#and just don’t get the anxiety that surrounds any sort of coming out | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

venuslore · 2 months

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𖥔 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄 𖥔

summary ; your valentine’s day takes a turn when what you think is just a surprise from peter turns out to be a lot more than you bargained for.

pairing ; mcu!peter parker x fem!reader

notes ; fluff, some mentions of anxiety, but mostly just peter being an oblivious lil himbo baby! this is a repost from my old acc x

do not transfer, translate or share my work to any other sites.

with valentine’s day just around the corner, it was easy to find yourself paranoid about the entire holiday and what exactly it meant for you and peter.

while for most people, it was a celebration of love and being able to embrace that, for you, it had become an anxiety-induced menace of a day that had you second-guessing everything.

the worst part of all was that you and peter technically weren’t together.

yet, as the days grew closer and you continued to get your hopes up, it was hard not to feel disheartened when he hadn’t uttered a single word about it. leading you to wonder if he had even given it any thought or if you were simply just getting in over your head about the whole thing.

to any stranger passing you by on the street and witnessing just how affectionate you were with each other, you looked like a couple. heck, you had even shared the occasional kiss, sometimes a little more, and on days when you would go to his apartment to study, it was never long before you’d find yourself snuggling in his bed while he tried to do homework over the top of you.

you never really cared to put a label on your situationship until now, and mostly because you didn’t think you had to.

but when the day finally arrives and peter was yet to exhibit any efforts in the name of romance, you were devastated.

“so, he really hasn’t said anything?” mj asks as you head to your locker, having just finished your last class of the day.

“nope. not a word,” you shake your head.

with her brows furrowing into a scowl, mj exhales, “man, i really thought he would have. i mean… it’s peter. the dude is literally the biggest softie i have ever met.”

despite the sadness you were feeling, you couldn’t help but crack a smile at your best friend’s words. she was the only one that knew how strongly you felt for peter.

after all, she was the one to point it out.

“i don’t know, maybe i’m just looking too much into it?” you lift your shoulders into a shrug at the same time you reach your locker.

“well, speak of the devil,” mj gestures towards the end of the hallway where peter and ned had just rounded the corner.

it only takes them a moment to catch sight of you, and when they do, peter beams with a smile and waves before heading in your direction. even as they passed by multiple girls carrying flowers and the various heart-shaped decorations scattered all over the halls, peter still hadn’t noticed.

“hey! ned and i were talking about going back to mine to study for that test we have coming up, and maybe watch a movie. you guys in?” he asks, tugging on the straps of his bag, completely ignorant to his surroundings.

it was like he had forgotten about the holiday’s existence altogether, or he was actively trying to avoid it. but why?

“i can’t. i, uh, i actually have a date tonight,” mj says, tucking her hair behind her ear as all eyes turn in her direction.

“wait, what? with who?” you ask, this being the first you were hearing about it. honestly, you were surprised she had even told you at all.

shaking her head, she looks down at her feet and shrugs, “just this guy. it doesn’t matter. but, uh, y/n is free tonight so… there’s that.”

the second the words leave her lips, peter’s attention returns to you. and you weren’t entirely sure, but it almost looked like he was relieved that you had no plans.

a small smile dangled on the corner of his mouth, and his deep brown eyes softened as they met yours. “oh, okay. well, uh, do you want to join us?” he sort of fumbles over his words.

while it wasn’t exactly what you had imagined spending the most romantic day of the year with peter would be like, it beat having to sit at home alone wallowing in your own self-pity. even if it was with the person causing it… and ned.

you open your mouth to speak when you’re interrupted by ned’s phone.

“actually, change of plans,” he says. “it’s betty… and she wants to see a movie tonight.”

“i thought you two broke up?” mj narrows her eyes with confusion.

“we did… but maybe she wants to get back together?” he turns to peter with hopeful eyes, and after a moment, the other boy gives him a nudge.

“dude, go!” he laughs. and just like that, ned rushes down the hall in search of betty, leaving the three of you dumbfounded as you let out a chorus of chuckles.

“on that note, i better get going too,” mj says once the laughter faded into sighs and points the same way ned had gone. “i’ll see you losers monday. have fun, studying.”

rolling your eyes, you wave goodbye to the girl, as the thought of being alone with peter all night creeps into your mind.

the idea alone causes your heart to fasten, thrumming loudly in your ears as your mouth becomes dry with nerves. it wasn’t like you at all to be so anxious around peter, and so much so that you almost couldn’t think straight. he was typically the one person you went to when you needed things to slow down, not make them difficult.

you try to play off the effect he was having on you as you close your locker and swing your bag over your shoulder, but the second your gaze meets his again, it only seems to amplify.

“so, it looks like it’s just you and me,” he shuffles awkwardly on his feet, tightening his grip on his bag straps once more.

“uh, yeah. looks like it.” you smile, swallowing the ball that had formed in your throat, and the two of you slowly head towards the exit.

the walk back to his apartment is quiet at first, but the second peter starts talking about the chemistry assignment he had coming up, there was no stopping him. though, you couldn’t shake the feeling like he was purposely trying to prolong the walk.

he insisted that you take the longer route, which you never do, and he even slowed down his pace through the park. and as you were passing the deli-grocery, he stopped off to buy you both a sandwich, which wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, but it did add another fifteen minutes to your time.

it was like he didn’t want to get back to the apartment, like the thought of being fully alone with you was something he didn’t want to partake in.

when you do finally reach the apartment, however, he fumbles to unlock the door and almost drops the keys in the process, but the second it’s open, you’re hesitant to even step inside. you had been there a million times before but this time, for whatever reason, felt different.

you wondered if it really were such a good idea for you to be there, to be alone with him when he was clearly opposed to the idea. which was odd considering he had been the one to initiate you going over there in the first place.

“do you want a drink or anything?” he asks as he passes the kitchen to put his bag in his room.

most days, you would follow him straight to his room, sometimes even beating him there, but with how he had been acting, it just didn’t feel right. so you lingered in the living room instead.

at least, until he pops his head out of the door, and with a reassuring smile surfacing on his lips, he gestures for you to follow.

“we’ve got water, juice or soda?” he asks as you enter the room, dropping his bag at the foot of his bed.

“water is fine,” you nod.

“okay, give me a sec,” he nods back, and having to cram past you to get out of the door, his hand runs down your arm so to not squish you. the touch immediately sends a pulse throughout your body, causing you to let out a small gasp.

you were just grateful peter was far enough away that he hadn’t heard it, or if he did, he didn’t show it.

with peter leaving you alone in his room, you take the chance to take it all in like you hadn’t been there before. you drop your bag beside his and slip out of your jacket before falling into a stupor on his bed.

peter’s room had always been comforting to you, though, since the blip, it didn’t quite feel like it was his anymore.

like everyone else that tragically disappeared, peter lost the majority of his belongings, as did you, but he no longer had any of his action figures or comic books. even the nerdy science posters that you would pick on him for, or his lego models - all the things that made peter’s room… his… was all gone.

shaking away the thoughts, you bury yourself in the comfort of his sheets, letting your fingers dance across the cotton as you wait for him to return. but when you move to grab your phone from your jacket pocket, something in the corner of your eye catches your attention.

it was the smallest glimmer of something red inside his closet, and the door was only open a crack, but it was enough to make your thoughts go wild.

was it possible that peter had bought you something for valentine’s day and this whole thing was just a ruse to get you alone with him? were ned and mj in on it? or had he decided against it, thinking that maybe it was too much, and that’s why it was hidden away in his closet?

perhaps that was why he had been acting so strange and why he had been pretending like today was nothing but any other regular day?

however, before you get the chance to relieve your suspicions, peter walks back in with two glasses of water, and when he sees that you had already made yourself comfortable, he draws in his bottom lip as a nervous smile takes hold of his features.

“something tells me you have absolutely no intention of studying,” he shakes his head.

“something tells me you’re right.” you pat the spot beside you, and he obliges, pulling his laptop from the desk beside the bed and finding a movie for you both to watch.

while you enjoyed laying with peter in comfortable silence, watching the film he had chosen, you couldn’t stop thinking about what was in his closet. the tiny sliver of red teasing you from between the slats, begging for you to confront it.

nevertheless, it takes two hours for peter to finally leave the room again, and within that time, he hadn’t mentioned it at all. which only made you all the more curious.

so the second he stepped out of the room, you set into motion to find out what it was he was hiding. and you knew you shouldn’t have, but not knowing was killing you, and you simply couldn’t help yourself.

you tip-toe across the floor, avoiding the creaky spot in the middle, and after a deep breath, you slowly open the door. though, what you were expecting to be a heart-shaped balloon or a cute stuffed animal that said something like ‘be my valentine?’ on the front, was far from what you had imagined.

instead, hanging on the metal rod was a suit. a suit that you would recognise absolutely anywhere with it’s distinct red and black colours, and who could forget the unmistakable mask with its intricate detailing.

then it hits you, and a shiver of realisation rolls down your spine.

setting out a gasp, you drop the suit to the floor and stumble back into the bed, knocking over a book in the process. you couldn’t believe what you had just discovered, and you barely get a moment to collect yourself before peter comes running to the door.

“hey, are you-” he stops the second he sees the suit, his smile falling as he takes in your bewildered state and it transforms into a look of horror.

“peter, i-”

“shit,” he exhales, cutting you off as he reaches for the material and throws it back into his closet as fast as he can, despite knowing that the damage was already done. “don’t look at that. that’s nothing. completely and totally nothing.”

“peter, was that - are you?” you try to get the words out, but you’re still in so much shock that it seems near impossible to do so.

“no. nope. It’s not…” he shakes his head rapidly, leaning against the closet now. “it was, uh, it was a gift from may. she knows i like superheroes, so, y'know?”

“peter…”

“it’s nothing, really. i promise. it was just a-”

“peter…”

“i was thinking of maybe even wearing it for halloween this year, what do you think? you could go as black widow, or umm, captain marvel?”

“peter!” this time when you say his name, he stops talking, realising that there was no way he was going to get out of this. and if he did, it would be a miracle. but you were smart, smart enough not to believe the nonsense that was pouring out of his mouth, and know that this was for real.

his head falls with defeat, and he drags himself to sit beside you. the air was heavy now, filled with worry as he tried to choose his words carefully. there were only so many ways you could tell someone you had a secret identity being a superhero and he had wanted to do it perfectly - but most importantly, not like this.

“look, i - i hated not being able to tell you but if everyone knew who i was then my life wouldn’t be the same anymore."

"but, this is me we’re talking about peter. i’m the same person that knows you still wear star wars underwear, and that you secretly love it when i choose to watch twilight on movie night.” you sigh, shoulders slumping slightly. “you can tell me anything.”

his eyes soften at your remark, and the ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of his lips. “i know, but i wanted… i wanted to keep you safe. there are bad guys out there that would like to come after spider-man and you knowing who i am, only puts you in danger."

"who else knows?"

"may, ned and… mj.”

“mj?” you retort.

“to be fair, i didn’t tell her. she worked it out herself and i swore her to secrecy so don’t be angry at her for not telling you.” he raises a finger to further prove his point. “i was actually planning on telling you about it tonight, but every time i thought about it, i got nervous and i couldn’t do it.”

“so that’s why you’ve been acting so weird?” you ask, nudging the boy’s shoulder playfully as relief washes over you. “and here i am thinking that it was me. the only reason i looked in your closet was because i… i thought… never mind it’s stupid.”

he chuckles, “no. you have to tell me now!”

you let your head fall back for a moment, and after letting out a deep breath, you sway your head back down. “okay. i saw the red through the cracks and i thought that maybe… it was a valentine’s day present. i know we never really put a label on… us… but i just, i don’t know, i thought that maybe that’s where we were and-”

your words turn into muffles as peter presses his lips to yours in a swift movement, and you’re taken back by his actions but you don’t push him off. your body feels electric and you kiss him back with a smile, sinking into it more before he pulls away.

he doesn’t pull back much, and instead, rests his forehead against yours as you both try to catch your breath. your heart thumps in your chest and you’re still so close that you were sharing the same air.

peter had kissed you many of times before, some of them turning into heated make-out sessions but this was different to any of those. this had purpose.

“sorry, you were rambling and i couldn’t help myself.” a coy smile flashes across his face for a moment, before being replaced with a look of uncertainty. “was that enough for you to see how i feel about you? or would you rather i change my relationship status too? or i could just post to the entire world about how much i love you?”

upon hearing the words, you pull away and a shallow gasp escapes you. you weren’t sure if peter had meant to say it, but whether he did or not, it was out there now and your heart pangs inside your chest as your stomach fills with butterflies.

“you love me?” you say between breaths and disbelief in your eyes.

he lets out a nervous laugh as his cheeks redden, and his fingers play with the folds of his shirt. “i mean, yeah… you’re kinda my favourite person in existence. it’d be hard not to.”

“really?”

he nods and walks back over to the closet. “yeah. also if you had of looked in the other side of my closet you would’ve seen this…"

you watch as he opens the closet door to reveal a beautiful bouquet of white and red flowers all wrapped up in bright red paper.

"i was going to give it to you when i told you about… y'know…” he widens his eyes. “but you sort of did that for me… plus, there was also this.”

this time he pulls out a small bag, something that you’d find at a jewellery store, and hands it to you. you look to him as though to be asking permission to open it, and he nods, gesturing for you to do so before leaning against his desk.

“it’s not a lot, and i’ve been saving for a while now to get it for you, but if you don’t like it then we can exchange it or get something else…”

opening the bag, you find a small box with gold detailing around the sides. and when you open it, inside sits a bracelet decorated with charms, but the one in the middle, that you can’t really see unless you’re looking close enough is a 'p’.

after a moment of basking in the sentiment of it all, you lean back and give him a warm smile.

“i love it,” you say, tears slowly starting to brim your eyes as your mouth involuntarily starts to crease. “and i love you.”

“yeah?” peter’s brows twitch, his eyes never leaving yours, and he lifts your palm to his lips for a feather-light kiss. he barely touches you, but it sets your skin alight.

then all of your focus is on him as you stand to meet him, enveloping him in another kiss. hands moving along his chest to fall behind his neck as he wraps his own around your waist and holds you tight. pulling you as close to him as humanly possible.

when you do finally pull apart, he clasps the bracelet around your wrist before you slide your fingers through his, savouring the warmth of his skin against yours.

“so, since you have two identities does that mean i get double the love?” you let out a small chuckle and peter matches it.

“i think i could manage that.” he says and places one more kiss on the tip of your nose.

#— ꒰ ‧ ₊˚ vee daydreams ˖꙳‧ ꒱#peter parker ᰔ #peter parker x reader #peter parker x fem!reader #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #peter parker oneshot #peter parker one shot #peter parker imagine #peter parker fic #peter parker fluff

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collisvng · 18 days

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ECLIPSE ON SATURN.

1.5k words and a whole lot of fluff.

“Come on, we’re gonna miss it!”

“Oh calm down,” you laughed as your friend pulled you along to your university’s courtyard. “I don’t see why this eclipse thing is such a big deal anyways.”

Han turned to you, gummy smile exposed and a light in his eyes that was so bright you could see the universe in them. He had been boasting about the whole eclipse thing all morning. He had even made sure to get you both those cardboard glasses with special lenses just so you could properly see it. All that came out of his mouth was eclipse this, eclipse that. You had no idea where this sudden infatuation had come from. But when he looked at you like this, there was no reason to question it.

“Hey,” he shrugged, “it got us out of class so I’m not complaining.”

The both of you walked hand in hand until you reached the center of the courtyard. It seemed as if everyone had gotten the memo that the best place to see the sun and moon overlap would be at the heart of the university, as almost half the school was there as well.

Han looked around until he spotted the guys and waved to them before dragging you over to the fountain that sat in the center of the yard. You asked him why you both weren’t sitting with them, and he just simply replied that where they wanted to be for the eclipse wouldn’t be as magical as where you guys were.

It was strange, very strange.

But then again, this was Han Jisung. Your best friend who you knew always wanted to make his experiences memorable. And seeing as the next eclipse probably wouldn’t even be happening until you were both merely in your forties, it sort of made sense why he was acting weird.

He wanted the moment to be magical. But little did you know, he wanted the moment to be magical for you more than anything.

The two of you sat there at the edge of the fountain as Han vigorously bounced his leg impatiently. You let out a chuckle upon noticing how anxious he was. It was a big contrast to your surroundings.

The small murmurs of people around you, the rushing water of the fountain, the light sound of the trees shaking because of the wind…

Someone had even pulled out their bluetooth speaker and was playing music so mellow it could practically put someone to sleep.

And through all of that, there was Jisung; staring up at the sky and practically vibrating throughout his entire body in a fit of self-inflicted anxiety.

His hand lay against the concrete of the fountain, gripping onto it for dear life. You placed your hand atop his, smiling at his immediate reaction of rubbing his thumb over yours without even looking at you.

“Jisung,” you stated, causing him to flinch before snapping his head in your direction.

His pupils were dilated to their fullest extent and his signature confused pout sat atop his lips. He was so pretty you thought you might die if he looked at you like that any longer then a few seconds.

“Ji, calm down. It’s just an eclipse. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Maybe not for you,” he leaned forward for emphasis, “but I slept through the last eclipse. I was like, what, seventeen then? I can’t miss it again.”

His hair started to move with the wind and you watched as his long, curly strands wisped across his eyes. You reached over and tucked a strand or two behind his ear. He prayed you couldn’t see how red they were.

“You always look so cute when you’re excited,” you said looking into the boba pearls staring back at you. “Your eyes always get so big.”

He grinned, widening his eyes and bringing his face even closer to yours. You shied away, playfully pushing him away in the process. His eyes crinkled as his smile reached his eyes.

“Your eyes are pretty cute sometimes too.”

“Why thank you,” blush began to slowly creep its way onto your cheeks as you tried to continue joking around. “My parents worked really hard to create this beauty.”

You watched your friend roll his eyes, but the grin he had never left his face.

At this point, Jisung’s shaking had stopped as all his focus was suddenly on you.

And how your hand was still on his.

A brief silence fell between the both of you that felt like lightyears despite it only being a few seconds. There was a sort of tension there. You could feel it. Jisung could definitely feel it. And neither of you wanted to let it linger away.

So, Jisung spoke.

“You know, a lot of people use the eclipse as a way to symbolize new beginnings.”

“Is that so?” you asked.

He nodded.

“Yeah. It’s kind of like… whatever happens in the dark will become beautiful in the light. A lot of secrets are revealed in rare moments like that.”

“Oh yeah?” You turned to face him, smirking. “What are you trying to say then, hm? Are you hiding any secrets from me Jisung?”

He sat there, looking at you as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. And the moment he opened his mouth to speak, it appeared it was time.

“IT'S HAPPENING!” You could hear someone yell, and the entire courtyard went silent.

All you could hear for a brief moment were the trees, the water, and the beginning of a twinkly instrumental starting to play.

… if there's another universe, please make some noise…

Han’s gaze was still glued to you for a good second before the panic began to set in for him again when he realized neither of you had your eclipse glasses in hand.

“Shit,” he swore under his breath, attempting to reach into his back pocket to grab them but failing.

As he reached back, he seemed to lose balance and almost fall into the fountain. In an effort to not completely embarrass himself, he used all his willpower to force his body forward. He fell onto the pavement instead this way, which in his eyes was better than having to walk back to his dorm drenched from head to toe.

You felt bad for laughing, but stuff like this was pretty much the norm for your friend. Which is why when Jisung turned back to you, this time viewing from a lower perspective as he was on bended knee in front of you, he couldn’t be mad. He just joined you in your laughter and apologized for being a clutz.

… sick of this head of mine, intrusive thoughts, they paralyze…

He looked up at you, pulling out a pair of glasses from his pocket and unfolding them. His hands held the cardboard temples as he slowly reached upward to put them on you. But midway through, the thought of hiding your beautiful orbs seemed foreign to him and all he could do was stare into them. It was like staring into the sun but not being able to look away because the colors burning into his retinas were too beautiful.

You were too beautiful.

His hands dropped and the both of you were once again in silence. The thoughts in his mind were going in different directions, appearing and disappearing into a void lost by your beauty like every word in his mind was levitating in an ethereal plane.

The moon had begun its mission of hiding the sun, but he couldn’t do his mission hiding his.

… life's better on Saturn, got to break this pattern of floating away…

“Jisung?” You asked, both a feeling of confusion and slight lust washing over you as the slow approaching darkness began to fill your peripheral view. “You okay? Is something wrong?”

