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#anyway i love you twitchy girl <3
ashleyslorens · 5 months
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dutchforstrangers · 6 months
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Taishirokoura x possibilities - "What if" pt. 2
For @taikouvember 2023 - Day 2: Past, Present & Future + Day 6: Brave Knowledge, Unexpected Impulsive Love & Curious Courage
[0. Author's note] [1. Koushiro] [2. Sora] [3. Taichi] [4. Taikoura]
Taikoura | Genre: Young oblivious romance, mild fear | Characters: Sora Takenouchi (POV), Jyou Kido | Wordcount: 603
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I think of you Pick up my phone Then put it down again There's no way for you to reply To the messages I never send In my mind, we'd never fall in love But what if I'm on your mind?
Pt 2. Sora
“Why don’t you just text her?” Sora decided to blatantly ask. “You’ve compiled so many nice messages, but you never seem to send them. It’s a pity, really.”
She looked at Jyou who was sitting left from her. In order to get to their work, every week they both traveled by bullet train crossing Tokyo, often ending up in the same train. Despite Jyou’s sometimes usually twitchy nature, Sora really enjoyed his company.
“I just don’t feel comfortable yet…” Jyou said and Sora could hear the nervosity rise in his voice again. “We only met again last week after years.”
He was referring to the girl he had borrowed a bike from during the events of Diablomon. Sora laughed to herself recalling the moment Jyou told everyone what he had done feeling incredibly guilty, yet blushing madly when he called the girl by name all the same. A few weeks ago, they had accidentally bumped into each other again, rekindling old sparks and Sora had been helping Jyou with dealing with his feelings ever since.
To her, it was always easier to deal with someone else’s feelings, her own being way too complex anyway. While she turned her own phone in her hand a couple of times, her thoughts wandered off to not one, but two people. She quickly shook away any more thoughts and composed herself by responding.
“But if you don’t send them, she will never know how you exactly feel. I mean, you do like her, don’t you?”
Jyou nodded. “It’s just... not the right time yet,” he stammered, his eyes fixated on his phone, a small smile across his lips. Sora watched him carefully, mirroring his smile. He then looked up, catching her watching him. “How about you, Sora-kun?”
“What about me?” She moved back slightly, ducking away from his question.
“Well, you’re not any better than me regarding sending messages.” His tone was light, but serious.
“I’m not following.”
“Every time we’ve been on this train together these past few weeks, you have been fumbling with your phone. It’s been weeks now,” he said as he showed her one of his kindest smile.
It was a sympathetic smile, with it telling her he understood. Sora smiled back, her gaze directed towards her feet, thinking back to these last weeks. How she had been nervous to receive messages, avoiding to opening the ones she had received, anticipating a rejection while there was nothing to reject yet.
She had typed what could easily be a hundred messages, never believing any of those was the right one. And thus she never sent one, that way there was nothing to reply to for the others.
Sora looked back up to look at Jyou. It was funny how she was able to tell him to send those messages, while she herself couldn’t do it. Maybe she needed to hear her own advice from someone else.
“ I didn’t know you could be so observant,” she lowkey teased him.
“I’m usually not, anyway, not when it comes to these things,” Jyou awkwardly laughed away, his right hand scratching the back of his head. It was almost apologetically. “But you three are so obvious.”
A feeling of being caught came over her and Sora’s cheeks turned as red as her hair. “U-us three…?”
It was never supposed to go that way, she shouldn’t be feeling what she felt. She couldn’t chase after that kind of love… Could she?
“Everyone knows, except the three of you.” Jyou said, interrupting her thoughts, sounding more calm than ever before.
“Just send those texts already and you’ll find out.”
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troublcmakcrs · 1 month
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{ ⊾ } —- favorite rp memory? / { ⋎ } —- favorite thing about the rp community? ( forces you to be nice because its funny ) / { ⊿ } this was talk about your favorite character but amma add spice : talk about your favorite sim character <3
wahhh, i had to leave the mysims rpc after a huge stupid drama blew it up (part of my decision to leave was due to me being busy with school anyway, plus it was just boring to continue in that fandom when half of my rp partners (2 people) suddenly blocked me) but my time in that fandom will always hold a very special place in my heart. it was the first tumblr rpc that i really got into, and it was back in the days of people actually interacting and sending out random asks and tagging their mutuals in random starters. even with only 5 people, a pet rock, and a shoelace in the fandom, the dash felt so vibrant and alive.
i had one ship that i really loved, travis & crystal, wherein i wrote crystal and my friend (at the time) joey wrote travis. they were high school sweethearts, the dumb blond jock boy & the bitchy sassy goth girl riddled with teen angst. and they were sooo cute 💕 i struggle to listen to songs about summer love without going back to them
i do wanna bring my mysims muses back someday, but i'm worried i'll never be able to recapture the magic that was The Thems, i'm sooo :(
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fuck you
my favorite thing about the rpc community is... honestly... just existing as a community. i love seeing everybody's writing and posts on my dash and being able to get inspired by those! while i write entirely for myself (and you should, too!) i find that my writing is better when i'm faced with other writing. there's just something about getting a really good reply from your partner, like when eli hit me with the line "an ouroboros of narcissism" or something like that, that gets me.
you know when you read something so good that your fingers get twitchy and you feel compelled to put them on the keys yourself? i live for that feeling, and it's something i don't get as easily in the fanfiction community. but in the rpc, that feedback loop is pretty much constant
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AGH... how could you make me pick a favorite sim?? :( all of the residents of sunset valley (not you, thornton wolff) have me in a fucking vice. (i'm jk, even thornton gets me, but goddamn he is terrible, but that's what's fun about him. pretty much every time i play with thornton, i make him the biggest bitch imaginable)
but ig... my favorite sim out of all of them is probably mortimer goth. he's definitely gotten the most playtime out of all of the sunset valley townies. i love going against established canon and making him marry the ghost, lolita goth, in his backyard instead of bella bachelor like he's ~supposed~ to or whatever. sb pointed out that that was very twilight-ish, and i'm like. fuck it, idc, maybe twilight has a point. it is kinda freaky, but i think it's cute. weird but cute. let me live, goddamn!!
a very close second is agnes crumplebottom, mortimer's aunt. without player intervention, she will pretty much always die loveless and alone, despite having the "hopeless romantic" trait, and that breaks my heart :( so i intervene as often as i can bc i can't stand to see her die lonely :((
she's a recurring character from... i believe the very first sims game, although she didn't come in until one of the expansion packs. and she made her debut as a crotchety old woman who beat happy lovers who committed pda in front of her with her purse, which ok.......... queen...
but also with sims 3 giving us the backstory that her fiance died right before their HONEYMOON and the implication that she's only bitter about happy couples bc she feels she lost her chance at love... she got me like :(((
(also i just looked it up and i was right. agnes was first introduced in the expansion pack for the sims, "hot date." mortimer has also been in all 4 sims games released so far, in the very base versions of all.)
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sensitvetouches · 1 year
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AHHH I FOUND A FIC I WROTE WHEN I WAS 13!!! be nice to my young self i remember this took me a long time to write lmao. anyways here it is, it’s based off old ocs which was a human jock named belle and a dorky vampire named Mae. enjoy
Mae was going to meet her girlfriend in the library during lunch. they had been going strong for over 3 months now but were still not ready to tell anyone.
“hey you” Maes sharp ears pointed up happily as she embraced the taller girl in her arms.
they sat down, one holding the other, staring into each others eyes
the human whispered gently into Maes ears, being careful as to not hurt the sensitive vampire,
“i missed you Em”
“i missed you more” Mae said, she buried her face deep into the taller girl’s neck as Belle gently stroked her ears moving up and down.
Mae shook her head feeling the tingling sensation of her ears being rubbed
“mmm that feels nice” she moaned, relaxed and in her happy place.
Belle giggled at her adorable girlfriend and admired her soft, sweet features.
for a vampire she wasn’t very scary at all, infant she looked quite welcoming.
sure she had the fangs which were pretty noticeable when out in the open, and she had some sharp ears which stuck out a bit, but she wasn’t scary in any way, more awkward and dorky looking.
“Hih'tshiew”
a soft but itchy sneeze brings belle back from her thoughts
“bless you love”
“thank you” Mae smile shyly, embarrassed of her vulnerable outburst, she picked her glasses which has fallen off her face in the cross fire of her sneeze and put them back on. she pulled out a plaid handkerchief and tucked it around her twitching nose. as Mae smiled at Belle, she had notice that in act of sneezing, Maes fangs had come out on accident.
Mae had always been embarrassed of her lack of control with her fangs and wished she could just hide them away forever.
while vampires were accepted in the world, along with other type of creatures, they were still a minority among humans and often got picked on or bullied. comments and opinions about how vampires should be executed because of their “danger”. this made her feel as if she were a beast or creature. Mae always wished she had just been born a human but that’s something Belle could always change. Belle made Mae feel like she was fine with who she was. like no one could ever touch her in a harmful way just because she was different. Belle made Mae love who she was bc Belle loved who she was.
Another itchy sneeze irrupted out of the vampire, into her plaid handkerchief
“bless you again” belle leaned over and pushed her lovers glasses back up her face for her and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.
it was easy to hide being sick as a vampire because they didn’t get fevers, or any outside symptoms other than sneezing and coughing. no chills, no paleness, no bags under eyes so it was hard for Belle to keep an eye out for that stuff and lord knows Mae wasn’t going to come forward and tell her.
The sniffling vampire had always been stubborn about being ill.
“vampires don’t get sick”,
something her father has always told her.
from the beginning of time vampires has always been a symbol of fear and power,
killers, hunters and creatures are what they are. not weakness, vulnerability and colds.
“you’re not getting sick are you?” Belle asked in a stern but clearly caring way.
“no no of course not, just some sneezes,” she looked down to her book,
“not a big deal” she stated, hiding her fangs before focusing her attention on her book.
Belle, of course, knew other wise. she knew her girlfriend too well for Mae to be able to lie. she observed the pale girl before she noticed a twitch. not from her nose but from her ears. the first tell tale sign that Mae needed to sneeze. her ears would get red and twitchy at the sharp point near the top.
eventually the twitching travelled down to her nose and it wasn’t too long until the poor, sniffly vampires teeth shot out again, starting the waves of embarrassment and shame deep in her chest and stomach. Belle noticed this and she put a loving hand on hers. this comforted Mae as her nose kept twitching and quivering and started to go a deep shade of pink.
Mae knows what happens next and quickly brought her hanky up to her nose and held it there for a bit. she hitched and hitched but still, no sneeze. Bella could tell she was stuck and knew just how to help her sick girlfriend.
she reached out and started to stroke her twitching ears, from the bottom lobe all the way to the sharp top.
vampires ears are incredibly sensitive and can cause sneezy outburst when stroked in a certain way.
Mae knew instantly what her girlfriend was trying to do and just let her.
Mae took one last breathe and let out the sneezes she’s been longing for.
“Hih'tshiew he hih Hih'tshiiuw eh Hi-chiew”
3 wet, girly sneezes bursted out and Mae finally had relief. she gave a satisfying nose blow and then rested her head on the wall behind her.
“bless you my love” Belle giggled and kissed her sneezy lover on the tippy top of her sensitive nose.
“Be-hi Belle ih tha- ah Hih-tshiw” Mae sneezed from the light touch of her girlfriends kiss and buried her head in Belles chest from embarrassment.
“you are so cute” the human said as she picked her girlfriend up and sat her on her lap, allowing Mae to rest and receive some much needed cuddles.
later that night Belle made blood soup and read to her sick vampire as she kissed and cared for her until Mae was all better.
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falloutjay · 3 years
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Wait we can request more than once? Okay then... I wish for Craig x Insecure! Reader (and also kind of x Tweek). So basically we get into a relationship with Craig, at first our personalitiy from very cheery and everything is peachy keen at first.
But then Craig starts ignoring us or shrugging us off, thats when we start being insecure and start thinking dark things like: what did I do wrong? Is there someone else? Am I that annoying?.
So trying to be progressive with her life, we take a job at Tweek coffee, (also sidenote everyone noticed our change in behavior and were worried, but didn't know how to ask how). So Tweek becomes the brave soul to ask us what's wrong. And we spill our problems out to him, Tweek doesn't know what to do but gives us a shoulder to cry on , few weeks roll by, and we find we have alot in common with him, so we start hanging out with him, almost completely forgetting about Craig. (It's up to you if you want Tweek to gain feelings for us)
By this time, Craig has started to notice and gets in the same position as we were (although more jealous than insecure), it isn't until a girl makes a comment about how she'd leave Craig too if he treated her like that, does Craig connect the dots and apologizes, they compromise their relationship and try to be a better couple and be peachy again (or you could do another ending where Tweek goes 'Treat you better' and fights for us).
I'm so so so sorry that I took so long! I just really wanted to take my time on this and really get into it, since I love the request! <3
I'm also sorry that Tweeks route is shorter but hey, at least we can choose which of the two deserves our love. :)
Thank you for being so patient and requesting! <3
_____________________________________
Craig Tucker x Insecure!Reader X Tweek Tweak
The sun on your skin felt wonderful. There is nothing better to do, than to hang out outside on a sunny, warm, and beautiful day in South Park.
To your luck your relatively new boyfriend Craig asked if you wanted to hang out with his friends and him when they would go to Starks Pond. Naturally, you said yes, getting finally a chance to also hang out with his friends.
While the guys were busy playing catch with a ball, you and Bebe, Clyde's on/off Girlfriend sat on the picnic blanket that she bought along.
It was also the first time you hung out with her and honestly, you were happy to basically get to know all these different people.
Bebe was a ray of absolute sunshine, and her boyfriend was the funniest dork you had ever seen.
Token was a more serious guy but oh so nice to you as well. Tweek and Jimmy were nice too and the quieter ones of the bunch.
"So... You and Craig huh?" Bebe asked you and you finally preyed your eyes from the black-haired boy away.
"Yeah. I was surprised when he asked me out." You laughed and Bebe did so too.
"How come?"
"I don't know. Kinda thought maybe I was out of his league. I'm not the most popular person around school and most people don't know me. Unlike you guys. You and Stans Friends are basically famous."
"That's only because of all the weird shit that sometimes happens around here." You nodded.
“So, how is he?” Bebe continued her questioning and you thought about it for a second before answering.
“Honestly, he’s a real sweetheart. Totally not like you would imagine him to be when you don’t know him too well.”
“That sounds so cute.” Bebe said dreamingly.
Your conversation was disrupted by a ball flying towards you. It landed just a few feet away from the blanket you and Bebe were seated on and Craig came sprinting.
He smiled when he picked up the ball and came closer to you.
“Sorry for that. I think Token was distracted by your beauty.” Bebe giggled in the background and you had the widest smile possible on your face.
“No problem. But I think you need to tell Token I’m taken then. By the prettiest boy around the school.” Now Bebe rolled her eyes.
“Ahh, to be in love like that again.” Now Craig couldn’t contain his laughter. He looked over to where Clyde was standing and obviously waiting for him to bring their ball back.
“Go back. They are waiting for you.” You said, pointing over to the boys. Craig nodded, but quickly pressed a kiss onto your lips, before sprinting right back to his friends.
 It was a beautiful day that was always on your mind. Now more than ever. Recently Craig had been rather cold to you and you really had no idea why.
He simply became less and less affectionate, when you would do something together, he barely talked, and he generally seemed changed.
He was angrier, cold, and seemed distant. It hurt you a lot, but talking to him about it was impossible, since he would just not admit that something changed.
It started getting to you. It poisoned your heart and mind that he was behaving in such a way towards you.
Maybe…Maybe he was seeing someone else... But no. Craig wouldn’t do that…Would he? Maybe he just realized you're annoying but didn’t want to break up.
“H-Hey Y/N!” Jimmy called out to you.
You waited for him to walk up to you since you were getting books for the weekend out of your locker. When he was finally next to you, he seemed giddy.
“I was wo-wondering if yo-you’d like to help TimTim and m-m-me with a project?” He asked, a pleasant smile on his face while he waited for your answer.
That smile turned into a frown when you shook your head.
“Sorry, I think I will just stay at home this weekend. I'm not feeling too well…” You lied, hoping Jimmy would not see through your fake smile.
Of course, he saw right through it, but he didn’t know what to do. None of your friends did. They all noticed how different you had become, how you smiled less and less and seemed more in thought.
They weren’t sure what to actually do, or how to help, so they just hope that you would maybe come to them and talk about it.
“Oh o-okay. No problem.” Jimmy said, and you could clearly hear that he was hurt, but he already continued walking.
You starred after him, wishing you weren’t so complicated. You felt like you kept only hurting everyone around you. With a deep sigh, you closed your locker and shouldered your backpack.
“Maybe…Maybe I need to change something…” you mumbled while walking towards the school’s entrance.
Craig had football training anyway, so it’s not like anyone was waiting for you, or that you had any desire to talk to anyone.
Someone hesitantly, you pulled out your phone and went onto Craig's contact.
“Hey, you got time this weekend? <3”
The least you could keep doing is trying you told yourself, even if you felt more and more like an idiot. A few minutes later you got an answer from him.
“Sorry, no time. Maybe next weekend.”
You wondered how many times he had said that by now. It felt like a million times.
Were you really that horrible that he couldn’t stand you anymore?
That it was too much to give you a merciful breakup instead of keep dragging this to the inevitable? And yet you also refused to break up with him.
There still was this small hope that maybe he would come around, see he was being a dick, and change his ways.
You loved him a lot.
And whenever you thought about breaking up, your heart ached. It was a horrible situation for you. And you wished you could escape it.
 “Okay, Y/N. I think that’s all you need to know. If you have any more questions, you can ask our son, Tweek when he will arrive. He got a doctor’s appointment today, otherwise, he will be here before you. He’s weird but nice.”
“Eh…Mister Tweak, I know him, we got to the same school and sometimes meet up.” You said, raising an eyebrow.
Mister Tweak, your new employer, simply smiled. You sometimes weren’t sure if he actually listened.
He was an odd fella, but you were just happy to have a little side job, that gave you okay money and had good hours.
You were looking around the shop in your new Tweeks Bros. apron when the door flung open. Tweek stepped into the shop, rambling about god knows what, and took his backpack off.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on you.
“Y-y-you applied here?” He questioned, seeming genuinely surprised.
You and Tweek didn’t hang out that much. He and Jimmy were little busy bees and therefore weren’t at every hangout, unlike Token, Clyde, and Craig.
“Yeah, I thought I…Might need some change or something like that.”
Richard Tweak clapped his hands and proclaimed: “Good, you two seem to get along. Then I will go home. Have a great first day, Y/N!” Tweek and you watched his father leave.
“So…What happened to the well-known fact that your father is a cheapskate and hires no one to save money?” You asked.
“My mother u-urged him to hire someone so that he can be home more. No idea how she convinced him.” Tweek smiled awkwardly, as so did you.
You never noticed before how little you had talked to the twitchy blonde.
Tweek walked behind the counter where you were and also took his apron.
“My dad already explained the basics?” He questioned to which you nodded. “Good, because honestly, I-I suck at explaining things.”
You loved Tweeks smile, and it involuntarily made you smile too.
“Well, I hope this job will get my mind off things.” You mentioned absentmindedly and the blonde cocked his head to the side.
He would love to ask what going on, but he felt awkward. Like it wasn’t his place to ask. And yet in a short-lived moment of bravery, he asked: “Yo-You’re... alright?” His anxiety shortly piped up, making him scared that maybe you didn't appreciate being asked if you're okay and that he already messed up with you.
You let out a deep sigh, the fake smile appearing once more.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
“I feel like you’re lying about it.” Tweek wanted to slap his hands over his mouth, felt incredibly surprised that it just came out of his mouth and he immediately mumbled a quick sorry.
“It is fine. It’s just… I don’t know if I can tell you. You’re friends with Craig and shit.”
“D-don’t worry about that, honestly. I wouldn’t dare to tell anyone anything that yo-you tell me in private.” Tweek said, stepping closer to you. He pressed his index finger onto his lips, smiling at you.
“Well…Since you're the first guy to ever ask me...I just feel like Craig doesn’t like me anymore. Just…Whenever I ask him if we want to hang out, he tells me off, he doesn’t kiss me or anything, I just… Maybe he has someone else on his mind already.”
Tweek felt overwhelmed by your sudden confession, not having thought you would actually tell him.
“If you want to hear my honest opinion as someone who is close friends with him, there is no one. Craig is not that kind of guy. Maybe there’s a lot going on with him right now and he just can’t tell you. M-maybe give him some space and he'll come around. I know we not really all that close or anything, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, I-I’m here.”
You smiled, feeling actually better, even if you never would have thought talking about it would help.
“Maybe you’re right. And I now have a job, so some time apart might be the right thing.” You shrugged.
You heard the bell above the entrance door ring, signaling a customer arrived.
“Well, let’s see how you do on your first day.” Tweek smiled and gave you a little notepad to go and take the customer’s order.
 Weeks had flown by and you had a wonderful time at Tweeks Bros.
Tweek’s parents were incredibly sweet to you, sometimes making you coffee or giving you a cake or cookie free of charge.
Tweek himself had become a really good friend to you. Outside of work, you now hung out at school, sitting together at lunch, or sometimes even hung out on the weekend.
When Craig and you would meet up on rare occasions you texted with him. Tweek was a wonderful person to talk to.
There even was an incident when Craig asked you to hang out and you declined, stating that you had already promised to Tweek that you two would bake cupcakes that day.
“Wait, so you love Fav/Flavor cupcakes too?” Tweek asked feeling giddy, as you two were out shopping.
“Yes. I never found someone who loves them as much as I do!” You happily proclaimed, feeling amazed at how much you and the blonde had in common.
While nearing the checkout area, Craig spotted you two.
He was out shopping with his family. Somewhat angry, he stomped over.
“So you’re busy today, Y/N?” He said sarcastically and let his eyes wander over you two.
“Yeah, like I said. Me and Tweek are baking today.” He nodded, looking obviously not pleased.
Tweek shifted around uncomfortably, hoping this ordeal would end.
“Well, we gotta get going, those cupcakes aren’t making themselves. I'll bring you one on Monday if you’d like.” You smiled.
Craig only stared coldly at Tweek, who wished the earth would just swallow him whole.
“Okay. Have fun then.” Craig mumbled and walked away fuming.
“C-c-come on, Y/N, let’s get going.” Tweek said, tugging you along to the checkout.
“Bullshit. I’m sure Tweek is hitting on them!” Craig fumed, walking up and down in Tokens living room.
Token, Clyde, and Bebe were all there to see Craig's emotional outburst.
Bebe was leaning on Clyde, reading a magazine while Token and Clyde tried their very best to keep their fuming friend calm.
“Tweek? Tweek Tweak? The shyest, weirdest kid in our goddamn school? Are you on fucking drugs?” Token exclaimed, not believing the bullshit Craig kept on spewing.
“Token is right, Tweek is not that kind of guy. He’s our friend and he’s a pure soul. You’re seeing danger where there is none.” Clyde said and looked at Craig with a worrying expression.
Craig huffed and let himself fall onto the opposing couch to where the others were seated.
Bebe kept chewing her bubblegum.
“What ya mean seeing danger where there is none? There is?” Bebe mentioned now sarcastically and kept reading her magazine, obviously not understanding any of the guys here.
Craig made a questioning sound, hoping Bebe would elaborate. She didn’t seem interested in answering until Clyde asked her politely.
“Oh my god.” She exclaimed annoyed and sat up, closing her magazine.
“Craig, do you honestly think you have been a good boyfriend? Because, frankly, you haven’t been great at all. You always ditched Y/N, kept them at distance, you didn’t give two flying fucks about the relationship and now you’re mad they turned to someone how obviously cares more about them? I would have broken up a long time ago. Consider yourself lucky that they didn’t do so already when Tweek seems like a much better option than you are right now.”
Craig's heart stung, and Clyde looked at his girlfriend in shock.
“Honey, you can’t just say that!” Clyde whispered, but Craig stopped him.
“No, I guess she’s right. I was a dick I think. I need to apologize.” Bebe nodded and so did Token. The black boy looked over to the blonde woman, mouthing a “Thank you” to her, to which she smiled.
 Craig felt like an idiot. A big one. He was now standing here, flowers in his hand, looking through the glass windows of Tweek Bros..
He saw his girlfriend laughing together with his blonde friend and his heart hurt when he saw it.
He loved Y/N. He didn’t want to lose them.
So, with a little confidence, he stepped into the coffee shop and Tweek was the first to spot him, he smiled at him waving.
When he spotted the flowers in Craig's arm and his nervous expression, Tweek could easily guess why he was here. So, he excused himself from Y/N and went to that back of the shop.
Confused, you turned around and seeing your black-haired boyfriend standing there, looking all awkward made you smile involuntarily.
“H-Here. These are for you.” Craig mumbled, passing you the beautiful bouquet of different flowers over the counter. He extended his hand, asking for your, which you gladly gave him.
“Hey, I know I have been a dick recently and I wanted to apologize. I really didn’t see that I had hurt you and there was a lot going on for me, which is why I wanted to stay alone for a while. I now know that that’s stupid. So, I am asking, can you please forgive me?”
You felt dumbfounded. This was everything you wished for, ever since Craig started being so cold and here, he was, flowers and apology were already given and now it was up to you to decide if you two still had a future ahead of you.
You kept opening and closing your mouth, not really knowing what to say at all.
You wanted to get words out so desperately, but you simply could not…
  If you choose Craig:
 Finally taking a deep breath, you smiled and with teary eyes said: “You’re forgiven. Just…don’t ever do that again.”
“Never ever again.” Craig agreed and you quickly walked around the counter to hug him.
While he held you close, he whispered to you.
“I’m sorry that I have been so cold. My grandma died recently, and it affected me more than I thought it would…I just wanted to be alone.”
“It’s okay.” You whispered back, just feeling happy that your beloved boyfriend came around.
“So, to make that lost time up to you…” Craig broke away from your hug and you smiled contently at each other.
“Wanna go out for dinner next weekend?”
“I’d love to, honey.” The bell of the shop rang once more, and some elderly men came in.
“Seems like I gotta go back to work.” You mumbled, watching the men get seated.
“Yeah. So, I’ll be on my way, don’t wanna keep you from work. You look cute in your apron though.” You giggled, biting your lower lip.
“I’ll text you when I’m off work.” He nodded, waved, and went outside.
You stared after him for a moment before you took the new customer's orders.
While preparing the coffee and cake Tweek came back and looked at you with a curious expression.
“He apologized and invited me for dinner next weekend.”
“S-sounds amazing. Does that mean… you will stop working here?” He asked and you immediately shook your head.
“Not at all. I love it here and I love working here with you.”
Tweek smiled widely, happy that his friend would stay with him in the shop.
“I really hope you got some nice clothes for that dinner.” Tweek said while he had a glance at your note block to help you prepare.
“I have something in mind. But maybe you’re interested in coming over and help me pick something fitting? And before that, we will try that new recipe for the raspberry cupcakes and banana bread?”
You asked, sincerely hoping Tweek was onboard.
“Yes, that sounds great.” You were somewhat thankful that Craig had been acting so weirdly.
It allowed you to really get to know the blonde coffee addict that you would now even consider your best friend.
“But n-next time he acts up, offer him some cupcakes with la-laxatives in it.”
The customers were looking over to the two laughing idiots behind the counter.
“Oh my god. Where did you get that idea?”
“Have I ever told you the story of W-WikiLeaks and how Cartman got thrown under a bus by t-teachers?”
“No?”
“You’re in for a treat, trust me.”
The following weekend was wonderful for you.
You had a great afternoon with Tweek, baking and trying on outfits, and your dinner with your boyfriend was amazing too.
You had never seen him so well-kempt and without his signature hat, so it came as a surprise when he stood outside of your door like that.
The dinner itself was a new fond memory of yours. You ordered food and talk for hours on end, catching up on what you two had been missing out on for so long...
  If you choose Tweek:
You didn’t know why your heart arched; you had known it for so long already but just hoped that you didn’t have to do this.
“I-I…” Craig stared at you.
