#also the lake wheels are nice but I'm not sure about them - should be more crimson

[angryskarloey]

I wanted a water-colour of Ashwell - so I drew myself a fairly low-detail version that I could comfortably paint - the result was this:

#I'm not sure how i feel about the blue #maybe the lack of red borders is throwing me off #also the lake wheels are nice but I'm not sure about them - should be more crimson #ttte #ttte oc #afjr #afjr ashwell #railway #victorian #ttte au #fanfic #real true made up railways

[aclockmaker]

more actors au continued from here

Shooting the first season is a fever dream. Creating and playing in a world that no one else gets to see yet—no reviews, no public, just them. The cast is tight, right away. Eddie, like, loves them. He's already made plans to go to Robin's family's house in Joshua Tree this summer.

Eddie and Steve don’t have that many scenes together. Eddie knows, guiltily, exactly when they’re all shooting.

It’s not just what goes on when the cameras are rolling, either. (Which is, like, still insane. Still makes Eddie feel like he's taken club drugs. And maybe he's not the only one, because—)

It's also that Steve is more likely to ask him to hang out, just the two of them, after they shoot together. Eddie could text him or ask him but he has a complex set of rules for how often he's allowed to be the one initiating it, because, well. He's nursing a pretty bad crush here. It's deeply unprofessional.

In the episode before this, Eddie confides in Nancy’s character, their teen journalist-detective, that he has something he thinks he needs to tell her. Something that’s going to blow her mind. But they’re just in the hall at school, the bell ringing, so he can’t do it right now. It’s his own little “I’ve got a secret, Veronica Mars. A good one.” (He’s watched as many dead-girl tv shows as he can to bone up for the role—all the classics going back to Twin Peaks. Veronica Mars is uniquely applicable because Lily does appear in flashbacks, and even though they’re subverting the trope by having a guy get killed, they all know what kind of story they’re telling.)

In the scene they shoot tonight, Steve's character comes to Eddie's house that same night before he can get to Nancy to try to convince him not to tell her. It's not clear what Steve thinks he knows, when he climbs in through Eddie's window, only that he's practically begging Eddie not to do it. He starts off aggressive, like they're yet again about to get into a physical fight. But the fact that Eddie lets him in speaks to the fact that maybe there's a little more to their relationship. And then Steve's character breaks down, cries a little, and it's really—something, to be wrapping his arms around Steve's shoulders in front of the camera and the crew, under the lights. Eddie is a professional, and he's perfectly capable of slotting those feelings into their correct file folders for later perusal, but—it's something. He's given Steve bro hugs. He's pretty sure Steve even hugged him for real the first time he saw him after he was cast (it's a blur). The only time they've hugged like this is on film.

He's not surprised when there's a message waiting for him on his phone when he eventually gets back to it post-short scene with Max, whose character lives next to Eddie's in-story. The message itself is a little surprising. Hey, I'm wrapped so I'm going home but do you want to come by? And then an address in Silver Lake.

It's not so crazy. Steve takes awhile to decompress after filming something emotional; he doesn't like to be alone. Eddie has learned this very quickly and has very quickly come to crave being the one Steve decompresses with. It just typically happens on the studio lot, in Steve's trailer. But this is fine, too. It just makes sense. Steve was done for the day so he went home. But he still wants to see Eddie.

Eddie sends back three thumbs up emojis, bangs his head on his steering wheel, and starts driving. He chews a fingernail, wonders if he should stop somewhere to get something to bring. A bottle of wine. But that’s stupid probably—it’s not a dinner party. It’s just two friends hanging out. (If he thinks it a little defensively, that’s because Mike was leaning heavy on the innuendo when he asked Eddie where he was going tonight. “Oh really, with Steve? Huh. It’s nice you two get along so well.” Eddie had just glared at him and moved on. The kid is such a little shit.)

Steve hugs him when he gets there, which is almost funny—now that he’s acted it out, he’ll do it in real life, like an echo. But it doesn’t seem fake, it just seems like that’s what Steve does when someone comes to his house. He’s a little high strung, maybe, in constant motion while he waves Eddie in and offers him a beer.

They end up on the pool deck, beers in hand, sitting with their legs dangling in the water up to their knees. It’s secluded here, big, old trees blocking them from any neighbors’ view.

“So,” Steve says. “Good scene after I left?” It doesn’t sound like what he really wants to ask.

“Yeah, fine,” Eddie agrees. “You know what Max is like—she’s too cool for school.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Steve laughs.

“Never,” Eddie agrees. The teasing would never end. He glances at Steve, who seems mostly relaxed, maybe a little hunched in on himself.

“Did you ever, um,” Steve starts, looking out at the water. “Date a co-star?”

Eddie’s brain whites out a little, just static. “Uhh. I thought you were going to ask if I thought you looked weird when you cried, or something.”

Steve sputters. “Do I?”

“No, dude, very pretty crier.” Eddie smiles.

“Thanks I guess,” Steve says, frowning a little.

Eddie chews on his lip. “But, uh. No, I haven’t.”

Steve sighs. “Yeah, me either.”

Which is funny, because he’s been linked with a couple of them from previous projects, but Eddie guesses you can’t believe everything you read.

“Is there someone,” Eddie asks carefully, “you want to date?” Steve is close with Robin and Nancy. Eddie can’t see Robin dating a guy, but what does he know.

“I don’t know,” Steve admits. “I feel like. I don’t know if it would be a terrible idea, because we work together.” And then he just stops talking.

“I might be able to respond better if I knew who we were talking about here.”

Steve gives him a look. “You do know. Don’t make me say it.”

“Gonna definitely need you to.” And then, because he can't help trying to make Steve laugh. "It's Joyce, right?"

"Please," Steve says, and does laugh a little. "I wish I thought I had a shot with Joyce." She's a legitimately famous actress who Eddie often can't believe he's going to share an IMDB listing with.

"But, uh," Steve goes on. “I don’t want to mess anything up, though.” Now he sounds careful.

Eddie doesn’t know what Steve thinks he’s messing up—their chemistry, he guesses, if he’s not reading this very wrong. Their friendship maybe. The show. Any remaining semblance of professionalism. Eddie is pretty ready to throw most of that stuff out the window—after all, who says just because they hook up the work will suffer? Maybe it’ll be better because Eddie won’t be crushed under the weight of absurd amounts of sexual tension anymore. Not that it’s been a hardship, but…

���I don’t think you’re messing anything up,” Eddie tells him. “I mean—personally. Who says anything will get messed up?” I think it might be worth it even if it does, he doesn’t add, because it’s shocking to even think it, and obviously too much for the moment. He doesn’t know if he really means it—this show is, like, the opportunity he’s been waiting his whole life for. But he’s already dead on it; there’s only so many flashback scenes they can film as he ages further out of the high school age bracket for a character who can’t get older.

“Yeah, but.” Steve runs a hand through his hair, frustrated. “The way we are on the show—“ he shoots a worried little glance at Eddie, who tries not to react outwardly to that, which is hard. “Don’t you think some of that’s because—I mean, for me at least, it is, I’m not saying—for you—"

“Me, too,” Eddie assures him before he hurts himself. “But—okay, you brought this up, not me. What do you want, then?”

“Dude, I wish I knew,” Steve says. “I mean—“ he glances at Eddie— “I know what I want, but I don’t know what we should do. But I just felt like I was going crazy, and the only person I really wanted to tell was, well, you.”

Oh. “Steve,” Eddie says, almost a warning. He wants to offer that they can hook up and it won’t mean anything and nothing will change. He wants to offer that they can date and nothing bad will happen. It’s all stupid, impossible to promise.

“I know,” Steve says miserably. “Sorry.”

Eddie shakes his head. It’s almost unbearably sweet that Steve is so bent out of shape over him. “Come on, we only have, what, two more weeks of filming? We can make it through two weeks, right?”

“Guess we have to,” Steve agrees, but he moves his hand over a little so their pinkies touch on the edge of the pool.

tagging a few people by request, thank you for being interested <3 @atlas-talks @obsessivlyme @lyriclight @deadflowercollector @thatonebadideapanda @wolfstarlights @eddiemunsonswife @alienace @wishiwasacasualfan

#thank you to everyone for name suggestions instead of taking any of the good ones i've just continued to avoid naming characters lol #steddie #steddie fic #steddie ficlet #actors au #stranger things fic #steve x eddie #also i'm not the boss of you but please don't be too invested in the plot of the tv show... for your own sanity... i will Reveal All but #i can't promise it will besatisfying

[petitelepus]

OH MY FUCKING GOOOOOOOOD, I LOVE IT SO FUCKING MUCH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO SO SO 👀 👀 👀 LOOKING FORWARD TO THESE "FUTURE CHAPTERS"!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO CONTINUE!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Also, I wasn't expecting it but I love that I'm a Con :D!!! All I ask is for that you make my plating dark green and purple accent, in the next chapters 👀, cause they're my fav colours ❤️. Oh, I do hope you continue, it's so good, and I wanna see where things go from here 👀 ❤️. Wanna teach Bee all the carnal forms of pleasure. Thank you so, so, so very much!!!

You were honestly just minding your own business by the lake, admiring the sun setting in the distance in calm silence, with only birds' singing echoing in the air around you...

"Hey!"

Or at least you thought you were alone.

"Hey!" There it was that sound again! You blinked before looking back over your shoulder and saw the yellow Autobot minibot behind you, but he had some safety distance between the two of you. As he should, he couldn't completely trust you.

"Well if it isn't the little Autobot pawn!" You laughed out loud and Bumblebee frowned, "I'm not a pawn!"

"Sure you aren't." You rolled your optics and looked at him as you patted the ground next to you, "Come on, sit with me!"

"You aren't going to put me in stasis cuffs again?" Bumblebee asked suspiciously and you smirked, "Are you brave enough to see?"

"I'm brave!" The minibot scowled and walked up to you and sat next to you, but there was still some safe distance. You smiled as you looked at him, "What brings you here?"

"Don't know." The minibot grunted, "I just... I couldn't shake off what we talked about last time."

"Oh." You didn't seem to understand but you didn't pry further. A silence fell between the two of you as you admired the Earth's beauty on its own.

Finally, the silence was too much for Bumblebee to withstand, "Can I ask something?"

"Shoot."

"Why somewhat nice person like you decided to join Decepticons?" Bumblebee asked as he looked at you, "Wouldn't you be happier as Autobot? We are the good guys after all?"

"Autobots and Decepticons, we are all the same coin, just different sides." You mused as you picked a flat stone and rolled it between your servos, "Yet, we let our upbringings, alt modes, and such label us."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, you Autobots have wheels, we Decepticons have wings. As sad as it is, it is just one of many reasons that separate us."

"Yeah, but, you're like the first pretty okay Decepticon I've met!" The yellow Bot cried out, and you smiled a little sadly.

"Let's be honest little Autobot." You sighed and looked at your companion, "Have you heard of a flying Autobot?"

"Well, actually..."

"It was a rhetorical question, I know you have a couple, but what is it that gave them the ability to fly?"