Han shook his head no, but he still couldn’t speak. And then, as if something had taken over his body, he began to lean into you.

You watched for a moment, contemplating if what was happening was really happening.

But it was.

And not long after did you find yourself leaning in as well.

Your palm found Jisung’s jaw as you began to rub small circles against his cheek. One of his hands found your waist and began pulling you further down towards him. Your fingertips traveled upward through his curly locks as the sky completely turned dark and a sigh escaped Han as your lips collided. You couldn't help but grin through it.

This wasn’t how he was intending to expose his feelings for you. Hell, he had been losing his shit all day trying to figure out how he would ask you out. He wanted to give you a whole speech comparing the moon and sun to you both, pouring his soul out until it lay helplessly in your hands hoping for reciprocation in return. But this was better. Way better.

Han didn’t get to look at the eclipse that day, but he got something even greater. From that day on, he would write songs and tell people about how the two of you finally got together. And he would use the same wording almost every time.

“The day the sun and moon collided, so did we.”

#➴collisvng writes #han jisung #han jisung drabbles #han jisung thoughts #stray kids imagines #han jisung imagines #han jisung fluff #han jisung x reader #stray kids #stray kids drabbles #stray kids thoughts #skz fluff #skz x reader #solar eclipse #the eclispe was too pretty to not write about #eclipse #spotify

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pix3lplays · 11 months

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Honkai star rail men parenting headcanons

Dan Heng: Dan Heng would be a very strict, serious father. He’s a little distant, but he loves his children, even when he has a hard time expressing that. His children will be well-behaved and a little uptight, just like their dad. He’s very nervous about having kids of his own, but he handles it pretty well, even though he’s a little too strict. His kids appreciate his efforts when they’re older, and they respect their dad. He has a tendency of sheltering them though, so they don’t have to go through the kind of stress and anxiety he goes through. A ‘because I said so’ dad. He would have 1-2 children.

Gepard Landau: would also be a strict parent, but unlike Dan Heng, he’s able to be more open and honest about his emotions with his children. He explains things to them a little better than Dan Heng. He also wants them to grow up having fun and enjoying life, and that’s where Auntie Serval comes in. Even though he thinks she’s a little too reckless with the kids sometimes, he appreciates her help teaching them how to enjoy life. He knows he’s too uptight with the kids sometimes, so he strives to be like Serval on occasion, which leads to mixed messages with the kids. But it’s okay! Overall he’s a very good dad, strict but gentle and fair, and knows when to allow fun if the moment is appropriate. He would have 3 children.

Jing Yuan: is basically already a father to Yanqing, so when it’s time for his own kids to come along, he’s very prepared and very ready to be the best father he can be. He’s not strict and his rules are fair, and he’s very gentle with his children. However when the time comes for discipline he is not going to be overly lenient. He knows discipline is necessary, and he gives it when it’s required. He teaches them to be gentle human beings, especially through interacting with animals. He wants them to grow up kind-hearted and respectful, and he does a great job at training this into them. He’s not nervous at all to be a father, at least, if he is he doesn’t show it to you. He’s a natural at this parenting thing, and even though he’s a very busy man, he strives to make time for his family when he can. He would have 1-5 children.

Welt Yang: was surprised when he became a father. He kinda figured he was too old for this sort of thing, but here he is now. He’s a fairly decent dad, a little strict and uptight, but that’s because he’s so, so very nervous to be a father, whether he shows that to you or not. He’s constantly worrying about his performance as a father, and if his kids are okay. Not necessarily a ‘helicopter parent’ but pretty close. His anxiety sometimes rubs off on his kids, and they tend to worry about things that haven’t happened yet, like their father. He feels bad about passing his anxiety to his children, but because of it they end up careful and aware of their surroundings, just like dear old dad. They love their father, but sometimes he’s a bit overwhelming. He loves to draw his children, they mean the world to him, after all. He would have 2-3 children.

Sampo Koski: any kids with Sampo are purely accidents. He doesn’t want kids, he thinks he’d be a bad father and it’s true. Maybe deep down he does love his kids, but he’s a very absent dad, always away at ‘work’. And when he does come home, he’s not good at discipline or interacting with his children, and he tends to just buy them whatever they want to keep them out of his hair. Let’s them get away with whatever as long as they leave him alone, but the problem is they tend to act out just to get their dad’s attention. It’s a real issue having to raise the kids on your own. You argue with him about it sometimes, and he always pulls the same excuses and you just don’t know what to do about it. The kids don’t really…care for their dad. He’s just…some guy who lives with them. And yeah, he cares about his kids, he wants them to grow up healthy and happy, but he’s not supposed to be a father, he simply wasn’t meant to be one. He’d have 2-4 children.

thank you so much for reading~

#Honkai star rail #honkai star rail x reader #Dan Heng #hsr Dan Heng x reader #Gepard Landau #Dan Heng x reader #gepard landau x reader #hsr Gepard x reader #welt yang #welt yang x reader #hsr welt yang x reader #Jing Yuan #Jing Yuan x reader #hsr Jing Yuan x reader #Sampo Koski #sampo x reader #hsr Sampo x reader #My writing

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riordanness · 5 months

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cardigan — [e.pevensie]

wordcount: 1.5K

warnings: not technically x reader as ‘reader’ is named Belle

requested: no

“She won’t stop staring.”

“Then stop looking.”

Belle has to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the ridiculous Telmarine soldiers. They’re both clearly terrified of their mission, and are both riddled with anxiety about the entire thing. Which is hilarious.

“You could just let me go,” she says nonchalantly. “Save yourself the risk of aggravating the woods’ spirits.”

The Telmarine facing her gives her a glare. His grip on the sword across his lap tightens.

Belle decides to shut up.

“Here will do,” the other soldier says, the oars in his hands slowing. “Let's just dump her and get it over with.”

The soldiers get to their feet unsteadily. The boat rocks, and Belle wonders what would happen if she tried to tip all three of them into the water. But before she can come up with a good way to execute that plan, the Telmarine snatches her up, grabbing her roughly by the arm.

“Drop them!” An unfamiliar female voice rings out, and stories of ghosts in the woods run through Belle’s mind. She half turns, and just has time to see four figures on the shore before she’s dropped, literally, into the cold water.

Bubbles surround Belle, and she’s disoriented instantly. Her bound wrists make it impossible to swim, so she sinks, struggling furiously to get loose. Her dress is heavy and sticking to her legs. Her chest is tightening, and black is crawling at the edges of her vision.

Then, something pulls at her, arms slide around her waist, and she is yanked out of the water. Belle gasps, practically drinking the air.

She’s pulled to shore, and laid down on the sand. Something cuts the ropes from her hands. She coughs for a second, getting her bearings back. Drowning was a very awful experience. Belle did not recommend it at all.

“Are you alright?” A girl’s voice asks her, a different one from before, younger.

Belle reacts, twisting as she rises, her dagger, which was previously concealed in her skirts, at the young girl’s throat within seconds.

Shouting erupts from behind them, and Belle glanced to see three others, two boys and an older girl, all with weapons at the ready. The girl has an arrow aimed at Belle’s heart, and both boys have their swords raised.

“Drop it,” the older boy tells her, and his voice is hard and commanding, like he’s used to giving orders.

The girl at Belle’s side doesn’t look particularly scared. “It’s okay,” she promises. “We’re friends.”

Belle narrows her eyes. “How would I know that?”

“Well,” the older girl says, “we did just save your life.”

“Actually, that was me.” It’s the younger boy this time. Belle focuses on him. He has dark hair that’s slightly curly and wet. He looks about her age, and his clothes are wet too. “Don’t worry,” he says to Belle. “We are friends. We won’t hurt you. Just please let Lucy go?”

Belle takes a step back from Lucy, still watching them all carefully. “Fine. Thanks for saving me. Bye.” She turns, but doesn’t even make it three steps before the older boy calls after her.

“Wait!”

She sighs, and looks at them.

“We don’t even know your name.” The older girl has her bow away now, but her eyes look plenty vicious enough for Belle. She doesn’t trust them; any of them.

“I’m Belle,” she says flatly. “Now can I go?”

“Why were they trying to drown you?” Lucy looks up at Belle, and her childlike innocence warms Belle’s heart. She has pretty eyes, too, Belle thinks, full of bravery and fearlessness and determination.

“Because I ran away from the castle where I was, well, a servant of sorts. Because I’m on the side of the true king. And because Miraz is a tyrant,” Belle says.

“Whoa Miraz?” the older boy asks.

Belle raises an eyebrow. “Where have you been living lately? Under a rock? He’s the sort of King? Of Narnia?”

“Narnia?” Lucy gasps. “So it is Narnia!”

Belle frowns. “Uh. Yes. This is Narnia. I’m confused.”

The four all exchange looks. “We’ll tell you,” the older girl tells Belle. “But you have to tell us your story first.”

Belle shrugs. “Whatever.”

Soon enough, the five of them are seated around a campfire. The sun is going down, and Belle’s still-wet dress is chilling her to the core. She doesn’t say anything about it, though.

“So,” she starts, accepting a toasted apple from Lucy. “I’m a handmaid in Miraz’s palace. He’s the brother of the king, but he’s basically put himself in the role of king ever since King Caspian the Ninth died. His son, Caspian the Tenth, should be king, but Miraz doesn’t want that. He wants the throne to himself, you see. Anyways, I’m on the side of Caspian and the old Narnians, so I helped him escape a few nights ago. Miraz’s wife had a baby boy, so he wants to kill Caspian and make himself the king, now that he has an heir.”

Belle takes a bite of the apple, and it’s surprisingly good. “I was going to be executed because they somehow found out I helped Caspian.”

“Yikes,” the younger boy says, throwing his apple core into the flames. “Cool story.”

The older girl is watching Belle. “So what’s your plan now?” she asks.

Belle shrugs. “Go into the woods. Find Caspian and help him to get his throne back, I guess. We were always really close at the palace, since I grew up there and we’re not too far apart in age.”

The emotions in her voice must have been more obvious than she thought, because Lucy shuffles over to sit beside her, their shoulders touching. Belle gives the girl a soft smile, before she glanced up at the other three.

“So?” she says. “What’s your story?”

The older two exchange a glance. “We’re the kings and queens of old,” the older boy says. “I’m High King Peter, the Magnificent.”

Belle isn’t even that shocked. She’s kind of guessed it by now, even though it was impossible. “You know you guys should be about 1200 years old now, right?”

The younger boy chuckles. “I’m Edmund.”

Belle nods her head at him. “I figured. And you must be Queen Susan?” She glances at the older girl. Susan smiles gently.

“Just Susan is fine.”

Belle salutes. “Whatever you say, Just Susan.”

Edmund laughs again, but tries to hide it with a cough.

Belle stands, shaking her heavy skirts as best she can. It’s an awful material, still holding most of the water from earlier in its skirts. She lets out an angry sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asks.

“Oh, it’s my dress,” Belle sighs, sitting back down. “They didn’t let me change for the execution and I was doing heavy cleaning this morning. It’s a really terrible dress to wear while it’s wet.”

Lucy looks at Edmund. “Do we still have our school things?” she asked excitedly.

Edmund nods, slowly at first but then he seems to get the idea. “I’ll get them.” He hurries over to the rowboat, which now has a small pile of their things next to it. He brings back over a white shirt and black pants, as well as a strange black skirt.

“Here,” he hands them to Belle. “Sorry—they’re mostly boy’s things but you look about my size and Susan ruined her shirt earlier. But there’s my shirt and pants and Su’s skirt if you'd rather that.”

Belle offers him a smile. “Thank you, King Edmund.”

“No need to call me King,” he says back, as he lays himself back onto the sand. His black hair is messy and reflects the fire’s flickering light.

“I’m just going to go get changed in the tree line,” Belle tells the group. “If I ain’t back in five, panic.”

The others grin as she heads off, the clothes bundled in her arms. Behind a tree, she pulls her dress off over her head, depositing it in a bush. She then peels off her petticoats and corset, leaving only her thin under-bodice and under-shorts on. Belle then tried on Edmund’s shirt, which fits surprisingly well. It’s an odd kind of shirt though, a lot stiffer than ones she’s used to mending. She buttons it up, rolling the sleeves up to her elbows and leaving the top two buttons undone. Now that she isn’t wet, it’s a pretty warm night.

Belle decides to wear the skirt, as she is shorter than Edmund and doesn’t want to wear his pants if they’ll be too long. They’d just be a tripping hazard. She instead pulls on Susan’s skirt, buttoning it up on the side. It’s also very strange, but comfortable, and very freeing and easy to move in. It stops just above her knee. Belle runs her hands through her hair, which has long since come undone and is tangled and knotted due to the water.

Feeling somewhat presentable, Belle scoops up the clothes from the ground and heads back to the fire.

Edmund’s eyes are on her at once, and she isn’t sure if the heat in her cheeks is from him or the fire.

“Oh—“ Edmund stutters a little. “That… you look good in those.”

Belle smiles, a little triumphant. “They’re quite comfortable. Thank you, Edmund.”

“Anytime,” he replies softly. “Anytime.”

#edmund pevensie #narnia #the chronicles of narnia #edmund pevensie fanfic #edmund pevensie x reader #fanfiction #fanfic #narnia fanfic #susan pevensie #peter pevensie #lucy pevensie

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rafeandonlyrafe · 6 months

Text

pool party

words: 3.2k

warnings: 18+ only! smut, chubby!reader, fatphobia including internalized fatphobia

“i don’t know rafe, i really don’t want to go to this pool party.” you say, flopping down on the bed. you’re truly just not interested in it, not interested in being under the hot sun on a day like today, not interested in being surrounded by thin girls in bikinis, not interested in your boyfriend being the target of every one of those girls flirtation.

“come on baby, it’s for kelce and his girlfriend! it’s their anniversary.” rafe pleads with you.

“they’ve been together for like a month, is that really worthy of a whole celebration?” you ask. you hate kelces girlfriend, melissa. she’s always been mean to you, but never in front of rafe or kelce, and you don’t want to seem crazy by bringing it up to your boyfriend when shes so fake-sweet in front of him.

rafe sighs as he sits down on the bed. “i want to go and have a good time with you. please.”

that word has you melting, and the pout on rafes face, his bottom lip stuck out in a desperate but successful attempt to change your mind. “fine. because you’re so cute.” “you’re cuter.” rafe says, plastering a smile on his face as you head towards your closet. you rifle through your drawer of swimsuits. you certainly aren’t wearing any bikinis around these girls, so you opt for a one piece that has some frills around your stomach to hide any of your perceived imperfections.

you put it on as well as a loose dress over top of it, before sliding your sandals on. rafe is in just his swim shorts and a tank top, his muscled arms on display for you to ogle at.

“ready, babe?” rafe asks. you nod and let him lead you out to his truck. you already feel the nerves starting in your stomach. rafe never seemed to treat you any differently because of your size. he acts like your hips aren’t wide, like your thighs don’t always touch, like your arms arent double the size of most girls. all of his friends on the other hand tease you for it, not as much now that you’re dating rafe, but you still feel the eyes and notice the whispers.

you get to kelces house and all you want to do is hide inside, but rafe is so effervescent, greeting everyone and tugging you alongside with him, giving you kisses on the side of your head when you have a moment alone, showing you off.

“lets hop in, babe.” rafe says, pulling you to a table and taking his shirt and shoes off.

“i don’t really want to.” you say. “i’ll just watch you for a bit, yeah?”

rafe frowns, worried is something wrong, but he doesn’t want to push you, so he just nods and gives you a peck on the lips before running into the pool. you do genuinely enjoy watching him. it’s just the boys in the pool right now, and they come up with all sorts of games, which all devolve into wrestling.

less than an hour later, rafe gets tired of being apart, leaving the boys to their games to rejoin you. he sits down next to you, but not before moving the chair as close as he possibly can to your own.

“hi baby.” rafe says, slightly out of breath from all the swimming at fun. he kisses your cheek before leaning back, laughing as he watches one of the guys jump out of the pool, swooping up a girl in his arms and jumping in with her, soaking her in her clothes.

“you better take that dress off and come in with me before i have to do that to you.” rafe says.

the thought of rafe picking you up, of others seeing the strain in his face as he has to really utilize his muscles, makes you cringe, worse than everyone seeing you in your swimsuit. you stand up and quickly shuck off the fabric before walking down the steps of the pool, hoping the water obscures your body somewhat.

rafe follows you back in the pool, concerned by how fast you got in. he can tell by your expression that something is wrong, you’ve always worn your emotions and anxiety on your face.

“baby, is something up?” rafe asks, tucking a strand of your behind your ear. he backs you into the corner of the pool so you’re as far as you can be with everyone around.

“i’m just… feeling insecure right now.” you admit. you’ve never talked about it with rafe, no matter how badly you want to ask. want to ask why he sees you the way he does, and not like everyone else does.

“insecure? baby you’re the most gorgeous woman here. do you not like your swimsuit, is that it?” rafe asks, not able to wrap his mind around you not liking your body.

“yeah, thats it.” you say, not wanting to ruin his day. “i just wish i would have chosen a different one.” “ahh.” rafe says with a nod and a pout. “i’m struggling right now because i like how much this one covers-” he traces a hand over your shoulder strap, “because i don’t want anyone looking at what only i get to look at, but at the same time, i very selfishly wish you wore something more revealing.” you let out a little chuckle, which is quickly swallowed by rafe as he kisses you, probably imagining you in something skimpy and revealing.

“lets just try to have fun and when we get home we can toss this swimsuit knowing you don’t like it and i’ll take you shopping tomorrow for some new ones.” “okay.” you nod, trying to put the insecurity out of your mind as you have fun during the rest of the party with rafe. you really just ignore everyone but him, letting your sole focus be on your boyfriend rather than a girls perfectly flat stomach or from the stare some guy gives you.

“are you ready to go home?” rafe asks, hours later after the sun had set and darkness has taken over the sky.

“mhm. i’m tired.” you admit with a yawn. you only spent an hour or so in the pool before you were able to put your dress back on and the party shifted towards drinking and dancing. rafe had abstained from anything, knowing he’s driving you home and not willing to risk even a single drop of alcohol.

“okay, i’m just gonna say goodbye to kelce, then we can head out.” rafe kisses you gently, seeing the sleepiness in your eyes.

you watch rafe walk away blissfully, knowing you’re so far gone for your perfect boyfriend. you watch as he heads onto the patio to say goodbye, taking a step closer to hear whats going on.

“hey man, congrats again on making it to three months, can’t wait to see what a one year anniversary party looks like.” rafe laughs, slapping kelce on the back. you smile, while you and rafe were not the kind to throw a party for your anniversary, preferring the celebrations to stay between the two of you, it’s sweet that kelce and melissa have so many friends wanting to celebrate them being a couple.

“thanks rafe.” kelce says, clapping his back in response.

“oh and rafe!” melissa calls before he turns his back. “if you ever want to ditch that whale of a girlfriend, i have lots of hot single friends.”

you feel your skin go hot at her words. it’s reminiscent of so many things you’ve been called before. chubby, big, jiggly, whale.

“what did you just call my girlfriend?” you want to go out there and stop rafe before he explodes, but you can’t move, your feet are glued to the spot.

“oh, i mean just look at her.” melissa laughs, and you can hear a few other girls join in. “and look at you! someone like you should not be with a girl like her.” “baby stop-” you can hear kelce trying to interject.

“don’t EVER speak on my girlfriend again.” rafe yells. “you’re clearly jealous, and i would feel sorry for you if you weren’t such a nasty bi-”

“rafe!” you shout, finally finding your voice. rafe gives melissa one last glare, but as bad as he wants to chew her out, you’re his bigger concern right now.

“baby-” rafe says, going to take your face into his hands, but you step out of his hold, heading towards the door.

“i just want to go.” you say, and rafe is hot on your heel, feeling terrible that you heard anything she said.

“y/n-” rafe says as you get into his truck, but you just shake your head. “can you take me home?” rafe hates seeing you upset, his whole lifes purpose since he met you was to never see your pretty face sad. his hands grip the wheel and he takes every turn a little too fast, he’s just pissed right now that you’re upset.

“do you finally see it now?” you ask when he pulls to a stop in your driveway.

“see what?” rafe asks, wondering if melissa had been nasty to you before.

“that i’m too big for you. too chubby. i don’t get what spell you got put under to fall in love with me, but it doesn’t make sense, we don’t work.”

rafe gets out of the truck without a word, slamming his door hard shut before coming around to your side. he opens it and before you can even move, he has you over his shoulder, marching up the stairs.