“I am sorry… I just think we should break up…I think I caught feelings for someone else.” You decided to be completely honest and noticed the change in his expression immediately, even if he tried to play it cool.
“I could have guessed that. Tweek is not a bad guy at all… I just want you to know, I am really sorry for how I behaved and maybe we can remain friends?”
“We will see, Craig.” You awkwardly nodded at each other and he left the shop, obviously defeated.
Tweek poked his head out from the backdoor and questioned where your friend went.
“Home, I guess. We broke up.”
Tweek walked towards you and gave you a hug.
“I-I am so sorry to hear, b-but how come. I thought he wanted to apologize?” “I-I-…guess I just don’t feel the same anymore... My time here at the shop and everything made me realize that I can do better…And you proofed me that especially.”
You took his hand in yours, and he jittered and twitched insanely in this for him unusual situation.
You noticed the red blush on his cheeks, and you smiled warmly at him.
“You treated me so much better than he did recently.”
“Well…I-I-…I d-do like you.” Tweek managed to stutter, and you felt your face heat up.
“Hey…Maybe want to hang out next weekend and make dinner together? My parents are out of town.”
Tweek nodded, feeling happy when the bell above the door made you two instantly gain distance.
To Tweek this was new, a close friend of his hinting that they like him and everything.
That was simply too much for him.
The pressure he felt was immense and yet, he felt happy, giddy… In love.
He felt bad for Craig, his friend, and yet happy since you choose to spend time with him.
That slight red blush kept lingering on his cheeks, as he watched you work. With such ease, you managed to make his head spin.
“Just keep doing you. She liked you well enough until now!” He thought to himself to keep calm.
He just had to keep on doing what he did until now and everything would be fine. Basically, a date with the girl he liked the next weekend?
He will try to manage…
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byuntrash101 · 3 years
Text
PARAPHILIA - Part 3
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Pairing: sub!Baekhyun x CEO!Reader
Genre: EstablishedRelationship!AU, slice of life, fluff (a tiny bit), smut
Tags: gentle dom/sub dynamics, sub!Baekhyun, apron, footjob, feet in mouth, praising, cum play
Raiting: +18 (you know me 🤪)
Word count: 3k
Summary: when you come back home from a very tiring day of work, your boyfriend Baekhyun knows exactly how to calm your nerves: with a foot massage.
A/N: This one has a different kind of dynamic since it’s gentle femdom. You see, the girl behing this blog is a switch so I hope you can enjoy this content too. Anyways don’t hesitate to comment or slide into my asks💖💖. - Cat 😽
Tag list:  @lovebuginlove @calamell @bobohumyonlyboo @smolbeanmika @making-me-blush @wooya1224 @yixing-jaehyun @f4ncyvelvet @lalalala-lav @deligxt @xofanfics @byunsugar @dixnysustae @to-all-the-stories-i-love @artisticcgroove @myexoobsession  @geniusloey @blahblahblah-boo
Tell me if you want to be added/removed
PARAPHILIA masterlist | General masterlist 
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Paraphilia #3: Podophilia, sexual attraction to feet
W O R S H I P
You massage your temple in small circles as you try your hardest to concentrate on the road, driving your black Mercedes SUV. Today was a really rough day at work.
You were CEO of a startup company that designs programmes protecting video games and preventing hackers to illegally distribute the games. The company is ever growing as the hackers become more and more inventive.
Today you met with Kazuo 'Kaz' Hirai, CEO of the Playstation branch of the Sony Interactive Entertainment group. You had to negotiate a contract to be the company to protect every playstation exclusive game that was to be released in the next five years. Needless to say, a huge deal for you and your company.
"Aishh..." you scoffed as you recalled the cold expression of the japanese middle aged man. That old fart was really stubborn and strong headed. But so were you which made the negotiations rather difficult. After hours and hours of negotiating you finally came to an agreement interesting enough to the both of you, your firm but also Sony.
So yes it was a really rough day. And you were tired... and hungry. Very hungry you thought as you pulled over in the drive away of the modern residence.
Once in the entry you were instantly greeted by the smell of delicious food coming from the kitchen. You didn't even bother taking off your high heeled black pumps and simply directly walked to the dining room.
There you find the table neatly arranged for two. Your boyfriend Baekhyun comes in from the kitchen and instantly jumps when he sees you.
"You scared me! I didn't hear you coming!" he says holding his chest. You puff out a laugh.
He still has the oven mits on, he's wearing a casual pastel green shirt with comfy jeans, topped with a cute blue apron. He's just adorable.
"Sorry I'm so tired I just didn't feel like yelling "i'm home" when I came in"
"I knew it was going to be a tiring day for you so I made you dinner" he came over to you and took off the oven mits then your coat and purse which he placed on the coffee table. He pulled the chair for you.
"That's so gentlemanly of you thank you" you said as you were getting seated. He bowed his head returning your smile before disappearing into the kitchen.
Soon he came back holding the food. Your eyes lit up at the delicious sight and you sat up on your chair. Baekhyun served you and himself then sat just right in front of you.
"Thank you for the food" you said as you leaned in and extended your arm to gently squeeze his hand over the table. He lightly blushes.
"You're welcome" he said before looking down on his chest. "Oops I forgot to take the apron off." he stood up again but you stopped him.
"No keep it on... I think it suits you! It's cute" you smiled at him, he smiled and sat back down.
You proceeded to eat, during the meal Baekhyun kept quiet about your work. He knew it was better to let you eat and enjoy a peaceful evening before actually starting to ask questions. Even though it killed him not to know and he just wanted to bombard you with a thousand questions.
"Aaah... I'm so full" you said rubbing your stomach. Baekhyun cutely smiled at you, his eyes forming crescents that complimented nicely his constellation moles.
"I'm glad you liked it"
"Of course I loved it you're the best cook ever" he was embarrassed at the compliment but flattered anyway.
"Thank you" he then marked a silence and hesitantly asked. "Hmmm... y/n... so how were the negotiations?" finally he asked the question that was burning his lips. You sighed. You would have liked it if he had waited until tomorrow to ask you but on the other hand you understood his curiosity. This contract was a turning point for the company.
"Well... it was... difficult" you said simply. Baekhyun stayed silent only waiting for more details. "Yes... basically I had to cut back on a lot of things I asked... I mean they were the bigger company at the table so I didn't have much negotiation power..." Baekhyun creased his eyebrows, worried. "But I still managed to secure a good deal. So, yes, next week we will officially sign the papers" you said finally. Baekhyun bursted in a loud celebration, which took you by surprise.
"Honey! that's great! you worked so hard for this!"
"Yeah" you said unconvinced... Honestly to you it somehow felt like a small defeat since you had to cut back on so many things but at the same time you had no other choice... "I think I'm just frustrated about how it actually went down, you know?" Baekhyun took your hand in his.
"Honey... the most important thing is that even if the deal isn't the absolute best it's still good for the company and if you do a good job in the course of the next 5 years they will want to work with you again and maybe other big companies will also want to... Next target Nintendo!" He said with a huge smile, gently rubbing your hand with his thumb.
That is something you always loved about Baekhyun. After dating for so long people complain about your significant other not being surprising anymore. When truly it's the best thing about having a relationship. The person staring back at you knows you like you two share the same heart. When your mind is full and you can't seem to put your thoughts into words… you don't have to because they know you. Baekhyun knows you. 
He cheers you on when you're down. Sees the positive when you are tired of restlessly hoping. He's your light. He lights up your path everywhere you go.
He was adorable, staring back at you with dark brown eyes and the cute blue apron. So so cute... that unholy ideas started to form inside your dirty mind.
"You're right" you said looking back at him. Under the table you extended your leg and started to rub your foot on his pants. Baekhyun instantly stiffened, his smile dropped. "If only there was a way that I could relax..." you smirked at him with suggestive eyes.
"M-maybe a f-foot massage?" Baekhyun asked hesitantly, he was such a cutie stuttering like this. It made your heart melt.
"Why not?" you said shrugging, acting casual.
Baekhyun took a step in your direction but you stopped him.
"No!" he stopped in his tracks. Looked him up and down, licking your lips, anticipating what was to come. "Crawl to me" you said, smirking again. Baekhyun's warm smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was replaced by that soft submissive expression that you loved so much.
Without a word he got on all fours and slowly approached you, not breaking the eye contact you had. His face was slightly blushed, mixed with embarrassment and anticipation.
Once he reached you, you gently cupped his cheeks.
"Good boy" you praised him. Then you pushed back your chair and rotated on your butt to face him. You crossed your leg and presented him the foot that was hanging in the air. "Now do your thing"
Baekhyun looked up at you then he placed one hand over the heel of your shoe to support your leg the other hand behind your calf. He laid a soft kiss on your ankle and trailed his way down to stop where the shoe went over your toes. He looked up at you for further instructions.
"Lick it" you said. He didn't hesitate to stick his tongue out and lightly flick it against the shiny leather. A satisfied smile spread on your lips. He kissed the shoe again and you felt him lightly pull on the heel to take it off. You quickly lifted his chin with the pointy tip of the shoe.
"No.. Not yet" he whimpered cutely. He's so impatient. "Stand" you command. He does as he's told. "Now strip but keep the apron" he nods
He slips his hands underneath the blue apron and starts to unbutton his shirt. He then takes off one sleeve then the other one. He drops the pastel shirt to the ground. His toned arms move to mesmerize you. You bite on your bottom lip as he continues the show.
He moves on to unbuckle his belt and peels the denim off his skin. Finally he removes his boxers which he throws to the side.
He's left completely naked apart from the apron, which is tightly hugging him. The thin fabric is letting little to the imagination. You can clearly see his broad shoulders and arms who rest at his side and Baekhyun's pretty pink nipples. You let your eyes go down where you can see your boyfriend's bulge pitching a slightly twitchy tent underneath. You lick your lips thinking he's already so excited for you.
"Kiss me" you said lifting your head up slightly. Baekhyun bent down and linked his lips with yours in a heated and passionate kiss. 
You untangled your fingers in his hairs, lightly pulling on it, which made him cutely whimper into your mouth. You took the opportunity to push your tongue inside his mouth and deepen the kiss, pulling harder on his hair. He let out cute muffled moans. Then finally you let go of him. He was panting, face flushed red and his hair was messy.
"Now you may remove my shoes" you uncrossed your legs and laid both your feet flat on the ground. Baekhyun hurriedly kneeled down and removed both your shoes, setting them neatly on the side. Your feet made contact with the cold tiles of the dining room. But you didn't mind at all.
"Now lick them" you commanded. Baekhyun was ready to lift your feet to his mouth but you stopped him. "No get down there and lick them from the ground" you said sternly.
Baekhyun placed both his palms on the floor and bent his arms until his cheek touched the tiles. His ass was up in the air when he started to lick your toes. The tickling sensation sent goosebumps on your body and you sighed in satisfaction, fully enjoying the power you held over him.
You then slowly lifted your foot to give him access to your soles. He never broke contact with your foot and his face followed as you lifted it, bringing him back in his initial kneeling position. When he could finally lick your sole he didn't wait for a second. He licked your foot from the heel up to the toes. Your soles were his favourite part and you knew it. You smirked when you saw him indulge himself in the moment.
"Suck my toes" you commanded again. He nodded vigorously, tightly grabbing your foot and as he opened his mouth to bring your big toe inside it. He looked back at you and a soft moan escaped your lips feeling his wet mouth around your foot. "Such a good boy" you moaned softly, your breathing getting ever so slightly quicker.
"Enough!" You say before abruptly taking back your foot. You push him on his chest which causes him to fall back on his butt and his palms flat on the tiles. In this position the tent he's pitching is very visible. And you can't wait to finally see it.
You bring your toes underneath the apron around his crotch area and with a flick of the ankle you push back the fabric over the belt.
Finally you lay eyes on his twitching and aching cock. Precum is already seeping from the slit and you can't help but to smile from ear to ear when you finally uncover it.
"Look at this... Aren't we excited?" you asked, bringing your toes to his balls. Baekhyun stiffens.
"Y-yes" he whispers, unable to take off his eyes from your feet. You lightly lift your foot to the base of his shaft and he buckles up his hips, impatient.
"No no... you have to be good, okay? Are you gonna be a good boy for me?" you coo.
"Yes!" he says excitedly, his eyes still on your foot, nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Good boy" you say before wrapping his cock with both feet and starting to pump his swollen dick. Immediately his eyes roll back as he bites his bottom lip. You pick up the pace and Baekhyun looks back at you. You normally don't go this hard right away but he's not complaining. He feels so good from the footjob.
Baekhyun's saliva really lubed up your feet and they glide easily on his precum oozing dick. You continue to harshly jerk his cock with your feet.
"Fuck... Honey... This is... Aaah... so gooddd!!" he says moaning shamelessly in between each word. He sounds so needy and whiny and most of all he looks absolutely delighted with his eyebrows deeply furrowed and his mouth hanging open.
You felt him twitch around your toes and withdraw them immediately before he can spill his juice. Baekhyun let out a disappointed whimper as the pleasure fades away. You can't help but to smirk when you see him squirm.
"Get up" you command him.
You stand up from the chair and flip the table cloth over the dirty dishes, making way for you to sit.
You take your time, taking every single piece of clothing off you, striping sensually for your boyfrined who thickly swallows as you're removing the last piece of fabric.
You set your bottom on the dark wood of the dining table and lean back over on your elbow, your knees together bent back on your chest. Baekhyun stands in front of you, his dark red cock seeping precum and twitching.
You then part your knees slowly, uncovering your glistening pink folds absolutely drenched in your juices. You're feeling incredibly aroused. Baekhyun is in awe in front of such a view. No matter how many times he's seen you, every time he still is breathless.
"Come here baby" you say as you gesture to him to come close. "Now fuck me baby" you murmur in a sultry tone.
Baekhyun can't believe his ears. Rare are the occasions when you let him fuck you. Most of the time you are on top and in control. But today he's been such a good boy you exceptionally let him be on top.
He doesn't take one more second to align himself with your lonely and aching center. Slowly he pushes himself inside you. The slip is easy as your juices coat even your inner thighs. You gasp delightfully at the sensation of him gently stretching you open.
"Fuck... Y/n...Aaaah" Baekhyun lets out a high pitched moan that wakes up the butterflies in your stomach. You love to hear his struggling moans.
"Fuck me faster" you command your boyfriend who has his eyes tight shut, trying his hardest not to bust right away.
He takes a bruising grip on your fleshy thighs and gradually he picks up the pace, waves of heat and pleasure wash over your entire body as you shamelessly moan while Baekhyun makes your breasts jump with each thrust.
"Tell me how good this feels baby" you tell him, craving more of his high pitched and needy voice. Baekhyun whimpers before answering.
"Aaah... Your pussy feels so good" he says before letting go of one of your thighs to bring your foot to his face. He buried his nose in your sole. "Fuck... aaaah... Honey" he sounds pleading, so submissive despite the fact that he's the one over you roughly pounding into you.
He gasps when he feels your walls tightening around him. He takes one of your toes in his mouth. He makes you feel so good, the way he doesn't restrain his thrusts has you gasping each time his tip kisses your cervix. Your moans and his mix in a beautiful symphony that resonates in the empty dining room.
"Baekhyun don't stop I'm gonna cum" You moan as you extend your hand to bring a little attention to your clit. With two fingers your circle your swollen and needy bud. The pleasure rises again and beads of sweat roll in between your bouncing tits.
"Fuckk... I'm cumming too" he says in one breathy moan, your toes hanging on his lips.
"Aaaah yes baby" you moan finally letting go of the knot in your stomach. Your pussy tightly clenching around Baekhyun's cock, milking it to the last drop of cum.
Baekhyun then pulls out to spread the last streams of cum on your feet, which you bring in front of his pulsing cock and point out. You feel the hot liquid coat your toes and your ankles as Baekhyun cusses and moans loudly.
He then staggers to one of the chairs and crashes on it. His cock still pulsing in his fist, chest heaving and glistening with sweat.
You look at him straight in the eyes when you bring your feet to your mouth and lick them clean. The bitter and sweet taste of Baekhyun's cum fills your mouth. You close your eyes fully enjoying it, moaning against your toes on your lips. Baekhyun looks at you being this naughty with an evil glint in the eye.
"Baby you taste so good" you whisper. Baekhyun smiles, still panting and exhausted.
"Does that mean I'll get to be on top more often?" he asks.
"Hmmm..." you bring your finger to scratch your chin, fainting to think deeply.
"No" you say with a smile. You're already off in the staircase laughing when Baekhyun grumbles and pouts cutely protesting.
PARAPHILIA masterlist | General masterlist  
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thepieisalie · 3 years
Text
A Mother’s Love (A RE8 story) Chapter 1: The Dimitrescu Sisters
Summary: Alcina Dimitrescu is blessed with three beautiful daughters to call her own. It takes blood, sweat, and tears to raise the girls alongside having to deal with the rest of her peculiar little ‘family’. But when a jealous Mother Miranda tasks her with every mother’s greatest nightmare, will Alcina have to disobey her in order to protect her daughters? Chapter: 1/8 Word count: 4.611  Next Chapter (2) >
‘’A mother’s love neglects all pride the way fire neglects the cries of what it burns.’’ – Ocean Vuong
‘’I may be just a mother, but when someone touches my baby, the lioness in me awakens.’’ – My own mom <3
-
Four days since treatment
All three bodies have almost been completely consumed by the insects. All that is left is a dark, writhing human-shaped mass of creatures.
Lady Dimitrescu looked up from the notebook she was writing in. Three female bodies were laid out on a table in front of her. Or rather, what was left of them. She reached out and dug the opposite end of the pen into the mass of flies. When she retracted it, the tip was covered in a disgusting, pulpy liquid. Some of the flies had grabbed onto the pen and Alcina impatiently shook them off.
There was barely anything left of the bodies Mother Miranda told her to study. It was an interesting process to witness: on the first day they already stopped moving and she assumed they had died. Even a fly had come crawling from between the eldest girl’s lips. When Alcina returned to the room the day after, she found a swarm of flies gathered on top of the corpses, seemingly consuming the flesh. They had come out of nowhere and she theorized there had been eggs laid inside the bodies beforehand, as the insects hatched from under the skin.
She let them be for another two days before returning. Now you could barely call the mass that remained a dead body.
Lady Dimitrescu pursed her lips as she placed her pen against the paper again. She doubted this was the end result Mother Miranda had been hoping for. Yet she continued the observation. Maybe whatever information she could still gather might still be of use.
She closely inspected the winged bugs moving around the bloodied pile of flesh. The creatures seemed to change color depending on which area of the body they were sitting on. That was certainly an interesting change. She made sure to write it down:
It is just after sunset and the insects have started to change color. Those around the face turned pale and those around the lips turned a deep crimson.
The countess heaved a sigh and left the book opened on a drawer for the ink to dry. She had expected more to come from this, but it seemed she just got another failed Cadou experiment on her hands.
She left the room and locked it with a key only she possessed. She couldn’t have any of her servants accidentally stumble upon her little experiment room. It sat right atop a pair of stone stairs, past the hall that connected back to the rest of the castle. It was unlikely anyone would ever come here, but she couldn't take the risk.
It happened too often that she had to kill off one of her maids, whenever they became too nosy. Not that it really mattered, she would kill them all eventually. But still, it was such a waste to get rid of them before their harvest date was due. Luckily most of them knew better than to stick their noses in the Lady’s personal business.
The Lady in question made her way over to her private chambers on the other side of the castle. Her room was thoroughly cleaned during the time she hadn’t occupied it and her bed was properly made, ready for her to go to sleep. A long, white nightgown was also neatly folded and placed on top. At least those who worked here at the moment knew how to do their job.
Alcina undid herself from her dress and hat and placed them over the wooden mannequin before stepping into her nightwear. But instead of climbing into bed, she stayed to look at herself in the mirror. Well, she tried to anyways. The full-body mirror was hanging way too low for her. She couldn't even see her own face in the reflection. She hadn't grown as much over the last few years, but the number of appliances she had to get replaced due to her ever-increasing height was a firm reminder. As if nearly banging her head on every doorframe she now needed to bend down for didn't already do that for her.
Alcina turned away from her own pale image. There was no point in dwelling on the past. Instead, she called it a night and blew out the candles on the nightstand. But no matter how long she waited to falll sleep, she felt restless and only found herself tossing and turning in bed.
What was it that bothered her so much anyway? Was it the experiment? She had done so many of them before, but none of them ever bore fruit. This one was going to be no different, she already knew. So why did the thought of it keep plaguing her mind?
Maybe she was afraid of Mother Miranda’s reaction. When she visited Castle Dimitrescu to ask for Alcina’s assistance with the experiment, she had appeared very uncaring and distant. She didn’t sound like she had much faith in the attempt with the Cadou and the three maidens. But Alcina had still tried her best, hoping it would succeed.
Surely Mother Miranda wouldn’t have brought this particular operation to her doorstep if she didn’t believe in it? Otherwise she could’ve just taken it to one of her other ‘family members’ instead. Yet she had come to her. Didn’t that mean something?
Or had it come to the point she no longer favorited her and just deemed her worthless like the others?
Alcina bit the inside of her lower lip at the thought. All this late-night musing only worsened her nerves, which did no good to her insomnia. It became so bad she had to sit up on the edge of the bed with a groan to take her mind off of it. She clutched onto the covers in frustration.
No, of course not. She was nothing like those freaks. Mother Miranda had always put her trust in her, saw her strength and potential. Why else would she grant her this castle and a high position within the family? And it was no different with the bodies. She knew Alcina could handle a project such as this, so she had entrusted it to her.
She wouldn’t just give up on her. Not like that.
Lady Dimitrescu decided it was pointless to just sit in bed and worry all night. She’d better go check on the experiment again, just in case. Maybe the midnight hour would reveal an unknown effect, who knew? But most of all she just needed a distraction. She pushed herself up and relit the candles. The floor was cold to her bare feet, but she figured a short walk around the castle would already do her some good. She picked up the golden candle holder and took it with her.
The halls were relatively dark aside from the few torches and the fireplace in the main hall, which were kept alight by the couple maids who worked nightshifts. She could hear one of them still rummaging around in the kitchens. Alcina really didn’t feel like running into any of them at this hour, so she made an effort to avoid those areas.
She walked back up the stone steps and took out the Dimitrescu key to open the door, only to halt at a noise coming from the room. It was barely noticeable, had it not been for the silence of the castle at night, but she definitely heard something when she pressed an ear against the door in curiosity. It sounded like whispers. Had one of the maids managed to find a way inside?
She rushed to turn the key and slammed the door open. Instead of catching a frightened intruder, there were the three girls, sitting up-right and alive on the tables. When Lady Dimitrescu entered the room, they all snapped their heads in her direction.
She straightened her back as she looked down upon their spooked gazes. Two of the girls had huddled up together and the third was hugging her knees. They looked scared and confused, yet at the same time curious. Like little children.
‘’Oh my, Mother Miranda was right...’’ Alcina reached out her hand, to which the girls flinched. She retracted it for a moment, before trying again. She made sure to approach them slowly this time and placed that hand on top of one of the girls’ heads. She didn't try to pull away. On the contrary, the girl nuzzled into her palm and the one beside her let go of her sister to get closer too. The two girls wrapped their arms around Alcina’s waist and cuddled up to her. Then Lady Dimitrescu reached out for the blonde girl, who was watching her cautiously from the far side of the table. ‘’Come here, darling. Come to me.’’
She seemed to hesitate a little, before shuffling over. She took Alcina’s large hand into her own and stared at it, tracing the lines of her skin with a finger. She shifted her gaze up at her and the girl's brows furrowed as if she were struggling with a certain thought.  ‘’Mom?’’
Alcina felt her heart melt right then and there. A motherlike instinct immediately took over her as her face softened and she started stroking the girl’s face. ‘’Yes. Yes, it’s alright. Come here.’’
The girl gave a twitchy smile that switched to confused and back to relieved again before burying her face into Lady Dimitrescu’s side.
Alcina didn’t move. She only stood there, the three girls wrapping themselves around her like scared toddlers clinging to their mother. What was she going to do with them? They didn’t seem to have any memory of where they were, or who they were. But they were alive, somehow, and now they were under her care.
Yes. Yes, she would take care of them. She needed to make sure they were healthy and fed and properly clothed, first of all, she reasoned looking at the worn robes they were wearing. She definitely couldn’t keep them in this room either. She took one of their hands and stepped back. ‘’Can you girls stand?’’
The one she was holding onto, the brunette, slid off the table and struggled a little to find her footing. But she managed to stand on her own feet rather quickly. Same went for the other two, with the red-haired girl even doing so without Alcina’s help. Afterward, Lady Dimitrescu went to grab the book that held the records of her observations from the cabinet. She’d better take it with her so she could continue it and write down the revelations she just witnessed. But first, she had to get these girls to somewhere safer. She turned back around and before her stood the first girl, holding up her arms towards Alcina’s face. ‘’Up, up!’’ She said.
Alcina couldn’t help but chuckle at that. ‘’My dear, you just learned how to walk and you already want me told hold you?’’
When the girl persisted even harder, she gave in and carried her up on her arms. It was an easy task for someone of Alcina’s size and matching strength to lift the full-grown girl as well as carry the book. The other two, slightly jealous-looking, girls grabbed onto the folds of her nightgown or her free pinky finger.
She walked them back to her own room. The girls followed her without any hesitation, only stumbling a little over the carpets as they struggled to keep up with her long legs. When they arrived, Lady Dimitrescu checked the hallway just once to make sure no one had noticed her little escorting mission. Only after the bedroom door clicked closed behind them and all the girls were safely inside, Alcina felt comfortable enough to let them go. She went and put the one she was holding gently onto her bed. The girl sleepily rubbed her eyes and just stared up at her as Alcina contemplated what to do next.
She was sure she still had some of her old dresses lying around, back from when she hadn’t yet grown out of them. She never had the heart to throw them away and kept them in a closet in another room in the castle. But that meant she would have to go get them while leaving the girls unattended. Could she entrust them to be on their own for a short while?
She followed the blonde girl with her eyes and watched her clamber onto the large, customize-sized bed next to her little sister. They looked like adults since their bodies had retaken the same form as they were before the insects had consumed them. But from their limited vocabulary and the way the third girl was childishly tucking at her nightgown, she doubted their mental state was anything past the age of five. Alcina snapped out of her train of thought as she realized that the young girl hanging from her clothes was asking for her attention.
When she looked down, she was met with the cutest puppy-like expression she had ever seen. ‘’Momma, I’m hungry.’’
‘’You’re hungry?’’ Lady Dimitrescu asked, stroking the girl’s hair. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of them getting hungry already, but she supposed whatever transformation they had gone through earlier must have taken a lot of their energy.
Alcina lifted the girl up from under her arms with ease and put her on the bed as well. She crouched down in front of them so she could meet the girls at eye level. ‘’Mommy’s going to get you something to eat, alright? You girls stay here and behave until I’m back. You think you can do that for me?’’
All three gave her a smile. Alcina wasn’t sure if they fully understood her but she would just have to trust them. If they truly believed she was their mother, they might behave long enough for her to go get some supplies. She patted the knee of the first girl before she got up and made her way over to the door. ‘’I’ll be right back.’’
She kept her eye on them until the very last moment before she fully closed the door. They stayed in their spot, simply watching her as she left them to their own devices. Alcina stayed quiet and waited outside for a couple seconds to listen if any of them tried to follow her. When she was confident they would stay in the room, she walked away. The thought of leaving them all alone made her anxious. Whether that was because she was worried about their well-being or rather afraid of the fact that they could trash her entire room while she was gone, she wasn’t sure. But either way, she fastened her pace and went towards the double doors that led to the kitchens.
‘’You there.’’ Lady Dimitrescu called out, making the maid that was still there nearly jump out of her skin. She hadn’t expected the lady of the castle to still be up at this hour.
She quickly spun around and bowed, trying to recollect her composure. ‘’yes, my Lady? Is there anything I can do for you?’’
‘’I need you to prepare three hot meals. Make sure they’re full portions and bring them on a tray outside my room after you’re done.’’ Alcina commanded.
