy puppy ears perked towards the noise. When Ben emerged shortly after,still bare-chested in his slippers and PJ pants, with a look of dark fury onhis face, Bo froze in terror, completely unsure of what to do or where to go.

WhenBen got close, Bo suddenly rolled onto his belly, short little tail tucked inshame as much as it could be. Ben bent down and picked the dog up by the scruffof its neck. Bo couldn’t even meet Ben’s eyes.

“Whatthe hell, dog?” Ben snarled. “I can’tfucking believe this shit. It is 7:30 in the goddamn morning, and you’re goingto hurl this crap in my face? I don’t fucking think so…”

Heswiftly moved down his walkway and over into Rey’s yard, carrying the dog allthe way, tucked at his side. His slippers didn’t really make a veryintimidating sound effect as he stomped up the stairs and across the porch toher front door – which she had painted bright red for some fucking reason. Bright red. Fuck. How original. Ben’sknuckles rapped hard on the painted door.

Noanswer. The lights were off inside, but her car was most certainly parked outfront. Nope. No. He was going to get mad at somebody, goddamn it. The dogdidn’t count.

Hepressed the doorbell repeatedly and kicked at the door until finally, finally, she emerged, one eye shut tothe brightness of the morning, hair falling out of its messy bun, wrapped in anold threadbare robe that was much too big on her.

“Whatis going on…?” she mumbled, slowly registering the very angry half-naked manwith a very nice chest she was now facing. “Bo?”

“Yourfucking dog tore up my roses,” Ben growled, holding the dog up so she could seehis face, smeared with the evidence of his crime. “And I have to beg thequestion: what the hell was he doing in my yard at 7:30 in the morning?”

Reyblinked, colour quickly fading from her face. There it is, Ben thought poisonously. There’s that ‘oh, shit’ look I wanted to see.

“I-Iswear I don’t know…there’s a doggy-door out to the backyard. He must havegotten through the fence somehow, I—”

“Well.That fucking sucks, doesn’t it?” Ben spat. “Meanwhile my garden is destroyedbecause you think it’s fine to let him go out without a leash any damn time hewants!”

Rey’sexpression instantly soured. Her eyes narrowed and her chin stuck out.

“Ican assure you he won’t do it again,” she chewed out bitterly.

“Oh,you’re damned right he won’t,” Ben argued. “Because he’s not going to be letout without a leash until he gets his little digging habit under control,right?”

“Howdare you tell me how to take care of my dog?” Rey snarled, taking Bo roughlyfrom Ben’s arms and setting him down at her feet. Bo whined, blatantlyuncomfortable with the situation he had created.

“Wellclearly someone has to!”

“Whydon’t you piss off? Why do you even grow roses? What kind of soft-side bullshitis that?!”

“Whatare you fucking talking about? I’m not allowed to grow fucking roses in my own damn yard?”

“I’mnot allowed to let my dog go outsidein my own damn yard?!”

“Listen,I’ve been here a lot longer than you—”

“Oh,yeah? It shows!” Rey gestured to her facial area, even tugging down on onecheek, clearly suggesting dark circles and eye wrinkles.

“Ohdoes it?!” Ben yelled.

“Yeah,it does!”

Theirbanter was ended by the sound of Mr. Johnson shouting from a couple housesdown, reminding them both of the lovely, peaceful neighbourhood they calledhome:

“Shut the fuck up!”

Theyboth stopped, chests heaving, angry eyes never leaving the other’s face. It wasat this point Ben realized that, oh – Rey sleeps naked.

Thethreadbare robe she had so thoughtfully put on before answering the door washardly cinched at her waist, creating a very deep-V neckline that showed Ben alot more than he had been expecting to see. It only made it more eye-catchingwhen she crossed her arms like that.

Hecouldn’t help the sudden flush in his face. He was the first to break theirstaring contest, and he wasn’t proud of it. Rey had only a second to appreciateher victory before she too realized why she’d won. With a soft gasp she hastilytugged the collar of her robe closed. Now she was vibrantly blushing too, andshe also looked like she wanted to slap him, which in all actuality she hadevery right to do. But she didn’t, and in the moment she couldn’t quiteunderstand why.

“Keepyour dog on your side of the fence,” Ben grumbled. Most of his fire had diedout by now. He jabbed an accusatory hand at her side of the fence in questionas he descended the porch steps. “And for fuck’s sake, would it kill you topaint it?”