Bumblebee frowned and you nodded, "Decepticon coding, and that's only one thing that makes us so different."

You looked at the stone in your hand and threw it lazily at the lake.

"But that's not why you are here, is it?" You asked and the small Bot flinched and you smirked, knowing there was more to his sudden visit.

"Tell me little Autobot..." You purred as you turned to look at him and gently raised your sharp servo to trace it against his shoulder, careful not to damage his paint job. "What made you come back to me?"

"W- Well...!" Bumblebee frowned, "I tried asking Ratchet what you meant by eating me..."

"And?"

"He threw a wrench at me and asked where I've heard such things!"

You couldn't help yourself, you burst out laughing like a madman. He had actually guts to ask about it and worst of all, he didn't even get a proper answer!

"After our tremendous meeting, that is all that stuck to your mind?"

"It's not funny! You got me in trouble!" Bumblebee shouted in embarrassment but you were laughing so hard you had to hold your stomach.

"Oh Primus, I like you little Autobot!" You laughed as you wiped a tear from your optic. "You make me laugh unlike anyone else!"

"I have a name!"

Finally, you calmed down enough to look at him, "Oh yeah? What is it?"

"Bumblebee." The minibot frowned, "What's your dirty Con name?"

You said your name and the yellow Bot frowned, "That's actually a pretty cool name..."

"Thanks, Lil B." You grinned and Bumblebee blushed, "Stop calling me small!"

"Make me." You challenged him and his frown deepened and he was honestly just too cute to resist. What you didn't expect was for him to grab your face between his hands and kiss you.

Your crimson optics widened and you knew you should have pulled away... But you couldn't. No, you leaned in forwards and kissed him back. You hummed happily before pulling away.

"Well, that is certainly one way to shut a Con up." You chuckled lightly, but Bumblebee only blushed harder. "I keep telling you guys, I'm a grown-up, I have the right to know about these things also!"

"Oh, you've proven yourself to me." You nodded with a grin, "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes! It's about time!"

You chuckled at how eager he was and you gently placed your hand on his thigh, in an attempt to not scare him off, but that simple act already made his frame stiffen.

"When I meant eating you out... I meant that I would bury my face between your pretty legs and stuff my face full of your soaking wet valve and swallow your spike as if I was an Energon treat."

Bumblebee blinked as he registered your words and as they sunk into his mind, he turned redder and redder until his paint job was closer to a red cherry than a yellow lemon. "I- I...!"

"But I won't do no such thing without your consent." You smiled and he averted his blue optics, "I thought you Cons would take what you want..."

"I told you once, I tell you twice. I am a Decepticon, not a monster." You smiled gently, even if his assumptions hurt, "Since you are new to these things... Would a kiss be more appropriate?"

"I... I wouldn't be against it!" Bumblebee blushed and you smiled as you gently cupped his cheek, "Lil B, may I kiss you?"

"Lose the Lil and I consider it."

You grinned, "Can I kiss you?"

Bumblebee's blush didn't give up, but he nodded and you smiled as you leaned in, and kissed him while gently holding his cheek. At first, Bumblebee was so nervous he couldn't move, but slowly he warmed up to you.

When you pulled back, the first thing you did was smile at him and gently massaged his cheek with your thumb.

"I know this is totally insane..." You smiled as a soft blush rose to your cheeks, "But would you like to see me more often, just the two of us?"

Bumblebee's blush grew stronger, but he smiled and nodded, "Okay, but I swear, I will make you change your mind and join Autobots...!"

You chuckled, "Until that happens, we have to see each other in secret. I doubt your leader would like it if you went behind his back to see a big mean Decepticon like me."

"Right back at you, I don't think Megatron would like what is happening between us." He shot back at you and you grinned, "Kiss to seal the deal?"

The two of you smiled and kissed, knowing it was only one of the many future kisses.

#phoenix-inanis #tfa #transformers #transformers animated #reader #reader insert #bumblebee #I am so sorry you had to wait this long #I hope you enjoy this! #ENJOY!

[neptunetheplanet7]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 - 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

DM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE TAGLIST!!

;mikasa ackerman x fem!lesbian!reader

;modern au, band au

word count: 2.1k

warnings: swearing, floch’s bad flirting

bold italics is a text conversation

listen to the music masterlist

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disclaimer again!! i wrote this a long time ago. i know there are things that need to be fixed and things that don’t fit right. i plan to edit this story more in the future but today is not that day :)

You took a shaky breath in as you stopped midway of putting a clean sheet on the bed Mikasa would be sleeping in. The room still had some of her old stuff in it, it's just no one ever came in here after she left. You looked around at all the items she left behind. Smiling fondly at an old picture of you two, you noticed a small figure crossed out in the background. Glancing at the rest of the photos on the shelf, you noticed that every photo had something crossed out.

After looking at each picture, you came to the conclusion the figure was Jean. She must have only taken the photos without him and did this to the rest. You frowned and walked back to the bed. Carefully, you climbed onto it and propped a few pillows up to support you as you leaned back.

For the first time in two years, you got a good look around the room. On the side of the room with the door, there was a large glass window overlooking the balcony above the living room. You always found it strange that she chose a room like that when she usually kept those blinds shut. Her bed was in the middle of the room with a tv mounted on the wall across from it. On the other side of her bed, there were a couple of bean bags below the bay window that looked out on the driveway.

You sighed and took out your phone, pulling up old texts with Mikasa. The last time you texted her was three months ago when you got too drunk at one of Reiner's ragers.

mikasa

mikasas pleasdse

come home

i miss you

i miss you so much

we all miss you so much

come home to me.

She didn't respond to that and you wouldn't know if she even looked at it. She turned her read receipts off for everyone after the first week of trying to contact her. The only time she had ever contacted anyone was two weeks after she left the house.

Don't look for me. Don't contact me.

You got a lot of your friends asking if you got the same message. She sent the same thing to everyone who tried to get in contact with her. You still didn't know where she was or what she was doing. The only thing you knew was that she was coming home the next day. You sighed. Suddenly, you didn't feel like cleaning anything else. You briskly walked out of her room and dialed the number of your best friend.

"Hey, Y/n! What's going on?" Sasha's cheery voice rang through the line.

"Hey hey, Sasha. I'm doing great. At least, I think I am. Do you wanna go somewhere? You can pick me up? Or I can pick you up if you like."

"I'll come to pick you up, honey bunny, don't you worry." You heard her struggling with her keys on the other side of the line and snorted at the noise.

"Need some help, Sash?" You grinned while skipping steps.

"Fine, thanks." She grumbled. "I'll be there in fifteen! You stay put!" She briskly hung up.

Sasha had been your best friend ever since Eren's nineteenth birthday party. She caught you and Eren coming back inside just as she was about to leave, with half the pantry in her arms. She asked for your number to make plans to hang out and chat sometime. You happily obliged, which was probably the happiest thing you had done that night.

You tossed your phone onto your bed as you walked into your room. Your room was on the first floor. You got first pick since you were the one who inherited the house. The house was big and beautiful. It was also on a lake. Perfect for the parties Eren and Jean loved to host. Perfect escape from paparazzi.

Your room had big glass doors that opened to the balcony that wrapped around the back of the house. You had a great view of the lake. The room was painted white. There was a black marble fireplace in one wall with a small wardrobe you used for storing memorable items to the band. You didn't need to use it for clothes since you had a walk-in closet in the big bathroom you partly shared with your bandmates. Jean liked to use the large bathtub.

You collapsed onto the bed and stared into the vanity mirror next to it. It was then when you realized you were still in your pajamas. "Oh shit." Your eyes widened as you hurriedly stumbled over to the closet, falling over once.

You grabbed a pair of baggy sweats and a big t-shirt. With duck socks, of course. The outfit didn't look much different than your pajamas but Sasha would probably be wearing something similar.

You threw your hair into the easiest hairstyle you could muster. You grabbed your boots and hopped up and down while trying to put them on while also leaving the room. "Jesus." You muttered.

Your phone vibrated, signaling that Sasha was here. "I'm heading out with Sasha! You're on your lonesome!" You called out to wherever Armin was in the house.

"Okay! Don't be back too late!" He shouted back.

You laughed aloud as you realized how much he sounded like a dad. You opened the front door and ran to Sasha's car. "Let me in!" You knocked on the passenger window as she reached around to find the button that unlocks the door. Once it was unlocked, you swung open the door and hopped inside.

"Nice outfit," was the first thing she said to you. You glanced at her outfit and scoffed. Your predictions were correct, she was wearing something similar.

"Gee, thanks." You gave a lopsided smile and rolled your eyes.

"Where to, honey bunny?" Sasha said, giving a mock salute while her other hand rested firmly on the steering wheel. You giggled and thought about it. You called her on such a whim that you forgot to even plan anything.

"Uh how about Brain Freezes? I could really use a catch-up with Connie right about now." You suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! Turns out you do have a brain up there." Sasha snickered.

"Oh good one, because you're the real genius here, clearly."

After a lot of lighthearted banter, you arrived at Connie's workplace. Sasha aggressively grabbed the door handle and slammed it open, causing the bell to fall off its perch and land on your face. "Oops." You grimaced and bent down to pick up the bell. You rang it in front of her face.

"Sasha! Y/n! My two favorite customers!" Connie jumped up and down on the other side of the counter. "How can I assist you ladies today?"

"I'll have the usual." You gave a half-hearted smile, head still impaired from the bell. Sasha had quite the habit of accidentally hurting you.

Sasha snatched the bell from your grasp and started ringing it. She announced her very long order that you could barely keep up with, but Connie was used to this kind of thing, especially with her.

You noticed one of his coworkers scowling at Sasha. You didn't like Floch, to say the least. He was always inviting himself to your parties but he was rude to all of your friends at the same time. He noticed your gaze and smirked.

He strutted over to where you stood, pretending to become very interested in toppings. "How are you, Y/n? It's been a while huh?" He leaned over your shoulder in a way that workers shouldn't with their customers. You made a hasty effort to slip away from his presence.

"It really hasn't. I came here last week. I come here every week and you say that every time." You usually tried to be nice to Floch, but today you didn't feel like being nice.

"Well, even a day without you feels like an eternity." He flirted horridly. You stared blankly at him until he awkwardly cleared his throat and traded spots with Connie at the register.

Connie took off his apron and handed you and Sasha your orders. "Sorry about him. That guy really can't take a hint even if it's right in front of his face." He shot Floch a venomous glare. "Luckily, you guys got here right as my shift ended! Wanna get out of here?" His previous anger seemed to dissipate in an instant.

"Yeah, I do! Where should we go?" Sasha beamed with her spoon still in her mouth.

"Can we just drive around? I've got something I wanna tell you guys." You played with your spoon in the ice cream, averting eye contact.

"Sure thing, Y/n. Let's go." Sasha and Connie said in unison.

Sasha let you drive her car since she was preoccupied with her mountain of ice cream. Connie didn't have a car, he failed his driver's test every time he took it. You'd think he'd learn most of the material by now. "Hey, Y/n?" He asked from the backseat.

"Yeah?" You nodded to him.