“rafe!” you yell as he takes the familiar walk to your bedroom.

“we don’t fucking work together?” rafe asks, setting you down onto your mattress. “we don’t fucking work together?” he repeats, throwing his shirt off.

“rafe, i-” you want to clarify what you mean, but he doesn’t give you the chance as his lips connect to yours. he moans into your mouth as he grinds against your thighs, only disconnecting your lips to tear your dress off over your head.

he pulls away for a minute to work at getting your swimsuit off. while it dried while you were at kelces party, it’s still tight on your body. you always feel insecure when you’re with rafe, and you hate that feeling, but this is the worst it’s ever been after being reminded by melissa and the girls at the party.

“you’re fucking beautiful. the most beautiful girl i’ve ever seen.” rafe looks down at your naked body, his cock clearly swelling in his swim shorts. “you’re so gorgeous, i don’t want a single bad thought about yourself in your head.”

rafe stands up to take his shorts off, his cock springing free. “come here.” he demands, reaching a hand down for you. you don’t want to accept, you just want him between your legs, but you comply, letting him pull you up off the bed and into the bathroom. he positions you so you’re in front of the mirror. your eyes immediately diverge, not wanting to witness yourself under the bright white lights in the nude.

“no, baby.” rafe says, coming to stand behind you. “look at your face for me.”

you feel tears well up in your eyes, but you do it for rafe. you meet your own gaze in the mirror as rafe begins to speak. “i love those eyes, those eyes that see every part of me. i love the curve of your nose. i love kissing your soft lips, i love how they always taste like strawberries. i love your cheeks, i hope our kids have your cute cheeks.”

rafe pauses to take your jaw in his hand, moving your head up so he can bend over your body with his vast height and press a kiss against your lips.

“i love your hair.” he turns your face back to the mirror. “i love wrapping my hand around it when i’m fucking you. i love the way it falls in your face when you’re reading one of your novels.”

rafe kisses along your neck, hands coming to your waist. you briefly close your eyes but a sudden bite to your neck has you snapping them open, continuing to look where rafe speaks about. “i love your hands, i love holding them between mine. i love your arms when you wrap them around me.”

“i love your tits.” rafe moves his hands from your waist to your boobs, cupping one in each palm. “i love the way no bra seems to contain them. i love the way your nipples show through one of my tshirts when you put it on in the morning.” rafes thumbs rub over your nipples until they turn into stiff peaks. “i love the way they feel in my mouth, i love that someday you will feed our baby with them.”

rafe drops his hands to your stomach, and you want so badly to push them away, to not let him so unabashedly feel your least favorite part of yourself. “and i fucking love your tummy. not only is it cute and sexy, but it’s giving me more of you to love. it’s letting me know that you’re keeping yourself healthy and not starving yourself. i love your tummy because one day it’s going to hold our child safe. i never-” rafe pauses to look you in the eye- “want you to feel insecure about your tummy, okay?”

“rafe-” you sob out, letting the tears fall free.

“let it out if you need to, my love. let out every bad thought you have about your body and replace it with my good ones until you have your own good ones. i love every inch of you. everything you see as an imperfection, i see as beautiful.”

you know better than to doubt his words, he’s candidly telling you the truth, what you look like in his eyes.

“can i keep going?” rafe asks in a minute once you calm down. you let out a nod as his hands move to your hips.

“i love these hips. i love putting my hands on them, holding you there. i love these thighs,” his hands move forward, making your breath hitch, “i love the way these thighs protect that special part of you.” he keeps a hand on your thigh while the other dives between, finding your wetness.

his finger circles your clit as you brace yourself with both hands against the counter top. “i love the way i touch one small part of you and it has your knees weakening. i love taking my tongue to your pretty pussy and tasting every drop you have to offer me.”

rafe presses his cock against your ass, unashamedly rubbing it as his hand drops lower, pressing his finger inside your entrance. “i love the way your pussy welcomes me inside because it knows we were made for each other.”

rafe adds a second finger quickly, a slightly painful stretching sensation taking over only for a moment before it becomes pleasurable again.

“i love the way your ass moves when i thrust my cock against it.” he gives an example with a particularly hard rub against your backside. “i love everything about you, baby.” his fingers speed up as he brings his other hand to rub your clit.

“and i hate that you didn’t see it. but you see it now, right? you see that you’re beautiful?” rafe asks, and when you don’t respond his fingers suddenly stop moving, making you cry out.

“say it.” rafe says, catching your eyes in the mirror. “look at yourself in the mirror and say it.”

“i’m beautiful.” you whisper, eyes shining as you for once believe it. if a man like rafe cameron can fall so deeply in love with you, can hold all these truths, for once you can believe them as well.

“louder.” rafe says, his hands regaining speed suddenly.

“i’m beautiful.” you say again, letting your full tears drop onto the counter as your clit pulses under rafes attention. “i’m beautiful!” you shout, and with that declaration, rafe bends you further over the sink, exposing your pussy to him as he slides his cock in between your folds, only removing his fingers for a short second before his cock is deep inside of you.

“you feel that baby?” rafe asks, picking up the same rhythm his fingers were thrusting to. “you say we don’t work? well baby, we fit perfectly together.”

one hand grips your hip to help him thrust in and out as the other continues to rub at your clit, and you know you’re not going to last much longer, not after all the attention.

“my cock is meant to be inside this pussy. our hearts are meant to be together. we’re it, baby. the perfect match.”

you nod along to rafes words, agreeing in your loud moans. you know he’s right, that you were meant for each other from the way his cock hits that sweet spot inside of you with every single hard thrust.

“my beautiful baby.” rafe praises you. you meet his eyes in the mirror, meet the look of pride and pleasure mixing together on his face.

“thank you.” you mumble out. rafe seems to understand what you’re thanking him for as his thrusts increase in depth and speed, needing to feel that sweet release so he can hold you against him, kiss your face, make you feel loved in every way he can.

rafe rubs your clit faster, hoping you’re as close as he is as his cock begins to pulse inside of you. rafe forces himself to keep his eyes open as he cums, wanting to see the way your jaw is dropped open, the way your boobs sway with every thrust, the way your ass ripples every time he presses his hips into you.

rafe cums with a loud moan, and you have no choice but to follow, feeling that ultimate connection as his orgasm brings your own as you shudder, feeling his fingers continue to rub your clit through your orgasm even as his hips thrust impossibly deep inside to finish as far inside of you as he possibly can.

rafes fingers eventually slow as your heart rate also returns to normal. you push your hair out of your face and rafe gives you a toothy grin in the mirror before he slowly pulls out, admiring the way his cum drips onto the matching white bathroom floor. you know you’ll have to clean it later but right now all you want to do is lie down and rest your tired legs.

“come on baby, i got you.” rafe says, picking you up bridal style and carrying you back into the bedroom, setting you down on top of the comforter. you feel yourself blush as he shows no strain at all in lifting you. “you really are the most beautiful girl i’ve ever seen.” rafe says, laying down next to you. “i just want you to see it too.”

“i do.” you tell rafe, resting your head against his chest. “i really do, thanks to you.”

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ang3lofsmalldeath · 1 year

Text

lil piece ab steve harrington being anxious! fem! reader’s person. first part is hurt/comfort-ish and second part is smutty smut not proofread (minors DNI)

when the music got too loud, the drinks got too strong, and the rooms got to crowded, it became almost impossible to fight the tears that gathered in your eyes and the increasing beating of your heart inside your chest. everything become too much, all at once, no matter how hard you tried to ignore it.

it had been steve’s idea to come to this party, and see some old normal high school friends, even if you were to only stay for a bit. he reassured you that if you didn’t want to go, you two just wouldn’t make an appearance. keeping his angel happy was much more important than saying hi to some old, unimportant classmates. yet, you insisted, you could handle it and it would be fun to get out of the house. you underestimated the amount of stressors at this random house party.

at first everything was fine, you held tight to steve’s hand as he got you both drinks and walked around introducing you to strangers as his girl. you smiled and chatted to a few of his friends, but you felt kinda guilty. guilty to be following your boyfriend around like a small child, a lovesick puppy. so when you caught the eyes of an old acquaintance of yours, you let go of steve’s hand to go and catch up with someone who can barely remember. you tried to listen and hold conversation, talking about what you did after high school and your life now, but it was hard to focus without your pillar of strength next to you.

when your conversation ended, the old friend excusing herself to go refill her drink, you suddenly became extremely aware of the volume and the strangers surrounding you, steve nowhere in sight. you tried not to panic. tried to drink more and tried to smile at the other guests. but you felt the waves of anxiety flooding your system, beginning to shove your way through the crowd, rushing to find somewhere private to go before the salty tears alas dripped down your lashes. you pushed and pulled every person, keeping your head down, searching this stranger’s house for any sort of private area, a bathroom or bedro-

“baby” a soft, smooth, familiar voice broke your train of thought, grabbing your wrist, forcing you to look down, steve, “c’mere, sit with me, honey,” he pleaded all but yanking you onto his lap, seated on the loveseat, next to the host. immediately you melted into his touch, tucking your head into his neck, and beginning to let the wrecked sobs fall from your eyes. he patted your back, little shushes escaping his lips, a slow bounce of knee to calm you down. once he heard your breathing slow down and your grip get tighter on him, he so kindly suggested, whispering in your ear, “why don’t we go home, sweetheart, hm?” waiting for your tentative nod before standing up with you wrapped around his waist, saying quick goodbyes to the other partygoers, who just assumed you had too much to drink. the smell of him, rich and deep, the feel of his strong muscles and thick hair, brought you back down to earth, you were safe with your boy.

❀ ❀ ❀

after the most miserable possible day at work, all you wanted to do was come home and think about nothing. thankfully, dating steve harrington made that possible. when you got back to his house, he had been off-work for quite a while, lounging on the couch watching some cheesy action movie. his head whipped to the front door when he heard you come in, excited to his angel after a whole day apart.

“hi sweet thing, welcome back” he chastised, as you slipped off your shoes, and shuffled over to the couch with your head down. steve’s face fell slightly, being able to sense the fact that you were down by your body language. once you got to the couch, you sat down in your proper seat, his lap. he brushed your hair out of your face, and tilted your head to look up at him “what’s wrong, lovey, hm?” you huffed slightly, pinching your eyes closed, before answering him, “work was stressful today, stevie.”

steve squeezed you tighter in response, knowing you needed something to distract you, “yeah, baby? can i try to make you feel better?” you simply nodded quickly in response, usually he would make you use your words, but today, he knew you needed him to be extra soft. he began to softly, messily kiss you, first on your mouth, then your jaw, then your neck, all the while shifting you to lay down onto the couch. he stayed sitting up above you, taking all of you in, “my perfect girl, just need me to destress you, huh? let me help you empty your head, peach, pretty lil things like you shouldn’t have to think hard about anything anyways,” he said while slipping your pants off and spreading your legs.

“look at that, angel, your pussy soaked through your little panties, s’cute” he teased, running a single digit softly over top your cunt, making you squirm, desperate for more friction. “please,” you begged quietly, “make me forget, daddy.” steve couldn’t help his heart for crumbling, looking at his sweet angel, so soft, small, and desperate for him right before his very own eyes. he began to rub circles on your sensitive clothed clit, “ ‘course, peach, i’d do anything for you,” you uncontrollably whined in response to his words and to his actions, “especially when you sound so fuckin’ pretty.”

he finally slipped your soaked underwear off, taking in the sight that was your needy, puffy, sticky cunt, “aw, sweetheart, look at this mess you made f’me. lil cunt is practically sobbin’, baby, she wans me so bad, doesnt she? let daddy give her a kiss, yeah, kiss her to make it all better?” he kissed your pussy in every sense of the word, practically making out with it like he did with you. your boy had a motormouth for sure, and he knew how to use it. switching from sloppily making out with the entirety of your pussy, to sucking hard on just the clit, holding your hips down as a you bucked towards his face. you couldn’t help but to moan and cry out the way you knew he liked, “stevie, s’good, oh, please, please.”

steve wasn’t gonna stop until you finished on his tongue, which seemed not too far away based on your verbal reactions. he kept his pace just how you like it, getting his face messy, covered in your slick. he alternated from making out with it, to sucking your clit, to shaking his tongue all over the length of it, until your toes were curling, you were clamping and around nothing and your eyes were curling back, “oh… please… stevie, daddy, gonna cum, gonna cum- oh im cummin’”

after he helped you ride an extremely intense orgasm out, steve’s cheshire-like grin, slick with your cum and his spit appeared resting on your stomach, “is your head empty, angelface?” and it was, something only your boy could do.

#smutty stevie #steve harrington brainrot #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington smut #steve harrington #steve harrington thot #steve harrington drabble #steve harrington thoughts #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington angst #steve harrington hurt/comfort

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marie-swriting · 11 months

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Romantic Feelings, For Me ? - Robin Buckley

Stranger Things Masterlist

Superache Masterlist

Summary : You have a crush on Robin and so does she but neither of you feels ready to make the first move, too scared to lose the other. Thankfully for the both of you, your best friends, Steve and Chrissy, want to help you out.

Warnings : mutual pining, happy ending, mention of alcohol (be careful with your alcohol consumption), maybe some grammatical mistakes as English is not my First language, tell me if you see some or if I missed any warnings.

Word count : 2.4k

French version

Song inspiration : Disaster by Conan Gray

“This could be a disaster, Steve ! A huge disaster ! Why did you have to invite her ? I had everything planned and you’ve ruined everything by inviting her to your damn party.” Robin exclaims while giving plastic cups to Steve.

“On the contrary, I’m giving you a little help here. You’ll be able to confess your feelings.” he replies, setting the cups on the table in front of him.

“At a party full of the populars from your year and mine ? Surrounded by drunk people ? I don’t think so ! There are so many factors that make me believe it is a lost cause. Do you need me to remind you of all the scenarios ?”

“No, you haven’t stopped telling me all about it since I told you I had invited Y/N tonight. I got it.” Steve refuses before going to the kitchen to get the alcohol.

“It doesn’t look like it.” she keeps saying whilst following him, all agitated, “Besides, I’m still not sure if she’s attracted to me.”

“Do I need to remind you last week you asked me if it was totally platonic for her to call you, like, every night ? I’m saying it again, it is not platonic.”

“Maybe she does this with Chrissy too ? What do we know ? It’s her best friend, it’d be rational.”

“Sometimes you stay on the phone 'till midnight, trust me, she doesn’t have the time to do the same with Chrissy.”

“Ok, let’s say you’re right and that, by some sort of miracles, she is attracted to me,” Robin starts, making Steve sigh, “what if she ends up freaking out along the way and then we lose everything we’ve been building the past seven months ? And what if the moment I say ‘I love you’, she doesn’t say it back and that ruins everything as well ? Did you think about that ?”

“You should tell her you like her before thinking about the moment you’ll tell her ‘I love you’.”

“I prefer to think about every scenario before jumping in with both feet.”

“The problem is, by overthinking, you’re gonna destroy the relationship yourself.” Steve retort, looking his best friend in the eyes. “You should still test the water tonight and if she’s receptive then good for you, if she isn’t, just say you’ve been drinking too much and you didn’t express yourself correctly. It’ll go smoothly like this, trust me.”

“Trust you ? You, Steve Harrington, who go from one date to the other without it going any further ? I don’t think-”

“Trust me on that one.” he cuts her off, exasperated. “I’m telling you, the feelings you have for Y/N are reciprocated. Stop stressing about it.”

Steve gives Robin a reassuring look. She finally lets go of a sigh, like to signal she accepts her fate. Robin isn’t fully convinced by Steve’s words but they still help her to reduce her stress. A bit. Robin finishes helping Steve to prepare the party, letting her anxiety about you in the back of her mind.

When the party starts, Robin enjoys herself with the other guests. Tired to dance after five songs, she goes into a corner of the living-room, a drink in hand. She tries to catch her breath when John from her Algebra class comes to her and starts talking with her. Not knowing what he wants, Robin answers him. As the conversation goes by, she becomes more and more uncomfortable as she sees John slowly getting closer to her. She’s searching for an excuse to leave the room when she hears your voice calling her name.

“I’ve been looking for you !” you say, putting your hand on Robin’s forearm. “I need your help, can you come with me ? Sorry John, but it’s a girl emergency.” you specify with an emphatic look.

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” he stutters, blushing, “I need to go to… I mean, Bye, Robin.”

“You looked like you needed some help.” you slowly chuckle when you’re away from John.

“Thank God, Y/N. I didn’t know how to get out of this situation. I like you !” Robin says without thinking and making you smile.

“You like me ?”

Hearing your question, Robin’s eyes go wide as she panics. She pretends to cough and search for a solution to resolve the situation.

“Yeah, like a friend, I mean, you know. Sorry I think I’ve been drinking too much. Did you just arrive ? Want to drink something ?” she changes the subject, avoiding your gaze.

“Yes, thanks.” you accept and Robin starts walking in front of you, but you hold her back. “Robin, I like you, too.”

Upon hearing your sentence, Robin stays put in place for a second, not knowing how to act. You end up taking her hand and guiding her to the table with the drinks to pour you a glass while Robin gets a grip on herself.

During the whole party, you stay together, enjoying each other’s company. At some point, you’re really close and yet none of you know if you should understand something out of this situation. From afar, Steve and Chrissy look at you both, completely desperate. They see none of you dares to make the first move whilst you’re both waiting for that. If there weren't that many people, they would’ve forced you to get closer to make an end to your lack of action once and for all. That night, they promised to themselves to do something to help you both, you deserve your cute little romance.

Determined to help Robin, Steve decides to take advantage of a day where he has to get Dustin from school to talk with your best friend. He waits, leaning against his car, until he sees Chrissy walking to her vehicle. He takes a deep breath and trots towards her.

“Chrissy, hi !”

“Oh, hey.” Chrissy answers, stopping in her tracks. “You’re here for Dustin ?”

“Yeah. Actually, I also wanted to talk to you about something. I wanted to know if Y/N had a crush on anybody at the moment ?”

“Why do you want to know that ?” she questions with a questioning look.

“Because I…,” Steve stutters, looking for an excuse, “Actually, I wanted to ask her out and I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.”

“Oh.” Chrissy exclaims, taken aback, “Well, you did the good thing by asking me because Y/N has a crush on someone else so it’s not going to work.”

“Don’t worry about it, at least I tried. Do I know the guy ?”

Chrissy notices Steve tries to play it cool but sees behind his question there's something else. She quickly guesses, just like her, Steve has had enough of seeing you and Robin beat around the bush without doing anything.

“Yeah, you know them very well but I won’t give you their name or I’d be a terrible best friend.”

“I get it. Do you know if she’s gonna try to make the first move with them ?”

“Not sure. She’s afraid it’s unrequited even if I’m sure it isn’t. Since your party I've been trying to give her enough courage to have her confess her feelings.” she admits and Steve nods.

“I get your frustration. Robin is also attracted to someone and she’d rather imagine all the worst case scenarios instead of asking them on a date. If the person she’s attracted to doesn’t make the first move, I think she’s going to wait for a long time or miss her chance.” he informs with an insistent look.

“I hope it won’t be the case. I need to go.” she states before leaving without letting him respond.

Steve waves at Chrissy whilst she fastly gets in her car. Chrissy doesn’t waste a second and drives to your home with a big smile on her face. As for you, you’re at your desk, focused on your History homework when someone opens your bedroom’s door loudly. A hand on your chest, you turn around and see Chrissy.

“You want me to have a heart attack or what ?”

“Steve asked me if you had a crush on him !” Chrissy exclaims as if it was breaking news.

“And it's good news because…?”

“I told him you’re attracted to someone else.”

“Chrissy !” you retort with your eyes wide open.

“I didn’t mention Robin, promise.” your best friend quickly specifies, making you sigh of relief. “I just said you have someone else in mind and you don’t know how to confess your feelings.”

“Still don’t know how this is good news.”

“It is good news because he talked to me about Robin ! He told me she’s also attracted to someone but doesn’t know how to make the first move. He totally implied Robin has a crush on you. You should’ve seen his face. You were waiting for your sign, there it is ! Go to Robin and ask her out on a date now.” Chrissy orders pointing at your bedroom’s door.

“No.” you contradict, panicked, “Your conversation with Steve doesn’t prove anything. Maybe you interpreted it wrong.”

“I swear I didn’t ! Besides, at the party, Robin did say to you ‘I like you’, didn’t she ?”

“Like a friend, yes. Don’t forget that part.”