The maid gave her a bemused smile. ‘’Uhm, right now, my Lady? It’s the middle of the night-‘’
‘’I did not come here for you to question the orders I give you.’’ Alcina interrupted, instantly shutting the maid up. The audacity of some of these girls… She turned to exit, but before she did, she shot one more glance over her shoulder. ‘’See that it’s done.’’
‘’Yes, my Lady, of course! I’ll get to it immediately.’’ The maid apologized, giving another hasty bow before Lady Dimitrescu left her to her work.
Now that was taken care of, she climbed the stairs again to the walk-in closet on the second floor. She didn’t really use it anymore as she couldn’t stand up in the room due to its lower ceiling. Even now she had to keep her head lowered as she rummaged through one of the drawers.
From it, she pulled 3 plain white dresses. They looked quite similar to each other and she couldn't recall ever wearing them. It was a very long time ago she had the height to even fit in them. She held one up by the shoulders and looked it up and down. She was going to need to get these girls some different outfits, but these would do for now.
Hanging them over her arm so they wouldn't wrinkle, she returned back to her bedroom. When she arrived she found a kitchen trolley with three silver cloche-covered plates waiting beside the door. Alcina carefully pushed it inside, making sure it wouldn't tip over the doorstep. The three girls practically jumped up in excitement at her return. They had remained obediently sitting on the bed until she came back. Now they were running in front of her feet and grabbing onto the tray in curiosity.
‘’Don’t be so wild, girls, you’ll end knocking it over. Just wait a moment and I’ll get you your supper.’’ Alcina insisted. She revealed the steaming hot meals from under the cloches and handed each girl their own plate. They sat down cross-legged right there on the floor.
Alcina grimaced a little at the sight of the girls stuffing the food inside their mouths with their hands. They ate like animals. Food splattered across their cheeks as well as onto her pristine floors. But Lady Dimitrescu didn’t find it in herself to scold them.
They just… looked so adorable. Sitting there like small children and feasting so gratefully on the food she got them. They must have been famished. Alcina cocked her head and smiled at the dark-haired girl sneakily trying to steal from one of her sister's plates and earning a weak shove in response. They were so sweet and fragile. What was she going to do with them?
The experiment had succeeded, which meant she was going to have to inform Mother Miranda about it in the morning. Oh, how overjoyed she must be! Yet Alcina felt saddened at the thought she was going to have to give these girls up. She didn’t understand why though. It wasn’t like she was actually their mother. They only called her that because they didn’t seem to know any better and she’d just played along so they wouldn’t go into a state of panic when they awoke. But for some reason, she felt responsible for them. She just had this unexplainable urge to hold them and care for them, to show them affection and tell them everything would be alright.
She almost wished she actually was their mother.
She shocked herself a little bit with that thought. She never had children of her own before, as she had to learn in her former life that she was unable to. She never thought she’d ever want any anyways. The whole process of getting them was something she really didn’t want to go through. Yet here she stood, looking down on the three girls and feeling a warmth coming from deep inside herself. Is this what it was like to be a parent? Is this the way they felt whenever they looked at their offspring?
Maybe Mother Miranda would let her keep them. Lady Dimitrescu internally laughed at the fact she could even come with such an idea. Was she seriously thinking of nurturing them? What was she even going to do with them? Could she really mother them and give them everything they needed? They were mentally still children and it would be no easy task to raise them, that she was sure of. But the reality of it still didn’t discourage her. Maybe there was a way to convince Mother Miranda that she needed them. It might be hard, but Alcina was confident in her ability.
She could have her own little family, right here in the castle.
She liked that thought.
The girls had finished their food and the blonde girl started to lick the grease off her fingers. Alcina grabbed her wrists to stop her from doing so. She was going to need to teach these girls some serious table manners. ‘’Come, darling. That’s no good.’’
Alcina took a moment to devise a plan to get these messy girls cleaned up. She eventually decided to run them a bath in her private bathroom. The bathtub was custom made to fit her height, as any normal-sized shower wouldn't do. It came in extra useful now, because she could easily fit all three girls in at the same time.
It didn’t take much to get the first two girls to step into the bubbly water. Alcina took the third girl by her arm so she could help her undress, but in a moment of pure fright, the girl combusted into a swarm of flies and dashed into a corner where she reformed. Alcina stood perplexed for a moment. She wasn't aware the girls had such abilities and on any other day, she would've rushed towards her journal to write about it. But now she smiled warmly, reaching out towards the petrified girl.
She hid behind her dark locks of hair, shaking her head furiously. ‘’No, no. I don’t wanna.’’
Alcina crouched down in front of her and rubbed the girl’s arm to comfort her.
‘’Don’t be afraid. It’s just a quick bath to get you cleaned up. Look, your sisters are already enjoying it.’’ She noted, looking back at the other two who were splashing each other with water. One of them was even trying to bite down into a bar of soap, poking out her tongue in disgust after tasting it, much to her sister's amusement.
But the girl with Alcina still didn’t seem convinced and shook her head again.
‘’I’m your mother. I would never do anything that harms you, my dear. Come,’’ she took the girl’s small hand into her own, ‘’you can trust me.’’
She still seemed hesitant, but she stopped trying to escape out of her grip and let herself be guided back to the bathtub. Alcina felt a little bad as she had to lift the shaking girl into the water. But as soon as she submerged and got welcomed by her giggling sisters, all stress seemed to simply wash away from her body and she quickly joined her siblings in the activity of getting their mother’s clothes all soaked.
Alcina didn’t really mind. She could only smile as she soaped each of the girl’s heads and then rinsed them thoroughly with the showerhead. She scrubbed at their mouths and hands and washed them clean. This was normally the kind of handwork she would let her servants do. But she surprisingly enjoyed this, even though it caused an absolute mess. But it wouldn’t be the last time her daughters were going to cause her trouble. Yet she didn’t mind that fact. They were her babies, she could never get mad at them. They were just so sweet, with their bright smiles and joyful giggles.
She just absolutely adored them.
After their bath, she dried them and wrapped them in big, warm towels before clothing them into the dresses she got them earlier. She wouldn’t really call it proper nightwear, but they would have to do for now. She finished up getting the youngest into her outfit, who got a little impatient as her siblings were already free to run back to the bedroom. The second Alcina had the last button finished up, the girl dashed from her mother’s arms to chase after the other girls.
She could let them play around in her room for a little bit while she cleaned up the bathroom. At least enough so it didn’t look like a disaster, she could task her maids to do the rest in the morning. For now she just had to find a place for the girls to sleep. She could already think of a couple rooms that didn’t really serve a purpose at the moment, which she could transform into their bedrooms. It would be quite a chore, so she wasn't certain what to do with them for tonight.
Lady Dimitrescu continued to ponder on this dilemma until she walked back into her room and found the girls already half-asleep on her bed. She was going to wake them up at first, but halted halfway into the action and reasoned it would be alright if they slept here. Just for tonight. Tomorrow she could worry about all the things she needed to arrange. Now she just moved the covers and carefully slipped into bed herself.
The girls sleepily cuddled up to her. They rested their heads on her arms or against her side. They looked so peaceful and the sight of them filled Alcina’s heart with a joy she had never felt before. She caressed their cheeks and gave each of them a goodnight kiss on their foreheads.
Before she went to sleep herself, Lady Dimitrescu took the book she had left on the side table. The blank page lit up by the candlelight, she added another entry:
The mass of flies have transformed into human bodies again.
All three girls awoke, looking at me like newborns. I sense a bond between us. Like mother and daughters.
I have already decided their names: Bela, Daniela, and Cassandra.
Author’s note:
First off, I really wanted to show my thanks for all the support on my last Resident Evil story! It really motivated me to start working on this one! The story is going to be all centered around Lady D and her children and all the heart-ship and wholesomeness that comes with it. But all our beloved villains are going to make an appearance in this story.
In one of the signing streams, Maggie Robertson (voice actress for Lady D) talked about how she sees Alcina as a character. She explained how Alcina is actually a very emotionally driven person, hidden behind the collected and powerful presentation of herself. She has this high status which causes her to act that way, yet we can clearly see her emotional side multiple times within the game. Especially when it comes to her daughters. So that’s a topic I really want to explore in this story, as well as what it must be like to raise three adult-sized toddlers that can turn into flies running around your castle the entire time. There will also be a lot of emphasis on the family, at its dysfunctionality, hilarity and secretly horrifyingly sad reality. But you’ll get to see what I mean later in the story.
Please let me know what you think of it so far! Any hearts and comments are highly appreciated. So please leave a review if you have any suggestions, questions or just want to say something.
Until the next one!
~Pie
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danwylds · 4 years
Text
Right okay I never actually got myself to write this fic so have my notes for the fic except I haven’t read through them since June when I wrote them and I refuse to edit anything
Right is bakery au but not
Neil either turned down the offer of exy for the foxes or for coach whatever the fuck his name was
He got caught earlier tho which is . Unfortunate
Stuart still comes in
Maybe I’ll have him move back to Britain for a while? To avoid the moriyamas n stuff
He NEVER misses a match of the ravens/foxes tho
Which leads to him seeing the frankly sickening interview of Kevin and riko
Neil is like yo Stuart let me start smth
Stuart is like Neil the only reason you’d go back to the states right now is if you did smth that you could hide and you can’t do that for shit
So Neil is like yk what I’m gonna find a way bc I’m not letting this kid go through this (Andrews quite into this idea when it’s shared)
So he says yo. Stuart. Uncle. Sir. Let me open a bakery or something in the states
Stuart is like no you fucking idiot
And Neil is like but c o n s i d e r
You can get info or smth
Just have another business in the states yk
AND I’d get out of your hair
And Stuart is like hm okay but you’ve gotta live in a complex I choose for you
And Neil is all only if I can choose where it’s gonna be
It’s a deal
He (very obviously) chooses a place near palmetto
Stuart is tired but is like he’ll be under protection n shit so I guess??? And he’s not stupid enough to start something right. Right.
Wrong.
Anyways.
It’s a bakery that starts out kinda slow
But Neil finds he likes baking and Stuart pays for his nephew to have some sort of normal life so it doesn’t matter too much
Renee starts to frequent it
At first it’s to pick up sweets for Andrew
But eventually she starts bringing Allison on dates there bc they have a cute little seating area (figure where Seth fits in? I think he’ll survive?)
Uhhh what’s a timeline
I think this’ll be around the winter holidays (Jewish neil? Look into it)
So thanksgiving will have happened . I think Andrew agreed to go Not bc he particularly wanted to but bc he cares for Nicky and knows he’ll probably go anyways
Yeah so thanksgiving. h
Andrew JUST got off his drugs and he’s so damn protective of his own that he hardly even leaves their sides
Edens is a def no for em
Meanwhile Neil is tentative friends w Renee who has brought all the upperclassmen there a few times
Allison bullies him for his clothing but it’s okay he deserves it
Renee is sweet and stops em from doing anything too drastic which Neil appreciates
Matt,, my baby,, he’s so happy he just asks Neil about random stuff
Dan is sweet too!!
Seth kinda hates him but Neil hasn’t paid enough attention to return the favor
One day close to the winter banquet the upperclassmen are like yeah Neil we’re gonna go to this thing and it should be really fun!! Oh you know what? Our teammate Nicky needs a date and his cousin doesn’t really like anyone from his class and he’s super fucking crazy abt it so if that doesn’t deter you then you should totally join !
Neil is like oh chance to fuck up Riko? Absolutely I’ll go
ALLISON DRESSES HIM
HE LOOKS SO GOOD
when he and Allison emerge from the girls room Aaron is like Who is that
And Allison is “oh nickys date (:”
Andrew gets twitchy and holds a knife to her throat
Renee is like Andrew I stg get away from my gf and Seth is like manic pixie nightmare fuel I’m gonna beat the shit outta you
And Neil is just like same shit every day I guess
And he’s like so you’re Nicky then? COMPLETELY IGNORING YK. ALL THAT
Andrew is like “he is. Don’t touch him”
And Neil straight up says I don’t think you get to set boundaries for people, actually
And Neil has no idea what the effect is of that on Andrew but it’s enough to make him glare
Which is terrifying to everyone but Neil bc again. Dumbass
Anyways Neil very purposely hooks his arm through nickys and they head off to the bus
Dunno what happens there but I’ll figure it out
RIKOOO ROASTTT **AIRHORNNNNSSS**
It’s glorious
Kevin and riko are like who the FUCK are you
And Neil is all wouldn’t you like to know weather boy
They relocate and they’re all like . Ah. That’s why you and Renee get along
It’s kinda funny ngl
Andrew doesn’t think so but fuck him
I think that they head back to the bus when this shit I’d over and wymack is like excuse me what the fuck
And Aaron in german is like thank god he never joined the team bc I could not handle more of that
And Neil in German is like would you believe me I’d I told you I was almost signed
And Andrew is like I fucking Knew it I hate it here
N e ways things go back to normal for the most part
The upperclassmen still show up
Seth has a bit of grudging respect for him
It’s later that all the foxes are getting drunk from a lose that Renee calls him and is like Neil please can I usher them inside for a bit I think they need a place to chill so we don’t get yelled at for being too loud in the dorms
And Neil is like uhh sure why not
It turns out it was not just the upperclassmen
He gives them all water bottles and whatever and lets them lounge around
Gives em some food which they pay for w the coachs card
Uhhh idk time passes and some of the foxes pass out so neil is like y’all can chill in the break room? They have couches
He stays out there bc the bakery is still open
Andrew comes out like hey fuck you but also can I get more of those pastries
Idk I want them to be in love already
Uhh yeah I think they don’t say anything until
“what happened to your face”
“A truth for a truth?”
“If you must insist”
“Fine, my father tried to kill me”
Andrew raises his eyebrow but neils like bitch you said a truth for a truth it’s your turn now
Neil asks him why he wears arm bands
We get the whole knives and scars
They’re quiet again
I don’t know man let them be in love
Uhhh okay
I think Andrew will tell neil like
“[code]”
“Huh”
“That’s the code for the court, Kevin practices at night.”
Neil is like how would you know I’d enjoy playing exy? And andrew is like dipshit that’s how we met
I’m running out of ideas oh no
Maybe they play a couple of night game things
Exchange a few more truths
OHHH OKAY COOL SO THEN NEIL CAN GO TO EDENS W THEM THE WHOLE “DOESNT MEAN I WOULDNT BLOW YOU” THING CAN STILL HAPPEN
sick okay! They start dating but since Baltimore happened earlier they never actually come out to the rest of the team
I like to think when they play against the ravens again neils like haha babe you can have as many sweets as you want if you shut down the goal
Also Neil says it’s hot which is like a big thing to persuade Andrew but shhhhh
Yeah the foxes win they celebrate by getting drunk and they all show up at neils like hello again (:
Same thing happens but this time andrew and Neil are together and basically are doing nothing but making out
At least the store is closed
Nicky comes out and just YELLS
YALLLLLL COME LOOK @ THIS SHIT
Allison wins SO much money
Yeah idk how to end this but happily ever after :3
If you want me to turn this into a fic I will!
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Text
10 Vague-ish Bond Spoilers/Opinions
1) He and Madeline have the romantic chemistry of saltines, I cannot figure out why (beyond lazy storytelling and needing to wrap things up) they chose to bring her back/make her Vesper level of love
2) I super enjoyed the comedy in this one. I felt like that Classic Bond Humor was missing from most of the Craig movies and it was present here.
3) FELIX! And then oh no, Felix. Definitely against that trope (you know the one) but since this film is meant to be an End of An Era I also understand retiring the Icons of the Era
4) The scientist kept reminding me of that scientist from Stranger Things Season 3. Anyone else get those vibes?
5) I still fail to understand how they took a literal OG Villain in Blofeldt and reduced him to being just slightly more interesting than warm toast
6) I think the “biological child gives my life meaning” trope is super lazy writing especially for a character that is meant to Not Be That Family Guy. I feel like Daniel Craig’s Bond sort of turned his back on the classic idea of “all for Queen and country” anyway but this whole thing of having a kid and apparently being hopelessly in love finally bringing him peace… idk. It felt OOC especially for THIS Bond who we saw love Vesper and get his heart really super broken. I guess I prefer my Bonds bitter??
7) Also when I said I hoped they’d retire Classic Bond and move in a different direction with 007 I meant like, with plots and minus sexism and maybe keeping Nomi, not literally physically Rest in Pieces retired. Not sure how I feel about it.
8) I ADORE Q even though I felt like they upped his neurotic tendencies in this movie. Instead of calm and sarcastic he seemed… twitchy. Which was fine? Just different. Also “he will be over in twenty minutes” I see you, Q
9) The Spectre party gave me real chills and tension and HEY they 100% wasted the new girl character (I’m blanking on her name), she was AWESOME
10) Rami Malek was an EXCELLENT VILLAIN. He played him so intensely creepy I would love to know how much of that was scripted and how much was just him Doing That. Very Old School villain right down to the secret island and old missile silos and crazy tech. Loved it. 
Overall I liked it, it felt like a Classic Bond in several ways including the locales, the nod to the OG cars, the chase scenes the old missile silo location felt appropriately villainous, there was even enough “futuristic” tech to feel exciting and a couple character surprises to stay interesting.
Definitely will see again!
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ri-ahhh · 4 years
Text
desperate
Grayson makes his girlfriend all kinds of desperate by posting those photoshoot pictures for everyone to see
warnings: long af, about 4.6K, but mostly sexy times
***
MJ Macias is in a hurry as she huffs and struggles across the threshold of the front door and into the Dolan boys’ house. She practically lives there, so she had taken it upon herself to do the weekly food shop for all three of them. Her arms are laden with reusable shopping bags that are filled to the brim with groceries from Trader Joe’s, so she bumps the door closed with her hip behind her before waddling as fast as she can into the kitchen.
“Hey,” she greets Ethan hurriedly, heaving up and plopping down the heavy bags onto the granite countertops.
Ethan stands in the middle of the kitchen, minding his own business, eating a banana and scrolling on his phone. He nods his head in return, his mouth otherwise occupied by a mouthful of fruit.
MJ whips off her sunglasses and tosses them with her keys onto the island catch-all plate, simultaneously toeing off her AF1’s. “Can you do me a solid and put those away, please?” she asks. Her body feels hot despite the fact that they keep their AC on typical-boy freezing temperatures. “I gotta, um…take a poop. Yeah.”
Ethan eyes her suspiciously and chomps off another bite of his banana as he does so. Her flushed face, her twitchy hands, her slightly breathless voice, are all telling a different story. Unfortunately, he’s around his brother and his girlfriend often enough to know their horny tells, which are usually his cues to get the hell away from them; those two really didn’t give a fuck who was around when they got desperate enough.
“No you don’t. You saw his douchey Instagram post, didn’t you?”
MJ at least has the decency to blush a little as she rolls her eyes and digs through the black hole of her purse in search of her phone. There was no point in denying it if he was gonna call her out like that. “Fine! Would you rather me tell you I’m off to suck your brother’s dick? Because I am.”
Ethan retches a little. Drama queen. He looks down at the half-eaten banana in his hand, grimaces, and sits it on the countertop he had just been leaning against. “Ugh. So many terrible, terrible images I can’t stop now.”
Phone in hand, MJ is already halfway to the hallway when she stops and turns to give him a deadpan look. “You’ve caught us full-on fucking, E. Just think, you’ve already seen worse.”
She smirks when he groans loudly, his head tipping back exasperatedly. If there’s one thing that provides her with endless entertainment, it’s pushing her boyfriend’s brother’s sometimes oversensitive buttons. “Okay, okay, MJ, leave now please, before you inflict more mental scarring on my poor virgin brain. I’ll just… pretend like I don’t have any idea what’s going on in there.”
MJ scoffs. ‘Virgin brain’ is the biggest lie she’s ever heard pass his lips.
It also jogs a helpful memory in her head from two nights ago.
It started when she had woken up in the middle of the night completely parched, and padded herself sleepily into the kitchen at 3 AM for some water. The muffled yet tell-tale noises breaking the silence blanketing the rest of the house should have been her warning, but in her defense, she had still been half asleep. Cut to zombie-esque MJ suddenly turning wide awake when she rounded the corner to find Ethan on his knees on the kitchen floor, his head buried between his girlfriend Evie’s legs where she sat perched on the counter. A nearly inaudible squeak of surprise was the only thing she had left behind before booking it back to bed, leaving the couple none the wiser in the dim light of the kitchen.
She had still been thirsty, she remembers grumpily, and was left with her own mental images burned in her mind, which she had spent a good portion of the rest of that night trying to put out.
It’s only fair, as payback, that he doesn't find out that she and Gray have been in the exact same position several times before.
Alright, so it’s a little hypocritical for her to continue to dig at him, but she does so anyways without any guilt whatsoever. “Hm. Well, at least we’re behind closed doors. You should probably remember: the kitchen is for cooking, not for eating.”
She gives him a grin and a pointed look at the counter behind him, leaving Ethan looking momentarily confused before understanding dawns on him. “MJ, shut up. Serious— wait!”
“Thanks for putting the food away, E!” she calls over her shoulder as she continues across the living room, laughing heartily at the furious blush on his face.
MJ is still chuckling when her phone buzzes in her hand. Her heart lifts when she sees it’s from Grayson, asking if that was her he could hear Ethan yelling at. She swipes the text notification away and bites her lip as she stares at the new photo that is her background wallpaper. Thousands of other girls are probably looking at that picture of him laying in bed the same way she is now. What they don’t have, she thought smugly, is the real thing waiting for them on the other side of a door.
That’s exactly what she finds when she enters their room: him sprawled out on that very bed, looking superbly comfy in his athletic shorts and soft t-shirt, barefoot, his skin a fresh golden tone from doing laps in the pool earlier today. His eyes dart away from his phone, which he tosses to the other side of the bed when he hears her come in.
“I thought that was you,” he says with a bright smile, reaching his arms out to her. “C’mere. I haven't seen you all day.”
Not exactly true, as they had crossed paths a few times in passing in the morning, but the effect had been there since they were both separately busy. She doesn’t correct him and ignores his grabby hands, too, despite how much her body longs to dive into them.
She shuts the door quietly behind her, her green eyes appreciating the real-life version of the man in those photos. Those photos that she had gotten a tiny preview of a few days ago when Grayson had showed her the email, but were nothing compared to the final product. When she saw his Instagram post right when she got in her car to come home, her mind, heart, and pussy were all instantly fighting with each other to process the coinciding beauty and sexiness of the images blessing her eyes.
Now, she wants to take the time to appreciate every aspect of him. To let her brain wrap around how he can be so beautiful inside and out; to let her heart simply feel how much she loves him; and to let her body be a tool for his enjoyment.
Her lust must be evident on her face as she stares at him, unmoving from her spot by the door, because Grayson’s bright smile turns knowing. He loves the effect it has on her when he shows off what’s really hers to his millions of followers. It’s mostly why he does it. Admittedly, he’s self-aware enough to realize he thrives off the praise and attention from his fans, but he’s also selfish enough to do it simply for the rise it gets out of his beautiful girlfriend; he knows it could only end in his favor.
He also knows MJ like the back of his hand by now, and he hasn’t seen her this turned on without him even touching her since he made that post in Australia about saving the duckling. The marathon session he had been rewarded with after that was unmatched to this day.
Grayson has a feeling now might be the time.
MJ is finally brought back to her senses a little bit when he shifts up the pillows to get more comfy and to allow himself a better view of what he knows is about to go down. She takes off her black baseball cap and tosses it to the corner of the bedroom, eyes never leaving his as she shakes out her wavy waist-length hair. Her delicate fingers tug at the drawstring of her grey sweats — the very ones of his that he’s wearing in the pictures, actually — and steps out of them when they fall to the floor. Finally, her casual black body suit is all that adorns her body, and she pulls the spaghetti straps down her arms so it can slide to the ground as well.
Grayson licks his lips and let’s his hazel eyes absorb the delectable curves of her body as she stalks over to him like a panther on the hunt for her prey. She climbs onto the bed with their eyes still locked, small smiles tugging at both of their lips, until she’s straddling his fully-clothed waist.
“Who gave you permission to be that sexy online?” she asks quietly, combing his hair back with the manicured fingers of one hand and using the other to steady herself on his shoulder as she sits back and wastes no time rocking her hips over his lap. “Making all those girls want you. Jealous they can’t have you.”
Grayson bites his plump lower lip and brushes her long tresses over her shoulders so her tits are fully exposed for him. He takes a few moments to admire his favorite part of her body while his large hands find her hips to help her grind against him. He can feel her wetness already seeping through his shorts, and it makes him dizzy that she’s this turned on by him without him having to do anything at all.
“I thought you liked it when I make other girls jealous,” he retorts, meeting her eyes once again with a grin. MJ gasps when his hands sweep upwards to cup her sensitive breasts, where he rubs his thumbs a couple of times teasingly over her nipples before dropping one down to swipe through her slit. He moans when he brings the digit to his mouth, sucking the coating of her sweet, earthy arousal off his skin. “Mm. In fact, I know you like it.”
He’s so perfectly feeding into this sexy-and-I-know-it douchebag fetish of hers and it’s making her head swim dangerously. MJ moans herself and pushes his hand away from his mouth so she can kiss him deeply, sloppily, her tongue finding his in his mouth and sliding alongside it sensually.
“I fucking love it,” she whispers hotly when they pull back for air, her chest heaving with both desire and the attempts to catch her breath.
She uses the downtime to take hold of the hem of his shirt and tug upwards. Grayson lifts his arms in assistance until the garment is over his head and thrown across the room. MJ’s fingers are instantly drawn to the newest addition of body art inked into him: the black-and-grey photorealistic peach on his ribs.
For all intents and purposes, it’s her name etched into his skin forever. Usually when she sees it, it just makes her heart extra soft for him. Now, it only drives her lust for him through the roof, because if only those millions of people knew what that peach really meant.
MJ dives back in to kiss him again, both of their hands grabbing at every bit of exposed skin they can reach as their lips and teeth and tongues clash roughly, perfectly. They make out like that for a few more minutes until MJ’s finally able to comprehend that he’s fully hard beneath her. She could very easily keep grinding on him until she came, but she decides to focus on him. Really, it’s almost selfish how desperate she is to make him cum first.
Her breaths are loud and heavy as she bites her lip and scoots down his body with a grip in the waistband of his shorts, dragging them down with her. Grayson lifts his ass off the bed and hisses when his dick springs free, hot and hard and throbbing for her. MJ’s mouth waters at the sight, and she sits back on her knees with her eyes glued to him as she throws her hair up in a messy bun. With it sufficiently pulled out of her face, she settles on her belly in-between his legs, getting comfy; she’d be there for a while if she has it her way.
Her legs naturally bend at the knees and cross at the ankles, looking innocent and seductive as she takes him in one petite hand, the other scratching her long nails along the skin of his abdomen, hip, and upper thigh. She makes sure his eyes are on hers when she turns her head and licks up the whole underside of him like an ice cream cone. Grayson sighs and interlaces his fingers behind his head to watch her work, just like the spoiled prince she’s treating him as.
“You’re so hot,” she murmurs after giving the head a lascivious kiss. Grayson moans softly and throws his head back, swallowing hard when she follows it with a gentle suckle of the whole tip — just teasing little snippets of what’s to come. “Makes me crazy how sexy you are, Bear.”
With that, she dips her head lower and takes more of him in her warm, wet mouth a few times, then pulls back and drizzles some of the saliva pooling in her cheeks onto his dick. She repeats this again. And again. And again, her eyes shining mischievously as she watches him get more and more worked up the longer she goes without giving him exactly what she knows he wants.
“Fuck,” he breathes, his hazel eyes glazed over as she spreads the considerable amount of slickness from her mouth all over his shaft. She’s got him as desperate as she set out to, which is only confirmed when he finally begs, “Suck it, baby, please.”
MJ grins against his skin and, with his dick sufficiently wet, gives in instantly. She dips her head and takes the first couple of inches into her mouth, then a few more on the next pass, until finally she has enough of him in her so that his tip is tickling the back of her throat. She hollows her cheeks and twists her hand on the way back up, continuing until she’s got a rhythm and pressure that has him moaning unashamedly amidst the filthy sounds created by her mouth on him.