"Are you gonna finish that?" He said, referring to your cup of ice cream in the front cupholder. You sighed.

"Go ahead." He thanked you over and over as he leaned over and snatched it.

"So, Y/n? What was it you wanted to tell us?" Sasha wiped her hands on her pants and set the empty container in an extra cupholder.

You gripped the steering wheel harder then relaxed. You took a shaky breath in. "Mikasa is coming home tomorrow."

Connie started choking on your ice cream. "I know, I had the same reaction." You quipped.

"Mikasa..is...WHAT?" Connie managed between coughs.

"After all this time? It's been two years. Tomorrow? That's so sudden! Are you even ready to see her?" Sasha's mouth was gaping open. You leaned over and shut it for her.

"Yes, tomorrow. I still have to get the house ready. I couldn't even make it through her old room without calling you. Jean told us this morning. I don't think we should be worried about me being ready to see her. I think we should be more concerned about her and Jean." You informed. "But, then again, she told Jean about her return first. Plus he's picking her up tomorrow at the airport. So based on that, I think they're on better terms."

"You don't think they'll get back together, do you?" Connie said, his eyebrows furrowing.

You snorted. "Of course not. You know Jean is with Marco now, and he seems pretty happy with him. They've been together for two years now, probably longer if I'm being honest."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Sasha asked, confused.

"Are you joking? I mean, what if she has found someone? What then? What if she quits the band forever? What if we argue? She dropped off the map two years ago. Completely. She stopped responding to me, to all of us. For two years I thought she lost her interest in everything and went to live a new life, with people better than me. And now she's coming back, out of the blue! It's too much." You stressed.

Connie and Sasha made quick eye contact. "Y/n, I think you're reading too far into it. I doubt anyone could lose interest in you. You're too cool! Let's look on the bright side, she's ready to come home and you finally get to see her again," Sasha said in an attempt to lift your spirits. You smiled graciously. You really were lucky to have a friend like her. "Right, Connie?" She gestured to Connie who looked very deep in thought.

"Didn't you and Mikasa go out in high school?" You almost crashed the car from the shock of the question.

"Briefly, yes. But we weren't 'going out' so to speak. We just, like, made out a couple of times." You could feel your face grow hot at the subject. You thought you were over your crush on Mikasa, but after hearing that she was coming home, the familiar feeling was coming back.

"You're going red, Y/n. I think it was more to you than just a make-out." Connie grinned while Sasha wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're totally in love with Mikasa!" Sasha sang.

"Shut up, you two. I don't wanna get into the details right now." You couldn't even try to hide your heated face since you were the one driving the vehicle.

"Not right now? So maybe somewhere down the line, you will?" Sasha raised her eyebrows and broke out into another infectious grin.

"Whatever, Sash. Enough about Mikasa and me. I really wanna hear about you and Niccolo." You gave her a similar grin while she slowly turned red.

"Nice one, Y/n!" Connie cheered.

"You idiots should just shut it!"

posted: 8/24/21

neptunetheplanet7© 2021

no reposts, edits, or modification to my work by anyone other than me.

#mikasa x reader #mikasa x you #snk fanfiction #aot fanfiction #mikasa ackerman #band au #modern au

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Moment of truth' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Moment of truth"

Chapter Summary : While Yirina is having a stop with Park as they were on their way to London, she can finally have an answer......

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +4000

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I never thought that the day I will come back to West-Berlin that something will send me away from the place again and hopefully, it was an better place than Cuba. With Park, I had to go with her to meet an SAS soldier at Hereford in England that wanted to meet us to talk about Stone himself despite that before, all the ex-coworkers of Stone didn't want to talk about him and his services inside the organization and to be honest about it, I didn't expect at all that this particular soldier was the one who described Stone.....John Price Sr. .

He mainly talked to me about Stone as Park had to pick up an call from Woods and she wasn't so willing to know something that she already know about. I could see that she was still angry about importants details including the fact that Harry Stone is considered as an hero for the british people and despited by everyone who knows about his true identity & motives...that's mean every single counter-espionages organizations in the West. Everyone knows about him and even with that, there's nothing that they can do to ruin his 'good' reputation.

Price allowed me to discover more about who was Park's brother : William Elijah Park, a SAS soldier that was under the command of Price himself...killed by Stone, like Park said to me, in 1973 because William was given informations on Stone by someone from inside Perseus but also because of the rivalry Stone & William got after an accident in 1972....before Price gave me an picture of Park and her brother....an picture that I prefered to give her back before we left the place and by surprise, we're going back to London instead of taking the plane back to West-Berlin.

Park decided to take the wheels as we had at least 3 hours of driving from Hereford to arrive in London and during 1 hour and 30 minutes, we didn't talk too much except to know if the other was well as we were both in our respectives thoughts : she was maybe still trying to get over the fact that she was given an picture she never saw and me....I was still asking myself questions about Portnova's status but also about Zasha's one.

"Someone is tired, I seen." I said as I just saw Park yawning, putting her right hand in front of her mouth, the other hand still on the steering wheel while driving on the road.

"Yeah....I didn't sleep so much last night." She defended herself, sounding very low as she put her hand back on the steering wheel. "I had some troubles to get to sleep properly." She added, getting her eyes focused back on the road.

"You think that you can handle the rest of the drive or you want me to do it ?" I asked to her as I could see her narrowing her eyes, getting too tired.

"Do you know where's the road to London ?" She asked me back in a curious tone, redressing myself on my seat.

"Of course, follow the road signs and if the numbers get low, we're in the good direction." I exclaimed, looking outside, seeing one of the road signs saying that we were getting soon to Oxford.....before I yawned too.

"You still sure to drive ?" She raised an eyebrow to me, giving me a litle glare.

"Guess that we have to stop somewhere then." I proposed as it was the only thing to do now and she nodded, looking at the road signs.

"We're near Oxford." She whispered before looking at me briefly. "I know a place near the city where we could have a normal sleep."

"You seems to know everything around here." I scoffed about that and she looked at me with her left eye that could see 'did you really said this ?'

"Yirina, I used to study at Oxford !" She said, proud of it before smiling at me. "Of course, I know the place well." She added as she started to drive with the car, leaving the highway we were on, apparently, getting to an small town near Oxford called Farmoor.

"What's this place ?" I asked as we were arriving five minutes after we left the highway, seeing an sort of big lake on my left through the car window.

"Farmoor Reservoir." She replied before she, with the car, entered a very small parking with an big view on the lake, it was just us and no one else. "Sometimes, during my studies back in the old days, I used to hang out in there." She then stopped the car engine.

"You want us to sleep in here ?" I questioned her, looking around as I was very curious to sleep in that type of place in the middle of nowhere.

"Why not ?" She said back before I sniffed in approval to her, admiring the place around.

"Looks very charming in here." I exclaimed, looking back at her, who started to remove her jacket to put above her chest as I do the same too....some sort of blanket for ourselves. "Okay, can I ask you something ?"

"Yes ?" She breathed, looking at me.

"Tell me something that even me....I don't know about you." It was something little that I wanted to ask to her, looking at her very curiously. "Anything." She laughed at me gently before looking outside, thinkful.

"When I was an kid, I used to have an pony, doing horse riding." She said like that, making my eyes go wide about it. "It was something that I liked to do for an long time until I stopped when I entered the Oxford University." She looked at me, biting an part of her lips to me, wondering what was my reaction and frankly, I never thought that she had something like that.

"Wow, that's cool." I whispered as I could see that she wanted now to know something about me too. "You want to know something too ?" She nodded, causing me to search through my memories I have relived in my head. "Okay." I took a deep breath, having found something I had relived the second day we were in West Germany, looking at my left hand, especially the burned mark I had. "I did my coming out to Perseus as he tried to find me an 'good husband'....literally on his face."

"Really ?" Park had her hand on her face, her arm put against the seat to look at me.

"Yeah, I could still remember his jaw dropped when I told him that, he left my office right away." I laughed before I looked away, feeling suddenly sad. "He never really approved of it and said that he will heal me....guess that didn't work." I laughed again, trying to break the sad mood at the end.

"You do as you want to do, Yiri." Park affirmed, putting her hand on my shoulder, making me smile. "We don't give an fuck if people said that it's not something to do, we need to stay proud of our own status."  She got closer to me, getting our foreheads against each other "And I know that I'm proud of you." She pulled me for an kiss.

"I love you, Park." I whispered, taking some air before getting back into the kiss, reinforcing it with my hands before I broke the kiss again. "I think that we should sleep now."

"Yeah, you're right." We withdrawed from each other as we both getting comfy in our seats, looking at each other. "Good night, Yiri."

"Good night, Park." I whispered as I finally found closing my eyes, seeing Park also closing hers too slowly, feeling my body getting to sleep....this place was very nice to see....it was like an night under the stars of England....

I opened my eyes again finding myself into an stopped car in the front passenger seat and by looking outside the car.....it was the Spandau Prison in West-Berlin, the car was parked in the parking's prison....the day I have maybe helped Zasha escape from it....finally....after all these times, I can see it. At the driving seat, there was Dietrich, tapping nervously on the steering wheel, awaiting for something to happen or someone to come. We were both dressed with casual clothes....more like MI6 agents to say.

My feet was trembling about what was going to happen maybe in a few minutes before I took something out of my pocket : a fake MI6 credentials with an false name on it : Julie McKnight as Dietrich got one out too : he was named 'Daniel Folson.' . It was just the two of us in the car and like the plan told, we had to infiltrate ourselves in the prison and get Zasha out and MY plan was to get Zasha out alive from the the city before Perseus can do a thing about.

"You speak well the british accent, Grigoriev ?" Dietrich asked me, turning around to look at me as my eyes was on my fake credentials.

"Why're you asking ?" I started, confused. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't....because you can't speak the accent, I presume ?" I asked back to him who looked away.

"Pfff....of course, I can talk like those tea drinkers." He affirmed as I redressed myself on my seat, my back against the door

"Really ? Show me then." I looked at him seriously, awaiting for him to speak with the british accent before he snorted away, seeing me as ridiculous.

"We don't have time for this." He exclaimed, almost sounding angry as he continued to tap nervously with his hands on the wheel. "And accent or not, it's not an problem."

"Think what you think, Dietrich." I whispered, looking at the prison front door.

"You have an problem ?" He asked me and I looked at him, seriously again.

"Yeah, with people like you." I poked at him before someone suddenly appear at Dietrich window. It was an british guard, probably the one that was associated to Perseus who start to knock at the window to get Dietrich attention as he open the door.

"You're the two that need to get Krypto out ?" The guard asked us and we nodded with me keeping an straight face to the two.

"Can you tell us about the plan ?" Dietrich questioned him, curious.

"First and before getting to the room where Krypto is detained, we had to put an explosive charge in the boiler room for an distraction in case of something bad." The guard replied, looking around him in case someone was watching us. "I'm going to lead you there before I let you alone to get to Krypto and then, you're out of here with them."