“Maybe she said it ‘cause she panicked ?” Chrissy suggests and you shake your head.

“She still said it quickly while I had a big smile on my face.”

“It’s unbelievable to nitpick like that !” she mumbles. “Y/N, during the party, I watched you and Robin and she’s totally smitten by you. And even though Steve didn’t say it, I’m sure he saw the same thing as me so get up from your chair and let’s go to Family Video !” Chrissy commands, pulling you by the arm.

With a sigh of exasperation, you follow Chrissy who’s dragging you to her car. The whole ride, you try to make her change her mind however she stands her ground and parks in front of Family Video. You sink a bit more in the passenger seat but Chrissy opens the passenger door from her seat.

“Y/N, I know you’re worried about it but believe me, Robin has feelings for you. I wouldn’t be making you do that if I wasn't sure.” Chrissy affirms with her soft voice.

“But I had planned everything !” you complain, “I had planned to wait a bit more just to be sure she was attracted to me and some weeks after that, I would have asked her out. If I do it now, everything will be ruined ! It’s too early !”

“By waiting too much, you risk ruining it before it begins. You’ve been waiting for seven months, don’t you think it’s long enough ?”

You look at your best friend before sighing in frustration because, deep down, you know she isn’t fully wrong.

“You’re right but what if-”

“Stop with the ‘what if’s and go get your girl !” she cuts you off.

Chrissy shoves you, forcing you out of the car. You close the door and start walking toward the entrance of the store. You run your clammy hands over your jeans when a forty years old woman gets in front of you and opens the door. She holds it for you and you thank her before entering as well. Stressed, you run to hide in one of the aisles, hoping Robin nor Steve have seen you. The woman gives back her tape to Steve before leaving without renting a new movie. When you hear the door close again, you breathe slowly, hoping to get a grip on yourself. You try to give yourself some encouragement to get out of your hiding spot and go talk to Robin when you hear her voice. You can’t make out what she’s saying but you can guess she’s panicked because she’s speaking very fast to Steve. You get closer to them while being silent and you finally can understand what she’s saying.

“Steve, I’m telling you it means nothing.” Robin objects.

“She said she likes you, too, right ? And contrary to you who lost your nerve, she didn’t specify ‘like a friend’.” he retorts.

You get a bit closer and you can finally see Robin who has her back on you whilst Steve is in front of her. Robin runs a hand over her face before responding.

“Maybe for her, her ‘I like you’ was hiding a ‘like a friend’ as well like I had said it just before ? Steve, I’m not 100% sure.”

“With what Chrissy implied, you can’t have any more doubts. Y/N hasn’t said anything yet because of the same reasons as you, she’s nervous about it so go talk to her today or do it on the phone tonight if you’re too scared to do it face to face.”

“You’re right, I’m gonna go to her and suddenly say ‘Actually, I have feelings for you, romantic feelings, wanna go out with me ?’ Yeah, sure, it’ll work.” Robin exclaims sarcastically.

“You have feelings for me ?” you question, getting out of your hiding spot.

“Please, don’t tell me Y/N is behind me.” Robin whispers.

“Good luck, Robin.” Steve smiles before walking away.

“You have feelings for me ?” you repeat and Robin turns red.

“What ? No, it’s not that. You misunderstood me. I was talking about someone else-”

“You’re a terrible liar.” you interrupt her, laughing slowly, “Robin, I have feelings for you too.”

“You do ?” she asks, shocked.

“Yeah.” you confirm, avoiding her eyes for a second, “I didn’t know how to tell you, I was imagining the worst and therefore I was always finding an excuse to stay silent. It seems like I could have said something for a long time.”

“Wait, you really have feelings, romantic feelings, for me ?” she verifies.

“What wasn’t clear with what I just said ?” you retort, starting to slowly get nervous again.

“It’s just.... I can’t believe it.”

“If I asked you out on a date, would it help you believe it ?” you enquire with a smile.

“What ? Yeah, totally !” Robin accepts with eagerness.

“Great. I’ll give you the details when we call each other tonight ?”

Still confused, Robin simply nods to accept. Happy, you take one step and kiss her left cheek. When you back up, Robin blushes again. You smile at her reaction besides being glad to finally have a date with Robin, after months of being hopeful and hopeless. A few seconds later, you walk away from her and wave at her one last time whilst Robin looks at you lovingly. When you go back to Chrissy in her car, you see her raising her thumb up in the direction of Family Video and you see Steve doing the same when Robin comes to him, with a huge smile on her face.

Stranger Things Masterlist

Superache Masterlist

{This is my side blog so I'll be answering comments under the username @marie-sworld}

#marie swriting in english #stranger things one shot #stranger things x reader #stranger things #stranger things imagine #robin buckley fanfic #robin buckley x fem!reader #robin buckley x female reader #robin buckley #robin buckley x y/n #robin buckley x you #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x fem reader #robin buckley x female!reader #Spotify #marie swriting with conan gray #marie swriting with music #marie swriting with superache

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mbakuetshurisprincess · 1 year

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Everything You Come With

AN: Okay so a while ago an anon said this and the idea has bounced around in my head for so long. So today I was like fuck it sit down and write that shit and that’s what I did! It’s super short but I’m trying to get better about not writing fuckin BOOKS for every post so here's this bite-size fic. Unrelated, a few housekeeping/general notes, I’m about to start back with university (Penelope Scott was really right about sophomore year in Cigarette Ahegao) so my posting is going to be a lot less frequent. I’m still gonna try to post and not go TOTAL ghost like I did before but it’s definitely gonna be a challenge. So please bear with me and send me all of your positive HBCU academia energy

Summary: After the events with Namor, a fear of water plagues you wake or asleep.

Pairing: Shuri x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Descriptions of drowning and panic. Cursing, think that’s it.

Word count: 1,808

Suggested listening: Circles - Mac Miller

“And I can keep you safe, I can keep you safe Do not be afraid, do not be afraid You're feelin' sorry, I'm feelin' fine Don't you put any more stress on yourself It's one day at a time”

Water. You felt the sensation of cool water pooling underneath your feet, looking down you saw the clear water just starting to reach your ankles. Where were you? You looked up from your feet and tried to take a step forward, only to be met with a clear glass wall no more than a step in front of you. What? You looked around and noticed the other three walls, encasing you in some sort of glass box. What the fuck was going on?

Your confusion was only increased by the feeling of the water rising higher on your legs, now reaching your calves. How had it gotten that high that quick? The coldness was starting to get to you as you were just in leggings and a shirt. You took a moment to study your surroundings, outside of the clear box you were in, you saw nothing. Not like a room with no objects in it, nothing. Surrounding you was the kind of nothing that leaves a person with uneasiness, a black void that can’t hold anything or anyone within it. This couldn’t be good.

Where was Shuri? Surely if you were in some sort of danger she would be there to save you, she always was. You tried to call out to her, to yell her name in hopes that the sound of your voice would bring your love to your rescue. But the sound just bounced around the clear walls and echoed back to you. There was no one to hear you scream. The water started rushing into the box faster now, sending cool waves across your mid-thigh.

You found yourself fighting to stay calm, as the water level rose around you. Water hadn’t been a fear of yours before this year. You’d been a well-known swimmer in your tribe and were known to often be found hanging out by the river's edge during your free time. When Namor attacked Wakanda you were almost drowned, having been held underwater by waves for nearly five minutes before Shuri saved you. It took divine intervention by Bast herself to save your life some said because there was no way you should've survived being unconscious for so long. The incident left you with a fear of water so strong you couldn’t even shower for months without Shuri being with you to calm your anxiety. But you had worked through that, you and Shuri both had started seeing therapists separately, attempting to heal from the year's events. And slowly but surely your water-based worries had lessened.

But right now feeling the water rest at your waist, you felt it all slowly start to creep back into you. You forced yourself to take a deep breath in and out. The only thing that could calm you right now was Shuri, so you imagined what she would say if she was with you.

“Look around you usana. What’s going on?”

You surveyed your surroundings once again and gathered all of your information. You were in some kind of clear plastic box, surrounded on all sides with water filling it.

“Where’s the water coming from?”

Looking down at your feet you tried to find a hole or valve where water could be coming in from, but you found nothing. How was the water rising if there was no place for it to come in from? Strange. As you made the realization that there was no water valve the water started rushing in faster, almost as if it heard what you were thinking. The feeling of water rising up just below your breast sent panic through your body, this was now becoming dire and you still hadn’t found a way out.

“Hey hey, stick with me usana.” You could practically hear Shuri’s reassurance in your head. “Use that brain of yours, breathe and think about this rationally.”

You did as Shuri commanded, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. The word rationally replayed in your head and finally, it all clicked. You were dreaming. Somehow you were stuck in one of your top nightmare scenarios. Armed with this information you opened your eyes, ready to apply the coping skills your therapist had taught you to break yourself out of this nightmare. But the sight that you saw when you opened them did nothing but bring horror into your heart. The same as before as if triggered by your realization that something was up, the water level had risen now to your shoulders.

Its coolness and sudden appearance instantly brought you back to Namor and slowly you felt the calmness be ripped away from you. Dream or not this was becoming too much. As the water raised past your shoulders and to your ears you tried to move but your feet were anchored to the ground as if they weighed thousands of pounds. The feeling of your heart beating fast in your chest was sending you into overdrive and it took everything in you not to scream. You tried to move once again, to swim upwards and try to beat the water, but your feet stayed stuck to the ground.

Swiftly the water covered you and everything went silent, just the echo of your heart to let you know you were still alive. You didn’t know how long you could hold your breath, but you still wasted energy thrashing your arms upwards trying to pull your feet from underneath you. It wasn’t working, you could feel the panic reaching its precipice within you, your body fighting an urge to just scream and let the water overtake your lungs.

“Y/N.”

You could hear Shuri calling you from above, you knew it was her. If only you could just unsecure your feet from the bottom and swim up to her. She would be able to pull you from the water, you knew it. You stopped your scream of fear and worry from coming out to try to swim upwards again, to no avail.

“Y/N.”

She called to you again, her voice sounding more desperate for you this time. Every muscle in your body was trying to push you off the ground and get you out of the cold water to your Shuri but it wasn’t working. Why wasn’t it working, you begged yourself. Your body gave in and finally let out the scream it had been holding in. You felt the water rush into your lungs and fill them, choking you with its coolness and sudden invasion.

Your eyes shot open and you sat up abruptly out of bed, gasping for air. You looked over and saw a very worried Shuri staring at you, sitting up. You tried to speak but only managed to get out an “I-” before the tears spilled from your eyes.

“Oh usana,” Shuri said with a sad sigh, pulling your body on top of hers so you were straddling her waist. She wrapped her arms around your waist and slid them up your back and rubbed soothing circles. You couldn’t help all the tears that you let out as you buried your head into Shuri’s shoulder, holding onto her neck tightly as if she was going to slip away.

Shuri would let you stay like that for as long as you needed, just content that she could bring you some type of peace at the moment. Deep down it scared the shit out of her. Your movement in your sleep is what first woke her up, she watched as you tossed and turned debating if she should wake you or not. When she finally did call your name and you didn’t wake up, that's when she started getting concerned. It was obvious to the Queen that whatever dream you were having wasn’t a pleasant one and it pained her to know that the figments that your mind created were the one thing she couldn’t make go away. Your scream shook her to the core and when she saw your tears it took everything in her for her to not cry right then with you. She hated seeing you in so much pain.

After allowing Shuri’s presence to ground you for a while you finally spoke into her warm body. “I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry for my love.”

Her response didn’t do anything but bring more tears to your eyes, what did you do to have such a sweet partner. “I’m sorry for being such a burden to you.” You said quietly with your head still buried in Shuri’s shoulder.

Shuri stopped rubbing your back for a split second as she processed the gravity of what you said. “Have I made you feel like a burden?” She asked the question sincerely.

“Never.” You reassured softly, Shuri never made you feel like a burden even with everything you dealt with. She always said she had agreed to love you as a person and that included everything you came with, no matter what.

Shuri tapped your back signaling that she wanted to look at you and you shook your head no. You knew your eyes would be all puffy from crying and that your hair probably looked crazy since your scarf had slipped off sometime during tonight's events. Your ‘no’ was met by a meek “Please,” from Shuri and how could you deny her. Slowly you lifted your head from her shoulder to meet Shuri’s eyes. When you finally looked at her she gave you a small smile “There is my beautiful girl.”

Despite the grim mood in the room you couldn’t help but blush at Shuri’s compliment. She had a way of doing that, of making you happy even when you didn’t think it was possible.

“You are not, have not, and will not ever be a burden to me,” Shuri spoke the words seriously to you, holding your eye contact. “We went through something and it’s okay that you’re still not at a hundred percent yet, you don’t have to be.”

Hearing Shuri say those words felt like a weight had been released from your shoulders. You felt like since everything with Namor had happened a year ago, you for some reason needed to move on. Like your healing was supposed to be on some fast-tracked timeline and at some point, you had fallen behind. But Shuri freed you from that with her words and you knew she meant them.

“Thank you.” You said quietly ducking your head back into her. Normally she would insist on more talking so you two could work through the nightmare but the Queen could sense your tiredness. She kissed your forehead and pulled you close to her body so that your chests were touching; you rested your head on your favorite pillow, her shoulder. You fell asleep on Shuri that night, knowing whatever was next she would be there beside you.

Taglist:

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#shuri x y/n #shuri x reader #shuri black panther #shuri imagine #shuri udaku #shuri fanfiction #shuri x you #black panther #black panther fanfiction #black panther imagine #black panther fic #black panther fandom #wlw blog #wlw #wlw ship #wlw fanfic #jc writes

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criminalskies · 9 months

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In Your Orbit, part two. (reposting on new account)

Pairing: aaron hotchner x gender neutral reader word count: 8.6k Author's Note: thank you all so so so very much for all the support on part one! I feel so hugely welcomed by the whole community and I'm so happy to be a part of it all with you. Also, apologies in advance for the level of angst here, but also, not sorry. Content Warnings: Normal Criminal Minds Case type content, hostage situation, use of guns, an accident involving a knife, Unsub talks about suicide and thoughts of self-harm, please DNI if this is at all triggering for you!!!! ⚠️⚠️ Part 1

As the months progressed since you bravely announced your unexplained proclivity for your boss’s company, the two of you have only grown closer. Many late night take-out meals in his office trying to power through growing piles of paperwork and reports have brought the two of you to become more and more comfortable and free in one another’s company.

In the field, you become quite the duo, moving as one, finishing each other’s sentences. You’ve been learning to read every twinge and shift in position of the unit chief’s brow, you know that his tight brow means either Morgan or Prentiss (likely both) are being especially childish today. You know that a high-set brow means he’s nervous - or his stomach hurts. You’ve come to learn everything about this man, including his lactose intolerance he refuses to acknowledge.

Hotch has done the same with you, coming to learn all of the different ways your mind works, and he’s bared witness to just how quickly you’re able to shift mental gears. He’s seen you go from planning a strike to an unsub’s ego, to executing the interrogation with nothing but prowess, and lastly to a comforting ear or shoulder for a victim’s family and loved ones. While those impress him, he’s concerned himself more with recognising when your anxiety and fears begin to take hold of your mind. Earlier, you would mask any signs of worry and distress to even those on your own team, but now, when you feel the noise and voices of terror drowning out your surroundings, Hotch races to your side, aiding in distracting you with quiet conversation or grounding techniques the two of you have mastered together in recent months.

You’ve been able to aid Hotch in a similar way, making note of when his usual self-doubt snakes its way to the front of his mind and clouds his usually self-assured judgment. You recognise the twiddling of his fingers at his side, while his tone stays even and unwavering, you can see conflict behind his eyes. You make it a habit to give your verbal support of his judgment whether he requested it or not. You know he needs to hear the objective truth in a voice other than his own, in a voice he can trust.

Your tendency to lean on one another for support hasn’t gone unnoticed by the team, many of them speculating that the two of you are dating or even that you’re soulmates, destined to be together. You don’t know if you’re comfortable putting the beautiful understanding the two of you have into a box like that, or not yet at least. You’ve tried considering the team’s point from time to time, but each time you consider taking a sort of leap like that with Hotch, the more you hear the more antagonistic parts of your mind warn you about the possibility of losing him. That’s the part of it all you’re not sure you could bear. You normally drop the conversation entirely, before those worst-case scenarios get the better of you.

You’ve just cut that conversation short in your mind yet again on your drive into the office, you resolve to just move forwards, one step at a time, the same way you’ve made it through your life until this point. Determined to go with the flow, you set foot into the BAU. JJ caught you by the arm as she stopped in her tracks, about to jog right past you.

“Just the person I was looking for! Hotch needs to talk to you. There’s a situation unfolding in Scottsville. Not a lot of details other than there being hostages and threats made but apparently the teams deployed there are running out of negotiators for this guy to turn down.” JJ sounded almost sorry to bug you with the assignment, but you felt quite the opposite. A crisis negotiation challenge always had you strangely the slightest bit excited. Obviously, you’d feel terrible for the individuals involved and for their families witnessing it; but you were in your element there. It was your shtick. You could handle anything these guys could try with you.

“I’ll waste no time, then, thanks JJ.” You pat her on the shoulder, before striding through the bullpen to Hotch’s office, go-bag still in hand. You would usually drop it at your desk, but that seems a moot point now.

You stop yourself from marching straight into Aaron’s office, seeing that he’s on the phone and his shoulders are close to touching his ears, they were pulled upwards so tightly. He’s hunched over his desk, scrawling notes on loose note paper scattered across his desk. This can’t be good. You dwell in his doorway for a moment before he looks up and sees you, he looks equal parts relieved and sorry to see you here. He makes a quick goodbye on the phone, clearly trying to wrap up whatever conversation is making him look so tense.

“Y/N, I was just about to call you. There’s a situation unfolding in Scottsville, Virginia with at least seven hostages. There isn’t much information right now other than this guy not wanting to reason with anybody they’ve been able to get on the phone to him. Would you be terribly upset if I kick you back to your CNU role for the day? Believe me I’d rather have you here but my hands are tied. It sounds like we’re going to need the whole team on this before the press runs wild with it.” His eyebrows are drawn together, but his eyes stay soft, he’s pleading with you.

“That’s fine, Hotch. My only issue is the long ass drive but if you��re all coming with me , I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I understand. We’ll all need to leave as soon as we can, the unsub seems unstable and every minute is counting.He’s making all kinds of threats, if any of them leak to the press today it will be a circus act.” You give Hotch a nod, grateful that he’s going to be right by your side, all day, and that JJ will be able to keep the press from writing the narrative here. Normally with the CNU you have no support in that arena.

“I’ll go round up the troops and some protective gear and we can head off soon.” You try to assure Hotch, in his own way, that you’re going to keep yourself safe, you can practically see the sweat forming on his forehead at the thought of having to even put you on the phone to this guy..

“Great. That’s good.” Hotch breathes a small sigh of relief, you realize then that he was trying not to breathe the entire time you’ve been talking.

“I’ll handle this guy, Hotchner. I can talk the strings off a puppet, you know that.”

“I do. I know that, Y/N.” He’s still trying more to calm himself than he is to calm you.

You turn in his doorway, off looking for the rest of the team. Hotch sat in his office trying to breathe and push down all his anxieties about going into this partially blind. He hates nothing more than when the team doesn’t get the details they need going into a case. It opens up his mind to the millions of awful possible scenarios, especially knowing you are going to be the one talking to the unsub, it makes his stomach churn thinking of all the ways this guy could try to harm you for being the face of this operation.

You are able to catch most of the team on their way through the glass doors to the bullpen, asking them not to drop their go-bags at their desk but instead to grab a vest and pile into the SUVs. You finally meet Derek, the last one in each morning but he can see the cogs turning in your mind before you even grab him by the arm on his way in.

“You okay, Dollface?” You cringe slightly at the nickname, but you know it’s just Morgan’s way of keeping things light and manageable around here.

“Absolutely, sugar.” You shoot back. You quickly learned after joining the BAU that with characters like Derek Morgan, playboy, you really cannot beat ‘em. So why not join ‘em. It turns out that blind flirting can be quite fun, and it’s like a game. “We’re just being called out to Scottsville, some kind of hostage situation is unfolding and I don’t know much but it sounds like it’ll get ugly.”

“Now, now, why would they call us out to someplace ugly when clearly you’re the belle of the ball? Morgan puts his arm around you, “Lead the way, sweetcheeks.” While you usually find flirting to be quite the chore, like doing mental gymnastics, trying to include and omit all the little details necessary to create just the right dynamic, matching the other person’s energy and emotions. The only reason you can freely try it with Morgan is because you know that no matter what you say, he has no intentions with you. He just likes to fill his time this way, which is fine by you.

