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maybe-itll-be-someday · 3 years

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How We Raise Them

This is a birthday gift for the most wonderful human being and writer that I get to have the pleasure of being my friend? @jetaime-jespere you inspire and support me in so many ways. 10/10 would recommend being her friend.

This story, of puppy kisses, margaritas, and tooth-rotting domestic!Hotchniss is just for you.

Read on AO3

Emily always had a knack for caring and nurturing.

The house plants in their home were all bright green, a hobby she had gotten from JJ after too many nights spent fussing over Jack. Jack had seemingly grown up in the blink of an eye - far from the toddling two year old that Aaron had first brought into the office, his steps uneven and hand tightly wrapped around Aaron's finger. He was now almost 17, finally starting to grow into the long, gangly limbs he had no doubt inherited from his father. He was a great kid, but no doubt a teenager now, complete with the home-grown embarrassment for his parents' PDA and a sense of false confidence that he knew better than his parents' combined 80 years of experience.

Jack was starting to take charge of his own schedule, planning out his soccer and baseball practices and time with his girlfriend and was now rarely at home outside of eating dinner and sleeping. Sometimes, they liked to joke that their home was more of a hotel, only utilized for meals and a warm bed.

"He's grown up so fast, Aaron." Emily had lamented, curling a warm leg around his as they listened to Jack pitter around the kitchen before school. Emily had a rare day of no meetings, her new job as Section Chief agreeing well with a more attainable home life balance. Aaron had been teaching at the Academy for two years now and he didn't have his first class until 2 PM, granting the two of them a morning spent lazing in bed while Jack fended for himself before school.

He was old enough to drive now and have a girlfriend, and that fact took Aaron's breath away every time.

Aaron remembers when Jack was born, a wriggly screaming bundle of joy that entered the world with the loudest wail Aaron thought he'd ever heard. Now, he was driving, sending applications to colleges, and in a relationship with a nice girl.

He had grown up so fast.

Now, both of them had a plethora of time - time that used to be spent shuttling Jack from school, practice, and birthday parties between cases, making sure that his homework was fully done, PTA meetings (which Emily insisted on being a part of) and coordinating Jack's schedule with precision, slotting in play dates and trips to the mall to buy new khakis because he shot up like a weed.

All the time spent taking care of Jack, now exchanged for hours searching for different plants and nurturing them until their home was an urban jungle.

So Aaron starts doing some research while Emily is asleep, hoping to bring something a little more difficult than plants to take care of.

Before their entire home had turned into a greenhouse.

The house was quiet, too quiet, when Emily arrived home from a day spent in meetings discussing budgets. She was exhausted and would do anything for a glass of red and a foot massage from her loving husband.

"Aaron? I'm home." She calls out, shucking her shoes and purse by the front door.

There was silence that permeated from the house, followed by a sharp yelp from what she can decipher is Jack.

"Jack? Aaron?" She calls out again, following the source of the sound only to be met by an out-of-breath Aaron.

"Hi honey." He says, his breathing heavy as he presses a kiss to her lips in greeting. She cocks an eyebrow suspiciously, glancing over his shoulder to see if Jack would pop out from their den.

"Hey. Is something the matter?"

"No, no. Nothing's the matter." Aaron says, shaking his head. He wrapped his hand around hers, a bright smile on his face and she couldn't help but feel lucky that this is where they had ended up. Married, raising Jack together in a row house in Dupont Circle. Now Jack was nearly an adult - their duties as his parents were slowly dwindling down to providing advice and making sure he made the right decisions.

On those days, when she and Aaron are left in the empty rooms of their house, devoid of Jack's sounds of make believe as he pretended to be an astronaut or a G-Man like his father, she can't help but let a small pang of regret hit her.

She didn't know how much joy she would derive from being his step-mother, and a small part of her wishes that she and Aaron had created a brood of their own.

But it wasn't part of their journey, and she was okay with that.

"I have a surprise for you. Look, I know we've never talked about it..." Aaron starts to ramble, leading her to the den at the back of the house as her confusion grows.

He stops right by the closed door, hearing the shuffling going on on the other side of the door.

"But you're an amazing mother to Jack and I know that he's leaving for college soon. I don't want our house to be quiet."

"Aaron..." She says cautiously. "What did you do?"

The den door swings open, revealing Jack with a bright smile on his face and a small bundle in his arms. The tiny ball of fluff makes a soft mewl in Jack's arms, popping its tiny head up to reveal long floppy ears and the sweetest eyes she thinks she's ever seen. Aaron smiles, dropping her hand to pick up the puppy in Jack's arms and drop it right into hers.

There's a tiny jingle and her fingers brush against cold metal, reaching down to reveal the tag that hung around the puppy's collar.

Finn Hotchner

"This is Finn."

It turns out, despite all the research that Aaron had done for puppy rearing, it was still much harder than they had anticipated.

Emily groans as she hears a sharp whine come from their living room, where they had set-up Finn's crate. Aaron was adamant about them crate training Finn, despite the fact that Emily and Jack would have been fine letting Finn sleep with them in their beds.

This was the third, no maybe the fourth time, that night that he had whined in his crate like he had been abandoned on the side of the road instead of sleeping next to their fireplace.

Aaron pops up a sleepy head, eyes blearily adjusting to the faint moonlight streaming from the window and glances as the neon numbers that shone on his bedside table.

5:30 AM

"Good God, does he ever sleep?" Aaron groans as Emily let out a large yawn, patting a soft hand on Aaron's shoulder to tell him to go back to sleep.

"I've got him." Emily says as Aaron sinks back under the covers, quickly drifting back to sleep as Emily rolls her eyes and throws on her robe. She pads out into the living room, her soft footsteps enough to catch Finn's attention and get his cries to stop.

"Hey sweet boy." She coos, letting him out of his crate as he pattered out, his limbs still floppy at 10 weeks as he let out a large yawn, Emily's heart melting as he curled up by her ankles. He was clearly just desperate for attention.

More specifically, desperate for her attention.

Finn had latched on to her, claiming her as his human the moment Aaron had placed him in her arms almost three weeks ago. The puppy was always quick to dart to Emily when she came home, eager to expose his belly to her for pets after a long day at work. He followed her around at home, hearing the soft tapping of his paws against their hardwood floor as she cooked dinner or made coffee in the morning. He curled up right at her feet in her office as she worked through mountains of paperwork, content on sleeping right at her feet as she filled out reports.

"Come on." She coaxes, moving from her spot by his crate to let him out into their back garden.

The sun was softly breaking in the horizon, the long summer days already evident by the soft light that streaked the sky. Finn zoomed out onto the grass, quickly tripping over the limbs he still didn't have much control over and Emily let a small smile play on her lips.

After the initial shock of the fact that they now had a dog, despite almost no previous discussion prior, Emily found herself completely enamored with the puppy. She found herself thinking of the tiny ball of fluff often, taking time out of her day to check the camera they had installed in their living room to see what he was up to when they were at work (it was mostly sleeping) and watched with a fond smile as Aaron let him out during lunch. He would crouch down, despite the hell she was sure it caused on his knees that were now worn with age and trauma, and play tug with Finn or attempt to train him in what would only cause frustration for both of them.

She had always seen the softness that lined Aaron's interactions, despite the steely demeanor that had hardened like calluses after too many tragedies. But she saw the gentle way in which he raised Jack, always insistent on talking and sharing - a far cry from the slamming doors and harsh hits that were consequences of his father's temper. She felt it in the way his hands drifted to her lower back when he felt a need for connection. She heard it in the soft tones that he'd use when talking to children, a sparkle in his eye as he interacted with them.

It had filled her heart with a new measure of love she didn't think was possible, watching him soften to Finn in a way she never expected.

Aaron yawns, stretching his limbs to ease the sleep from them when he realizes that his wife's side of the bed had gone cold. He glances up at the clock and realizes it had been almost two hours since Emily had gotten up to let Finn out. A bloom of warmth grows in his chest when he realizes where they could probably be.

He finds her on their couch, stretched across in a deep slumber as Finn dozed quietly on her chest. It was a position he had found her in often, Finn always opting to sleep anywhere where he was physically touching Emily.

Another Hotchner wrapped around her finger.

When Emily is jolted from sleep by a loud clink, the warmth of Finn is nowhere to be found. She props herself up, sounds slowly coming into focus and she can hear the sounds of Aaron's soft whispering and a familiar scratching of utens. There's the sweet aroma of coffee wafting from the kitchen, and she follows the scent to catch Aaron red-handed.

Aaron is reading the paper on the counter, not noticing Emily walk in, and slips a small piece of his bacon to Finn who is sitting patiently by his side.

When she chastises him, he just laughs and passes her the cup of coffee he prepares for her on Saturday mornings.

"This is the only way I can get him to love me, Em."

As it turns out, having a puppy was a little too similar to having a baby.

Their days now revolved around Finn - their sleep schedules were disrupted by crying in the middle of the night, their daily list of tasks including someone having to be home to let him out every three hours whether it be them or a pet sitter and on top of Aaron’s classes and Emily’s workload. It had only been a month since they had gotten Finn and they were exhausted.

Emily had never had a dog and Aaron had never grown up with any animals, so both of them severely underestimated the amount of work that went into keeping a tiny ball of fluff alive and healthy.

Aaron finds her in the living room, sprawled out on the couch with relief on her face at the silence she worked so hard to cultivate amidst the chaos.

“He finally passed out.” Emily whispers and Aaron eyes the puppy who is sleeping peacefully in his crate after being forced in for a nap.

He produces a margarita from behind his back, salt lining the rim.

“I knew I married you for a reason.” She says happily, taking a grateful sip and moaning in delight as the sweet liquid hit her tongue and the tequila stung her throat. He clinked his own glass of whiskey to hers before taking a seat next to her, both of them needing the alcohol after weeks of sleep deprivation and tending to Finn’s every need.

“I think we’re getting too old for this.” Emily muses, watching Finn shift in his sleep.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel young and spry.” Aaron jokes, pressing his lips to her shoulder as she takes another sip of her margarita. His lips slowly trail from her shoulder, dancing across her collarbone before settling at the base of her neck. He feels Emily tilt her head slightly to expose more of her skin to him and a breathy moan escape from her lips.

“So this is why you made me a margarita.” Aaron knew that certain kinds of alcohol produced different reactions from Emily. Wine always made her sleepy, whiskey always made her angry.

Tequila, on the other hand, made her very mouthy.

“I just thought my beautiful wife deserved a drink.” He mumbles into her skin, taking the glass from her hand and placing their drinks on the console table behind them. “Also because Jack is sleeping over at Tyler’s tonight and Finn is finally asleep.”

It was the first free night they had in a while, out of earshot of their very perceptive teenage son and Aaron thought that deserved some sort of celebration, one that hopefully involved making her scream and not caring who heard.

“So no ulterior motives?” She teases, but Aaron’s lips are very persistent against the pulse in her throat.

“None whatsoever.”

They barely make it back to their bedroom, clothes hastily strewn against the carpeted bedroom floor with Emily’s legs straddled across his waist and his fingers dancing across her underwear when he hears it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Aaron groans when a familiar high-pitched whine comes from the living room. They freeze like two teenagers caught by their parents, hoping that the whine would just be Finn waking up for a brief moment before going back to sleep.

It isn’t long before Finn’s wailing at the top of his tiny lungs and Emily giggles, hopping off his lap as Aaron flops dramatically back onto their bed.

“It’s your turn.” Emily says, pushing Aaron towards the direction of their door as he pouts like a petulant child. Aaron grumbles as he goes towards the living room, slightly annoyed when Finn bounds out of his crate like he hadn’t just interrupted the one solitude moment that they’ve had in over a month.

“Kid, I could kill for less than this.”

Finn slides into their family like the final piece of a puzzle they didn't know was missing.

He quickly becomes Jack's best friend, chasing him around in the garden and attaching himself to Jack’s hip when he was home. When Jack leaves for college a year after they get Finn, Emily finds him on Jack’s bed, a sullen look in Finn’s eyes at the profound absence of his playmate.

Aaron finds an unusual confidant in Finn. There are nights that are difficult, the memories of Foyet amplifying the phantom ache in his chest, especially when Jack graduates high school and when he gets accepted into both Georgetown and Yale.

He raises Jack to grow up just fine and he still hates, even after all these years, that Haley wasn’t around to see the kind of man Jack has become. Despite losing Haley at such a young age, too many of Jack’s mannerisms made him believe that he could have only gotten those traits through genetics. The way his left eyebrow twitched when he got angry, one of Haley’s tells when she was beginning to lose her temper. Jack fidgeted with a pen, clipped between his fingers, the same way Haley did when she was concentrating on a test back when she first caught his attention at 16.

On those nights, he steals away to the kitchen and sips a fingerful of whiskey. It was a habit he’d developed years before, a quiet moment just for himself. He was used to doing it alone.

Until they had Finn. He remembers the first time Finn had done it, a floppy 6 month old with disproportionate limbs and an attitude that was driving both him and Emily crazy.

He could only ruin so many of their expensive leather shoes before they had a problem with it.

It had been the night of Jack’s graduation and Aaron poured himself his whiskey, raising a glass to an empty kitchen with a hollow ache in his chest on days like today.

On days that she should have gotten to see.

“We did it, Haley.”

Finn had walked in then, intrigued by the clinking of the glasses that was coming from the kitchen. It was as if he sensed the sadness that lived in Aaron, walking up to give gentle licks to his palm and refusing to leave Aaron’s side as he sat at the dining room table nursing his drink.

He hasn’t spent a night in the kitchen without Finn since.

But despite the fact that they knew that Finn loved all of them, Jack and Aaron both knew that there was something special about the way that Finn loved Emily.