"Fine, let's do this." Dietrich looked at me with an neutral face as we prepared our credentials to strap them on our jackets before taking some stolen silenced M1911 with us under the jacket, me removing the silencer and putting it away, knowing that the risk of getting frisked is high....a risk that Dietrich doesn't seem to acknowledge. "It's gonna be an breaking day."

We got out of the car like if it was normal as the guard was awaiting for us from away, not breaking our cover. I took a deep breath as we started to walk to get to the front door of the administrative building of the prison, exactly where Zasha was detained. The guard faked to greet us for the first time before we entered the building, acting like perfect MI6 agents and then, first problem that was obligated to have : a checkpoint that we have to pass with guards frisking everyone.

Even with our MI6 credentials, we have to get ourselves frisked by the guards and to faciliate their task, I removed my own M1911 on the counter of the guards security post before getting frisked by another guard. Dietrich was looking nervous as he removed his silenced gun and put it on the same counter, making the guards look at him suspiciously.

"Silenced gun ?" The guard behind the counter asked, looking at the gun and back at him as we,me & Dietrich were both frisked. "Any reasons why ?"

"Can't explain, I must have forget to remove it from the last operation we just had." Dietrich replied, sounding stressed in his voice.

"Don't worry, he's just an dumbass." I faked an laugh to the guard behind the counter who laughed back at Dietrich, he was looking almost angered but forced to smile.

"Good one !" The guard behind the counter pointed at me, laughing before getting serious again. "You can go, your guns will stay here until you leave the place." The other guards finished to frisk, letting us free to pass, without our guns as the Perseus guard gestured us to follow him to the boiler room that was at a few hallways from the room where Zasha was. Once we entered far enough in the boiler room, I could see the angered face of Dietrich.

"You must be stupid to do this, Grigoriev." He poked at me, still angry about what I did as we arrived just next to the place we wanted to put the charges.

"You are the stupid one." I called him back as we were almost caught by his fault. "You didn't remove your silencer from your gun."

"Okay, kids." The Perseus guard put himself between me & Dietrich "We have things to do than breaking each others necks about something that you just passed." He then looked at us as we were getting our temper down. "Good ?" We nodded.

"Let me place the charge then." Dietrich started to move away from me as the guard showed him where he has hidden the explosives as me....I was thinking of something, I needed to dispose of these guys.

Who's saying that they could try to act immediately after we got to Zasha as the guard was the only one armed and he could give his gun to Dietrich to do the job. So, I had to neutralize those guys and better, kill them here now ! I looked behind me at the entrance of the boiler room that was closed before looking back at the two, trying to set the charge up with the guard up and Dietrich almost sit. I took a deep breath, viewing the situation and then, it was time for me to act against them.

I approached the guard from behind and in an second, I grabbed him, putting my arms around his neck, causing him to fall back before I brutally break his neck in half, killing him instantly as Dietrich started to react. As I stepped back to avoid an punch that he tried to give, he managed to get his hands on the dead guard baton, now trying to give me strikes with it but I was avoiding each one of them, making them land on the walls or on the boiler machines.

Finally, I was able to grab his right arm where he was using the baton before I nudged it with all my might, breaking his arm and causing him to scream silently. I then managed to grab him by the collar and to throw him on a table that was near by, his head not on it.

"You traitor !" He spoke up, almost loudly as I was still holding him by his neck "You betrayed Perseus."

"Did I ?" I asked him. "I wasn't going to let him kill my friend."

"All of this....for Krypto !" He whispered to himself, trying to look away from me.

"For the last fucking time...." I started, getting myself ready to put him out of his misery, my head closer to him. "Their name is Zasha Smirnov !" I then used my right feet to strike him on his face, causing to break his neck more harder than the guard.

I removed my hands from him now that I just killed without remorse two Perseus agent in the middle of an western-controlled prison. I took again an breath, leaving the bodies in here as I started to walk away from the room, just alone. I stepped out of it, now going into the direction of the room where Zasha was detained in here. No one in here was getting suspicious of me, not even wondering where was the second MI6 agent that was with me.

I arrived near the room where Zasha was that was watched by two guards and the two stepped away when I showed them my credentials, apparently acknowledging that the MI6 wanted to be talk with. They opened the door, revealing Zasha themselves, not hurt at all and handcuffed on a chair.

"Yir....." They started as I entered the room before I put my index finger in front of my mouth, gesturing them to stop.

"Julie McKnight, MI6." I showed them my credentials, knowning that I was acting now and they nodded in approval. "We heard that you wanted to talk to us ?" They nodded again. "Guards." I called them as the door was still open.

"Yes, miss ?" One of the guards said, looking at me.

"Can you please detach them from their handcuffs ?" I asked the guard. "They are needed to be interrogate somewhere else."

"Understood." The guard replied as he started to move to get next to Zasha, taking the keys from his belt to detach Zasha from their handcuffs.

"What's your name ?" I fainted to ask to Zasha.

"Hmm...Smirnov, miss McKnight." They responded in a worried voice, fake one too as they were finally free.

"Good, stay next to me then." I ordered them as I moved next to them before walking away together from the room, the guard following us behind and taking back his post. "Don't stress, Zed." I whispered to them once we were no longer in the same hallway as the guards and they nodded again.

We arrived in the checkpoint again, the guard giving me back my gun, wondering why my 'colleague' wasn't here for me and I had to explain that he lost his way to get to the toilets, making the guard laugh again before he finally let us free to go outside with Zasha at my side, keeping an eye on them as we stepped out outside to get back to the car I used with Dietrich. I installed myself inside the car at the driver seat as Zasha got next to me but I wasn't starting the engine, looking mixed.

"Zed." I started, looking at them. "Do you realize where did you put yourself to ?" I asked, keeping my cool as I put my hands on the steering wheels

"Listen, I'm sorry, okay ?" They were confused at their own actions, looking at me.

"What's got into you ? You literally left me, Portnova & even Beans behind." I exclaimed, slowly raising my voice. "I know that Dedov was maybe sick but you could have wait one more day !"

"I know, it's just.....the stress....the scare I got since Dede left." They proclaimed at me, losing their words in the process.

"You got lucky that it was me that was behind that door and not Stitch." I said as I looked outside to see an car arriving in the parking. "Perseus called me from your apartment, knowing that I will come to your place to see how've been doing....Portnova was there too when he told me what you have done."

"I'm sorry." They repeated in a sad voice as I was holding back my own tears from my face, not wanting to get angry against Zasha. "Yirina, I'm sorry." I could feel their hands on my shoulder as I was still looking outside, seeing the two persons from that car getting out .....Park....Garrett....they were there that day......

"Zed, don't do this thing again." I pleaded to them, putting my hand on their shoulder. "Let's get out of here before we got problems." I then finally started the car's engine and drove off just before the alarm was getting heard from the street, with us getting away.

I thought it was the end of it but there were something wrong in that memory.....something that was just going to happen soon.....I was still driving with Zasha to get to a safe place out of the city before I looked in the mirror, seeing an suspicious van that has been following us since we have left the prison.

"Shit, we're been followed." I exclaimed, my eyes back on the road after checking the mirror.

"Why are we followed ?" Zasha asked, worried.

"Zed.....Perseus never wanted you to stay alive, he wanted to kill you at the moment we were going to transfer you back to Russia." I replied in a low voice. "I killed two Perseus agent in that prison and they surely want to know why it's only me & you in that car."

"But....you have something planned for that, right ?" They tried to not look behind the car as I was making some quick glares to the mirror, I shook my head,

"Listen, you need to stay focused and act like if you don't know." I ordered them as, with the car, I entered an sort of wasteland just outside of the city to park the car. "Trust me, Zasha." I added before I stopped the car, taking a deep breath as I saw the van enter the wasteland as well. "Stay here." I ordered them again before I stepped out of the car. I could see Hans, getting out of the van with two armed men, accompanying him.

"Grigoriev !" Hans almost shouted. "Where's Dietrich ?"

"He got himself arrested after he tried to break into an office." I replied, lying to him as I prepared my hands on my waist, ready. "Guy wasn't an genius after all."

"Don't talk about him like that." He exclaimed before looking behind me, seeing Zasha in the car. "Hey, Kryto, get your fucking ass....." He wanted to continue but in me, I felt the rage to still hear that name and then, I acted now, drawing the M1911 I was using to shoot 2 bullets in each guy behind Hans before shooting the last 3 remaining bullets in Hans, wounding him critically, hitting him in the shoulders and the chest.

"Zed !" I moved my head, keeping an eye on the van in case someone was hidden before I realized that it was just Hans and the guy I just shot down that were here. "You can come out." I suggested and the door opened as I removed my gun back into my jacket.

"You killed them.....like you did to those guys in Ukraine." They expressed, referring to another event like this.

"I had no choice, those people only deserved death." I looked back at Zasha, looking almost relieved to have done this. "Listen, I need to go back to Russia to get Portnova & Beans out." I added as I handed them the car keys. "Since Perseus will think that you're dead, you're free now."

"You remember where we are needing to join together in London ?" I nodded to them....but I couldn't know it right now. "Yirina, there's something that I want you to give to Portnova." They put their hands in their pocket, revealing an letter......the same letter that I retrieved in my old box back to Belikov place an month ago..... "Can you give this to her ?"

"I'll try my best to do it." I whispered before I took the letter in hand, putting it into my pocket as I heard Hans groaning. "Just die for fuck sake !" I yelled to him as I moved to grab one of the dead guy gun to shoot all of its mag on Hans wounded body, killing him.

"Yirina." I could hear Zasha's voice behind me, putting their hand on my shoulder. "Please, come back with my Yiri....come back for me and Dedov." They added before they decided to kiss me on the left cheek, making me grin a little about it.

"Zed..." I breathed before I do the same : kissing them on their cheek too and then, I put my arms around them to hug them, wanting them to feel secured and alive to have been saved by me, I just wanted their safety "Please, live your life and be free." I added with an smile before I let them walk to the driver's door of the car, seeing an smile on their face as they opened the door of the car.....

"Yirina, we're going to do this....we're going to bring Perseus down !"

#cod bocw #cod cold war #cod black ops cold war #cod cw #call of duty cold war #call of duty #cod bell #black ops cold war #fem!bell #helen park #yirina grigoriev

[milwrites]

Weird that it happened twice, right?

chapter two - masterlist

a f e w w e e k s l a t e r

A/N: i can’t believe the filth i have written in this chapter. the formatting is a bit messy and i don’t know why but we move, and that’s about it really. i butchered sean’s dialogue a bit but i like over doing his accent :)) also if you’ve read this far i adore you and please keep going it improves a lot :)

word count:

T/W: smut. language, bad irish accent, a little violence. mainly smut in this one though.

“I ain’t sure if I can come” “I could help you with that.” The flirting never stopped. Being out on a job with us felt like being a third wheel Sean claimed as we got ready to scout a possible lead. “Would ya shut the fuck up and get ready? I'm leavin’ in a min.”

Sean took the lead, Ennis setting the pace for Old Boy and Bonnie to follow. The lead ended up being dead and not worth pursuing, but while heading back to the undergrowth we had left the horses in, John noticed what looked to be a group of Pinkertons coming down the path, armed and alert.

