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#If there's a cliffhanger I'm actually going to sob

runningfrom2am · 8 months

Text

in this life or the next

summary: It's the seventy-fifth annual Hunger Games, and you were just unlucky enough to get picked; but lucky enough for this Quarter Quell to feature pre-selected teams. You get paired up with District One's pride and joy, the one and only Rafe Cameron.

pairing: rafe x fem!reader

wc: 15k (oh my LORD)

tags/warnings: its the hunger games so like... yeah... violence and gore and stuff. definitely swearing, spoilers for the og Hunger Games movie I guess (but also not bc i changed it up a bit- you'll see), reader has a special talent that i won't spoil here, Rafe is lowkey a dick at the beginning, Ward being a shitty dad (what's new). also this isn't thoroughly edited bc.. its 15k words and i'm lazy.

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a/n: hello lovelies!! oh my gosh i have been slowly chipping away at this for actual literal months, and i am so proud of how it turned out!! i’m really glad i could finally post it by my birthday!! (i’m 23 wtf??)

thank you so much if you're going to put in the time to read this, but it honestly means a lot to me that you've made it this far. reblogs and likes would be so appreciated and let me know your thoughts in the replies! i really, really hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it. let me know if you want a part two of what happens post games, bc i think i left it at a minor baby sized cliffhanger. anyway, i’m off to eat cake now! enjoy!

Staring blankly out at the crowd in front of you, you attempt to process the echoing of your heartbeat in your ears.

"I'd like us to give a round of applause for our brave, brave tributes this year, and wish them the best of luck in this year's quarter quell!" Your attention is drawn to the woman next to you, the District Five escort, Opal, dressed head to toe in bright yellow. A universally happy color- what a joke.

The crowd is mostly silent and you can't bear the thought of even glancing in the direction of your parents. You turn silently as you're ushered back into the building from the stage, tripping slightly over your feet as the shock sets in. People are talking, possibly to you, but you can hardly hear a thing. You almost made it. You were almost eighteen- one more year and you would have been free.

You were granted the briefest of goodbyes to your family, but you were tempted to even turn that down. An action you regret not taking as your parents walk into the room, your mother with tears already coating her cheeks and your father trying to keep a strong resolve for you and your siblings.

"We'll see you soon, Bug. Remember we love you," He whispers into your hair as you sob into his shoulder. You know he doesn't necessarily mean in this lifetime.

Your tunnel vision settles back in as you're walked out of the room, glancing one last time over your shoulder only to see your dad's shoulders shaking from his silent cries as he turns his back to you.

You are quickly pushed onto the train taking you out of District Five, ignoring the other three tributes and your mentors as they talk. You just stare out the window with tired, red eyes and say a silent goodbye to the home you're already sure you'll never see again.

"Y/N..?" The girl next to you says, tapping you on the shoulder and making you jump.

"Hm?" You hum your acknowledgment, looking at the girl beside you. She's only a year older than you, and you went to school together for years; Maisie, you remember.

"I just wanted to make sure you hear them," Maisie whispers, gesturing to Opal as she starts to explain what the premise of the games is this year.

"So," she claps her hands together, clad in tacky yellow gloves. "I'm sure you have noticed that this year there are four of you, and you'll each be paired up with another tribute to compete. Not necessarily from your own District, but, anything is possible, I suppose. The exciting news is that there's a possibility for two winners this year! You and your teammate will be given a score throughout the games, and if your score as the final two is above ten, you will both be crowned victors!" The woman says excitedly- like it's a good thing.

"And if we don't have over ten?" The boy sitting across from you asks flatly.

"Well... the games shall continue," Opal explains vaguely, but you know what that means. You've seen it before.

"Okay, well, how do we get a good score?" The boy asks.

"I-" The escort starts, hesitance clear in her tone as she's quickly interrupted.

"You kill people," Your female mentor answers. She's leaning her elbows on the end of the table, standing with a knife in her hand, spinning it around like it's some kind of toy.

Your eyes drop from her form, staring down at the table in front of you, suddenly remembering your glass of water and quickly grabbing it when you realize your mouth has gone completely dry just from the idea of what's to come.

You arrive at the Capitol in the middle of the night and despite this fact, the crowds are still there. You didn't expect this, even though you've seen it on the beat-up television in your living room every year. It feels less real, somehow, when you're the one getting pushed through the crowd, not knowing what to do besides give awkward smiles to people yelling your name.

Your room is beautiful. You've never seen anything like this, but you can fully customize it at will with a remote, and this level of technology fascinates you. You spend hours flicking through different images that can appear on the walls, surrounding you in another world. Exhaustion and the sound of an artificial thunderstorm put you to sleep with the remote still resting in your palm.

"Up, up, up, my dear! We've got a big day ahead!" Opal's cheery voice startles you awake from your less-than-cozy spot on the floor. "There's breakfast on the table then we've got to get you down to prep, so hurry up, please." She says, and just like that she's gone, no doubt off to wake the other District Five tributes in a similar fashion.

"You're going to be meeting your teammates for the first time today so you can train together- gosh isn't that just so exciting!" Opal claps as you all stand in the elevator. There's a silence that follows as you and Maisie just nod, not excited about the whole idea. You're about to meet someone who will either be spending the last days of your life with you, or be killing you themselves, and you're not fond of either.

"This way you'll get to train together first, which I do believe to be a very generous act on behalf of the game makers." She adds, making you roll your eyes. How considerate. The most you can hope for is someone who is capable, and preferably someone who isn't in the twelve to fifteen age range, having seen that there were several drawn from different districts.

You shift on your feet as you try to adjust to the uncomfortably tight catsuit they squeezed you into, covered in what must be sapphire and diamond rhinestones, pinching your skin with every slight movement. Gold accents line the seams of the suit, extending out into something that resembles wings and lightning bolts protruding from your back. District Five; power. You get it, but we're the diamonds necessary? You hardly take note of the varying outfits you're surrounded with from the other kids in your district, before Opal is guiding the four of you up the line of extravagant carriages you're meant to parade out on for the people of the Capitol to fawn over.

You take note of where all of the other tributes from Five are lead, guessing based on the order of carriages that Maisie got paired up with another girl from Eleven, and the boys somehow ended up paired together. There must be some sort of personal aspect to this decision, considering you have watched those two boys fight back home. You're last, and Opal looks at you excitedly as you follow her up, and up, and up- to the very front of the line.

"Surprise!" She grins, clapping excitedly as you approach the very first carriage. "Y/N, getting paired with a career is huge. Your odds are good already, your partner has trained his whole life- he even volunteered."

"Sucks for him." You mutter under your breath as you get closer, eyeing up the boy in front of you, wearing an almost matching outfit. All the rhinestones make sense now, blending power with luxury could only mean as much.

"Y/N Y/L/N, meet Rafe Cameron. He'll be your teammate in the games." She smiles as she introduces you.

"Hi." You say quietly, taking his hand as he holds it out to you to help you up onto the carriage.

"Hey." He mutters, avoiding your gaze. It's off to a rough start for him for sure, seeing he's being paired up with someone from an outlying district must be daunting, when for you it should be exciting. Rafe did volunteer, yes, but he doesn't want to risk any kind of attachment- despite what the people of the Capitol want for their entertainment. He wants to come out alive, he doesn't care so much about who he's with.

"Okay, Y/N, remember to smile, please." Opal reminds you and you nod, looking down at her as you hold onto the handle in front of you.

You promise her with a nod, willing to do almost anything at this point to win the favour of possible sponsors. Again, your odds look better next to a career on that front, as well.

Quickly everyone is cleared away from the horses and the carriages and you start moving, catching you off guard and you stumble a little, readjusting your grip on the railing. "Careful." Rafe says beside you, quick to reach out to steady you if you needed it. You think you see the smallest of smiles on his face, but that must have just been your own mind trying to find comfort in anything around you.

"I got it." You whisper, blushing slightly. You've been with your teammate for all of a minute, and you're already proving yourself to be clumsy.

The lights hit your eyes the same time all the cheering does, being the first carriage, it's already so loud you can hardly hear yourself think. You snap out of it quickly, plastering on a smile once you see your own face on a giant screen ahead of you, you don't even look like yourself anymore. Your eyes land on the screen adjacent to the one showing you, seeing Rafe as well. He's smiling too, clearly having headed Opal's advice, or his many years of training is getting to him and he's excited. You really don't know. Then his head turns, and you turn your head as well, making dead eye contact with him for only a moment before he's looking past you into the crowds, taking in the moment.

When you finally get out of the extremely public eye and back into the building you exited from, you feel like you can finally breathe again. Not fully, in the tight, rigid suit they had you dressed up in, but more than you realized you were with all that yelling in your ears and lights in your face.

"District Five, right?" Rafe asks you as you're both stepping down and you nod. "Jeez, you don't talk much, do you?" He follows up with, taking a water bottle from someone who's walking by with them.

"I talk." You reply quietly. "Just... not much to talk about at the moment."

"The shock? Yeah, that'll do it." He nods, taking a sip from the water bottle and holding it out to you. You shake your head and push it away, making him shrug. "Shitty bust when you're not a volunteer."

You just stare at him, taken off guard by the comment. "That being said..." He leans in closer to make sure no one else hears. "I've been waiting my whole life for this, so don't ruin it for me, yeah?"

You pull back away from him and just nod again, not wanting to get on his bad side already. He won't be the one to kill you, probably, but it would still be nice if you spent your final days without your teammate hating your guts. "Thanks, darling." He smirks, patting your shoulder and brushing past you to go to the elevators.

The next day, bright and early yet again, you have your first day of training. You're sure Rafe won't even need it, but you certainly will. Your mentor told you he will likely be using it to size up the other tributes, especially considering there is a staggering amount of them this year, and you will need to focus on survival skills. Only survival skills, if you had to pick one thing- and your mentor drove that into your head until it was all that was echoing in your mind when you entered the training center.

After the trainers speech which ironically tried to do the same thing, you beeline straight for the fire making station. You're shocked to see almost no one else listened, definitely none of the boys, mostly lining up to show off their physical strengths, likely to try and intimidate each other. You'd be lying if you said it wasn't working.

You look up as you hear echoing laughter coming from the other side of the room, eyes scanning over the wall lined with silhouette targets, and racks with an array of weapons before landing on your teammate, laughing away with the other career tributes over a joke you didn't hear. He's got a spear in one hand, leaning his weight on it as his head drops back with laughter. You shake your head to get back on task, rolling the rough wood in your palms in hopes of making a spark. Good to see at least one of you is having fun, especially in your final days.

After a few minutes you get it, sitting back into your calves where you were kneeling on the ground, taking a breath of relief as you're satisfied with your success. You glance around to see how others are doing, giving a small smile and wave to Maisie when you see her, reading a book about different edible plants and trying desperately to memorize every image. You watch as Rafe takes the same spear he was leaning on before, hurling towards one of the targets. A direct hit, right in the chest, slightly right of the centre. You jump a little at the sound it makes on impact, looking finally at the boy who threw it.

He's pacing, huffing and looking a little frustrated with himself. A little to the left would have been perfect, but it was a kill shot nonetheless. There would be no coming back from that, and you count yourself lucky that it likely won't be you in place of the target in the games.

You quickly put out your fire and try again, making sure you've got the hang of it. You'll sit here all day if you must. After three more successful attempts, you're satisfied for the day, deciding you'll return to that station tomorrow and try again. You get up and brush the dirt off your knees, trekking over to where they have supplies to make game traps. You've never done this before, but there's no better time to learn, especially since your teammate has shown no interest in survival skills so far today.

"What are you doing?" Suddenly Rafe is standing behind you, as you're once again kneeling on the ground attempting to get the trigger on your bladeless trap to work.

You jump a little, startled by someone talking to you. "Uh, trying to make a snare, I think." You answer, turning to look up at him.

"Looks good." He nods, crouching down next to you. "Uh, isn't there supposed to be a blade or a spearhead or something on that piece?" He says, pointing to it.

"Well, yeah, I just didn't want to stab myself by accident." You laugh slightly, trying the trigger again- and this time it works, snapping forward into his arm.

"Ouch, yeah, fair enough." Rafe chuckles, rubbing the spot on his arm where the wood made contact.

You just nod and begin to reset it to test it again. "What if you can't get any of this shit in the arena?" He asks.

"What, a stick?" You ask, hitting the trigger one more time, sending the stick into his arm again, which he had decided not to move.

"Ow! Yes, a stick. We don't know what it will look like." He rubs his arm, examining the trap you built closer now.

"Then we're screwed I guess." You joke, leaning back on your calves again, watching him dissect it piece by piece to figure out how it works.

"So, is this like, your thing?" Rafe asks, and you tilt your head at him as you think it over.

"My thing?" You ask, unsure entirely what he meant. "I've never made one before, if that's what you're asking."

"Really?" He seems shocked by this.

"Uh, yeah, really. Unfortunately for you, you got paired up with someone who has zero survival or combat skills."

Rafe looks at you, a smug grin crossing his features. "Ha ha, very funny." He clearly thinks you're joking, but you're definitely not.

"I'm serious." You say, confused as to why he doesn't believe you.

His smile falters, replaced with wrinkles of confusion on his forehead. "But- I just watched you look at the instruction book for no more than like, three seconds before sitting down to make this."

"And..?"

"If you've never done it before it's supposed to be harder than that."

"Well, I've seen other people do it on TV and stuff every year for like, ever." You shrug. "I've just got a good memory, I guess."

Rafe nods, looking at the deconstructed trap in front of him for a moment, thinking about the implications of this. How far does this go? Could he use it? He'd never dreamt of having to work in a team in his games, but maybe it would benefit him after all. "Come with me." He stands up, and you follow as he paces over to two big screens, covered with a large array of different symbols.

"Try this, I just want to see something." Rafe says, standing next to you with his arms crossed as you quickly look over the screen, reaching down toward the one in front of you. You notice quickly that the screens mirror each other, all the images placed in the same spots as they are above. You look up at your teammate briefly who nods at you and then you tap one, watching it disappear from both screens before you tap the matching symbol. It's a matching game.

Your eyes are locked on the top screen as you tap away at the bottom one, quickly making all the images disappear one by one. It takes you no more than a minute to get rid of them all, and then a timer appears on the screen replaying your every move in real-time. Forty-two seconds. Were you really going that fast?

"Neat." Rafe says to himself, nodding as he watches it replay on the screen. That was impressive, sure, but his mind is straining to find a practical implication for this in the arena. "Go back to survival stuff. Learn as much as you can." He settles on, turning and walking off back to where he was before, returning to combat training.

The four days of training fly by insanely fast, and that's likely due to your dread of what's to come. you've got through everything in survival no less than three times, and you're pretty sure last night you dreamt of plants and making a fire. Not surprisingly, Rafe has left you pretty much alone the whole time, but you did watch from a distance as he cycled through every weapon the training center had to offer, proving he's almost mastered every last one. Of course, with over ten years of training, anything less wouldn't make sense. What scares you is the other careers showing a similar skill level to that of your teammate, but he seems to be on good terms with them. Again, maybe this would be a good thing in the beginning of the games.

You sit down for your last day of making fires and fishing hooks, working solely on memory since day one, you're feeling pretty confident that the elements or exposure won't be what takes you out- but you don't know if that's a good thing or not. You just hope your death will be quick.

"Y/N, c'mere." Rafe is suddenly calling to you, motioning for you to join him in the combat area. Not seeing much of a choice, and not looking forward to another day of doing the same thing over and over, you listen.

You make your way over, avoiding the gaze of other tributes who are looking at you like you're about to make a fool of yourself. It's possible you are. "I want you to learn how to use this." He says as you walk up, holding out the handle of a knife to you.

You take it, turning the sharp blade over in your hand. "I thought you were the weapons master." You joke, looking up at him briefly.

"Well, I need you to make fires and shit so you have to stay alive somehow, and if we get separated or something I need to know you can at least defend yourself. These are good from a distance and up close, but remember that any weapon you have they can take and use against you. So keep distance whenever you can." He answers, pointing over to the target about fifteen feet away. "So, throw it."

You look over to where he was pointing, adjusting your grip on the handle as you nod, taking in the information he's dumping on you. He is probably right, especially since you don't think he plans on protecting you himself. Why would he? If you die, he can still win without you.

You lift your arm over your shoulder, closing one eye to narrow down your aim before throwing it hard towards the target, which the knife bounces off of and clatters to the ground. You and Rafe both turn at the same time to look at the group that's laughing at you, the clang of the metal on the cement echoing loudly in the vast space.

"Don't worry about them. They're not there." Rafe is quick to grab another one, handing it to you the same way. "Try again, this time, hold it like this..." He says, grabbing your hand and placing your fingers in the correct spots on the handle. "Keep your wrist tense and straight, don't flick it or anything. Yeah, like that." He nods, taking a step back.

You look over how you're holding it, committing the feeling and finger placement to memory before raising your arm again. You throw it again, and this time it sticks, but your aim is off and it ends up in the target's leg. You look over at Rafe, unsure if you're hoping for approval or just satisfaction. "That's perfect." He nods. "Not a death blow, but that'll buy you time to get away. which is all you need."

"Okay." You agree quietly.

"Would it help if you watched me?" He offered, already grabbing a new knife while you nod. "So, you want to follow through with the throw, your shoulders should end about here if you're doing it right. You get more power that way, and better aim." He explains, standing with one foot forward, parallel to the target.

You step back to watch his strategy, noting the way he held the blade and his form when he aimed to throw it. He lets it fly from his fingers as his shoulders fall forward, smirking to himself as it hits the bullseye circle, right in the chest.