Finn was her shadow - always glued to her side whenever she was around. He often favored Emily’s company on the couch over anyone’s, huffing in disapproval when Aaron would come over to sit next to Emily. He was a constant presence in any room that Emily was in, either laying at her feet or pressed up against her somehow. They had often joked that Finn would choose Emily over boiled chicken, which aside from Emily was Finn’s greatest love.

When Elizabeth dies, suddenly and with no warning, Emily is inconsolable. She had always wished that their relationship was better than it was, despite the fact that it had improved in spades as the years went on. But it didn’t stop her from wishing for just one more day with her mother.

Finn is steadfast by her side from the moment she finds out. They all hovered over her, but Finn was practically tied by an invisible tether to Emily, refusing to let her leave his sight. He stays still when she cries into his fur on a quiet afternoon, grief heavy in the air. He licks the tears from her face and lays on her lap when their house is full of guests giving their condolences. He doesn’t bark at Aaron, like he normally did when he was hugging Emily, and instead lets her find comfort in his arms.

“Emily? Have you seen Finn?” She hears Aaron call out from their kitchen. She glances around their office and is about to call out that he wasn’t with her when she hears a loud crash and an exasperated Finn Hotchner.

She opens her office door to find Finn staring up at her, his fur caked in dirt with a trail of mud tracked on their hardwood floor. Jack comes into view, home from college for the summer, with a sheepish smile on his face. They had probably played with the hose in the garden - one of Finn’s favorite past times on hot days. She can hear Aaron yelling expletives in the kitchen and she simply bursts into laughter.

This was her family.

Mud on hardwood floors and all.

And she wouldn't change them for the world.

#hotchniss #aaron x emily #ckbwrites #literally i love you and your writing i can't believe you let me be friends with you #happy birthday sweet girl

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2018shawn · 4 years

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1+1 | descent | part 3

warnings: ok so, there is smut but I have begun and ended it with a ***** so you can skip if u want bc they be loving each other during this pregnancy liFE. there is mentions of blood (towards the end), drinking, swearing etc

a/n: omg I love you all so much sorry for taking so long here are some of the requests I used to keep me going with a lil breakdown:

maybe for 1+1 there r complications with the pregnancy (nothing life threatening just a little harder or something) and shawn is super cute and protective - a little teaser, more in next chap x

Shawn would be a worrying mess throughout your pregnancy for sure🥺😂 - again, will be more in next chapter

Y/n being horny whilst being pregnant - big mood

Could you write something about Shawn and y/n going to her parent's for dinner and her mum picks on her the entire time, maybe Shawn comforts her or confronts her? - so i kinda adjusted it a bit bc I just couldn't imagine it like full on if that makes any sense but anyways ye

Shawn making sure she takes her prenatal pills and is on time for all appointments. - he would 10/10 do this I bet ur ass

Just all the fluff about pregnancy that you possible can write. I LOVE YOUR WORK💗🥰 - you are the cutest lil ANGEL I love YOU 🥺

word count: 6.5k

previous parts: here

You never thought you’d be one of those pregnant women who obsessed over their weight and constantly observed for signs of a growing bump; but you never thought you’d get pregnant and here you are, stood in front of your mirror, almost 1/3 of the way into your pregnancy already - 10 weeks, to be exact. You were only 5 weeks pregnant when you’d visited your doctor that one day, adamant that you were going to receive bad news, only to receive the complete opposite.

As your mind wandered back to that day, 5 weeks ago, the palm of your hand caressed the bare skin of your stomach, admiring how much your body was already changing. You’d left the doctors office in a complete state of shock, insisting Dr. Blake check the test results at least 5 times before you finally nodded and accepted that you were pregnant. Shawn hadn’t stopped talking the whole day after that and found concern in you being just as quiet as what you would been if the worst had come out of that meeting. Of course it was just the shock, that your body, despite everything you’d been told, had been able to pull through and create a miracle. The fuzzy feeling of 2 day old stubble resting on your shoulder and curls tickling the side of your neck brought you back to current day, eyes wandering up from your stomach to meet the eyes of Shawn’s. His arms wrapped around your hips, covering your own as he allowed his fingers to entwine with yours. “Whatcha’ thinking ‘bout?” He asked before turning his head to place a delicate kiss in the crook of your neck.

You shivered and smiled at the ticklish sensation, a small giggle leaving your lips. “That you really need to shave your poor excuse of a beard.” His mouth opened wide, offended of the insult towards his manliness as you continued to declare your real thoughts. “Just... this. Us. I guess.” Your head fell and rested against his as he nodded, moving both of your hands to your lower stomach, where baby would soon be continuously blooming.

“You know, baby M sure has put a little glow on your skin and a wider smile on your face.” His chin was heavy on your shoulder as he spoke, but you didn’t mind, considering in a few months you’d have a baby gnawing away at your shoulder. And being sick down it. And dribbling down it. And... why do you have babies, again?

“Baby M?” You asked, eyebrows raised in admiration of the sudden new nickname who was previously known as bub.

Shawn shrugged, finally giving you some room and detaching from your frame so you could continue to go about your normal morning routine. You did so by picking up your hairbrush from the cabinet next to you, dragging in through your untamed bed head. “Yeah, i mean, bub was cute and all... but... you’re my original bub, really. And I guess the M can stand for Mendes. Or miracle. Or both?” He questioned, more than confirmed, leaving you smiling at his pointless babbles and theories. Shawn swiftly moved on to tell you he’d checked the parenting app this morning, and Baby M is now the size of a lime. He also told you that he read an article that told you eating peanuts and dairy could make the baby allergic to them in the future, but with further research he soon developed it was nothing but a mere myth. Most of all, whilst you were getting ready, Shawn told you how lucky he feels to have you and how much he loves you.

You turned to the side one final time before you left the mirror, hands coming back to the small bump across your stomach. Shawn walked back into the room, toothbrush hanging from his mouth and towel hung from his hips, rolling his eyes as you studied yourself yet again. “Bub, stop it.” He somewhat spoke, through minty bubbles and white paste.

“Am I...” You started, alternating between pinching the skin and caressing it with the palm of your hand. “Am I getting fat?”

Shawn almost spat his mouth care out, the brushing of his teeth coming to a stop as he stared at you, astonished by your brief question. “You’re not fat...” He held his finger up as he darted back into the en suite where you heard the running of water and him finishing his process. The water shut off and you could hear him grab the towel from the rail, presumably to wipe his face, considering he had white suds dripping down his chin. “...You’re pregnant”

He reappeared in the room, walking over and snaking his arms round your waist. “So i’m fat then?” You laughed, giving up your touch on your stomach to reach up and rest your arms atop his shoulders.

All he could do was chuckle, never having heard anything so absurd. You’d never be fat, but you’d always be beautiful. “You’re a baby maker, he gotta grow somewhere.”

You rolled your eyes, tip toeing upwards and pressing your lips to his to be greeted with the fresh mint taste you anticipated. “She.”

Humming into your touch in return, his fingers danced through your freshly brushed hair as he was pulled into your body, “your mom...” you started, giggling as he pulled away and shot you a confused glance.

“Why are you thinking of my mom while i’m tryna make out with you?”

“I’m thinking of your dad too.” You smirked, only trying to wind him up further.

“Ok, weird, stop...” He shuddered, screwing his face up in further confusion and disapproval. He searched your face for an answer, but you merely shrugged and walked away, pulling out your favourite shirt from the wardrobe and bringing it over your arms, you let it fall over your body.

Two overnight bags lay on the bed, only a few items thrown into them so far for your weekend trip to Shawn’s family home. “Do you wanna tell them tonight?” You asked, picking a couple more shirts from the wardrobes and finally some pants that would match.

He watched as you folded them delicately into your bag, “do you? I mean, it’s your body, it’s your choice.” It was killing Shawn alive to keep this from his parents, and more so Aaliyah, but with all the bad luck you’d had, you were sceptical of jinxing the situation. You thought it was most probably a myth, that telling people you were pregnant before the end of a certain trimester could cause bad luck, but it was a risk you wasn’t willing to take.

“It’s our choice,” you confirmed, walking back over to the wardrobe and pulling out a couple of t-shirts for Shawn and holding them up for his approval. With a nod, you threw them in his direction, and he attempted to fold them into his bag, not half as neatly as you had done. “I just know it’s killing you. And besides it’s nearly the end of my first trimester and it is your mom’s birthday...”

You held up a shirt, one you absolutely loved seeing Shawn in, but he screwed up his face and shook his head, so you put it back on the rail. “No pressure, we tell them when you’re ready.” You walked over with another shirt you’d picked for him, shaking your head at Shawn’s third attempt of folding his clothing. You remembered how after your third date, he brought you to his place for a drink and you saw how chaotically organised his suitcase was packed for going on tour. With a bottle of wine and some packing tips later, you both ended up falling asleep in his spare bedroom, organised piles of clothes all around you.

The more the hours in the day went by, the more you chewed your inner cheek in anxiousness. Driving to Shawns parent’s house felt like a lifetime but he silently tried to comfort you by holding your thigh as he drove. You didn’t know if you were going to tell them, you didn’t even know if you wanted to and you sighed at yourself again for letting it play over and over in your mind. “Bub?” Shawn squeezed your thigh and pulled you from your daydream, looking over at you as you came up to a red light.

“Mmhmm?” You didn’t know if Shawn could read your mind, as you thought about all the nice ways you’d seen over the internet of how people tell their parents they’re going to be nana and grandads. Here you were, thinking of ways to not tell them.

“Stop worrying about it, if we tell them, we tell them. If we don’t, we don’t.” You nodded, although you both knew it wouldn’t be the end of your concerns.

A few red lights later and a slow drive down the quiet lane, you’d reached the Mendes family house, heart warming as Aaliyah flung the door open and immediately ran to the car. Shawn had the best relationship with his sister and it gave you no doubt in your mind that he was going to be the best dad in the world. It was getting late, the traffic taking a toll on your arrival time and the party was already in full swing. Karen appeared in the door, two glasses of wine in hand and a beaming smile on her features. “Hello, my beautiful family,” she theatrically exclaimed, pulling you in for a huge hug as you both reached the doorway with Shawn holding both of your overnight bags and almost knocking the wine from her hands.

“Mom are you drunk already?” Shawn laughed, eyeing the 2 glasses of wine tight in her grip and watching how she stumbled down one of the steps and pushed her cheek outwards, inviting a kiss from Shawn.

“What? No! I’ve only had 1 glass..” She nodded, handing you one of the glasses and you politely smiled, thanking her. She whispered to you as Shawn walked into the house and he disappeared out of view, instantly getting lost in the music and big crowd of people. “I’ve had 3...” she giggled, pulling you inside as the two of you began to engage in conversation.

The party in full swing, Shawn had drunk your - 2 glasses of - wine when no one was looking with Karen handing you another glass which you’d had in your hand for at least 45 minutes when she walked over to bring you another. “Oh?” She questioned, looking at your still full glass as you stood with Shawn and his old family friends. “You love wine, why aren’t you drinking!”

You smiled and eyed Shawn, who instantly shot to your defence. “Mom, she’s not an alcoholic,” he said, and you all laughed it off, but as Karen stood with you and insisted you drank some of it with her, your heart beat out your chest and feet shuffled uncomfortably beneath you. “Mom... she doesn’t want to drink the wine.” Shawn said, pulling it out of your hand and putting it onto the side.

“Don’t speak for her, we’ve seen a fair few wine-drunk y/n’s in her time!” If that’s how she saw you, she most definitely wouldn’t think you’re fit to be a parent. She knew you and Shawn were trying, sure, but the more you thought about it, the more you’d actually never heard her say anything positive about it. Maybe catching Shawn arguing with her on the phone six or so months ago was about this. About you. About your inability to succeed in adult life.

Before anyone could blink, tense atmosphere filling the air between the small crowd as the rest of the unaware house guests continued to party, you darted up the stairs, rushing to the bathroom. Curled over the toilet and stomach tensing tightly, you were yet again reminded that morning sickness was not just for the mornings. Shawn was quick behind you, stroking your back like he always did and offering you a bottle of water he’d managed to grab en route to your side.

Once you felt it was out of your system, you leaned back, your bum sitting against the backs of your ankles as you shakily took the water from Shawn. “I’m sorry about my mom.”

“It’s okay,” you stopped to take another sip, the cold water relieving your dry mouth and the horrible taste that covered it, “I just don’t want her to see me as that person. It makes me feel like she thinks i’m going to be a bad mom...”

“You’re going to be a mom?!” A voice much higher than Shawn’s interrupted, both yours and Shawn’s head flying round to the door where Aaliyah could be seen in the crack.

“‘Liyah, what the fuck!” Shawn screamed, his younger sister repeatedly apologising, only insisting she came to see if you were okay.

Karen appeared in the doorway and once pushed further open, so did Manny, which only made you feel like a pathetic fool as the Mendes clan bickered around you. Shawn was shouting at Aaliyah for having no personal boundaries, whilst Aaliyah screamed back at him for leaving the door open in the first place, whilst Manny shouted at them both for shouting at each other, all whilst Karen ignored the trio and came down to your level, wiping the run mascara that surrounded your eyes. It was a scene from a comedy movie, two young adults fighting ridiculously, the father rolling his eyes at them both and unable to control their anger, and the mother identifying the source of the problem, which just so happened to be you. “Honey, i’m sorry if i upset you, so so sorry.”

“Karen, it’s okay, it’s not you.” You smiled, somewhat meaning it. It was you, really, your hormones were wild and emotions all over the place and boy, didn’t you know about it recently.

“It is, Manny always jokes i’m a cow when i’ve had some wine.”