The two of you are the last to join the team already waiting in the second SUV, engine running. Morgan removes his arm from you as you approach the car, running to open the passenger door for you. “In you go, Ace. Sounds like we’ll need that silver tongue of yours.” Morgan grins at you as you hoist yourself into the car. Hotch is in the driver's seat, rapping his fingers against the steering wheel as Morgan shuts your door, climbing into the back with Prentiss and Reid. You catch yourself thinking of the time you told Hotch you feel most at peace when you’re a passenger in a car, knowing you have no control of where you’re going and nobody expects you to. He remembered, not that it should surprise you. Hotch always remembers. He peels out of the parking lot before Derek can even fasten his seatbelt.

“Is now really the best time for chivalry, Morgan?” Hotch snaps at him. You look over and see his knuckles are white with his tight grip on the wheel. He’s harder to read behind his sunglasses, but you can practically see steam coming out of his ears. You know he hates feeling uninformed going into these situations but he seems overly agitated.

“Hotch, forgive me for wanting to enjoy just one part of what’s destined to be a shitty day.” Morgan retorts.

“Y/N, can you please turn on the handheld radio. If there are any developments at the scene, we’ll need to be ready.” You note how his tone softened from just a moment ago when he was ready to kick Derek out of the car for taking his time to get in. You tune into the station for the Scottsville tactical team, updating them that you and your teammates are on the way, the two hour drive with lights and sirens should only take Hotch about an hour and fifteen minutes. Especially with the levels of anger he’s trying to take out on the car.

The radio goes mostly quiet, with only timed updates on the unsub’s appearance and how he’s roaming the inside of the pharmacy he’s taken over with a hostage hip to hip with him on either side. Two of the seven hostages are children. The unsub seems to only want to make threats, the team on site are yet to pry any demands or motive from him. You’ve seen this scene a hundred times before. You know what you’ll see when you arrive, too many men with their hands on their hips and their chins high, having their credentials all-too-proudly placed on their shirts. They all think they’re in charge here. They think they have any semblance of control over this guy, and they’re all wrong.

The first thing you were quick to learn at your time in CNU is that the guy with the hostages is in charge and he knows it. That’s ordinarily the thought process that leads them to take hostages in the first place. You have to work with him not against him towards a common goal. Trying to pry an unsub’s hand in a situation like this only leads to loss of innocent civilians. Always. Yet, each time a scenario like this unfolds, they put their oldest, grouchiest, closest-to-retirement officer in command on the phone, and he barks orders. Acting like he is still in any position of command. He isn’t, and he’ll often get nowhere with an unsub like this.

Reid, Prentiss and Morgan are making quiet chit-chat in the backseat. Discussing their weekends, since there are no crucial details emerging over the radio. You look over at Hotch, seeing that his anger seems to have subsided, but you can see his carotid artery trying to burst right out of his neck. His heart is hammering away, he is as terrified as the stoic, unfaltering unit chief ever gets.

“Hotch, we’re gonna handle this. Believe me, I’ve seen this scene play out a few hundred times. I’m going to take a new angle with this guy, one that the senior officers at the scene won’t have even considered; compassion. I’ll get this guy talking and then Garcia and Reid will have his blood type, his high school SAT score and his bank balance before he can even start negotiating terms with me. JJ will make light work of the press. He’s making empty threats. He’s just cornered and scared. We’re gonna diffuse this, okay?”

Hotch visibly relaxes, his death grip on the wheel relaxing just a little. You’re sure his mind is still reeling with possibilities of today. “I know, we can handle this. I just don’t like not knowing exactly what I’m sending us all into.” Hotch gives you a sorry look. You realize then what he’s so afraid of. He’s afraid he’s going to have to make the calls that determine how many lives this unsub can take today.

You nod, making a mental note to try to remind him that you’re going to be the one calling the shots. But there’s no time now, as you pull up to the street, lined with news vans, police cars, state cars and not two but three SWAT trucks. You all hop out of the SUV, donning your kevlar vests and carrying cases of communication equipment to set up a direct line to Garcia. Hotch strides over to the main tent, shaking hands with just who you expected, four sixty-some year old men each trying to have the most dominant presence in the cramped tent. It’s satisfying to see Hotch dwarf them without having to puff his chest out and his chin up. You love seeing him with his stern but gentle demeanor, undermining their whole understanding of how to dominate a room. You and the rest of the team arrive at the tent.

“This is our crisis negotiation expert, special agent Y/L/N. They’ll be in charge of communication with the inside. Where’s your direct line to the gunman and the hostages?” One of the cranky old suits extends his hand to shake yours, he seems unimpressed being kicked off the role of negotiator to hand over to you, but he’s trying to be welcoming, obviously expecting you to fail just as they have.

“There’s no gunman. We finally got access to the cameras inside, he’s wearing a vest covered in wires and buttons and crap. That’s the problem here. We’ve had a clear shot once or twice, but shooting the fool doesn’t get us anywhere if we don’t know how the explosives are tripped. We got five adults and two kids in there. But that’s only half the problem.” You can see Hotch’s hands trying to smooth his features right off of his face. This is just perfect, a suicide bomber. The vest could very well be a fake, it could be nothing but remnants of an alarm clock strapped to a kid who needs to feel powerful, feel people fear him.

“What’s the other half of the problem?” you enquire, already hating how this commander seems to have no urgency in giving you the details you need. “Is the bomb squad here?”

“They’re on their way here, but that’s the other problem. The few clipped sentences we’ve been able to squeeze out of this kid have been mentioning other public buildings across town. The Bedford public pool, Scottsville library, the local watering hole - Shaw’s bar and lastly the sports building at his old school. He hasn’t even told us what school yet, but it’s a Saturday, so we should be dealing with half the normal crowd at that location, but double the usual foot traffic at the other locations. We don’t even know if the vest bomb is real yet, let alone confirming the presence of four other explosives. Those are just the ones he’s mentioned so far, anyway.” You gulp, you can see now how this is going to become the media circus Aaron mentioned earlier.

Hotch is quick to dispatch JJ to plead with the media outlets present, and try to throw them off the scent of this situation escalating across the town. You try to stay out of your own head as the team quickly splits into three teams to check out the possible explosive sites. Right, so your maximum of seven possible victims just climbed into the hundreds. This is fine, this is totally going to be okay, right? You see Rossi and Prentiss jumping in an SUV, off to scout out the scene at the pool, Reid heads off to the library, Hotch and JJ preparing to head to the local bar. Derek has Garcia on the line trying to get her to figure out where your unsub went to school, so you can narrow the search to just one. Derek, as you know, has prior experience on the bomb squad. He’s proven himself to be a very useful asset in many bombing cases.

You’re getting lost amongst all the chatter, you feel your hands starting to shake as the buzzing in your head begins to cloud your ability to think straight. This is fine, the lives of upwards of two to three hundred people resting solely on your ability to make one negotiation. But you’re not sure how to even tackle this first conversation. You’ve handled cases with explosives, even a wearable device like this one before, but there are too many variables here, too many targets for you to understand what the unsub is planning.

You could be dealing with the ringleader of this operation, who has several willing servants out in the public wearing similar devices, waiting on his word. This could all be resting on you convincing him to pull the pin on the whole thing, canceling the plans. Or, you could be attempting to reason with somebody who has already rigged four popular public local businesses and locations to explode with timers. They could detonate with certain environmental triggers like moving a backpack with the device inside. They could be scheduled to explode already, and no amount of talking will stop them. This is bad, this is really bad. You’re staring at the pharmacy and even the lettering on the signs begins to warp with your vision.

You see Derek coming over to talk to you, his brows drawn together in concern. You don’t have to hear him to know what he’s asking you.

“You feeling alright there, superstar?” You try responding to him, finding your mouth is dry, like all of the fluid in your body has begun seeping out of you as nervous sweating. Your heart is trying to lodge itself in your throat, preventing your words from being able to come up. Center yourself, center yourself. You reach for Derek’s hand, needing to feel his own pulse, focusing on his smell, the warmth of his skin against yours where it’s gone clammy. Fuck, you wish Hotch was here, his presence has a seedative effect on you in times like this when you otherwise feel pretty much like a fish out of water, you try to recall the techniques the two of you had begun to implement in your anxiety attacks. You’re drawing a blank, instead your mind seems to have latched onto the notion that Aaron isn’t here. He isn’t here because he’s going to check out a potential bomb. A bomb that you and only you hold the power to possibly stop from exploding right now. Just before you crawl into that rabbit-hole forever, Derek’s other hand finds your face, he makes you look at him and he starts to come into focus, the blinding fuzz in your vision and the deafening ringing in your hearing begin to clear.

“You know what you’re doing, Y/N. I know I’m not the person you want here right now, but I might be the only person who can help you do this. We can do this. Just stay with me. Come on, drink this.” He brings a water bottle up to your hand, you take it and drink almost half the bottle. That’s helping. You feel much better, you notice Morgan’s other hand is still holding yours, tightly. He’s grounding you. That’s good. You focus on his pressure and on his words instead of focusing on the rising tide of dread that’s lapping at your legs, hoping to pull you under.

“Thank you, Morgan. I feel much better now. What do you know about the device?” You ask, hoping that with his history working with the bomb squad, he’ll know what you’re dealing with.

“Sadly, the cameras in that place are about as clear as frosted glass, Dollface, but the vest has all the elements of being a real bomb. I don’t think he’s just slapped some electrical wire and tape onto an old windbreaker. He at least knows what elements are required to make a fake thing seem real. That’s real enough for me to think he might have actually made this thing deadly.”

“Great. We get to assume the worst, then, where are the hostages positioned?” You’re scared to ask, but keeping this one-on-one conversation running is helping you stay focused and not think about just how many of your dearest friends are sniffing around looking for more explosives right now.

“He has five of them in the middle of the pharmacy, behind a counter. Four adults and one kid. He’s had one adult and one child almost joined at his hips the entire time he’s been pacing the place. There’s food, water and medications inside so he could potentially hide out in there for a long long time.” Derek regretfully informs you.

“Okay, so he’s clearly thought this out. This is not the disorganization you’d expect to see with somebody his age who was driven to snap like this. Not to mention that assembling at least one explosive device means this likely took lots of planning and research. Has Garcia dug up anything on who this guy is?” You hope she has, you hope you guys can get just enough personal details to persuade him to give up the hostages.

“Nothing, he’s barely spoken a word over the direct line all day. Except for naming other ‘booby trapped’ sites. His words, not mine.” You curse the initial response team here mentally for having already tried interrogating him, not knowing that if he put this level of planning and precision into it, he has an endgame. He has terms, and likely, he knows exactly what he’d trade each hostage for. He’s young, but clearly not some stupid junkie who held up the pharmacists because he’s itching for a fix and his doctor doesn’t write scripts on Saturdays. This is a complex plan. He knows exactly how he wants this to play out.

“Well then, I think it’s high time I introduce myself.” You push up off the table you were leaning on, rounding the table to the direct phone line established here.

“Get ‘em, Tiger. This is your forte, not his. Show him who’s boss” Derek flashes you a smile, and you do appreciate having him here, his unstoppable positivity can’t hurt at a time like this. Although his stance just contradicted your plan to reason with the unsub, or to at least give him the illusion of control over the situation.

You take a deep breath, steeling yourself once more as you pick up the phone, hearing the line ring inside the pharmacy. You pretend the cloud of derek’s warmth behind you is Aaron’s, and you swear you can smell his cologne for a moment, you close your eyes basking in it, the calmness that his presence washes over you-

“What do you want, now, Pigs?! I told you. If you keep making me argue people are gonna get hurt. Bad.” The unsub sounds fed up. His sentences are clipped and his defenses are very much still up.

“I wanted to ask you the same thing, what do you want?” You keep your tone flat, trying not to feign too much interest in his work, but also ensuring that you present differently to the ill-tempered officers he had been dealing with earlier.

“You’re not Bosco. Who the hell is this?” He wants information, he wants power over you here. You’re willing to allow him to believe he has it, so he will open up until you get something actually usable here.

“I’m Special Agent Y/L/N, with the FBI. I’m the person who’s gonna talk you through the rest of today.”

“Talk me through what?? I told you” His tone raises like he’s angry but his volume doesn’t increase. He’s calmer talking to you. He knows he doesn’t need to yell because you aren’t already yelling back. “I’ve got everything set up. You guys try anything and a heap of people will die. Have you even told the happy families at the pool that this might be their last day of living? Of course you haven’t.” He’s trying to establish that he’s smarter than you. He wants you to feel powerless, and he sounds even younger than you. You figure he’s trying to compensate for his age with his wit. He wants you to think he’s older or more dangerous because then you’re less likely to take him on.

“That’s right. You’ve clearly planned this out very carefully. You’ve left us no room to argue with you, which is why I’m not arguing. I’m asking you, what is it you want to happen here?”

“I want people dead!” He starts yelling, you can hear the two hostages either side of him whimpering and panting, they’re terrified.

“If that was all you wanted, wouldn’t they be dead by now? Wouldn’t the pharmacists, the patrons be dead? Wouldn’t bombs have already gone off at the pool, and the library, and your school and the bar? Wouldn’t all the happy families be gone? I never would have been called to talk to you, the bombs would have gone off without warning, and they would have been deadliest. It’s clear you want something else to happen here, first. I want to know what that is, so we can reach a solution we’re all happy with.” Behind you, sergeants old and older drop their heads into their hands, Morgan looks at them with disdain seeing them judge your technique, your attempt to understand the unsub like theirs wasn’t just to start a screaming match and agitate a guy strapped with explosives. Truly genius by all accounts. Morgan’s cell phone rings and he wanders away somewhere quiet to answer it.

“I want people to be sorry! I want people to know that they were wrong about me!” Here you go, he’s letting you in. He’s showing parts of himself to you instead of building the walls around him higher and higher.

“Who are you trying to make sorry?” You decide to zero in on one detail at a time. Start with the who, then the why.

“I can’t have this conversation with you. They’re all listening out there!” You look around, seeing every cop, agent and tactical expert without a gun in hand holding a headset to their ear. He’s right, they are all listening. It’s not like you can ask them not to, they all have people to protect here, they all want to be informed.

“Well, you’ve been threatening a lot of people today. All these people are looking out for somebody, they all want to get you and all the hostages out of here safely. Do you want to talk only to me?” You’re gonna regret asking, of course. Hotch will have your ass later for ever offering to walk into an active site like this, but the kid’s hardly armed like he would be with a gun. Either he goes up in smoke with seven civilians, potentially hundreds of others around the city, or you can talk him out of it. It’s not like you’d want to walk out of the other side of this if you couldn’t stop him claiming the lives of hundreds.

“Yes. I want to talk, but not to all those guys out there. I don’t need everybody hearing the tales of my woes.” Hmm, quoting a russian folk tale. This guy must’ve been immersed in a couple of different cultures to be referencing things like that in his everyday life. You make a mental note to try to use that to open him up if you need to.

“Okay, I’m going to come inside and talk to you. We’re gonna work this out. I’ll see you in a second.” You lower the handset back towards the base of the phone.

“Wait! How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you’re not still recording me when you come in? Or that you won’t hurt me?” Interesting. He’s scared that his being injured wouldn’t set the bomb off. It’s probably mechanically triggered, then, not on a timer. That’s a relief, now you only need to keep him calm enough to not press the detonator. Bringing the phone back to your ear, you assure him you’ll be honest.

“I’ll show you once I’m inside that I have no wires on me. I have to bring my gun, because you do have seven hostages in there, but I assume shooting you would trigger all the explosives, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, right. That’s exactly right.” You’re officially through the walls these officers forced him to build today, keeping them out. You can practically hear his mask of a heartless psychopath slipping. He plans to leave today unharmed. As long as you can get him to disable the “You can come in. I’ll talk to you.”

“Okay.” You intentionally keep your responses short to avoid sounding too excited to know you’re making progress. You feel calmer, more in your element now. You drop the phone, tightening your vest around you (as if it can help you now), liking the tight pressure against your torso. You push past the crowds of officers to the SWAT commander.

“I’m going in. Do not shoot unless I signal. Watch the CCTV. I’ll put my left hand on my chest if it’s safe to take the shot.” The commander looks just as disapproving of this as you’d expect, but hey, it’s your funeral.

“You got it. We’ll be in position.” He begins barking instructions into his shoulder radio, ensuring his men will allow you into the building, but keep their sights trained on the unsub whenever possible.

You look around, seeing Derek still on the phone. He looks up just in time to see you turning towards the building, walking towards the door.

“HEY!” Derek yells, making record time to run towards you. He’s out of breath when he joins you near the entrance to the building. “You’re not going in there right now, Y/N. Do not do this. We can wait for the team to get back from their cleared locations. Bomb squad’s cleared the three public sites, the only potential explosive left is at the high school sports building. The one confirmed active device is in that building, you cannot be going in there right now.” Morgan looks panicked, probably fearing himself having to explain this to his boss the moment he arrives back. “Y/N. Do not put yourself in there with this guy.”

“Derek, I have to. This is the only way to save seven innocent lives, by risking eight. If there was a better way I’d try it but this is our only avenue right now.” You squeeze his shoulder “I’m gonna be okay, I thought you believed in me, Tiger?” You joke, trying to raise his mood as he has always fought to do for you.

“I do, sweetcheeks. I know you can talk your way out of a paper bag, but I’m gonna be the one blown to pieces when Bossman finds out I let you go in there.” Morgan takes your arm on his shoulder, pulling you in for a brief hug.

“Jeez, could you at least pretend you’re gonna see me again then?” You plead with him as you turn to walk back into the pharmacy.

“I’ll see you through my two black eyes, sure.” Derek smirks at you, and you feel better. You’ll cross that bridge with Aaron when you come to it, for now, you need to be your best. You take a few deep breaths, again, trying to search for your favorite, most comforting smell in the world. His cologne. You find it, again only for a second, but it fills your senses and you feel your goosebumps subside.

You reach the door and pull it, walking in with your other hand raised. You can see the five hostages bound together in the center of the building, all tear stained cheeks and big red eyes welling at the sight of you, pleading with you to get them away from this place.

“Name!” You hear a shout from behind a shelf of sports performance drinks.

“Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N. I was speaking to you earlier.” The unsub emerges from behind the shelves, still hip to hip with two other hostages who look similarly disheveled and panicking. You show the unsub both your ears, that you have nobody talking to you, and you spin to show him you aren’t wearing any wires.

Outside, the fleet of SUVs have returned, JJ and Hotch leaping out first, Hotch making light work of the long walk over to the main communications tent, where Derek is seated in a cold sweat watching the scene unfold in front of him. “Morgan. Where’s Y/N?” His sentences are clipped and he sounds more on edge than he was when he left, despite learning that three of the five possible explosives don’t exist.

“Well, you’re here about two minutes too late to talk ‘em out of walking in there to talk the kid down. They were getting through to him but he said he didn’t want the fleets of agents with headsets out here hearing all he’s got to say.” Derek feels the all the hair on his body stand on end as he watches Hotch’s brows almost kiss his eyes, the muscles either side of his face barely keeping his jaw from flying open. Hotch closes his eyes in disbelief.

“I gave you one job! One single job. To get the people being held inside that building to come out of it. Did you misunderstand me somehow, and think I wanted you to send our own agents in there?! Morgan. Unbelievable. This is inconceivably stupid!” Morgan stops hearing the rest of Hotch’s fiery rant beside him when he notices Y/N removing their vest on the CCTV footage.

“Shit. Shit, shit shit shit shit! No, Y/N. Why?” Morgan chants. Hotch’s gaze follows Morgan’s down to the small screens, showing the live feed from inside the pharmacy.

Hotch feels the air being knocked out of him with a force when he sees you removing your vest in there. He knows the vest probably wouldn’t make much difference if the bomb is to go off, but the sight of you removing your only line of defense wounds him somewhere deep within his chest, and he feels as if he might just fall over.

JJ, Reid, Prentiss and Rossi have filed into the shady tent behind him, and Dave reaches out for Hotch, bringing him to sit in a chair and watch the screens, as there’s nothing any of them can do now to help you. They can only watch as you stand, hands raised in surrender, conversing with the man wearing a bomb on his chest. The sight of crying children and adults on either side doesn’t help raise morale in the tent.