"You got it?" He asks, standing up straight again. You nod in response and he's handing you yet another knife to try again.

You go back and forth for hours, not caring that you're keeping anyone else from practicing. You're not the best at it, but it's become muscle memory now, and every time it sticks, most of the time hitting the silhouette somewhere. You tried the moving targets briefly, the gold, pixelated figures running at you quickly. You were immediately overwhelmed, and Rafe ended up having to step in to help. He said after that the minimal skill you had would be good enough to get away, and that is all you would need. You just have to focus on that.

You didn't talk a lot, besides taking a few short breaks to gather the knives and his arrows as Rafe explained the pros and cons of every weapon they had present, showing you briefly how to use some of them. Mostly how to defend yourself against them. It's hard for him to sum up years of training in one day, but he's dead set on the idea that you won't need most of it- just having to focus on keeping the two of you sheltered and fed, he can handle the rest; hopefully.

You sit outside the training center next to Rafe, waiting for your name to be called. It was the youngest female tribute from his district first, so if you had to guess, you would be third and fourth to go, which doesn't buy you a lot of time to decide what to do to best show your skills.

"What are you gonna do?" You ask, whispering in the deathly quiet room.

"Huh?" Rafe hums, leaning closer to hear you better.

You clear your throat, before speaking this time, unsure if you were clear enough. "What are you gonna do? Like which skill?" You clarify.

"Oh, uh..." He mutters, adjusting how he's sitting as he thinks about what to say. "I'm just going to cycle through some different weapons, different distance targets, I think. My mentors want me to show like, a variety of what I can do."

You nod at this, making a mental note of that. Maybe you should do the matching game and then try the knives. Opal told you that you would be scored both individually, and as a team. You hope you won't bring down his score too much, since you know he's aiming high. You planned on going for a mid-level score, not to be seen as a threat but also not as an easy kill. A perfect six would be your ideal score. "What about you?" Rafe interrupts your thought process.

"I'm not sure." You answer honestly.

"You should do your survival stuff. That will improve our team score, if we show them we have strengths at both." Rafe suggests. That's not actually a bad idea. Your individual score will likely be lower, but that's a risk you're willing to take.

"Yeah, I'll do that."

You ended up scoring a six, the judges obviously not seeing you as any kind of threat. This is what you expected, though, and you were correct about your group score as well. Rafe and you together scored a ten. On his own, he scored a ten, so you hadn't affected it in the way you feared. This left you reeling over the idea of other tributes seeing you both as a threat as you stand in yet another extravagant dress, waiting in line to be called out for your interview. The games were tomorrow, and the last thing you wanted was to get in front of a crowd and subtly plead with them to let you live, to send you gifts, and to give you their sympathy.

So far it's been in the same order they called everyone for assessments yesterday, which means you would be next. Rafe stands behind you, arms crossed in a suit that looks more expensive than any you've seen back home in all of your life, but he looks comfortable in it. Your dress is once again covered in rhinestones, and your waist is cinched in so tight you can hardly breathe as it is, so you're not looking forward to going on stage.

"Our next tribute, welcome to the stage from District Five, Miss Y/N Y/L/N!" You hear the familiar voice of Caesar Flickerman calling you out and some guards usher you forward onto the stage, very briefly glancing over your shoulder at Rafe.

You're quick to smile as you turn back around, giving a small wave to the host and then out to the audience as they cheer for you. For a brief moment, you feel as if they don't plan on watching you die as early as tomorrow, you feel as if they're rooting for you. "Hi!" You say as you get closer and Caesar stands up to greet you, shaking your hand and giving you a quick hug before gesturing for you to sit down across from him.

You look around the large theatre, spotting every camera you can. Your family is out there watching, somewhere, and you know they'll see right through this show you have to put on. You wish they wouldn't. You can picture so vividly your living room back home, with your parents and siblings scattered across the couch and the floor watching you with bated breath, they can see you- and on some level, you can see them too.

"Miss Y/L/N. Thank you for being here." Caesar sighs, reaching out and patting your hand where it sits on the armrest next to you.

"Well, I didn't have any other plans for the night, so..." You shrug, making him laugh. Laughter echoes from the audience and you smile, hoping that your plan to win people over is working.

"What? A beautiful girl like you?" He asks after he's done laughing. "You weren't planning on spending some of your free time with your teammate?" As if you got even a minute of free time since you've been here.

"Well, I guess we'll never know." You chuckle, looking back at the boy where he stands in the wing, giving you a small smile.

"Now listen, Y/N, Rafe is..." He has to stop after mentioning his name as cheers erupt again, laughing as he waits for the audience to quiet down. "Your teammate is, as you may have guessed, a popular face in the Capitol right now. Are you feeling lucky about your pairing?"

Rafe crossed his arms as he watches intently, feeling smug about his odds, especially now knowing the Capitol's opinion of him. He knows his dad is back home watching, full of pride that his son has become a fan favourite.

"I am." You answer honestly. "He's very talented."

"And handsome, don't you think?"

"I mean, who am I to argue with the people?" You joke, waving your hand dismissively as you hear the cheers pick up again. "Besides, his looks won't save us. We will save ourselves." You add seriously.

Caesar nods in acknowledgment, showing that to an extent, he agrees with you. "Well, I hope that you are right, dear." He smiles, getting up to signal you've run out of time. You stand as well, taking his hand as he holds it up above your heads. "It was so lovely to meet you, and may the odds stay ever in your favor. Y/N Y/L/N, everyone!"

You smile and thank him quietly, waving to everyone with both hands as you walk across the stage to exit on the other side. You take a few deep breaths as you step into yet another waiting room, watching the screen as Rafe is called out right behind you.

Rafe sits down on the chair across from Caesar after his introduction, which allows a few moments for the audience to quiet down. He smiles proudly as he rests one of his feet on his other knee, bouncing his leg with anxiety. He hopes it's interpreted as excitement. "Rafe." Caesar smiles at him, sitting back down as well. "I'll be honest, I have been so excited to finally meet you."

"It's good to meet you too." Rafe grins, chuckling slightly at the few whistles he gets scattered from the crowd.

"You got a fabulous score, how are you feeling about that?"

"Really good, yeah. Obviously I've been waiting my whole life for this opportunity, so it feels amazing to see it all paying off." Rafe answers, focussing on keeping the confidence in his tone.

"We can tell, can't we?" Caesar laughs, riling up the audience again, making Rafe laugh to himself as he softly shakes his head. "Yeah, yeah. So, with all this planning you've been doing, how do you feel about getting paired up? You probably expected to be going in solo."

"I did, for sure, but I don't think this is a bad thing." Rafe admits.

"Oh, getting along well with your teammate?" Caesar asks, a hint of suggestion in his tone.

"Yeah, we get on really well." Rafe exaggerates your relationship a bit, knowing it will earn you more sponsors, and maybe keep other tributes away from you in the games. "At least I think we do, I'm not fully sure about her thoughts on me, though."

"You scored incredibly well together, despite Y/N having a fairly average score on her own. What are your thoughts and feelings on that?"

Rafe chuckles as he leans forward a bit, pointing out to the audience as he speaks. "Don't underestimate her based on the score. I won't give you any spoilers, but trust me, don't overlook her. She's got as good a shot as any of us. Maybe better."

Caesar makes a surprised expression as he nods. "Well okay! Does she have some sort of secret weapon we should be worried about?" He chuckles, gripping the armrests and looking around as the audience laughs.

Rafe just shrugs in response, smirking slightly, which you can tell the audience just eats up. You're trying to decide if this is good or bad for you, though, as you watch, gnawing at your nails in anticipation as you stare at the screen.

"Okay, alright, don't spoil anything then." Caesar laughs. "It'll make for a better show, and I can get behind that."

After a moment of waiting for the cheers to die down, Caesar speaks up again. "Rafe, if I can ask, I know your father has a lot of influence in your district- how is he feeling about your selection for the games?"

You furrow your brow a little bit as you look at the screen, finally learning something interesting about your teammate. If he's from a prominent family in District One of all places, that would certainly explain his attitude. Rafe, on the other hand, doesn't want to talk about his father at all- but of course they would bring him up.

"Yeah, of course." Rafe replies, shifting in his seat. "He's thrilled, it's a huge honour to be here, and to be the first out of his children to be chosen is really special to me. I just hope I can make him and my sisters proud, he's always encouraged us to volunteer."

"I'm sure that you will." Caesar smiles at him. "I hope I will have the honour of hosting one of your sisters on this stage one day, as well."

Your stomach churns just watching this. How can any father who loves his children want this fate for them? This was your father's worst nightmare. You watch as Rafe nods with a smile, and you can see behind his eyes that he doesn't want that, not at all.

The audience cheers as they both stand up, shaking hands before Rafe leaves the stage, a cocky smirk on his face as he waves and winks at the audience. Before Rafe makes it down to the waiting room, you're grabbed an escorted out, heading for the elevator back to your room.

You can't eat, but you know you should. This will likely be your last meal for a while. You decide on just taking a large bowl of fruit and toast to your room, trying to get it down slowly with all the nerves, while you have a bath. Your parents never let you eat in the bath. It's hard to get out knowing this is likely the last bath you'll ever have.

The morning goes by in a blur, you feel Opal's arms around you as she hugs you goodbye and wishes you luck. You know you'll need all of it. You stare down at the ground in front of you as you're pushed onto a plane, of sorts, along with all the other tributes. Once you're sat down, you look around at everyone else. You remember all of their names as you scan over their faces, but you wish you didn't. You get stuck on one of the girls from District Eleven, Hope, who was only thirteen.

She's shaking, and you can see that from where you're sat down the row from her. She reminds you of Rue, the tribute from last year. Her death was a tragedy, it broke the hearts of everyone outside of the Capitol and the career districts. Hope's curly hair sat in a bun on top of her head, and tears fell down her cheeks as she sniffled. She got paired up with a girl from Twelve- the lengths the Capitol will go to to make a mockery of last years games will never cease to amaze you.

"Hey, you look a little pale." Rafe whispers, leaning close to you. You didn't even notice him sit down on the other side of you.

You shake your head slightly, looking down at your knees. "I'm fine."

"Don't think about it." Rafe instructs you, holding his arm out for the tracker to be injected as a guard approaches with the device.

You wince as you hear it get shot into his arm and he chuckles, shaking his arm off to ease the sting. You raise your shaking arm as they hold their hand out expectantly to you. You don't know what it is they're putting in you, but you've never been fond of needles. This is a million times worse. "It's not that bad," Rafe tells you, and you squeeze your eyes shut as you feel pressure on your forearm, followed by a sharp, stabbing pain. You bite your tongue to keep from making a sound, dropping your arm onto your lap as they quickly walk away.

"What did they do?" You ask him, trying to keep a steady tone.

"It's a tracker, so they know where we are in the arena." He explains quietly. You were the only two talking, and you notice it's earning you glares from several other tributes. Rafe notices this as well, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms, taking this time to size everyone up.

The plane takes off, and before you know it, you're landing at the arena on the outskirts of Capitol property. You wonder if you're close to the ocean, not that you'll get to see it anyways.

You're paraded off of the plane, still trying not to let it show how afraid you are of what's to come. You make the briefest of eye contact with Maisie as she's pulled towards a different hallway, and neither of you have it in you to smile anymore.

"We've gotta get supplies, that's our first move." Rafe says to you as you're led out of earshot of other tributes, into your own hall.

"My mentor said to run." You reply quietly.

Rafe scoffs, shaking his head. "Your what, one mentor said that? Cool. I have fifteen that are still alive and well enough to show up every year. I think we should get supplies." He tells you firmly, but you know that will get you instantly killed, maybe not him, but you stand no shot. "Just stick with me if you want to live."

You just nod a little bit, glancing at him again briefly before you're directed into a separate room across the hall from him. His pedestal will be next to yours, which is a bit of a relief. Your stylist quickly instructs you to strip, and then she helps you into the uniform you assume you'll all be wearing. It's exactly the same as last year, you notice this quickly, but with a '75' logo embroidered on the chest where the District Twelve tribute had her pin placed. Katniss, you remember her name was. She had volunteered for her sister, and at the time you contemplated heavily on whether or not you would do the same. She was so, so close to winning- to getting to see her sister again, but she and the boy from her district, the final two tributes, ended up committing together rather than giving the Capitol their Victor. It was an admirable stance, but you couldn't imagine what that was like for her family, and his.

You step off the concrete floor once you're dressed, instructed to get into the pod that will lift you up into the arena; a glass elevator. Your stylist says nothing to you as they walk out of the room, the glass door sliding shut in front of you. Your knees get weak as you realize you are totally, completely alone, and likely no more than twenty minutes from dying. You think of your family, your siblings, your dad- and the last words he said to you. You'll see him soon.

Your thoughts are halted when the elevator starts to move, lifting you up as the ceiling falls away and you can see sunlight coming through. You squint and shield your eyes as you try to look up to get a better grasp on your surroundings before you can even see anything. Once trees come into view you're frantically looking around, trying to process as much information as you can, and quickly. It's exactly the same as last year, but from what you can tell, flipped in reverse, and made larger to accommodate twice as many tributes. Or everything on camera last year was flipped. There's a silver cornucopia in the middle with the timer that's immediately counting down and supplies inside and scattered around the field in front of you. Rafe is to your right, and a boy from Seven on your left. He scored a six, the same as you, so he's not the biggest threat to you immediately.

You adjust your stance, getting ready to run once the timer hits zero. In what direction, you don't know yet. Rafe wants you to run to the supplies, but statistically, the most deaths will happen in the next five minutes and you don't want any part of that. The supply bags and weapons spread out on the grass are all the same too, by the looks of it. The closest bag to you got picked up by the girl from Seven last year, and it didn't have much of anything helpful. If you're remembering right, it had a rope and some matches, and that was it. It definitely would be useful, but you know you can do better. There should be a bag four pedestals to your right, with a water bottle, an emergency blanket, a fire starter, a first aid kit, and a knife. Right now, that's the one you have to get to. That's your best bet.

Ten, nine, eight... The timer ticks down to the final seconds as you look over at Rafe, who's already looking at you. You point to the bag as your eyes land on it on the other side of him across the field, and he looks at you confused. He's closer, he has a better shot, but you know he won't take it.

Rafe is confused, following your finger and spotting the bag. Why would you want that one specifically? There are others closer, he doesn't feel like now is a time to be picky.

Four, three, two...

Your ears ring with shock as the clock reaches zero, and you're watching most of the other tributes booking it for the center. No one has seen your bag yet as you jump down, beelining across the field and narrowly brushing past Rafe in your move for the small backpack. He stops to let you pass, almost crashing into you head-on. He doesn't have time to worry about you, so he continues on his path to the middle, but he's lost time. Precious time that he doesn't have to lose right at the beginning of the games.

He gets into the bloodbath that the cornucopia has already turned into, looking back over his shoulder quickly as he grabs at any weapon he can get his hands on. He quickly has to sacrifice the blade he just grabbed when he hears footsteps quickly approaching from behind him, turning quickly and plunging it into the boy's chest. He doesn't think to look at who it was.

Cannon's echo around you, and you're counting how many internally as you get to the bag, reaching down to grab it as you run past, trying not to slow down. You look back over your shoulder, hoping to spot your teammate somewhere, but you can't see him. You're scanning the area, blocking out the blood you see flying and scattered along the silver metal of the cornucopia. You can hardly hear any screams over the sound of your heartbeat pounding in your ears. You can't help but watch as the girl from Three jumps on who is supposed to be her partner, a girl from Twelve, snapping her neck in a second. Within moments, she just drops to the ground next to her- another cannon following. That makes a strong incentive for working in teams. At least Rafe won't betray you early on.

You freeze up for a moment, stopping to scan your surroundings. You still can't find Rafe, taking in the number of bodies scattered around the cornucopia and a few tributes running into the tree line. At least some people were smart. Something flies past your head, making you jump back a step as you look up ahead of you. Within an instant, you're being tackled back by the body of the boy from your district.

"Y/N, fancy seeing you here." He chuckles darkly while you try and fight him off.

"Don't!" You squeak out, him pressing his forearm down against your throat on the ground.

"I've wanted to do this since the second they called your name." He growls, shoving you down again.

"We can help each other, Jack..." You say weakly, clawing at his arm.

"You don't need me. You've got your career boyfriend- and whatever your secret weapon is." He scoffs. "You don't have a secret weapon, Y/N. He's bluffing and he won't convince us."

You gather all your strength and knee him in the crotch, scrambling to get away as he fumbles for just a moment. "God- you are a bitch!" He shouts, grabbing for your ankle just has you pick up the knife he had thrown at you. You grip it the way Rafe had shown you, quickly shoving it into Jack's leg. You just needed to get away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" You exclaim, backing away quickly. Jack doesn't say another word, cutting his losses and getting up to make an escape for the woods. You hope he ends up okay.

You make your break for it as well, running back towards the woods as you once again scan your surroundings for your partner.

Suddenly you're on the ground, having run straight into the side of one of the pedestals and falling over it. You yelp with the sudden impact of the ground, scrambling to get up and continue when suddenly someone is grabbing your jacket, slamming you into the pedestal again. You scream, trying to shove them off, but they're much stronger than you. "Jael! Wait, wait- Jael!" You make out your own voice yelling the boy's name, which makes him falter. He's the oldest tribute from Eight- he seems shocked you even know his name.