Shawn stretched his hand out, offering it for you to take so he could help you up from the floor. Once you were straightened up, he repeated the offering to his mother, laughing at her as she stumbled due to the wine still flowing through her body. “Can we just all go back to normal?” Manny suggested, and Karen nodded having no idea what the meeting was about in the first place.

“Normal?! I can’t go back to normal when I just heard that y/n and Shawn are gonna be...” Shawn shot her a look, threatening his younger sibling without words but for once, you didn’t care that she was rambling, that she was going to spill, because that would take the weight off you.

Bickering yet again, the parents tried to speak over their supposedly grown up and adult children, “can someone please just tell us what is going on?!”

You sighed, knowing there was only one way out of this bathroom that would involve everyone making friends and getting along as normal. So when Aaliyah and Shawn simply returned to debating who was the right and wrong sibling, you cleared your throat and exclaimed with laughter, “oh my god!”

“I know! I don’t know how you live with this dumbass, and put with him and-”

Shaking you head and interrupting Aaliyah, who continued to torture her brother, you exclaimed to everyone in the room, all of them turning to face you at the most wonderful confession, “i’m pregnant!”

Another two weeks had flown by, the news of your pregnancy spreading far and wide and unintentionally - you broke instagram. Well, not specifically you, nor Shawn, but all the fans that were greeted with the news on the Saturday evening. The same saturday evening you were sat in Connor’s dining room, enjoying your elderflower presse whilst everyone else devoured the beer and wine. Shawn sipped his like he was 15 and was about to get busted by his mom and dad, despite you telling him to enjoy and drink enough for the both of you.

Mila had decided, that now she was turning 25 she should ditch the clubbing scene and opt for a sophisticated dinner party with her closest and dearest. Sophisticated it was not, jokes and tales getting spilt around the table like a bunch of teenagers playing never have I ever. “Man, that holiday, I swear Shawn and y/n did it, like, six times in one day!” Brain laughed, washing his claim down with another gulp of beer. You laughed and Shawn shouted, defending the two of you with everything he had left in him.

“Making a baby is harder than it seems in the movies!” He confessed, pushing his own beer away from him, not really interested in any form of alcoholic beverage, but more so in staying sensible for you.

Your hand fell under the table, reaching across just slightly to rest on his thigh. His body instantly stilled, bottom lip taken captive in between his teeth at your simple touch. Shawn was a sucker for secret public displays of affection, and of course, you knew that. More than ever, 12 weeks into your pregnancy and coming up the end of your first trimester, all you wanted to do was... well... Shawn.

The theory of your sex drive either noticeably increasing or decreasing during pregnancy was one of the many things you’d read in books and articles but was yet to experience it yourself. Up until this past week, where it severely peaked. Shawn had woken up twice with your body straddling his and lips peppering kisses down his body, until they reached a certain morning perkiness. He had payed you back just once, making himself late for a meeting to which of course he had absolutely no regrets.

The two of you were already significantly late to tonight’s party, hair slightly dishevelled and Shawn’s shirt more creased than first intended. You’d practically pinned him down with no other option than to satisfy your needs. He played on the fact you both shouldn’t have been late, but he was more than happy to skip the starter and have you instead.

He cleared his throat awkwardly as your hand cupped him through the material of his pants and you smirked as you felt it harden immediately. Leaning over and brushing against your ear as everyone else carried on their conversations, he whispered. “We’ll get going soon.” His arm fell to rest on the back of your chair, wrapping around your body as you moved into him, both of your chairs unable to be any closer. Brian commented on how sick it made him feel that two people could be so in love, but Mila shouted in your defence, telling him it was sweet.

Whilst continuous stories jumped from person to person, your hand remained in Shawn’s lap, brushing over her sensitive and needy covered cock every so often which only made him shift in his seat. “Meet me upstairs.” You whispered, standing up from your chair and placing your napkin on the table. Putting on your best queezy smile and letting your hand fall to your stomach, you spoke to the group. “Excuse me, guys, I’m just gonna have minute.”

No further questions were asked as you headed out of the room, making sure to smirk at Shawn one final time before you left completely. He gave it a couple of minutes, and he was about to excuse himself, when Mila asked if him if she should go check on you. “No, sit down birthday girl, I’ve got this. I’ve seen enough pregnancy sickness to last me a lifetime.” He joked as he scrapped his chair from under the table, hoping the hardness in his pants had died down in fear of giving away their secret bathroom date.

At the top of the stairs, in the room to the right, you touched up your lipstick and pushed your make up brush into your skin with a dabbing motion to blot away any oils. The door creaked open and you smiled as your curly haired boy appeared, grinning back as he shut the door behind him, of course making sure to switch the lock. “What’s gotten into you?” He raised his eyebrows as he walked over to you, hands finding your waist as you stared at you both in the mirror. Even when you’re in heels, he was notably taller than you, but he appreciated how he didn’t have to bend down as far to leave soft kisses on your skin. Your slinky dress was a thin material, spaghetti straps only just covering a tiny fraction of your shoulders and ending just above your knees further down your body.

There was nothing bad that Shawn thought about the sudden spike in your sex drive, he was still the 20 something year old guy who fancied the fuck out of his wife and he’d be crazy to turn her away and deny her of her pregnancy needs, right?

“Hopefully you.�� You purred, trying to sound seductive but following it up with a laugh that most definitely made it more comical. Shawn never laughed though, as he dotted his lips across your shoulder and into the crook of your neck, grabbing a fistful of your hair in his hand and moving it out his loving path. *****A groan left your mouth and said hand came up to cover it, making you bite your lip to muffle your approving sounds. His ivory shirt was tight against his arms as he reached up and covered your lips with his large fingers and you adored how he flexed underneath it with each movement. You wriggled your ass playfully, nudging it backwards pushing your palms against the counter surface to steady yourself. His lips never left your skin as his hips pushed into you, covered areas causing a sexual friction that filled the room. If he wasn’t hard before, he most definitely was now.

One hand loosened on your mouth, allowing you to breathe heavily as you tried your best to stifle your moans. The other worked down your body, smoothing down the soft material of your dress until he reached the bottom hem. He made sure to connect his hands with your skin, pulling the dress up with his movement as he palmed back up your leg, stopping when he reached the curve of your ass that was barely covered by the most pathetic set of underwear he’d ever laid eyes on.

You let a moan slip as he grabbed a handful of you firmly, making you smirk beneath your bitten bottom lip. “Shh.” he hummed into your neck, eyes coming up only slightly to watch you in the mirror, admiring how your head was thrown back against him and neck begging to be taken by his hand.

Nodding clumsily, he continued to hike up your dress, letting it gather at your hips and he finally detached from your skin. He leant back, making sure he was still pushed against you and trapping your body in between his and the counter. You were bent slightly forward, back softly arched and hips writhing in an attempt to feel something against your aching core. He didn’t bother to stop you, only quickly reaching down to fiddle with the buckle of his belt and buttons, allowing his pants to fall down his legs. He left his boxers, for now, and returned to palming the skin of your derrière with eagerness. Squatting down, he came face to face with the asset he’d been focusing his hands on, slapping the inside of your thighs as instruction to widen them. Happily obliging, your heels clicked against the floor as you did so, hands no longer resting on the countertop but more so gripping it as you felt his breathe edge closer to your centre.

Your underwear, or lack of, was tugged down your legs and he helped you to lift each ankle as he pulled it over your heels, supporting your body and holding your weight. He scrunched them up and found the pocket of his pants, shoving them in as a personal souvenir. Just as you were about to moan at him for taking his time, his two middle fingers traced down your folds, a squeal echoing through your closed mouth as you tried to contain yourself. He stroked delicately, nudging your clit every other time until he was happy he’d spread your pre juices enough. And when he was happy, his fingers slid into you effortlessly, grabbing himself as they disappeared into you. He couldn’t bare the ache in his fully hardened length, wanting so desperately to skip the pleasantries and slip straight into taking you from behind. Sitting down, instead of awkwardly squatting beneath you, he also switched direction, so he snaked beneath your legs and his back rested against the counter you was facing. His hands reached around the back of your thighs, pulling you closer to his face without warning. Your desperate core brushed against his lips, hands tightening around the sink with white knuckles at the intimate contact.

It took everything in your to not scream out in pleasure. No amount of intimacy in your own home compared to sneaking away from a party and doing the dirty, much like you used to do in the past and you were forever grateful the spark had never died. You were thankful for his strong grip on the back of your thighs, legs shaking as his tongue caressed your folds from underneath you. He wanted to be beneath you forever, to have you squirming and panting just as you were in this moment. He’d never intended for it to be this... full on, when he came to find you in the bathroom. He thought it would maybe a quickie, a little tease, but something innocent and playful had turned into a lustful dream.

You braved your sudden move, removing one hand from the support of the sink and moved it down, grabbing a fistful of brown curls. The action was warmly welcomed, his tongue slipping deep into you almost causing your legs to buckle completely. The way Shawn made you feel, this far into your relationship was a feeling that could never be taken away; the way he loved you like it was the first and last time all rolled into one.

“God, I, I need you to...” you breathed, pausing and inhaling sharply when he tongue flicked over your nub, circling before he moved back to your swollen folds and your entrance “...get back up here.”

Before you could open your eyes well enough to stop seeing stars, he was back behind you, eyes full of lust and need. Your dress was still hunched around your hips, bottom half of your body bare to the air, although, not for long as shawn stepped forward and muffled his hardened area into the curve of your ass, the more prominent hardness pushing inbetween you. You moaned as the feeling of his briefs confirmed he was stilling donning his boxer shorts, desperate for the feel of skin on skin. He smirked as he pulled away, his boxers decorated with wetness that had gathered in between your legs. He also smirked when freed himself; boxers dropping to his ankles and throbbing cock bouncing free and nestling in between your legs, more specifically, between your needy centre.

Hips thrashing backwards, your peachy asset slapped against his rock-hard hips and you were taken by surprise when he grabbed tightly at your hips, stopping you from moving away. The feel of his cock rubbing through your folds caused a whimper as your eyes travelled up to look into the mirror in front of you both. His tall frame, compared to yours, which was half bent over the counter, looked heavenly as he toyed with you, rocking his hips so he rubbed against your throbbing area a few more times. When he decided he’d had enough of watching you quiver with pleasure beneath him, he reached his arm between you, wrapping fingers around his length and guiding it to your entrance.

With one swift motion, his hips fully pushed against your rear, cock sliding into you as you finally felt him fill you. Your head fell down, trying to control your rapid breathing and screams you so desperately wanted to spill, only just remembering a house full of guests were just a floor beneath you both. Shawn reached over to your neck, grabbing a fistful of your hair and yanking your head upwards, eyes burning into you through the mirror. You bit your bottom lip, smiling underneath, as he faintly smiled back, knocking down the barrier of his serious demeanour. Suddenly you felt more than thankful for the increased sex drive, thrilled by the pleasure and view all of which started and ended with Shawn.

Loud cries were threatening to leave your lips, Shawn’s hand having to take rightful place over your mouth every so often when he heard the sweet sound of your whimpers start to fall. Although, he was not one to talk, very much lost in the moment and the fact he was fucking you in his best friends bathroom, even though it would not be the first time. His grunts grew closer together with every thrust he made, his hips slapping against you with an echo to the room. You came to your high with a fistful of your hair in his hand and teeth sunk into your bottom lip, severely struggling to keep hush. He came to his high when he moved his hand to your mouth, his fingers dancing over your lips until you wrapped your plump and - ruined - lipsticked features around them. *****

And just like that, 30 minutes after entering the bathroom, you and Shawn laughed and joked in front of the mirror you’d literally just performed sexual acts in front of. “Is baby M okay?”

“Shawn, having your penis inside me does not affect the baby.” You laughed, yet again fixing your make up having felt like you’d only just done the same task. “And anyway, apparently closer to when you’re due, having sex is actually good for the whole process.”

“Good job we’ve started early then, isn’t it?”

“We never stopped.”

A small tap on the door put a stop to your giggles, and your hand covered your mouth like a naughty school girl. “Are you two okay? I’m concerned about you and i’m worried i’ve poisoned your baby with aubergine bake.” Mila’s muffled voice spoke through the door and you felt bad for making her feel so concerned. Shawn opened the door and you sat yourself down on the closed toilet seat, quickly ripping off some toilet roll and dabbing under your eyes. You felt evil, for going along with it really, but a pregnant lady gotta do what a pregnant lady gotta do.

Mila rushed over, her palm soothing over your back in order to try and be comforting. You had to stifle a laugh as Shawn reached into his pocket and eyebrows furrowed when his fingers grabbed a delicate material that he usually wouldn’t carry around in his pocket. Pulling out just a fraction of what you believed was your underwear, your lips pulled together in a thin line as Mila babbled on about getting you home and to bed. Shawn’s right eye dropped into a wink as he walked out of the room, tucking your lacey garment back into his pocket where no one could see it. You were already thinking about getting home, and how having no underwear on would be of great, great service. Damn hormones.

It was hard to concentrate on anything other than the flowers as you opened your eyes this morning, the bright yellow petals almost blinding you as the sun crept through the blinds and reflected off them. Beneath the vase was a small cup of pills, including your folic acid that you were instructed to take during pregnancy, and a note in which you immediately recognised the hand writing. You were slightly disappointed he had to leave early this morning, the sexual drive in you still being... higher than normal, but the flowers and note made up for his lack of presence, nonetheless.

happy 19 weeks, baby m is a mango this week!

take ur meds

appointment at 1.30, will pick you up for 1

love you :)

Whenever Shawn left before you, he made sure to leave your meds out, usually on your dressing table but today he’d opted for the bedroom side table with his thoughtful gift. Even if he hadn’t left the house before you, he would be constantly reminding you over breakfast, bringing you a glass of water so you had something to swallow them with. The birds were chirping as you pushed your feet into your cloudy slippers, arms stretching out as you braced yourself to stand up from the bed. It was more refreshing to get out of bed when came naturally as opposed to the past few weeks, where your morning sickness had you literally creeping up to usain bolt’s world record as you ran to the toilet. The sickness had almost vanished and you read that it was normal, that it usually did disappear by the 17 week mark. In place of the morning sickness, there was pains. And aches. And twinges. And niggles. And... more pain.