“So fucking good,” he groans, gripping the base of her messy bun and holding her down so her spit and drool pools at the base of him, dripping down his balls. Tears start to stream from her eyes as MJ allows him to keep her there until she has to tap his hard stomach, trying to lift off of him to gasp for air.  
Grayson pulls up on her hair at once to let her, swiping at the tears on her freckled cheekbones for her as well. MJ giggles breathlessly and strokes one hand over him while the other cradles his sac. “Because you have the best dick, Gray. So big and thick and nice. I love your dick,” she moans and ducks down to suck one of his balls into her mouth, giving it a warm bath before the other gets the same treatment. “Mmm. Want it back in my mouth right now.”
“Yeah,” he growls, his eyes shutting momentarily when her lips wrap back around him. He doesn’t want to miss a second of her pretty face so close to his cock, though, so he opens them once again and demands, “Wanna fuck your mouth.”
God, yes. “Do it, baby, I’m ready,” she instructs with a moan. Her pussy throbs greedily when she takes him back all the way down, relaxing her throat and concentrating on breathing through her nose when he bends his knees and starts thrusting gently.
His hand returns to her hair for leverage and holds her head steady as he finds a tempo with his hips that she can handle. MJ fights her gag reflex and does her best to look up so she can watch his beautiful face with teary green eyes for as long as she can. Giving head has always been something she’s relatively enjoyed, but Grayson has taken her appreciation for it to a whole new level. Never before had she craved the feeling of her throat being stretched, the slight ache of her jaw, the way her eyes watered, like she does with him.
Grayson’s sounds are getting more frequent and needy, music to MJ’s ears solely for the fact that they feed her ego and drive her own arousal. She’s always loved that he wasn't afraid to be as loud as he usually is outside of the bedroom, inside it as well; whether he was working out or talking or getting his dick sucked, he had zero regard for his volume in respect of his twin just down the hall.
“Fuuuckk,” he moans, almost painfully so, and tugs roughly on her hair once again to pull her off of him as he sits up. He’s panting, a cute flush tinting his cheeks and neck and chest. She catches the sexy glint of one of his tooth jewels as he grits his teeth with a little snarl in attempts to hold himself together. “C’mere.”
MJ whines and follows his physical order, but not his verbal one. His cock is an absolute mess with her spit, a beautiful sight to see, and she rubs it all into his tight balls and his shaft with two hands. “Put it back in, Grayson, I want it in my throat,” she pleads, opening her mouth wide for him.
A deep, guttural noise passes his lips, his eyes blown out with desperation and desire. His visceral reaction to her defiance sends a gush of moisture to her already dripping pussy as he drags her up to him by her hair.
They’re nose to nose, breathing heavily, and MJ expects him to pull her by the back of the neck to kiss him, but he just reaches a big hand up to wipe the moisture from both her eyes and her mouth off of her flushed face.
“Ride me,” he growls, his fingers moving from the soft skin of her cheeks to the more delicate area of her throat. He squeezes gently, and she’s so turned on, that the simple hitch in her breath that results from it makes her eyes roll back and her clit pulse. “Ride me as good as you suck my dick, MJ.”
MJ whimpers and lunges forward to crash her lips against his, moving from the middle of his legs to straddle him with a knee on either side of his hips. Without breaking the heated seal of their mouths, she lifts up onto her shins and reaches behind her to find his cock and line him up with her center. If he wants a good ride, she’ll sure as hell give him one.
Grayson’s moan is synchronized with her own as she sinks down on him, so wet and ready for him it’s just one easy movement until she’s balls deep on him.
“God, this pussy,” he growls, grabbing a handful of her thick ass and following it with a sharp spank to her skin, causing her to yelp into the minimal space between them. He bites his lip and looks up at her darkly as she wraps her arms loosely around his neck, her nails digging into the sinews of his broad back. “Go, Peach. Fuck me.”
Those were usually her choice words, so something about hearing them in his deep, raspy voice said to her, sends her head reeling and her hips rocking of their own accord. She is fucking him; they both know everything she’s doing right now is for him. If she happens to cum in the meantime, it will simply be an added bonus this afternoon.
If she were taking herself into account, MJ would start by grinding on him, building that pressure in her core by stimulating her clit. But she wants to do everything she knows he likes, all for him. She looks at his face, his body, and sees those insane photos on Instagram. How many girls would do anything to be in her place?
A lot. Too many, really. The renewed thought both drives her crazy and makes her heady with a weird sense of momentary superiority.
MJ moans and starts rising up and down on him, bouncing on his lap so her tits are jiggling right in his face. Grayson grunts and watches intently until he takes them both in his hands, squeezing roughly. He releases one and wraps that arm around her waist, bringing her forward so he can suck her nipple of the breast he’s still holding into his warm mouth.
“Lay down,” she says breathlessly after a couple of minutes of letting him indulge, pushing gently on his chest. Grayson follows suit. He swallows hard when she drags her nails down the hard ridges of his abs before bracing herself there with her palms and making sweeping circles with her hips. As much as he loves a face-full of her tits, nothing beats the full view of her body when he's flat on his back like this. Her dark hair curtains the soft, blissful features of her face; her breasts shake enticingly; the respective dips of her waist and swells of her hips are more pronounced by the way she’s sitting astride him; her own lean muscles work hard as she moves gracefully, sensually, to give him as much pleasure as she can.
“So beautiful,” he murmurs lowly, overwhelmed by the sight of her on top of him, working just for him. Without him even realizing, his thumb instinctively finds her clit, his mind and his body hardwired to make sure she’s satisfied as well no matter what.
A new rush of heat floods her body at his touch, and the tip of his cock is hitting just right on that spot behind her belly. Her head tips back with a high-pitch gasp and she fights for a second between instinct to reach her own peak and the competitive, determined urge to get him to cum first.
It takes all her willpower to take the latter route and gather both of his hands in hers, interlacing their fingers and pinning them above his head. His biceps bulge obscenely, his shoulders and triceps equally pronounced, and MJ moans wantonly at the sight as she changes the motion of her hips. She uses the new leverage and goes back to moving up and down on him, a slight smirk gracing her lips when she watches his attention zero in on her tits swaying over him from the way she’s leaning above him.
Unfortunately (or, who is she kidding, fortunately) for her, Grayson also realizes the advantages of this new position. His knees raise behind her so his feet are flat on the mattress, and he grins when he starts thrusting full-force up into her. He would usually wrap his arms around her waist to hold her steady, but those abs are coming in clutch as he achieves the same effect with his hands captured above him.
He knows this is one of her favorite positions, when he jackhammers her like this, and sure enough her moans and whimpers shift in pitch and frequency as her body goes stiff. She can only take him like this, and any thoughts of other girls and jealousy and pride or any other emotion like them fly out of her mind as her body’s desires take over her brain’s thinking power.
“Fuckfuckfuck, Grayson!” she squeals, her eyes squeezing shut and breaking their mutual gaze as she cums and cums hard.
“Yes, baby, cum for Bear,” he grunts, snatching one of his hands from hers so he can grab her face by the cheeks and pull her down for a sloppy, desperate kiss.
It takes her almost a minute to come down enough for her to be coherent, and Grayson smiles smugly as he sits them up and trails his mouth to the spot behind her ear that never fails to make her shiver. “You love my dick, Peach? Hm? Who’s dick just made you cum that hard?”
MJ groans and grasps a handful of his dark hair when he bites into the junction of her neck and shoulder. “Yours,” she whispers. Her body is exhausted, but she starts moving over him again, tugging on his long, sweaty hair to pull him away from her skin so she can look him in the eye. If there’s anything that gets Grayson Dolan off, it’s eye contact. Eye contact, and dirty praises of his prowess. “Didn’t even need to touch my clit, it’s so good.”  
She clenches purposefully around him as she speeds up, and Grayson’s eyes roll back for a second. It’s MJ’s turn for her pride to swell, as the simple action puts him right at the edge. “Fuck yeah… ungh, MJ — gonna cum…”
She’s off him in an instant, back on her tummy as she strokes him off into her open mouth, her eyes big and green and sparkling as he whines with every spurt of his hot seed that gets released. The first couple of shots are powerful enough to miss her mouth entirely and land half on her face, which catches her by surprise, but she giggles as the rest find their place on her tongue.
“Holy shit,” he groans after a few moments, his chest heaving as he stares down at her with his white cum pooled on the surface of her tongue. It takes him an extra second to process the streaks on her face, and he smiles with a shake of his head. She grins back and swallows, swiping her finger across the bridge of her nose to collect the extra and sucks it into her mouth.
“Best nut I’ve ever tasted,” she says truthfully. Take his douchey captions as you will, but regular exercise and a vegan diet make the best cum. It’s science.
“Unreal,” he murmurs, plucking a Kleenex from the nightstand to clean the rest of her face, then reaches down to hook his hands under her arms and drag her up to lay next to him.
MJ smiles and nuzzles into his neck as she lets him pull her close to his chest. She reaches blindly behind her for the blanket to throw over their sweat-cooled bodies. “That’s my line. That’s what started this whole tryst in the first place. Because of how unreal you look in those photos.”
Grayson hums, and he kisses her temple. “You’re prettier. More beautiful. Absolutely stunning.”
MJ scoffs and blushes. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be used to him complimenting her like that, with such conviction. “I don’t think so, but okay.”
He shakes his head, his eyes closing as he starts to drift off. “You have boobs. You win by default. Nothing’s better than your boobs. Except your pretty face.”
She giggles and snuggles closer with a yawn. There’s a minute of comfortable silence, until she breaks it with her sex-rasped voice. “Oh, by the way, I caught your brother going down on Evie in the kitchen the other night. In case we need leverage in the future.”
Grayson grins, his eyes still shut as he nuzzles the top of her head. “Nice work, baby. But can we please take a nap? You wore me out.”
“Yeah, I did,” she says smugly to herself. She should probably get up to pee, but in her mind right now it’s worth the risk if she doesn't have to move. “Love you.”
“Love you too, Peach. Now go the fuck to sleep.”
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beholdme · 3 years
Text
All the Many Shades of Gerry - Chapter 9
Chapters: 9/19
Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist
Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Sasha James, Gertrude Robinson, Elias Bouchard
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Library AU, Librarian Jon, Artist Gerry, Trans Male Character, Trans Martin Blackwood, Canon Asexual Character, Asexual Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Ace Subtype - Sex Positive, Polyamory, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Romantic Fluff, Falling In Love, Boys in Skirts, Kissing, Demisexual Gerard Keay, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, Canon-Typical Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Flirting, Minor Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker, Adventures in Hair Dying, Happy Ending, Banter, Gerry has a lot of sass, Gerard Keay is Morticia Adams, Jon is a very grumpy Librarian, Martin adores them anyway.
Summary: In which Gerry is a kaleidoscope and Jon and Martin can’t help falling in love with him.
He happens to love them back.
Find it on Ao3
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
On a Tuesday in the middle of November, not long after Gerry's 28th birthday, the three of them eat dinner at Gerry's flat, as they often do these days. Jon cooks for them and after, Martin and Gerry wash the dishes and debate the book they both just finished reading.
Jon has been twitchy all evening, so they leave him to read his own book in peace.
He wanders in at one point, leaning against the counter. "Gerry, do you know what day it is?"
Gerry looks over at him in such a way as to indicate that he really doesn't.
"Our six-month anniversary?" He tries.
"No," Martin pipes up, "That's not for weeks yet."
Jon and Gerry both look at him askance. "What? Your boyfriend starts dating another man, you remember the date. I can't believe you two don't know." Martin says as if that about covers it.
"Nevermind that." Jon snaps, and even with his previous moodiness, the others are taken aback at his blunt words and even harsher tone.
"Something wrong, Jon?" Gerry asks quietly, leaning against the opposite counter to Jon and crossing his arms. His tone suggests what he actually wanted to say was 'Do we have a problem here, bitch?' but he manages to reign the actual words in.
"I want to know why you left without saying goodbye." Jon's words are filled with a multitude of frustrations, none of which are actually conveyed in his limited words.
"Yesterday?" Gerry asks, incredulous. "You were asleep!"
"No! Not yesterday." Jon snaps back. "When we were younger. It's been ten years today since you disappeared off the face of the planet."
"Oh," Gerry responds quietly, his defensive posture dropping. He leans his hands back on the table behind him, bringing his shoulders up around his ears. It’s a rare display of confident, edgy Gerry trying to shrink himself.
"I thought we were, you know. Together. Then one day you were just gone! As if you had never existed. Your mother wouldn't tell me anything at all, just sat there smirking at me, said that you were gone and she didn't know when you were coming back, or if you were ever coming back. Which you never did, actually." Jon has been pacing, his voice rising with each new word until the final words are shouted accusatorily into the space between them.
Gerry knew Jon had wanted to talk about this since the day he walked in the library and back into his life. He had waited, been patient, and Gerry had put it off in the hopes that he would never have to choke the words out. Now, that patience was obviously over, and he knew he owed Jon this explanation.
"We were together Jon. I loved you."
"So why? What did I do so wrong, that I got to wake up one day and find you gone ?" Jon's voice has become desperate, and they can all hear the tears that he is trying to hold back.
"Don't say that. You didn't do anything wrong. We weren't perfect, but we were always so good together. I... I had to get out of there. And I couldn't leave any clues behind, so I couldn't tell you anything, because it wouldn't have been safe for either of us." Gerry reaches towards Jon to soothe him, but he flinches away and Gerry doesn't pursue him.
"I don't understand." The tears have come, and Gerry desperately tries to hold back his own when he sees them.
Martin had up until that point been standing resolutely in the corner, trying not to interfere in their pre-Martin argument. At the advent of tears, Martin moves to stand at Jon's back, gripping his shoulder for comfort. Gerry looks bereft and Martin holds out a hand to get him to come closer as well. They huddle all together, both Jon and Gerry taking comfort in Martin's steadiness.
Gerry leans into Jon, sliding his hand around his neck and pressing their foreheads together. "I'm so sorry, love. I've never forgiven myself for just disappearing on you. I thought about you every day."
"I love you," Jon whispers as Martin rocks them both gently. "But I need to know."
"I love you too." Gerry shuts his eyes and wishes more than ever to erase his shitty legacy of pain and blood.
*
Martin drags them to bed and offers to leave them alone to their talk.
"Please stay," Gerry says, grasping his hand. "You both need to know, and I don't want to have to talk through this twice."
So they all pile into Gerry's bed together, sitting in a vague circle like teenagers at a slumber party.
As Gerry starts to talk, Martin drags him over toward him and begins braiding his dark blue hair. It's both an offer of physical comfort and affection (easily Gerry's main love language) and a simple way of letting him off the hook for eye contact.
With Jon staring at him quite intently, Martin doesn't think he needs any further pressure.
"Jon, you-" He starts and then halts abruptly. Jon reaches over and grasps his hand, attempting to further ground him. "You remember my mother. I know you saw how, how just off she was. Manipulative and controlling. By turns demanding and completely uninterested in me. One day I would be free to run wild for weeks at a time, the next she would have a meltdown if I wasn't exactly where she wanted me, every second of the day and night." Gerry blows a breath out, shuddering at the memory of a particularly bad incident with a vase that had left him needing several stitches over his left eye.
"Well, she wasn't always like that. I remember her being a pretty good mom when I was young, if distant. She was always far more interested in being a wife than a mother, and she loved the way my father adored her.
“When I was 7, my father was blinded in an accident at work. I remember the day the phone call came. She spoke very calmly to the hospital, before hanging up the phone and shattering every picture frame in the house." Martin is finished with Gerry's hair and simply leans into him, offering silent comfort. "He coped okay with his new disability actually, and I liked helping him learn the world again with no sight. My mother never recovered from her initial breakdown though. She was angry and petulant that she needed to help and support him for the first time in their entire relationship and became more and more unhinged over the course of a year.
"One day I came home from school to find a puddle of blood soaked into the floor of the living room. She said there had been an accident and my father wasn't coming back. She hit me for the first time when I cried. She told me that I was a man now, and tears were for useless girls and disgusting… Well, you get the picture."
Gerry pauses and glances between them. A few tears have started to run down his face, but he doesn't seem to even notice them.
"We moved a few days later, and that was all I ever knew about my father's death until I was eighteen, almost ten years later. I'll spare you the horrid details, but as I'm sure you've already guessed, she murdered him. She explained very, very graphically what she had done with the body, and that she would never be caught, no one would ever think to blame her, even if anyone could ever prove that he was dead at all."
The words hang heavy in the air between the three of them. Gerry feels the comfort of their touches, but can hardly stand the affection anymore. He gets up off the bed and goes to look out the bedroom window, arms crossed and posture hard.
"Then she looked me right in the eye. And she told me that was exactly what would happen to Jon if she ever caught me with him again."
Dead, cold silence fills the room.
Gerry turns back around to find them both watching him. "So, I packed whatever I could fit into my duffle bag, and I got the hell out of dodge. I ran. I ran because I couldn't close my eyes at night with seeing your face white and cold and covered in blood and," he breaks off and takes a shuddering breath, covering his eyes and sinking to his knees. "And I couldn't stand that she would hurt you because of me. That all your light and potential would be ripped away from you in blood and pain and nothing I felt for you could make even the risk of that worthwhile."
He lifts his head to look up at them, where they’ve moved to the side of the bed towards him. “And do you want to know what the worst part is, actually? I can’t get over the idea that even though I haven’t seen Mary Keay in 10 years, the ghost of her demons lives inside of me. That I'm really just… Her. That one day my mind will snap and I'll be a danger to you both and I'll be the one hurting you, just like she hurt him. And then I'll just be the same monster who has always haunted my dreams."
Martin and Jon exchange a heavy look. They can scarcely believe that Gerry had endured so much and yet is still… Gerry. Happy, flirtatious, loving Gerry. Gerry, who fills their lives with colour and spontaneity, always showing up when they least expected him, pushing himself into their gravity and asking for space in their lives.
Despite the rather violent nature of Gerry's confession, it doesn't change anything for either of them. Things are not yet settled between them, but they curl around Gerry on the floor and they cry together over shattered innocence and sacrificed futures, and Jon promises himself that he will never let Mary Keay come between him and Gerry ever again.
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a-monsters-love · 4 years
Note
I hope this isn’t an uncomfortable request, i have a lot of scars on my arms because for years i’ve been scratching them as a form of relief for my anxiety, my therapist just told me that even if i don’t think about it it’s still self harm and i never actually thought about it. Anyways, could you make an headcanon for shouto, kirishima and kaminari finding out their s/o has a lot of scars on their arms and is embarrassed about them? You can leave the whole self harm thing out if you prefer💕
Ahh, my dear sweet Nonnie. Thank you for your candor, I love this for a few reasons.  So in all honesty when I was a teen (I’m almost 25 now) I did self harm, I have a similar nervous tick where pick at my hangnails until they bleed and go down my fingers rather than staying at my cuticles. I also had a friend who had the same nervous tick as you when we were in high school. I’m glad to know you’ve reached out to a therapist/have someone to talk to about these things. I’m very proud of you for taking measures to take care of yourself.
If anyone on here see’s this and doesn’t have someone to talk to there is a great resource [here] for crisis counseling. It’s a free service and you can text a Counselor for advice on things from self harm to suicide. [The Trevor Project] is also a great resource, as well at [To Write Love On Her Arms] who have been around for years and have dedicated resources for our friends in the LGBT+ community. These are only 3 of many different resources available to us. Please don’t hesitate to use the service and if you just need a friend to chat/vent with my inbox is always open.
[Master List]
WARNINGS: implications of self harm, mentions of blood
Now let’s get supported by our favorite dummies ☺️
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Todoroki Shoto:
Shoto wouldn’t think much of the scars
He would probably have seen them in passing when you reached for something
He’d seen them once during training when Bakugo’s explosions destroyed one of the sleeves of your gym uniform
He watched you tuck your arm away
When he saw that he noticed more
You always wore long sleeves (even on hot days)
Your hero costume had long sleeves
You always pulled at the cuffs of your shirts and sweaters
As someone with a big scar on his face he would understand the embarrassment of having visible scars
What he didn’t quite understand was the scratching
You had your hand tucked up your sleeve once when he saw it
Tiny amounts of blood stained your sleeve
Recovery Girl checked on you often
You always smiled at her like everything was fine
She’d heal your open wounds and give you snacks
Your cheeks heated every time
You struggled to keep eye contact with her
He didn’t know how to approach the question
So he figured he’d do what he does best
Quietly support you
He’d see your hand go up your sleeve and he gently put him own on it while not saying anything
He’ll hold you hand more
He’ll ask it you were okay when you’d get twitchy
One day the class is talking about a trip you’re taking
The beach, you internally panic
Shoto would ask if the two of you could watch a movie in your room that night
When he showed up you were picking a movie
“We don’t have to go to the beach if you don’t want to” He says
You freeze and look back at him
He doesn’t say anything else
“It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just-“ You cut yourself off and unintentionally look at your arms
He scoots to sit in front of you, offering his hands to you
You hold his hands, “I just don’t want to wear a bathing suit..”
He hums in consideration
You confess to why
“Can I see..?” He asks softly
You nod and push up your sleeves
He pulls your arms close to his face
He can tell the difference between the old and new scars
He’ll gently kiss all the ones he can tell are new
You struggle to not pull your arms back in embarrassment
He stared at you, “If anyone can understand, I think it’s me.”
He points to his face nonchalantly
You bite your lip, part of you wants to chuckle the other part wants to cry
He pulls you in for a hug, “Scars or not, I still think you’re beautiful and I love you regardless”
You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding and squeeze him
He doesn’t want to watch you hurt yourself but he wants you to know he’s here for you unconditionally
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Kirishima Eijiro:
Similar to Todoroki he’d have been observing your attire, interactions with Recovery Girl, etc
I’m not gonna type that out again
Honestly, he probably thinks having scars makes you a badass
However, he understand having low-self esteem over something some people may consider ‘within your control’
The two of you had been together for some time
He didn’t notice it was a nervous tick until you started dating
He’d ask if you were okay when he noticed
You’d stop or say you were fine
You were sparring with Mina when her acid burned through your shirt sleeves
In a panic you threw off your shirt (obvi you have an undershirt on)
Scars litter your arms from shoulder to wrist
You rushed out of the gym due to feeling so exposed
Claimed you were getting a new top to Aizawa before he could argue
Kirishima ran after you
Gods you were fast
When he finally caught up with you, you were already in your room
He’d knock on your door gently
He’d hear you stifle a noise, probably tears
“Babe- it’s just me.”
You shuffle in your room
“Talk to me (Y/N)” He’d plead gently
You’d open the door eventually
“What happened out there?” His voice was quiet
You open your mouth to say something but stop and just look at your forearms
He’s reach out to touch them but hesitate and ask
You’d agree after a moment
He’d rub his thumbs and fingers over them
He could tell they were self inflicted due to their patterns
He’d show you a few of his own self inflicted scars
He’d explain that he’d unintentionally cut himself with his quirk
He’d reassure you that they’re badass and that they don’t make you any less of who you are
Would be the type to encourage you not to be ashamed
Would make sure he can be some sort of emotional support when you get twitchy
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Kaminari Denki:
This doofus
In all honesty you’d have to have some level of thick skin to date this idiot
This guy would be so oblivious of the scars
Wouldn’t even notice them
He’d be oblivious to the nervous tick at first
I swear he has no spatial awareness when it’s not shoved in his face
He figured you had allergies that made you itchy
Would absolutely offer allergy meds or anti itch cream
Would actively ask why you wear long sleeve shirts all the time
You snort and make some sort of snarky retort but totally not answer the question in any way
That would make him curious
Once when hanging out playing games in your room he took it upon himself to dig through your closet
“HOW ARE THERE ONLY LONG SLEEVE SHIRTS IN HERE??” He’d cry out
You’d be embarrassed and scowl at him
He’d apologize for his statement immediately
You’d sigh and wave it off
He’d see a scar on the inside of your wrist while you held the controller
You’d pull at your sleeve subconsciously
One day
Denki would burst into your room to show you something
He has no sense of privacy
His face burns red because you’re changing out of your uniform
You had just the bottoms of your uniform and a tank top on
He’d see your arms
You scream at him to get out while blushing a color he didn’t think anyone could become
He’s frozen and staring at you
You’d try to physically remove him but he just gently grabs your wrists
You’d make an abysmal attempt to get him to let go
His thoughts are spiraling with curiosity and concern
Your drop your head while he held your wrists and looked at your arms
Ashamed and embarrassed you’d mumble, “Denki, please stop..”
He’d snap back to reality hearing you
“Is this why you only wear long sleeves?” He’d ask quietly
You’d nod
Denki would pull you into a firm hug
“I’m sorry, I had no idea.”
Feels guilty about how insensitive he’d been
Part of you never wanted him to know
The other part of you knew he’d find out eventually
The two of you sat in your room and talked about it
You stayed in your tank top even though you felt very exposed
You explain that it’s a nervous tick that got out of control
Like Kirishima he would tell you how badass you look and encourage you not to be ashamed
“You’re a lot more than just scars and anxiety, (Y/N).” He says nonchalantly
He’ll be more proactive in making sure you’re okay
Will absolutely flirt with you 10x’s more than usual
88 notes · View notes
goulets · 3 years
Text
Heartland
Chapter: 3/8 Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson Additional Characters: Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Colin Wilkes, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas Rating: T (for now) Case Fic / Kid Fic a03 link
The library has its benefits: no harassment from over-familiar family members, no Dick sexually frustrating him within an inch of his life, and, if he’s willing to be a little sentimental, he kind of does want to show it to the baby. She’s too young to appreciate it, probably, but it stirs something in him to share it with her all the same. He’s heard it’s never too early to get kids into reading - his parents sure as hell never tried, but Jason had read anything he could get his hands on, once he learned how. It had saved him, back then. Maybe it can do the same for her one day.
“Could’ve sworn Bruce had a Dr. Seuss anthology somewhere in here,” he says to her, combing over the shelves with his eyes. “Guess not. You up for something more sophisticated?”
She grunts, squeezing his shirt in her fist. “Alright,” he agrees, pulling Twelfth Night off the shelf. “Shakespeare it is. You’ve got taste, kid.”
***
(dick)
Venice is a nightclub that has gone by many names during its Gotham tenure, and just as many owners. Dick has been undercover here at least twice, back when the club was catering to the wealthier patrons of Little Italy. The current management clearly hasn’t bothered with maintaining that exclusivity - the building is now shabby and outdated, even for this neighborhood. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the real draw of Venice, which is the illegal casino in the back rooms beyond the VIP lounge. Through all the club’s owners, the casino has always been run by the Falcones, and always frequented by the city’s most morally flexible elected officials. In the past four nights that Dick’s been staking the place out, he’s seen five judges, two city council members, and even the new police commissioner slipping out the back door into the alley, stinking of gin and cigar smoke and patting their coat pockets with an air of satisfaction. It’s good intel to have, Barbara’s told him. Always helpful to keep the files updated on who’s being bought and by whom. None of that really makes him feel better about the fact that he’s been staking this place out for four nights and still hasn’t managed to pin down their actual target.
It’s embarrassing, is what it is. He’s Nightwing, for God’s sake. He’s taken down whole Russian mobs in Bludhaven, and now he’s being completely eluded by a third-string Falcone no one’s even heard of.
Oracle had ID’d the doer of the Torres/Howard murders in a matter of hours, true to her word, and the ballistics had predictably matched up with a few other murders that the police never bothered investigating. Susanna “Susie” Falcone, a second cousin once removed with a rap sheet that puts many of her relatives to shame. Her name must still have some pull in political circles, because she’s only done time once, in spite of being indicted almost a dozen times. Gotta love good old fashioned judicial corruption, Jason had said. No one had been able to argue, looking at the number of charges dismissed.