“Shit!” he swore, him and Sean nestling into the cover of some shrubbery, I was still blissfully unaware and still in plain sight watching an eagle through the binoculars Arthur had lent me. “Fucking hell, woman, it ain’t dying for,” he leaned from the bushes and pulled me toward him, grabbing my throat while aiming for my shoulder. Well shit. Probably wasn’t the best time to let Sean find out I wasn’t completely averse to having John’s hand around my neck. John didn’t hear it. Sean did. The little, tiny really, moan that he mercilessly tormented me about as soon as I left John’s side. I was vaguely worried until remembering that no one took a word Sean said seriously 9/10 times.

-

It worried Dutch, the close encounter the three of us had had with the Pinkertons, but he tossed the worry aside fairly quickly and went back to breaking molly o’Sheas heart a little more every day.

Molly talked to me about her problems with Dutch regularly; I was the only woman with enough free time to do so, the others worked off their feet by Miss Grimshaw and normally too het up with their own problems to talk to Molly about hers. She would pour her heart out to me, crying over the man who seemed to care about her one moment and toss her aside the next. “He’s a prick, Miss o’Shea. Trust me.” The man had given me a home and yet I still held bitter resentment toward him for the way he treated molly. It had been a hard day for her, Dutch had blown her off when she’d asked to talk, and frankly told her she wasn’t important enough for him to spare a moment of his precious time, leaving her inconsolable after I had encouraged her to open up. All I could think to do was open my arms wide, allowing Molly to lean into the embrace, all the while making sure I didn’t cause a single strand of deep red hair to be misplaced from the perfect curls she had set them in.

A set of gunshots rang out. We both jumped a little, more following in quick succession: it was no longer possible that they were the sounds of hunting - it was a gunfight. “That’s coming from Valentine.” “Fuck- John and Dutch are there. I think Arthur too.”

I hurried to where Jack had started crying, the gunfire unremitting and scaring him. I tried to soothe him by picking him up into my arms and bracing him on my hips, but my arms were shaking and my voice trembled when I talked to him. Gunfire had never scared me, and I prided herself on keeping my head while in such situations, and yet being on the outside made it that much worse; I had no idea if any one of the shots that we could hear had torn though John, or Dutch, or Arthur. The other girls in the camp hurried over to where me and Molly stood, the men following them. Charles spoke up, his voice slow and reassuring, as he told us all that this wasn’t any of those men’s first gunfight - and almost definitely wouldn’t be their last. The group dispersed somewhat, I moved to where Sean and Javier were talking to Karen, hoping that Jack might calm down if he was near the people who took care of him most.

The guns stopped. The quiet was more unbearable than the noise, everyone hyper-aware of their own breathing and every flutter of movement in the woods.

5 minutes became 15. Then an hour. Then the clear sound of galloping horses could be heard, crashing through the forest. The Count came into view first, then Arthur's appaloosa mare, and the welcome sight of Old Boy at the back. “Marston!” I ran at him, seeing him dismount unscathed, and leapt into his arms unapologetically. We broke apart panting and beaming. I ruffled his hair. “Glad you’re not dead.”

I looked over to where Charles had greeted Arthur, past them both to see Dutch and Molly. He had his hand on her cheek, delicately stroking his thumb over it, and while I couldn’t make out what he was saying, Molly told me the next morning that it had been apologies and promises of better treatment.

It put me in a slightly melancholic mood; my relationship with John seemed so grey compared to the black and white of Dutch and Molly’s. He hugged me like a friend but flirted with me like he was in love, he let me act the mother to his child but arm wrestled me like one of the men. The list of pet names was endless, the flirting constant, and yet every single time we went to a saloon together he would book a room and find a woman to take to it. Watching him lead her up to his rooms sent me to the bar without fail, the alcohol taking the edge off the searing pain that settled deep in my heart. It struck me so many times that I could do the same, could find someone to make me forget his name for a night, but I never did. Could never quite bring myself to.

I shook myself from my thoughts, finding myself to be leaning against the very man I was thinking of. He offered me the bottle of whiskey and I took it gratefully, half paying attention to what Arthur was saying and half sleepily admiring Bonnie from where I could see her grazing. “John said you’ve been to Clemens Point before, (Y/N)?” “Hmm?” I looked up and nodded, explaining that I’d taken a few horses there as it was a nice schooling ground when people hadn’t set up camps. Arthur and Charles had been and cleared it ready for the rest to move the next day, none of them able to stay at Horseshoe after the incident in Valentine. It occurred to me that I still had no idea what actually happened in Valentine, I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I’d missed John’s story completely. I asked him to tell me again, and he did so, only a little perplexed, before asking me what thoughts had been so consuming that I’d zoned out so far. I only shook my head, smiling weakly. Jesus he was close. I stood up abruptly, a second wave of longing crashing over me at his proximity and the tenderness of his tone. He followed me up, scrambling to catch me. He called my name. I turned to him; eyebrows raised expectantly. he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, looking me in the eye. “I-“ he stopped. shook his head. seemed to decide his next words carefully. “Sleep well, darlin’.”

clemens point - 1899

“Vesta! John! Get your sorry asses over here!” Dutch's voice cut through our conversation effectively, causing me to roll my eyes and John to let out an aggrieved sigh. “Dutch. Hosea.” I greeted them with an incline of my head, the two men now parents in my eyes. Hosea spoke first, telling us that a stagecoach was passing through the area in a few days, and that if we could break the lockbox there would be a wealth of jewellery and a considerable stack of money. “You sure we should be robbing already? We’ve only been here a of couple weeks.” I was on edge, Clemens Point was lovely and I didn’t want us to be hounded away from it unduly soon. Dutch gestured to the deputy badge Arthur was wearing from outside the tent in answer, implying that the law wouldn’t be a problem here. I looked out of the tent and over flat iron lake, now happily considering the idea of being sent on a job with John again.

“Sure that’s enough guns, sweetheart?” he called over while I fixed what was once his rifle to Bonnie's saddle and two pistols in my holsters. I wheeled around to see him, saluting him with two fingers and tightening the girth a little more. Bonnie let out a cry as john led Old Boy to where I was mounting.

“Ready?” I questioned eagerly over my shoulder. Bonnie fidgeted and tossed her head, impatient as ever, almost more than me. We set off from camp at a trot, filled with anticipation at the coming robbery. The horses eagerly broke into a canter at the main track, neither of us protesting the change in speed. Once we had reached the narrow bridge that the coach would have to cross, we pulled the face coverings on and waited, the road empty until the creaking wheels and cracking whip alerted him to the impending arrival of our quarry. It was a good job he was paying attention, because I was at that point fiddling with Bonnie’s mane and mercilessly daydreaming about the man beside me.

John stepped out into the road, his voice less recognisable and his demeanour more threatening than mine. He stopped the stagecoach, taking his time in relieving them of their watches, loose change and valuables to give me an ample window to break the lockbox and transfer the contents into a bag. The lock was easy enough to smash with a large rock from the path, and I thanked every god there was for the stacks of dollars within and the bags of ornate jewellery. It looked like it was going to have gone without a hitch for us, when a police whistle broke the silence that had passed over the robbery.

“Fuck. right, we’ve got to get gone.” I yelled to John, darting at Bonnie. The approaching horses were close enough to give chase to us both as we fled the scene; lawmen having arrived worrying fast. The first shot was fired by the lawman at the front of the pursuit, aimed at me and missing by a fraction while I ducked. I drew my weapon and fired 2 shots back at him. The first skimmed past him, the second hitting him square in the skull. John sent warning shots by the horses' feet, slowing them and setting them on edge, allowing him and I to speed up further, turning off the road and heading for a patch of woodland at the very south of the Cumberland forest.

The remaining lawmen faded into the distance, the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air, and blood still rushing through our veins. I looked over to him with a surge of affection as his dark eyes met mine, creasing from the smile hidden by his face covering, and I truly wished that I knew how to tell him in that moment that I was so incredibly in love with him. He brought Old Boy to a walk without warning, causing Bonnie to agitatedly wait for the gelding in halt. They fell back into speed again in a leisurely walk, the horses affectionately nipping at the others neck, an action I wished John could mimic as I became acutely aware of the cool air hitting my exposed neck in the dappled light of the wooded path. I yanked my face covering off with a laugh and my smile widened as John followed suit. He let it remain at his neck, while I stuffed mine into a saddlebag.

“This outfit looks dreadful with a necktie,” I explained in response to his puzzled look, “the neckline on the shirt is too nice.” John slowly nodded, clear that he didn’t know the first thing about necklines, only that the buttons could have been buttoned a lot higher and a lot more skin could have been hidden.

I slowed Bonnie to a halt and dismounted, my boots hitting the earthy ground with a dull thud, and plonked myself onto the ground unceremoniously to sit comfortably. John remained on his horse a little longer, rummaging in his saddlebags as if looking for something, his eyes not leaving my now grinning face, the relief of having escaped the law scot free and with every penny that we stole still intact rushing over me.

The glint of a shining object in John’s hand caught my eye; turning my head and piquing my interest. “Watcha got there, cowboy?” I teased with a tilt of my head, almost adopting the mannerisms of my beloved terrier. He swallowed a little thickly as if steeling himself for something. He tossed a ring in a deep green box at me: a simple silver affair, delicate and of the highest quality - and with it the atmosphere subtly shifted from the relief fuelled joy moments before. “I- fuck- (Y/N), will you marry me?”

The words, they sounded like they should be a joke, like he should have said them in the most sarcastic of voices, and yet he didn’t. I could tell almost immediately that he was deathly serious, that the 6 months' worth of unresolved sexual tension had finally come a head, and that I could finally let John know exactly how I felt.

“No.” A beat. “But I will be yours. One step at a time, eh?” I continued with lopsided grin. John slid off of Old Boy and fell to his knees before me as I raised myself to mine to mirror him. “I love you baby,” he whispered as our lips crashed together in a charged kiss, releasing all of his pent-up emotion into a clash of tongue and teeth. Without breaking apart he repositioned with me on his lap and I ground down on him through pure instinct - the erotica I may have consumed through my mid-teens may also have inspired me. He groaned into the kiss, pulling away only to look into my slightly watering hazel eyes, and I took the opportunity to flash him a nervous smile. “I've never done this before,” I looked down, “pretty memorable first kiss I suppose.” With his index finger he raised my chin back up to meet my gaze again and offered me a gentle peck. “I've gotcha darlin’, if you want me to.” My brows creased, a look of worry gracing my features, lips pouting ever so slightly. “I'm not gonna be any good.” I leaned into him again, not letting him reply before kissing him once more. He broke it after a while, pushing me onto my back; one arm behind me for support, the other pushing me painfully slowly. His sudden gentleness made me giggle. “‘M not made of glass, John” “Are you gonna tell me what to do the whole-time princess?” He lightly teased, a reassuring expression on his face. I opened her mouth to answer him, and he silenced whatever sarcastic comment I was about to make with a kiss, heated and messy.