Your lower stomach gurgled as a stabbing sensation shot through and you tried to stroke it in comfort, although you were nowhere close to soothing the pain. Attempting to power through the inconvenience, you decided you must just be hungry, and proceeded to walk through to the bathroom to get a shower.

Craving of ice cream for breakfast and passion fruit martini’s we’re not that uncommon to you at this stage. Of course you couldn’t act upon the martini, but ice cream aplenty, you were trying your hardest to stay away from the freezer and head to the fruit bowl in the mornings. Despite the old saying, ‘you’re eating for two’ - which, in all honesty, was one of the things you was looking forward to - your doctor informed you that no extra calories were needed for intake until possibly around 6 months in.

You’d managed to lay in until 11am this morning, a very rare occasion for you as a general early bird, leaving you a couple of hours to play with until Shawn would be back to pick you up. Those two hours flew by, almost half of it being spent by procrastinating getting ready and watching modern family instead.

When you looked out the front window, only just having put your shoes on, the time was 12.58 exactly and Shawn’s range rover began to pull down the gravelled driveway. His eyes were covered by his ray bans, curls slightly ruffled as if he’d spent his morning running his hands through them, t shirt stopping just above his biceps to reveal a handful of tattoos. The sun glistened against his skin as he stepped out the vehicle, pulling the sunglasses from his face and looking up to see you swooning down on him, sending a blush to your cheeks.

“I’d shout honey I’m home, but you already know.” He laughed as he walked through the door, throwing his sunglasses and car keys onto the side table, walking over to where you stood on the bottom step.

The bottom step gave you extra height, almost enough to be eye level with him as your arms hooked over his shoulders. “As much as i’d love to stand here and listen to your smugness, we got a baby to go see.” He pressed his lips to yours before letting you snake from underneath him, feeling cold with your lack of presence already. The pain and uncomfort in your stomach had continued all morning, but maybe it was the nerves of going to the hospital or the fact you’d rejected your body of ice cream. Shawn was immediately concerned when your let out a small whimper and squinted your eyes shut, caressing your stomach.

“Hey, what’s up?” He met back up with you, hands coming to your hips as support for your aching figure.

“I think we’re just having a bit of an off day,” you forced a smile, although you knew Shawn wouldn’t buy it.

“Well good job we have an appointment then isn’t it.” He moved forward and let his lips push against your forehead, hands never leaving your lips as he left a tender kiss. “Let’s get going.”

You nodded in agreement, stomach twisting with a mixture of nerves and pain. “I’ll just pee first,” you told before walking to the downstairs bathroom, not far from the front door where Shawn stood, twirling his keys in his hands, clearly eager to get you to the hospital.

As soon as the bathroom door shut behind you, another whimper of pain left your lips and you was glad you managed to keep it in until you were out of Shawn’s watch. He worried, a lot, but only because he cared. “Come on baby, just behave for momma,” you whispered, speaking quietly to your stomach as you shuffled over to the toilet. Hooking your fingers through the belt loops of your jeans, you tugged them down, followed by your underwear. It was a process you’d become all too familiar with, baby using your bladder as a trampoline throughout most days. This time was different; your heart dropped and eyes pricked with tears as you looked down, seeing the sight of what you hadn’t seen in quite some time. “Shawn...” you managed, only half sure he’d actually heard you.

“Babe, we’re pushing it for time, can you hurry?” You could tell he was just the other side of the wooden door, voice loud and assertive. Your hand dipped to between your legs and you winced when you were met with more of what you didn’t want.

“Can... can you come in.” you whimpered, and from the tone of your voice he knew something wasn’t right and pulled the door open without hesitation. He saw you sat on the toilet, which was nothing new, but when his eyes wandered down and he saw the blood covering your underwear and hand pulling away from in between your thighs being covered with the same dark red fluid, his heart dropped like yours had one minute prior. Although he could see what was going on, unable to move and body frozen to the floor, you confirmed the situation with two simple words, “i’m bleeding.”

shawn tag-list; @imaginashawnns @fallinallincurls @mendesficsxbombay

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes smut #dad!shawn #dad!shawnmendes

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foxyninjabear · 4 years

Text

A Hacker’s Tale - Chapter 5

[CHAPTER 1] [PREVIOUS CHAPTER]

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!: This fic is rated as PG-14+, so read at your own risk! There’s swearsies, suggestive references, and LOTS of blood and gore! Be aware!

_________________________________________

Sakura

“Bloom.”

Sakura faintly heard her code name being said, muffled by the grogginess of sleep clouding her brain. “Hmm...?”

“Bloom, it’s the morning.” The voice repeated. “And it’s time to meet up with your friends.”

The brunette cracked open her eyes a bit, and glanced over at where she presumed the door was. Her vision blurred as her surroundings got further and further away; she needed her glasses. She patted around her nightstand, felt for her glasses, and slipped them onto the bridge of her nose.

At the door was a familiar blonde man in a brown shirt, with bluish, almost purple eyes. He was introduced to her a few days prior; Zedaph, she believed his name was. He wasn't too bad. He was laid back, a decent person, and although a bit odd, he wasn't awful.

But a small thought crossed her mind for a moment. Why did he know her code name? She had never said anything before then. Not in her interrogation, not to any of the W.E.S. operatives. Nobody.

A familiar memory then popped into the brunette’s mind. Not long after her and every other member of the byte had met up, Lucky admitted that he had been forced to identify all members of the byte. But on the bright side, he had only used aliases, so their actual names weren’t revealed. That’s why Zedaph had called her Bloom.

Sakura sat up from her bed and yawned. “Alright…” She said, before taking the blanket off of her bed and wrapping around herself.

Zedaph raised a brow at the brunette. "Why are you bringing a blanket?" He asked.

She glanced up at the blonde and shrugged. "It's freezing down here," She answered, yawning a bit. "And I'm tired…"

The man was quiet for a moment, pursing his lips in thought. "...Alright." He answered, giving her a nod. "Now c'mon."

The brunette slowly stood up from her bed, shuffling over to the door and exiting her cell-like room. Alongside Zedaph, she waddled down the hallway, rubbing her tired eyes and wrapping the blanket further around her body as she shivered.

"I mean, you weren't wrong when you said it was cold down here," Zedaph said, chuckling a bit and wrapping his arms around himself. “I’m getting goosebumps myself!”

Sakura smiled a bit and laughed back. "Yeah…"

However, her smile soon faded with the sound of their soft chuckles. It might have been true that the underground bunker was chilly, even though it was the summertime. But it wasn’t her intention to keep warm. The blanket was only part of a plan.

A massive plot to break out and escape.

Before she knew it, she and Zedaph had arrived at the ‘meeting room’. In reality, it was more like a supply closet that had been emptied of everything except the unbearable amount of dust floating around. But is was better than nothing.

The blonde opened the door and allowed Sakura to walk inside. To her dismay, she saw that everyone else apart of her team was there before her. They must have been waiting on her again. She didn’t know the exact distance her cell was from the meeting room, but she could easily assume that it was the farthest out of everyone else’s.

But she didn’t have time to complain or apologize. They all had to get work done.

Sakura waited for Zedaph to lock the door, and once his footsteps echoed into silence, she opened her mouth to speak. “Okay, so what does everyone have?”

Everyone was silent for a second. But then Nix raised his hand, before he tossed something into the air in Sakura’s direction. Once the brunette caught it, she realized what it was, and her brown eyes widened; duct tape. Three brand new rolls of multicolored duct tape, still encased in their clear plastic packaging.

She lifted her eyes back up to the young medic, amazed. “Nix, where did you find this?” She asked.

Nix said nothing. He only shrugged and gestured to the door with his thumb. But Sakura did manage to see a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

Either way, she was happy about what the medic had to offer. "Thank you, Nix. This will be very useful," She said, before shifting her gaze to the remaining members of the group. "Anyone else?"

"Yeah," Grey nodded, before tossing a bundle over to her. “All I got was a bedsheet,” He said, frowning a bit. "Sorry, kiddo."

Instead, Sakura smiled and shook her head. "No, this will do nicely," She assured as she tucked the roll under her mechanical arm. "Thank you, Grey." She then shifted her focus onto the rest of the byte. "Do any of you have anything else?"

Most of her colleagues shook their heads or said something along the lines of 'No'. But Coda, instead of having everyone else's reaction, she flashed a proud, sharp-toothed smile.

"I thought you'd never ask," She stated. "I managed to get somethin' fuckin' sweet. But I did have to hide it in an…" She then reached her hand up to grasp the zipper on her jumpsuit. "Interesting way."

It took a moment for Sakura to realize what Coda meant. And once she did, she felt her face turn a bright shade of red. "O-oh gosh…!"

Coda burst out laughing as the brunette averted her gaze and shielded her eyes with her hands. “Aww, don’t be shy!~”

Nightingale let out an annoyed sigh. “Just get it over with and show us what you have, Coda.”

“Yes, ma’am~”

“And keep it clean!”

Sakura could hear a zipper being undone, some cloth rustling, and then the zipper zipping back up. “A...are you done…?” She asked, her cheeks still burning.

“Yeah,” Coda replied, and the brunette sighed in relief. “You can turn ‘round now.”

Sakura hesitantly removed her hands from her face to look back at the creeper, and she saw two things. One, she indeed had her jumpsuit zipped back up, which Sakura was more than happy about. And two, to her amazement, Coda had something that would be more than useful; one of the metal trays that the W.E.S. employees were using to serve food.

The brunette’s eyes weren’t the only ones wide in shock. Synth, for example, appeared as if his jaw would drop to the floor at any moment. "How in the world did you manage to not draw any suspicion?" Synth asked.

Coda shrugged and smiled a bit. "Eh, I've got one of the stupid ones bringin' me meals.” She answered, handing off the tray to Sakura. “Guy forgets to take the tray back half the time. He barely even noticed that one went missing."

The redhead chuckled. “Which one?”

“The toothpick. With the moustache.” Coda laughed back, grinning more. “And he’s already terrified of me, so I sorta have free reign over ‘em.”

Grey sighed and shook his head back and forth. “You really won’t ever change, will you kid?”

The creeper rolled her eyes at her mentor, but still had a smile on her lips. “Would you ever want me to?”

The older man chuckled. “I don’t think it’s even possible at this point.”

Several chuckles sounded out throughout the room, and more conversations arose among most of the soldiers. Even Sakura herself was starting to talk, after hiding the metal tray beneath her blanket. She could honestly get used to the chatter. Even though she barely knew those people, she was growing somewhat fond of them- Three loud raps suddenly sounded on the door, silencing everyone immediately. “Twenty minutes are up!” A man’s voice sounded out. She knew it belonged to the man that seemed to be made entirely out of slime (she didn't question it; she had seen enough weird people in the time of the byte arriving in that World), but what was his name again? Jevin?

“Aw, c’mon jelly bean!” Coda groaned in annoyance. Sakura couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at the fitting nickname. “Can’t y’hear we’re having fun in here?”

“You’ve gotten used to the limit by now!” The man replied, ignoring the creeper’s remark. “Time to get out!”

Sakura sighed, holding her contraband close to her blanketed figure. “Alright…” She walked towards the door, but glanced back towards her teammates and gave them a smile. “See you all tomorrow.” She said, before walking out the door with her precious cargo.

She glanced around at the group of people outside the door. The usual escorts were there, one (or sometimes two) for each of her colleagues. Among them was the man assigned to her; Zedaph.

“You still cold?” He asked as the two started to walk off down the halls.

Sakura made a small pouty face. She had to keep up the act. “It’s chilly!”

The blonde laughed. “Okay, okay!” He replied.

The two didn’t exchange many more words before they finally arrived at Sakura’s cell. “I’ll be back in about an hour with your breakfast, alright?” He said, opening the door and letting the shorter woman inside.

Sakura gave a small smile and nodded. “Alright. See you then.”

As she turned around, she heard the door close behind her with a long creak and a click, signifying it had been locked. She continued to stand still for a moment and waited for Zedaph's footsteps to fade away. She knew she couldn't risk anything.

Soon, there was nothing but total silence. Silent enough for her ears to ring. She glanced over her shoulder one more time, before sitting down, taking off her blanket, and spreading out the supplies she was given.

And she immediately started to grow uneasy at the task before her.

Sakura gazed at all of the materials set out in front of her and bit her nails. What was she supposed to do with a flimsy metal tray, a bedsheet, and duct tape?

Knowing she had to start somewhere, she took the tray in her hands and attempted to bend it. To her pleasant surprise, it started to fold with relative ease. As easy as it could possibly be to fold a sheet of shaped metal. Maybe she could use those after all…

The woman looked back down at the cloth and tape next to her. Ideas started flowing into her head, one after the other, and a small smile crept up onto her lips. She knew exactly what she could do.

"Alright, Sakura…" She muttered to herself. "You have made it this far… time to make the final stretch." She rubbed her hands together and rolled up her torn and dirty sleeves.