In the moment when he loosened his grip, he jerks forward and then falls over you, a cannon booming making you gasp as you panic to get away. Rafe is quickly running towards you, slinging the bow he just used over his shoulder and yanking the arrow out of the boy's back. "Y/N, let's go!" He shouts, motioning for you to follow him as you continue toward the tree line, both of you keeping an eye on what's happening behind you as you disappear into the woods.

"Let's stay close, but not too close," Rafe suggests as soon as you feel safe enough to slow down, your chest heaving with the exertion of energy and boost of adrenaline. He glances at you briefly, then does a double take. "You okay? Are you hurt?"

You shake your head, coughing to ease the stinging in your throat. "I'm fine. You?"

"Good," Rafe answers, slowing his pace to match yours.

"We, uh, I think we should go the other way." You say, looking around to try and mentally place where abouts you are.

Rafe stops and furrows his brow at you, seemingly frustrated by your resistance. "Why does it matter?"

"The arena, it's the same as last year. Exactly the same. Just, scaled up a bit." You explain. "We should head south, that's where the river is. We'll need water soon."

Rafe laughs slightly, his demeanor changing as he places his hands on his hips and looks at you. "No shit," He says, truly surprised and impressed that you could tell. A lot of the games tend to look like this, and he would never notice a repeat arena down to the rivers if it punched him in the face. Your 'secret weapon' is already paying off. "And you could tell that right away?"

"Yeah, I mean, I guess so. The bags were all the same, everything was laid out the same. I bet there's a river down south." You nod, having a sudden realization. "We should get to that cave- the one the tributes from Twelve holed up in last year. That'll be a good, stable shelter. We can pretty much wait it out." You say, starting to walk in what you believe is the right direction.

"No," Rafe replies, making you stop in your tracks. "Unless you want me to have to kill you in the end."

"Oh, right." You forgot about that part, keeping score. "We're still going to need somewhere to sleep, though."

"Yeah, we'll find it anyways." Rafe nods, carrying on in the direction you started heading. You follow a few steps behind, keeping a bit of distance in the somewhat awkward silence that fell over you two after his comment about having to kill you.

You walk in the thick of the woods for about an hour before you feel like you're reaching the river. You can feel it under your feet, the soil is slightly softer, and the trees a little more green.

Cannons interrupt your thoughts a few times in the hike, totaling up to twenty-three by the time you reach the riverbank. "You were right." Rafe chuckles, mentally disparaging any skepticism he faced during the long, quiet walk.

"Thank god." You giggle, dropping your bag and crouching down to dig through it, hoping for a water bottle. You were right, everything you expected was accounted for.

"Why that bag?" Rafe says, already sitting down on the rocky water's edge to rest for a moment.

"Huh?" You question, unsure you heard over the shuffling of the bag while you zip it up.

"You pointed to it, during the countdown. Why did you want that one?"

"Oh, uh, like I said they all looked the same as last year, and I hoped I remembered what was inside." You say, laying down to reach into the water and fill up the bottle.

"Were you right?"

You nod with a small smile, sitting back up and holding the bottle out to him as you cross your legs.

"That's actually insane." Rafe shakes his head in disbelief as he takes it, downing just about everything in it before handing it back.

You take it and refill it again for yourself. "I'll choose to take that as a compliment."

Rafe wouldn't admit it, but at this moment as he's watching you drink, he's grateful that he got paired up with you. But now, that it's been shown on national television that you know the arena in and out, he wonders what obstacles the gamemakers will desperately throw your way.

"We should keep moving. I feel like a sitting duck out here in the open, I don't like it." Rafe mutters, checking his attitude as he stands up. You're quick to fill up the bottle again, following behind him yet again as the arrows in his quiver rattle together against his back walking over the rocky and unstable terrain, knife gripped tightly in his hand.

You wonder to yourself how he's feeling about leaving behind his predestined alliance of the career pack, but with the factor of most of them being paired up with other districts, it was already too unpredictable. You wouldn't have stuck around either.

The sun started to set as you followed the river upstream. You didn't want to settle without some kind of shelter, and you were committed to finding that cave before you could relax. You could tell that Rafe had the same idea, his steps ahead of you gradually picking up speed with the bow still gripped firmly in his palm.

"It's a beautiful sunset." You speak your mind before thinking, desperately wanting to fill the silence.

Rafe just hums in response, looking up only briefly before training his gaze once again on the ragged rocks at his feet and continuing on. "What's it like in District One?" You ask.

"Fine." He replies coldly. You aren't sure what you expected, but this response was pretty on par. You knew you had almost no chance of survival, so it would at least be nice to get to know the person you spend your final days with, even if he would be the one to kill you in the end.

"I've never been, but I've heard it's... nice." You've only ever heard about it from the perspective of other bitter individuals from Five, jealous of the cushy lifestyle everyone knew they must have lived.

"Yeah." Rafe agrees, clearly not wanting to discuss it.

"What are your sister's names?" You ask, deciding to push a little bit. It's not like he can kill you just yet.

Rafe sighs, but answers anyways. "Wheezie and Sarah."

You're shocked that he answered at all, but you could tell in his interview that he has a soft spot for them. "Cute." You nod, smiling to yourself. "Is Wheezie a nickname?"

"Yep, it's short for Louise."

"That's adorable." You grin, shaking your head.

"Hey, look. There." Rafe says, changing the subject and pointing down the rocks, where there's a small opening under a ledge.

"That's it!" You exclaim, deciding to drop the topic of his sisters in favour for finding your shelter for the night. You rush past him, watching your step as you climb down into the small cave.

Rafe quickly draws his bow, slowing down and peaking into the cave and bracing himself for your screams. How could you be so careless in a game like this? He doesn't understand your lightheartedness, your somewhat positive attitude, and your ability to make small talk despite the circumstances. "Hey, careful!"

"It's perfect!" You call back out as you look around, and Rafe steps down carefully, looking around more carefully than you had. He relaxes once he's satisfied that there's nothing down there waiting to kill you.

"Nice, okay." Rafe nods to himself, and you both get to work making a small fire near the entrance, hidden from view.

You take off your jacket and roll it up, using it as a makeshift pillow as you lay next to the fire, staring at the orange flicker of the flames you made.

Rafe is sitting across from you, knees tucked up to his chest as he does just the same. His mind is absolutely reeling- he needs to find something to eat, and soon. That will be the first thing you'll do in the morning, he'll have to employ your help to find something edible. "How are you with making traps?" He asks.

"I can do it." You reply, sitting up and leaning on your elbow so you can see him. "I'll set some up in the morning."

Rafe nods a little bit. He already knew you could, of course, but he's wondering about the logistics of how they work. "So like... hypothetically, would they work the same if you made them bigger?"

"Like... human-sized?" You ask, catching on to what he's suggesting. It's not ethical- but nothing about this game is. For you, this would definitely be preferable to fighting other kids to death over and over again.

Rafe nods, adjusting how he was sitting and crossing his legs.

"Yeah. I can't see why not." You answer. "It would be harder since I've never done it, but I think it could work."

"Then I say we try it."

The next day, you wake up as the sun rises and the light beats down on you from the entrance of the cave. You didn't sleep comfortably, that's for sure, waking up twice throughout the night to the sound of the cannon. That's twenty-seven. You wonder how many teams have already reached their ten-kill quota, you imagine someone in the career pack already has. Both times when you were startled awake, Rafe was standing at the cave entrance, bow drawn as he squinted into the darkness, hoping that whoever was out hunting other tributes wasn't nearby.

You sit up slowly, stretching out your tired limbs as you look over to see Rafe, fast asleep with a blade in his hand. You should let him sleep, and get to work on finding something to eat, and making some traps.

You grab one of the knives Rafe somehow collected from the bag laying next to him as quietly as possible, sneaking outside and taking in your surroundings. The sound of the river flowing and the smell of morning dew was amazing- you wish you could truly enjoy it in different circumstances.

You quickly get to work tracking down something to eat, landing on a few different plants you know to be edible. You're trekking through the woods near your cave when you come across an apple tree- making you pause as you look it over. It looks out of place- and maybe no one got close enough to it in the games last time that you wouldn't have seen it, but that seems unlikely. It must be new; it makes for the perfect place to try and set up a trap for the next hungry tribute who would be unfortunate enough to wander too close to your hideout.

You're digging a hole in the ground with your hands, avoiding the roots of the tree and sticking in some sticks you sharpened when you hear a twig snap behind you. You freeze, hoping that by some miracle, it's just an animal. You slowly turn your head to try and look, picking up the knife from the ground next to you and holding it tight.

"Just me." Rafe's voice relaxes you, and you stand up, brushing off your knees.

"You scared me." You admit as he takes to looking down into the hole you just dug.

"That looks... awful." He chuckles, patting your shoulder. "It won't kill, but it'll slow someone down enough that I can finish the job."

You nod slightly, staring into the dirt as well. You hated the idea that you were crafting something intentionally to bring harm to another person, but realistically you have no choice. "We'll set up more, along the riverbed and closer to the career pack. We can't monitor them all at once, though- can you make more fatal ones next time?" Rafe asks, pointing back towards the river to accentuate his point.

"That depends, how many arrows can you spare?"

The next few days saw the death toll rise to thirty-six. You kept track every night, scratching their numbers and names into the walls of the cave despite being able to remember anyway. You viewed it as a small memorial, Rafe saw it as a timer ticking down to when he'd have to kill you.

Your first trap had worked on one person, their screams of pain from a cut-up leg summoning your teammate back to the apple tree. He insisted you stay behind as he finished what you started. You had to reset several other traps as well, closer to the cornucopia.

Rafe would never admit it, but he was really starting to like you. He didn't want to hurt you- he was worried the traps wouldn't do enough. The passive approach you so preferred wasn't what he expected, and he knew his dad would be disappointed in him. But Ward would never understand.

He sighed as he poked at the fire with a stick, leaning his head back against the rocky wall of the cave, another cold night ahead of you.

You had your head laid on his lap, his thigh replacing the thin material of your coat that you had been using the last few days.

"How old are your sisters?" You ask out of nowhere, prompting him to look down at you. He had thought you fell asleep a while ago.

"Why does it matter?" Rafe replies, and you just shrug a little bit.

"Gives us something to talk about."

"Fifteen and Eleven." He relents.

"Hey, me too." You smile a little to yourself.

"You have sisters?" Rafe asks. He never asked much about you- he didn't really want to know, in the case he had to kill you.

"Yep. And a brother." You nod, sitting up a little bit. "He's older though, he aged out last year."

Rafe finds himself clenching his jaw. He can't hear that- to see you as a little sister. He doesn't want to imagine what it would be like to see his sisters face the same fate. "Lucky guy." He says quietly.

"Why? I thought it was a privilege, and all that." You chuckle.

"Well, yeah, but not for most. For the outlying districts like you."

"At least you get it." You agree. "How does it feel? Now that you're here, I mean."

"Scary." Rafe admits, throwing caution to the wind now with what his father will think. "Not what everyone tells you it'll be like."

"Is that because of me?" You ask after a few moments, and he nods slightly.

"Not in a bad way, though. It's just different. I expected to be on my own, to die alone, or kill my allies if I had to. Now... I don't know that I have to. Or if I even could." He can practically hear his father shouting at their large screen at home, or storming out claiming he was an embarrassment. He was told his whole life to never show weakness, to 'be a man', but now, at the end, that doesn't matter to him.

"I won't take it personally." You giggle softly, voice shaking as you try to make light of it. "My family won't either, I don't think. Maybe my dad, at first, but eventually he'll understand. They'll forgive you." You try and ease his mind, knowing that in the case that Rafe does win without you, he'll have to face your family in the next month or so during the victory tour.

"I wouldn't ever expect him to." Rafe tells you, tossing his stick into the flames now. He feels sick hearing you talk about it like it's inevitable- but if he has anything to do with it, you'll be coming home with him.

"They're good people." You assure him.

"Don't say that." Rafe chuckles, shaking his head. "I would never forgive myself."

"Okay, fine. They're awful. Just... the worst." You smile, looking up at him and resting your chin in your hand.

"That's better. Thank you." Rafe laughs, poking your forehead and gazing out onto the river as the flames illuminate the water.

In the morning, you're awoken to something brushing your leg. You groan and roll over, head landing once more on Rafe's extended arm underneath you. At least he was finally getting some sleep, pretty much unable to close his eyes since you set foot in the arena. You feel the brush again, followed by something moving on your arm, several things, suddenly, and your eyes fly open and look down when you remember where you are. You let out a scream, scrambling to sit up and pushing yourself back against the wall.

Rafe wakes up quickly, scrambling for the bow next to him when he realizes it won't be any help. You're surrounded by and quickly almost covered in a sickening combination of snakes and spiders.

You're still screaming, trying to shove the creatures off of you. "Come on- come on!" Rafe is yelling at you, grabbing your arm and pulling you towards the exit. You don't get the chance to grab your back and you regret that as you're jumping into the river in attempt to get the spiders off of your skin and out of your clothes.

You're breathing heavily as you come up for air, and Rafe is quickly there, brushing his hands over your hair to make sure every last spider is gone. He looks back at the entrance of the cave, chest heaving like yours as the bugs and snakes spill out of it. It sends a shiver down his spine- he was never a fan of snakes.

"I guess that's the gamemakers telling us enough was enough." He sighs, gently pulling you towards the shore again a safe distance away. "Are you bit?" He asks once you're a safe distance away.

"I don't think so..." You reply, hiking up the ankles of your pants to look at your calves and over your bare arms as you sit on the shore. "You?"

Rafe shakes his head, doing the same. "It was probably just a warning. We have to move." He quickly lowers his pant leg over the puncture wounds in his leg, hoping you didn't see. If it gets worse, he'll tell you. The bite itself didn't hurt much, so if it's going to be fatal, he's glad he won't have to hurt you.

Rafe helps you up, leading you up towards the tree line. "They probably want to push us in toward the other tributes, I think we should go with it before they throw something worse at us." You, the two of you now left with nothing but what you had on you, along with Rafe's bow and a few spare arrows.

He nods. "It's our best move anyways. How many tributes are left?"

"Twelve including us." You answer quickly. "There's Avril, a boy from six, Maisie, she's from my district, most of the careers I think are still in it but not their teammates," You begin to rattle off the list,

"I don't want to know names." Rafe cuts you off, and you understand why. He's been doing all the dirty work, and part of you knows it's because he's hoping to have time to learn names and feel guilty about it later. Right now, he can't afford to see them as human.

"Right." You agree. "It doesn't really matter, anyways."

"Do you know scores?" He asks, walking alongside you now.

You nod, beginning to list off all the remaining tributes and their scores, from lowest to highest. The lowest being you- and the highest being ten, shared by Rafe and a boy from district two.

After hearing two more cannons that day, and checking all the traps you had set, you're circling back to the river to be near fresh water before you set up camp again. You don't have your water bottle anymore, or anything to set up any kind of shelter with, you do your best. You set up a fire, Rafe insisting that if it draws other tributes to you so be it- he's ready for this to end just as much as you, but you don't want to rush into your death or an ambush. It's safe to say you won't be sleeping tonight.

You didn't sleep, but at least, curled up under a tree, the night sky was beautiful. The stars seemed realistic, and you wondered if somehow they were real. Between the two more cannons that struck overnight, you still wondered if you were somewhere near the ocean, or somewhere closer to home. While you're sitting next to each other in a peaceful silence, both admiring the vastness of the night sky, you hear a ringing sound coming from above.

Rafe quickly stands, reaching for the small silver pack with a parachute before it hits the ground. He's quick to open it as you stand up, looking into the container. You grab the small card, tilting it into the light of your fire to read it.

For our Y/N,

Keep fighting. Please come home to us.

Love You Always, Dad

Tears form in your eyes almost instantly, your hand coming up to cover your mouth. "It's just a water bottle and some kind of granola bars... or something." Rafe says, turning the water bottle over in his hand.

He looks up at you, frowning when he sees how upset you look. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." You quickly shake your head, wiping your eyes. "Uhm, it's from my dad."

The fact that your family could spare enough money to send you something in the games at all was amazing to you. You heard horror stories of the astronomical prices of trying to send something from outside of the capitol, without the status and funds of a sponsor.

"Oh." Rafe replies, handing you the tin and bottle now, taking the card from you gently. He reads it over slowly, and over and over again. His family had seemingly endless amounts of money, and they had sent him nothing. He knew his father viewed it as cheating, and that you shouldn't need any kind of help to win. If he loved him, though, that wouldn't matter. He should be willing to do anything he could to keep his son alive. The way your parents did.

"My mom made these." You sniffle, grabbing a small bar from the container in her hand. "They're my favourite, she only makes them on birthdays or special occasions." You explain.

"That's... that's really nice." Rafe says, putting the card back in the tin. He doesn't know how to handle this, or what to say.

You smile sadly as you sit back down against the tree, placing the tin on your lap as Rafe joins you. "Here." You hold the bar out to him.

"They're for you." Rafe shakes his head, pushing it away.

"They're for us." You insist, holding it out to him again. "They wouldn't have sent two if I wasn't meant to share."

"Thank you." Rafe smiles genuinely, for the first time in weeks as he takes it. He's starving, having eaten only small amounts of meat and plants over the last week or so, so he's quick to take a bite. It's sweet, more so than he expected. He never thought he could enjoy sugar this much.

"No wonder they're reserved for celebrations, hey?" You giggle, having intently watched his reaction.

Rafe nods. "Yeah, it's really good. Super sweet." He says, mouth still full. You grin, satisfied as you take a bite of your own.

The night flew by so quickly, you're feeling as though it must have gotten shorter. The sunrise went by fast too. You're guessing the gamemakers and the viewers were getting antsy. To be honest, you were as well.