All in all, it was supposed to be a fairly simple tag-and-bag. Once they’d found her place of work - officially, the Venice nightclub, unofficially, the family casino - he’d been tasked to track her, question her, and then turn her in to the police. He’d chosen his stakeout perch well, on a hotel roof high above the alley, he’d followed her, unseen, and so far, she’s given him the slip every freaking time. The woman has vanished through every doorway from here to Robinson Park, as only the most enterprising criminal can. Were this a different kind of case, Dick might have been impressed.
Instead, he’s annoyed, and having to compromise - his vantage point is lower, closer but more exposed in the thin shadows of a third story construction platform right above the alley. He can see the door to the club without any difficulty, but the moment he moves, he’ll be open to attack.
He’ll just have to move fast. Fortunately, that’s what he’s best at.
There’s a soft motion behind him, almost quiet enough to escape his notice entirely. It’s Jason - Dick hadn’t expected him to actually turn up. No doubt he’s here to make sure they finally succeed in catching their mark tonight, but he’s been so adamant about not leaving Danielle with anyone except Dick that it’s still a surprise to see him. What’s equally surprising to Dick is that he was apparently hoping Jason would show, if the relief he feels at seeing him is anything to go by.
It’s a nice moment of solidarity, until Jason opens his mouth. “So, fourth night’s a charm, huh?”
Dick bristles. “What happened to not leaving the baby?” he retorts.
Jason bristles back, but doesn’t rise to the bait. It’s a little wrongfooting - a reminder that things are changing between them. Dick is used to the veneer of antagonism that hangs over his relationship with Jason, the unresolved tension they both pretend not to notice. They’d gotten into a pretty good groove when he was acting as Batman, staying out of each others’ way for the most part, and working together when necessary. Dick’s pretty sure Jason doesn’t actually harbor any murderous feelings towards him, just like he doesn’t actually hate Bruce, no matter what he says.
“The girls and Alfred ganged up on me,” Jason says, leaning back against the scaffolding. “Whatever. I needed to get the hell out of there anyways. I don’t know how you stand being around them all so much.”
Dick laughs. “They’re not as interested in me,” he admits. “I’m not the cool sibling.”
Jason doesn’t respond right away. It's hard for Dick to tell, when he’s wearing the helmet, but he thinks Jason is probably waiting to see if Dick is joking. It’s another way things have shifted between them - Jason’s holding back, not jumping straight to lashing out, like he used to. It should be a good thing - it is a good thing, but it’s throwing him off balance all the same. He feels like he's spent most of the past several days looking for Jason, even when Jason is right in front of him. He’s used to trying to find the Jason he knows - or knew - the Jason who was taken away from him. Now there’s a new Jason, a Jason he’s still getting to know. Dick can’t choose between them, can’t decide which one he wants to find every time he looks at him. Maybe that’s why he can’t seem to find his one lousy mafia shooter.
“Looks like the cops are covering up the ballistics report on Reynolds,” Jason says, after a moment. “Go figure.”
Dick frowns. “Just Reynolds?”
Jason grunts. “Hold on. What.”
Dick turns to look at him.
“Did you burp her?”
Oh, Dick realizes, he’s on the comm. Someone back at the Manor must have pinged him on a private line.
“Then get Alfred to do it.”
It’s curious that the ballistics on Cy Reynolds’ murder are the ones being suppressed, Dick thinks. He was the only one killed with a submachine gun - the bullets from most of the other crime scenes had come from a standard Beretta APX, and the object of his stakeout, Susie Falcone, had used a Glock on Danielle’s parents. The Glock matched a few other shootings, the Beretta matched none. None of that is particularly noteworthy - after all, Susie is a criminal, and Beretta shell casings are a dime a dozen at any mob shooting.
“Fine. I’ll check back in five. If you asswipes don’t pick up, I’m coming back there.” Jason makes an aggravated noise in the back of his throat, which Dick takes to mean he’s hung up.
“Everything OK?”
“Just peachy. By some cosmic fucking joke, I’m the only person in the family who can get the baby to take a damn bottle. I told her they just need to burp her, but I guess that’s too complicated a task for a family of genius detectives,” Jason grumbles. “I knew I shouldn’t have left her. Shit.”
“Jay, relax. She’s fine.” Dick can’t help but grin at him. It’s honestly sweet, the way Jason and the baby have gotten attached to each other. Dick likes to think he’s her second favorite, but it’s pretty hard to tell. No matter who’s holding her, she’s always looking at Jason, and Jason never stops looking at her.
“It’s fucking cold out here,” Jason says mulishly.
Dick raises an eyebrow. “I noticed. It’s April, not August. If you really want to go back, I’m not gonna stop you.”
“I don’t…” Jason sighs. “Look, I’m here, okay? You bungled this grade school op three nights in a row, so congrats, you triggered the bat buddy system. If I leave and you fuck it up again, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Dick supposes it’s his turn not to rise to the bait. “Fair enough,” he says easily, turning around to face the alleyway again. “What were you saying about the ballistics on Reynolds?”
“Oh, Oracle ran the bullets through Interpol. Turns out our ill-fated gang boss was offed by one of Carmine Falcone’s personal weapons. The record’s been scrubbed from US databases, but Babs had a hunch.” Jason sounds impressed.
“Been scrubbed meaning...there was a record,” Dick follows, “and some people might still remember, if they saw the bullets. Hence the coverup.”
“Yup. Hence the coverup.”
“Could explain what the commissioner was doing here the other night,” Dick muses.
Jason snorts derisively. “See, this is what I hate about the mafia. They’re so goddamn predictable. Kill the competition, pay off the cops, around and around forever. It’s so pedestrian.”
Dick laughs. “You’d rather deal with Clayface?”
“Fuck yes I would. Clayface has flair, you know? Anybody can be a mobster, shit.”
Jason has started shifting with agitation, or maybe impatience. Either way, their vantage spot isn’t hidden enough for him to be moving around. “Get low if you’re gonna be twitchy,” Dick tells him. “Or if you’re gonna have a cigarette, but I’d really rather you didn’t.”
“Lucky for you I quit then,” Jason says, crouching down next to him. “I’m not jonesing, I’m just fucking cold.”
“We could huddle together for warmth,” Dick jokes, grinning unabashedly when Jason’s helmet fixes him with a death glare. “Wait, you quit smoking? When?”
“When I started taking care of a baby, obviously.” Jason goes still, suddenly. “Is that her?”
The door to the alleyway opens, and they both tense - but it’s just a man, a bodyguard, by the looks of him. Close-cropped blonde hair, early 40s, used to throwing his weight around. Feeling there’s something familiar about him, Dick nudges Jason and motions for him to take a photo. Jason starts almost imperceptibly at the contact, but follows suit. They both hold perfectly still in the shadows as the man looks around, glances in a cursory way along the rooftops, and then sets off down the alley towards the street.
“I know him,” Jason mutters. “From Tim’s case files - he was with Intergang.”
Dick doesn’t say anything about Jason calling Tim by name, but it’s a welcome development. “Looks like he switched sides, if he’s hanging out here.”
“Wonderful,” Jason says. “All right, I’m gonna check on the kid again.”
Dick represses the urge to give him a shoulder squeeze, or ruffle his hair. It’d probably result in him getting shoved off the platform, but Jason’s being so....not different, because Dick’s always known that this Jason was still in him, somewhere. Always hoped, anyways. When Jason had been younger and acted like this, surly with his words but tender with his actions, Dick had always thought of him as cute. It’s like that now, too, except it’s not just cute, because Jason has several inches and at least two weight classes on him. It’s cute in a different way, an adult way. It’s cute in a way that makes Dick want to push harder against Jason’s armor, to catch as many glimpses of that side of him as he can. If he thinks about it too long, it’s cute in a way that makes him want, recklessly.
“Red Hood to Batgirl,” Jason says. He’s calling on the family line this time. “Give me an update.”
“You’re seriously a helicopter parent, you know that, Hood?” Steph laughs in Dick’s ear. “We figured it out. Well...Black Bat figured it out.”
Jason’s shoulders sag a little in relief. Cute, Dick thinks, involuntarily. He needs to get a grip. “About fucking time.”
“She prefers being propped up,” Cass says. “It helps her swallow.”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier. And she likes her back straight.”
“You said none of that, actually,” Steph says. “You just told us to support her head. Which we have been, thank you very much.”
“You have her now?”
“Robin has her.”
Dick and Jason look at each other. Jason says, “What the fuck?”
“Right?” Steph sounds amused. “I was surprised too....his friend is here, that ginger kid? He’s the one that took her from the orphanage, right?”
“Batgirl, I swear to god, if anything happens to her - ”
“Oh, calm down, jeez,” Steph groans. “They’re being supervised, okay? It’s honestly precious, you would agree with me if you could see it. I’ll text the pictures to N.”
“Please do,” Dick says. Speaking of cute, in a way that’s much safer to think about.
“Go do your job now,” Cass tells them. “We’re handling it.”
“Yeah, what she said. Batgirls out.”
“Feel better?” Dick asks, after a moment.
“Don’t ask me that,” Jason grouses. “And show me those pictures when you get them.”
Dick grins. “Sure, Jay.”
“Ugh.”
Dick decides to change the subject, before Jason gets too antsy and tries to bail. “So how do you want to play this, when Susie shows?”
Jason points to a dumpster halfway down the alley. “We wait until she’s there. I’ll get the club door, put a taser on it to stop her getting back in or anyone else from coming out. You cut her off before she gets to the street, and we question her on the backside of the dumpster. I’ll take line of sight, since I’m packing.”
Dick nods. “So is she.”
“So is every goon in those back rooms, sure. That’s why we lock their asses in.”
“And if they come out the front?”
Jason spins a gun in his hand. “Rubber bullets do the job just fine if you know how to aim. Let me worry about the backup.”
Another thing that’s changed about Jason - or that hasn’t changed, depending on how far back Dick looks. He uses rubber bullets now, whenever he’s working a case with one of them. Supposedly it’s a stipulation from Bruce, but Jason didn’t use lethal force on the couple cases he and Dick worked together, either, back when Dick was wearing the cowl. Dick thinks Bruce just gave him an excuse - whatever bloodlust Jason was fueled by when he first came back to Gotham has long since dried up. There are still things that set him off - Barbara had informed them about a dead rapist in the Narrows just last month - but Bruce hadn’t even commented on it, besides the barest acknowledgment. Dick thinks he might be the only one that actually cares when Jason kills someone, anymore. And what’s really disturbing is that he’s not actually sure how much he cares. For instance, he knows Jason has a third gun, holstered under his jacket, loaded with live ammo. He could call Jason out on it, insist he ditch it or at the very least unload it.
He says nothing. Let me worry about the backup. If this mission ends in a massacre, Dick will only have himself to blame.
The door opens again, and out steps Susie Falcone.
She immediately looks around, staying still in the doorway for a minute or more. Dick is pretty sure she hasn’t seen him following her, but he’s familiar with the sensation of being watched. He and Jason both shrink further into the shadows, waiting for her to make a move.
The whole process takes about six seconds. The moment she gets a few paces into the alley, they drop down. Jason electrifies the door handle, and Dick outmaneuvers her easily, slapping his police-issue cuffs on her and kicking her gun aside, then spinning her into the wall behind the dumpster. She hits it with a grunt. By the time she’s glaring at him, Jason is at his side again.
“Nightwing and Red Hood?” she says. “Damn. Didn’t expect to see you fellas out here.”
She doesn’t seem scared of them. Dick guesses they’ll have backup coming their way soon.
“Hey, what do you know,” Jason says conversationally, picking up the gun and emptying the clip in one swift motion. “Nightwing, I do believe this is our Glock.”
“Not mine,” Susie objects. “Picked it up off the club floor.”
“Come on, Susie, you’re smarter than that.” Jason crosses his arms. “Look, I can appreciate a sensible weapon. The Berettas the rest of your family favors? Too flashy for me. I loved Sopranos as much as the next guy, but come on.”
Dick suppresses a laugh. “Thought you were a Sig man,” he says in an undertone. He hadn’t expected Jason to take the lead, but it’s working. Susie looks agitated at the mention of her family.
“Wow, stalker. Remind me to move safe houses,” Jason quips back. “Aw, look, she slipped your cuffs.”
There’s a taser in Susie’s newly freed hand, and Dick quickly sidesteps it, twists it out of her wrist and sends it clattering down the cobblestones of the alley. Jason sweeps her legs out from under her and knocks her down flat, maybe a little harder than Dick would’ve. Thankfully, she goes down without a fight.
“Let’s try this again,” Dick says, kneeling next to her and zip-tying her wrists. If he wasn’t sure before, he is now - she was expecting them. They won’t be alone for long. He throws a couple smoke pellets down to the ends of the alley, and clips a nearly invisible wireless mic to the shoelaces of her boot under the guise of patting her down.
“You’re obviously not surprised to see us, so just tell us what we want to know,” Jason tells her, squatting down. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really give a shit that you shot Big Mouth, but what did Linda Torres ever do to you?”
“Let me up,” Susie snarls.
“No. Talk, or I’ll give you a taste of that taser you tried to pull on us.”
“Hood,” Dick hisses.
“See? He knows I’ll do it. Save yourself the grief, Susie.” Jason points the barrel of his gun lazily at her temple.
Susie narrows her eyes. “Fine. The two of them robbed me, last September. Dumb motherfuckers didn’t know who they were messing with. But I let them live because the bitch was pregnant.”
Jason makes a noise of disbelief. “Oh, sure. You’re a real bleeding heart, is that it?”
“Like you’re any better,” Susie fires back.
“You said you waited on Linda because she was pregnant,” Dick says. “Why’d you wait to kill Big Mouth?”
Susie’s mouth twists. “Guess I just felt like it.” Dick doesn’t need to see the tension in her shoulders to know she’s lying.
“Strike two.” Jason clicks the safety off. “Who put the hits out?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Susie answers. “I’m dead if I talk, so pistol whip me if you want to. Here’s the God’s honest truth: I really didn’t need a reason to kill those assholes. I was out for ‘em anyways. But I’m not crazy enough to kill a baby, all right? I don’t need shit like that on my conscience.”
“Keep talking,” Jason growls. Dick hears the whoop of a siren a few blocks off. “Where’s the baby now?”
“Somewhere safe, I swear. If anybody comes for her, it won’t be me.”
Susie still thinks Danielle’s at the orphanage, then. That’s good for them, but potentially bad for all the other kids, Colin included. These guys clearly have no problem killing children, even if Susie won’t do it.
The sirens are getting closer. Someone inside must’ve called the cops. Dick motions to Jason, indicating they need to wrap things up.
“Who is coming for her,” Jason barks, every line of his body a threat. “You’ve got five seconds.”
“You don’t.” Susie looks triumphant. They can hear the shouts of police from behind the smoke. “But don’t worry, boys. You’ll find out who really runs this town soon enough.”
“Hood,” Dick mutters. “We need to go, cops in this neighborhood aren’t cape-friendly.”
Jason stands, visibly enraged, and for a moment Dick thinks he’ll shoot Susie anyways. He’s prepared to move - but then Jason pulls out his grapple, fires, and flies up onto the roof.
“Talk about a bleeding heart,” Susie says to Dick. “He have kids or something?”
Dick doesn’t like her tone of voice at all. She’s too relaxed, too unconcerned about being under arrest. She won’t stay in long.
“It’s Nightwing! Get your hands up!”
Dick obliges, ready to pull his escrima sticks.
Three police officers come through the smoke, weapons drawn. “You better have a damn good reason for being this far out of Bludhaven,” one of them shouts at Dick.
“Sure do!” Dick calls back. “Arrested a murderer for you, no need to thank me!”
“Shut up,” a different officer retorts. “Keep your hands up, pretty boy.”
“Oh, fuck this,” Jason mutters over the comm. “I’m throwing you an escape, we’ll recon on the library roof. Stop being so goddamn chatty.”
One smoke pellet later, Dick is three rooftops away and flying. He gets to the library before Jason, exhilarated as ever from a good run.
Jason drops down next to him after a minute or so, laughing when he gets a look at Dick’s smile. “Running from the cops still does it for you, huh?”
Dick elbows him, momentarily forgetting to keep his distance. “Doesn’t it for you?”
Surprisingly, Jason doesn’t move away. “Usually they’re shooting at me, so.”
Dick leans closer, testing. “So…yes?”
“You’re so annoying,” Jason says, but he lets Dick nudge his shoulder, bump their arms together. He’s so solid, Dick thinks. So big. More like Bruce than any of them.
“So, how fast do you think she’ll get out?” he asks, when Jason stays quiet.
“Fucking tomorrow, probably,” Jason sighs. “Next week if we’re lucky.”
“Sounds like she didn’t know about Danielle, at least.”
“She’s not the problem,” Jason says, shrugging Dick off and standing back up. “Falcones will blow up the whole orphanage if they get wind of it. We need to put them down first.”
“We need to find out who’s in charge,” Dick agrees. “I planted a mic on her shoe. In the laces. Hopefully she won’t find it for a few days.”
“Good thinking,” Jason nods. “You gonna keep patrolling?”
“Might as well,” Dick says, standing up next to him and stretching his arms over his head. “I’m still stiff from that stakeout, I need to move.”
Jason’s gone quiet again. Dick thinks he hears his breath catch, but the helmet muffles it enough that it could be a yawn.
“You’re going back to the manor?”
Jason groans. “Fuck my life, yes.”
“You miss her, huh.” Cute, his brain chants.
Jason doesn’t answer, but Dick has a feeling he’s getting the stink-eye.
“I miss her too,” Dick offers. “It’s okay.”
Jason sighs. “Dick…”
“It’s a good thing, Jay. You care about her! We all do,” Dick adds, seeing the rigidity in Jason’s posture. “I mean, you’re practically her parent right now. Of course you miss her.”
“...Don’t say it like that.” Jason’s voice is low, almost pained, and Dick knows he pushed too far. “Like…like I have a right to, okay, just. Don’t.”
“Jason, wait,” Dick starts, but he doesn’t get to finish. Without a backward glance, Jason fires off a line to the neighboring building, and then he’s gone.
***
(tim)
The docks are quiet, unsettlingly so, as Tim prowls around the towers of shipping containers, keeping to the deep shadows they cast along the chipped pavement. It’s overcast, so there’s no moonlight to expose him, but it’s also too dark to see which of the trucks and campers parked all over are occupied, which ones might suddenly turn their headlights on him and catch him out.
One truck in particular - an innocuous looking Isuzu with a stunningly weaponized interior, is the object of his search. The driver, Felipe, is one of Tim’s best informants within Intergang - or had been, prior to the upheaval. Tim’s reasonably sure that Felipe is too lowly a grunt to make an example of, but still, he’s concerned that he hasn’t heard from him in a few days.
As it turns out, he needn’t have worried. He finds Felipe a hundred yard away from his truck, taking a piss off the wharf. He lets himself into the passenger side of the truck, and immediately notes that it is packed. There’s hardly a spare inch in the back, and Tim has a tough time even getting into the passenger seat with all the bags, clothes, and blankets stuffed into it. He pushes the majority of it to the floor, and waits.
Felipe comes back a few moments later. He opens the door and starts, eyes going wide when he sees Tim, but Tim puts his finger to his lips and motions for Felipe to get in so they can talk.
“Red Robin,” Felipe says, once the door is closed. He looks even more shaken than usual. “What the fuck, man?”
Tim crosses his arms. “You tell me, Felipe. You’ve been dodging my calls for days, and now I find out you’re skipping town?”
“I ditched that phone, man. Boss Reynolds had my number in there, you know? Ditched it as soon as I heard about him. I wasn’t trying to ghost you, honest.”
“Relax,” Tim tells him. “I’m not mad. I’d dodge me, too. Just tell me what happened, and I’ll shadow you out of town. Make sure you’re not followed.”
“Shit, man,” Felipe sighs. “Okay, look. There’s shit I can’t tell you, not if I ever want to hench again. You gotta figure that all out yourself, yeah?”
Tim shrugs. “Fine.”
Felipe swallows. “It started last week when Boss Reynolds met with somebody - I don’t know his name, God as my witness, but from what I heard, ‘cause I was unloading some of that funky alien tech, and you know Boss Reynolds wanted to supervise that personally - anyways, this guy in a suit took a meeting with him, and it sounded like he was offering Boss Reynolds a job. Said he had a new operation, bigger than Intergang, bigger than anything Gotham’s seen in a while.”
“Did Reynolds believe him?”
“Nah, he told him to get lost. They had some words, and then everybody started pulling guns, and I went back to the ship so I didn’t get fuckin’ shot, but I didn’t hear anything after that. Next thing I saw, Boss Reynolds was calling his son up and telling him to demo some building down by the old boardwalk - a hotel, maybe. Guess he wanted to expand that way, I don’t know.”
“That was the old Falcone hotel,” Tim says, mostly just to see Felipe’s reaction. He isn’t disappointed - Felipe goes pale, and his eyes flash to the rosary hanging off his rearview mirror. Tim likes Felipe as an informant because he’s nosy, shockingly competent for a henchman, and because he really likes to gossip. He’s never held back on Tim before this.
“Few days later, one of ours, this merc named Tiberius, comes down to the warehouse and says he’s got something to show us. Takes out a fat fuckin’ folder full of pictures…man, it was some sick shit. Boss Reynolds, his wife, Reynolds Jr, and every fuckin’ guy under him. Kids, man. He just passed it around, made everyone look at it. Then he says, we can either be in the folder, or we can come meet the new boss.”
Felipe takes a shaky breath. “Obviously I go with Tiberius, like everyone else. I heard a couple guys stayed on the ship that was docked, thinking they’d wait ‘em out, but the new boss blew it up. Says we’re not in the tech business anymore, and anyone caught trying to smuggle it is gonna get tied to it and tossed in the harbor. You can imagine my concerns,” he says, gesturing to his truck. Tim estimates half or more of the weapons in it are salvaged from alien junk. Roy Harper would have a field day with the setup this guy’s made for himself.
“So that’s why you’re bailing,” Tim says, understanding. He can hardly blame the guy. “Why not just hide the truck somewhere?”
“Well…I did think about that,” Felipe admits. “Tiberius made us a pretty sweet pitch, once we went along with him. Not gonna lie, I was tempted. Tech is my thing, you know, but I can make a gun out of pretty much anything. I could see the possibilities, is what I’m saying, but that was before we met the new boss.”
Tim nods encouragingly. This is what he’s been waiting to hear.
“Listen, Red Robin - I know we’ve had our differences, but I respect you, man, you know that. You’ve been good to me, so I’m gonna give you some advice here. Stay the hell away from the new boss. Like, don’t even get involved. I’ve been henching for a while, and I’ve seen some messed up shit, but they are crazy. Está loca, you feel me? I’ve seen the hit list, and you’re right at the top of it. You and all the other capes. Half of Arkham, too. And they’re connected, like you wouldn’t believe. Shit, I’m already saying too much, man. You see the position I’m in here?”
“I do, Felipe,” Tim tells him. He hands over a stack of hundred dollar bills, their agreed-upon rate for information. “Where are you going?”
“You’re crazy too, if you think I’m telling you that,” Felipe scoffs.
Tim wasn’t expecting a straight answer anyways. “Fair enough. You heading out now?”
“Soon as you get the hell outta my car, yeah. You said you’d shadow me out?”
“I will,” Tim says. “From a distance. If you don’t see me, it means you’re clear to cross the bridge.”
“All right,” Felipe nods. “In that case, I hope I never see your ass again.”
Tim laughs, and climbs out of the truck.
He finds his own way out of the shipyard, pulls a bike out of a safe house, and catches up with Felipe’s GPS signal halfway to the Fashion District. Once he’s sure there’s no immediate threat, he calls Barbara.
“Red Robin to Oracle. I’m uploading a recording to the server.”
Barbara is in his ear at once. “You met with your informant?”
“He wouldn’t give me a name, but he let a couple things slip.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” she says.
“First, he flinched hard when I brought up the Falcone name.”
“Confirms what we already know,” Barbara says. “Good. There’s more?”
“There’s more.” Tim tries not to gloat. This is, after all, a serious situation. “He was being cagey about mentioning the leader’s gender, so I was already suspicious, but then said ‘está loca’ when he was trying to warn me.”
Barbara whistles. “Well,” she says, sounding satisfied. “That’ll certainly narrow it down.”
“Yep,” Tim says grimly. “Looks like the new head of the Falcone family is a woman.”
***
(jason)
When Jason was Robin, the library had always been his favorite room in the Manor. It had spoken easily to his idea of what wealth was - rich people had fancy cars, sure, and maybe pools and expensive wardrobes, but wealthy people had art collections, and gardens, and libraries. Jason had spent hours upon hours browsing the shelves, reading anything he could wrap his brain around (and plenty of things he couldn’t), suggesting additions to Alfred, and avoiding his schoolwork in favor of learning about more interesting things, like string theory, or cryptology, or chemical warfare.
That was then.
Now, the library is the only place he can get a minute of peace from the constant barrage of his obnoxious, nosy, boundaryless family members. They’ve been characteristically persistent in their curiosity about him, and about Danielle, who is now Dani, courtesy of Stephanie. This is a nickname family, she’d said, and Jason hadn’t known how to disagree. So now she’s Dani, and Jason is family, and that apparently means he is no longer entitled to any privacy, or personal space for that matter. The only person who hasn’t barged in on him is Bruce, which is almost worse, in a way, because it’s one thing when nobody seeks him out, and it’s quite another when everyone does and then Bruce...doesn’t. Not that he wants Bruce to come up and bother him, God. But he’s in the man’s house, he’s hearing him on the comm constantly either on patrol or down in the cave, and all the other Bat brats and even Alfred are buzzing around him like flies. It’s too much - it feels like before, except for Bruce’s conspicuous absence reminding him that it’s not.
Sharing a bathroom with Dick is another before experience that Jason didn’t need a repeat of. In some ways, it was worse when he was Robin - stripping and showering after patrol in the cave with Dick a few feet away from him is a memory he really wouldn’t have minded leaving back in the Pit - and in other ways, it’s worse now, because Dick is always freaking around. There’s no reprieve, he’s not flitting off to the Titans every week like he used to be. Jason hasn’t gone half a day without Dick getting in his space, drawing up close to him and making that earnest eye contact he’s so annoyingly good at; sometimes wet, sometimes half-naked, sometimes both. And what can Jason do? He’s not going to leave Dani, and he needs Dick to be there so he can get some sleep every once in a while, or patrol, or shower. It’s actually been pretty helpful to have him around, in that regard, but if he has to see the guy walking around with bedhead and nothing but a pair of boxer briefs on one more time, he’s going to fucking explode.
So, the library has its benefits: no harassment from over-familiar family members, no Dick sexually frustrating him within an inch of his life, and, if he’s willing to be a little sentimental, he kind of does want to show it to Dani. She’s too young to appreciate it, probably, but it stirs something in him to share it with her all the same. He’s heard it’s never too early to get kids into reading - his parents sure as hell never tried, but Jason had read anything he could get his hands on, once he learned how. It had saved him, back then. Maybe it can do the same for Dani one day.
“Could’ve sworn Bruce had a Dr. Seuss anthology somewhere in here,” he says to her, combing over the shelves with his eyes. “Guess not. You up for something more sophisticated?”
She grunts, squeezing his shirt in her fist. “Alright,” he agrees, pulling Twelfth Night off the shelf. “Shakespeare it is. You’ve got taste, kid.”
He wonders, not for the first time, what exactly he thinks he’s doing, playing at this whole parenting thing. The rational part of his brain knows that this is a case, that Dani is a victim, that Jason is protecting her because it’s his job. The emotional part of his brain has gone completely off the goddamn rails. Case in point: he’s here with her in the library, prepping her for early literacy like some kind of Crest Hill soccer mom wannabe. Like he’ll even be in her life when she starts doing her ABCs - God willing, she’ll be as far away from him as possible by the time that happens.
It’s fucking hard to think about. He never thought he’d get this attached to a person who can’t even burp on their own. It’s been over a week, and he still struggles with putting her down, with stepping away from her, even when he knows he’s coming right back. Steph and Damian have been wanting to hold her all the time, and Jason knows that they’re capable, knows he has no claim over Dani, doesn’t even mind either of them all that much under normal circumstances, and still, he can’t help feeling like something has reached inside and gripped at his heart every time he passes her over. Which is ridiculous, because she’s not his, he has no more claim over her than any other schmuck off the street. She’s just a kid with unbelievably bad luck, and he’s the idiot who followed Dick up the stairs instead of booking it out the door like a sensible person.