Time to get to work.

~~~~~

Sakura rubbed her eyes and yawned. She had been up for (what she presumed to be) most of the day and the night, tinkering and experimenting with her mismatched supply of contraband in between the times that Zedaph had delivered her meals. Her natural hand was starting to form a couple blisters from all of the work she was doing. Not to mention all of the small scrapes and cuts she had along her palm that stung every time she flexed her fingers.

But her hard work was definitely paying off. Laid out on the tile in front of her were several makeshift knives. Seven, to be exact. Their jagged blades were fashioned out of the food tray (after she had finally managed to fold it enough so it would break), and their handles were made from torn scraps of the bedsheets and the tape.

She had a remaining scrap of the bedsheet left, so to keep all of the shivs in one place, she decided to wrap them all up into one small parcel. A tired sigh of relief escaped her lips, and she shuffled over to her bed and collapsed. Her eyelids drooped and got heavier and heavier, and she slipped closer and closer into dreamland-

“Bloom? You awake?”

Zedaph’s voice made her snap her eyes wide open in an instant. She almost jumped right out of her bed from the surprise, and nearly dropped her bundle of knives onto the floor. “Wh-what…?”

Zedaph spoke again. “It’s morning.”

“A...already?” Sakura asked, trying to sit up without revealing her contraband. She tried to yawn to make it seem like she had just woken up.

“Yup. Time for you to meet up with the others.”

“J...just one second…!” She stuttered out, trying her best to add in another fake yawn to her speech. She held the bundle close and wrapped her blanket around herself to conceal it. “Alright, ready.” She then stood up from her bed and shuffled out of her room, holding her parcel close as she tagged alongside the blonde.

To her relief, Zedaph didn't seem to suspect a thing as they walked. He appeared just as tired as she was, perhaps even more. But then again, Sakura could easily assume that just about every single W.E.S. operative in the World was, at that point. She didn’t know how much time had passed since the massive battle between them and the rest of her fellow soldiers, but it had been long enough to where everyone seemed to be losing sleep.

The blonde led Sakura to the ‘meeting’ room, and let her in without a hitch. “Twenty minutes as always,” He yawned. “Have fun.”

The brunette nodded and smiled at Zedaph, before he closed the door behind her and locked it. She turned back to her fellow soldiers, who had all, once again, arrived before she had. However, at that point, none of them (including herself) seemed to care at that point. They were all dirty, weakened, and determined to go home.

Coda was the first to speak, lowering her voice a bit and leaning closer to Sakura. “You got the goods?” She asked.

Synth let out a snort. “You make it sound like she’s dealing crack, geez.”

“Shut the fuck up, Synth,” The creeper rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her friend. "But really, you got somethin’ we can use?"

Sakura nodded, and pulled out the small bundle from inside her blanket. “I made seven. One for each of us.” She pinched a corner of the bedsheet and unraveled the parcel to reveal the hastily made knives.

Coda’s eyes locked on the blades with interest. “Holy shit…” She said. Her jet black gaze shifted upwards to Sakura. “You made these? In just a few hours?”

The brunette gave a sheepish smile back. “Well, it wasn’t just a few hours… I've been up since yesterday-”

“These are fuckin’ amazing!”

The creeper cut her off and snatched one of the knives in Sakura’s hands. “Sure, they would look shitty as fuck to anybody else, but they aren’t!” She grinned at the shorter woman. “A lot better than I could do.”

Synth raised an eyebrow. “Since when did you know how to make a shiv?”

Coda glanced over at her friend. “Does it surprise ya?”

The redhead let out a chuckle. “Point taken.”

“N..not to be mean, but…” Lucky’s quiet voice then sounded, drawing the group’s attention to him. He made a timid gesture to the blades. “H...how do you know that they’re good? They look like they would do more scratching than cutting…”

Coda’s lips pressed into a firm line. “Watch ‘n learn, techie.” Before anyone could object, she took her blade and pressed the tip against her scaled finger. Just as she did, a small, emerald green bubble formed. “See? It’s damn sharp! If it can get through my scaly ass skin that easily, then it can get through anybody else's like it’s fuckin’ butter.”

The shorter blonde was obviously taken aback by the creeper’s sudden action. “D...did you just stab your finger?”

“Yeah, I fuckin’ stabbed my finger. So what-”

“We’re getting off track.”

Nightingale’s cold voice pierced the air and filled it with silence. “We need to make the most of these twenty minutes. We cannot waste them.”

Lucky flinched back a bit. “Y-yes ma’am…!”

Coda was quiet, but soon spoke. “Yes, boss…”

“Good. Now, remember our plan,” Nightingale started, her dark gaze shifting from person to person. “We take out every threat we find, quickly and quietly. We cannot draw attention to ourselves. If you need to spill some blood, do what you must. Just make it discreet. And while at it, you make your way around to meet up with your partners at your discussed locations.”

“Once we have everyone incapacitated and have all found each other, we close in on Xisuma,” The ebony woman continued. “And we must be just as careful taking him down as with the others. You all have seen how powerful he is; one slip up and we’re all done for. Once he’s dead, we can get our equipment back and call for an extraction.”

Nightingale’s eye landed on Lucky, and Sakura could have sworn she saw that her gaze had softened for a moment. “And Lucky. We’ll get the extraction team to find Jazz and bring him home. Alright?”

The short blonde lifted his head from the floor, locking his bloodshot eyes on her. “Yes ma’am…”

A moment of somber silence passed. It was still hard for Sakura to believe that one of her teammates was dead. Sure, she had been sent out on missions before, and her other colleagues hadn't made it back to Fort Oblivion alive, but this was different. From what she gathered in the short time she knew him, Jazz was both strong and smart. A prime example of someone who could have been a skilled and admirable commander one day. Not someone who would have their life cut short by hacker powerful enough to leech.

At least he would be remembered as a hero. A strong, dedicated soldier who fought to the bitter end. She was happy that Lucky would have that to comfort him.

“And on a side note," Nightingale gently broke the silence after what seemed like ages. "There’s no need to call me ‘ma’am’ anymore.”

Sakura blinked, confused. What did she mean? She was technically the leader of the byte; she had to be respected as such.

“We’ve all been placed at the same level here,” Nightingale continued. “So Angel will do just fine.”

The brunette tilted her head slightly. Angel. If she had to be one hundred percent honest with herself, she was expecting something much less...dainty? Elegant? She didn't quite know how to describe it. Sure, her surperior's code name was Nightingale, but that was just it; a code name. An alias.

"And personally," The woman spoke again, further gaining Sakura's curiosity of the sudden request. A small smile then tugged at the corners of her dark lips. "You have all gained my respect." Her raven gaze landed on Coda for a moment, before returning to the others. "No matter how much you may get under my skin. You all have proven yourself to be fine soldiers. With what we've faced in the past several days, I would even say that Ecryptos himself would be impressed."

Sakura's eyes widened a bit. Was Nighten- er, Angel, being serious? She didn't know in the slightest. But then again, even in the time she had known her, Sakura had gotten a vibe from the infamous sniper that said she wasn't one for spreading lies.

“Now, are there any questions?” Angel asked out. Silence. “Good.” She glanced over towards the door. Their time was almost up. “Now… Good luck out there. All of you.”

Sakura gave the sniper a salute alongside everyone else. This was it. The escape was going to be set in motion in a matter of hours.

Now all she had to do was wait.

~~~~~

All was silent as Sakura crept through the hallways, careful not to make a sound. The faint echoes of water dripping and an animal or two scurrying across the dirty tile were all she could hear. It didn’t exactly provide a calm atmosphere, to say the least. Especially when she felt something dart across her boot and she had to suppress the urge to scream and jump where she stood.

But she wasn’t all that surprised that there was the occasional rodent down in that bunker; it was still quite new, and partially under construction from what she could tell. A number of the hallways led to dead ends with dirt piles, some of the walls were just plain gravel or earth, instead of the usual polished stone. And the amount of dust and grime always gathering in the place was a dead giveaway that the bunker was hard to keep clean in some places, primarily the ones that were used the least often.

She started to approach an intersection of hallway. All was still and silent. Too silent. Even if she knew it might have been a good sign, she couldn’t help but feel slightly on edge.

But she took a breath to reassure herself. Everything had gone alright so far. She had managed to knock Zedaph unconscious with a swift blow to the head when he came in to deliver her dinner; she had managed to build up his trust in her, enough so that she could get him to let his guard down around her. As an extra precaution, she had tied him up with bedsheets. And on top of that, nobody had managed to find her yet. She may have felt guilty, but it was what she had to do. All she needed to do now was meet up with Synth outside the infirmary, and everything would be-

Voices echoed from down the hallway. Sakura stopped dead in her tracks, and the hairs on the back of her neck raised. She knew she had to get out of sight, but she was right out in the open! Nothing to hide behind except the corner.

She had to make do with what she had. So she slammed herself against the wall, holding her knife close. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, feel the sweat dripping down her forehead. All she could do was listen and hope they wouldn’t come far enough down the hallway to spot her.

One voice she immediately recognized. The ultimate target of the whole escape plan; Xisumavoid. “Grian, I told you I’m alright.” He said in an assuring, almost annoyed tone. Like a parent worrying when their child has tripped and scraped their knee, and the child repeatedly telling them that they are okay.

The other voice, presumably belonging to someone named Grian, Sakura didn’t recognize. All she could tell was that it was definitely male. “But X, those bruises on your neck look really bad!” He replied. “Just drink part of a healing potion!”

“The others need them more than I do. I can manage.”

By the sound of his voice, Grian wasn’t having any of it. “You could have been killed by that woman, X! I don’t care if you have those fancy hacker powers; she nearly choked you to death with that wire!”

“But I’m alive,” Xisuma retorted. “And that’s all that matters. So what if I have some purple rings around my neck for a few days?”

Grian huffed. “Okay, fine,” He finally gave in, and a short moment of silence followed. “And X?”

“Yeah?”

Grian was quiet for another second, and a pair of footsteps ceased, presumably his. “...why didn’t you tell any of us that you were a hacker?”

The other set of footfalls stopped, followed by a moment of tense silence. But even if she was scared, Sakura was growing curious of the situation. Xisuma’s colleagues didn’t know he was a hacker? It somewhat made sense; hacking was something that was a very controversial subject to many people in countless Worlds, and as far as Sakura knew, it had been for a long time. Some people were accepting of it, but with how dangerous altering code could be, hackers were often viewed as a danger to both themselves and society.

But Grian didn’t sound mad or disgusted in the slightest. He almost sounded sad, disappointed. As if he thought Xisuma could trust him with any secret, no matter how dark or shameful it could be.

She had to know what Xisuma’s answer was going to be. Her curiosity was too great, too tempting. Staying as still and as quiet as she could, she continued to listen.

There was still a tense silence, but soon a sigh from the hacker broke it. “I…” He started, his words trailing off. “I guess because I never thought I would have to tell anyone in the first place.”

Sakura’s curiosity only grew at the response. She had to resist the urge to pop around the corner and ask Xisuma himself.

“Oh…” That was the only word Grian said for a long moment. “...you know you can tell any of us anything, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Grian let out a sigh. “Good.” He said. “Well… I better get back to Cub. He’s still a bit short handed.”

Xisuma chuckled. “See you, Grian.”

A small burst of static sounded followed Xisuma finishing his sentence. He must have teleported somewhere, and hopefully, far enough away for Sakura to continue navigating around the bunker and finding Synth.

Instead of taking her time, like before, she broke out into a swift walk. Still quiet enough to not be detected, but much faster than her former pace.

And yet she continued to weave through the expanse of hallways and corridors for what felt like hours. Part of her mind was wondering if she was actually headed the right way. Everything looked almost exactly the same; the walls, the tile, the flickering lights. She felt like she was in a cheesy horror movie.

But then she saw something familiar out of the corner of her eye. Or rather, someone. She had nearly passed him as she was walking past a corridor she thought she had already gone through. The redhead was leaning up against a wall, next to a window peering into another room.

Sakura’s eyes widened, and she smiled. “Synth!” She whispered, and dashed over to him as quick as she could. “Sorry, I got lost…” She let out a sigh and wiped some sweat off her forehead. “This place is like a maze!”

The redhead glanced down at her and shook his head. “You’re fine, trust me,” He assured, a charming grin on his face. “But we need to move, and sooner rather than later. Come on.”

Synth then started walking down the hallway, and Sakura followed. But she couldn’t help but glance into the windowed room as she passed by it. She presumed it was the infirmary; there were several people asleep in beds, with various injuries. There were several she recognized right off the bat; Doc, with his broken arm in a sling, and False, who apparently didn’t have any injuries at all, apart from a bruise on the side of her head. But there was one other in a cot, who was almost completely covered in gauze. And he had both an arm and a leg missing. All she could tell was that he was a red creeper-

Wait. The creeper. She recognized him. It was PythonGB, fierce warrior and former soldier that Lucky identified while everyone was still back at Fort Oblivion. He was also one of the people who tried to get away from her R.O.S.A. before it could detonate.

And now he appeared to be on the verge of death.

Her eyes widened as she gazed at the creeper through the glass. “Did...d-did I do that to him…?” She whispered to Synth.

Synth stopped walking. He must have heard her. "Pardon?" He glanced over his shoulder at Sakura. “What was that?”

Sakura lifted up her cybernetic arm and gestured to Python’s severely injured figure in his bed. “D-did I… did I injure him that badly? W-when my R.O.S.A. exploded?”

The taller redhead lifted his grey eyes to where the woman was pointing. “Oh wow…” He replied, sounding genuinely surprised. “He looks worse than the last time I saw him. Last time he had both arms.”

Sakura’s heart stopped for a moment, her eyes widening. He didn’t lose his arm and leg at the same time? Maybe gangrene had set in to his arm, too much infection to risk keeping the limb. Or it could have been the fact that whoever was doing the amputations couldn’t stomach doing both the leg and the arm at once. The thought of having to cut off a colleague’s dying limbs was one that made Sakura sick.