With one hand gripping my hips, the other in my hair, he lifted them to remove my breeches and underwear in one motion, the expensive lacy under things he found not going unnoticed. “You planned this beforehand, baby girl?” He questioned cockily; an all too knowing look plastered across his face. “I like nice things is all.” I muttered, my slight northern accent shining through the plummy English I’d been taught to adopt, my slight nerves audible in the way my voice had quietened. He asked her once more if I was sure I wanted to do this, he had no intentions of pushing me further than I wished to go, to which I shook my head vehemently; simply asking that he go gentle on me, while pulling his shirt off of his toned body. “Least to start with anyway.” I finished coyly, running my hands down his muscled abdomen, pausing at his waistband. His hands slowly moved up and down my thighs, spreading them gently, and he was unable to smother the slow smile that developed as he beheld me. In an almost tentative manor, he ran a single finger down my slit, noting the sharp intake of air at his slightest touch, and the way I was watching him so intensely as though if I looked away for even a moment he may disappear. “Gonna make you feel real good, sweetheart, just gotta trust me.” He spoke, soothing me with his voice as he used his index finger to find my clit easily. “fuck-” I gasped as he circled it: I’d never so much as been touched even by myself up unto this point, and it wasn’t taking much to send me rocketing towards my peak. My hands held his forearms in a vice like grip, knuckles white and breath short as he brought me to the very edge - tipping me over with one final sweep of his fingers. The way he looked at me brushed away any trace of embarrassment, his loving gaze was so easy to drown in, and I knew in that moment I would never be able to give this up. He lightly kissed my forehead, checking my face for any signs of distress, finding none. I almost immediately scraped my teeth along his exposed neck, causing him to buck his hips into mine, letting me feel how hard he’d become. “Fuck me.” I whispered it right into his ear, no trace of seduction, a simple plea that he appeared more than happy to oblige. He unbuttoned her simple white shirt; most of the buttons having been left undone in the first place, and my brassiere became exposed, matching lace as the underwear he’d removed earlier. The contrast of my skin against the forest green lace had him cursing under his breath - how I’d managed to buy it I had no idea. I began to fiddle with his belt, undoing it and sliding his pants down to his knees, eyeing his cock in awe. I nervously let out a low whistle. “Might hurt a bit doll,” he began softly, “I'll be gentle.”

With my legs hooked above his hips, John slowly eased into me, pausing to let me catch my breath, and continuing in. When he was fully sheathed, I nodded after a moment for him to start moving, which he happily did so. His hand wandered to the base of my throat, and he hovered there, watching my face to gauge my reaction. In that moment I forgot how to think – his hand was on my neck, his hips hitting mine, and my hand came to grip his, placing it higher up neck with a joking wink; sending us both into fits of laughter. Well done me. His thrusts faltered as we laughed, until he squeezed my throat, constricting the blood flow slightly, drawing the most obscene noises from me. “Harder- fuck” I drew out, and unable to tell whether I meant the grip on my neck or the pace he was fucking me at, he did so on both fronts; fucking me at a bruising speed and choking me to the point at which my vision became starry. A slew of praise, degradation, and affection fell from his lips, tightening the coil in my lower body even more. “You’re a good girl” “Fucking filthy ain’t you baby, letting me choke the life outta ya” “You gonna come for me huh? that’s it darlin, cmon come for me”

As I once again raced toward the edge, he lowered his head to kiss and nip at my neck, and he released the hand at my throat to allow him more space. He got in two more pounding thrusts before I was coming hard around his cock, and he followed after me with a string of expletives and praise, his head dropping.

He pulled out of me with a satisfied grunt, and cast an assessing look over my body. He took in my neck littered with bruises and bites, my chest heaving as I brought my breathing back to normal and my slowly widening smile. “I didn’t really get to tell you, but I love you too.” I whispered slightly hoarsely, barely more than a breath, my throat raw and exhausted. His answering nod and genuine smile told me that he knew, he had known for a while.

The morning came about all too quickly, and the thought of returning to camp from the clearing that had been our haven was slightly unpleasant, but as dawn light cascaded through the canopy, we started to pack up the horses once more. Neither of us had brought spare clothes, not anticipating an overnight, so my marked neck was on show to the world as I refused to simply button up my shirt fully.

I managed to mount Bonnie with relative ease, her being a little over 16 hands made it difficult enough normally, and yet I held back her in a walk much longer than either of us usually would, to John's utter delight. “You a bit sore my darlin’?” he questioned while knowing damn well I was, spurring Old Boy into a canter in a clear challenge for me to race him. Never one to back from an honest challenge, I matched his speed easily, adopting a light seat with a smug grin - knowing all those years of technical schooling had finally become useful.

The ride back to camp took longer than expected, the law still patrolling the bigger roads and forcing us two thieves onto the smaller paths and through denser undergrowth. But arrive we did, just before dusk, and the sound of our bell like laughter could be heard in camp before either horse or rider could be seen, peals of it ringing through the camp; a sound of pure happiness and mirth, alerting everyone that the job went well, that we were both still alive and kicking.

No one noticed anything different as john dismounted quickly, even as he walked over to where I was still atop my horse, patting Bonnie's golden shoulder. No one noticed that he had his hands on my waist as he helped me dismount completely unnecessarily, or that he leaned around to kiss my cheek while I undid the girth to remove Bonnie’s saddle. No one noticed that his left hand never wavered from its place at the small of my back as we walked into camp, or that the look we shared was too charged and full of knowing to be anything between two friends. What everyone did notice was Sean's excitable yell as we became close enough for him to see the bags under my eyes, the change in our gaits, the way my neck looked as if I’d been mauled, and the way John was holding me as if I was his. “No way. No way dey fucked after robbin’ a stagecoach. But holy fuck dey did didn’t dey! EVERYONE! JAVIER Y’OWE ME 20 DOLLARS!” I sighed. “Thank you, Sean, for that eloquent announcement. Me and john did indeed fuck.” I thanked him, leaving John’s side to give the Irishman a one-armed hug, before a squealing Karen stole my attention entirely. The woman let out an unintelligible but generally excited squeal, and pulled me into a crushing hug, whispering that maybe this will give the Sean the push he needs to finally make a move. “I'm sure he will miss Karen, and if he doesn’t I'll marry you myself.” I said, shooting him a glance, only to find him clapping John on the shoulder and calling the other gang members over. I extricated myself from the blonde’s embrace to “get a drink”, and quickly found myself back in John’s strong arms watching the campfire spit and crackle, Jack bouncing on my lap, buoyed up on the merry atmosphere of the gang. Dutch had made his speeches: Arthur had taken a shot for every time Dutch mentioned faith, plans, or family, and even Micah clapped me on the shoulder and congratulated me on scoring such a huge amount of money from the stagecoach.

With everyone happy, safe, warm and content, the conversation was easy between us; everyone happily sharing one fire and tensions dissipated by its warmth. The attention had left us entirely, and John could nuzzle his head into my neck from his place beside me, lifting it to poke the marks on it that gave us away so quickly. she giggled as he brushed over them, answering his silent question cheekily. “I only left the buttons undone to seduce you”

#john marston x reader smut #rdr2 #john marston #john marston x reader

[nowitsdarkfic]

chapter fifteen (visiting hours)

December 1, 1988. Syracuse, New York.

“Okay, so tell me what happened now.”

We're inside of the hospital I was in before when I first visited Brick. The whole place is still absurdly clean and I still wonder about all the lights and things that surround us on the way up to the intensive care unit. Spence stops me right in front of the elevator doors as they close and leave us under the veil of that new car smell. I guess visiting hours are just now opening up for the day: I figure we'll be here all day with Lars and Sonia if we must.

“You know, Barney and Billy took Brick home with them,” he starts, reaching into his pocket for something.

“Right.” I untie my scarf because it's nice and warm in here.

“And he was laying on the couch and he had those feathers growing out from his head and his neck—” He takes out a little zipped bag of pink and white candy. “—Good and Plenties?”

“Nah. You and those stupid things, I swear.” I stick my thumbs into my jeans pockets.

“They're so tasty, though. I've like these for years, Joe. These and Jujyfruit.”

“Oh, right?”

“Anyways—the feathers were getting bigger and longer with time and I guess it was aching him like crazy.” He slips a couple of those candies into his mouth. “Like while it made our skin itch, those of us on the outside looking in, I guess it was agonizing for him because whenever he woke up he'd shudder and shake from pain.”

“Shit. While I can't believe I wasn't there to help you guys out, I'm—kinda glad I wasn't there.”

“No, it was—it was hard to watch him. I'm glad you weren't there, either, because it would've wrecked you. He wasn't eating anything worth jack shit, either. And so at one point, Barney was like 'dude, Brick, you gotta eat something.' But he wouldn't.” He sticks a couple of white ones which stuck together into his mouth: that smell of licorice overtakes the new car smell pervading the floor.

“The light would hurt him, too,” he adds with his mouth full.

“Hurt him?”

“Yeah, like he'd—” He swallows it down. “—he'd totally wince and make these painful whimpers whenever either Barney or Bill turned the light on. They soon found out more feathers would grow all along his arms and his legs. It was like he was turning into a bird. It got so bad that they called me up the other day and told me to tell you, Lars, and Sonia that they were taking him to the hospital. You weren't home so I told the two of them. Sonia's been on Thanksgiving break but she's been working overtime at the upholstery place with Marcia and Lars had just gotten out of the hospital himself, which kinda scared me.”

“Yeah, we were—kinda in a car accident,” I fill in for him. And he gapes at me.

“What—the fuck, why didn't you say anything?”

“Haven't been able to—wait. I thought you knew about it?”

“No! No one said anything to me about that!”

“What the hell? I thought Dominique called Sonia and then she called everyone I knew after it happened. That's what Lars told me.”

He shakes his head. “Nah, man, I didn't hear a thing about that. I thought you were at your parents' house.”

“I was in the City seeing Soundgarden again. And then I went out to dinner with Lars, Nancy, and Dominique. I fell asleep at the wheel and we totaled the car in the Bronx. Fucked up my back for a few days, hit my head, and everything.”

He runs his hand through his hair and gapes at me as his face turns as white as a sheet.

“Holy—shit!”

“You're telling me no one told you what happened that night?” I demand to him, feeling my stomach turn.

“Yes,” he sputters out. I'm at as much of a loss for words as he is because I swear—I swear—Lars told me as we were laying in our hospital beds to not worry about calling everyone I know on what happened. I feel sick.

The third door on the right side of the hall opens and Sonia pokes her head out from the doorway. I point my finger at her.

“Hey!” I call out to her. “Why didn't you tell Spence Lars and I were both in a car accident and the two of us could've been killed?”

“You were in a car accident?” she asks me, bewildered.

“We were,” Lars' voice floats out from behind her.

“You mean—Dominique didn't call you?” I lower my hand.

“No…” She almost looks hurt.

I glance back at Spence, whose mouth is full of Good and Plenties again.

Okay, now I'm really confused.