Hotch can’t tear his eyes away from the sight of you, as you slowly spin on the spot, allowing the unsub again to check you for wires. You want him to know he can trust you, that you didn’t betray his only wish for the two of you to not be heard.

“And the shirt.” The bomber gestures towards your torso with his head. “You could have it taped to your chest for all I know.”

You swallow back a sigh, reaching for your buttons. You want him to know he can trust you, that you didn’t betray his only wish for the two of you to not be heard. But seriously if officers Old and Older out there get to see you topless today you may as well blow up.

You undo all your buttons, dropping the shirt off your shoulders but keeping it around your forearms, turning once more now that he can see enough of your chest and back to know he’s not being recorded. He seems relieved at that.

Outside, Hotch is trying desperately hard to pretend that ogling at you isn’t contributing to his already concerningly fast heart rate. He can’t get clear, even breaths, even after you shrug your shirt back on and do up the buttons. He feels a sensation you’d told him about, tens of times before. He feels all the blood draining from his face, as his mouth feels like it’s full of cotton wool, he’s helped you through enough of these now to know he’s having a panic attack. Of course, knowing the name for it doesn’t help him fix it, but it’s a start. Think, think, what would he do for Y/N? Anything. He’d do anything for you, but no, what would he do for you in a panic attack? Oh god, you’re probably having your own blinding panic in there and he can’t help you. He can’t help you with anything now, forced to watch you reason with death. Morgan’s face swims into Hotch’s fuzzy vision, distorted by the scattering of the image. Hotch can see Derek talking to him, but he’s unable to hear him or reply. He’s unable to even breathe with you still inside that fucking building.

Meanwhile, inside said building, you and the unsub have sat atop the pharmacy counter, merely three feet apart. He let go of his two human shields, ordering them to go sit with the others and keep quiet. You look at his face, realizing you were right, he couldn’t be more than 24 years old. How has he already been driven to orchestrate something like this? To threaten the lives of innocent strangers, seemingly all to get somebody to listen to him.

At this point, that’s mostly what you’re doing. Just listening, as your few questions had prompted him to speak his truth about how he worked very hard his whole life to get into a medicine program, he’s finished his pre-med track now, but he’s unable to complete his degree, since his father tore through the boy’s college fund, spending nights with strippers at casinos and abandoning him and his siblings to fend for themselves, all because their mother died. Now he’s been kicked out of his college, which he had a partial scholarship for because he’s unable to make the minimum payments to attend. It’s a heartbreaking story, really it is, but the more he talks to you the more you realize that this was all a desperate attempt to make his own departure from this world mean something. The way he speaks of his life like it’s so distant from him makes you feel very sad for him. You have to hold back tears when you think back on how just one conversation with a loved one could have prevented him from being driven to this.

“That’s horrible. I’m sorry your father was able to get away with that. Was he supposed to be here today?” You ask.

“Huh?” The unsub seems genuinely confused by both your pity and by your question.

“Well I assumed this vest was really aimed at getting back at your dad for what he did, right?” You are trying very gently to pry a possible motive for this crime from his backstory.

“No. This was just for me, but then I realized that if a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, it doesn’t matter if it makes a sound. I figured the bigger of a stir I could make today, the more people would have to know that my tree fell. That I’m gone, or that I was even here.” He wipes his tears, but his eyes look void of any energy left to fight this.

“I think every tree makes a sound.” You lament. “I think wherever the tree may fall, it makes an impact. Lots of little critters rely on trees like those for homes, and the trees may have been fighting one another for sunlight and all as they grew, but when one falls, the others can never ever fill the space. It’s vacant, forever. There’s always this empty spot, something missing.” You try to stick with the unsub’s metaphor.

“I don’t think so.” He retorts, looking down at his hands in his lap.

“Well, how about this, if you let these innocent people go, and we walk out of here today. I can make sure the press hears all about the tree. Use it as a story of caution. One to stop people from ever getting too caught in their own business not to care that it’s falling.” You offer a solution. If you’ve dragged yourself into this mess, you may as well try to make sure as many people as possible get out unharmed.

“I guess I could do that. But… I won’t get to just walk out of here, will I? I mean, I’ll go to jail.” You watch the cogs turning in his mind as he weighs his options against one another. “Y’all can go. Here, set them free, I guess.” He hands you a box knife from behind the counter, to undo the ties on the hostages.

You walk over, cutting them free, all the while you’re planning your next move. You noticed the detonator switch remote is in the unsub’s right front pocket on his pants. If you can get a hold of it, you should be able to prevent it from detonating, and then you can try to safely extract him from the building. You accidentally cut your hand on the last tie, watching the hostages stumble to their feet, joining arms and running out the door to the building, out into the carpark. You drop the boxcutter onto a chair, and walk back over to where you were sitting with the unsub.

Outside, the team are quick to run into action, Reid, Prentiss, and JJ grabbing the children and walking the adults back to safety, where paramedics have been at-the-ready all afternoon. Dave stays with Hotch, trying to make sure he’s still breathing enough to maintain brain function, although he was moments away from getting him put on the hi-flow oxygen from the rig, but now the hostages probably need it more. Aaron will be okay, just as soon as he sees you walk out of this god-forsaken pharmacy. He watches on the CCTV as blood begins pouring from your hand onto the counter you’re sitting on. He doesn’t think he can take much more of this, to be honest. He sees you reach your hand up to cradle it against your chest, hoping to slow the bleeding.

A loud crack pierces through the air around the building, glass smashing before a second crack is heard. Aaron’s seen this before enough times to know that a trigger-happy sniper saw his shot and he took it.

Your ears ring deafeningly loud, as you feel every ounce of energy in your body evaporate as you see the unsub’s lifeless form fall from the counter, a bullet square between his eyes. Your throat feels too dry to scream or wail, you just sit there, now decorated with both the unsub’s blood, spattered across your body, and your own blood, running down your arm. You stand and turn to guide yourself out of the building, your jaw slack open, seeming like the only way you can think of to get air at this point. You raise your arms as you slowly walk across the gravel and broken blacktop. Blood is pouring from the webbing of your thumb, trickling down your arm in harrowing ropes of red.

You hardly see anybody before you feel a great impact, the weight of a body larger than your own crashing against you, wrapping you in familiar arms. You focus all your efforts on breathing in the sweet scent you’d been hoping to smell again all day. One breath at a time. You almost crush the torso in your grip, with all of the emotions you’re trying to convey with one hug. I’m scared. I’m sorry. I love you. I can’t live without you. I need to go home. Strong arms push you off, pulling away from you just enough to look at you. The loud droning sound in your head begins to subside, and you bring your hands up to cover the large ones holding you by the cheeks, as if to feel that you’re really alive.

“Hotch.” you manage to squeak out.

“Shhhhhh shh shh, don’t speak. You don’t have to say anything right now, right now I am just so tremendously glad you’re here.” Your eyes manage to focus on Hotch’s, seeing the same tear stained cheeks you had seen on the faces of the families held captive. Only now do you realize the sort of turmoil you’ve put him through today.

“I need a shower. Can you please take me home?” Hotch scans your eyes, noticing just how far inside of yourself they are. You’re here with him, but you’re also very very far away.

“I can. Let’s just get you bandaged up, first.” Hotch turns you by the shoulders, walking you over to the paramedics, you ignore the pitiful looks from your team. You’re happy to know that all of you made it out of this alive, but still, you’re struggling to feel happy about anything when you’ve been airbrushed with the blood of a young man who only wanted to be seen.

Hotch stays with you, holding your uninjured hand the entire time you’re being checked out with the paramedics. They tell him that you’re definitely in shock, but if you’re taken home to rest, you should be able to come out of it okay. Hotch chooses not to disclose to them that he’s had what feels like a four hour heart attack since you all arrived at this scene. It’s over now, and you need him. He’ll be okay if you are.

The drive back to your place is quiet, you seem content to stare out the window, jaw partially slack so you can breathe. Hotch had hoped your exhaustion would allow you to simply fall asleep, but you weren’t so lucky. He helps you out of the car, taking your go-bag and keys to open the door for you.

You need to clean all the blood off, but Hotch doubts you even have the cognitive function to sign your own name at this moment, so he elects to take a wet washcloth to your skin, swiping away all the specks and spats of blood he can reach without stripping you down. He helps you change into some pyjama pants and a big sleep shirt, but if he sees anything, neither of you mention it.

He’s making space for you in your bed when he looks at you once more, seeing that you now look much more like yourself, at least, your eyes do. They look a little like the eyes he’d gazed into so many times before and selfishly wished he could admire them forever. Looking at you now, he saw the same person coming towards the surface, maybe finally coming up for air. He helps you up and into the bed, covering you with your blankets. He can’t help himself but reach out to push your hair back out of your face, he had to wet some of it to get the red out, but he lets the back of his hand wander over your cheek. You move to look at him, your eyes are pleading with him.

“Would you mind staying with me, Hotchner? I kind of felt like I was going to stop breathing today because you weren’t around. I don’t think I can sleep without you. I’m not even sure I can live without you if I’m being honest. Please, stay with me. You can yell at me tomorrow if you need to but for now I just really need you.” Your eyes well up with tears at the last statement, your chin wobbling as you look at him and Aaron thinks his heart feels so full it could just fall right out of him.

“I’ll stay. But I have one condition.” He says, speaking in that gentle tone that makes you want to crawl into his shirt and live there.

“Anything.”

“You’ll never sleep without me again. Because I got that same feeling today Y/N, like I was going to stop breathing when I was without you. I know the feeling you’re talking about and it’s the feeling of one soul being torn in two. I can never, ever go through that again, I don’t think I’d survive it. Not with you. So if you want me, you have all of me. You have every piece of my heart in the palm of your hand. If you’ll take it, Y/N.

“Oh, Aaron!” You roll towards him, wrapping your arms around his waist and beginning to saturate his shirt with your tears. When you regain your ability to breathe in, 1, 2, 3. Out 1, 2, 3. You reach up to his cheek, holding it in your hand.

“Of course I’ll take it. I think you’re holding my heart in yours, as well. I’m stuck with you forever, Hotchner, whether you like it or not. I love being in your orbit, and having you here in mine.”

#aaron hotchner #criminal minds #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x gender neutral reader #aaron hotchner x gn!reader #aaron hotchner angst #aaron hotchner fanfic #hotch x reader

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avelnfear · 1 year

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Chapter Nine

Masterlist

Danny had just finished getting things set up for dinner that night when there was a knock on the door. It was odd because Ellie had a key, and Jason would either call out while knocking or just break in through the window. Something in the air told them that they wouldn’t be back to enjoy dinner, so they sighed as they started putting everything away.

After that was done, they marched to their door and yanked it open. Standing in the doorway, looking slightly awkward about it, was one of his oldest friends. They hadn’t started as friends in their first lives, and they never even met in their second. This life, though, Clockwork had sent them to meet them with some time travel shenanigans.

“Hey… Can I come in?” She had her hair brushed in front of her face, and she was wearing a simple pair of grey leggings with an oversized long sleeve shirt with a cartoon ghost on it. It was an outfit he’d bought and hidden for her when it became clear she didn’t have some of the common comforts normal people did.

“Hey yourself.” His smile was surely a mixture of sad and nostalgic, but they’d promised long ago not to lie to each other. Instead of saying more words, he stepped to the side and gestured into his apartment with a sweeping motion of his arm.

When they were both situated on the couch, Talia smiled at him with a sad smile of her own. “Thanks… How’ve you been?”

Danny narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re dilly dallying. You, almost as a rule, don’t do that. What aren’t you telling me? We’ve never lied to each other, don’t start now.”

Talia’s eyes narrowed in return. “You remember.” The smile grew into a smirk of sorts. “I’m here because Father did something stupid. Something I had no real way to entirely stop if I wanted to take over the League and stop him completely. Elle won’t be coming home, nor will any of the Bats aside from Alfred, Father took them to get to you. He thinks he can control you through them, but I know better. Before I left to come here, I activated a plan that cleared my people out of the base except for those who are protecting Damian in my quarters. I’m here to ask you to let me help you fight your way through the base and to ask you to let me be the one to kill Father, if only so that you can claim your retribution long afterwards.”

“You remember too.” Danny went silent, thinking things through. As he came to a conclusion, a horrible, terrifying smile that was a bit too wide for his face appeared. “That sounds like it will be purr-fect. After all,” His voice had dipped into a purr that screamed danger, “I don’t let anyone get away with messing with my people.”

The grin Talia gave him in response was downright deadly. Danny was sure the result of all of this was going to be an absolute bloodbath, but he couldn’t quite find it in himself to care. They had decided to mess with his family, so he was going to mess with what they cared about right back. Ra’s would rue the day that he’d decided to mess with Danny.

~`~`~

Tim came into consciousness slowly, with all the creeping slowness of waking from sedatives. As soon as his brain processed what he was seeing, he struggled to stand, not managing it due to the chains and magic that surrounded him in the room that housed the Lazarus Pit. His eyes darted around, noting the placement of his family, a girl that looked eerily like Danny, and, the one he’d been looking for all along, Ra’s al Ghul.

“It seems you are all awake now, good.” Ra’s was smiling in a way that meant he thought everything was going according to his plan, and it seemed like an even more disgusting plan than usual, Ra’s didn’t usually include civilians.

“What do you want?” Bruce’s voice was gruff and tense, and Tim could tell there was even more tension and anxiety in Bruce than was being shown in his voice or body language. “Where’s Damian?”

Tim’s eyes widened as Bruce’s words made him look over the room again, revealing that Damian really wasn’t with the group of hostages. Tim and his family exchanged glances with each other, expressing the horror and worry they all felt as they all ran through all the horrible reasons for Damian not being tied up with the rest of them.

“Do not worry about him, he’s with his mother. Worry for yourselves and your purpose here.” The smile on Ra’s face got even more disgusting, somehow. Tim found it a little insulting that Ra’s said that.

Tim was worried. He was worried about Gotham and the people they weren’t there to protect, Danny in particular. He was worried about Conner and the rest of the Supers when they heard that the Bats had all been kidnapped. He was worried about whatever plot was happening this time. He was worried about Damian, who had been separated from the group for whatever reason. He was worried about what Danny would think when they all simultaneously disappeared. He was worried about how disgusting and self-satisfied the smile on Ra’s face was.

“B already asked you what you want.” Dick’s voice was dark yet still cheerful, likely for the purpose of giving Ra’s a false reason to blab his plot. Ra’s knew that Dick was always cheerful unless all hope was lost, and he thought that all hope should be lost, thus he would explain more that they could then, hopefully, use to escape.

Ra’s laughed a dark laugh. “You won’t get out of those chains without my express permission, so there’s no harm in telling you. I want the connections that I can get once I get my hands on Daniel Fenton. Once I have those connections and weapons, I will be able to live forever with such power at my hands that the world will finally fall into my rightful, ruling hands.”

Tim’s expression hardened. “That won’t work out in your favor.” He didn’t fully understand what Ra’s said, but he knew that it wouldn’t work out, call it instinct.

“On the contrary, it will. See, he’s the least dangerous one.” Ra’s was about to continue when Jason snorted. With a glare at Jason for interrupting him, Ra’s continued on, “He’s the civilian friend to a family of Bats.” A chuckle burst from Jason’s lips, and everyone in the room looked confused at that reaction, even Jason. After a moment more of confused staring, Ra’s got back into his swing and went on, “By taking all of you first, we’ve left him without any support thus making it easy to deal with him.” Jason let out a short laugh this time, and Tim was getting concerned about how confused Jason seemed to be about his own behaviour. Was this another side effect of the Lazarus Pit? Was- Ra’s broke through Tim’s spiraling thoughts with a sharp, “What are you laughing about?”

Jason couldn’t seem to answer him, every time he opened his mouth more chuckles spilled out. The confusion and horror on his face as it seemed like he couldn’t even stop himself from laughing unnerved Tim more than just the plain laughter would have. It was almost like Jason was under the effects of Joker Venom. Tim exchanged glances with the rest of the hostages, except for the girl who looked like Danny, this wasn’t normal.

“What do you find so funny?” For all the confusion in the tone, Ra’s voice was still sharper than a League member’s katana. “You’ve just been informed that your closest civilian friend will be under our control through you and your little group being used as hostages. We even have preparations made to stop any of the super powered friends of your little group from rescuing you. What. Is. So. Funny?”

Abruptly, Jason’s laughter cut off, further unnerving everyone in the room. Jason had just barely subtly signed the word “instinct” to the rest of them before he was leaning forward in his chains with a cocky smile on his face, although Tim could see the confusion hidden deep within his eyes. “I don’t find it funny.” He paused likely for dramatic effect, because Jason was a dramatic little fuck like that. “I find it fucking hilarious.” The room sat in stunned silence as Jason leaned backwards, looking ridiculously at ease for being chained to the floor in the same room as a Lazarus Pit except for the fact that Tim could see conflicting emotions hidden deep within his eyes and posture.

“Wha-” Ra’s began only to be interrupted.

“You think he’s the civilian among us.” He chuckled a little. “You think that capturing us was anything but putting a fancy signature on your death certificate, and I mean your final death certificate. You think he’s the least dangerous one. You think your people can do a single fucking thing to him? You think he needs our help. You think you’ll be able to control him. You think you’re safe. You think you’ve won.” Jason’s tone was the same as the one a parent uses to explain to their child that the square peg won’t ever fit in the circular hole about five hours into that conversation.

“You-” Ra’s once again got interrupted.

Jason scoffed. “Me? Well I’m just waiting. Waiting for that gorgeous expression you’ll make when you realize how extremely,” Jason pronounced every syllable of that word with sharp carefulness, “wrong you are. Your wonderful fucking strategy is an absolute shitshow of misinformation. If I were you, I’d starting fucking praying. I’m talking hands and knees, tears running down your face, wailing at the sky, rocking on the ground, don’t give a shit except about being granted a positive answer praying. Because I really doubt that any god will answer you with anything but a negative, they wouldn’t want to anger the one you call a civilian.” The grin that took over Jason’s face was sharp and mildly unhinged, but the confusion still rested heavy in his eyes.

The girl look-a-like of Danny burst out laughing, drawing the confused attention of the rest of the room. “He’s so very right, ya know. I don’t think he knows how right he be, but sweet baby Ancients is he correct. You wanted to use Danny’s loved ones as a controlling mechanism? Translated that equals you wanting to learn why death is not a mercy, it’s a sentence. Pa is going to rip you limb. from. limb. at the very least, but don’t worry, you’ll feel it all. Every. Last. Bit. Of. It.” The girl’s voice was dark, sharp, and targeted towards the end, losing the mirth that had colored it when she first started speaking.

Ra’s walked over to the girl, stiff with anger and slapped her hard, right across the face. The girl’s only response was to start laughing once again. Ra’s growled in growing anger. “Little girl, you should stop laughing because you don’t know who you’re messing with.”

That got her to stop laughing, but the expression on her face sent chills down Tim’s spine. It wasn’t particularly terrifying for any reason he would usually give, but it was far too calm for someone who’d just gotten slapped hard enough to be rocked backwards. “I know exactly who you are, Ra’s al Ghul. I know all about your twisted rap sheet. To be frank, I expected you to hit harder. I mean, come on, I’ve been hit harder by literal toddlers. You should reevaluate your life if you think that you are dangerous to me.”

Ra’s stiffened even further, and the girl, for some reason, found that so hilarious that she burst into laughter once again. This only served to piss Ra’s off even more. Tim, and his family which he saw whenever he managed to drag his eyes away from the horror show in front of him, could only watch as Ra’s proceeded to beat the girl up as she laughed the whole while.

Finally, when the girl had blood freely flowing from her broken nose on top of more invisible injuries, Tim couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you such a wimp that you have to beat up a girl to make yourself feel better?” Tim felt the words were a bad idea as they slipped out, but he was already doing it. Ra’s turned with a look so full of anger Tim questioned if he’d ever see another one like it. He had just managed to brace himself when the slap hit, shifting with it to lessen the blow even though that barely helped.

Over the ringing in his ears, he heard a massive boom coming from the direction of the big double doors. The boom repeated twice more, almost like a slow and steady knock. “What?!” Ra’s snapped out, although Tim didn’t think his voice was loud enough to be heard beyond the door. Three more of the slow booms resonated throughout the room from the doors. “What?!!” Ra’s shouted, this time actually being loud enough that Tim thought it could be heard through the door.