Synth was silent for a second, as if thinking of a response. “Well, your mech did explode. Quite violently, as far as I’ve heard. I wouldn’t say that you necessarily made him lose a limb or two, but I will say this.” A small smile spread across his face. “Either way, you helped put him in that bed. And now you’ve made our job much easier.”

The man’s last words turned the brunette’s heart into lead. The feeling of being weighed down with guilt and shame almost made her feel like she needed to sit down. She did that to Python… She was the one that accidently activated the self destruct sequence on her R.O.S.A. when its engines went offline. If she hadn’t done that, so many people would have been okay…

Including Jazz.

She saw him retreating with Nightingale before the explosion knocked her unconscious. He should have been safe, given he was outside the immediate blast zone, but it was the resulting shrapnel that killed him. She saw a massive metal plate hit him and practically rip him right open-

"Sakura!"

Synth's harsh whisper made her train of thought come to a screeching halt. “What, what is it?” She whispered back.

The taller man pressed a finger against his lips and signalled her to be quiet. As the air was consumed by the silence, at first she didn’t hear anything. But after a moment, she could just about make out almost inaudible footsteps, the soles of shoes barely squeaking against the tile.

Someone was there.

And Sakura felt like a deer in the headlights as they rounded the corner and stopped where they stood once they saw the two escapees. Standing less than a couple of meters away was a short man in a red shirt, his dirty blonde hair disheveled and messy, and his dark brown eyes wide in shock.

“...uhhhhhh.” Once he let out his surprised reaction, the brunette felt taken aback herself; she recognized his voice from before. The one talking to Xisuma. It was Grian.

Synth was quick to act, and he pointed his knife him. “I would advise against trying to scream and run,” He stated calmly. “Now, just come over here, and you might live to see another day.”

The blonde was still in a silent shock for one more moment, but soon shook his head and cleared his throat. “Look, we don’t need to fight,” He said, holding his palms out. “Just slide the knives over and-”

A soft click sounded through the air, and Grian froze where he stood. A new voice sounded from behind him, one that Sakura could recognize immediately. A woman, harsh and confident in her words.

“You move, I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out. Gottit?”

Coda!

A feeling of relief washed over the brunette. Thank goodness! A smile spread across her face as she saw the creeper step slightly out from behind Grian, her gun still trained on his head.

“On your knees,” The creeper growled. “And hands over your head. Now.”

“Okay, okay, alright!” The shorter man stated, before slowly beginning to lift his hands upwards.

“Good choice, blondie.” Coda grinned, and she reached her hand forward, presumably to grab the man.

But just before she could do anything, Grian suddenly spun around to throw a punch at Coda. His fist planted right on her jaw with a loud crack, causing her to stumble back.

“GAH!” Coda rubbed the side of her face, dark green blood now dribbling out of her mouth and down her chin. She looked back over at Grian and spat in his direction. “You lil’ son of a…!”

She nearly fell as the blonde charged at her, trying to snatch the gun out of her hand. But to Sakura’s surprise, Coda roughly grabbed his arm and, like he weighed absolutely nothing, flung him against the wall, before pinning him there by both shoving her forearm onto his throat and jabbing the barrel of her pistol on his side.

Coda grinned at her success, and jammed the gun further against her opponent’s stomach. "Y'know… it's a good thing you're wearin' red," She said, gesturing to his red sweater. She leaned closer to his face and smiled wider, not afraid to show off her now blood coated teeth. "It'll hide the stains~"

Grian gasped in pain as the creeper pressed her pistol harder against him, but he kept his dark brown gaze locked on her. “I’m not afraid of you,” He stated.

Sakura could have sworn that she saw Coda’s grin falter for a split second. "Uh huh. Sure." The soldier said, sarcasm dripping from her words. She kept her gun trained on him. “Y’wanna make a bet on it, blondie?”

The blonde’s expression remained the same; unafraid. “Then go ahead. Shoot me.” He stated, leaning his face closer to hers. “I already told you that I’m not scared. Of any of you, for that matter.”

A sinking feeling began to form in Sakura’s stomach. What was Grian doing? Sure, he was an enemy, but she knew antagonizing Coda wasn’t good at all. She had seen it happen back at the Hive, but Synth had managed to drag her away before she could do anything to Jazz. Now Coda had a gun… and that combined with a short temper was a recipe for disaster.

And to her horror, her prediction was correct. Just as Grian opened his mouth to say something, the creeper suddenly yanked him by the shirt collar and threw him onto the floor before he could finish. She then sent her foot towards him, kicking him in the stomach. A loud crack could be heard along with Grian's cry of pain.

"Coda!" Sakura cried out, and rushed over to her to try and pull her away. "Just calm down!" She grasped her arm and tried to tug her away, but the creeper didn't budge, and continued to repeatedly pummel Grian with a series of hard kicks.

Synth apparently had the same goal in mind. "Coda, calm down!" Synth demanded, dashing over to his friend and wrapping his arms around her. "We cannot reveal where we are!" He hissed, pulling her away from the beaten man on the floor.

Coda continued to glare daggers at the blonde as she spoke. “If this prick would shut the fuck up, then maybe I’d stop!”

Sakura nervously glanced down at Grian on the floor. He was glaring up at the three soldiers, his breathing labored. “Xisuma… is gonna find you…” He said, his eyes filled with anger. “All of you… every one of you in your little Shadowbyte Army-”

Sakura reeled back and shrieked as Coda’s gun suddenly went off with an ear shattering BANG. She heard Grian scream out in pain just as dozens of crimson flecks sprayed over her face and the cracked lenses of her glasses. Blood.

"Coda, what the hell?!" Synth demanded, grabbing her shoulder and roughly turning her to face him. "You just blew our position!"

"They know who we are, dude!" Coda exclaimed, sounding like she barely cared about the fact that she just shot someone. After a split second, her coal black eyes then shined with a red hot fury. As if she realized something in her head. "Of course… that fuckin' techie! He's a fuckin' snitch!!" She growled and stomped once on the tile. "I swear, I'm gonna beat the shit outta that kid once I get a hold of 'em!"

Sakura immediately knew who she was talking about. Lucky. Did he reveal anything during the interrogation besides everyone's code names? Somebody from the byte must have; Grian (or anybody else, for that matter) wouldn’t have known otherwise.

But she didn’t have time to stand and question. Before she could say anything, Synth had grabbed her hand and forced her to break out into a run. “Come on!” He ordered. “We need to get out of here, NOW!”

“O-okay, okay!” She managed to spit out a couple of words as she started to move alongside him and Coda. However, she couldn’t help but glance back at Grian as she was running. He was sprawled out on the floor and clutching his side, blood pouring out of his gunshot wound and steadily pooling beneath him.

But it was his screaming that made her almost stop.

Almost.

She knew she couldn’t stop running. As much as she wanted to, Grian was the enemy. And there was no way she could help him, even if it weighed her down with more guilt.

Sakura turned her eyes away from the man on the floor as she rounded a corner. She nearly slipped in a puddle of water and had to stumble while she ran to regain her balance. Voices bounced and echoed off the walls and the tile. The voices of the HermitCraft members. Yelling. Screaming. Crying.

But the woman kept running. She kept her eyes wide open. She didn't care how tired she was. She wanted, no, needed to escape-

And then she saw someone. Somebody that wasn't Coda or Synth. But it wasn't an enemy; it was a friend. As she and her two colleagues went around another corner, she saw a grey-haired man, also running. His tattered white jumpsuit stood out against the darkness of the hallway.

Grey.

"Old man!" Coda called and dashed over to run alongside him, Sakura and Synth following behind. “Wait, where’s the boss lady and your side kick?"

“Coda! You made it!” The man exclaimed as the group of four continued to dash through the halls. “I thought I was the only one! I got separated from Nix and Angel a while back. I thought they’d meet me up here, but none of them showed.”

Sakura’s eyes widened a bit. There was one person not accounted for. “Where’s Lucky?” She huffed out. “You haven’t seen him?”

“What?” Grey asked. “No, I thought you guys would’ve!”

“No time for questions!” Synth interrupted the conversation. "Right now we have to run!"

Sakura could barely tell where she and her three colleagues were headed. Everything was flying by so fast, too quick to make out any landmarks. If that were even possible, in that labyrinth of a bunker. How did the members of HermitCraft even get around without getting lost?

The brunette was about to try and speak her mind when she finally recognized something; the grand set of stairs that led up to the surface. She could almost feel her heart explode with happiness as the group and her ran up the stairs and burst through the doors, into the compound.

She and the rest of her group ran past the many buildings, past the compound wall, and into the massive field. She could just about see a massive crater not too far away, the ground and grass charred black. Her stomach churned; she knew exactly what had happened in that place. But then she lifted her head to the sky…

And saw sunlight. Warm, beautiful sunlight from the rising sun on the horizon. Sakura had to resist the urge and want to stop running and lay down on the grass, cherish and embrace the moment.

But she couldn’t stop running. Not with everything that was on the line.

“There!” Coda stated out, and Sakura snapped her brown gaze towards the creeper. “Head towards the woods!” She had her hand pointing out, where a large line of trees could be seen, easily within running distance. As if they were all in sync, a single unit, everyone made the sharp turn and ran into the forest and among the trees and brush.

Now, Sakura wasn't afraid to admit that she was plump. She didn't care that much about her weight, in terms of looks; she just had always been this short and round person, no matter how much she exercised and trained. Plus, she had grown to think of herself as cute, weight regardless. But in terms of athletics, a thing she never really had to worry about once she gained her position in the Army's Engineering division, she definitely knew her weight and body type wasn't exactly ideal.

Especially when she tripped and tumbled over a large tree root. One that had easily been avoided by her three (and much more athletic) colleagues.

"Woah!" The brunette cried out in surprise as she fell and slammed into the ground. Immediately a sharp, stabbing pain shot through her ankle, and a loud crack sounded out. “Owowowowowowooowwww!”

Not a moment after her cry of pain, she heard footsteps rapidly approach her, twigs and sticks cracking and snapping. “Oh shit!” To her relief, it was Coda’s voice. “Hold on, I gotcha!”

Sakura lifted her head up, and sure enough, Coda was right at her side and kneeling down. "C'mon, gimme your arm," She said, before firmly grasping her mechanical hand and started helping her to her feet.

The brunette heard more footsteps as Coda wrapped her cybernetic arm over her shoulders. "Kid! You alright? Can you walk?" She heard Grey ask.

She looked up at the man and shook her head. "I-I don't know…" She said. "I can try- OW!" But as she tried to put weight on her injured ankle, another wave of pain washed over her.

"Yeah, you ain't walkin'," Coda stated, shaking her head.

"But-"

"Nope! C'mon, up y'go!"

Before Sakura could respond, Coda suddenly scooped her up off the ground and held the brunette in her arms. "H-hey! Put me down! I can-"

"Both of you, just stop!"

The two women were silenced by Synth raising his voice, so much so it almost sounded threatening. Sakura shifted her brown eyes to the man, who had a grim expression on his face.

"Coda," He started. "You're right. Sakura is in no position to be running. But you and Grey need to move further ahead. Sakura and I can meet up with you later."

Coda's pitch black eyes went wide. "What?! Dude, there's no fuckin' way I'm leavin' anybody here!" Coda stated. "Nobody’s gettin' left behind!"

Synth shook his head. "We have to split up, Coda!" He countered. "The W.E.S. members can only spread themselves out so far! This is our only shot for all of us getting out of here!" He then placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a nod and a smile. Not his signature sly, almost sinister grin. This one looked gentle, much more friendly. "And besides, we'll be right behind you."

Coda was silent, her lips pressed into a firm line. But after a moment, she lifted her eyes back up and spoke. "Y'better be." She stated, before gently setting Sakura back down on her feet. “If ya aren’t, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

The redhead laughed, removing his hand from her shoulder. “Good luck,” He glanced over at Grey and nodded. “Both of you.” “You too, kiddo,” Grey said, before he and Coda turned around and made their way further into the woods, and not a moment later, disappeared among the trees and foliage.

Sakura and Synth were completely on their own now.

“Here, come on,” Synth held his hand out to Sakura. They had to keep moving. “Let me help you.”

The brunette flinched in pain as she tried to move, but soon grasped Synth’s hand, and allowed him to hoist her mechanical arm over his shoulders, just like Coda had. It may have been a little awkward, given the major height difference between the two, but they still managed to make it work.

"Thank you, Synth…" Sakura said, whimpering a bit as they both began to walk.

Synth looked down at the woman and smiled. "No need to thank me," He replied. "We're in this together-"

A bright flash of pixels suddenly appeared before them, and Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as she shrieked. What was that? A glitch? The World was still quite young… it wouldn't be much of a stretch for that to happen.

But once she opened her eyes, her heart dropped. Standing in front of her and Synth was none other than the one they meant to take out in the first place, flanked by two people armed with guns that obviously belonged to the Shadowbyte soldiers; Jazz's shotgun and Synth's assault rifle. A gleaming sword was grasped in the armored man's hand, and his eyes were locked on the pair.

It was Xisumavoid. And he had found them.

“Bloom, Mimic,” Xisuma started. He took a small step forward towards the pair of escapees. “Just drop the knives, okay? Give me the knives.”

Sakura’s eyes darted around in a panic, and she clutched her shiv tighter. There had to be a way out of that situation. They could run away- no, Xisuma could teleport, and the two people next to him had guns. Maybe they could try and fight- no, that wouldn’t be smart either! She couldn’t even run! What could they do?!

Her mind continued to race, and every idea she came up with sounded more ludicrous than the last. She had to come up with something. Anything! But soon, a grim realization crept into her mind.

They failed. She failed. Failed. As a soldier, as a colleague…

A sad sigh escaped her mouth. She really did have no other choice, didn't she? So, full of regret and shame, she closed her eyes and tossed the makeshift blade onto the dirt at Xisuma's feet.