“I'll bring it up to Dominique when I see her,” I assure the both of them, adjusting the lapels of my coat. “But right now—”

I stride down the hall towards her; Spence follows suit. Sonia fixes her hair as I meet up with her there at the doorway: the room has a bright white floor and bold bright white lights upon the ceiling. To the right is a plain white panel, one that resembles to a sound board in a recording studio, but it's all so clean and crisp. Too clean.

I turn my head to find a sheet of darkened glass stretched from the wall behind me to the one on the other side of the room. On the other side of the glass, laying in his hospital bed with tubes and wires sticking into parts of his arms and legs, bathed in rich indigo light, his arms laying out from his body like the arms on a rag doll, is Brick.

They had removed the feathers from his face and his shoulders, and smeared on some kind of cream as a result. His eyes are closed shut and he's got a little mask over his mouth: the mask is linked up to a plastic tube and the tube is snaking behind his bed to what I presume is a tank of some kind. I can see some of the shafts of the feathers remaining behind in the skin on his forearms.

Spence was right: this is hard to look at. The whole sight of it makes my stomach turn even more. In the reflection of the glass, I see Lars striding up next to me with something in his hand. I turn my head to find him walking with a black wooden cane. He rubs one eye after the other with his free hand.

“Yeah,” he remarks to me. “No one has any idea what's happening with him.”

“Billy told me they stuck the tube down his throat,” Sonia starts again, “and they found a bunch of fine trimmed wires and glimmers of neon on the inside of his mouth, right near his gullet. It's like the feathers were tearing him apart from the inside and eating him alive.”

“Neon?” I repeat that, scowling at my own faint reflection in the glass.

“Yeah. Like bright blue neon.”

“Like the neon lights we see in Seattle,” Lars adds, putting his free arm over the top of his head so as to stretch his back.

“And the same ones across the lake,” I mutter under my breath as Spence himself stands beside me.

“And they don't know if they stopped the feathers, either,” he continues. “You know, you can see the shafts growing out of his arms. They also have no idea how to rid of the wires and the neon inside of his mouth, either. It's like they're part of his body now.”

I look on at Brick, at the marks of the shafts over his forearms. There's something on his left wrist. Something that's a little more white than the rest of his skin, and it stands out because of the black lights in the ceiling over him. A little slit, like a scar I don't recognize.

Brick's my best friend: of all the hockey games we've played in, where I've had a tooth partially knocked out, he never managed to get a worse injury than a pelting in the head with a puck. If he ever got that bad of a cut anywhere on his body, I would've known about it. But this looks new, like it just happened.

I flash on the scar on Maya's forehead. But that's on her head: this is on his arm.

I also examine all the tubes and things flooding into his body.

Neon. Wires. Cybernetics. The robotic work in the house back in Boston.

This has got me thinking.

“What you thinking, Joe?” Spence asks me, tucking the Good and Plenties back into his coat pocket.

“I'm thinking,” I begin, choosing my words with caution, “we should play in Seattle.”

“We?”

“Yeah.” I turn my head to look at Spence, who's got one eyebrow raised up a little bit. “You, me, Barney, and Billy.”

“Why?” He's not sure where I'm going with this, but I know.

“I have an idea. It's not a plan per se, more of an excuse to get our asses back over there.”

“Where are you going with this?” Sonia asks me, folding her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, I mean, your buddy's here in the intensive care unit and literally the most you can do is suggest a round of hockey?” Lars just sounds borderline disgusted.

“You're gonna be goalie,” I tell him, wagging a finger at him.

“Me?” He recoils at the very suggestion. “Dude, I can barely walk at a normal pace right now much less stand on skates.”

“Never said you would have to stand on skates,” I point out. “What am I suggesting is a way into the heart of Seattle. Into the heart of all the neon and all the cybernetic shit. I want us to have a closer look at it.”

“You think—” Spence cuts himself off. And Lars gasps at me.

“You don't think—” He stops himself, too. “Maxwell Industries,” he says in a hushed voice.

“Walter 'Brick' Maxwell. Tell me that's not a coincidence. Also—” I shift my weight right there as I stuff my hands into my coat pockets. “—the other night Nancy—Chris' girlfriend—swung by my place the other night. I guess she's seen Maya in the heart of town. The least I can do right now, not just for Brick but for Maya, too, is to at least have a look around while putting on a little round of hockey.”

“Joey Belladonna, you are brilliant,” Spence declares, setting a hand on my back.

“The only issue of course is—do I go by Dominique's word on this especially since—as far as I know anyways—she didn't even call Sonia after the accident.”

“Well, take this from me, Joey,” Lars tells me, “sometimes you have to listen to your own judgment instead of going by the game of telephone. That's how I got my apartment in New Orleans.”

I nibble on my bottom lip at that as I gaze on at Brick one last time. I did say I would figure this whole thing with him out even if it kills me after all.

#after the watershed #who cares wins #now it's dark #chapter 15 #new chapter #fanfic #fanfiction #heavy metal fanfiction #thrash metal #anthrax fanfics #metallica fanfics #joey belladonna #lars ulrich #anthrax #metallica #noir au #cyberpunk #amwriting #text

[alexthetrashyracoon]

Welcome Back, Pinetree

Chapter : 1 / ???

"How exactly did you imagine that, Dipper? We can't separate! We are the Mystery twins," Mabel exclaimed angrily and ran up and down in their shared room. "Mabel, but you want to...", Dipper started, but his sister interrupted him immediately. "What I want doesn't matter, Dipdop! What you want doesn't matter! What we want counts. Wasn't it always like that? We against the rest of the world", Mabel asked and looked at him with her huge eyes. Dipper hated it when she did this. Then he could never refuse her a wish. "Mabel, it would only be three years. And it wouldn't be like we couldn't see each other anymore," Dipper tried to calm his sister. "No! You would have no more time for me, because then you would constantly hang out with your nerd friends", tears rose to her eyes. Dipper would have loved to start chewing on something, but he tried for years not to follow this terrible habit anymore. "Mabel, you will always be my number one. I promise you that. Come on Mabel, mystery twin promise," Dipper reached out to his twin. But she turned her back on him and began to sob. "Mabel, that's really unfair..." Dipper muttered. "It's unfair that you leave me alone", she sniffed. "I... Mabel, I would never leave you alone. How could I leave you alone?" Dipper asked and got up from his bed. Carefully he went over to Mabel's side of the room. "Mabel, you always wanted to go to this funny designer school. And now is your chance! Mum and Dad made it possible for you. You can make pig fashion like you've always wanted." "But not with you..." sobbed Mabel. Dipper took off his cap and scratched the back of his head. "Mabel... Sometimes... Oh man, Mabel, don't make it harder for me than this farewell already is," he whispered and stared at his twin. She turned around to him again. Her light make-up, was smeared and she looked like a little panda. Mabel's long brown hair was tied together in a loose bun, single strands fell into her face, making her look even sadder than she already was. Dipper suppressed a groan. Mabel chewed on her lip. You could see she didn't know what to do. "Watch out for Mabel, I promise you something. We will Skype every weekend, really every weekend. And I'll write you every evening a detailed report on what happened during the day. And during the holidays we take turns. Sometimes you come to me and sometimes I come to you," Dipper tried to find a compromise. "Every day", Mabel wiped her nose with her flashing sweater. "Every day," Dipper promised with a smile. "But the same goes for you. Every day and every weekend." he quickly added.

In the end, Mabel had agreed. Relief spread to Dipper. Of course, it was also terribly difficult for him to leave Mabel. But they would soon turn 18 and soon it was time for them to leave the nest, as his great uncle Stan always said. Her parents were of the same opinion, too. They could not spend the rest of their lives together. They had to go out into the wide world and meet new people. Further education. To live their lives. But it was easier said than done. Especially when, like Dipper and Mabel, you had spent your whole life together. Their parents didn't understand this relationship. Mabel was Dipper's best friend, just like Dipper was Mabel's best friend. They had had their greatest adventures together. Great-Uncle Stan and Great-Uncle Ford were supposed to understand them best and not try to separate the two siblings every time.

Sighing, Dipper packed the last remnants of his clothes into the suitcase, then closed the zipper. "You're already driving...?" he heard his sister behind him. Dipper turned around and saw Mabel standing in the door frame. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest. "On Saturday. Stan and Ford were waiting for me," Dipper explained. "Okay...," Mabel whispered and again Dipper could see tears in her corner of her eye. "Hey, don't cry. We made a promise, didn't we?" he smiled encouragingly. "Right," she nodded and the tears were gone again. "You see. And now, how about I invite you over for an ice cream," Dipper grinned. "As many bullets as I want," Mabel breathed reverently. Dipper already regretted this answer, but nodded anyway. Immediately Mabel jumped for joy.

Shaking his head, he followed her out to his car. For their 17th birthday, their dad had financed their two driving licenses. Because you never knew when you needed a car to quote his words. However, Mabel had refused this gift, because it was enough if one of the two could drive. And since the two had firmly assumed that they would never part, it was a done deal. So Dipper had made his driver's license and Mabel had spent her money on funny printed fabrics.

"Honestly, I'm already very excited," Mabel jumped around in her seat. "Mabel, stay seated, otherwise you'll distract me and then we'll drive into a tree," Mouthed Dipper, concentrating on the road, which was once again extremely busy today. It was nice weather, many of the inhabitants went to the local swimming pool or the lake of Piedmont to lie in the sun or to cool down. Dipper was afraid of the snake at the ice cream parlour he had planned for. "But Dipping Sauce! I can finally make fashion for waddles," Mabel exclaimed excitedly, picking out a box of lozenges from her trouser pocket. Dipper was only able to guess how long these things had been in there. This summer Mabel hadn't worn these pants yet, that much was for sure. She threw one of the sweets into her mouth and then started humming the melody of her favorite song. "Just turn on the song," Dipper grumbled. "You sound like Grunkle Stan already," laughed Mabel and switched on the radio. Then she switched to the CD player and already 'Disco Girl' from BABBA roared out of the speakers. Sighing, Dipper shook her head, but remained mute. Mabel danced like crazy to the music. Well, she didn't have much freedom of movement, but somehow she managed to perform exotic movements. Dipper could only hope that his sister would not break bones or pull other injuries. Or even worse, destroyed his car.

After Dipper found a parking lot that wasn't in the midday sun, Mabel jumped out of the car before Dipper had turned it off and ran away. Sighing, Dipper looked after her and dropped his head on the steering wheel. A loud horn sounded and frightened a family passing his car. Dipper made himself as small as he could. Then he switched off the car and got out as well. There was no trace of Mabel. "Sometimes...," he murmured, pocketing the keys and shouldering his bag.

He ran across the parking lot until he discovered Mabel. She stood at a small stall and looked at the flowers the old man exhibited. She turned to him and smiled broadly. Then she waved at him. Smiling, he went to her, "Dipper, which flowers should I take? The white ones or the blue ones," she asked when he arrived at her. "The white ones," he shrugged his shoulders. "You didn't even look. You saw that too, didn't you?" Mabel asked the man excitedly. Dipper twisted his eyes, then he looked at the flowers. "The white ones. And I looked. Now stop bothering the poor man, take the flowers and let's go for ice cream." "Dipper you are boring. What do they say, which one should I take?" Mabel asked and smiled at the old man. He tilted his head. "As your friend said, they take the whites," he smiled. Dipper and Mabel stared at him with open mouths. "That.... That's not...", stuttered Mabel. "We... Oh heaven! That's my sister," hissed Dipper. The old man just laughed, then handed Mabel the flowers. "I give them to you, young lady. As an apology." Mabel took the flowers. "Thank you very much," she smiled.