Renewed with your energy the sugary baking your parents had sent, you set about gathering food and water, while Rafe goes on to check a few of your traps to see if they needed to be reset. He could do it on his own, but he liked watching you do it, working the ropes between your fingers and tying intricate knots, pulling back on the stick used to trigger the arrow. By the afternoon, having taken a mental note of the amount of cannons that had fired. It was a few, at least. You must be getting down to the end. He prayed it wasn't you, but the cries of some kind of mutts in the distance right before the cannons lead him to believe that you were fine- but he should be getting back soon anyways.

You were wandering down to the water, reluctant to leave your camp, but you knew water was a priority. You were just filling up the new bottle when you heard a scream. It sounded like a boy. You quickly look back over your shoulder, noticing it was nearby. Toward the apple tree. You stand slowly, looking around as you attach the water bottle back to your side with a carabiner, reaching instead for the knife Rafe had left with you. God, you hoped it wasn't him. The absence of a cannon gives you hope, though.

You quietly head in that direction, watching your step so your presence isn't detected. When you get closer to the tree, you hear crying. Painful crying, as you're faced with the reality of the trap you set.

You watch from behind a tree as the boy from eight tries to pull his leg up from the ground, screaming out again as the sharp sticks dig into his flesh. You should go get Rafe- you feel guilty, but you can't kill him yourself. You turn quickly, and before you can get a step away you're face to face with one of the other careers- a sword held up against your neck.

"Don't move." Blake says, a smile that can only be described as evil spreading over his lips.

You try and scream out for help, hoping Rafe was still in earshot but a hand is quickly covering your mouth. "Not yet." He whispers, shaking his head. "We've got a plan, it'll be fun. You wouldn't want to ruin that, right?"

As Rafe gets back to your small camp, he expects to see you there waiting. He scans the trees above him, wondering if you had climbed up for some reason. He calls your name when he doesn't see you, brow furrowed. You definitely should be back by now. As he's heading down to the water to look for you, he hears a cannon, which at this point wouldn't bother him- if it wasn't for the scream that followed after. It was you. No doubt in his mind that it was you. With his bow drawn, he's moving quickly towards where he heard your voice, throwing caution to the wind.

You scream again, crying as the tip of the sword is dug into your shoulder, laying down next to the apple tree. You can't help it- but you don't want their trap to work. You don't want Rafe to come, so you bite your tongue until you taste blood, hoping to keep quiet. "It'll only get worse for you if you don't scream, Y/N/N." Blake scolds you, digging in the blade more. "He has to hear you." He adds through gritted teeth.

You hear a twig snap just outside the small clearing, and Blake is quickly turning to look with the sword still pinning you to the ground. "Rafe it's a trap!" You shout, hoping that it's him.

Rafe steps out then, into full view with his bow drawn as he aims at the boy in front of him. When they first met, he knew they would have been good friends if they met anywhere else. "You won't shoot me." Blake chuckles, and Rafe quickly readjusts his grip.

"I will." Rafe says sternly, pulling the string tighter as Blake moves the sword to hover over your chest. Over your heart.

"If you shoot, the last of my energy will go into killing her. I don't think you want that." He shakes his head, smiling smugly.

"I don't care." Rafe says, making your heart clench. You know that you're friends, at the very least. He does care. He's bluffing- you have to believe that.

"If you didn't care you would have shot me already." Blake calls it, and Rafe tenses up, looking down at you only briefly.

"Then what do you want?" Rafe spits.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted you to watch." Blake shrugs. "Just makes it a little more fun, you know? But don't worry, you'll be next." You know he just wants to prove himself, somehow, not having scored as high as Rafe did. You wonder if his family was somehow similar- that he needed some kind of approval that he thought he might find through sadism.

Rafe looks down at you again, and you just nod, tears streaming down your temples to your ears. He quickly readjusts before letting the arrow fly, planting straight in the shoulder that held the sword as you quickly roll over, slicing across your chest and shoulder in the process. It was well worth it.

Rafe fires another arrow into his chest, not taking any risks and the cannon quickly follows as he rushes to your side.

"Are you okay?" He's asking, hands hovering above you as he's kneeled next to you, unsure what to do.

You nod, still biting into your tongue as blood continues to slide down your skin, dampening your now torn up clothes.

"It's not that bad." Rafe says, looking over the cuts as best he can, but you wince when he pulls the fabric away. "You're gonna be fine, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah..." You mumble, letting your head fall back against the brush below you. Rafe is quick to take his coat off, using it to push down on the deepest part of the wound on your shoulder, trying with his other hand to apply pressure to the rest of it. You try and focus on your breathing, rather than the pain, but it's hard when a significant amount of weight is being applied to your shoulder and chest.

"I'm sorry, I have to." Rafe tells you, jaw tense as he lifts his coat to check whether or not the bleeding has slowed. You didn't even realize you were crying.

After a few minutes, he's lessened the pressure a bit, still holding the fabric firmly over your skin. "You could have ran." You mumble, voice hardly above a whisper.

"I wasn't gonna leave you." Rafe shakes his head, gently peeling away his now blood soaked windbreaker.

"You at least shouldn't have saved me. Not much point in that, is there?" You smile softly, trying to sit up and Rafe is quick to help.

"There is. You have to win." He mutters.

"I'm not winning, Rafe." You smile sadly at him. "Infection will kill me if you won't, and if no one else does first."

"No, they'll fix you up. This cut will be gone in a week, the technology they have is-"

"Rafe." You grab his attention again and he looks up to meet your eyes. They seemed to suck in all the light of the sunset above the two of you, reflecting back at him in a way that makes his breath hitch. The thought is cut short, however, when you say something that breaks his heart. "Don't give me hope like that."

"Why? You're gonna go home. I mean it." He promises. "I'll make sure of it."

"I don't think we have enough." You remind him sadly, a small smile still evident on your lips as you reach up to cup his cheek in your palm. "I never expected to go home. I'm okay with that."

Your friend shakes his head softly. "That doesn't matter. You have your family to get home to, I read that note from your dad. They need you, I can see that. For me, these games are all I was raised for. I have nothing left for me after this." He admits, avoiding eye contact with you. "I could never forgive myself if I didn't get you home."

Tears are forming in your eyes again as you look up at him. The world is watching, and in this moment of vulnerability you feel that more than ever- despite the quiet sounds around you being only the rushing water in the nearby river and the birds chirping around you. "You're a good person, Rafe." You smile at him, watching as he gently raises his hand to yours, grabbing it in his own. "I hope you know that."

In this moment, you settle on the idea that you would die for him. You never understood last years tributes, honestly, how they were willing to die for each other instead of getting home to their own loved ones, but now you do. Completely.

Without a second thought, you find yourself leaning closer, Rafe doing the same as he kneels next to you in the dark. Your eyes meet once more, lips only an inch from touching when you hear a howl in the distance, and you snap your head to the direction it came from. "The Mutts... Already?" You say, scrambling to get up and ignoring the pain in your shoulder.

"I- I heard them earlier, they sound far away." Rafe says, trying to calm you.

"You heard them? You didn't tell me?" You ask, frantically grabbing his bow from the ground and handing it to him as he goes to pull the discarded arrows out of Blake's body.

"I didn't think it mattered!" He defends, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"There were four left last year when they sent them out. I think... yeah I think that's right. There's four of us. We have to run." You say in a panic, pulling on his hand. "Our best bet is making it back to the cornucopia."

"It'll be too open- can't we climb a tree or something?" Rafe says, following after you as you're running through the bush now in the direction of the open field.

"I don't know if that will work, but I know we'll be safe there." You explain like it's obvious. "We have to risk it- and if you can get to the others first, if they have the same idea, we'll be at ten."

You're out of breath already, adrenaline pushing you through as you hear scattered barking getting steadily closer after one more cannon. Part of you wants to stop, turn, and force Rafe to take the win if you couldn't have it, but with any hope left, you have to try and get back to where this started. The traps was an unfortunate choice in how you got your kills, because you couldn't keep track of how many since by the time you got around to checking them, the body's would have been airlifted off if it wasn't a misfire. If you had to guess, though, you were sitting at eight.

Rafe is running similar calculations in his head as he lets you lead him by memory straight to the field, mind short-circuiting as he sees the silver moonlight reflect off the cornucopia.

You sprint across the open field, blood pouring from your undressed wound again with the intense exertion of energy. Rafe doesn't pass you, though, despite you expecting that he would. You have tunnel vision as you make it to the metal structure, practically slamming into it before you can even stop. Rafe is quick to lift you and shove you up, both of you looking over your shoulders as you struggle to hold onto the edge, kicking the sides to hold yourself up.

You finally get up, reaching down to help pull Rafe up. He grabs onto your arm for leverage, mostly pulling himself up and you wince as you feel the tension from his weight in your cuts.

You flop down onto your back on the cold surface as he climbs over you, immediately standing up with bow drawn as he intently scans the surrounding area. He's only got the two arrows left, which makes him nervous if that's all he has to defend the both of you with.

You try to settle your breathing, which only lasts for a moment until the sky lights up with the recap. You miss your cave, where you could contribute to your memorial, especially seeing the face of Maisie flash above you on the sky while the anthem plays.

You close your eyes, just listening to the music now until you hear barking just outside of where Rafe can see, and you're quickly sitting up. He draws the bow tighter, aiming in the direction the howls came from just as someone pushes out into the clearing. Rafe is aimed straight at them, bow string pressed to his cheek. He's getting dizzy, and quickly. His aim can't fail him now, he doesn't have that option.

You watch them, in the dark you think it's the other boy from district one, and in your exhaustion you can't remember his name. You wouldn't dare say it, anyways. He's screaming for help, a call you know you can't answer, and you watch as they stumble on their feet, shoes and hands digging into the ground as they try to get up, just ten or so yards from you by now.

Rafe wants to shoot just then, it would be as simple as letting his finger loose and the arrow would fly towards its target. It would be a merciful end for the boy he's trained with for years now, only a couple years younger than him. The muscle in his jaw is aching from the tension he's put on it when he forces himself to let go. He has to do it, for himself, if he wants to go home.

He misses. The yelp of one of the mutts tells you it landed in a paw or back, and you look up at Rafe who's already drawn his second. "Rafe!" You cry out, pushing yourself up onto your feet and standing behind him now.

He hates to admit that your empathy has rubbed off on him. Watching you every night carving seemingly endless names and numbers into the rocks that lined the space you stepped in. He recalls waking up one morning and seeing your name and his carved in as well, closer to where he laid by the fire, his underlined and yours with a heart at the end. Like a signature on the top of a math test. He had wondered if you always wrote your name like that, and in this moment as he releases the bow again, he knows he has to find out for himself.

It happened so fast, the mutts knocking down the boy and the arrow flying from Rafe's shaky hands into where he should have been right as the cannon sounds. You don't know that it was Rafe's arrow that did him in.

"No..." You mumble, clamouring forward and onto your knees again to look over as the boys body is torn apart by the mutts. "You had to have done it. You had to." You say, trying to get a better view.

In a second, Rafe's arms are around you and he's pulling you back from the edge, sitting now behind you with his arms wrapped tightly over your body. "It's okay.. it's over." He mumbles, kissing the side of your head as the sunlight comes over the trees. He's fighting off the urge to vomit, everything spinning around him now.

You sit with him, gripping onto his arms and crying. Nothing is happening, so you must not have made it to ten. You feel sick- your heart is in your throat and suddenly you're really hot, moving away from him to look over the edge again, this time incase you have to throw up. You freeze, looking over to where the boy's body once was. The second arrow was in the ground. He missed again.

Rafe sees it at the same time as you. He sighs, hanging his legs over the edge. "Shit... Y/N, I'm sorry." He mumbles, gently reaching over to rub your back.

"No, no. It's okay." You insist, sitting up next to him. "I knew this would happen."

"I'll get you home." Rafe says, sliding down the side of the cornucopia before you can stop him. He stumbles the landing, swaying in his walk as he heads towards the arrow lodged into the dirt.

"Wait! Wait, wait, Rafe!" You're sliding down after him, running to his side and grabbing his arm before he can get to the arrow in the ground.

He turns to you quickly, hand on your cheek and he's pressing his lips to your forehead. "Sit with me?" He asks, knees already giving out as he falls to the ground.

You're instantly on the ground beside him, practically holding his head up with your free hand as you search him visually for some kind of injury. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Uh, I guess so." Rafe mutters. "Snake bite. I think."

"You didn't tell me? I could have fixed this, I could have helped..." You ramble on, his eyes dropping shut now. "Hey, eyes open."

"It's okay. Just sit with me..." He says again, smiling weakly. "Wait with me... please?"

You nod, sniffling as you fight back the tears that want to fall. "Yeah, of course. I'll stay."

Before he closes his eyes, the music starts again and your eyes are drawn up to the sky after you notice Rafe is looking first.

Then, begins a similar slideshow of faces you recognize. Ten in total. Rafe's eyes flicker with slight recollection, remembering any kills he made himself and you gasp when you see Jack. Whatever damage you had done when he tackled you on the first day must have killed him. "Rafe.." You mumble, lowering your eyes to meet his. "I think we won."

Your point is accentuated by the voice of the head gamemaker over some unseen speakers. "Introducing the Victors of the Seventy-Fifth Annual Hunger Games!"

"We did it." Rafe laughs weakly, squeezing your hand.

You fully ignore the aircraft hovering down in front of you on the grass, turning your head to look down at him. You don't say anything, neither of you do, and you finally feel your lips against his. The kiss is bad, it doesn't really work when both of you are stuck smiling ear to ear, but you don't care one bit. The only thing that matters is that you got this chance at all.

Rafe pulls away from you slowly, using all the strength he has left to lift himself onto his feet as you steady him. "He needs help!" You shout to them, and you're quickly being lead onto the plane.

"They've got really good technology," You mock what he said to you just the day before. "It'll be like it never happened in a week, okay?" You chuckle, feeling waves of happiness, worry, and relief all at once as you quickly wipe away a tear with your free hand, other arm wrapped tightly around Rafe's waist to hold him up.

He laughs, and you lean into him more, your forehead against his shoulder as the aircraft door slides shut behind you.

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justmeinadaze · 10 months

Text

Head Filled With Demons Part 3 (Steddie X You)

A/N with Warnings: Demon Steddie and Human Fem Reader.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Read my warning and heed what I'm telling you. This chapter (kind of like the others) deals a lot with grief. With Eddie in part 2 it was grief of a partner and in this one its the grief of a parent. The guys do give her memories of her and her parents and reader does talk about her pain of losing her father. Yes he dad passes. I dont want you going in blind to that.

A lot of her feelings in the beginning are based off of my own when my dad passed away.

If this triggers you (which I completely understand) DO NOT read further. It is only in the beginning but still.

SMUT (DP, Steddie gets intimate, dom qualities seep through especially between them, choking, scolding, I think that's it), Angst, I am me so there is all the angst, Besides the mentions above there is talk about the grief of losing their realm (their home) , Steve talks a lot about feeling lonely and his guilt over not being able to protect his friends, Eddie talks about feeling their predicament is his fault. A war from their world is talked about and a vision is shown about how Steve saved Eddie <3, there is a cliffhanger ending so enjoy that :)

Fluff of course, they care about her and vise versa. There is also a lot of love mentioned and expanding on between these two demons.

ENTER WITH CAUTION! THIS WILL MAKE YOU FEEL!

Word Count: 7976

“Y/N. Y/N, sweetie. Wake up.”

You grumble at the sound of your father’s voice before fully sitting up. “Dad. Oh my goodness. Are you ok?”

“Yes, baby. I’m fine. I haven’t felt this good in a long time actually.”, he chuckles as his finger brushes your hair behind your ear like he always did when you were little. “Come here. I want to show you something.”

Without waiting, he exits your room as you throw off your blankets. Suddenly remembering where you were the night prior, your hands flew down expecting to feel the silky red fabric but you breathed a sigh of relief when you saw your pajama shorts and tank top.

When you entered the living room, you found your dad staring out the front window. Once again, Hawkins was engulfed in flames but this time it didn’t frighten you. You had come to see this sight so many times that you were beginning to feel numb to it.

“I asked them to look after you for me; your friends.”

“Dad, they aren’t going to be here for too long.”

He smiles as he turns away from the glass and takes your hand in his. “Your mom used to say that about you. ‘Honey, you have to enjoy the kid years because they aren’t here for too long. Soon she’ll be off to college and married.’”

When his gaze shifted, you reached to bring it back to yours.

“Dad, I don’t blame you for how my life is. This isn’t your fault. I love seeing you every day and spending time with you.”

He nods, grasping your other hand. “I guess this task you have to complete is the last time you’ll be taking care of someone. Funny it would be the whole world.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Promise me, Y/N, when this is over that you’ll finally live your life for you and be happy.”

“When what is over? Dad? Wait…”

After kissing your forehead, he released you from his hold and started heading for the kitchen where your mother was waiting with a smile of her own.

“Don’t be too hard on them, Y/N. This isn’t their fault.”

“What isn’t?! No! Come back! Don’t leave me here alone!”

As they walk down the hallway, sunlight blinds you as you fall to your knees.”

Your eyes shoot open and you promptly jump out of bed to run to your father’s room.

“Honey, hang on a minute—” Steve tries to stop you as you push him out of the way. His head hangs as Eddie glares towards the opposite end of the house. He closes his eyes as they hear you scream and listen to you sob.

***

“Miss Y/L/N?”, Detective Hopper said your name with so much delicacy as he kneeled in front of you from your place on the couch. “I…I know how hard this is for you right now but I want you to know if you need anything, of course, feel free to come by the station. We have, uh, services that can help you and you’re not alone.”