It was over.

~~~~~

There was a tense and awkward silence in the stuffy air. Xisuma had taken Sakura back down into the bunker, but to her surprise, he didn’t take her to her cell. Instead, he took her straight to the infirmary and let her sit down on an empty bed. At that moment, he was wrapping up her ankle in thick white gauze, which she found extremely odd.

It didn’t exactly help that half of the people in the room were throwing weird or dirty glances in her direction.

Not much had changed since the last time she had seen the infirmary. All she noticed was that Grian was there now, and thankfully alive. He appeared to be unconscious in one of the beds, his torso completely wrapped in bandages. A small crimson stain could be seen slowly blooming through the white gauze covering his side. Several empty glass bottles lay on the metal table next to his bed, filled with the faint residue of a glowing pinkish red liquid. Healing or regeneration potions, perhaps. And a lot of them.

A small question formed in her mind, and she became slightly confused. Xisuma was a hacker… and he had the ability to heal himself, as far as she knew. Coda shoved a sword right through his heart, and yet he survived. Why wasn’t he healing the others? He didn’t have to use potions and brews.

She thought that maybe he could only use invincibility hacks. But she soon realized an immediate contradiction with that. Invincibility hacks were based on healing hacks. A hack that branched off of another, in a sense. He had to have learned to heal before he could make himself temporarily immortal. It didn’t make sense.

But Sakura had to shake the question out of her mind. She had things right in front of her to focus on. Much more important things. Like the fact that the one who was supposedly her enemy was attempting to patch up her broken ankle.

Why would Xisuma do that? He may not have killed any of her teammates, but it was still odd. Maybe he just wanted them all alive in order to press charges once he was able to contact the authorities in outside Worlds. There were so many questions, and yet so few answers.

She needed answers. Answers made her feel more at ease. She wanted to try and ease the tension, as well. To her, conversation was the best form of therapy.

The brunette cleared her throat. "So… you know who we are, don't you?" She asked.

Xisuma remained silent, and his posture went rigid at the mere mention of the secretive army. His hands stopped working on Sakura's ankle. "...yes. We do." He eventually spoke, almost sounding like he was trying to hold back his anger, and he went back to dressing the woman's wound.

Sakura didn’t exactly blame him for being mad. She knew what her and the rest of the byte had done; injured many of his colleagues (including himself), put several lives on the line, caused countless amounts of damage. The list went on.

And she felt horrible for it.

She couldn’t help but feel guilty for her role in the chaos. She let her mech explode. She knew she already took one life; and with how Python was, there was the possibility of her taking another. There was no way he could survive without more people giving him medical assistance.

...and then an idea came to her mind. "C...can I ask you something?"

Xisuma didn't return his gaze. However, he still spoke. "Yes. You may." He said.

Sakura gulped and cleared her throat. “I-it’s… it’s about one of your colleagues… Python.” She started. “I… I think I can help him.”

This time, the hacker glanced over at her. His brows were furrowed, confused by her statement. “What do you mean?”

The brunette was silent for a moment. Should she really do this? Her doing what she was about to do could have dire consequences. Perhaps not with Xisuma and his colleagues, but with her own. Angel, Synth, Nix, Grey, everyone.

But even if Xisuma and the other W.E.S. operatives were technically considered the enemy, she didn’t mean for this to happen. She couldn’t stand idly by and watch someone die because of something she did. Especially when she knew she could help. Her heart couldn’t take the weight of that much guilt.

"Bloom?"

Xisuma’s slightly muffled voice drew her back into reality. She had to make her choice.

Sakura looked back up at the green-armored hacker, took a breath, and pointed to the cog patch on her dirty and torn up jumpsuit with a mechanical finger. "I work with cybernetics. A lot. I make them, design them, install them. And from what I saw, Python needs good ones, and quick."

Part of her mind was screaming at her, demanding what she was doing, demanding she stay with where her loyalties resided. She made an oath to the Shadowbyte Army, to Ecryptos, the day of her enlistment. She could remember every line, every word, every sentence she said like it only happened yesterday. After all, she stood face to face with the legendary general, like every other recruit would on their own day of enlistment. It helped make the words stick. Especially the most important part of the whole entire thing...

“I, SakuraDot, hereby pledge that under any circumstances, I will remain loyal to my fellow soldiers and General of the Shadowbyte Army, Ecryptos.”

Now she was on the verge of breaking that oath. But part of her was somewhat accepting of that fact. Since there was absolutely no chance of escaping now and her identity as a Shadowbyte soldier had been revealed, she figured she might as well try and do the right thing, according to her morals. To try and make up for the thing she regretted so deeply.

So she took a breath, opened her mouth, and took the plunge. “I want to help you save Python.”

The whole room went silent at her statement, and she saw several pairs of eyes lock onto her. Even Xisuma was staring in shock.

"...I'm sorry, what?" The hacker asked, obviously taken aback.

Sakura repeated herself. "I want to help you."

"But… why?" A new voice spoke up. It was Doc, all the way on the other side of the room. "Why the hell would you want to help us?! You and your buddies just tried to kill us a few days ago!"

"He's right!" Another person, False, spoke next. She had her blue eyes locked on Sakura. "Because of you, we're all stuck in this mess! And one of us is on the verge of dying!" She gestured to Python in his bed. "What makes you think we're going to trust-"

"Doc, False, please!"

Xisuma's voice pierced the air, and he flew his hands out. Static burst from his fingertips, and both Doc's and False's voices stopped, even though their lips kept moving. He muted them.

His two colleagues soon realized what had happened, and they stopped their silent ranting. They locked their eyes on him in shock, but he turned his gaze away and returned it to Sakura. "They have a point, Bloom," He said, sighing a bit. "Why would you suddenly want to help us? After what you and the others did?"

The brunette fell silent. She almost didn't want to admit why she wanted to help. What was she supposed to say? That she suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to go to their side? Sure, she felt terrible and caved from the guilt, but deep down, she knew her loyalty to the Army remained intact. Once a Shadowbyte soldier, always a Shadowbyte soldier.

"...do you really think I have anything else to lose?" She mumbled, just loud enough to be heard. It was the best answer she could come up with.

Xisuma was silent for what felt like minutes. She could feel her heart start to sink. Was he going to reject her offer?

He then let out a long sigh, making her even more anxious of what he was going to say. "...alright. I believe you. But you're going to be under constant supervision, got it?"

Sakura nodded eagerly. He had agreed! "Yes."

"Good." Xisuma then stood up from the end of the bed and held out a hand for the woman to take. She hesitated for a brief moment at the gesture. But she soon shook off her fear and grasped his hand, and let him help her off the bed and start to hobble over to Python's bed, despite the pain in her ankle.

"He should be waking up soon," The hacker said as they got to Python's bedside. "So you won't have to wait too long." He was silent for a moment, and Sakura realized he was looking down at her injured foot. "I… should probably get you a pair of crutches. I think there's a pair somewhere around here..."

Before she could say anything, the man in green armor suddenly disappeared in a burst of greenish blue pixels, making Sakura jump and let out a shriek. She could feel everyone's disapproving eyes on her, and she hated it.

Thankfully, not a moment later, Xisuma reappeared, now holding a pair of dusty grey and white crutches. "These should work. They're a bit old, but shouldn't break." He held them out to her, and, wanting relief, Sakura immediately took them into her hands and stood up. They were slightly taller than she would have liked, but they were better than nothing at all.

And it wasn't a moment too soon. Because Sakura heard a brand new voice, and once she turned her head, she saw that Python was beginning to wake up.

The creeper had stirred a bit, and shifted his head to the side. His brows furrowed as he let out a small wince, before his one eye cracked open and landed on Xisuma. "X…?" He asked, his words slurred. "Is that you…?"

Although Sakura couldn’t see most of his face, she saw the corners of Xisuma’s eyes wrinkle a bit, as if he were attempting to smile. “Yeah. How are you feeling, man?” He asked, slowly sitting down next to Python on the bed.

The creeper blinked his remaining eye, and shifted his focus further onto the hacker. “Confused… stupid...” He croaked, before letting out a harsh wince and tensing up. “And in pain… a lot more pain…”

The wrinkles around Xisuma's eyes smoothed out. His smile had disappeared. "Yeah… the pain killer's probably wearing off by now…" He glanced over to the other side of the room for a moment, at a man with grey hair in a white lab coat. "Cub? You mind giving Python more morphine? If we have any left in the crate over there?"

"No problem, man."

Python glanced at the stump where his missing right arm was as the man named Cub walked over, a large needle filled with a clear liquid in his hand. "...I guess I'm gonna have to also be a leftie now, huh? Not just a crippled?" He gestured to the spot where one of his legs used to be. "Didn't imagine I'd be like this at twenty five…"

The hacker was quiet, but he then cleared his throat. "Not if we can help it," He assured as Cub grasped Python's remaining arm and began feeling for a vein.

Python cringed as the man in the lab coat stuck the needle in his arm and injected some of the colorless substance. "What do you mean…?" He asked.

Xisuma gestured to Sakura beside him. "This is Bloom. She's going to be helping us make you some cybernetics."

Sakura gave an awkward smile and waved. "Hello."

The red creeper gazed at the brunette for a moment, ignoring Cub as he walked away, before his remaining eye widened a bit. "W-wait…" He started, and his brow furrowed. "She's one of those hackers, isn't she? The ones that came here?" He growled. It was obvious that even in his semi-groggy state, he still had some idea of what was going on around him.

The brunette was about to speak up, but Xisuma cut her off just as she opened her mouth. "Yes, she is," He stated. "But she isn't going to do anything to you. Not under my watch."

"Hmm…" Python lifted his tired eye up to Sakura. He was obviously still suspicious of her. “Well… if you do try to hurt me, X’ll probably split you in half…” He said, looking off to the side. The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood on end at the statement.

“And I don’t think you want to die… and neither do I, to be fair.” He continued and let out a small laugh, as if trying to lighten the tense mood. The new dose of drugs were starting to take effect. “So I think I can trust you. Whatever you need to do, go ahead.”

The brunette let out an internal sigh of relief. Thank goodness for the morphine; now she could actually help.

"Well… That settles that, then," Xisuma said, catching Sakura's attention. He cleared his throat. “You need anything to get started?”

“Umm… I just need a tape measure and a notepad right now.” She replied, still slightly on edge. “Oh, and a pen, too.”

The hacker nodded, and flicked a gloved hand upwards. Before the woman could even blink, several objects flew past and made her jump, every one ending up in Xisuma’s palm. A small notebook, a black pen, and a length of rolled up tape measure. “Here you are.” He said, holding them out to her. “If you need anything else, just ask me or Cub.” He gestured over to the grey-haired man in the lab coat, now busy tending to Grian.

Still surprised by the sudden display of just how skilled Xisuma was with hacking, she hesitantly took the trio of items into her own hands. “O-of course. Will do.”

As soon as Sakura ended her sentence, Xisuma gave her a nod, before disappearing in a flash of pixels and static. Leaving her all alone with the remaining W.E.S. members.

As nervous as she was, she had to get to work.

The brunette turned around and went back to Python's bedside, and unravelled the tape measure to measure Python's remaining leg. She needed as much information as possible to make cybernetic limbs and augments that were a perfect fit. Clicking her pen, she wrote the measurement down in her notepad.

"Hey."

Sakura glanced over her shoulder, and saw one of the injured glaring at her. False. "Hmm?"

"You hurt him, and I'll be the one snapping you in half," The blonde growled, making Sakura stiffen a bit.

"False," Cub spoke out to the woman. It was obvious how tired he was with how he let out a sigh afterwards. "Whether we like her or not, Bloom knows how cybernetics work. Just let her do whatever she has to do."

"What he said!" Python spoke up, his words becoming more slurred from the morphine injection. He then lazily poked Sakura's cybernetic arm. "Besides Falsie, she can just lend me a new hand now! She has one right here! And now I can be cool like Doc, too!"

Sakura let out an accidental chuckle at Python’s loopy behavior. “Just hold still.”

As she continued to take the measurements and notes she needed, her mind began to wander. First, it led her to thinking about Lucky. Why didn't anyone see him during the escape? Did he get caught before he could even attempt to meet up with the others? She could only wonder.

And then her mind travelled to two more people; Coda and Grey. She hadn't seen them since they had split up from her and Synth. She knew for certain that the two soldiers weren't back in the bunker; if they were, she would have heard Coda’s complaining and cursing by now.

As much as Sakura didn't want to admit it, she knew that even if the two soldiers had succeeded in shaking the W.E.S. employees off their tail, there was no chance of them actually escaping the World. Their hacks had been drained, just like everyone else's. And even if they weren't, and they somehow managed to get past the World border and the multiple firewalls beyond it, they had no equipment or weapons to defend themselves with. Given that the massive worm was likely still out there prowling in the Void, they would more than likely be torn to shreds if they came across it.

All she could do was silently hope they would both come back safely.

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cosmicallybrownie · 7 years

Text

For a Good Time

Chapter 5

(previous) (next)

Pairing: Natan

Word Count: 3000

Warnings: swearing, food mention, alcohol mention

Rating: M (this chapter is SFW)

Summary: A phone number scrawled across a dark, dirty bathroom stall prompts a drunk Natalie to make a phone call. When Lucifer answers, he agrees to help her find her way home. Natalie clings to the impatient man, who wants nothing more than to never see her again. Of course, he never gets what he wants.

The sunrise grated against Lucifer’s nerves as he squinted against its unrelenting assault through the smallest crack in the yellowed blinds, and he consciously shifted his attention back to Natalie and loosened his grip on the cheap McDonald’s coffee cup he was threatening to crush. Natalie, unaware of his scrutiny, was carefully tapping a sugar packet into her own cup of coffee, not bothering with artificial sweeteners when sugar cane existed. Lucifer risked a glance at his watch while Natalie stirred her coffee, now almost the color of the light tiles of the floor with how much cream she dumped in it.