Thetwo carefully avoided one another for the next week, always checking out thewindow before daring to go outside. Ben watered his garden in the morning, Reymowed her lawn in the evening. Bo didn’t escape again. He didn’t even bark. Bensaw Rey out painting her side of the fence one day, but he didn’t dare go outand say anything about it. And it went on like this for a whole, painfully longweek. Until the first fault in the ice cracked to life.

Itwas a Saturday morning. Rey was always gone on a run on Saturday mornings, andBen left for work at 9:00. This morning though, when he opened his door at8:57, he had to pause in the threshold. For there, right outside his door andawfully close to the toe of his shoe, was a small potted rose bush,freshly-grown and healthy, with one small, deep-red bloom on top.

Mystified,Ben picked it up. Amidst the leaves and (this was no doubt done on purpose)thorns, there was a small piece of folded-up paper. Fine stationary, made ofsoft natural paper, and written on the outside of the fold in fine, flowyscript, was his name.

Muchto the (likely) chagrin of the sender, he only received one particularly nastyprick on his ring finger when he reached in to grab it. He sucked on this as hebrought the plant inside and set it down, before opening the letter addressedto him.

I’m sorry my dog toreup your roses, and I’m sorry I didn’t apologize in the moment. I should have.You were right to be angry. Bo feels really, really bad, and so do I. Just soyou know. I bought this at the Farmer’s Market and I thought you could maybeplant it and start fresh. If you don’t want to that’s fine. I understand yourroses were “one of a kind”. I hope you’ll keep this little guy alive, anyway,even if you don’t forgive us. – Rey & Bo (your apologetic neighbours)

Benwould be lying if he said the note didn’t make him smile a little bit. He setit fold-down atop his piano, and admired the little rose bush. Its leaves werea vibrant, lush green, and it was covered in buds. He flicked a leaf andwatched it tremble. He grinned. It would do just fine in his garden.

Hekept coming back to that little rose bush all day long. At work he’d catchhimself doodling, something he rarely did anymore, little sketches of roses inthe margins and bright, dimpled smiles. The plant was a sign of surrender;asking for a truce. Would he give in? Well, yes, he would. It hadn’t taken himlong to come to that conclusion. In all honesty, over the duration of the weekhis anger had faded. Once he had cleaned up his garden he noticed that thedamage wasn’t as extensive as he thought. He could forgive it, he supposed.

Buthow could he let her know it? It just didn’t feel right to him to go over toher house and offer her a plate of store-bought cookies, because lord knows hecouldn’t bake them himself. It felt fake, derivative, and cheesy. “Hey, it’sall water off a duck’s back! Here’s some Pillsbury crap on a plate!”

Itwas 3:36 in the afternoon when the idea struck him. The Grand Gesture. The wayhe was going to let Rey know all was forgiven. He had been inspired bysomething she had said the other day; her words floated back to him as though comingout of the ether of a dream. And suddenly he couldn’t wait to get home. Ofcourse, he’d have to make a couple stops along the way, pick up some suppliesand the like. He planned it out to the last detail, effectively wasting thelast hour and a half of work. And when it was finally time to leave, his deskchair had barely stopped spinning before he had left the building.

Heknew that starting at 5:00, he had only two hours before Rey would be home forthe night after she stopped at the gym (in the short time she had been livingnext door, he had quickly taken note of her daily activities). He could pullthis off in an hour and a half, if he was quick and had no interruptions. Hehauled everything over to Rey’s front lawn and set to work.

Thankfully,the universe was smiling upon him for once and everything went smoothly. He hadsuccessfully started a garden for Rey, in front of her large picture window inthe front yard. He had carefully transplanted a shoot of his own prize roses,right in the centre, with a colourful array of flora and grasses all around. Tohim it looked magnificent, but a nagging voice in the back of his head keptasking ‘Would she even notice it?’

When all was said and done, hiswatch told him it was 6:51. She would be home soon. He took this opportunity toplant his new rose bush in the spot where Bo had dug up the last one. He wasjust packing the dirt around the base of the plant when he heard her car pullup. He held his breath.

Her car door shut. He heard herunlatch the front gate and re-latch it behind her. Then came the soft shufflingsound of her shoes walking up the cobblestone pathway…and then all soundsstopped with a sudden, loud gasp.

Ben peeked precariously over thetop of the fence. She was standing halfway up the walk with her jaw slack, staringwide-eyed at the beautiful arrangement that had seemingly appeared in front of her house. She slowly walked up to it and bentdown to examine the flowers closer. Ben couldn’t see, but when she saw theroses, she grinned because she recognized them instantly.