You nodded without saying a word causing him to sigh as he stood up and headed out the door. Once everyone was gone, you headed for your father’s bedroom and laid down on his mattress, inhaling his smell. Steve’s hand caressed your leg but you barely felt it; you couldn’t feel anything.

Eddie sits in front of you and music suddenly fills the area. Glancing his way, you notice a guitar in his hands as he gently began plucking the strings. His soothing voice began to sing and you feel your body practically melt into the mattress as your soul calmed and your eyes closed.

“You're just too good to be true Can't take my eyes off of you You'd be like Heaven to touch I wanna hold you so much.”

Your mother gathers her things and jacket as she heads out of the dressing room door.

“Um excuse me. I…”, your fathers words trailed off as she stopped to face him. “I just, um, I… oh shit!”, the man cursed as he tripped over his feet and fell onto the ground right in front of the beautiful ballerina.

“Oh no. Are you alright?”, she giggles as she helps him up.

“Yeah, um, I guess I’m not as graceful as you are with your feet.” Her grin grows as a happy sigh leaves his lips at the sight. “I just wanted to tell you that I think you did great out there. You dance very, uh, very well.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes scan his as he nervously nods, scolding himself as he turns to walk the other way and leave her alone to hide from the shame. “Hey, I was going to grab some food. Would you like to join me?”

“At long last, love has arrived And I thank God I'm alive You're just too good to be true Can't take my eyes off of you.”

Your father sings those lyrics to your mother as they dance together in their wedding wardrobe.

“You’re such a goofball.”

“Yeah, but I’m YOUR goofball.”, he smiles wide as he spins her and her dress twirls.

“Till death do us part.” She leans forward to kiss him, giggling when he lifts her off the ground.

Guests clap as they join them on the dance floor and begin swaying to the music.

“When do you think we should spring the news on them about the baby?”

“I love you, baby And if it's quite alright I need you, baby To warm the lonely night I love you, baby Trust in me when I say.”

“Daddy!”, six-year-old you cries as you run into the house.

“Oh no, sweetheart. What happened?” Your father meets you halfway lifting you up onto the counter.

“I fell.” He makes a small hm noise as he inspects your bloody knee.

“That’s ok, my love. We can make it all better.” Reaching above you, your dad grabs the band aids and rag that he quickly wets before coming back to you to clean you up.

“You know, mommy falls all the time when she’s practicing.” He poses like a ballerina, making you giggle. “But she gets right back up and keeps dancing.” After placing the bandage over your cut, he leans in to kiss the top before kissing your forehead. “Alright, go get back out there and keep playing!”

“Oh, pretty baby Don't bring me down, I pray Oh, pretty baby Now that I've found you, stay And let me love you, baby Let me love you.”

“My daughter; the high school graduate. I’m so proud!”

You roll your eyes playfully as your dad snaps another picture.

“Dad, it’s not a big deal.”

“It is! You worked hard to get here and I know your mom is smiling down from heaven agreeing with me. I heard our song on the radio this morning so I know. ‘I love you, baby. Trust in me when I say.’” You grin as he sings and tries to dance with you before he begins to cough. “No, no. I’m fine. It’s fine.”, he shoos as you rub his back.

“This is your day, honey. Come on. Let this old man take you to dinner and then I’ll set you free to hang out with your friends.”

The music stopped as your eyes opened to both demon’s looking down at you tenderly. Eddie’s hand reached out to touch your cheek and you immediately broke as you sobbed. Falling to his back, he pulled you to his side and held you tightly to him as Steve laid behind you, wrapping his arms around you to do the same.

#############

“Y/N, sweetheart.” Eddie tries to pet your head but you shuffle away from him as you roll over in bed.

“Honey, we don’t want to push you but we’re on week two here. You have to kill another person.”

They both sigh aggressively as you pull the blankets over your head. Abruptly the covers disappear and you find yourself standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror with them on either side of you.

“Maybe we can go for a walk outside, get some sun, find a victim. You know, fun stuff.”

“Stop it.”, you scold Steve as you try and leave but he blocks you with his body.

“Y/N, you have to do this.”

“Fuck off, Steven.”, you sneered. It took all of his energy to hold down his temper as his eyes met your own.

“I know you’re in an immense amount of pain, Y/N. I’m really fucking sorry about that. If there was anything we could have done, I swear we would have. That being said, you still have a responsibility to save the world.”

“Why?” His eyebrows furrowed together at your question. “My world is gone. Why should I help all these fucking assholes especially the assholes in this stupid, greedy fucking town! Fuck them! Let them suffer.”

“That’s not what your parents would have wanted.”

“Oh, fuck you, Eddie! You both didn’t know my mom and you met my dad once! You have no idea what the fuck they wanted!”

“How quick you forget, little one. We can see into your soul. We may not have been there but we saw and felt everything because you did.” His ring lace palm lands on your chest. “They were both good people like you and wanted what’s best for you. They would not have wanted you to die burning with the world.”

You exhale heavily as you push down the urge to cry again. “Fine. I’ll go for a fucking walk.”

***

You stroll with your head down in no particular direction and since they succeeded in at least getting you out of the house your demons don’t pester you but remain close behind. It isn’t until you hear the gravel under your feet that one of them finally speaks.

“What is the point of a high school?” Pausing you turn to glance at them, finding their eyes looking at the building behind you as Steve continues. “I mean, you guys have the little kid school and a middle one but then you have a high one? It feels excessive.”

“Demons don’t have schools?”

“Uh, not exactly. I mean, we have training or Steve and I did rather. It kind of depends on what you plan to do.”

“So you’re telling me you two planned to be killers?”

They blinked as their gaze shifted back to you. “Again…not exactly.”

You walked over to one of the side doors, huffing when you find it locked. With a quick snap, they open and the three of you wonder inside.

“My father wasn’t royalty like the king but he was respected. He was kind of like humans version of a general or captain. The princess’s father told him where he wanted us and he made sure things got done. He wanted me to be just like him.”

“Which is ironic because I don’t think your dad ever killed one thing a day in his long miserable life.”, Eddie muses as he touches some of the assignments hanging along the school walls. “Who needs this stuff? Fucking quadratic formula?” He grins when he notices you smile.

“You didn’t want that, Steve?”

“I don’t know what I wanted. Honestly, I don’t really think I had a choice.”

“What about you, Eddie?”

“I like singing and playing my instrument. That’s what I wanted to do with my existence but… I mean you do what you have to do.”

“Why did you have to hurt people?”

“Demons and creatures. Not people, sweetheart. We don’t usually play here in this realm, not our kind anyway. Um, so my father was I guess what you would call a deserter. There was a big war in our realm a LONG time ago and he, uh, he ran. Demons like Steve found him and brought him back. He, as far as I know, is still being tortured in a king’s cell. I offered to take his place in the army; youngest demon to do so.”

“That must have been hard. Your mom didn’t protest?”

“Kind of like yours, princess, mine died awhile back.”

You turn to Steve who softly smiles. “Mine did everything and anything my dad wanted so what I did or wanted didn’t really matter.”

You guys enter the cafeteria and they marvel at the simplicity of it.

“When did you two meet?”

“When he volunteered, I kept an eye on him. No offense, buddy, but in the beginning, you weren’t the fighter type.”

“That’s fair.”, Eddie giggles as he hops onto a table and walks along it.

“Out on the field he sacrificed himself to protect one of the younger ones and was about to die before I saved him.”

The metalhead looking demon clasped his hands together dramatically. “My hero.”

Steve playfully scrunches his nose at him as they both grin.

“Can I see it?”

“Are you sure you want to? There’s some violence. You hated that last time.”

“It’s ok. I want to see.”

He nods at your request and as soon as he snaps his fingers you find yourself on a red stained battlefield. Something screeched above your head and you ducked down nearly missing the winged creature that soared by. Off in the distance, you saw a young boy with a sword fighting a demon twice his size. He was doing alright until you noticed someone sneaking up behind him.

“Kid, look out!”, you screamed but you voice had an echo. Someone else had shouted the same thing at the same time. Before you could fully register what was happening Eddie swished past you and his sword blocked the other demon’s from hurting the young boy.

The kid continued to fight the being in front of him as Eddie fell backwards, his weapon keeping the other from penetrating his body.

“Eddie! Hang on, man. I’m coming.”

“No…rush…Dustin. Take your time.”, he hissed through gritted teeth. Suddenly, the demon above him grunted before collapsing to the side. Steve spit on the ground beside him before tugging his weapon out of the thing’s skull and extending his hand to his new friend.

“That was brave. Stupid but brave.”

“Thank you? You always have a way with words, Steven.” Eddie points towards the boy who finally slays his monster and beams over at them with pride. “Aren’t you their protector?”

“Yes, but this one keeps ignoring my advice.”

“Oh, come on. You’re not that mad at me.”

“I miss that little fucker.”, Eddie sighs as you guys head towards the hallway.

“What happened to him?”

“He’s still there in our realm. When we left, he was just starting a little family of his own.”, Steve smiled but you could see the pain behind it.

“So, it really has just been you two for all this time.” They nod but notice you make a thinking face as you enter the front office.

“What was that there? What are you thinking about, sweetheart?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you guys something but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Their eyes narrow in your direction as they take a seat in the chairs in front of the principal’s desk and cross their legs.

“Well, have at it, little one.”

“You won’t disappear?”

“Scouts honor.”, Steve chuckles as he crosses his heart.

You grin as you sit in the comfy chair across from them. “When we were together last time, I, um, I thought I saw you two kissing and touching each other.”

Neither moves nor do they take their eyes off you.

“What’s your question, honey?”

“Is what I saw…real?”

Their heads tilt at the same time and you cross your own legs to suffocate the ache the sight gives you.

“When you spend…a millennia alone with one other being…things happen.” You can tell Eddie is choosing his words carefully but so were you so you couldn’t be annoyed about it. This past week had been one of the worst weeks of your life. You felt so numb and was desperate to feel something, anything. Even if that was them getting angry with you.

“Do you two fuck each other?”, you ask bluntly.

“Yes.” You’d be lying if you said you weren’t surprised by Steve’s equally blunt honesty.

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Yes.”, Eddie answers.

“Were you always intimate? Even in your realm.”

“No.”

“Answer me.”

“We did.”, Steve growls but it wasn’t exactly an angry growl. You had heard that before from them. This was protective; like with Eddie’s memories of his princess, for them this was personal.

“Do you trust me?”, you ask and they shift their gaze to each other.

“You don’t understand, Y/N.”

“Help me to, Ed.”

“Honey, do you know the last time we were out like this? 1932. Before that? 1885.”

“Maybe you can use some of that math you learned from high school to find out how much time Steve and I spend alone.”

“Even then, we meet you people and it’s never for long. Eddie and I are each other’s constant. We understand each other and what we’ve been through…what we are STILL going through.”

“What can you show me?”

Steve snickers at your question. “Nothing because it’s none of your damn business, little girl.”

“Why?”, Eddie asks causing his friend to whip his head in his direction. “Why do you want to see it? To get off?”

Without hesitation you shake your head. “I want to understand. I want to help if I can.”

Both their eyes soften at your confession. “We’re here for you, sweetheart, you don’t need to help us.”

“Ok. No, I understand. I just want you to know that if…if you two want to be together when you…when we…I don’t mind.” You smile at them as you stand up and exit the principal’s office. As soon as you walk through the doorway, however, you look around to realize you’re in the hall of your home.

Two hands grip your shoulders as fingers snap and images flash in front of your eyes. Since they can’t show you within the stone and where they stay, all you are able to see are flashes of small intimate moments like the one you experienced with them but with other beings who had summoned them.

“Fuck…” This was different than the other visions they gave you. This was like when they fucked you and you felt your soul leave your body before your climax brought you back to earth. “Why…oh… oh my…feel…”

You felt the feelings heighten as your core warmed between your legs. Steve’s voice cut through your euphoria but he sounded so far away.

“Because this is us. The way we feel about each other…is the way we feel about you, baby. Can you see it? The love we have for each other?”

A woman in a long fancy thirties style gown drops to her knees, taking his cock into her mouth. Eddie removes the demon’s jacket, throwing it to the side before leaning his forehead on Steve’s back and wraps his arms around to his chest.

“Fuck, yes, honey.”, he groans as the demon places tender kisses along his back.

Eddie pushes the man over the end of the bed and roughly thrusts into him. As his eyes close, Steve turns his friend’s head and kisses his lips as their tongues mingle together. Their hands caress each other’s face before pulling away as he pumps into him harder.

The pressure builds in your stomach as you feel the coil beginning to wind.

As you sleep, they lay on either side of you, gently caressing you before Steve reaches out to touch Eddie’s cheek.

“Are you ok? I know it’s been a while since you’ve talked about her.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just thinking about Y/N. I don’t want to leave her, Steve. She actually fucking cares about us. It’s been so long since I felt that.”

The demon leans over and places a kiss on his lips.

“I know. I don’t want to either but…no matter what happens…you’ll have me.”

The ball in your belly explodes as you begin to scream but it’s muffled by a palm as you blink back into reality. They were both standing in front of you with Steve’s hand in your jeans as his fingers continued to thrust you through your climax.

“Atta girl. Come back, sweetheart. Come back to us.”, Eddie cooed as he removed his own hand from your mouth.

Your panicked eyes began to look around as you pushed them both out of the way and ran to the living room. The metalhead looking demon appeared suddenly in front of you and captured you in his arms.

“Y/N, it’s ok, baby. You’re ok. Calm down.”

You turned around and smacked him, startling him as he dropped you to the ground. Your hair blocked your face as you pushed up on your hands and knees, heaving as you tried to catch your breath.

“Y/N, baby girl. Breathe. Talk to me. What’s happening?”, Steve asked in a stern protector filled voice. “I know this may be a bit of a shock but you’re scaring us.”

The room suddenly goes silent before your exasperated laugh fills the area. Falling to your side, he pushed your hair out of the way.

“Yeah? That’s funny?”, the demon smiles. “We’ve never shown anyone that before. What happened? Was it too much?”

“Do you two…recognize that it’s more…than love?”

Eddie slides down the to the floor, handing you a glass of water that you thanked him for.

“What do you mean, princess?”

You shakily sat up, their hands shooting out to help you. “I didn’t just feel the affection. I felt…the pain of being lonely…missing home. Of no one understanding you and what you went through. As…as I saw the later years, I felt the need and wanting to be left alone. I felt Steve’s anger at feeling out of control and your guilt, Eddie, over feeling like him being here was your fault.”

You started to cry again as you continued. “Then I felt how you feel about me. Please…please don’t love me. I don’t want you to hurt like that again.”

Steve almost aggressively pulled you into his arms, holding you tightly to his chest. All Eddie could do was stare as he watched you shake in his friend’s embrace. A week ago, you had just lost someone who meant the world to you. Someone you had cared for most of your adult life. Within under 2 weeks, you needed to kill two more people, something you never meant to do or become to save humanity. You had been used for your kindness by so many people, yet you were still so empathetic and willing to help.

You had every reason to become bitter and angry, yet even now you weren’t thinking about how after the timer ends, they would disappear from your life to. You were worried about how that was going to destroy them. They had never met demons or creatures from what you humans referred to as hell but looking at you now he was pretty sure he was in love with an angel from heaven.

###########

“Thank you.”

Both their eyes shifted up to from their place at the dining room table to look at you. After they calmed you down, they were finally able to get you to sit and eat something even though you protested the entire time insisting you weren’t hungry.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to show me that. Like I said, I don’t mind if you two—”

“You’re welcome.”, Steve cut you off with a tight smile.

You understood without him needing to explain. You felt how important that bond with his friend was. Their current lives revolved around serving people and this was something that was theirs; something no one could take from them.

“Can I ask you one more question and I promise to leave you alone for tonight?”

They nod, preparing themselves for whatever was about to come.

“Did my dad ask you to watch over me?” Eddie heavily sighed as Steve nodded again. “C-can I…?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’ve been through so much tonight already.”

“Please, Edward. Please.”, you beg. His eyes lock with yours at the sound of his name. He blinks as a tear escapes them and you notice his irises are no longer brown but his red demon eyes. “I’m sorry. Are you…are you angry?”

He adamantly shakes his head. “No, baby, I’m not angry. I just don’t want to see you hurt anymore.”

You rise from your seat and find home in his lap as you keen into his neck, wrapping your arms around him.

His hand tenderly pets your head, running his fingers through your hair as he holds you close.

“Steve.”

The sound of him snapping echoes from behind you and as you look up towards the other end of the table, you see your father coughing as you run towards the bedroom to get his medicine.

His palm reaches out to grip Steve’s arm and the demon covers it with his own hand comfortingly.

“My daughter must…like you two if she…brought you home. Since I got sick, people stopped… coming by.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You two are amazing people.”

He grins at Eddie’s compliment. “Look after her for me…please. She deserves to be loved and cared for the way she does with everyone else.”

Steve nods as he leans closer to him. “Everything’s going to be alright, sir. I promise.”

Your father starts to cough again as you reappear with his medication.

“Ok, let’s get you to bed and then tomorrow we can go back out to look for lucky person number 2.”

“I have to go back to work tomorrow.”

“Even better. Definitely likely to find someone in that shitty environment.”, Eddie softly smiles down at you as he lifts you up and brings you to your bedroom.

“Can we—”

“No. Not tonight.”, Steve cuts you off again, this time with a bit more anger.