Finally they had made it to the city center. It had never taken them so long to get there. So many people could not be on the way in this weather. Dipper wanted to chew on something. He did not like these large crowds. They made him nervous. The last time he faced a large crowd, they had all been stacked into a huge stone throne. Nervously, Dipper's eye twitched at the thought of the Fearamid and their owners. "All well?" Mabel asked worriedly. "I was just thinking about the summer when we were 12.", Dipper muttered. "Hey, Brobro! Don't panic. Don't think about it anymore. Bill is history," she cheered him up. Dipper nodded. Easier said than done. Bill Cipher had taken over his body and not hers. Bill Cipher had almost killed him and not her. "Look, the ice cream parlour is empty! Let's go before it gets full," Mabel exclaimed and pulled him behind him. Stumbling, Dipper followed her and the dark memories of her childhood were forgotten.

Dipper knew he should regret the decision to promise Mabel as many scoops of ice cream as she wanted. His wallet certainly didn't thank him after it was $10 empty. After Mabel proudly marched her six scoops of ice cream out of the ice cream parlour, Dipper followed her out with his two scoops. Sadly, he stroked the empty purse. "Let's go window shopping," Mabel grinned at him. "Why?" asked Dipper. "Just so. Why does everything always have to have a reason with you," she raised him. Dipper twisted her eyes. Not everything had a reason with him. Sometimes he also did things because he felt like it and not because he had a reason for it.

Again she dragged him behind her as if he were a dog. "Mabel, I can walk alone. And besides, your ice is melting," Dipper ripped his arm out of her grip. "What? Oh dear," Mabel moaned and started licking the paper cup cleanly. "Mabel," Dipper scolded. Why couldn't his sister even behave in public? He went on with a bright red head. "Wait for me," she shouted after him, but Dipper simply went on.

"That would be something for you or not," Mabel asked and plucked his shirt. Dipper looked up and immediately recognized what Mabel meant. It was a vest with a huge tree printed on its back. "No. Not in life. My cap is enough for me," he said and straightened this one, "But Dipdop! That is your trademark," Mabel shouted indignantly. "So what? I already wear it on my head. That should be enough," Dipper said with folded arms. Mabel looked at him again with those huge, sad eyes. "Ahh.... Mabel, you're killing me. I won't buy them," Dipper remained steadfast. "But if I buy them for you, you can't say no. Here, hold this, I'll be right back," Mabel shouted before she flew into the store. Sighing, Dipper looked after her.

Half an hour passed before his sister came back. The worst part, however, was that she not only held one bag in her hand, but four. "Do I want to know?" he asked carefully. "No," grinned his sister broadly. "All right," he muttered and eyed the bags one last time. "Well, besides the vest I bought two trousers, three shirts and two sweatshirts. You clearly don't have enough clothes. How will you manage with just one suitcase, three years?" Mabel asked with a grin. "You have... Mabel you... sometimes I really wonder how it can be that you're not broke all the time," Dipper said. "But thank you. "Not for that, little brother," grinned Mabel. Dipper twisted his eyes. When they were 12, Mabel was bigger than him. But that had changed when they turned 16. Now Dipper was bigger than Mabel. But that didn't stop his sister from still calling him that.

"Do we want to go back slowly? I wanted to pack some more things," said Dipper. "Already? It was just getting so funny," sulked Mabel. "Come on, Mabel, we still have three days left to do funny things," Dipper suggested. "She asked and stroked one of the loose strands from her face. "How would it be with... We could go to the lake to our common, secret place. Or we could go to the viewpoint tomorrow night. There's a shooting star shower," Dipper suggested. Mabel was immediately thrilled.

When they arrived home, they were greeted by their parents. It was a rare event that the whole Pines family sat at one table and mostly it never meant anything good. "Hey Mum! Hey Dad," Mabel greeted her parents. "Hello Mabel. How about your day?" asked her mother. "Funny. Dipper gave me six scoops of ice cream," Mabel beamed. "Mason, you shouldn't always spend so much money," his father rebuked him. "What? But... I'm sorry," he muttered and buried his hands in his trouser pockets. Every time he spent money he got in trouble. Mabel never. Sometimes Dipper was sure that his parents loved Mabel much more than him. "Sit down, we have something important to tell you," his father said and finally put the newspaper aside. That was also a point that disturbed Dipper. His father never looked at him when he scolded him. As if Dipper and his 'infamous deeds' were only a trifle that had to be punished but not heeded. With Mabel it was different. She was looked at by her parents.

Slowly the twins sat down at the table. Her parents looked at her seriously. "We will leave tomorrow morning. Some friends invited us to spend our holidays with them. That is why you will also leave tomorrow morning. Your great-uncles are ready to go.And your school, too," his dad said. "What? But... I thought Dipper wouldn't leave until Saturday," Mabel shouted indignantly. Dipper couldn't believe his ears. Had he understood his father correctly? He should separate earlier than necessary from his sister? "No 'but'. You are old enough. That's why it would be better now if you pack your bags, Mabel. Then we can leave tomorrow morning on time at 6 o'clock. Your plane takes off an hour later. And you'll most probably be driving, Mason," his father asked. Dipper bit his lip and just nodded silently. Then he got up, grabbed Mabel's wrist and dragged her up to her room.

"They can't do that," Mabel shouted. "You can see that. They can do it,' Dipper said listlessly. He didn't want to say goodbye to his sister yet. He wanted to spend more time with her. His parents were not allowed to do that to them. "Dipper! We can't let them separate us sooner than necessary," Mabel stretched out his arms and stared at him. "Mabel, what should we do? They are our parents and if they think they have to tear us apart early, then they do. Now don't complain, pack your things," Dipper said. Mabel stared at him in horror. She crossed her arms in front of her chest: "You are... You really are the very last Dipper," she sobbed and threw herself on her bed, only to cry into her pillow. "Mabel. I'm sorry. I don't think this decision is great either. I wanted to go to the lake with you tomorrow and watch shooting stars in the evening. I want to spend so much time with you. But you know our parents. They will not deviate from their opinion," Dipper explained. "That is unfair...", Mabel had got hiccups. And again she looked like a panda. "Of course it's unfair," he agreed with her. "I really wish our time together would never end," whispered Mabel and pressed her pink pillow against her chest. "Watch what you wish for..." muttered Dipper. Mabel stared at him. "It... Oh God Dipper, I'm terribly sorry," she shouted, threw the pillow off and stumbled over her cuddly toys to him. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed Dipper against her. "It's all right. Mabel, that's all right," Dipper smiled.

That night Dipper dreamt terribly badly for the first time. He was used to dreaming badly, of course, at least the things he had experienced in Gravity Falls were still following him now. 5 years, 4 therapists and countless sleepless nights later and he was still afraid of a dream demon they had defeated 5 years ago. Dipper would never get away from Bill Cipher. Still, this monster held him in his claws. Dipper would never be free.

Dipper woke up around 4 o'clock. Bathed in sweat and wheezing. He stared into the dark room and buried his hands deep in his blanket. How he would love to finally stop having these terrible nightmares. He didn't want to think about what Bill had done to him, his family and Gravity Falls. He certainly didn't want to think about what Bill would have done if he could have broken the force field and plunged the entire world into total chaos. "Dipdop," Mabel whispered in the darkness. "Hey..." Dipper murmured and stroked his face. "Is everything okay?" she asked quietly. "Yes... Yes, of course," he nodded and knew that Mabel couldn't see his nod anyway. "Can I come over? Somehow... I feel lonely," his sister muttered. "Sure..." Dipper replied and moved closer to the wall.

Not a minute later the mattress sank and Mabel lay next to him. "What if people at the designer school don't like me," asked Mabel. "How can you not be liked", Dipper asked and pressed her hand. "After all, you were always the cooler twin." "But you were the cooler Dipper. You always knew a solution, no matter what the problem," said Mabel. "That's not true. Many situations I could solve only thanks to your genius. Like the secret about Quentin Trembley and the cheater Nathaniel Northwest," Dipper said. Mabel giggled next to him. "I made a ship's hat out of the paper and we found the map with it." Dipper smiled. "You see? Without you I would have been lost. Or when we fought Gideon and almost fell into the abyss, but you magically saved us with your grappling hook. Mabel, people will not like you, they will love you and celebrate you. You'll find friends everywhere," Dipper said. That was the truth. Mabel has always been better at making contacts than he is. He preferred to hide under books. "And you'll find nerd friends everywhere," laughed Mabel. "Absolutely," Dipper nodded.

Half an hour later, it was 5 o'clock in the morning, his father opened the door to her room. "Getting up her sleepyheads. We leave in half an hour. Get Mabel's things in the car, get ready and then we'll leave," his father grumbled and thundered the door shut again. Sighing, Dipper and Mabel got up.

After everything was packed, they got ready and had breakfast, they stood in the now empty room and stared at each other. Tears shimmered in both their eyes. "Well... that was it, then?" Dipper asked. "That was it then, I guess," nodded Mabel. There was this strange silence between the two. From below they heard their parents walking through the house looking for some important things. "Dipper... I..." Mabel began. "Don't say it. It's not goodbye forever. Think about our promise. Every day a report and every weekend Skype. And we also spend the holidays together," Dipper grinned and raised his arms. "And now come. One last embarrassing sibling hug." "Embarrassing sibling hug," Mabel laughed and wrapped her arms around his upper body.

A few minutes later they stood in the front yard and stared up at the window behind which they had lived less than five minutes ago. "Call me when you arrive," said Mabel. "Holy promise," said Dipper. "Say hello to everyone for me," Mabel smiled and stroked her hair from her face. "I'll definitely do it," Dipper nodded. "Good. And take good care of Waddles," Mabel looked at him badly. "Of course I take good care of waddles," laughed Dipper. "Come now, Mabel," his mother shouted. "Come on! Please take care of yourself. And if anything happens, no matter what, call me! I'll always have time for you," Mabel shouted before she turned her back on him and ran to her father's car. Dipper stopped a few minutes longer and watched the car driving away before he turned himself towards his car and got in.

There was nothing on the radio, so he switched to the CD player. BABBA ran again. Smiling, he listened to the song and sang along at full throats. Only Mabel knew of his secret passion for this Icelandic 70s band. He would never admit that he knew all the songs of BABBA.

So it happened that the whole trip to Gravity Falls 'Disco Girl' was in a continuous loop. When he left the Gravity Falls welcome sign behind, he switched to a less embarrassing band.

Relief spread through him. Finally he was back again. Back in his home. Back in Gravity Falls.

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#gravity falls #dipper pines #bill cipher