At this point, Ben realized heprobably looked like a total jackass, crouched and watching her from across thefence. So he stood up, brushed the dirt from the worn-out knees of his jeans,and cleared his throat.

“You’re forgiven, in case itwasn’t clear,” he said. “Bo, too.”

She stood up straight and turnedto look at him, that one-of-a-kind smile glowing like the moon in the sky.

“You did this?” she askedquietly, her voice laden with emotion.

Ben nodded. “I didn’t know howelse to say it…and I remembered you telling me you wanted a garden like mine,so I figured I’d help get you started.”

“I love it,” she confessed. “It’sbeautiful, and it smells amazing.”

“Well, good. I’m glad.”

Rey sighed, shifting her weightto her left foot. She gave him an apologetic look.

“I guess we’ve been lousyneighbours, huh?” she asked.

“Uh, when the guy down thestreet has to tell us to shut the fuck up, I’m going to say yes, we have been,”Ben answered.

Rey chuckled. “Woops.”

“Woops.” Ben agreed with acrooked smile.

Rey smiled back at him somewhatbashfully, fiddling with the wire of her headphones.

“Would you like to come inside?”she asked quietly. “I think we could both use a drink, maybe. And…I’d like toget to know you better, if that’s okay.”

Ben’s eyes widened. He had beenexpecting a hearty thank-you, maybe some joyful tears, but not an invitationinside – into her life. Before hisbrain could even formulate an answer, he was nodding his head yes and hoppingover the fence.

“Careful,” Rey cautionedplayfully, “I just painted that.”

Ben smirked. “I know, it looksgood.”

“Thanks.”

As he climbed the steps of herporch for the second time in his life, he found himself in a very apologeticmood. Heat burned high in his face, turning the tips of his ears a deep pink.

“Oh, um…I also want to apologizefor, uh…well, the night of The Incident,I…I promise I wasn’t staring,” he mumbled, “at you.”

Rey smiled warmly, and Ben didn’tmiss the way her eyes jumped down his body and back up again in one quick,scanning motion.

“That’s okay,” she confessed asa sly grin spread across her face. “I just hope you don’t mind that I was.”

Ben didn’t know what to say tothat, so he just grinned like an idiot and followed her inside without a secondthought. She had freshly-baked cookies on her countertop and no Pillsburycontainer in sight.

#reylo #my fic #reylo prompt #reylo fanfic #kylo x rey #reylo au #BEN LOVES A PRIZE ROSE #REY IS A WHOLE PRIZE GARDEN 2 HIM #CHANGE MY MIND #if you liked it let me know!!

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queen-of-seventeen · 6 years

Text

Coffee & Cadets part IV

TW: Panic in relation to past non-con, only alluded to; Memories of war and an explicit death with minimum amount of gore.

Thank you to @akemiash for the beta! you’re a hero

Do you still feel? (Rainman, MAX)

ao3

Andrew did not have many material things he cared about to take to Neil’s place. Their place now. No, he wouldn’t think about it that way. It was like all the foster homes before. Neil would kick him out when he realized just how crazy Andrew was. It was only a matter of time.

If Andrew had a little more motivation he’d put up a countdown.

He put his bags down next to the boxes he’d brought in earlier. Four boxes. Two with books. The others with clothes. Neil had a bed for him so the other boxes contained clothes and bedding. The bag contained more clothes and the keys to his old GS.

The bedding in his bag was too small for the bed. It was king sized and decked in dark red bedding. His fingers clenched the strap of his duffel as he pulled it over his shoulder again. He walked out of the room as fast as the joint prosthetic of his foot would let him. He dodged Neil in the too big hall and started for the stairs.

“Andrew?” Neil yelled after him. “Where are you going?”

“That room is someone else’s. I’m not a replacement.”

“At first it was a guest room. Andrew! Matt from the shop? He and his girlfriend sometimes spend the night here and my uncle won’t tolerate anything less than huge when he stays over. It’s only big because of them. If you want a smaller bed I can call Matt to help move the one in the second guest room.”

How many rooms did Neil’s house have? Andrew didn’t like it. Too many hiding spaces. At the same time enough room for him to be on his own. “Why not put me in the second guest room?”

Neil cocked his head. “Because you’re going to live here? I assumed you’d stay for at least a couple of months. You need somewhere to sleep and something to sleep under. I do not want to die at my uncle's hands. That makes all these scars worth nothing.”

“Scars are never worth nothing.” Andrew stopped and turned towards Neil. The red head stood still at the top of the stairs.

“True.” Neil licked his lips. “Yours are worth so much. Mean so much. Mine just represent the past.”