“I don’t care if it’s my way or the demon way. I just want you both. Please Steven. Please…”

An aggressively angry growl came up from his stomach making you jump as you hid behind Eddie’s shoulder. They both exchanged a look that seemed to make the other demon angrier.

“No, Eddie.”

“Steve, it’s ok.”

“It’s not fucking ok!” He abruptly disappeared until you heard frustrated grunts in the kitchen. “Goddamn it, Edward! Fucking stop!”

Eddie sighed as he calmly grabbed your hand and walked with you back out towards the area.

“She’s not even asking for that! Didn’t we show her enough?!” Steve tries to leave again and you watch as he blips from the kitchen into the living room. The demon turns around to face his friend, stalking towards him, and grabbing his throat as he shoves him against the nearby wall.

“Steve, Eddie stop! It’s ok.”

Eddie raises his palm in your direction, silencing you as he stares at the other demon.

“What are afraid of, Steve? Hm?” His nose brushes against the tip of his. “Come on, baby, tell me.”

“Y/N…you felt it…you’ve seen it. EVERYTHING we’ve been through.”, he shakily exhales. “What you didn’t see were the angry nights when the cabin fever sets in. The nightmares of home and memories of things we no longer have. Those nights where I just feel so out of fucking control. This demon, my friend, he keeps me sane. He holds me on those days I can’t stop shaking from just wanting to tear our fucking environment to the ground. The first time we were together…it was the first time in a long while I felt safe.” Steve chuckles as he leans back and lets Eddie go.

“It’s kind of funny, huh? A demon being scared and lonely.” He glances your way before shifting to his feet. “I’m afraid of that changing. I don’t want that safe feeling he gives me to go away.”

You tackle him into your arms, squeezing him tightly to you. “I would never do that. I would never change what you two have. You’re safe with me to, Steven. I promise.”

The two demon’s eyes meet, continuing to stare at each other as Eddie takes your hand and places it on his groin.

“Go ahead, sweetheart. Get us started and we’ll do the rest.”

As you sink to your knees, their clothes disappear as their cocks come into view in front of your face.

“Y/N.”, Eddie says your name sternly as he quickly grips your wrist. “We may lose control here in the sense of keeping up our appearances. If you get scared or you feel unsafe, I want you to say ‘red’, okay?” Their eyes remain focused on one another but you notice Steve’s chest deflate as he exhales.

“Yes, sir. Say red if I get scared or feel unsafe.”

“Good girl, princess.” With that the demon releases his hold on you, capturing his friend’s cheeks and bringing his lips to his own.

Gripping both of them you stroke and suck their lengths as they groan above you. When your eyes glance at them, their tongues mingle together as Eddie takes hold of the other demon’s throat. Their cocks get harder in your hands at the action.

“Since when do you shove me against a wall and tell me what to do? Huh, little boy?”, Eddie murmurs roughly against his lips. “I may have given you too much control up here.”

“Fuck-- I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Eddie whispered something in his ear that you couldn’t hear but whatever it was made Steve growl like he did before in the forest. He nodded before abruptly leaning down to lift you into his arms and carry you to the couch. After tearing off your clothes, he places you vertically before sinking down on his knees and pushing your legs wide open as his tongue licked a few stripes between your folds.

“Oh, Steve!”

The demon promptly sat up straight as his palm shot out to slap you before roughly grabbing your cheeks.

“You’ve been saying my name properly all fucking day with an attitude or with that pathetic little pout. Now when I’m between your legs making you feel good you suddenly don’t feel the need?!”

“I’m sorry, Steven. I won’t do it again. Please, don’t stop.”

Without a word, his lips wrap around your clit as he sucks and flicks at the little bud. Eddie lowers himself behind him, pulling his hips flush with his own as he kisses up Steve’s back. His arms wrap around to his chest as he trusts forward making the other demon moan loudly into your cunt.

You tried to keep your eyes open as you watched Eddie pump into him, your fingers threading through his hair as his head pushed up into the feeling.

“Come on, Steven. Make our pretty girl—mmm—make her cum. Make her cum and I’ll allow you to, my good boy.”

Steve pushed his mouth deeper into you like a man possessed. With every grunt and flick, he had you coming undone.

“Yes, Steven! I’m gonna…” Your body trembled as you came. As the aftershocks coursed through you, you opened your eyes noticing his head was hung as Eddie thrust into him harder. Sliding to the floor between his arms, you placed his head in the nook of your neck as you ran your fingers through his hair.

You felt it as soon as his forehead touched your flesh, his demon skin mixed with sweat. Your nails ran down his back as the other demon leaned back on his knees, holding his waist as he groaned. His eyes locked with yours as he felt Steve tighten around him as he came, you pressing his face into your throat as he panted.

Eddie carefully pulled out and collapsed on top of him as he reached beneath him to massage his chest.

“Good boy, Steven. Very good. You feel so fucking good when you cum. Come on. We aren’t done yet.”

Without looking at you, Steve got up to sit on the couch beside you and lift you onto his lap. “Hold-hold open your ass for me, honey, and lean forward a bit.”

“You promise you’ll go slow?”

One of his palms lightly wrap around your throat as he tugs you against him where his lips are waiting. “I promise.”, he whispers and you nod before doing what he asked.

Gripping the base of his cock, he gradually pushes the tip into you causing you both to hiss; him more than you.

“It’s ok, Y/N. You’re doing good, sweetheart. Look at me.” A loud, deep snarl from behind startles you and on instinct you try to turn around but Eddie quickly cups your face in his hands. “No, no. I said look at me not him.”

“Fuck. Is he ok?”

“Yeah, baby girl. He’s fine. Maybe a little overstimulated but…”, he grins. “How does he feel?”

“B-big.”

“You’re not wrong.”, Eddie chuckles as he caresses your face, watching you carefully as his friend finally bottoms out. You whine at the fullness as he bends towards you to kiss your lips. “I know, princess. I know. Let me know when you’re ready for me, okay?”

“Don’t move her to much, Eddie. She’s—mmm—she’s so fucking tight.”

“Lean back, little one, but keep your eyes on me.”, he murmurs in a gentle tone as you do what he says. His arm forcefully shoots out to grab the boys face. “What’s my name, Steven?”

“Edward.”

“And who’s in charge right now, little boy?”

Eddie had leaned past you to scold the other demon but you kept your eyes in front of you for fear of that wrath being turned on you. At that moment, his palm was holding your head as you keened into his touch. You wanted him to keep gently praising you whether it be with his words or his hands.

“You are, Edward.”, he responded through clenched teeth.

When he came back to face you, his eyes were that red color you were beginning to get used to. Being in control again, having you both submit and beg reminded him of the glory days back home. Ironically, however, having this kind of control was making him lose control of his mask as the demon side of him was pushing through. It was the same for Steve. He may be vulnerable for Eddie but in moments like this it reminded him he was safe.

The protector just needed someone to take care of him for once and he found that in moments like this.

Your thumb ran under his eyes, giving him pause.

“Is this okay? It’s not frightening you, is it?” When you shook your head, he softly smiled. “Good. Full disclosure, Steve’s having a harder time than me so just keep those beautiful eyes on me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Eddie’s palm took hold of your thigh as he scooted closer to you both between your legs. Even with just his tip, you felt full of them both. The demon’s fingers continued to caress your cheek and lips as he slowly pushed forward.

“Good girl, sweetheart. Fuck, you feel so fucking good.”

His last couple of words came out deeper than what you were used to causing your pussy to flutter around him. His growl was low at the feeling, almost like a warning that just turned you on more. Steve’s palms looped around to firmly knead your tits as his fingers played with your nipples.

“Steven, ca-can I—mmm—can I kiss you?”

Tenderly, he tilted your head and placed his lips on yours. When his tongue slid into your mouth, a tiny gasp escapes you at how different it felt. The many times he had kissed you previously, he had a normal tongue, a human tongue. This time it felt longer, thicker, and tasted different…better. It tasted like Steve. When he tried to pull away, your hand shot out to the back of his neck holding him where he was.

The grunt that left him was guttural, coming straight from his stomach making you whimper at the sound. Fingers roughly grabbed your cheek and forced you to face forward.

“Y/N…”, Eddie warned. “You’re playing with fire, little one.”

With him being fully sheathed inside of you now, he was a lot closer to your face than he was previously.

“Can I taste you to?” He started to bring his lips to your own but you pulled back slightly before he could reach you. “I want to taste you, Edward.”

Slowly, he tilted his head to kiss you and you willingly opened your mouth to invite him in. When his tongue caressed your own, your whole body came alive and you relished the feeling. Sensing the change, he began to lean away but you hastily grabbed his chin.

“No, no, please. It’s not you. I just…all week I’ve been…having trouble feeling anything. It’s nice feeling this.”

Eddie heavily sighed, his breath warming your face as his forehead landed on your own. Hesitantly, you tried kissing him again and he allow it, tangling his fingers in your hair as they both thrust their hips. You mewled as he held your head to his, Steve groaning and whimpering behind you.

Guiding you back, Eddie laid your head on his friend’s shoulder as they both gripped your hips and slammed into you. You wanted to keep your eyes open but the euphoria of them working together this way was too much. You felt the sudden shifts against your skin as they struggled to keep up their appearances. Rough material grazed you every now and then and the sounds they made were deep like a predator asserting dominance.

You wanted to become accustomed to them…who they really were underneath the illusion they displayed for you. You tried your best to cling to the demon skin but it was too harsh on your sensitive human tissue. A ringed palm grabbed your throat as another came from behind to circle your clit.

“F-fuck… cum, pretty girl. You deserve it. Come on, baby.”, Eddie chanted as they both thrust into you harder.

In that moment, you opened your eyes to find his red ones watching you intently.

“You’re both…both so beautiful.”

He chuckled as he leaned closer to you. “Not as beautiful as you, princess.”

“Don’t take…your eyes…off me.” The demon nodded and your eyes remained locked with his as your body shook, screaming as you came.

The sight was almost too much for Eddie as his hips pounded into your own, growling as he released his seed inside of your cunt.

“I know. I know. It feels so fucking good. Thank you. Thank you.”, you cooed as your thumb ran along his bottom lip. Leaning back, you met Steve’s own red eyes as your arm circle around his neck to run your fingers through his hair. “Cum Steven. Fill me up to. Please. I need it.”

His limbs wrapped around you tightly and he thrust up into you roughly a few more times before you felt his seed warm your insides. Nobody moved as they panted against you.

“Eddie. Steve. Something is hurting me.”

Your protector’s head immediately comes to attention as he quickly scans you over. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit, honey. I’m sorry.” Both demons carefully pull out of you and you wince as Eddie lifts you his arms as they head for the bathroom.

Looking into the mirror, you notice some cuts along your back that were bleeding.

After turning on your shower, they guide you in as Steve begins to take care of you. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think when I held you to me. My skin is a lot tougher than yours.”

“Why is that?”, you ask trying to distract yourself from the slight pain.

“I mean…different realm, different environment and climate, constant fighting and war…take your pick.”, Eddie laughs. “Your skin protects you against the sun and your earths elements, right? Same thing essentially.”

“Thank you…for this past week…for being there.” You don’t see but they both exchange a look.

“I wish we could do more.”, Steve sighs as he turns off the water and they dry you off before leading you back to your bedroom. “These aren’t deep. They should heal in a few days.”

As you wonder around your room getting ready for bed, you notice they are both now fully clothed again as they sit on your mattress waiting for you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Eddie rub his back before he tenderly kisses his shoulder.

“I wish I could do more for you.” They blink in confusion as their gaze shifts to you. “I know you said it’s not a prison but you both don’t seem happy. I wish I could set you free or something.”

They both look away as you turn off the light and crawl into bed between them, resting your head on your pillow. Eddie’s fingers play with your hair as they watch you close your eyes and scoot as close to them as possible.

“Princess, can we ask you something?” You responded with a small hm as you waited. “You said you felt the love we have for you?”

“Mhmm.”

“Did you feel that it’s real? How much we genuinely care about you?”

“Hmm…mhmm…”, you respond sleepily.

Steve laid flat on his side as his eyes scanned your face before reaching over to hold your hand which you immediately snuggled to your chest.

“I love you, Y/N.”, he whispered.

Eddie’s arm reached out to lay across both your hips as he kissed the back of your head.

“I love you to, sweetheart.”

Assuming you had fallen asleep, they laid silently thinking about everything that had transpired. They had tried so many times before to stay in this realm but everything they did failed. As soon as the task was completed, no matter where they were or what they did they were put back into their area until the stone summoned them again.

The worst part about going back was the silence which was ironically deafening. Coming from a loud world full of energy to nothing but them was its own kind of torture. There were so many times they considered running to Oblivion thinking it couldn’t be much worse. When they were alone, like you had mentioned, Eddie did constantly blame himself. Even though he didn’t kill Chrissy, he had still been on the run and it was Steve’s job to find him. If he had stayed where he was and took the punishment at least his friend would still be in their realm and happy.

What he didn’t know was that Steve wouldn’t have been happy. The princess was his friend to and if he had gotten taken in Steve would have no one he felt close to. Once again, he would be alone to fight endless battles day in and day out until really did become like his father. Running with Eddie was a no brainer for him but what he hated was that they had to run at all. He couldn’t convince the king to hear his friend out and just like Eddie felt that he failed to protect them both. He couldn’t even convince the other solider not to kill him, having to murder him so they could get away.

Steve desperately wanted them to have a new home but every place they settled into they ended up running again, hiding in a new realm to start over. When they found that stone and spoke to the woman that put them there, he begged her to take him instead of them both but she refused.

One night, Eddie watched as his once strong friend broke screaming and breakdown as he broke things in their makeshift house. That was the night he kissed him, passionately pushing him against the wall and giving Steve everything he had.

“I’m sorry, Edward. I keep failing you.”, he cried as he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around his waist.

Eddie sighed, trying to keep his own emotions in check as he lightly tugged on Steve’s hair, forcing him to look up at him.

“Listen to me. You didn’t fail me, okay? If anything, this is my fault. No. Don’t talk.”, he shooshed the demon as he began to open his mouth to fight back. “At least here we’re safe and I know no one is going to take you away from me. It’s just us now.”

“I love you to.”, you mumble causing their heads to snap in your direction. Their hopeful eyes glance at each other as they pull you in closer, clinging to you and the moment.

#############

“I still think you should kill Carol.” You smirk to yourself at Eddie’s comment as you continue to fold the inventory in front of you at work.

“Or Dick, your boss. Just a lovely man that one.”, Steve follows grinning at you from his spot on the counter.

Off to the side you notice a tall, blond-haired gentleman glancing at things against the wall as if they were amusing. Disconnecting from your pestering defenders, you head towards the man and flash him your best customer service smile.

“Do you think if I steal these rings, the stone will let me keep them?”, the demon inquires to his friend as they wait for you to come back.

“Something’s wrong.” Eddie’s head turns to look at Steve who is now fully alert. “Something’s wrong. Something’s off.”

“What is?”

“Someone doesn’t belong here.”

“Can I help you find something, sir?”

When his piercing blue eyes meet yours, it takes your breath away as he grins back.

“What are these things for?”, he picks up a hat and places it on his head. “Are they just for style or do they serve a purpose?”

“A little bit of both, I think. It doesn’t hurt to look good while doing your day to day.”

The man’s head tilts as he chuckles, placing it back on the rack in front of him. “I swear, humans are so creative especially when they are trying to hide how miserable they actually are under falsities like a new hat.”

Your eyes widen at the word “human” as you slowly back away.

His grin grows as he extends his hand for you to shake. “Where are my manners? I’m Henry.”

You know that name. Where do you know that name?

Strong hands tug you back as both your demons place themselves protectively in front of you.

“How did you get here, Henry?”

The demon cackled as he leaned against the wall behind him.

“You weren’t the only one who knew how to hop realms, Steven. Truth be told I’ve been doing it for a while. I got myself a gig of my own that just so happened to lead me here.”

“Hm. Prince like you doesn’t have anything better to do?”

“Not after my princess was murdered.”

Eddie didn’t even try to hide his anger as his eyes glowed and he stepped forward before being stopped by his friend.

“Y/N?” You quickly turned your head, meeting your co workers concerned gaze. “Are you alright? You look…scared.”

The observation made Henry smile wider.

“Um, no. I’m alright…just not feeling well. I’ll be ok. Thank you.”

She hesitates for a moment before nodding and heading back to her section.

“Let’s go somewhere we can all talk without being interrupted.” The evil demon snapped his fingers as the four of you disappeared.

########

@tlclick73 @iaminlovewithdilfs @tiannamortis @steeldaisies

@goodhappyfriday @paleidiot @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes

@strangerthings64 @howlingco @hellfire--cult @unfocused81

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elliesmainhoe · 1 year

Note

thinking about ellie with an actor! reader 🫣like maybe reader is doing short films and indie films to start off their career. reader sometimes brings ellie to set with them and ellie can just watch them do their thing and be a certified supportive gf🫡

a bonus thought that i just thunked while typing this; what if reader gets a callback for a pretty big show and gets !! the !! part !! and it could be considered their like “breakout role”, and how proud would be :,))

Ellie Williams Headcanons: Actress!Reader

The start of your career

Supportive gf Ellie is prominent!

Comes to all of the sets of projects that your working on-

Makes you and the whole crew lunch because theirs only like ten staff

Ur biggest fan❤️

Watches every single indie movie your in, every short film, you could be an extra or the lead and she will absolutely LIVE for it.

Sitting next to her giggling away as she watches gobsmacked at every plot twist and cliffhanger of a film your in.