He settles down with her on the couch, propping her up on a couple of pillows, giving her foot a little squeeze. She squeals, smiling at him, and stuffs her fingers in her mouth. God, Jason didn’t know he could feel the way he feels whenever she smiles at him. It’s gonna kill him when he has to give her up.
“If music be the food of love, play on,” he reads, walking his fingers up her leg. “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”
Dani watches him, chewing happily on her fingers. “‘O, it came over my ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets.’ That’s you, you know.” He pokes her in the cheek, grinning. If music be the food of love…but hell, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough of this. Especially when she’s all calm and engaging, the precious few minutes that he’s learned to appreciate in between finishing eating and being tired and cranky, when all she wants to do is look around at things, and all Jason wants to do, ever, is look at her.
The door to the library opens, and Jason goes from content to murderous in a fraction of a second. “What the fuck is it now,” he hisses, expecting Damian or maybe Tim, coming to nag him some more, and instead sees Damian’s friend Colin, who looks horrified to have intruded on him. Jason immediately feels like the world’s biggest ass.
“Sorry,” Colin whispers, mortified, and Jason waves a hand apologetically.
“My bad, I didn’t know it was you. Come in, it’s fine. She’s awake, you don’t need to whisper.”
Colin looks unsure, but soon nods and steps into the library, shutting the door firmly behind him.
Once inside, he dawdles by the nearest bookshelf, clearly at a loss. Jason probably should’ve just let him back out, because this is awkward. Should he keep reading to Dani? Talk to Colin? Ask him why he looks like someone just kicked him and stole his dog?
“You good?” he ventures, figuring he ought to at least attempt to be the adult in the room.
Colin glances at him over his shoulder, smiling tentatively. “Yeah, just bored. Damian’s sleeping, we had a rough patrol last night.”
“We?” Jason repeats, stunned. Bruce isn’t an exemplar of child welfare practices, sure, but letting Damian take other kids on crime-busting playdates? What the hell?
“Oh, I guess you don’t know,” Colin frowns. “I’m….uh, it’s probably easier if I just show you.”
He slides his jacket off, threadbare t-shirt hanging off his skinny frame. Jason tenses, not sure what to expect. When Colin’s arm starts to expand, his eyes widen. By the time his fist is as big around as Jason’s thigh, he thinks his eyebrows have probably disappeared into his hairline.
“Oh.” Jason has no idea how he’s supposed to react to this. Is Colin a meta? He’s pretty sure he would know if Colin was a meta. “How…?”
“Scarecrow,” Colin explains. Jason’s heart sinks. “He experimented on me with synthetic Venom. Batman saved me.”
Dani fusses, twisting her body and scrunching her face up. Jason sympathizes - this conversation is giving him gas, too. “Shit,” he says. Not the most articulate way of expressing his condolences, but Colin’s friends with Damian, so tact can’t be of great importance to him. “I didn’t know.”
Dani starts to cry, and Colin takes a couple steps forward, putting Jason’s hackles up at once. Stop it, he tells himself sternly. He might have fallen down a few pegs, but he’s not pathetic enough to square up against an abused fifth grader. He picks her up, rubbing her back, and then glances over at Colin. The kid’s gone shy, looking down at a point somewhere between Jason’s legs and the floor. Jason feels all the hostility bleed out of him, and he sighs.
“You can sit down.” He gestures to the couch, trying to sound nonthreatening. Dani burps, mouths at his shirt, and then gurgles and kicks her legs again. She leans back against his hold to stare at Colin, and Colin’s face splits into a huge grin. He tucks himself down into the cushions, keeping plenty of space between them, but Jason can sense from the inclination of his body that he wants to be closer. Well, if anyone has a right to be close to Dani, it’s the kid who rescued her in the first place.
“Here,” he offers, turning Dani around in his arms. His heart clenches, and he clamps down on his desire to flee. “You can hold her for a minute, if you want to. She likes you.”
Colin looks at him, eyes shining. “Really?”
Jason nods. “Go ahead. Honestly, you probably know a lot more about this shit than I do.”
Colin takes Dani from him carefully, smiling at her and laughing when she reaches forward to grab at his jacket zipper. A few seconds later, it’s in her mouth, along with most of her fist.
“Should I…?” Colin looks at Jason hesitantly.
“I mean…she’s had worse things in her mouth,” Jason tells him. A ringing endorsement of his child-minding abilities right there. “It’s fine, right? That’s how they build an immune system, or whatever.”
“Well, Alfred washed this for me last night,” Colin admits, looking embarrassed. “So it shouldn’t be too gross.”
Jason leans back against the couch cushions, crossing his arms. “Getting all the perks, huh?”
Colin shrugs, casting his eyes down again. “I like it here.”
Considering where Colin grew up, Jason supposes he can’t blame the kid. Still, he’s not quite wrapping his head around this sweet, genuinely nice kid being buddies with Damian. The demon brat isn’t exactly known for his winning personality, and Jason only knows vaguely how the two of them met, but what he’s heard doesn’t strike him as being particularly conducive to forging the lasting bonds of friendship.
Curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to just ask. “Why’d you call Damian, the night you found her?”
Colin looks surprised. “I...don’t know,” he says, slowly. “I didn’t know who else to call? Damian’s my best friend, and he always knows what to do.”
Jason can’t keep the skeptical look off his face.
“And if he doesn’t, Bat….Bruce, I mean, definitely always knows what to do.”
Jason scrubs a hand over his face. Time to change the fucking subject. “How’d you two get hooked up, anyways?”
Dani turns her head to look at him, still eating Colin’s zipper. Sometimes, Jason gets the bizarre feeling that she can somehow tell when he’s about to blow a gasket. It’s probably a coincidence - she moves around a lot, and Jason has anger issues that flare up every ten minutes, so there’s bound to be some crossover - but it works, because it takes the fight right out of him every time.
“We worked a case together,” Colin says, holding Dani a little more securely against him. “About a year ago, I guess. Kids were disappearing from my orphanage, and from the shelters. I don’t think you were around.”
“I wasn’t,” Jason shakes his head. He and Roy had been busting a trafficking ring in Ibiza, and it had taken Jason over a month to get all the major players. “I heard about it a little, from Dick.”
Dick hadn’t given him too many details at the time - Jason had chalked it up to him having a few other things on his mind, but as Colin fills in the gaps, he starts to suspect Dick just didn’t want him going on a rampage. Which he absolutely would have - he still wants to, God. God. All those poor kids, just a stone’s throw from his old neighborhood. And of course the police had done jack shit - Zsasz is practically Black Mask’s pet, he probably paid them off to look the other way, not that most of them need the excuse - and Bruce was gone, and Jason was gone, and Dick was in over his head, and - fuck, it should never have fallen to Damian and Colin.
He waits for the fury to subside a little, not trusting what will come out of his mouth. Dani hums around her fist, blinking at him, and it helps. “Jesus,” he says, finally. “This fucking town.”
Colin’s mouth twists a little. “Yeah. But you were Robin, right? You probably saw worse things.”
Did he? Jason doesn’t remember. He doubts it, though. He can’t imagine he would’ve been satisfied with Bruce’s way of dealing with it.
“I wouldn’t have pulled my stroke, when I was Robin,” he muses. “Probably why Bruce never gave me a sword.”
No, Jason would’ve bisected the fucker. It still has appeal, though he thinks he would lean towards his favorite Sig rifle if he was taking care of it today. Headshots for the henchmen - anyone who signs on to that kind of operation, even in the most menial capacity, doesn’t deserve to breathe. Kneecaps and crotch shots for the spectators, to make sure they couldn’t get away. Gut shots for the kid-wranglers. And Zsasz....it’s tempting to want to draw it out, but Jason can feel the desire leaving him the longer he thinks about it. His imaginative tortures fade into a simple headshot, and even that isn’t satisfying. Fuck. He just can’t seem to hold onto his rage lately, even when he wants to. It’s all being replaced by some kind of anxiety, some kind of tenderness that aches, burning deep into him every time Dani looks at him, or touches him. Every time he thinks of her. Every time he feels Dick watching him with her, all warmth and affection.
Colin bounces her a little, making her laugh. Jason feels his revenge fantasy slip away.
“What’re you reading her?” Colin nods to the book still laying open in Jason’s lap.
Jason looks at it. “Oh, Twelfth Night. Shakespeare,” he adds, recalling that Colin is eleven, and likely not perusing great literature in his free time. “Figure it’s never too early to start her on the classics.”
Colin grins. “That’s cool,” he says. “Does she like it?”
“Beats me,” Jason shrugs.
“Read some?”
Jason raises his eyebrows.
Colin flushes. “Um. I mean, if you want…”
He decides to humor him. What the hell. “Sure, why not. ‘O spirit of love! How quick and fresh art thou, that, notwithstanding in thy capacity, receiveth as the sea.’”
Dani yawns widely, relinquishing her fist in a long string of drool. Jason laughs, and so does Colin. “Maybe jumping the gun a little,” he admits. “I don’t really know what kids are into these days.”
“Me either,” Colin says. “I think she liked it, though. See, she’s just sleepy.”
Jason feels a lump forming in his throat, and swallows hard against it.
“What does it mean? The part you were reading,” Colin asks.
“Um.” Jason doesn’t really know, he’s not exactly a literary scholar, but he’s always liked to work Shakespeare out on his own, finding meaning in the wordplay and running the metaphors through his mind until they line up in a satisfactory way. He doesn’t know if his interpretation is correct, exactly, but: “So this Duke, a guy called Orsino, is saying that he doesn’t want to be in love anymore. He’s talking about love and how everyone thinks it’s this wonderful thing, but the truth is that it actually just makes people miserable.”
Jason pauses, feeling like he just showed way too much of his hand. “Basically, he’s just complaining,” he finishes, uneasy.
Glancing at Colin out of the corner of his eye, he’s relieved to see that he’s occupied with Dani, and not paying attention to Jason at all. Thank fuck. If it’d been anyone else in the house sitting there, he’d be in for some horrible armchair psychology session, and he’d have to book it out the window and not return for several months.
“I think she wants you,” Colin says, as Dani ramps up her fussing. Jason takes her gratefully, holds her to his chest as she rubs her eyes and grumbles her displeasure at being passed around.
“All right, I hear you,” Jason murmurs, gently tugging her fists away from her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, come on. It’s not so bad.” Like he’s one to talk.
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, ever since pursue me, he thinks, rocking her tiny body into a comfortable position. Colin was only holding her for ten, maybe fifteen minutes, and Jason was sitting less than five feet away, but he missed her. God, what is happening to him?
“Damian didn’t want to bring her here, at first,” Colin says quietly. “But I think he’s glad that we did. He really likes her, you know.”
Jason doesn’t quite know how to feel about that. It’s sweet, on some level. And he’s well aware that Damian likes her, going by the amount of time he spends hovering in the hallway outside Jason’s room, not to mention the increasingly expensive toys that keep showing up among her things.
He looks down at her, dozing off. “Well, she’s pretty easy to like.”
Colin nods, looking pleased.
“Damian, on the other hand....”
Colin grins. “He’s not so bad.”
He’s really not. Like hell Jason will ever tell him that, though. “You have bizarre taste, kid.”
Colin blushes, hard, and Jason blinks. Well. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Or it will be, in a few years. He makes a note to ask Dick about it, later.
“Are you gonna adopt her?” Colin asks, bringing Jason’s amused thoughts to a screeching halt.
Automatically, he says, “No way.”
Colin looks wounded. “Why not?”
“Because I can’t,” Jason replies. “I’m the last person who should be a parent, trust me.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me.”
Doesn’t feel that way either - the thought floats up, unbidden, uninvited. He can’t. “She deserves better,” Jason says, heavily. “Even if….even I could handle it. She deserves better than this family.”
“But your family is - ”
“A death sentence.” He’s being harsh, but if Colin’s gonna be hanging around, he’ll find out for himself soon enough. “It’s fucking cursed, look. I couldn’t do that to any kid, especially her. You should get out too, while you still can.”
Colin looks angry, which surprises him. His hands are balled into fists, and Jason sees a tremor in them, a bulging that immediately sets off alarm bells in his head.
“Kid,” he says sharply. “Colin. If you’re gonna hulk out, take it outside. Alfred will have an honest-to-God stroke if you do it in here.”
A few deep breaths later, Colin looks normal again. “Sorry.” His voice is hoarse. “You’re wrong, though.”
Jason’s temper flares. “No offense, but I think I would know better than you,” he snaps. Dani grumbles sleepily in his arms, and he sighs out in frustration. “Trust me, okay? She’s better off. It never ends well, not in this family. I’m proof of that.”
But Colin shakes his head. “You don’t know,” he says. “My mom said the same thing, when she dropped me off at the orphanage. She gave the nuns a letter - she said I’d be better off with them than with her.”
Jason stills.
“It didn’t matter,” Colin continues. “Scarecrow still got me. Victor Zsasz still got me. Maybe they would have gotten me with her, too. Maybe I wouldn’t have been that much better off with her, but at least I would’ve been with her.” He sniffles, and Jason holds Dani a little tighter.
“I know she loved me.” His voice cracks. “I just wish...I wish I could’ve stayed with her. I wish she would have known that I never would’ve been better off away from her.”
He looks absolutely miserable, pitched forward and rubbing hard at his eyes. Jason is reminded painfully of how young Colin is, closer to Dani’s age than his own. He remembers being Colin’s age and younger, thinking the same thoughts about his own mother. How fiercely he’d guarded her, chased away the cops and the social workers, doing everything in his power not to be separated from her. Not that it mattered, in the end.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Colin, I’m sorry. For the record, I actually kind of get where you’re coming from.”
Colin looks up at him.
“Wish I didn’t, but. That’s life.”
“You should adopt her,” Colin says again, softly.
Jason shakes his head. “Colin…”
“You’ll think about it.”
He exhales. “Sure, I’ll think about it.” Like he’ll be able to think about anything else after this.
“She needs you,” Colin insists stubbornly.
Jason doesn’t reply. He knows on some level Colin is right - Dani does need him right now. She needs someone, at least, someone who can take care of her and protect her. Someone who isn’t afraid to shed blood to keep her safe. Jason doesn’t relish the thought, but he’s certain this won’t end tidily. Mob cases never do. It’ll be messy, and bloody, and Bruce will have a shit fit, and Dick probably will too, and Jason will go back to Crime Alley and Dani will get shipped off to Witness Protection or something, and damn, does that hurt to think about.
He looks over at Colin, still hunched over on himself, vulnerability written into every line of his posture. He’s desperately in need of a hug, or some kind of affection, validation, maybe. Or that’s just Jason projecting, who the fuck knows. If Dick was here, he would know exactly what to do for him. Jason’s at a loss, unable to separate his young self from the damaged kid sitting next to him.
He adjusts his hold on Dani carefully, laying her down flat along his arm, while he works out what to say. Finally, he settles on, “Damian’s lucky to have you.”
Colin sits up a little straighter. He looks like he’s waiting for more, but he’s shit out of luck, because Jason has no idea what else he needs to hear. No idea what he could say that wouldn’t be completely insincere, anyways. We can be your family, Colin. Like hell. Bruce has enough kids lined up waiting to die for him, he’s not about to encourage another one to be turned into cannon fodder for the man’s principles.
“Uh, yeah,” Jason says, after a moment. “That’s all I got.”
Colin smiles wanly. “Thanks, anyways.”
Jason snorts. “Sure.”
“Can I hug you?”
Jason stares. “Can you…what? Me?”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Colin adds, averting his eyes.
Jason can’t even remember the last time someone hugged him. He thinks Roy might’ve, some eight or nine months ago, after they’d narrowly survived a warehouse explosion. Jason’s whole body had been ringing from the blast, so he doesn’t exactly remember the sensation of it. And before that…?
He imagines Dick’s reaction, if he was here. He’d be disappointed in Jason, that’s for sure. Really, Jay? You can’t hug a child? It’s a fair argument, he has to admit. Jason’s fucked up personal space issues don’t really apply to children, or babies, clearly. Colin’s obviously attention-starved, and Jason’s already holding one kid. What’s another, really.
“Okay,” he relents. “Hit me.”
There’s a shuffling motion next to him, and then Colin is hugging his free arm, leaning his head against Jason’s shoulder. Jason can’t quite contain his surprise - it’s weird, as expected, but it’s not dramatically increasing his desire to bolt through the nearest exit like he’d thought it would. It’s a little funny, actually. He’s pretty sure both Bruce and Damian would lose their shit if they could see him right now. Dick, too, most likely, but to his credit, it would be a happy kind of shit-losing. Damian would probably try to gut him.
Are there cameras in the library? Jason can’t remember. He kind of hopes there aren’t, because if anyone else sees this, he will absolutely never live it down.
***
(dick)
“Wait, I think that’s him.” Dick leans forward to peer at Tim’s screen. He points to the familiar looking figure. “That guy. Do you have a clearer shot?”
Tim skips a few photos ahead, and zooms in. “Him?”
“Yes. That’s the guy. Jason said he recognized him from your surveillance files. He was at the club the night we caught Susie Falcone.”
“The fourth night, was it?” Tim asks, innocently.
“Don’t be mean, Timmy.”
“Just clarifying,” Tim grins. Dick raises an eyebrow. “Okay, okay. I don’t have a ton of intel on this guy, he’s really slippery. According to my informant, he goes by Tiberius - some kind of mercenary, Greek or Albanian national. I doubt that’s his real name.”
Dick nods, studying the photographs. Tim continues, “He came over with Intergang as an enforcer, I think. Might’ve been Reynolds’ personal bodyguard.”
“Could explain how Reynolds got taken out,” Dick says thoughtfully. “He’s on the Falcones’ payroll now, but he’s not family. Might be an easy target.”
Tim opens his mouth, about to reply, when there’s a choked-off sound of fury from the Batcave below them.
“Was that Damian? He’s up already?” Dick asks, glancing down towards Bruce’s computer. He hops over the ramp to see what the fuss is about. Tim follows close behind.
“Everything okay?” Dick asks, approaching the wall of screens. There’s nothing that jumps out at him as being particularly alarming; Bruce is looking at DNA analyses, and Damian is looking at the Manor surveillance, tapping furiously at his ear.
“Todd!” he hisses. “What do you think you’re doing? Colin is my friend!”
“Robin,” Oracle’s voice comes through the speaker. “No names on the comms. And Hood isn’t wearing his earpiece, so you’ll have to tell him in person.” She sounds amused. “Oracle out.”
Damian swears.
“Holy shit,” Tim says faintly. “Look at them.”
The screen that all the Manor surveillance feeds run to is showing just one room - the library, of all places, but Dick vaguely recalls it being some kind of sanctuary to Jason, years and years ago. It makes sense that he’d end up back there, and it makes sense that he’d have Dani with him. What Dick doesn’t expect to see is little Colin Wilkes, all five feet and change of him, snuggled up to Jason’s side and hugging him, wrapped around his arm like a gangly koala. Dick can’t help but notice that Jason’s bicep is about as big around as Colin’s head, which is certainly...something. He’s not quite ready to classify how he feels about that, so he refocuses on the hug itself, which is nothing short of charming.
Damian grinds his teeth audibly. “It’s still going.”
“Oh, man.” Dick can’t help the grin he feels creeping up the sides of his face. “Bruce, are you seeing this?”
“I am,” Bruce says, stiffly. He looks like he’s in pain. Dick fights the urge to roll his eyes.
“What’s wrong with you? Look how sweet they are!” he exclaims, gesturing. It’s adorable.
“It is not sweet,” Damian snarls, whirling on him. “Todd is a corruptive influence, and Colin is young and impressionable! Where is your concern for him?”
Tim coughs, and it sounds a little bit like “jealous”. Surprisingly, this does not diffuse Damian’s indignation.
“I don’t get it,” Dick says, stepping between them quickly to block Damian’s spinning kick. “I thought you and Jason were fine, Damian. You’ve been spending enough time in our - in his room lately. Where’s this coming from?”
“Incredibly, I don’t feel as concerned about Todd recruiting an infant onto the path of lawlessness,” Damian retorts. “Colin lacks paternal guidance in his life, as you know. Todd clearly senses it.”
“Jason is very paternal these days,” Tim agrees.
“I’m pretty sure it’s just a hug,” Dick says in exasperation. “No one’s recruiting anyone, Damian. And look, it’s over. Your friend is just a hugger, that’s all.”
“I must agree with Master Richard,” Alfred says from behind them. “Having been the recipient of many such embraces from young Master Colin myself.”
“See? I’ve gotten hugs from him too,” Dick tells Damian. “And I know you have, so don’t bother denying it. He’s probably gearing up the courage to get one from Bruce one of these days.”
Bruce looks slightly alarmed by the prospect. “He is?”
Damian looks conflicted. “He is?”
Dick casts his eyes heavenward. “Colin, I’m so sorry.”
Before he can say anything else, the Cave door opens below them, and Duke’s bike comes shooting in, whipping around into its parking spot in a move that would send Dick flying over the handlebars. Bruce takes about half a second to look impressed, and then clears the main screen to pull up their intel on the Falcone case.
“What’s up, guys,” Duke calls, pulling off his helmet and jogging up the steps. “I’ve got news. Where’s Jason?”
“Being hugged, in the library,” Dick tells him. “You just missed it.”
Duke looks nonplussed. “Damn. Wait, that’s not some kind of weird euphemism, is it? If it is, I don’t want to know.”
“It most certainly is not,” Damian says venomously.
“Cool. I tried to get him on the comm, but he didn’t respond. Should I go get him? He’ll want to hear this.”
“Damian will get him,” Bruce says.
Damian is…already on the elevator. Dick spares a thought for Jason. At least he’s holding Dani, so Damian won’t attack him outright.
“Your news?” Bruce prompts.
“Right,” Duke nods. “I’ve been all over City Hall records, and spent yesterday afternoon getting intel in the East End. I’ve got names and faces of most of the major players in this. They’re trying hard to front some distant nephew of Carmine Falcone as the head of the whole operation, but it wasn’t quite adding up. You said the new Falcone boss is a woman, right?” he asks Tim.
Tim nods affirmatively.
Duke looks triumphant. “Then I know who she is.”
***
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anthologician · 3 years
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happy new year, my love! | gojo satoru x fem! shaman-reader.
|   hello there, welcome to my first ever one-shot. i just recently started watching jujutsu kaisen and i totally fell in love with satoru, it’s one of the reasons on why i decided to make a tumblr lmao. i guess i’m just a big simp for guys and girls with tones of humour though, hehe.
this shot contains:  indepedent portrayal of canon characters. extreme randomness brought to you by nobara and yuji. megumi being a sheepish boy. nationally mediterranean! reader.
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Maybe it was because she was growing twitchy with . . . the peace that’s been going on recently. No Jujutsu Sorcerer was fond of standing by and doing nothing when something should be happening. Something always happens in their line of work, be it a curse of b-rank or above. More and more special cases started appearing now with the research of Sukuna’s finger being, somehow, a worldwide knowledge to all the shaman in Japan.
Somehow, the news of someone eating Sukuna’s finger reached the ears of a certain skillful shaman. L/N Y/N was one of the Elite of the Elite, a person who took their job seriously and was certainly looked up to as the good --- best --- example of a sorcerer. She doesn’t have the powess as the likes of Gojo Satoru, but her tactical mind made her a very deadly opponent to go against.
Which is why when she heard that the son of her big sister figure, who’s now long dead unfortunately, was the one to eat Sukuna’s finger, she took the first flight from [southern european place] and to Japan, her will never faltering despite the anxious feeling growing inside her as the minutes passed by.
Suddenly, she didn’t feel so twitchy anymore.
Glaring at the white haired, eye-folded lanky man in front of her, she did the first thing that came to her mind at the sight of him.
She punched him straight in the face.
When the infinity was down.
Crack!
“Fucking asshole of a motherfucking son of a cunty bi-”
“-Happy new year for you too, my love!” Gojo Satoru clutched his, definetely now, broken nose, a shit eating grin breaking out on his lips at the sight of his fuming --- corection: livid --- girlfriend.
“You spent the last month ignoring me, never answering my calls, always leaving me on read, making me feel like shit thinking that we’re breaking up, and the only thing you do is to fucking wish me happy new year, you bastard?!”
“Aww, did y/n-chan missed little ol’ me?” He pouted, which turned immediately into a grimace. The woman could sure pack a punch.
“The only thing I missed was your growing incapability of communicating! What a sudden development.”
Yuji and Nobara, who were standing a few feet away along with Megumi, sweatdropped and backed away from the raging woman. Though inwardly, Nobara looked disapointedly at her sensei, sighing heavily.
“I didn’t pass Gojo-sensei for that kind of guy,” Yuji cupped his chin, observing the accentric couple. “. . . Nevermind, he is careless anyways.”
“That punch didn’t look like your average one.” Nobara yawned, placing her hand on her hip before turning to her black-haired teammate. “You know her?”
He definetely did. “No,” He lied. “Never seen her before... I don’t associate around these kind of-”
“-Megumi! Tell me right this instant where the hell was Satoru this past month of ‘special business’, like myself is not one of the best shaman the world has been blessed with or something, because I swear to God I will break both of your spines!”
Yuji and Nobara shot the Fushiguro boy a deadpan glance, both of them raising a eyebrow. ‘Really?’ their unimpressive stares told him.
The noirette looked away from the with a sweatdrop, looking at the sky like it was the most interesting thing he has ever seen.
At the end, Gojo didn’t take his new years kiss.
And he was single.
His three students never stopped sniggering everytime they glanced at his red hand imprinted cheek.
Serves the bastard right.
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|   OKAY FIRST OF ALL, this wasn’t the real one-shot! The year is changing in 3 hours and i thought that maybe a little classic anime humour could do for a first shot since i don’t have time to write it.
the next shot will be more fluffy and . . . smutty. ;) i promise you.
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Riding On Ch 13: Healthy Competition
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Summary: Mary decides she wants to compete in her first horse riding cotest, so the family take an outing and Frank gets a first-hand experience of the world Fliss once called her life.
Warnings: Bad Language words.
Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher
A/N:  This is very Mary/horsey heavy so apologies in advance. Thank you to @southerngracela​ and @icanfeelastormbrewing​ for the beta reading and ideas. 
Chapter Song: It’s My Life by Bon Jovi 
Series Masterlist //  WIYPT Masterlist
My heart is like an open highway, like Frankie said I did it my way. I just want to live while I'm alive
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 October 2018
"Lissy, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Course you can sweetie." Fliss looked at Mary as she approached the sofa, Laptop in her arms. "Everything OK?” "Yeah." Mary nodded, “Just before, some of the other girls at the yard were talking about a jumping competition in a few weeks and I was wondering..." she sat down, perching her laptop on her knees "Do you think maybe I could take Monty?" "Do you wanna take him?" Fliss asked and Mary nodded. "Then of course you can" "Really?" Mary's eyes lit up. "Yeah, it's been ages since I went to a competition. It'll be fun!" "I wasn't sure I would be good enough." Mary shrugged. "Mary, Monty could do a jumping course with his eyes closed." Fliss smiled "and you're plenty good enough. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway. It’s about enjoying yourself. I take it you got the website there?" She nodded to the laptop. Mary grinned and opened it up. Fliss took it from her and quickly scanned the information. "FireAnt Farm Equestrian Centre, Tarpon Springs..." Fliss mused, quickly grabbing her phone to locate the area on Google maps. "Is it too far?" Mary questioned. "Nope." Fliss shook her head. "Probably take us 40 minutes in the wagon. I used to travel much further." "There's a lot of different classes to enter." Mary said, shuffling towards Fliss so she could see the screen too "I wasn't sure which one I would go in." "I'd put you in the beginners class." Fliss said "It's 40cm max height and you've jumped those plenty. And then....why don't you try a few flat classes whilst we are there? The schedule doesn't look like they would clash..." "Flat class?" Mary frowned "like dressage?" "Kinda, it’s about showing your pony off. You basically do a go round as a group in each pace on both reins and then you do a quick individual show. It’s easy, I used to do a simple figure of 8." "Oh. OK." Mary shrugged. "I never saw that before." "Well, let's have a look." Fliss smiled, opening up a browser to YouTube. She flicked her eyes over to Alex who was fast asleep and then spent the next 15 minutes or so showing Mary various videos of different kids showing classes on the Web. "So Monty is a Welsh Pony." Fliss said "so he doesn't need to be plaited…or braided, whatever. We turn him out true to type which means we just need to tidy his mane and tail up a bit. And as he's over 15 he can go in the Pre-Veteran class. So they look at how he moves and performs for his age group. Why don't you do that which is the 4th one in the morning and then do the junior rider. Then there's a long enough break before the beginners jumping." "So I get to do 3 classes?" Mary grinned and Fliss nodded. “Hey, it says here they're running a winter league." Fliss mused "Is that what you wanna do? Compete in the league or just the one off?" "A league like with baseball or football?" "Exactly that." Fliss nodded. "So you join up and it says here you get points immediately for just going in the class. They place to 6th position and award points according with the highest being 12 to first. Then the person with the moat points takes the Championship overall at the end."