“Don’t they all?”

Neil stayed still. “Andrew, take the room. It’s not that bad. I promise nobody will come in there without you wanting them to.”

“You really want me to stay here. Yes or no?”

“Yes,” Neil said. “It’s always quiet here.”

Andrew took his time going back up the stairs. The room had a lock with a bronze key that Neil had laid out on the desk. Andrew shut Neil out before he could come in. He didn’t care how Neil felt about that.

He pushed the boxes off the bed and fell backwards onto it. The bed was soft and he sink into the plush bedding. Why was Neil doing this for him? What did he want? Everyone always wanted something but at least his room had a lock on the door. A lock he had the key too.

Andrew took a deep breath. Bee told him to breathe from his stomach. That way he was less likely to panic. Something he might do either way. He had a room in the same house as another man while he still couldn’t fully trust on his prosthetic. It scared him a bit. His shirt fingernails pushed into the palm of his hands. It hurt but not enough. Breathing the way Bee told him to did not work. He promised Nicky and Aaron not smoke anymore for his health. Apparently one near death experience was enough for them. It was not enough for Andrew. He just wanted it all to stop. The sounds, the fast breathing, the thoughts.

His fingers fumbled with his phone before he got to his favourites. He’d hated it when Nicky set himself, Bee, and Aaron as favourites. He got it now. The phone rang. Once, twice, thrice. Click. “Hey Andrew! Why did you call? You hate calling.”

Nickys voice echoed through his head. It somehow seemed louder than the buzzing noise in his ears. “Andrew, are you okay? I can hear you wheezing.” Andrew didn’t answer and the sound became a bit more distant before coming back. “Andy, try to breathe with me. In for four and out for four. Make some noise if you understood.”

Andrew tried to say yes but his breathing still grew sharper. There was a stranger on the other side of the door. The room was too big. The house had too many rooms to hide in. He wasn’t safe. He crawled off the bed and sank down in a corner next to the closet. Better. Worse. Both. Neither. All of the fucking above.

“I’ll take the stumbling as a yes. Follow my breathing, in, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.” Nicky kept it up for a couple of minutes. Andrew heard Erik talking in the background. Soft, non-disturbing. At least Nicky was safe.

When Nicky noticed Andrew could breathe on his own he stopped counting. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“No.” Andrew pulled his knees to his chest and started loosening the foot. If Neil wanted to kill him he’d probably be able to whether or not Andrew was wearing his foot.

“Do I need to text Bee or Aaron to call you?”

“I’m seeing Bee tomorrow. Could you just talk?” And he could hear the smile in Nicky’s voice when he said, yes.

It took Nicky over an hour of talking for Andrew to feel secure enough to leave his corner of the room. the only reason he did not panic again that very minute was because he had just spend ten minutes convincing Nicky that yes, he would be fine staying with Neil as his house and no, he did not want to go and sleep at Nicky and Erik’s instead. Sometimes his cousin could be adamant. His clothes were still in their boxes and bags. He didn’t have many things he took with him from the apartment since the bed was the only thing that was truly his and he didn’t feel like getting into a lawsuit for the other furniture when Neil had a bunch of nice things to fill his house up with already.

Neil’s house felt like a foster home all over again. The difference was that Neil had already had a chance to hurt him and didn’t. He had even given Andrew a hat to protect him against the cold. The difference was that Neil had given Andrew a room with a big bed. A room with a lock. A lock. Andrew could keep everyone out if he wanted too. Neil had given him a safe space. Just for him. Quiet and all consuming but his.

Andrew left the bags where they were. He crawled over to his crutches, it was easier and a bit faster than getting up, hopping over and going down again, and stood up. He wasn’t ready to go downstairs but he was hungry and Neil said there was left over Chinese.

The Chinese was in no way leftovers because it was all warm in plastic bags and brought by Renee Walker. One of the million faces he did not want to see. Especially after his epic breakdown.

“Andrew, hello,” Renee said. She was sporting that stupid, little smile and her cross necklace and her hair was dyed in the same rainbow hues as the last time. Would Allison still do her hair? He couldn’t care enough to ask.

“What are you doing here?” Andrew hobbled to the kitchen island to sit on one of the bar chairs. His right crutch was just a couple centimetres off and it hurt his arms to use it for too long.

“Neil asked me to bring him Chinese. Dumplings and spring rolls. And I brought you something.” Renee kept standing. Her feet slightly apart. She was squaring up for a fight. A fight he couldn’t give her.