A final massive boom echoes as the doors are blown open, revealing a small pile of assassins that appear to have been beaten into unconsciousness denoted by the bruises spreading across a lot of the visible skin, some of the bruises were already turning purple. Tim might be having issues seeing because of the reflexive tears from the slap, but he swore he could see some bones poking out of skin. The area past the pile was darker than it should be, the only light seeming to be from the room itself. That wasn’t normal, the base was usually well lit, especially in frequently used areas. What was going on?

~`~`~

Jason was alternating between looking at the pile in shock and glaring at Ra’s for his actions. Nellie had done nothing to him other than pointing a couple of things out though Tim had, admittedly, antagonized Ra’s to get his slap. However, Jason’s blood was boiling as he watched a little bit of red leak out of Tim’s nose, the slight swelling already happening by his eye, and the blood starting to bead at the split in Tim’s lip. The odd orb in his chest that had prompted his strange speech was howling like a hurricane in his chest, roaring in a way that he almost understood.

“Who’s out there?” Ra’s yelled out, tone arrogant and demanding in a way Jason knew wasn’t going to end well, although he wouldn’t be able to give a concrete answer as to why he knew that with such surety.

The only answer from the darkness beyond the door was a long sigh followed by something being thrown into the room. It clearly wasn’t going to reach them, not with its size or trajectory, so no one did anything to try and get out of the way. Ra’s just watched the thing with dark eyes. The thing landed, revealing itself to be an assassin who was folded in on themselves, pinned in place by their own broken bones. Something darkly satisfied and knowing settled a large portion of the hurricane in the orb in his chest, calming it to merely a raging windstorm.

Danny walked in calmly, in the same style he did when entering the store on their grocery runs, like nothing was wrong. Despite the fact that there was no weapon anywhere to be seen on Danny, and none in the pile of assassins, there was blood splashed all over Danny’s face and clothes. His hands were clean, but there was no totally clean spot other than that.

“Hello Ra’s al Ghul, how are you today?” His voice was cheerful, but his eyes promised pain as they stared into Ra’s own.

“You-” Ra’s was once again interrupted, giving Jason an odd sense of pride-joy-funny that he couldn’t quite place.

“Da!!” Nellie’s voice was full of relief and joy along with a fair bit of pain. “It’s so good to see you!”

Jason watched as Danny looked over to them all and froze. His face closed off and became harder than steel as his eyes locked with the wounds on Nellie and Tim. There was no massive shift in the way Danny stood, but something about him now screamed dangerous in a way that Jason definitely found attractive.

“I was going to let you live for a while, seeing as I hadn’t heard from you. But, sugar, I think you need to learn your lesson. Those are my people, and they do not belong here. You are lucky that I was alerted of this now because my patience can only last for so long. You are a lucky son of a chocolate ice cream cone because if I kill you here and now then I won’t be able to do everything I want to. Thankfully, for me, not for you, I have an old friend of mine with a bone or twenty to pick with you, so she’ll be the one to kill you so that I can properly punish you after your death. You’ll have to deal with being beaten by a girl while you dance around acknowledging the fact that you done messed up. Don’t worry, you’ll never have the chance to do so again once it’s my turn.” Danny’s tone was even icier than it had been when Dick got chewed out for sparking the panic attack of Tim that one time, it was harder than it had been in the few times gangs had tried to rob them on their grocery trips, and it was so incredibly attractive to see how protective Danny was over the people that he cared about.

Danny walked forward to the point where no one could see his face other than Ra’s, and while he did that, Talia walked in behind him with an oddly proud look on her face. Jason didn’t have long to study her expression though because Ra’s suddenly let out a cry filled with fear. Looking back, Jason saw that Ra’s was kneeling before Danny, staring up at their face with a look so complicated that Jason couldn’t read it.

“Is it my turn to deal with the pathetic old man, my friend?” Talia purred out, everything about her radiated satisfaction and pride.

“Go ahead. Just remember what you need to do once he’s dead.” Danny’s voice was starting to warm up again, less like an ice age and more like a heavy blizzard.

Jason heard the sound of Talia fighting and taunting Ra’s, but he only had eyes for Danny as they checked over Nellie and Tim to make sure they were mostly okay, even giving Nellie a pill that seemed to fix most of the wounds she’d gained from the lunatic. Talia sounded like she was wrapping things up as Jason watched Danny study the magic and the chains as though looking for a way to free them all. They’d managed to get the chains to let them go when the magic disappeared. Finally looking away from Danny, Jason saw that Talia had killed Ra’s and was pointing a weird metal cylinder built like a thermos at his corpse. Jason tilted his head slightly in confusion as Talia just stood there, waiting and watchful like a big cat with eyes on its prey.

A green mist started forming above Ra’s corpse, the color only slightly different than the Lazarus Pit behind it. “May you never be reborn again, in this life or the next.” Talia said in a soft voice that was surprisingly open for the assassin she’d always appeared to be. As the last echo faded and the mist started to take form, she pushed a button on the odd thermos and a blue light shot out, wrapping around the shadowy green form that was taking the same shape as Ra’s. When the blue light retreated into the thermos, it took Ra’s soul with it, leaving only his corpse behind.

Jason, and the family he could see out of his peripheral vision, watched carefully as Talia sauntered over to Danny, clipping the thermos to his belt as she flung an arm around his shoulders and leaned into him in a way Jason was sure she’d never done with anyone before. There was a gasp from the doorway and suddenly Damian was throwing himself into Talia, who let go of Danny to wrap her son in a hug.

Danny retreated to where their group was sitting, stunned into being statues, with a fond look on his face. Turning to them, he spoke, “Ask your questions after we get everyone back home, I’m sure Alfred is worried about you all.” Danny’s voice brokered no arguments, as did his actions as he swept Tim up into his arms while Nellie attached herself to their back. “I’ve got the injured ones, let’s get going.”

The Bats could only trade glances as they unfroze to follow behind the assassin and the assistant head guard. The glances told Jason that none of them knew what was going on, but they were all determined to find out. Jason felt an intense need to know why Talia was acting so out of character and why he had a strange orb filled with foreign emotions and sensations. As he walked with the group, following a path out of the base that was littered with unconscious or dead assassins, he swore he could see flashes of another person where Danny should be. One with white hair, a cape, and a pair of heeled combat boots. It faded quickly, and as soon as they left the base, the flashes disappeared like they were never there. Jason put it out of his mind, he could worry about it after making sure his family was okay.

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skwpr · 7 months

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10 Ways To Deal With Anxiety And Stress

Stop caring about other people’s opinions: Be it on social media or in real life, a lot of people give us a lot of opinions that are really uncalled for. While you can’t always stop their opinions, you can ensure that your skin is thick enough that their opinions don’t affect you. A great rule to follow in order to filter out these unsolicited opinions is to not accept criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from. “Don’t pollute your moments with other people’s opinions.”

Laugh more: We all have heard this popular phrase “Laughter is the best medicine”. It indeed is! It is courage personified. Watch funny videos, engage in funny interactions and just laugh it out. Laughter helps in instantly boosting your mood, also helps in reducing the stress levels and releases “feel good hormones”.

Practise deep breathing: Breathing exercises help a lot in situations of anxiety and stress. They help in maintaining a level head while making decisions. This is very important as anxiety and stress may cause you to lose the ability to rationalise and think logically. This may lead to some rash decisions that are not properly thought out. So, Remember to breathe and calm yourself before making any sort of decisions.

Write it down: While writing your emotions is helpful to ease stress and trauma but it doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. So, practising gratitude is another effective way to help with anxiety and stress. Writing things you are grateful for is rather a positive approach to deal with your emotions. If not more, be grateful for at least one thing everyday.

Engage your senses: Instead of going about your day mindlessly, be more mindful of all the activities you do. One of the most popular techniques to do this is to find five things you can see, four things you hear, three things you feel (touch), two things you smell, and one thing you taste. This will help ground you and make sure you are well aware of your surroundings.

Let go of unrealistic expectations: We all tend to burden ourselves with a lot of unrealistic expectations which in the end only ends up causing a stress and anxiety. While it is nice to aim high, we must also remember that we are only human. So, forgive yourself and others. Remember that you don’t know what is going on in others’ lives just as others don’t know about yours. So go easy on yourself and others around you.

Stay close to nature: It’s true that nature is a healer. Studies have shown being close to nature or time spent in green spaces helps to reduce the stress hormone. Taking a quick 5 minute walk or just sitting in a park for a while may help you to stay calm and reflect on your life in a better way.

Let it go: Don’t let it overpower and consume you. Like everything else in life, learn to let it go and let it be. Engage in something else that shifts your focus. It’s definitely not easy to be able to forget everything that you are going through but at the end one has to move on.

Carpe Diem: Carpe Diem means live in the moment. Something that most people struggle with is anxiety about the future or the unknown. Anxiety about something that is coming up means you live through the same situation twice. Once (maybe even more) in your head, and then when the situation actually plays out. So, instead of stressing yourself out by trying to play it out in your head, just live in the moment.

Seek professional help: When things do get out of hand or if you feel the need, please reach out for help. We go to a doctor when we have a broken bone, instead of trying to fix it ourselves. Similarly, some mental health issues require a trained professional. Also, we don’t know who needs to hear this but seeking out help for mental health related issues is just as natural as reaching out for help when you have a fever or any other physical illness. Just because you think that someone else is worse off than you, it does not discredit your problems.

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iamthenerdqueen · 7 months

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The Red String of Faith - Chapter XII

Idol!AteezXOCs Soulmates!ot8AteezXOCs OCXOC Slight Social Media AU!

MDNI 18+ ONLY

slight twigger warnings:Polyamory, group of 10, two OC's -feel free to replace one OC with yourself if you'd like- , listen this is an idea me and my best friend had and is something for fun read at own risk, not edited as always, also we are starting to explore themes such as bxb and gxg if thats not for you, this story may not be for you.

Chapter VIII, Chapter IX. Chapter X, Chapter XI, Next

Lia had finally made her way back to the group of her soulmates, almost all of them were asleep now except for Jongho. He was obviously waiting for her to come back as he had slung his arm over where her pillow was making it known he wanted to cuddle with her.

Jongho had always been a little more reserved with his affection and he had small gestures the girls were learning more and more as time went on.

“Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?” Jongho asked as Lia settled back down onto the ridiculous amount of blankets they had laid down on the floor.

“Yeah, it was mostly just the feeling of being sick not actually being sick. I’m either going to drop dead or it’s my anxiety, who knows,” Lia joked as she cuddled into him wanting to just be near to him, to all of them.

“Don’t joke like that,” Jongho said seriously, he understood that it was a joke and the Gen Z outlook on life but there was something about the thought that any of them being gone was something he couldn’t process.

“I’m not going anywhere, honey, I promise.” Lia said as she started to drift off to sleep, Jongho just watched her for a moment. He raised his head to look over the sleeping and still bodies of his soulmates surrounding him, hearing their breaths in and out before bringing his head back down to his pillow. He just listened to their breathing for a while before letting himself sleep.

The morning came to Lia rather fast as the feeling that she was about to vomit returned around 15 to 8 in the morning. On her rather speedy trip to go hang her head near the toilet again, she noticed that Seonghwa, Yeosang, and Yunho were already moving around the kitchen doing god knows what. Waking up this early was Lia’s least favorite, not only for the fact that she felt awful but it annoyed her that she had no real plan for the day but was up before 10 a.m.

The sick feeling lingered for a few minutes before she felt it dissipate enough for her to go find something in the kitchen that might settle her stomach some. Lyra tended to keep Ginger ale around to drink casually, so it was a plus for Lia when she felt like an ass.

“Morning Pretty,” Yunho placed a kiss on her forehead as she walked into the kitchen, followed by a slightly concerned Seonghwa padding over to them.

“Are you feeling okay? You were sick last night too?” Seonghwa asked doing the same as Yunho but if Lia had to guess he used the kiss on her forehead to check for a fever.

“It comes and goes, I really think the travel has caught up with me and is working my nerves. Triggering me to feel sick, when I go and sit in the bathroom nothing really happens. I’ve gotten sick maybe a handful of times with this feeling.” Lia grabbed a drink and sat next to Yeosang at the small breakfast table.

“If it doesn’t pass in a couple days, you’re going to the doctor,” Seonghwa said from his spot where he was making some sort of pancakes at the stove. so “Yes, darling,” Lia rolled her eyes at the protective and nurturing nature of her soulmate. It warmed her heart that he cared, but she was just kinda crabby for being up this early. “And where did you get stuff to cook pancakes? We don’t have any mix?”

“Oh, I looked up a recipe and you had everything in the pantry so here we are,” just as Seonghwa finished speaking San, Hongjoong, and Mingi made their way from the den over to the kitchen.

“Food,” was the only word that came out of San as he came over to Yeosang and hugged him from behind. Without a word, Yeosang lifted a spoonful of cereal from his bowl and fed San, who sighed happily at being fed before nuzzling into Yeosang's neck some more. They all sat there in some sort of domestic bliss for the next half hour eating some, talking some, but really they were waiting on the last three to wake up on their own.

After a while, a messy-haired Jongho made his way to where they all were and instantly went for the caffeine. He sipped for a second before whispering a scratchy hello to everyone else in the room.

He blinked for a second before speaking again, “So she does that to everyone, I guess?” Jongho asked no one in particular.

“Who does what to everyone?” Seonghwa asked as he passed some food to Jongho.

“Lyra, I noticed it the couple of times we’ve slept in the same bed and I saw her doing it to Wooyoung hyung when I got up. She has her hand on his back like she has to be touching him in some way,” the youngest male said, making everyone in the room nod as they too had noticed this peculiar sleeping habit.

“Yeah, she did that to me in the middle of the night last night. When I turned over, I felt her put her hand on my back,” San spoke up from his spot in the kitchen.

“She’s checking to make sure you’re still breathing,” Lia stopped to swallow the food left in her mouth before continuing, “If she can’t see the rise and fall of your chest, she will slip her hand on to your back so she can make sure you’re still breathing.” It wasn’t a new thing for Lia she was used to it by now having had Lyra do it to her for years.

“Why is she worried we're not breathing in our sleep?” Hongjoong was a little apprehensive to ask but could feel the question lingering in the air.

“Uhh, okay well…” Lia trailed off for a second obviously being very conscious of how she went about how she told this story, “Her Dad was sick for a very long time. Practically her whole childhood and into her early adulthood. It got to a point where when he would fall asleep his breathing would be so shallow she would have to go over and physically touch him to make sure he was still breathing.”

All the boys who were awake listened intently to Lia's words, they knew that Lyra’s father was a subject she tended to avoid and even though they knew they might feel guilt about it later, they were all so curious. Lia had been super open with the fact that she had no contact with her father and had even instructed Hajoon to give security a picture of him so he could be added to the list of those who weren’t allowed even near the boys.

“When her Dad had his heart attack, it was in his sleep while he was at a rehab facility after a pretty intense surgery. She sat in the ICU with him for nearly a week, just watching him, waiting to see if he regained any brain function.” Lia stopped again this time to wipe the building tears from her eyes, she had only really met the man a few times but it still sat with her. “He never did, and she only went home once to sleep and shower the whole time. It’s part of that anxiety that lingers and when she’s half asleep it gets worse. She’s gone as far to wake me up a couple of times and it’s almost like sleep walking because she won’t remember the next morning. I kinda love it when she does it, I know that even when she's asleep her thoughts are about us.”

Lyra and Wooyoung turned the corner at this point obviously hearing what Lia had said, but Lyra didn’t seem upset with the subject matter or the fact that it had been discussed without her.

“There are nine thoughts that plague me at a near-constant rate, even in that soft moment where I cannot tell if I am dreaming or awake.” Lyra leaned into Hongjoong's side while she stood near him at the table. Lyra then leaned down and softly kissed him before smiling at all of them.

“Yeah, yeah. We get it, you have an English degree, stop trying to seduce us with your pretty words,” Lia giggled from her spot as she chewed on a pancake that had been slid onto her plate by Seonghwa.

“He would have liked all of you, he would have loved to pick your brains about life in another country. Plus he would have been obsessed with the amount of chili peppers that are used in Korean food.” Everyone laughed at that and they spent their free day together in that same weird domestic bliss before life came like a cold shower in the weeks to follow.

Life in Korea was stressful for the girls to say the least, especially with the fact that the boys were rarely ever home because of the comeback preparations and the Japanese release. Lyra was settling into her role at KQ, working mostly with the trainees to develop a foundation in English.

The worst part had been the fact that Lia had gone from feeling sick to just being in a god-awful mood. She streamed and worked, then wanted nothing more than to lay in her bed without anyone bothering her. So, that is what Lyra did, gave her the space she needed.

“Hi, I didn’t know what type of coffee you liked so I went with the default Iced Americano,” Lyra had made it her mission since they settled in to make peace with Yerim. They actually worked relatively closely together as Yerim was one of the main managers overseeing the trainees and their daily routines.

“Oh, um thank you,” Yerim was rather quiet in her tone of voice, she had dropped the attitude with Lyra rather fast after seeing that she was making such an effort to be friends. Still, they weren’t close by any means, mostly only talking about work-related things and how to make things easier for the kids who were working so hard toward their goals of becoming idols.

Lyra had a meeting once a week with at least one of the managers to update them on how the kids were doing, hence why she was here with Yerim now, semi-awkwardly looking at each other waiting for someone to start.

“All of them are doing well, it’s not an easy language to pick up but they all come ready and willing to learn something every day,” Lyra smiled at the kids she saw several times a week, they were sweethearts and had taken to calling her noona.

“Good, I think you’re doing well with them. You’re good at your job. How are you settling into life here,” The question surprised Lyra, she never expected Yermin to be the one to decide to try and bridge the gap between them.

“It’s okay, a little isolating, especially trying to figure out how to navigate everything. I really don’t like to bother anyone so when I get the chance I've been exploring bit by bit to figure it all out,” It was awkward for Lyra to admit but she wanted to be comfortable with her now co-worker.

“Well, next time you want to explore, ask me, I don’t mind going with you.” Lyra couldn’t help but smile, sure she had Eunsook but they didn’t get to see one another as often as they would like.

“Yeah for sure that would be awesome, I really appreciate that,” Lyra broke out into a smile, maybe this was a bit of a turning point for the better.

With that the two went on with the rest of their day, work was work in that way. Even though Lyra worked at the company she rarely saw the boys except for the few times they had popped in to say hello or get a quick kiss before disappearing once again back to their practice rooms.

Lia was having just as hard of a time adjusting. She had gone from feeling somewhat sick and mostly nauseous to feeling like she had a constant migraine. It had been weeks yet there was no ease in the constant stabbing pain behind her eyes.

Beyond that she knew that her soulmates were getting the short end of the stick so to speak, Lyra more than the rest of them as she was the one who was home with her more often as she tried to keep a good schedule with work. Lia missed all of them really, but it was hard to verbalize that when they were home, and most of the time she just wanted to sleep to get a break from the headache that plagued her.

Lia was nearly asleep when she heard the front door open, knowing that it was Lyra coming back from KQ for the day. Her resolve was to just act as if she hadn’t heard her and try to go back to sleep for a little while longer.

The sound of Lyra knocking on her door was the next thing she was aware of, “Hey Lia, are you hungry? I was going to make dinner or go pick something up, if you want something specific?”

The plain honest truth of it all was that Lia just wanted this headache to go away. She knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault but there was something so irritating in that moment of Lyra interrupting her that made her snap a little.

Moving faster than she had in several days Lia made her way to her bedroom door and ripped it open, “I’m not hungry. Can you not get the hint that I’m trying to sleep for fucks sake.” Everything was slipping from Lia’s mouth faster than she meant it to, and much harsher.

Lyra blinked at her for a second before speaking, “um, okay. Well that’s fine by me then. I will go find something to eat for myself, but don’t pull that bullshit where you decided in twenty minutes that you’re hungry and call me to get you something like a fucking delivery boy.”

Lia couldn’t really blame Lyra for handing the attitude right back to her, but she was already pissed off and the slight jab toward her behavior only pushed her more. “Jesus. Go be a bitch somewhere else, Lyra.”

“Say less.” Lyra flipped Lia the bird as she made her way down the hall to the front door, she didn’t even hear Lia slam her door shut before she had left the apartment.

It took Lyra a few minutes of aimlessly wandering that she would see if Yerim would mind her taking up her offer this early. Before she knew it, Lyra had pulled out her phone and was calling her co-worker.

“Hello?” Yerim sounded a little different on the phone, less stressed.