She pointed at the screen “Say’s here the first one is on 3rd November and they run to March next year, so there’s 5 overall. What do you think?” Mary grinned “Bring it on!”
Fliss smiled as Mary gave her a hi-five.
“Why don’t you bring Bronson?” Mary asked, “Or Cap?” Fliss shook her head. “It wouldn’t be fair on everyone there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I competed at a professional level” Fliss shrugged “It wouldn’t be very sporting of me if I entered a class full of hobbyists. I would have hated it when I was there myself. The only way I’d do it is if I went in and declared I was 'hors concours' or HC as it’s known.”
“Hors concours?” Mary repeated “What’s that?”
“It means that I’d be taking part without actually competing. So I might enter a competition to give a young horse experience or what-have-you but my marks would not be counted as such.”
 “Bronson is only 6.” Mary said “You said he had never done a jumping competition before.” “He hasn’t.” Fliss said, pondering “Maybe another time. This one we concentrate on you.”
Mary grinned and then Fliss turned her attention to what they needed to get her. They spent a bit of time looking at Tweed showing jackets, Mary deciding on the type of thing she liked before Fliss found a decent value second hand one on a local Equestrian Buy and Sell group on Facebook which Mary eagerly nodded at, the same seller also having a Navy Blue show-jumping jacket the same size.
“When you’re not growing so fast I’ll buy you brand new ones.” Fliss smiled, tapping in a message to the seller arranging to collect the items the following mornings. “So you have your DeNiro boots which we can polish, your short boots as well,  you have a hat that will be ok, it should be velvet but for the time being it will do...so we need canary and white jodhs… a show shirt, a tie…shall we take a trip up to the Tack Shack tomorrow?”
“Yes please!” Mary smiled “I have some of my pocket money saved, I can put that towards it.” “Put what towards what?” Frank asked as he walked into the family room. He dropped a kiss to Fliss cheek and ruffled Mary’s hair, causing her to scowl up at him. “More horse riding crap?” he nodded to the screen of the laptop.
“Mary is going to do her first competition in 2 weeks so we’re kitting her out.” Fliss smiled. Frank looked at her, then to Mary and smiled.
“That so?”
Mary nodded “I’m gonna do 3 classes. 2 showing and one jumping. So we already sorted my jacket and Fliss is taking me to the Tack Shack tomorrow for the rest of it.” “Why what else do you need?” “Jodhpurs, a shirt and a tie.” Mary nodded reeling it off. “Oh and a new hat at some point but Fliss says the one that I have will do…”
“Why do you need another hat?” Frank asked.
“Well strictly speaking show hats should be velvet or suede.” Fliss shrugged “But for this level it won’t matter.”
“Sounds like another bashing my card is gonna take.” Frank grumbled good-naturedly and Fliss swatted at him. He chuckled again and stood up straight from where he had been leaning on the back of the couch, heading to the fridge to retrieve his standard post work beer.
“Can I wear the same tie for show-jumping and showing?” Mary asked.
“Hmmmm possibly. We can get 2.” Fliss said. “One that matches your tweed and then you can pick whatever you want colour wise for jumping. Have a look on the website, see if there’s anything you like.”
Mary grinned and took the lap top off Fliss who stood up, stretching slightly. She headed over to Frank, slipping her arms round his waist.
“She’s excited.” He stated, watching Mary as she tapped at the keyboard. His chest was warm at the utter delight on the young girl’s face as she was searching different coloured ties. “What sparked her wanting to do this?” “Someone at the yard. She overheard them talking and asked if she could go.” Fliss smiled “She wants to do the Winter League” “They run a league?” “Yeah.” Fliss smiled “5 competitions in total. It’ll be good for her, a bit of healthy competition. I already managed to grab her 2 jackets. Both second hand but no point shelling out loads when she’s gonna grow out of them by the end of the season. Tweeds cost a fortune.”
“How much are the hats she was talking about?” he asked, taking a swig of his beer.
“Erm, her size probably about eighty bucks, why?” “Just get her one.” He said gently, dropping his voice “She never asks for stuff like this so…” “You big softie.” Fliss smiled, standing on her toes to give him a kiss. “I love you.”
“Love you too. And thank you.” Frank said gently, bumping his nose against hers.
“What for?” Fliss frowned.
“For this.” He nodded to Mary “Doing stuff that makes her excited and happy.” “You don’t need to thank me.” Fliss looked at him, and then for the first time she noticed the look on his face. He was watching Mary, his eyes not quite as full of their usual sparkle. “Frankie, what’s wrong?”
He took a deep breath and looked at Mary “Hey Stack, have you spoken to Evelyn this week?”
“Not yet.” Mary said “I was gonna later, why?”
“Why don’t you give her a call before dinner?” he suggested “You can tell her about your competition.” “Ok.” Mary shrugged standing up “But if you wanted to talk in private you could just ask.” “Ok I’m asking, scoot.”
She stood up and looked at him “You forget I know you Frank.”
“Oh, trust me I don’t.” he shot after her as she laughed, climbing the stairs.
Fliss turned to Frank as he sat down on one of the stools by the breakfast bar. “Honey, what is it?”
“I spoke to Greg before.” He looked at her as she moved to stand between his legs. “He still hasn’t heard back from her father about the adoption.”
“Ok.” Fliss dropped her hands to his shoulders as his rest on her hips “That doesn’t mean he’s gonna cause an issue.”
“No, but Greg’s twitchy, I can tell. I mean if the asshole wasn’t bothered about Mary surely we would have heard by now. It’s been almost 8 weeks.” Frank wrinkled his nose. “Baby there’s nothing we can do about it.” Fliss soothed “Yeah, if he protests it’s gonna be a little more agro than we thought but…well, we’ll just have to face it when it happens, ok?” “I know I just…well I was hoping this would be done for Christmas, that’s all.” “It might be yet, it’s not even November. Is there anything Greg can do?”
“He’s gonna send a chaser letter but other than that not really.” Frank shrugged before he sighed “I know you’re right, there’s nothing we can do but that doesn’t stop me worrying about it.”
“I know, because you love her. We both do. I’m worried as well but like you said to me, whatever happens we face it together.” She leaned down to give him a quick peck “Now, change of subject…you gonna come with us to the competition in a few weeks? Be nice for us all to go. Can be our first proper family outing.” “Will there be beer?” Frank pondered, his hand sliding down the outside of her thighs and back up again.
“Take a cool box” she smiled
Frank chuckled “Of course I’ll come. Wouldn’t miss her first competition for the world.”
******
October ticked into November, bringing with it a slight drop in temperature and still no movement on the Adoption. However, Frank and Fliss had pushed it to the back of their minds which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that hard as Mary’s excitement over her impending first competition was infectious.
When Fliss took her to the Tack Shack and told her that Frank said she could get a competition hat, Mary had almost cried, giving Fliss a huge hug but reserving the biggest hug of all for her Uncle when she got home. She’d paraded around the family room in her show gear, showing off her outfit for both Fliss, Frank and then again for Verity and Bill, and on a video call to Evelyn.
She practiced with Fliss or Joanne every day after school. They taught her the ring etiquette, how to talk to the judge and also set up a full course for her to practice on, Fliss teaching her all about how the first round was about getting clear and the jump off also introduced the element of time. Fliss felt an overwhelming sense of pride as the girl improved day by day and found herself actually believing that she’d do pretty well when the day came.
The afternoon before the show was spent with one final practice and then Mary had to give Monty a bath. Whilst he was drying off she then loaded the wagon with her jackets, cleaned her tack and then carried that to the wagon too where Fliss placed it in the tack locker, locking it up.
Frank was under the bonnet of said wagon, checking the oil and the coolant to make sure it was ready for the trip in the morning when he heard footsteps on the gravel and he looked up to see Mary hopping up the steps into the back of the wagon.
“What’s she checking now?” he looked over at Fliss, straightening himself up and reaching for the rag that was tucked in the back pocket of his dirty jeans. Fliss didn’t reply, she was too busy scanning Frank from head to toe, and making no attempt to even disguise the fact she was blatantly eyeing him up “Earth to Lissy…” “Yeah, sorry…what?” she asked, looking at him, biting her lip.
He snorted as he wiped his hands on the rag, shaking his head “And you call me a pervert.” Fliss shrugged “I told you, the whole dirty mechanic things does stuff to me.”
“He will do stuff to you give him half a chance.” He grinned and she smirked, arching an eyebrow.
“You’ll corrupt our son.” She said, placing her hands over his ears, where he was positioned in the baby sling at her chest. “Mind you, he’s probably already scarred for life after your antics last night…” “Didn’t hear you complaining.” Frank smirked, “Quite the opposite in fact.” Fliss bit her lip a the memory of a particularly good round of sex the night before, which had resulted in her on all fours in the middle of the mattress. Looking at Frank she shrugged and he snorted, closing the bonnet of the wagon “All set.” He nodded towards it. “Oil topped up, coolant and water levels good…”
“So you didn’t find anything to fix, like I told you that you wouldn’t.” “Hey, I just wanted to make sure it’s safe for my girls, it hasn’t been anywhere in a while.” He shrugged
“Joanne used it yesterday to go to the wholesalers for feed and shavings.” Fliss looked at him.
“Yeah, well…whatever, I make no apologies for wanting to check anyway.” He smiled, taking the kiss she offered.
Mary jumped down from the back of the wagon and reached up to lock the back door before she trotted round and handed Fliss the keys.
“You happy you got everything?” Frank looked at her “Seeing as that’s like the five-hundredth time you checked.” “Don’t exaggerate.” Mary rolled her eyes as Alex made a noise and the 3 of them looked at him before Mary pointed “see, even he thinks you’re an idiot.”
“Rude.” Frank grumbled. After one last check on Monty who was sparkling white (Although Fliss knew they’d end up giving him another quick clean up in the morning) they headed home and after a quick shower Frank lit the BBQ outside. The family enjoyed a good grill for dinner, before Fliss disappeared upstairs and came back with a wrapped packaged. Frank frowned, as she handed it to Mary.
“Everyone needs one of those for competitions.” She smiled, as Mary looked at her, taking it gently.
“What is it?”
“Open it and see!” Fliss rolled her eyes as she sat back down on the seat, glancing at Frank who had Alex against his chest, his head resting on his shoulder.
Mary tore the wrapping paper off and gasped as she held up the pink gilet top. It had the Sandybrook Stables logo embroidered on the front right hand breast but it was what was on the back that had caught her eye. She looked at it, then to Fliss and with a stunned smile turned it round so Frank could see. It was a motif of a horse jumping her fence with ‘Mary Adler’ arched over the top in gold, cursive writing and ‘Monte Carlo VI’- Monty’s show-name- underneath in the same typeface. Small diamantes were scattered around the entire design which caught the lights that were dotted around the garden and Frank’s face broke into a huge smile as Mary looked at him, then to Fliss.
“Sally has one of these for Jackson…” she whispered “I always wanted one, how did you know?”
Fliss smiled “Sally’s mum told me you asked where she got it from. I thought I’d get you one. It’s a bit bigger so will fit over your jackets and a hoody if you need it to. You can wear it in the collecting ring and then take it off before you go in to do your shows and jumping.” “Lissy I love it, thank you so much!” Mary stood up and rounded the table to give Fliss a huge hug. Fliss kissed her head and cupped her cheek.
“You’re welcome sweetheart.” “Well, come on…” Frank nodded to it, “Let’s see it on!”
Mary grinned and shrugged the gilet on over her jumper and beamed, giving them a twirl. Fliss told her to stand still and took a photo of the front and the back if it, before setting her phone down on the table.
After a little more chat, given the fact they had a busy day they all headed up to bed. Frank tucked Mary in before Fliss popped in to say goodnight, Thor jumping up onto Mary’s bed clearly deciding he was staying there for the evening with Fred. Fliss closed the door and made her way to the master bedroom where Frank was led on top of the bed in his boxers, Alex sleeping in the basinet as his dad flicked through the channels on the TV.
“How much did that gilet set you back?” he asked and Fliss wrinkled her nose.
“I put t it through the account on company expenses as Sponsorship.” she shrugged. “I’m gonna order her a jacket and a hoody for Christmas.”
 Frank chuckled “You spoil her.”
“So do you.” Fliss shrugged and pulled off her T-shirt and jeans before opening the door to the en-suite.
“But if it makes you feel better, I got a present for you too, sailor…” she grinned, shedding her underwear and beckoning for him to follow her.
Frank blinked, smirked and jumped up off the bed, the pair of them giggling as he dispensed of his boxers and backed his future wife into the shower, shutting the cubicle door behind him.
*****
Fliss and Mary set off early the next morning, whilst Frank took a little more time making sure he had everything Alex needed before he headed out to his truck and keyed the location into his GPS. When he arrived he parked up, got Alex settled in the stroller and wandered down the yard. As he rounded the corner, he gave a blink, the place was packed with horses and people, all sorts of different competitions going on. After a little walk around he located their wagon and as luck would have it, Fliss and Mary were making their way back. He smiled, Mary was dressed in her older jodhpurs, and a hoody with her personalised gilet proudly donning her top half where-as Fliss looked every bit the cowgirl in her jeans, plaid shirt, cowboy boots and her hat.
“Hey!” She greeted him, giving him a quick kiss before she looked at Alex, her hand stroking his cheek.
“You all set?” Frank asked and Mary grinned.
“Yeah, we booked in, registered…I got my membership number...” she held up the laminated piece of paper with the digits 287 printed on “…and we got about 40 minutes until my first class.” “So we need to get him off the wagon, quick bush down and then you can get on to warm up.” Fliss said, nodding to the ramp. Frank moved the stroller out of the way and he and Fliss undid the latches, dropping it down as Mary hopped up and undid he partition. She brought Monty down and set about undoing his travel boots and his tail bandage, taking his tail out of the braid before she hopped up to get her brushes.
“She’s like a coiled spring.” Fliss grinned, looking at Frank who chuckled.
“Yeah, she doesn’t do anything by halves.” He smiled, looking around “It’s busy.” “First one of a season always is.” Fliss mused “There’s over 20 in her first class and 11 so far in her second. No idea about the jumping, I didn’t ask. I told her not to bother about it, as long as she enjoys herself…”
Frank smiled as Fliss gently touched his arm and set about helping Mary. 20 minutes later Monty was tacked up and Frank, from what little he knew about horses, had to admit they looked pretty smart. Her tweed was a dark green with a check pattern of brown and pinks, her show shirt was cream and the tie she was wearing was a green and pink striped one, matching perfectly. Fliss had braided Mary’s hair so it hung down her back and had secured it with a matching ribbon and as she jammed her new hat on she grinned at Frank.
“Looking good Stack” he smiled.
“Ok, ready?” Fliss asked.
Mary nodded and hopped up onto the small step at the back of the wagon, vaulting onto Monty, the pony simply standing still and observing his surroundings as if he did this every day.
Frank pushed the stroller as Fliss walked besides him, Mary slightly ahead as she made her way into the collecting ring. Fliss followed her in and Frank stood at the side, watching as Fliss made sure the girth on the saddle was tight enough before she nodded, spoke to Mary who also gave a nod and walked away from Fliss. Fliss stayed in the ring with her, gently giving her instructions, helping Mary to warm Monty in. And then Mary’s class was called. Fliss took the gilet off her before Mary looked over at Frank. He gave her a huge grin and a thumbs up and she smiled back before he saw her take a deep breath and follow another rider into the ring.
Fliss joined him and they made their way down a little so they could watch. Monty was easily the smallest pony in the class and Frank frowned.
“He looks tiny.” “He is only 14’2 hands high.” Fliss shrugged “But this is a veteran class, for horses over 15. So they’ll look at how he moves, not how he looks next to the other horses.”
“Oh.” Franks shrugged, turning his attention to Mary, then the two women stood in the middle “Are they the judges?”
“One is, the one in the hat.” Fliss said “The other is a steward. She basically shouts the instructions out and helps the judge.” Frank watched as the woman instructed the group to trot on. They did a few laps around the ring before they set off into canter. Mary’s face was set in concentration as thy ride repeated the action on the opposite rein before they all lined up.
“Now they do their individual shows.” Fliss said, her eyes focussing on the action in the ring. “This is what Mary was practicing yesterday when you showed up.” There were two horses before it was Mary’s turn. She walked Monty out of the line-up and stood him, perfectly square in front of the judge. She chatted to the woman who walked around Monty to take a look at him, before Mary set off to do her show. Frank glanced at Fliss and smiled as his girl was beaming with pride as Mary completed her show, foot (or hoof) perfect before she halted, saluted to the judge and then gave Monty a huge pat. She glanced over at Fliss who gave her a thumbs up, smiling.
All in all it took about 30 minutes to work through the class, and once the last person had done they all set off in a walk as the judge was muttering something, her eyes flicking along the ponies. Eventually she nodded and the steward walked out, pointing to a large bay. A few people started clapping as the Bay moved inwards to take first place, and then next was a smaller chestnut and then she pointed at Mary.
“Fuck, Frank she got third!” Fliss almost exploded as she started to cheer, Frank giving a grin as he also clapped, Mary’s face split into a huge grin as she took her place. 4th, 5th and 6th were awarded, rosettes were handed out and then the placings took a lap of honour before exiting the ring.
“Well done!” Fliss beamed at Mary as she grinned, looking at her yellow rosette “3rd out of 20! Mary that’s amazing for your first go!”
Mary nodded, taking a deep breath, the tears filling her eyes “I’m so happy!” she spluttered and Frank gave a chuckle, looping his arm around her, giving Monty a pat.
But that was nothing compared to her reaction when she won second place in the next class she was in, the Junior Rider. Fliss really did explode at that point, and Mary burst into tears, the judge looking a little shocked before she smiled at Mary, handing her the blue rosette.
After they’d calmed Mary down, they untacked Monty as there was a little wait until the jumping started and Frank headed off to grab them a burger from the fast food van at the far end of the yard. They sat on the ramp of the wagon, Frank teasing Mary as usual, before they heard a little cough and all looked up.
“I’m really sorry…” A woman spoke shyly “But are you Fliss Gallagher.” “Yeah.” Fliss smiled “Erm, hi.” “My daughter…she’s a huge fan. She followed all of the US team but you and Charlotte DuJardin from Team GB really hooked her in the 2012s and she’s…well, she’s hiding over there because she wouldn’t come speak to you.” The woman bashfully admitted and Fliss felt her cheeks growing red.
“Oh…thanks.” She said, “Which one is she?”
“The blonde over there…”
“Be back in a sec.” She smiled at Frank, standing up.
Frank looked at Mary, his mouth falling open “What just happened?” “Fliss is a horse riding celebrity Frank.” Mary shrugged. “She was a huge star until her accident.”
Frank turned and watched as Fliss spoke to the teen who was clearly in awe, and then smiled and nodded when her mom waved her phone. She posed for a quick photo before she turned and started to walk back towards them.
“I feel kinda sorry for her in a way.” Mary sighed.
“How do you mean?” Frank looked at his niece.
“Well, imagine finally doing the thing you always dreamed of, what you worked your whole life towards only to have it cut short.” Mary spoke, her mouth full of burger “Half the show-jumping teams around the world have people in them that are in their sixties you know. Fliss was only 28.”
Frank pondered for a moment as Fliss approached, he hadn’t really thought about it from that point of view before, nor had he even considered for one second that Fliss might still be recognised. Either way, he felt a little warmth in his chest as she flopped back down next to him, reaching for the rest of her burger.
“Can I get an autograph?” he asked.
“Piss off.” Fliss snorted as he laughed, dropping a kiss to her cheek.
Despite having enjoyed Mary’s flat shows, Frank did NOT enjoy the jumping. It scared the shit out of him. Fliss walked the course with Mary, now dressed in her jumping outfit of white breeches, navy jacket and a bright pink and blue sparkly tie as they examined the route she would take. And then far too soon in his opinion it was her turn to go in and he wasn’t sure he could watch.
“And entering the ring now we have Mary Adler riding Monte Carlo VI…” the announcer spoke on the tanoy as Mary trotted Monty in. The buzzer sounded and she picked up canter and pointed the pony at the first jump. Monty cleared it with ease and did the same with the 2nd, 3rd…all the way to the 11th leaving one to go.
“She clears this she’s in the jump off.” Fliss muttered. Frank took a deep breath, watching as Mary approached the small oxer and Monty took off. His back feet brushed the pole and Fliss held her breath, but thankfully despite rolling, it didn’t fall.
“Wait, that means she has to do that again?” Frank asked as Fliss clapped and cheered as Mary headed towards the gate to exit the field.
“Yeah, but not as many.” Fliss replied as she headed over to Mary.
Not as many, but twice as damned fast as Frank found out. The ponies where whizzing over the 5 jumps in the jump off, which were part of the course but not in order, the numbers being 2, 7, 5,9 and 8 the turns being tighter as the idea was still to go clear, but in the event more than one clear was achieved it went down to time.
The riders were in no order, and Mary decided to go a little further down the line so she could watch the others take the turns, a tactic Fliss suggested. By the time she was due to go in there were 5 clears already.
“Ok, so you’re gonna have to go for speed too.” Fliss said, looking at her “But the main thing is try and stay clear. If you want my advice, cut the corner between numbers 5 and 6. Everyone is looping round 6 to get to 9 but if you hang a right as soon as you’re over 5 you’ll have a few seconds off. Its tight, and he won’t have as many strides, probably 3 max, but let him take you ok?”
Mary nodded, swallowed and headed in. She took the first jumps easily and then after the 3rd did exactly what Fliss said. Monty put in an extra half stride, however, which threw Mary’s balance a little as he took off and for a horrible moment Frank thought she was going to fall but she didn’t, she regained her balance and turned, taking the last 2 jumps easily.
Mary secured 4th place in her jumping, the smile on her face was infectious and Frank found himself beaming along with them as they walked back to the wagon.
***** “Where’s Stack?” Frank asked as Fliss emerged into the room dropping the bag of Mary’s show clothing onto the sofa. Thor, who had been with Joanna whilst they had been out all day, flopped down onto the rug in front of the TV.
“She’s giving Monty some treats after he did so well today, and chewing Jo’s ear off about the competition. Jo said she’d watch her back over when she’s done.” Fliss smiled, reaching for Alex as he started to gripe “You hungry baby?”
Frank smiled as she settled on the sofa, undoing her shirt so she could feed him and he sat on the arm, looking down at her.
“She did so well today.” He said, “I never in a million years dreamed she’d be doing anything like this.” “Well, I did warn you the first time you walked onto my yard that once you have that horse smell on your hands, you’re hooked.” “Don’t I know it?” Frank grinned, kissing her cheek.
A little while later, Fliss finished up feeding Alex and peered down at him, the baby gazing at her, waving his eyes, his lips curling up into a smile and Fliss laughed.
“He’s smiling again.” She said.
“Sure it’s not wind?” Frank teased. “Err, no I just burped him.” Fliss said indignantly “They start smiling at 6 weeks, he’s smiling. I can tell.”
Frank chuckled and peered down, smiling at his baby and earning himself one back in return. He gently took him from Fliss so she could do up her top before he set him down and followed her into the kitchen where, upon examining the contents of the fridge, they settled on take out for dinner.
“So I know Mary did but did you enjoy it?” Frank asked as Fliss pulled a beer for them both out of the fridge.
“Yeah, yeah I did. You know, seeing it there, all those people competing…there’s nothing like that around here.”  “Got me thinking, maybe I could run something like that at some point down the line.” “Sandybrook Show huh?” Frank smiled as he popped the caps off their beers, settling down at the kitchen counter.
Fliss grinned “Yeah, it would be kind of cool to expand into stuff like that.” She took a drink “I’ve actually been giving it a bit of thought in general.” “What, competitions?” Frank asked
“No, expanding.” Fliss swallowed a mouthful of drink “The land at the back has always been available to me to buy, the old Farmer said he would give it to me whenever I want, and it would add another 10 acres to the portfolio. I could grow the yard area, more stables, more grazing, hold events like that one today…” she trailed off, frowning as she noticed the look on Frank’s face. “What’s wrong? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”
“No, I mean yeah, I do. We always talked about expanding your business.” He hesitated “I guess I didn’t realise it would be so soon.” “What do you mean?” Fliss looked at him. “I’ve been up and running now for over 3 years.”
“I mean after Alex being born.” Frank said, his eyes flicking to where his baby son was asleep in the basinet. “He’s barely 10 weeks old Liss, don’t you think you’d be taking on too much?” “I’d manage” she waved her hand “I could recruit more staff.”
She could see from the look on Frank’s face he wasn’t convinced. She took a deep breath and turned in her seat so her body was facing his “Sailor,I can tell you’re not happy about the idea.”
“It’s not that I’m not happy.” Frank shook his head, and that was the truth. The fact she had such drive and want to build something better was amazing, he loved it in her, but he was struggling to find the words to voice what he was feeling about it. “Ok, I’m…just gonna come out and say this and I don’t want you to fly off the handle…4 weeks ago you were petrified of leaving Alex with your mom. You still don’t like being away from him now, and…” “Of course I don’t like it.” Fliss frowned “I’m breast feeding him, and-“ “Exactly.” Frank looked at her “So you take on this extra work, what are you going to do? You wanna put him in Creche, find a Childminder?”
Fliss shrugged a little “Mum said she would have him but I don’t want to put that on her, not every day. Maybe 2 days a week and then I don’t have to be at the yard all the time. Joanne runs things now and I can just…” Frank chuckled “I know you. Name me one day in your pregnancy that you didn’t pop in. You were teaching like almost until the day you dropped. And before you start I’m not saying that was a bad thing, far from it. You said yourself it kept you active and your brain engaged. I’m just saying there’s no way you’ll take a back seat. It’s bad enough trying to get you to stick to your Sundays off.” “I know.” Fliss nodded “But that’s something I’ll have to get stricter at.”
“Ok.” Frank took a deep breath “Whatever you say.”
Fliss frowned “Don’t do that.” “Do what?”
“Dismiss what I said.” “I wasn’t.” Frank shook his head.
“Yes you were, you just completely shrugged it off.” “No.” Frank said, his voice remaining calm “I said whatever you say. If you say that’s what you’re gonna do then…”
“Don’t you want me to do this or something?” Fliss asked and Frank took a deep sigh.