Meanwhile, Lucifer drank his coffee black, or at least pretended to. The four emptied packets of sugar he stashed in his pocket begged to differ, but it looked black enough when the lid was off.

He wasn’t exactly sure why he agreed to get breakfast with Natalie at 6:34 A-fucking-M, but there was no going back now. His hotcakes were already paid for. So he waited for her to finish making her coffee, and watched the way her eyes relaxed when she took the first sip. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and tapped his foot against the floor, knowing what a sight they must be.

Natalie’s hair was pulled into a messy braid, and the dirt caking her jeans had somehow migrated upwards to smear across her forehead and into her hairline. He couldn’t claim anything better, his own hair was streaked with soot, but thankfully the dark color of his shirt hid the lines of sweat around his armpits and back. He could follow his trail in the empty McDonald’s from the dirty footprints that marked his path to the counter and back to the booth he now sat in with Natalie.

The poor kid stuck working the morning shift had gone wide eyed when they walked in, and didn’t say a word when Lucifer swatted Natalie’s hand when she attempted to pay for her coffee and breakfast.

“I mean, I kinda dragged you here,” Natalie spoke through a bite of food, “You should have let me pay for you.”

Lucifer took a scalding sip of burnt coffee before replying, “I have a reputation to maintain. What would people say if they saw the dirt girl paying for me?”

A wadded up napkin hit him in the cheek as Natalie’s answer, and he smiled before chucking it back. It sailed over her shoulder and hit the floor beside her and she laughed at his piss poor aim before sinking into the booth further, holding her coffee like a precious diamond from an archeology dig.

They ate breakfast while Natalie talked about her newest flowering plants, describing the colors in detail until Lucifer was sure he knew as much about them as she did. They watched more people filter in and out as the morning hours crept by, bleeding into the normal working hour rush of people trying to grab their coffee before dedicating the rest of their day to work.

The nine o’clock hour had Lucifer pulling his phone out of his pocket to check that the time on his watch was correct, but somehow it was, and Natalie held the door for Lucifer when they walked outside. They weaved through the busying streets of New York, no one looking at each other, and Lucifer watched the loose strands of hair that escaped Natalie’s braid blow behind her in the warm breeze.

After they climbed the four long flights of stairs to Lucifer’s apartment, his fingers lingered on the doorknob to his floor, his brow creasing. Natalie rocked back and forth on her heels from the two refills of coffee bubbling in her veins, and watched him pull his hand away from the handle. When she looked back up at him, something was lingering in his eyes when he met her gaze.

“What?” Natalie asked after a beat of silence that was amplified by the emptiness of the stairwell, “Do I have dirt on my face?”

Her words broke the silence, and the corner of Lucifer’s mouth turned up. He didn’t look away from her when he swiped his thumb across the smear on her forehead, and Natalie could feel her face turn pink, despite not being embarrassed.

“Like always. I’ll see you later, kid,” Lucifer said casually, like he wasn’t just looking down at Natalie in a way that made her heart sit funny in her chest. She wasn’t ready to answer the questions she knew were reflected in her own stare, and when he turned, she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Wait,” Natalie called, catching his arm in the doorway, “the spring equinox is tonight, I was gonna – do you wanna watch it with me?” Her question was almost breathless.

Lucifer pursed his lips for a moment, weighing her words before nodding slowly, “Text me the time.”

The smile didn’t fall from her lips when Natalie climbed the steps to her room, and she carried it into her early afternoon nap that lasted too long.

Lucifer stood in front of the mirror, shaving the stubble off his face and running his fingers through his hair until it laid flat and out of his eyes. He heard the chime of his phone from his bedroom, and he clicked his bathroom light off on the way to grab it.

“7:15 okay?” The message read, the excitement in Natalie’s tone obvious from the obscene amount of emojis that followed the short statement.

He sat on the corner of his bed and replied, “Should be fine. Where?”

“Just meet me at my apartment!”

He sent her an affirmation, then ducked out the door, in more of a hurry than he wanted to be in. By the time he reached the corner store, the anxiety had faded enough that he could read the labels of the wine bottles without worry as he made his careful selection.

Staring into the flat eyes of the Vietnamese woman, Lucifer realized that he had already seen Natalie after a few drinks, and he wasn’t so sure that he was willing to tempt the fates again. He returned the bottle to the shelves before the woman could ring him up, and returned moments later with cupcakes bearing the store’s label on the packaging. The bright yellow icing was slightly crushed against the plastic container, but they were only a couple bucks and littered with star shaped sprinkles that seemed appropriate.

The walk home was short, and he smoothed his collar in the reflective elevator doors on his way up to her floor. He gripped the white plastic bag in one hand, careful to keep it relatively steady, and knocked with his free hand.

He heard Natalie shout, “come in,” and he opened the door carefully, catching sight of Natalie exiting the bathroom, and walking towards her bedroom.

He stepped into her warm apartment, breathing in the fresh air filling her room from the open windows. Her curtains were waving in the warm breezes, and when Natalie finally stepped out of her bedroom, he thought he might blow away with them. He cleared his throat when he took in her floral skirt and the dirty sneakers accompanying it, and almost smiled because the contrast was so characteristically Natalie that his chest warmed.

Instead of walking across the room to greet him, Natalie went to the window, leaning slightly out of it to look towards the sitting sun and she gasped, “It’s almost time!”

When she turned back around, Lucifer’s neck matched the pink tint of the sky, and she shoved a folded blanket at him that was thrown over the couch the last time he was there. He took it without protest, and Natalie tugged at his arm, urging him to follow her into the bedroom.

He opened his mouth to protest, but swallowed it when she pried open the door to the fire escape, grunting at the effort it took. Lucifer didn’t have a free hand to assist her, but after another second, the heavy door swung open, creaking loudly and they stepped out onto the metal landing that groaned soundlessly with their weight. The roar of the city below was eclipsed by the breeze and Natalie’s warm fingers on the skin of his forearm.

When she smiled up at him, he could no longer blame the height for the way his stomach lurched, “Come on, this has roof access.”

The sun was slanted orange by the time the pair reached the roof, and Natalie squinted into the sunset, her smile matching the boldness of the hues before she turned back to Lucifer and took the blanket from his arms. He walked around the small section of the roof that she partitioned off with shelves and terracotta pots filled with plants and flowers that were blooming in the spring air.

He thumbed the leaf of a sprawling green vine, “Not enough space in your greenhouses?”

She fanned the blanket out, covering a small square of concrete that was shaded by a row of hanging plants, “The greenhouses are for all my research. But this little garden just...is.”

He switched his attention to another row of plants that smelled strongly of jasmine and Natalie trailed her fingers along the rows of ceramic pots, strolling to the edge of the building and lining her toes up to the edge of the brick. The sun streaked watercolors in the heavens, softer than the bright flowers she was growing.

Lucifer followed her footsteps, gently coaxing her away from the edge of the building, and back into her rooftop garden. Natalie giggled at the quiet worry that echoed through the firm press of his fingertips against the small of her back, and acquiesced with his silent request, sliding down to sit on the blanket.

“For fun, is it?” He asked, stooping to sit beside her, and wincing at the way the joints in his knees popped.

“For fun,” she agreed, falling silent.

After a beat too long, he reached for the grocery bag and pulled out the cupcakes. The plastic package complained loudly when he struggled to open it, but he won the war of pride, and handed Natalie the first cupcake. The icing was smashed and cracking, but Natalie smiled down at the sprinkles and stuck a finger in the icing, then stuck the same finger in her mouth.

When she laughed at his dumbfounded expression, her tongue was tinted yellow, and it broke the illusion, “I love the themed sprinkles, so very thoughtful of you.”

“I aim to please,” Lucifer quipped, biting into his own cupcake savagely. He reclined casually against a wicker shelf, mindful of the plants resting across the top of it.

“Hold on,” Natalie gasped, reaching for his cupcake with her free hand, “Is that a ring?” She pulled the small piece of plastic out of his icing, and stuck it in her mouth.

Lucifer didn’t have enough time to hide his confusion, and she pulled the ring from her lips, chasing a spot of yellow icing with her tongue. The moon shaped ring was sticky when she slid it on her finger, and it didn’t go past the second knuckle but she smiled down at it like it was a golden band.

“I can’t believe you brought me jewelry,” Natalie exclaimed, her voice high and sardonic as she continued to inspect the white plastic.

He returned to his relaxed position and slid his eyes shut, “Maybe I was saving that for someone else.”

Her resounding giggle had him cracking an eye to see the light expression on her face, and Natalie made a quiet noise in the back of her throat as she turned her attention towards the sky, watching the brilliant oranges slowly give way to the dark blues of the night. It didn’t seem like a war between them, more like an exchange between lovers until the moon outshined the sun, stretching languidly across the sky.

“The spring equinox is amazing, only one of two times a year that the day and night are equal.” Natalie said, more to herself than to Lucifer. “And now the days get longer. It’s all uphill from here,” when she spoke, her words made it seem like she was making a promise to the moon, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

The curve of her cheek caught the light from the apartment building next door, but the moon was reflected in her eyes, burning hot despite the coolness of the night. With the sunset came a drop in temperature, and Natalie shivered in the cold, but didn’t shrink from it.

“So why are we on the roof?” Lucifer finally asked, wondering exactly why his ass was on a concrete roof.

Natalie rolled her eyes, but her tone was teasingly serious, “It’s the equinox. I literally just explained this, dude.”

“Yeah, I got that part, girl. But the moon doesn’t look different than any other night.”

Natalie bumped his shoulder with her own, “It’s the principle.”

He took his hand off his stomach and moved it behind Natalie to lean on, so he could shift closer to her and lower his voice, “So we’re on the roof on a Monday night…for a principle.”

His flat, teasing tone made Natalie laugh, and she pressed into his side and looked up at him, “Yeah, you got it.” She should have moved away, but his large frame seemed to radiate heat, and she couldn’t find it in her to pull away when the spring air was a chilly assault on her senses. And he didn’t really seem to mind, either.

His muscles were relaxed as Natalie leaned into him, and he caught the scent of lemons in her hair, which surprised him. He would have expected something floral. Her eyes darted between constellations, counting the ones she knew and inventing ones she didn’t and something warm ached in Lucifer’s chest, making him tap his fingers nervously against the blanket.

He should have been watching the sky – the equinox – her whole reason for inviting him up, but instead Natalie could feel the heat of his gaze on her, making her face warm from the attention. Embarrassment finger painted her cheeks pink, and for the first time that evening, she was grateful for the cool night that wrapped around her.

A gentle breeze had the vines from one of her hanging plants waving in her face, and she swatted it away with a smile, smelling jasmine in the air. She looked to Lucifer to see if he found the swinging plant vines to be as amusing as she did, but the look in his eyes was stormy and intense. She found herself being swept downstream by his gaze, like he was a storm canting her sideways in its winds.

She couldn’t think under his stare, couldn’t even breathe. Every witty comment was sucked away from her, and it was all she could do to meet his raging brown eyes that were almost more gold in the fleeting lights of New York. He might be the most beautiful man she had ever met, hard angles and harder humor, but he was so easy to relax against that it almost scared her.

His eyes slid down to her lips, and she resisted the urge to chew on her bottom lip like she did when she was nervous. Every part of her body touching his felt overheated now, like he was burning her from the outside in, leaving a scorched trail from where his fingers ghosted over her bare shoulder, then crept up to gently brush her jaw.

She tilted her head to the side, and could smell the saccharine chocolate on his breath from the cupcakes they shared. Her lips were parted, and when he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, she gasped quietly. He was closer than she remembered, and his fingers lightly holding her face seemed like they would sear his fingerprints into her skin as a permanent reminder of this moment.

Her eyes fluttered shut, and the brush of his nose against her cheek had her leaning further into his touch, but the sudden chime of Lucifer’s phone made them jump apart in shock. Something dark lingered behind Lucifer’s eyes, but it was undercut by the spots of color on his cheeks, and the darkness gave way when his phone continued to buzz in his pocket.

On the fourth ring, he started fumbling for the device like he had forgotten how to use his hands, and when he answered the insistent call, his voice was rough, “FDNY, Squad 103, this is Lucifer.”

Natalie couldn’t hear what was being said over the phone to Lucifer, but she could tell it was troubling from the way his eyes went deadly serious, and his jaw set in a hard line. He dragged his free hand over his face and scratched at the stubble on his jaw, and suddenly he was responding to the person on the phone, assuring them that he would help.

When the phone call ended, Lucifer send a withering look Natalie’s way, suddenly looking so tired that she wanted to beg him to stay.

“I – shit, I have to go, Natalie,” he told her, his voice so low she almost didn’t hear him.

“Wait, why?” The confusion in her eyes echoed in her voice, and she grabbed a handful of his black shirt to keep him in place.

“It’s Ipos, my squad – shit, they need me,” and at that, he stood up, shaking sprinkles off his jeans, and hurried to the fire escape. She barely heard the promise to text her later that he shouted over his shoulder halfway down the first flight.

He was gone before she could even process the fact that he was leaving, and she stared at the spot on the blanket where he had been just moments before he rushed off. The roof seemed much colder without his presence, but she wasn’t upset with him. He was a firefighter, rushing off at a moment’s notice when the situation called for it was part of the job, and she couldn’t blame him.

It was just that the stars didn’t seem to shine as bright when she was watching them alone.

#satan and me #thisiskindagross #natan #FGT #hot off the presses #swearing #food mention #alcohol mention #here it is folks #its been ages #yikes

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