Takes all the photos for your Instagram.

yourinstagram

3,286 likes

yourinstagram BTS of the new YouTube short film 'The butterfly effect' OUT NOW!!

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ellie_sketches taken by me🧍

ellie_sketches @dinnodina look at how pretty my girl is.

→ dinnodina @ellie_sketches nah y/ns my gf not yours

→ yourinstagram @ellie_sketches lomls... Don't fight <33 your both my bbygirls dw

Breakout Role

She was the first one you told when the audition told you that you had gotten the role

The lead in a film adaptation of a well known spy novel. The script was amazing, empowering and had beautiful character development throughout the plot

And as soon as your agent told you of the role you knew you had to do it.

You never expected to actually get a call back.

You had never ran so fast from your car, up the three flights of stairs and into your shared apartment than you did once you got the call.

"ELLIE!!! ELLIE OH MY GOD WHERE ARE YOU!" You screamed before an alarmed Ellie came out of your bedroom.

"Fuck babe- wants wrong are you alr-"

She couldn't even finish her sentence before you had ran into her arms, squeezing the life out of her.

"I got it- I fucking got it Els" you sobbed. Ellie's face light up immediately and her smile beamed before her lips smashed into yours. The kiss lasted for what felt like hours before you broke away from eachother.

Her hands cradled your face, tears rushing down her cheeks "I am so, so fucking proud of you baby"

Lets just say she is the proudest girlfriend ever.

Reads all the books the movies are based off of even though she's not a big reader

Going as your date for the premiere <33

Such a fucking sweetheart, goes with you to every new experience to help you with your anxiety. Whether she's lurking behind the camera during an interview or holding your hand as you meet your idols.

She's there for you. Always.

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yourinstagram the first ever set that I've had my OWN TRAILER

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ellie_sketches I have never met someone more deserving of this than you ❤️

dinnodina so proud of you bestie <3

florencepugh I'm so happy I got to work with you!!!

Becoming a star

After the success of the spy movie you lead- you were scouted for so many new things.

You became a face in many franchises: scream, the hunger games and even marvel!

It was honestly insane.

And ofc big roles came with high rates. You bought a penthouse apartment in Manhattan- and you bought Ellie everything she wanted.

(Your her sugar mommy fr lmao)

She was able to quit her day job and focus solely on her art. She did something she loved and you were doing yours. It was perfect.

Date nights mainly stayed at home- the paparazzi and constant flashing lights became really tedious- so dinner and a movie was the way to go

Not like the two of you were complained.

yourinstagram

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yourinstagram I have never felt so honoured, appreciated and in love than I am right now. Being able to make acting my livelihood is something that I had never thought I would be able to achieve in this lifetime- and I am so so so grateful for everyone that has made this possible. Thank you to the staff, the directors, my agents and my team.

But a special thanks to my Ellie. Ellie has been by my side since day one, she has seen me lose roles, get roles, cry, scream and laugh through this completely and utterly insane experience. I love you so much.

....

GUESS WHO HAS AN OSCAR BITCHES!!!!

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fictionalmenaremytype · 3 months

Text

Percy Jackson episode 7 spoilers!!!

First of all, that cliff hanger is more cruel than the actual cliffhanger...okay maybe not but you get the point.

- WE GOT CRUSTY'S. If I'm honest though I wasn't really disappointed when I thought he wasn't in it.

- I am sad we didn't get DOA records but the fact that they didn't fare with Charon tells me DOA does still exist they just used a different entrance so I'm hoping for it to be used in a different season. Would be funny if Nico used it in the 5th season with Percy.

- Annabeth's "Dude, don't make me come back out there!" Tell him, WiseGirl!

- Oh my god Percy and Sally at his first boarding school is so sad but when I tell you I cheered when he locked that car door! Persassy at his finest.

- "not in Kansas" "Hey focus, we left kansas four days ago." "Yeah, I-" so it's basically Canon they were going to see the Wizard of Oz in BotL then yeah??

- Percy is so polite with all the souls! "We're all dying...to some extent."

- The boys bribing Charon and Annabeth is staring at them like they are about to get them in trouble again.

- "You can buy a new whistle" I cackled

- AWW CERBERUS...I mean Ahhhh Cerberus!

- Annabeth is so smart but Grover getting eaten?? Was scared he wouldn't come back.

- I feel bad for Aryan being covered in that gloopy stuff that looked gross.

- She just chucks Percy the ball to get herself up! INGENIUS!

- Aww Annabeth's little sad backstop moment and Percy wasn't even listening!

- The way Grover lost the pearl is very clever! I wasn't expecting that but it makes more sense than Poseidon forgetting about Sally.

- New Information?!?!? Mate you could have sent an email!!!! I'm sorry but maybe the fact he was on the school gymnasium roof probably suggests that the school wasn't keeping a good enough watch on him!!! Report the school!!!

- HOMESCHOOL??!?!?! Of course Sally can't do that she's barely able to support her, Percy, and Gabe as is! But Percy seeing all of that is so sad.

- That soul is terrifying I never want to watch the fields of Asphodel scene again (I've watched it four times)

- Annabeth getting stuck because of her regret (which I'm assuming is regret leaving home) I was scared for her. Completely forgot about the pearl.

- I really thought the sound were going to do some Weeping Angel level scary stuff.

- She's so smart using the pearl

- I thought the desert was another dream sequence but nope! How did I forget!

- Sad we didn't get the tartar sauce line but I'm also glad we didn't.

- I am convinced they only came off of Grover's hooves because he has hooves and not feet. If his foot filled the shoe properly he would have been dragged to Kronos.

- "is this?" "No!" "Well it looks like-" "it absolutely is not" "Okay, so what is it then?" "Yeah that's the master bolt." "I mean, I think so right??" I love how they show it takes them longer to get to the truth without Annabeth.

- return the bolt ❌️ Take the bolt to the person you think stole it ✅️

- The café scene is so sad what! "I would never do this to you." Has me sobbing. my favourite thing about the show is all the extra scenes we're getting that explains how difficult it was for Sally to raise Percy, it just adds to why there's so many year-round campers.

- that elevator is badass

- I love how Hades tries to connect with Percy with the nautical reference. He's so funny. I want a scene in season 4 or 5 of Nico just ranting in Italian and Hades sat on his thrown like "Yeah yeah I know."

- PERCY DEFINITELY PANICKED SEEING HIS MUM IM GOLD BECAUSE WHEN HE WAS IN GOLD HE ALMOST SUFFOCATED TO DEATH AND SALLY HAS BEEN LIKE THIS FOR FAR LONGER. HE'S PANICING THAT SALLY IS EXPERIENCING WHAT HE DID.

- "huh?"..."the bolt is my brothers drama I don't want anything to do with it." Spoken like a true middle child.

- "my helm!" "Your what?" So funny. Percy knows loads of stuff about Greek mythology but not about the helm.

- Oh my god, the way this is setting Annabeth up to be the traitor??? The helm turns people invisible like her hat. Percy realised he was supposed to be dragged to Tartarus, which would make sense why she saved him from the chair...he knows someone partnered with Ares, and both Annabeth and Ares were upset with Athena when Ares arrived!! Kind of suspicious...

- "Kronos." chills.

- Hades helping them in exchange for the bolt makes sense now because he only wants to defend his land. He's thinking he's the closest to Tartarus, so he will experience his father's wrath first and therefore needs the strongest weapon.

- "Nice pearl?"

- "Hold fast mum."

- Sally burning the milkshake as an offering is so smart but WHAT CAFÉ HAS MATCHED IN THE SUGAR BOWL?!?!?

- The way Poseidon just turned up because Sally needed him <3 (couldn't do that for Percy though could you mate?)

- "it's a him, he saw it." I cackled.

- Poseidon and Sally having that kind of relationship where they put feelings aside to help the other person. It's giving besties with a child.

- "one day...one day when he's ready...when he knows who he is...and where he belongs...and fate has revealed to him his true path...and that day..." And that day is next Wednesday because surprise! Its a cliff hanger! And the end of the episode!

- The way they looked at eachother when they realised what was about to happen though has set them up to be such a perfect trio.

- I will never get over how cool Ares is!

- And riptide/anaklusmos (which for non book readers is the name of Percy's sword) looked so sick.

This episode was so good and I'm so glad it wasn't like a 25 minute episode. Even though the actual content only took 36 minutes, it felt well spaced and gave time to understand what was happening. I am a little teensy bit worried for how the last episode will go as there's quite a lot to cram in. They have to find the Helm and fight Ares and then they have to return to camp so I'm a little bit worried but I have faith that Rick, Aryan, Leah and Walker will pull it off.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #annabeth chase #percabeth #pjo tv show #pjo series #grover underwood #leah sava jeffries #aryan simhadri #walker scobell #percy jackson episode 7

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qqueenofhades · 9 months

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That kiss in GO 206 was probably one of the most heartbreakingly romantic kisses I've ever seen. It was both !!!! and GOD WHY from the kiss to the look on Aziraphale's face when they broke away. I can see him going back to heaven only to later realize what he actually wants and get the F out of there to go find the love of his life.

IT WAS SO MUCH, GOD

From the whole Crowley-getting-ready-to-propose to Aziraphale's completely-in-denial insistence that they could go to Heaven and be together! Just like in the Beginning! To Aziraphale's anguished "I need you!" to Crowley just throwing six thousand years of pining to the winds as the cello music swells and going in for the Big Damn Kiss! Aziraphale's hand clutching his back! And then...

And then....

(Muffled sobbing)

Look, I'm not gonna lie. I love Stupid Homosexuals Who Can't Communicate and Unnecessarily Get Themselves Into a World of Self-Inflicted Hurt Because They Are Stupid. I love romantic but heartbreaking angst where the two halves of the ship both want the same thing, but can't agree on how to do it, and that ends up driving them (temporarily) apart. I love the villains desperately trying (and inevitably ultimately failing) to break the OTP up because they're just too powerful together. I love the whole "you have to clearly and explicitly choose what you want and defy the oppressive and cruel systems that have controlled you up to this point and are now taking you away from Your Person." And like I said, I honestly didn't think they were going to Go There with the kiss. I wanted them to, I wasn't sure how the story as it had been set up could progress without explicitly having a Big Romantic Moment and not just Super Totally Platonic Besties, but I still just... couldn't be sure.

Welp.

Anyway, Neil Gaiman has already said they all want to do a s3 to "give a satisfying ending to everyone we care about" and honestly, I do 100% trust him on this. This was the second-act cliffhanger, the Empire Strikes Back, the Han-and-Leia "I love you/I know" before Han is frozen in carbonite and taken away by the bad guys. It is a clear and obvious dramatic beat to set up for the ultimate resolution in a three-part trilogy. Yes, if this was the end of the story, it would suck. But it's not, and it just... makes me really, REALLY EXCITED for a potential s3, where Crowley and Aziraphale are canonically confirmed to be in Love-love and can actually fight for that, find out what it looks like, break free of old constraints, and get a happy ending that is narratively earned and not just given. So yeah.

#anonymous #ask #good omens spoilers #good omens s2 #ineffable husbands

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exocynraku · 6 months

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thunder spoilers under the cut!!! read at your own risk!!! here are my opinions on the book!!! i wrote this right after reading originally on the 4th and planned 2 post it on the 7th. it's not the 7th exactly where i live but the wiki updated with spoilers since it's the 7th over there so whatever

okay, so, overall, i liked it. i didnt LOVE it, but i liked it. sunbeams chapters were all great, and with nightheart travelling with frostpaw, he finally had the chance to not be an ass, and he wasn't as bad! i actually read his chapters this time, and oh my god frostpaws chapters were INCREDIBLE!!!! i loved her interactions with whistlepaw and smoky, and wow. she did get spayed, LOL! got spoiled for that early (thanks, assholes!) i was NOT expecting to meet the new cats of the park! i totally thought we'd encounter warriorclan! i'm a little bummed about that, but the cats of the park were all super nice to read about which was super nice. especially bee! thought i'm upset she has the same name as another cat.. wails the reveal of splashtail i totally expected, but i'm a little surprised over curlfeather. i know that there's been suspect she was a villain, but damn! i wanted to hold onto hope! but hey, her being evil is super interesting. plus, wow! she's in the dark forest! i guess i shouldve expected that, but it's felt like forever since a cat got sent there. (which i dont think is rlly true? juniperclaw went i think that was tbc? whatever, still feels so long ago) also i didnt mind that it was a travelling book! i know a lot of ppl HATEEEE travelling books, but i think there was still enough substance to make it interesting! now, that ending... er, hard to explain my feelings. i like cliffhangers because they make me really excited for the next book, but man! this one hurt bad! i want frostpaw to jump out !!!! raugh!!! also, waffle and wasp are cute! i'm happy theyre coming to the clans! we NEED more genetic diversity SOBS and honestly, with frostpaws thoughts right before leaving the park, with the clans needing to become less harsh and fighty, and more open, especially to outsiders? that was incredible! genuinely, genuinely incredible! and i hope they go through with it, i really do! berryheart is also an interesting character. if i'm being honest, i hope she leaves. not becaues i dont like her (i think she's one of the most interesting characters we've had in the series for a long time, even if she sucks), but because like i said earlier we NEED more genetic diversity in the clans! more cats with long blood lines need to leave or die, and new cats w/o long blood lines, or none at all need to start existing. all of the incest is pissing me off. so i'm glad that somecat with not a particularly long bloodline, but a big one (berryheart has like 70 siblings) is leaving. plus those other cats. last misc things, finally, some tree action! it's a miracle! i also like how there were mentions of 1: thunderclan being overcrowded (please please please mass exctinction event GO) and 2: tree being mediator, but never really having the chance to shine. also, cherryfall sucks. jeez louise! i used to like her for gods sake! spotfur and her kits were adorable, i liked ivypool in this book, and oh my god, brambleclaw finally gets less of a spotlight! overall, i liked it. not the most amazing book to ever exist ever, but it definitely got my excited for the next books!!! really happy with ASC so far and i'm pumped to see what's going to happen with it in the future.

also, with the cats of the park cats being introduced, i'll have to draw them! oh boy more work for me to do

#wc #warrior cats spoilers #wc spoilers #asc spoilers #a starless clan spoilers #thunder spoilers #ray talk

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joekeeryswife · 2 years

Note

Hi! I love you posts! I was wondering if you could do pregnancy prompt “she’s lost a lot of blood in there” with joe keery?

Scared - J.K

left you on a cliffhanger sorry 😭 i hope you all enjoy this imagine. it took me a while to write but i’m getting to the requests as quickly as i can. have a lovely day loves <3

part two

you were 9 months pregnant. you had never been more excited about something in your whole life. you had created a life, a human being. your body had definitely changed to how it was before but you were always so proud of the marks your baby had given you. you were sat on the sofa, Joe had gone to buy some McDonald's for you because you were craving a double cheese burger and a chocolate milkshake.

for the past three days you had been having Braxton Hicks. they were very painful but you were pulling through. because you were passed your due date and you just wanted the baby out of you. with the Braxton Hicks still going, you were wondering if they had turned into actual contractions. with Joe gone, the stress of the 'braxton hicks' made you hyperventilate. you were in pain the whole time you were sat in the sofa, you tried your best to time the contractions and they were getting closer together. you got up as fast as you could and phoned Joe. each contraction coming quicker and harsher with each one. the contractions felt completely different to the Braxton Hicks and they were so much more painful.

you phoned Joe and he answered on the third ring. "Joe. i'm hyperventilating, i can't breathe" you said between tears. you don't know what came over your, it just started to happen. "y/n? baby calm down. take a deep breathe okay? tell me what's happening" he said, trying to sound as calm as possible. you walked into the kitchen and sat on the stool that was near the island. "i- i just can't do it. i know i'm having contractions a-and they hurt so much" you said, sobbing. "wait you're in labour now? i'm on my way home, give me five minutes i'm just coming up the road. take a deep breathe okay? i'm almost there love." he said, you sighed and tried to calm down and whispered a small 'okay' before ending the call. you were still sat in the chair, trying to calm down your breathing. you still had tears rolling down your face but you knew that was only because of the pain, not because of the anxiety attack. you also were timing the contractions in your phone stop watch- 5 minutes apart.

you heard the front door open and then slam shut. Joe ran through the house. he walked into the kitchen, set down the food and then came back round to you. you lifted your head from your arm and looked up at him. he sighed and helped you up, pulling you into his harms for a hug. "you doing okay, how many minutes apart are they?" he said, rocking your bodies slightly and he kissed your forehead. "five minutes. they are so painful Joe. but i don't know why i started hyperventilating, it just came over me" you said, tears still falling down your face. Joe wiped them away, trying to calm you down. "you know, you are already doing so amazing and they aren't even here yet?" he said, pulling your face to look at him. you smiled a bit before you rested your head in his chest, another contraction coming.

suddenly you felt a gush of water fall out of you. you gasped and pulled out of the hug. the contraction was so strong it broke your waters. Joe looked at you, wide eyed. he grabbed your hand and helped you up the stairs. you changed into joggers, with the help of Joe and walked back downstairs, Joe helped you put on your shoes and helped you up before walking out to the car. the baby bag and car seat was already in the car so that was two things you didn't worry about. you and Joe had to stop from a contraction. you breathed deeply, trying to ignore the pain you were undergoing. “you are doing so well love.” he said, putting a hand on your bump, you put your hand on top of his and stood silent for a minute. after the contraction went, you both carried on walking to the car and Joe helped you get in.

the drive to the hospital was filled with pants, screams and moans as contractions came closer. you guys arrived at the hospital ten minutes later. Joe was just pushing the speed limit, trying to get to the hospital as fast as you could. you finally arrived at the hospital and Joe helped you get out of the car. he got the bags as well then we walked into the hospital, a few midwives rushing to you as you screamed in agony. you guys were placed into your own private room, there was a work out ball, you were given a gown to change into which Joe helped you put on in the bathroom and after you finished you walked back into the room and got into the bed with the help of Joe and the midwife. she put the feral monitor on your stomach and checked your contractions and the babies heart beat.

with each contraction, Joe was comforting you. he had been your biggest support throughout your pregnancy and you loved him. after being in the hospital for three hours, it was finally time to push. your family and Joe’s family were all in the waiting room, anticipation and tension filled the room as they waited for their grandchild to be born. once the doctors and midwives were in the room, you started pushing. the pain you were going through was excruciating. “oh god. it hurts so bad” you said, the doctors had told you to stop pushing for a minute so you could breathe and you decided to finally speak up. “i know baby, but look how well you’re doing! you are pushing out a whole human and you are doing incredible” Joe said, replying to you. he kissed your forehead and held your hands. you kept on pushing for about ten minutes before the baby finally decided to come out.