“Hi Yerim! Its Lyra, I hope you don’t mind but I was wondering if I could take you up on that offer of having some company while exploring?” There was a beat of silence and Lyra became a little anxious. Perhaps the offer was just to be polite and not a real offer, people did that sometimes when they felt obligated to be nice.

“Oh sure! I’d love to, actually do you want to grab dinner while we’re out?” Yerim’s voice came through the phone in a chipper tone and Lyra’s anxiety over the interaction dissipated.

“Yeah, that would be fantastic. Where do you want to meet?”

Finding Yerim was actually very easy as she lived much closer than Lyra had expected. It was like the awful interaction with Lia had never happened as the two of them began exploring some new places that Yerim was quite familiar with. It had been a long time since the last time Lyra was able to hang out with friends as many of hers lived far away from where they had lived in the States.

“No, listen. This is something i’m very passionate about, McNuggets are superior to Wendy’s nuggets.” Lyra was dead serious as she spoke about the better of the chicken nuggets.

“Okay, I’ll let you have this but you cannot tell me that McDonalds has a better burger because they do not,” Yerim laughed as they walked down the street toward the restaurant where they were going to have dinner. The two of them were side by side and slightly brushing shoulders as they walked, as friends would in Lyra’s opinion.

For Yerim it was different, this closeness was something she had never really had before. Sure she had friends, but most of them were very reserved people and there was something about the way Lyra completely accepted her. She had never really been close to people, she had never found her soulmate but Lyra looked at her and really saw her in a way she had never been seen before.

“Ah here we are, this is my favorite spot to get tteokbokki,” Yerim led Lyra into the space which to her surprise was a rice cake-themed restaurant that specializes in all different types of combinations of tteokbokki.

“Oh Yerim, you really know a way to a girl's heart don’t you?” While Lyra meant the question mostly as a joke Yerim was struggling to hide the blush that was forming on her face at the compliment.

“Oh it’s nothing really, I mean if you didn’t love tteokbokki the way I do we would have to rethink this whole being friends thing,” Yerim was quick to recover her composure and pick up the conversations as they made their way to a table and started their dinner.

“So, how did you get involved with the music industry?” It was a few minutes later as the girls sat beginning to eat their food that Lyra asked, trying to get to know more about the woman sitting across from her.

“Well, when I was much younger I really wanted to be an idol as most do,” Yerim started after she swallowed the food in her mouth, “That ended up not being the path for me, I didn’t like the idol path as much as I thought I would. I got very close to a manager while I was a trainee and they became a mentor to me in a way. I ended up going to school for business management and did some internships before coming to KQ.” Yerim’s path was pretty straightforward, to say the least, no big revelation or anything of the sort.

“That’s really cool, finding one passion through another and you still ended up in the same industry with just a different role,” Lyra’s praise made Yerim's heart sore, in the afternoon they had spent together it was like things just clicked in her eyes. This was how life was supposed to be, a little slice of perfection.

“I’m glad you called, this has been really fun Lyra. We have to do this more, I love being around you,” Yerim was trying to feel out the situation. Lyra had soulmates, but it was very public that she and Lia were a platonic coupling. Ateez was most likely the same, it would only make sense.

“Me too, I’m sorry for it being so out of the blue and not giving you any time to really rest after work. Lia and I kinda got into it once I got home and I really just wanted to be around a friend,” Lyra was so glad that this had turned out as it had, Yerim was turning out to be someone she could easily get close to. One of the few she had in this new place.

Yerim just listened as she gave a bit more detail about the situation and the emotional swings Lia had been experiencing since the major move. Lyra didn’t really blame Lia for any of it as she had been struggling to adjust to everything as well, but Yerim could spot the problem and in her opinion it was Lia. They continued like that just enjoying themselves until Lyra’s phone began to ring from her purse.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. Is it okay if I take this? It’s Lia,” Yerim just nodded as Lyra stepped away for a moment to take the call. It ground on her that Lia, one of the people who should cherish Lyra as Yerim had come to, was treating her this way, and yet, like the gentle person Lyra was, she would still take her call and worry about her.

Yerim was less than pleased when Lyra returned, looking extremely concerned and now in a rush.

“Everything okay?” Yerim was more concerned with Lyra and that their fight had continued on the phone. She was making the plan now, Lyra could come stay with her and then they would get all of her stuff out of that awful household and be together.

“I’m so sorry Yerim, I’m going to have to go. Lia is feeling really bad and I need to go be with her. Tonight is my treat though, so I went ahead and paid. I'm so sorry I have to rush like this.” Lyra was gathering her things and was on her way out the door as fast as she could to get back to her house.

It was very clear to Yerim, the entire situation. She and Lyra were meant to be together, Ateez and their connection was a non-issue to her. But Lia, she was the issue. The real reason they couldn’t see their tether to one another yet.

A/N: so you know how i said it would be a while? Yeah i got inspired at work today so here is this one, and we can finally see the plot of the second arch starting to unfold. Oh yes, this will be a very intresting turn of events ;)

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shy-lynn · 19 days

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Safe

(A re4 remake Leon fanfiction) cw: violence, NSFW, 18+, MDNI, gore, handcuffs, mentions of self-harm-ish, mentions of knives and stuff.

CHAPTER 7

The morning made its appearance by shining its way through the curtains of the bedroom. The sun casting through, caused me to open my eyes groggily and look around at my surroundings. The events of last night suddenly come back to me as I look around and realize I’m in Leon’s bed, his arms tightly holding me in place.

A panicked gasp escapes my lips and I dig my fingers into Leon’s arms in an attempt to pry him off of me. But, alas, that only causes his hold on me to become tighter and more secure.

“What do you think you’re doing, darling? Now you’re goin’ to fight me all a sudden, hmm?”

His husky morning voice vibrated my back as he spoke into my neck. His breath caused goosebumps to form on my skin.

“Need you to be good or I’ll have to cuff you again.”

I shiver at the thought of the metal cuffs digging into my wrists again and I stop my attempts to rid his arms from my body all together. I feel anxiety welling in my stomach, my breathing getting hitched in my throat. Before I know it, my breathing is rocky and small whimpers are escaping my lips. A panic attack…? Fuck. I lay there, in full panic mode. Now borderline hyperventilating. This causes Leon to turn me to face him, and he cups his hands on either side of my cheeks and makes me look into his eyes.

“Take a deep breath darlin’. You’re safe here, remember?”

His eyes pierce into every fiber in my being and it only causes the feeling to worsen.

Safe? Are you fucking kidding me?

It takes everything in me not to push him away from me right now, retaliate. But, the thought of the cold metal on my wrists is still a haunting sensation and I sure as hell don’t want to end up in that situation… ever again. This thought alone is enough to bring me back to reality. To make me want to listen to Leon.

Trust him? Never. But listen? I can at least try to do that. By my time. Bite my tongue. Do whatever it takes to have some semblance of free-will until I get to return to my normal life. And god, I just hope it doesn’t take too long. I can handle a couple weeks here, maybe even a couple months. But any longer than that… and I-I don’t know if I’ll make it.

“Bathroom. Need the bathroom.” I’m able to choke out between ragged short breaths.

He nods his head slowly and stands up from the bed. He walks me over to the bathroom. I give him a glare and I start to close the door before he reaches his hand up to stop it from closing.

“I don’t think I can trust you enough to have this door closed. Nothing personal, sweetie.”

I gawk at him and my cheeks burn red. “Just peeing. Please let me close the door.”

He squints his eyes at me suspiciously, trying to read me. He then nods his head.

“Fine, but don’t lock it. I’ll wait right here and if I hear anything or suspect anything, you can bet your ass I’m coming in.”

I close the door and then stand in front of the sink, looking at my reflection. Still trying to calm myself down even just slightly. God, I look awful. Eyes all sunken in, hair messy. Whatever. I finish doing my business and wash my hands. After that, my hand hovers above the doorknob, hesitating to open it. The sound of Leon clearing his throat was enough to break me out of it and open the door.

As soon as the door opens, he gives me a shit-eating smirk and uncrosses his arms.

“Atta girl. Why don’t I cook up some breakfast now, hmm?”

I just stare at him with a sort of defeated expression. I nod slowly. He grabs my hand and pulls me along with him to the kitchen. And what takes me by surprise is he lifts me up by the shoulders and props me onto the kitchen counter to sit. He then starts to grab things to start cooking eggs and bacon. He doesn’t seem to care if he took me by surprise, which isn’t odd considering, but still.

“Best way to keep an eye on you. Keep you out of trouble.”

He shrugs nonchalantly and starts cooking the bacon. He then walks over to a cabinet and grabs two glasses and fills them up with water and hands me one.

“Drink.”

I bring the glass to my lips and drink. The water soothes my parched tongue and throat and I sigh in relief. I down that glass of water in seconds, which causes Leon to fill it back up for me.

After a while, Leon finishes cooking breakfast. We eat. And then he guides me upstairs so that I can shower. He takes out anything sharp from the bathroom, anything I could possibly use to hurt myself and or him and he leaves me to shower, door closed but unlocked of course. And he takes this moment to take a shower as well, in his bathroom.

But he’s quick. He’s done before I even start to wash my body. He dresses in gray sweatpants and a white form fitted t-shirt that shows off his toned body. Since he was done way before me, he also had the time to go around the house and rid it of anything he deemed ‘dangerous’. Knives, cheese grater, forks? Anything that made him even slightly question a possibility.

I finish in the shower and get dressed, blah blah blah and Leon walks into my bedroom once I’m done and gives me a smirk.

“Well, what would you like to do today? As you know, we can't go out. Doesn’t mean we can’t do somethin’ though. Watch a movie… play a game? Let me know, yeah?”

I just look at him, dumbfounded at his audacity. I don’t say anything. I just remain seated on the bed, arms folded in front of me, glum look on my face, rage building in my body.

Of course this reaction only causes a low breathy chuckle to escape his lips and he shakes his head slowly. After a minute, he claps his hands together once and sighs.

“Alright, well. Stay here if you’d like then. I’ve got a phone call to make. Do me a favor though and be a good girl for me, ‘kay?”

I remain there on the bed as Leon goes downstairs to make a phone call. But I can’t help but snoop slightly and listen in.

“Hunnigan, what’s the update?” I hear Leon say. “Uh-huh, okay. Wait, what? Well, that’s going to be a lot harder than you think. No. No, she just tried to take the keys and leave last night. Yeah, no. No, I got it under control for the most part. But, I had to be kind of rough about it. No, I didn’t hurt her, she’s fine. Just had to stop her obviously. No, but what I’m saying is I’m going to have a hard time getting her to go easily. She’ll most definitely try and pull something.”

This only makes me more curious and I stand up from the bed and begin to walk down the stairs and when I get to the last step, I sit on it and continue to listen in. Not caring if he sees me snooping or not.

“Alright, well, I’ll be sure to tell her that. Maybe that’ll make the difference. Okay, Hunnigan, I’ll let you know.”

And with that he ends the call and begins to walk back towards the stairs when he spots me sitting on the bottom step. “Curiosity killed the cat, you know?”

I furrow my eyebrows at him and cross my arms across my chest, “Get me to go where?” I say sharply.

He lets out a low chuckle and sighs, “Your blood has the antibodies to those viruses. There’s a scientist who’s been trying to develop vaccines and she seems to think that your blood is the key to successfully making these vaccines. Dr. Rebecca Chambers wants you to come into the lab so that she can take some samples of your blood. Sooner you agree to stuff like this and cooperate, the sooner you might get out of here and go back to semi-normalcy.”

I uncross my arms and think about this for a moment before I nod my head slowly.

“Okay. When?”

Leon looks slightly shocked by my willingness and he smirks slightly, “Don’t know yet. Had to make sure you’d agree to it first. I’ll call Hunnigan back and find out for ya.”

I nod my head and watch as Leon takes his phone out and dials a number before pressing it to his ear.

“Hunnigan, she’s agreed to do it. When do I have to bring her in?”

(Short chapter lately, I'm so sorry. Been horribly busy and uninspired. Not to mentions my autoimmune diseases have been flaring up, so please bare with me. I'm trying my best 🥹. Requests are open, so please feel free to leave some ideas!)

#resident evil 2 remake #resident evil 4 remake #fanfiction #resident evil #leon kennedy #re4 #18+ content #yandere leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #re4 remake

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pokidot · 1 year

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ROSES — prologue

wc: 1,688

Despite everything, the recollection you remember the least was being asleep in this moment.

You stirred frequently in between your attempts of further slumber, but your eyes refused to rest longer in your abrupt wake. As your eyes pried opened, they were met with a bright, blinding light that seemed to engulf your vision overwhelmingly. You were taken aback, the sudden pierce through your vision like glass shards caused you to almost seethe. You instantly shot your hand up towards your face in defense.

The sudden shock prompted you to wince and shield your eyes with your arm. The light had an almost tangible quality to it, as if it was a physical force pushing against the inner recoil of your head, you felt like other than you, your conscious was also struggling to wake up.

There was nothing in your ears other than what you assumed was the television blaring light noise that felt like it was clearer than any given day.

You weren’t following it much, but you heard that it was getting a bit dramatic as soon as the scene progressed. There was a reverberating slap to come from it as well, with a woman shouting ‘how dare you!’, filling the room with a weighty and ominous timbre that tingled your senses.

You unintentionally give out a tiny grunt, which was followed by a mysterious gasp coming from your right side.

"Oh my~" A sweet, and mildly sarcastic sounding tone voiced out from the side she wasn't looking. "I never pegged you for someone to sleep for so long."

Upon wondering why that voice sounded so familiar to you, your eyes opened once they were ready. But you only were met with bedlam; you were greeted with a serene and calm, porcelain colored room. This was definitely not the location you pictured yourself to be in, but it was better than the thought of being in a bomb shelter.

The harsh light filtering in from the window casted a forbearing glow across the room, illuminating the unblemished white walls and linens with solar rays. The murmur of medical equipment permeated the air, making a pacifying ambiance that was undoubtedly foreign.

The room was quiet other than the male's voice who had sauntered over and into her eye view. "(L/N)." His eyes were low and clear of suspicion, as a playful twinkle was the only thing in his eyes that suggests he was ready for whatever you threw at him. "Welcome back, champion. You sure took a long fall."

The only other sound being the gentle beep of a heart monitor and the rustling of your sheets as you slowly moved to sit up. You took in your surroundings, gaze drifting to the man in front of you with just a short and drawling response. “Uh..”

“Don’t worry about how you got here just yet. I assure you, everything is fine now.” His kind, warm smile put you at mild ease but you nodded slowly. He offered you a hand to shake. “My name is Dr. Baizhu, I’ve been making sure you’re healthy for the past few months.”

The various machines that surrounded her admittedly put you in a state of confusion along with his proclamation. “Thank…you?” You sounded dazed, extending your hand to meet with his.

You blinked several times, trying to clear the haze you saw. Gradually, the shapes and colors in the room began to not look like blurry heaps of circles. It was a hospital room. The bright lights and beeping machines made her wince. It was then that she realized that she was lying in a hospital bed, with an IV drip inserted in her arm.

“You must be confused.” Your self proclaimed doctor stared at you, but his eyes softened this time around.

“Just a little bit…” You tried to move your arms, but they felt numb and unresponsive. The thin white blanket that was draped over you hardly hides the hospital gown. “I have a lot of questions.”

“I’m sure. I know that these sorts of tasks are too much on even a patient, so we’ll start simple. With…how are you feeling right now?” You didn’t know how he was doing it, but Baizhu was making your anxieties melt away like snowflakes in the sun, replaced by a sense of peace and serenity that you were lucky you were greeted with.

But it didn’t etch the fact that there was something wrong. “I feel…” Your thoughts started to roam for a specific word, but your head felt like it was empty.

Though the longer you took to articulate how you felt in that moment, it became clearer to your doctor. While he didn’t express that at the time, the smile that was on his face faltered a bit in response. “Do you remember anything that happened to you before you were here?”

You slowly shook your head. “It’s like…I wasn’t here for a while. And then I come back, and I feel like I’m supposed to remember who I am. But I don’t.”

Baizhu hummed in acknowledgment, tapping his tall fingers against his lap to think as he looked at you. “I see,” He paused, “In the past eleven years I’ve spent in this field, your case was the most unique. You were transferred to four consecutive hospitals in different nations for your recovery. Usually there are people who’d stop at nothing to forget their past, but you have useful history that you didn’t just choose to not remember…” The thought alone left him to sigh.

“Did I inconvenience you, Doctor?”

“Of course not. I am just lamenting.” His voice was soothing, like the sound of a distant lullaby, and his words were imbued with a sense of compassion that seemed to envelop you in a cocoon of safety despite his previous morbidity. “Tell me. Do you remember anybody? Family? Friends?”

You sat with furrowed brows, a perplexed expression etched on your face, as if trying to piece together a puzzle with missing pieces instantly. Your brain was a labyrinth, with fragmented memories and fleeting thoughts that eluded your grasp.

You struggled to speak of any semblance of familiarity or recollection that wasn’t what you grew up with, like a barren wasteland, devoid of any landmarks or signposts to guide you. “My parents…grandparents…” You slowly drawled.

“Oh my god.”

The lack thereof of your train of thought was cut off as soon as you hear footsteps rush towards your room in a quick fashion. And a familiar face appeared in your line of vision. His blond hair in which he had some of it tied back perfectly to keep it out his face, his bright, yet broken red eyes.

You weren’t sure who he was, but with how he was ecstatic to see you, his comforting presence was like a balm to your troubled mind. It made you believe that there was more to you as Baizhu was mentioning.

Without a word, he approached the bed with a straightaway and pulled you into a gentle embrace, wrapping his arms around you in a glimmer of happiness.

"Oh god, (Y/N)..." He was practically beaming, while feeling drops of his relieving tears come in contact with your fabrics. "You're okay!" The feeling of his body pressed against yours was familiar and reassuring, like a beacon of light in the darkness. But you didn't know why you felt the way you did.

As far as you were concerned, this was just a guy hugging you. Which is why you didn't hug back, but you did cautiously dawdled your body against him. Just so he didn't seem suspicious.

"Yeah." You were familiar with the scent as well, an invigorating burst of citrus on a hot summer day. Deep and sensual, like an earthy aroma, you couldn't help but take an inhale that you felt like you haven't taken in such a long time. "I'm okay."

But it was safe to say he caught on as soon as the reluctance on your face showed, the source of warmth and reassurance in the otherwise cold and sterile hospital environment fizzling. The mysterious blond, while quite the handsome man, relinquished his grip from you to look back at Baizhu.

"What's happened to them?" He asked, suspiciously.

"For you..." Baizhu attempted to make an easy way to break it to him. "The least likely answer you want."

"No..." Like stone, the blond's heart sank; the doctor didn't have to say anything for him to know. And the realization crashed over him like a tidal wave. His mind raced as equally as his heart as he visibly attempted to come to terms.

But he still wanted to remain in denial as he squeezed your shoulders. "You have to remember me, right? I'm your boyfriend, (Y/N)! Your boyfriend! It's me, Kaveh!"

Even with the tactile feeling he brought, you had no idea how to respond to him, because even if he was telling the truth you couldn't fathom an actual link to it. You furrowed your brows, eyes moving to look at anything but him.

"Try not to distress them. They just woke up." Baizhu subtly interrupted him, approaching the two himself. "Perhaps we should speak more about this outside."

Kaveh swallowed the lump in his throat looking at you for a last time before he removed his hands. "Sorry, (Y/N), I didn't mean to..." He tried to finish, in a moment of anguish, refused to look at you as well as he walked out of the door.

But your eyes went back to him once the two of them headed towards the door. You saw his now sluggish and tense appearance in his walk, one he didn't have before entering.

Though your memory was a vessel you lost somehow, there was still a tinge of guilt you felt with a vengeance. A cruel master that shackled you to your past. The air around you suddenly felt heavy and oppressive now that you were alone, as if it was a now reminder of something you didn't factor in before.

You...had a life before this.

masterlist

NOTES || i had notes for this story back in march, but when i went back to them recently, it was all jumbled up and illegible. now idk what past me was doing, but all i could really do was blink slowly at it now...and put it back in my bag until i was mentally ready to open that can of worms. i am NOW mentally ready to open the can of worms! thank you so much for the patience if you were waiting for this, i really appreciate it

TAGLIST || @xirthia @wisteriarain @dreamsofminnie

#✮ emily writes #genshin fanfic #genshin modern au #genshin smau #self insert #smau #social media au #genshin #alhaitham x reader #kaveh x reader #kaveh #alhaitham #alhaithan x y/n #alhaitham x you #kaveh x y/n #kaveh x you

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