“You shouldn’t have.” He pulled the bags towards himself. Either Neil remembered Andrew’s order or he had told Renee he would be there. He guessed the latter. Meddlesome, ginger devil.

“I wanted to ask something.” She finally sat down on the opposite side. “Did you kick me out of your apocalypse team?”

Andrew clenched his jaw. If Neil overheard he wouldn’t understand but he did. “Forgot how to take care of yourself?”

“Just didn’t know how it felt to get frozen out by you. I should’ve called Aaron for advice.” Her fingers fiddled with the necklace. The light sparked off the silver.

“He would tell you he is the only doctor I still trust.”

“Because the other ones amputated your foot? It was blown to bits!”

“You wouldn’t know about my limbs or any missing parts.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn't know I was obligated too.”

“Andrew, I’m your friend. Nicky and I made up your nickname. We had our first drinks together.”

He wanted to go upstairs and hole himself up in the room Neil prepared for him. He got too chatty with Renee. Always did. It tired him. But he did not go upstairs. This was one of the conditions of living in this house. This way he would not bother Nicky even more.

He gulped. “I do not owe you anything. You do not owe me anything. If the zombies decide to eat me I’m not your problem.”

Neither of them knew if the zombies were physical or mental. She wanted to hug him. She didn’t. He wouldn’t appreciate it.

“At least take the plant, Andy. You could throw it at their heads. Convince the zombies to become vegan.”

“I could throw it at your head.”

Renee smiled at him like she knew he wouldn’t. She was right. It made Andrew want to throw it even more. “Keep it. Almost everything in here is Neil’s. let something be yours. Keep it in your room for all I care. This pancake plant is low maintenance after all.”

“Pancake plant?” Her smile grew wider. “Okay, I will not throw it at your head. I just want to eat.”

She joined him in finding plates. She knew where all of them were. If she wasn’t a lesbian- He’d almost assume she was dating Neil. Neil sat down at the counter as they pulled the food from the bags.

“I hope the talk went well. I don’t see broken plates anywhere so I’ll believe the silence.” His eyes zeroed in on the plant. “She gave you a plant. Renee, didn’t I tell you all of those die in my house.”

“I’m sure Andrew is better with them than you are. He used to have green fingers.”

“From here all I can see are short ones. In training camp could his finger even reach the trigger.” Andrew froze. His mind sending him miles away. Finger on the trigger. He heard shots all around him. The small house in front of him was empty except for a small boy holding a gun in his hands. He didn’t shoot Andrew. Andrew didn’t shoot him. The guy behind Andrew did and the blood splattered on Andrew’s face. The little boy was dead. Dead and gone and Andrew hadn’t been able to help him. One more person that he had let down.

Renee tried to cover up for Andrew’s panic but Neil had already noticed.

Neil didn’t get closer. He did talk. Directly to Andrew. “Andrew, can you hear me?” Silence to wait for an answer. “Okay, breathe with me first. In, out. In, out. Can you tell me three things you can hear.”

No, he couldn’t. He should. Nicky used to do this for him too.

“Your voice, my heart, Renee eating.”

“Three things you see.”

“Your hair, the ugly drawing on the fridge, spring rolls.”

“Three things you can feel.”

“The chair, my ankle, my shirt.”

Andrew’s breathing evened out a bit more. This was not a good day. This was the second time that day he had freaked out. Maybe he did need to sleep with Nicky for the night. This day was not having a good impact on him.

“Andy, do you still carry the knives?” Renee asked. He nodded. “Than there is nothing to be truly afraid of.”

“There is always something to be afraid off.”

It took her a second to regain control of her face but he had already seen the sad look. He didn’t feel sorry. Feeling sorry meant feeling something at all. Something other than fear and pain and horror. Everything was grey but sometimes things were alarmingly red. This was just a very red day.

Dinner finished quickly. Renee helped put the plates in the washer. No more having to wash them by hand for Andrew. It was probably the highlight of the day.

He hobbled after Renee to let her out of the house. Neil was trying to set up Netflix on his tv. He claimed he only took it because Matt couldn’t pay for it and Neil knew he wouldn’t just accept Neil paying for the account.

“Don’t forget to throw the plant at the zombies.”

“I don’t forget anything,” Andrew answered because he could not say thank you. A couple more session with Bee and he would tell her.

Renee leant against the doorframe and Andrew leant on his crutches. “So is Neil in your apocalypse team?”

Andrew had to think about that. In the end the answer was simple. “It’s either I take him for mine or he already took me for his. I’m not sure which it is.”

Renee hummed. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

The door closed behind her.

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