“and it is a beautiful baby girl. congratulations” you heard the midwife say as she placed the baby on your chest. you and Joe both had tears running down your face. “oh my god. a baby girl. i’m so happy” you heard Joe say. “you did so amazing baby, i’m so proud of you” he carried on, kissing your lips and then the babies forehead. you didn’t feel right. the lee was just something wrong with you and you couldn’t put my finger on it. “y/n, you okay? you’ve gone really pale” you heard Joe say as he looked at your face. “i really don’t feel right Joe. can you get the doctor” you said, shifting in the bed. the midwife and doctor came, the midwife took the baby off of your chest and took her into the backroom where they were weighing her.

the doctor looked under the covers and saw you bleeding too much. way more than any normal woman should. the doctor looked up from the sheet and ushered Joe out of the room. “excuse me, what’s going on? you can’t just pull me away from my girlfriend.” Joe said as he was shoved outside. “she’s losing a lot of blood. she needs to be taken to surgery.” the doctor said, closing the door on Joe. he started getting anxious. he walked to the waiting room with a scared expression on his face. both families got up with excited expressions on their faces. “whats the gender? how’s y/n? how did she do with pushing” he heard your mum say. their faces fell when he started crying. “she’s lost a lot of blood in there” he said, his mum instantly running to him. he didn’t know what to do. his baby had just been born, healthy. but his girlfriend was in there fighting for her life. he was torn.

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kennyomegasweave · 2 months

Text

Playboyy Finale Reaction

I am just sitting in my bed staring off at my wall in utter silence.

Under the cut are my live thoughts during this finale and you can see me descend into insanity.

Oh poor Phop is in hella debt? Baby.

FIRST, SOONG DOESN'T WANT TO BE YOUR SUGAR BABY. But also Soong. Baby. Just let yourself be a sugar baby. He's younger than you anyway. "I don't want to sit around and do nothing and still live an expensive life." Okay Soong that's admirable but like. Couldn't be me.

Okay, if Nont and Prom think someone's gonna bust in the door, maybe don't stand in the doorway? Also. Yes Nont, finally get your dad involved. There's no need for your friends to be doing all this. Your dad is rich and connected.

"No one has issues with me like you do." Captain, my favorite boy, Puen isn't the one that's been an asshole here. I'm sorry though, are we gonna get Captain having some character growth in the last two episodes after being the absolute worst? Oh baby.

TUTOR. SOONG. NO. First. Oh. He's really gonna fuck up his relationship over this huh. Goddammit First. Baby you can't just make appointments to beat up men sexually when you feel bad. That's not what we do love.

NUTH. My boy. NO.

Aww Nont is like this was not the fucking plan. Has a single plan of Nont's gone well? Because I don't think anything's gone like he wanted this entire show.

Oh shit wait. Damn. Is Nuth gonna go down for Nant's murder now??? Holy shit. Can someone please go find Phop cause he is just sobbing alone in their shitty apartment.

Hey Keen! My love! Just sitting on the couch like you belong. Glad you're here to campaign for Nuth. That's my boy. My two boys.

I kinda feel like Nont should have brought Prom as backup for this scene. Cause everyone else has their man (except Porsche because Jump said he didn’t want to hang out with these losers I guess?) and he's just standing there like 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️.

Well. My dear sweet mentally unwell child is in prison. So. I mean. I guess that's that. FOR FIVE YEARS??? HE'S GONNA DO FIVE YEARS??? OH MY FUCKING GOD.

Jump and Porsche are cute. But Nuth is gonna be in prison for five years and Phop is a baby in hella debt and I'm just like.

I mean, lick that dick Porsche, but what does that mean to me right now. When Nuth is IN PRISON for FIVE YEARS.

....is Phop OD'ing??? What in the fuck is going on??? Like is he really fucking dying right now??? Alone??? In his fucking bathroom while his man is in prison???

Welp. I think the baby just fucking OD'd alone in his bathroom while his man is in prison so like. When I tell you. There's 13 minutes left in this show and I'm done. I AM DONE.

At this point I am so angry that I'm not even reacting. Like. This show really just wanted to hurt my fucking feelings and did. Unless they do some surprise twist? I'm sick. This is SICK.

What the fuck is that painting??? Am I supposed to recognize who that is??? Cause Zouey's art is shit and I don't. What the fuck is going on here. I've long since realized I'm too dumb for the plot so like I just need someone to tell me if Phop is alive cause I don't think he is. And I need to know. I NEED TO KNOW.

I'M STILL ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS ABOUT PHOP BUT THEY JUST BUSTED OUT SOME BONKERS ASS SHIT WITH FIVE MINUTES LEFT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

Umm okay so it just ended??? I'm guessing they cliffhangered it for a second season? But these shows RARELY ever get a second season??? Oh this was an entire waste of my fucking time. I'm not even mad. I'm actually laughing. lol

WAIT IS THIS WHOLE THING NUTH'S SCREENPLAY??? DID PHOP KILL NANT??? What the shit is happening here??? Again, I'm not even mad now. I'm in awe of this. lol

Well, that certainly happened. Alright then. I don't even know what to say at this point.

#Playboyy #Playboyy the series #spoilers #*Owen Wilson voice* wow #I feel like Ashton's about to pop out of my pantry cause I am surely being punk'd #and please note this isn't hate #this is just sheer bafflement lol #regular clyde

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anonbinaryweirdo · 1 month

Text

Olijax (early) school hcs <33

like Alexis said, Ajax being the stupid playboy of the school, and Oliver managing to catch his eye

but obviously, and very clearly, Oliver is uninterested and shoos him away, getting more and more annoyed as he continues to persist

it gets to the point where she ends up absolutely hating him, and he's not going to give up jussst yet

"He's weird," she'd tell Yui, closing and locking her locker. "And annoying. If I have to see his stupid face one more time, I'm gonna do unspeakable things. How hard is it to understand what a simple 'no' means? No."

Yui hums, only half-listening. "Careful," they suddenly drawl out. "This is how every enemies-to-lovers plotline begins. Especially in a modern school setting."

"Haha. You're so funny."

"I try :D"

actively (tries to) avoids him every time they're about to bump paths. she's absolutely exasperated. why is he everywhere (they have classes together)

rolls her eyes as she hears someone sobbing about how "they thought they had something with him" while putting in her earbuds as she continued to draw. what did they expect? it's Ajax.

"If I ever end up in bed with him," she told Ari and Alexis, seriously, "shoot me dead."

"Oliver, I'm not going to shoot you," Alexis responded, deadpan.

"I would." They both look at Ari. "What? I'd shoot myself too if I ever ended up being added to that guy's body count. That's a terrible rep to have."

"She gets it."

Alexis sighs. "We're not killing Oliver if she ever sleeps with Childe. We'll ridicule her, yes, but we're not killing her."

"Wow."

if the times ever come and he has to actually interact with her for something, she ignores him.

he needs a pencil? ignored. is this seat taken? ignored. he likes her new platforms? ignored.

God forbid they argue. if Oliver lets a single "fuck you" slip, Ajax is already grinning, "Ah, I'd knew you'd come to your senses eventu—"

Alexis has to pick Oliver up from detention

it probably gets the the point where she has enough of his shit and starts messing with him.

like.. she was merely walking to her usual lunch table. it's not like she meant to step on his foot with extra pressure as she was passing by. what? she really thought she had no pencils left, tis but a coincidence when she suddenly has one for Kaveh. she doesn't know how these (harmless, but embarrassing) rumors of Ajax started, as Scaramouche.

cliffhangs you in my brain ran out of juice

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faeriecinna · 1 month

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Vaguely Summarised WIP tag

Rules: summarise your WIP in 15 2-5 word bullet points (as if you were trying to summarize it in 15 seconds)

Thanks @annakayy for the tag, this one seems fun!

I'm gonna go with Project.Ink because Seraph is too convoluted at this point in time lmao.

Without further ado:

Fever dreams or religious trauma?

Whoa, that wasn't there before

Is it really 'kidnapping' if there's a Big Gay Crush involved?

Faeries are actually shitty people

Alexa, play Amnesia by 5 Seconds Of Summer

ACAB

She aint dealing with her Big Gay Feelings

Someone call Eddie Munson coz this bitch a Mindflayer

Ugly crying

I watched the Labyrinth ballroom scene too many times

¿Genocidal Sorcerers?

Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance! But not for me 😈

WOMEN WITH SWORDS

Oh, it's YOU

Sobbing again

Lesbian Dumbfuckery

Hmm, what's that noise?

NBD just an eldritch deity

Obnoxious cliffhanger

Gonna tag @buffythevampirelover @mundanemoongirl and @talesofsorrowandofruin

#project.ink #rowan and killeen #writing #writers #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writer #tumblr writing community #writer problems #writerblr #writblr #writer stuff #fantasy writer #fantasy novel #fantasy #wip #my wips

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yazzydream · 8 months

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part 3 of parts i'm excited for in shibuya arc! I swear i didn't expect this to go so long, but as i kept going over shibuya i realized there were SO MANY things i'm looking forward to seeing animated!

manga SPOILERS ahead, obviously.

(pt. 1 here | pt. 2 here)

YEA LET'S START THIS POST OFF WITH TOTAL DEVESTATION.

nanami's wretched state. mahito's reveal in the purikura booth. the welling dread. it's suspense. it's film. it's drama.

ah ah ah ah

i'm going to cry so much. i'm a crybaby. i will be crying so. much.

YEAAAAH THAT'S MY BABY GURL!! ACCOMPLICES PART DUEX!!! I absolutely ADORE that nobara is mahito's natural enemy. that friggin rocks!!! my favorite duo working together remotely is such a badass idea really highlighting how in sync they are with each other. (interesting contrast to how megumi found it difficult to work with yuji in the fight against the mustache guy earlier.)

bby nobara flashback from fumi's pov. 😭 she was such a precocious child and fumi's perspective of nobara was so interesting.

*sob sob sob sob* i love this scene so much. how it goes from surprisingly gentle to shockingly graphic.

👁️ akutami really loving that dismemberment and eye horror huh.

this whole daily life sequence is actually funny on its own. 😂 i laugh every time. AND THEN IT CUTS TO--

fuck me up, gege.

sorry, minor tangent. but basically, what i'm getting from rereading this, is that yuji's whole, 'giving people a proper death' is all bullshit. you die, you die. looking for logic or reason in a sorcerer's death-- deaths being "proper"-- is pointless. todo's right. mahito brought it up too, that yuji's motivations were childish. a kind of... typical shonen hero motivation that sounds half-hearted at best. you'll notice, from this point on, yuji never brings up giving people a "proper death" again. at least, i haven't noticed him doing so.

anyway, back to cool shit i wanna see in the anime.

aaaand there it is. yuuji's realization which leads directly to... i know i've said this over and over again, but this sequence is one of my all-time favorites in jjk. or... any manga actually. it's just so fucking cinematic. i can SEE it in motion and now it will be! please please pull this off, mappa. 🤞 i need this to be poetry in motion.

need to close this post off with something. so, here's psuedo-geto, an honestly compelling villain, bouncing with the prison realm. the heroes failed and didn't release or even retrieve gojo. scarred, mutilated, or dead. and we're left on the precipice of a world changing event while the big bad strolls away.

nice.

what a fucking way for the season to end? unless they go post-shibuya arc, but i honestly think the season ending on this fucked up cliffhanger would be fantastic. lol

#jjk season 2 #jujutsu kaisen #my jjk #jjk manga #jjk spoilers #let's try to be more bloggy shall we

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shadowed-dancer · 2 years

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Thoughts on Episode 116 (S6 E3)

Festering feathers, haunting Hawks, and Toga and Twice. Let’s talk about it

Yeah I know I didn't do one of these last week but shhhh it's fine

Spoiler free for the manga. I technically quote one line that will be in the next episode, but it's not spoiling anything we don't already know

This episode man... I had 2 years to prepare and I still managed to get misty eyed

Also it's wild that Twice's death is no longer a manga-spoiler

I kind of liked that they focused on the hero stuff at the beginning. In the manga the scene of Hawks holding Twice at knife-point (feather-point?) is right after Kaminari's moment, but I really liked that they let the heroes do their thing without interruption. It made both the hero scene and the Twice-Hawks interaction flow really well. Great change, bravo to whoever made that decision

I know some people are calling this episode "a slideshow" and like... sure you're technically right. But I thought it all looked quite nice. Plus, some of the stiff moments felt justified to me (like how are you supposed to put action when the scene is "guy is on the ground not moving"?)

I also think they did enough intercutting of animation with "slideshow" to make it less offensive. It's not the Mirio battle, at the very least

Tokoyami. That's it, that's the thought

Dang, they really animated Hawks about to stab his feather sword down (right before Dabi bursts in). I was scared they were gonna strip Hawks of any darker moments and make the whole scene feel like a heroic thing, but that was great. It adds to the complexity of the scene and doesn't let him get off easy

Dabi pretty. Whoever animated him this episode, give them a raise. Like they even got the texture and details of his scars! Sometimes he looks so flat (ahem, preview for next week) but this looked great

They cut the scene of him going up there stairs, but I think it worked better this way. In the manga, that was a chapter's cliffhanger. But here? I like it so much better that Dabi bursts in all unexpected. And I LOVE that he says his line about not blaming Twice OUT LOUD TO TWICE. 10/10 change

The actual stabbing scene... ok let me tell you a bit of an embarrassing story. When I first read this chapter most of the war arc had already come out, so I was able to read the chapters back to back. And when I read this one... I hadn't realized Twice died. Seriously. I went to the next chapter, saw the "is that the face of a man who just watched his friend die?" line, and did a double take. I went through the chapter 5 times, scanning every single page, before I realized THAT was when the real Twice died. Please don't judge me

Anyways, I think the anime did a pretty good job clarifying that. The music cues help catch your attention, there's the moment of hesitation before we see Hawks posed to strike in the flames, all that good stuff. I do wish THAT scene hadn't been a still frame, but then again I can't say I'd want to watch Twice be actively stabbed in the back

I do like that they focus in on his body afterwards without having it be too graphic. Yes. Good. Show us. Give us clarification

The Toga scene broke me. Twice's clone "crying" but it's actually him melting? Beautiful

The ending. THE ENDING. They didn't have to change that, but they did and I loved it. The sound I made when I saw it was so funny too. Like a half sob-half choking sound

I'm curious to see if/how the ed changes throughout the season. I could definitely see them doing something new for the adaptation of chapter 290. I don't think I'd want it to change every time, but a couple times for the big moments would be awesome

Overall? Great episode despite the heartbreak

#bnha #bnha season 6 #bnha twice #jin bubaigawara #dabi #bnha hawks #keigo takami

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vi-starlight · 1 year

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Inside Job spoilers!

I watched the S2 final yesterday and I have a lot to say

-I believe Reagan tried to get a love life while being able to still stay at her job which is kinda what Rand tried to do,Reagan is turning into her dad

-Reagan truly loved Ron,that hurt her sm to let go but the right choice :(

-Brett isn't like a normal boss,he has a huge heart and will do anything to make things right like not killing the dog which was so wholesome

-I wonder what's going to happen to Reagen as she's going to become the new J.R and something bad is coming her way...

-I'M SO GLAD J R AND RAND FINALLY GOT IN JAIL AWAY FROM MESSING ANYTHING UP

-The Lin and Friends references is too funny 😂

-MIC THOUGHT HE WAS PREGNET AYOOOO

-Brett saying he understands that Reagan isn't doing well at the job and let's her go to see Ron

-CLIFFHANGER FOR S3!?

Actually sobbing

-Chance for Brett x Reagan to get Canon 🤭

#inside job #spoilers #reagan ridley #brett hand

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feifreyz · 11 months

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Cyrus and Alizeh (+ how much i love the book)

GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I PHYSICALLY CANNOT. they hurt me but I love them so much and although I am such a huge Kamran fan he is literally my favorite character and I would never wish him harm, I prefer Alizeh and Cyrus.

The way he got his hopes up when Hazan told him that Kamran might have to be the one to marry her based off Alizeh's fake book thing actually made ME hope as well but back then I was a Kamran and Alizeh supporter.

BUT I LOVE THE BOOK SO MUCH I genuinely sobbed after the cliffhanger of the first book and I rushed to buy the second one. I'm so happy this is going to be more than 3 books long from what I heard. I think of the series day and night and I can't tell if it's because I'm neurodivergent and hyperfixating OR it's just super good. Or both.

#this woven kingdom #these infinite threads #sobbing rn

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