“Liss, we literally just went over this. I never said I didn’t want you to do it. Quite the opposite. I just…well I think it’s too soon ok?” he looked at her “Alex isn’t sleeping through yet, you’re tired during the day as you tell me when I get home. Hell, I’m tired and my job is nowhere near as physically demanding as yours not to mention the fact I’m not the one feeding him and…” he licked his lips
“You fix boats.” Fliss looked at him, a little sullenly “That’s physical…” “Not as much as I used to.” Frank shook his head “I’m based in the office a lot now, as you well know because you complain I don’t come home full of grease as much as I used to. We won’t mention the fact that I’m growing a little…how do I put this, softer round the edges now because of that, hence the weights in the garage”. He smiled, attempting to make a joke out of it as he could recognise only too well the look in her eye. It wasn’t full blown anger yet but if he didn’t cut the discussion off soon it was going to be. “Look...” he reached out and took her hand “We’re incredibly lucky. We’re in a position where you don’t need to rush back to work. My job pays well, your business brings you in a very decent turnover each month, we have savings…I just think that we should take advantage of that and you should take a few more months off, maybe look at going back in March, say. Take a full 6 off to be with him, enjoy being a mom.”
“Is that what you want me to do?” Fliss asked after a moments pause.
“This isn’t about what I want.” Frank sighed, his tone now starting to betray his frustration. “I can’t and won’t stop you doing anything, you know this. I just want you to consider your options, that’s all.” Fliss took a deep breath, gave a nod and pushed her stool back, draining the rest of her beer. “Where you going?” Frank frowned.
“For a shower.” She said simply “I need to get out of these jeans and this shirt.”
Frank gave a groan “Why do you do this?” “Do what?”
“Every time we have a slight difference in opinion on something you clam up.” He looked at her “Let’s talk this through, Liss. Don’t walk away.” “I’ve nothing else to say.” Fliss said, her voice ending in a little chuckle. “You’ve made your opinion on the matter very clear.” “Yeah, and now I’m waiting to hear yours.”
Fliss took a deep breath “I don’t wanna take 6 months off.”
“Ok.” Frank nodded “Then you don’t have to. I still think it’s too soon for you to be looking at expanding though.”
“I know what you think Frank, you told me.” Fliss shrugged “You don’t need to keep repeating yourself.” “I keep repeating myself because you seem to be completely and utterly dismissing what I’m saying.” Frank looked at her.
“For fucks sake Frank.” Fliss looked at him. “Stop talking to me like I’m one of the kids.”
“Well you’re doing a pretty good job of acting like one.” Frank looked at Fliss, his eyebrow raised as he felt his temper beginning to flare “And a petulant one at that.”
Fliss gave a chuckle of ironic laughter “Oh that’s rich, you calling me a petulant child. You’re the one kicking off because I’m refusing to entertain some stupid idea about taking 6 months off work”
“You know, a lot of women would kill to be in the position to be able to do that.” Frank looked at her and she shrugged.
“So?” she frowned “With the greatest of respects, I don’t care. Yes, I’m lucky. I get that but I don’t want to Frank!” “And I’m not saying you have to! Jesus Christ!” Frank groaned “When did I, at any point in this discussion, ever say you have to stay at home huh? You tell me exactly when those words left my mouth….” Fliss looked at him, and blinked as her mouth closed and she swallowed. “See, you can’t because I didn’t say it!”
“Well, you might as well have.” She glared at him “You’re trying to control my decision about what I feel is right for me…”
“You think…” Frank cocked his head to one side, as he felt a flash of angry heat rush up his neck to his cheeks at her words. His temper was really brewing now, the angry knot in his stomach growing tighter by the second. “You think I’m trying to control you?”
“Well aren’t you?”
“God damnit Lissy!” Frank’s voice was loud as he stood up from his chair, “You’re downright infuriating at times. No, that’s not what I’m doing. At all. What I’m doing is trying to have a sensible discussion with you.” “Well I don’t want to discuss it anymore.” Fliss’s voice raised “So, like I said. I’m going for a shower. Or would you like to discuss that as well.” “Oh for fucks sake…” Frank groaned his hands rubbing his face as he let out a frustrated noise, shaking his head. “You know what, I give in. Do what you want. Shower, buy more land, work, don’t work…just…whatever.”  
Fliss shot Frank a glare, and then a small noise from the basinet jerked them both out of the stare-down and Fliss headed over to pick him up. Turning she made for the door, baby in her arms.
“What are you doing?” Frank asked.
“Going for a shower, like I just said.”
“Well leave him with me.” Frank frowned, “What’s the point of taking him upstairs just to lay him in the crib whilst you shower?” “Because I want to take him with me.” Fliss looked at Frank. “I can leave the door open. I like him being there. Is it a problem?” Frank snorted, his hands on his hips as he looked at his feet “No problem.” He huffed out a little laugh as he raised his face to look at her “But you tell me you’re ready to go back to work when you can’t bear to be apart for the 10 minutes it takes you to shower.”
Fliss’ face fell and Frank felt a pang of guilt at what he had said, but in his mind it was true. She hated leaving him, and he didn’t want her to be in a position where she felt she needed to, whether it was to prove something to herself or everyone else. He’d never tell her this but he loved the homely feel of coming home and his future wife and baby son both waiting for him, either on the sofa or the sun lounger. It was a wonderful, caring, passionate environment that he’d never had before and if he was brutally honest he’d quite happily see her at home until Alex was back in school. She didn’t need to work, but she wanted to, he got that. And he would never stop her. But the fact was she was still on edge about their son being left with people and he could almost picture the melt down she was going to have if she rushed back.
“Fuck you” Fliss seethed at him, drawing him out of his thoughts as Alex began to cry, clearly picking up the vibes in the room. Frank sighed, shaking his head as Fliss began to soothe him
“Lissy, just…”
But she didn’t stay to listen, instead she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, Alex’s little whimpers dying in his ears as she made her way up the stairs.
The argument made for a tense family dinner. They both tried their best to be normal, talking to Mary about her day, not wanting to but a dampener on it but as ever she was sharp. When Frank tucked her in, she asked him about it and he assured her there was nothing to worry about and that it was a silly disagreement which would be forgotten in the morning.
He hoped.
Fliss didn’t really speak to him much the rest of the evening, taking herself to bed early and she was flat out when he came up a little later. With a sigh he gently brushed the hair off her cheek before he kissed her temple and settled down himself.
He woke in the middle of the night, and still half asleep reached out to Fliss’ side of the bed but she wasn’t there. He sat up, blinking and then saw that Alex’s bedside crib was empty too. Frowning, he climbed out of bed and as he headed downstairs he could head soft baby cries from the family room.  
“Hey, everything ok?” Frank asked, opening the door and looking at Fliss as she was stood by the large window seat, gently rocking Alex as she tried to calm him.
“Yeah he’s grouchy.” She said, “I’ve fed him, he’s been changed…” “Want me to take him?” he offered and she shook her head.
"It’s fine Frank, I got him." "I mean, that is what you wanted isn’t it? Me, being a good little wifey-to-be and mummy, right?"
Frank blinked before he gave a groan “Really, do we have to do this now?” he sighed, shaking his head. “I never said that, at all.”
“What it sounded like to me.” “How would you know?” he looked at her “You were so focussed on your position that you didn’t listen to a damned word I said. Because if you had you would have understood my point of view instead of accusing me of trying to control you.” He took a deep breath “When are you going to get it into your head that I am not your shit bag ex?”
“I didn’t say that.” Fliss looked at him, shaking her head
“But you thought it.” Frank eyed her “I could see it on your face.”
“There you go again, presuming you know what I’m thinking.”
“Am I wrong?”
“Yes, you are.” Fliss looked at him “What I was actually thinking was how shit it was you couldn’t just support me with what I wanted to do.” “Baby, I do support you, and I’ll back you with whatever you want to do, but I’m not gonna lie to you and say I’m happy about something when I’m not.” Frank shook his head.
“How can you back me when you don’t agree with what I want?”
“Because that’s what being together is about.” Frank looked at her “It doesn’t matter what I think…” “It matters to me.” Frank let out a groan “We’re going round in circles…” he shook his head as Alex’s screaming grew louder “Look, why don’t you let me take him? You go get some rest, we can talk about this later.” “I said I got him its fine.” Fliss shook her.
“Oh for fucks- just let me help will you?”
“Go back to bed Frank.” Fliss blazed it him in the dim light of the family room, her brown eyes angry “You have work in the morning, I don’t. Remember?”
He words themselves were innocuous, but the sheer sarcastic way she said them wasn’t. Frank felt the weary anger from their earlier argument which he had been fighting so hard to keep buried, slowly seeping back into his veins. He’d tried to explain his point of view, over and over again but she was being too fucking stubborn to even attempt to see it through his eyes. As he watched her cradling their sobbing son to her chest he didn't have the energy to keep going round and round in circles, not at 3 in the morning anyway. So instead he gave into the frustration he was feeling, and shot a stinging barb, one simple word spoken with exasperation as he shook his head and turned to leave the room. "Bitch"
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artificialqueens · 3 years
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Control, 1/3 (Katya/Manila) - Dartmouth420
Summary: All it took as the deal went south was a split second, a single gunshot, and then the incredibly stupid, impulsive decision to grab all the coke the guy had on the table and run. Now Katya and Manila need to get rid of a dangerous, truly incriminating amount of cocaine as fast as possible, as they rocket towards rock-bottom in Katya’s 1997 Volvo hatchback. Lesbian AU heist tale, Katya/Manila main, past (plot-relevant) Rajila & Trixya.
A/N: It’s darker and sadder than the summary makes it out to be. This story was inspired by the request for Katya/Manila chaos a few weeks ago, and some Lana Del Rey songs, but it got unhinged and angsty so PLEASE heed the content warnings. but other than that enjoy :)
CW: codependent relationship, drug use, drug addiction, off-screen gun violence, smut, semi-clothed sex, strap-ons, past abusive relationships, angst, unreliable narrator
PS: addiction is a very complex issue, and not something to be taken lightly in real life.
Part 1:
She doesn’t mind I have a flat broke-down life
In fact she says she thinks it’s what she might like about me
Admires me, the way I roll like a rolling stone
-Lana Del Rey, ‘Off To The Races’
It’s the cocaine, obviously.
Katya knows the cocaine is what’s fuelling these decisions. It’s not her fault.
The knowledge hadn’t stopped her from accompanying Manila anyway, as what was supposed to be their deal on enough coke to fuel a big party this weekend had gone sour and scary, and the guy had reached behind him for the gun in his waistband. But Manila had been faster, she’d pulled her piece out of her purse and shot the guy in a sudden explosion of noise.
On the couch in the living room in Manila’s tiny apartment, Katya rubs some coke onto her gums, and presses her fingers to her temples in an attempt to calm herself. Manila paces back and forth in front of the coffee table while Katya tries not to think about the shock in the dealer’s eyes, and his tattooed arm grasping at the bullet wound in his shoulder as he fell back. Is he dead? Maybe. Maybe not.
There are seven single-kilogram bricks of cocaine, one torn open at the corner, sitting in front of them on the coffee table, among the coffee-stained mugs and crumpled McDonald’s bags and the cheap paperback sci-fi novels that Katya likes.
Manila paces with her phone out, and her leather jacket open. She turns on her heel on one end of the stained carpet and makes a call, bringing the phone to her ear.
“Heyyy,” says Manila, drawing out the word.
Someone on the other end shouts Bitch, how did you get this number?! and Manila scrambles, “No wait no, Trinity, hear me out-“
There’s an audible beep, and Manila glares at the phone, angry.
“Okay, okay,” repeats Manila to herself, pacing back and forth, “We can get this under control.”
All the pacing is making Manila’s short dress ride up her thighs, drawing Katya’s eyes. Manila’s legs are easily her best feature. Well, her curly black hair is nice, too. Katya watches her nervously. It isn’t that she’s afraid of her, no, Katya loves her girlfriend. Obviously.
But Manila did just shoot the guy back there.
Katya had shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth, gazing in horror at Manila’s blank, shocked expression. They’d stared at each other for a split second, and then, completely without thinking, Katya had rushed for the drugs that sat on the table next to the man groaning on the floor, shoving the bricks of coke into her purse, Manila had arrived at the table a second later, and they’d rushed out and leapt into Katya’s 1997 Volvo hatchback and sped off as shouts echoed from the abandoned warehouse.
Katya drove like a madwoman back to Manila’s apartment, her scabby knuckles bright white on the steering wheel while in the passenger’s seat next to her Manila dragged in big gulps of air, trembling.
So, yeah. Here they are. Katya had known that Manila had a gun in her purse, just in case, but she hadn’t thought it would… well, come out. Of the purse.
“We need to sell it quick,” says Katya, keeping her voice as calm as possible, despite her rapidly beating heart. In the thrill of panic they’d broken into one of the bricks and done some lines, and were now both a bit twitchy. “We can’t- we can’t sit on this much. Fuck it’s so much money, I could really use it-”
“I know, me too,” replies Manila, taking her phone back out and scrolling. Her movements are rapid, nervous.
Katya glares down at the table, willing her whirring mind to think, and suddenly she misses Trixie. The breakup had been terrible, Katya had yelled and cried and threatened and begged Trixie to stay, but it was well over eight months ago and Katya should be over it. She isn’t. It’s like Trixie took her heart out of her chest when she left, and is still carrying it around with her. Katya has known Manila for a lot longer, from even before she met Trixie, and in the aftermath Manila was well, single (sort of) and there.
Katya has always been incapable of making good decisions. Even alright decisions. But she’s been trying to talk to Trixie again. It’s been going well. She hopes they’ll be back together by the end of the year.
Manila taps her phone, and then hits speaker, and the sound of it ringing echoes around her small apartment. Katya watches her. Manila paces, holding the phone out in her hand.
“Hello?” comes a deep, familiar voice.
“Latrice!” enthuses Manila, all smiles and joviality, “Hey girl, long time no chat!”
“Uh-huh, same to you, what’ve you got going on?”
The mild skepticism in Latrice’s voice is as well-hidden as Manila’s own manic edge. But maybe Latrice would be interested, and she’d buy a chunk of their sudden supply. Katya fidgets on the couch, reaching out and sinking her fingers into one of Manila’s old throw-pillows, the one with the fading print of Bettie Page posing with a whip.
“I’ve got, uh,” says Manila, speaking like she’s consciously trying to slow herself down, still pacing, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “I’ve got something you might like to buy.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“Ah, just a little something for a good time.”
“How much have you got?”
Latrice’s voice remains cautious-friendly, and Katya gets her hopes up for a second. Latrice is a local club owner, large-and-in-charge, friendly and easy-going, and primarily a legitimate business woman. But she sometimes dabbles in other kinds of purchases. Like they all do.
“Yeah, uh, a little more than I thought…” says Manila smoothly, with a chuckle, like it’s all a big joke. “Seven kilos.”
Silence on the other end of the line.
“Latrice?”
“I’m still here,” replies Latrice, but her tone is now suspicious, reticent.
“Mm,” says Manila, nodding to herself, “Okay, so you’re interested? Think you want to buy a brick? Or two?”
“Two kilos? Girl.”
“Don’t say it like that, you know how these things happen,” says Manila rapidly, trying to smooth it over.
“Seven kilos of coke doesn’t just happen, Manila.”
“Look we need to sell it fast-“
“You always need something, don’t you.“ Latrice’s tone is unimpressed, annoyed. "How many favours have I done for you over the years, and how many times have you disappeared when I needed you to have my back? See this is your problem-“ They’d all been good friends once, recalls Katya. Champagne and glitter and birthdays and club music and VIP lounges. Perhaps not so much anymore. “I don’t even want to know, I’m not getting involved-“
“Just let me expl- no- don’t you dare hang up on me!”
There’s a beep and the call drops.
Katya stands up, and walks the short few steps to the kitchen, chewing at her lip. Her gums are going numb. Who does she know that could buy this amount of stolen cocaine and very, very fast? She scrolls through her mental list of contacts and stares at the counter, at the crumbs brushed to the backstop.
“Well that sucks, why am I the one calling everybody-” mutters Manila from the living room, and then says louder, “Okay, okay, this isn’t a big deal. We’ve got choices, we’ve got options.”
Manila paces the living room again, tapping at her lips with her finger.
“What if we parcel it out and sell it at the club tonight?” suggests Katya, wriggling her hips as she bends over to look in the fridge, before glancing over her shoulder to see if Manila’s eyeing her ass in her jeans or not. Coke always makes her a little horny, which used to make Trixie unsettled. But Manila likes that about her.
Manila pauses in her pacing, watching Katya’s ass, and a little thrill shoots down Katya’s spine. There isn’t anything of interest in the fridge. Some carrot sticks, old milk, leftover pizza. Slimy spinach from Katya’s attempt to get something green into them both last week. Behind her, there’s a snort as Manila does another bump.
“Maybe- no, the first place they’ll check is the clubs and they’ll probably recognize us, but if we could get someone else to sell for us-“
Katya looks back at her, arching her back with a giggle and wiggling her ass. Her heart is soaring, she can’t help smiling, and there’s a manic edge underneath it. Her gums are numb, and her throat is tingling.
Something changes in Manila’s eyes and a smile spreads across her face.
Manila always makes Katya feel good, of course, but it’s a different kind of good than she’d had with Trixie. Trixie, with her big hair, her flannel shirts in the morning over her those little pink nightdresses, her dry humour. The way she didn’t always realize when she was being funny. Her observations. She used to make up silly songs for Katya, strumming away on her guitar while they sat on the balcony and Katya smiled and laughed and spilled her coffee, kicking her feet with how happy she was.
But Trixie had been able to walk away from it all because she had a goal. Katya and Manila haven’t had real goals in years.
Manila walks the short distance from the living room to the kitchen, eyes on Katya’s ass, hunger on her face. There’s an impulsive, high thrill in the air, that might be from the coke or the crime or both. Katya straightens, shutting the fridge.
Manila grasps her waist from behind, pushing Katya against the fridge and murmuring in her ear, “Gotcha, baby.”
Katya cackles and smiles and pushes her bony ass back into Manila’s body. But she likes it, the way that Manila manhandles her sometimes. It’s thrilling. She’s always had a thing for tall femme chicks with an aggressive streak. Trixie used to do the same thing, playful, until she started refusing to touch her at all.
Manila takes Katya’s upper arms and turns her around, bringing them both from the fridge to push Katya back against the counter and kiss her. Now this is going exactly where Katya wanted it to go, and it’s messy and frantic and maybe they’re both a lot high and a little scared. Lips meet teeth and tongues mingle, delicious.
“Get up on the counter,” orders Manila, breaking the kiss, and Katya obeys, hopping up with the help of her hands. She wraps her legs around Manila’s hips and they make out some more, Manila running her hands up Katya’s muscular back under her T-shirt, and Katya’s heart beats a little faster.
Katya tries her luck sneaking her hand between them and feeling up one of Manila’s not-particularly-impressive tits. Anyone involved with Trixie Mattel, even for a brief period of time, is ruined for all other breasts afterwards.
Manila bites Katya’s bottom lip in response, and the brief shot of pain goes straight to her pussy. Katya whines, and Manila goes from her lips to her neck, sucking the sensitive spot right below Katya’s jaw, and then she pulls back, hands fumbling on the button and fly of Katya’s jeans.
“Are they building jeans more complicated all of a sudden?” mutters Manila impatiently to herself as she works Katya’s fly open and Katya laughs, lifting herself up on her hands like the athlete she is- correction, once was, as Manila finally manages to get the fly down and pulls her jeans and underwear down to her knees.
Sitting back down ass naked on the counter is hilarious and Katya giggles, and then there’s the matter of working the jeans down to her ankles while Manila returns to Katya’s neck with a vengeance, kissing and sucking, and generally sending tingles up and down her spine. Manila roughly shoves Katya’s legs apart and drops to her knees.
And now it’s time for the best part and it’s the best part because, simply put, Manila might not be very smart (Trixie’s smarter than her despite her endless dumb blonde jokes) but Manila’s really fucking good at eating pussy.
Any dyke in Boston will tell you if you ask.
So Katya lets out this strangled gasp as Manila goes in with that fantastic mouth of hers, and Katya tangles her hands in that black curly hair and shivers and whines and tries to open her legs as wide as humanly possible without falling off the counter.
“Yes, god yes, ha, fuck-“ babbles Katya, caught up between gasps of laughter. She’s always been expressive.
The pressure builds as Katya rocks her hips, and Manila pushes fingers inside her and flicks her tongue over her clit in that way that makes Katya’s eyes roll back. Her head falls back and smacks against the cupboard behind her, and Katya throws one hand back to catch herself, scrambling to stay upright, as Manila holds her legs steady, in charge.
“Ow! Uh no, not you- oh fuck yes-”
It feels so good, it’s like a rollercoaster, building building building. Manila does that thing with her tongue again, glancing up to meet Katya’s eyes for a second, and Katya sees stars.
Two or three orgasms later, Manila stands up and leaves Katya gasping through the aftermath of the last one on her own. Wiping her mouth with the back of her wrist, Manila leans in and captures Katya’s lips in a brief kiss.
“You want your turn?” says Katya, as her breath returns to normal. She hops off the counter, brushes the crumbs off her ass and pulls her underwear back up but doesn’t bother with her jeans yet, stepping out of them.
Manila nods. Manila’s turn is usually after Katya’s unless it’s one of those rare nights where Katya doesn’t want anything, doesn’t want to be touched at all, which happens sometimes. Trixie was always understanding, she was so loving, so patient. Manila is less so. But Katya has a lot less patience for her, too.
“Meet you in the bedroom,” says Manila, grabbing a lipstick-stained glass from the pile of dishes by the sink and filling it from the tap. To wash out the taste of pussy, Katya presumes.
Katya picks up her jeans and heads to the bathroom, pausing at the coffee table to cut out another line of blow and put it up her nose, while Manila does the same, except her trajectory is to the bedroom. As Katya washes her hands she stares into the mirror. Dark circles under her manic hazel eyes. Dryish lips. A weird pimple on her jaw that came out of nowhere. Straw-blonde hair up in a greasy top-knot. White T-shirt with Bob Ross on the front. But she’s wearing her favourite earrings, the ones that are dangly little plastic hands. Heh. Katya manages a smile. Those earrings always make her smile.
But what the fuck are they going to do with all that cocaine-
No time for that now, Katya breaks eye contact with herself and dries her hands, because it’s time to fuck Manila and fucking Manila is always an event.
In the bedroom, Manila has taken off her leather jacket but not her dress, and holds her phone in one hand, glaring down at it. She’s pushing forty but she still looks good and for a moment Katya just admires her figure in that short black lace nude illusion dress that hilariously doesn’t match her skin tone, and those long, fantastic legs.
They make eye contact across the room.
“Fuck me.”
It’s an order. Manila is always in control.
Katya crosses the room, leaning in to initiate the kiss. Softer this time, as Katya touches the back of Manila’s neck, and moves her bare legs against Manila’s own and eventually drops her hands down to grip her ass.
They stumble to the bed, and it only takes a quick confirmation for Katya to know what Manila wants. Katya’s on top of her, pressing her arms down, and pushing her thigh between Manila’s legs so she can grind on it. They furiously make out even as Katya’s gut is tightening, is reminding her, hey, you just saw this woman shoot a man-
As Manila’s breath gets heavier, Katya ignores the doubt and sits up and gets off the bed. Manila turns over, and slides herself back so that she’s bent over the edge of the bed, taking in a breath of anticipation. Her dress is riding up, and Katya can see the crotch of Manila’s plain blue cotton underwear. It’s damp.
Katya steps back and digs under the bed for her harness and strap-on, the one that she’s taken to leaving here. Hurriedly, Katya does up the leather harness and puts the dildo in place. It’s purple. Trixie used to wear it, and Katya would get on top and ride it enthusiastically, expressive, words of love and lust tumbling from her while Trixie gripped her thighs and smiled and fucked it up into her, her blonde hair splayed out on the mattress like a halo- Katya clicks it on to vibrate, angles it so that the end rests against her clit through her underwear and then gets down on her knees.
Manila props herself up on her elbows, and peers over her shoulder at Katya, her dark eyes intense and expecting. She licks her lips. It sends a jolt down Katya’s spine.
“Are you wet for me?” asks Katya in a filthy, half-joking tone.
“Why don’t you find out?’ replies Manila.
Katya decisively pushes Manila’s dress up to her waist and pulls her underwear down, and grabs her ass cheeks, squeezing, before running her knuckles across Manila’s pussy, to check. Manila sighs, and shuts her eyes. Katya isn’t sure who Manila’s imagining behind those eyelids, and she doesn’t ask. When Katya shuts her eyes it’s always Trixie.
On her lower back, Manila has a tramp stamp of the gemini symbol with a stylized little tail on the end. It’s ridiculous because as Katya knows well, Manila’s birthday is in October. Manila was getting it covered, redesigned into a monarch butterfly, but it’s half-done so only one side of it hosts a delicate orange wing.
She ran out of money for the other half.
Katya takes a moment to slips fingers into Manila and to stroke her clit and make sure she’s really ready, until Manila practically growls and looks back at her, widening her legs. She hates being teased. Well whatever, Katya’s not going to say no to fucking the pussy before her so she lubes up the gently vibrating strap-on, lines up and, because she’s a softie, slides it in gently, taking care.
She knows Manila doesn’t want her to take care, Manila wants her to slam it in and fuck her like she means it, but Katya learned to take care from Trixie and now she can’t (or won’t) unlearn it. Manila gasps, gripping the tangled, dirty sheets.
Katya snaps her hips forward, filling Manila and thrusting repeatedly, her hands on Manila’s hips, pressing her fingers into the crease where they’re bent.
Manila moans and curses, and Katya sets a good rhythm, because she knows it won’t take long. Manila pushes her ass back against Katya, and the sudden shift in movement makes Katya almost lose her balance again, arm reeling out to the side as she falls back on her heels, the strap-on sliding unceremoniously out of Manila.
“Oops,“ laughs Katya.
“Did you just fall?” says Manila glancing back at her, amused.
Katya giggles and Manila chuckles too, and maybe there’s a moment of love between them, for a split second. Katya gets back up and strokes the curve of Manila’s hip, then grabs it and fucks her hard, and Manila releases a passionate moan. The opposite end of the dildo rubs against Katya, and it feels nice, not enough to make her come again, but-
It’s all over fairly quickly, and as Manila arches her back and curses her way to a messy, satisfying finish.
And then there’s all the post-sex rituals to go though; Manila sitting up, slightly dazed, and pulling her dress down and wandering over to the bathroom. Katya unbuckling the harness, and listening to the water run. Manila returns for fresh underwear from the clean laundry basket by the bed that she hasn’t bothered to fold or put away, and then Katya goes to the bathroom to clean the dildo and comes back and tosses it back into the plastic bin under the bed with the harness, and the problem they’re faced with washes back over them.
They kiss briefly for the look of the thing, just because they’re supposed to afterwards or whatever, but maybe there’s some affection in it. Katya puts her jeans back on and then the fun’s over.
“Okay,” says Manila, pacing her bedroom as Katya sits cross-legged on the end of the bed, slumped, “Okay, who do we know?”
“Adore?”
“Amateur hour, no.”
“Violet?”
“She deals E and molly, she won’t touch coke.”
“Crystal?”
“Methyd? It’s in her fucking name, Katya-”
“Bob?”
“Moved to New York last I heard-“
“Alaska?”
“What? No. Fuck, I can’t believe Latrice is still mad at me-”
Katya’s list is over. Katya stares at the ugly carpet, and watches Manila pace. There’s another option that Katya hasn’t had the guts to bring up, until now.
“Your ex,” says Katya. Manila won’t stand to hear her name spoken aloud. It’s a ridiculous habit that Katya barely has the patience for.
“No-“
“She’s the only one with the buying capacity for this.”
“We’re not going to her.”
Katya throws up her hands, “If we sell this amount to anyone in the city she’ll know about it anyway!”
Manila stares at the dusty window.
“It’s not-“ begins Katya, and the hair stands up on the back of her neck and she releases a nervous giggle as the horrible possibility occurs to her, pointing to the bricks of cocaine on Manila’s coffee table in the other room, “That’s not hers, is it?”
“No,” says Manila abruptly, worry lining her face for a second, turning back to Katya, “No way, those weren’t her guys, she doesn’t hire guys like that. Those guys were fucking idiots. Besides, they'd’ve been ta-”
Katya breathes a sigh of relief, and Manila cuts herself off. There are two major gangs that run Boston’s underbelly, that bring in drugs and keep the crime organized. Katya’s on good terms with the north side guys, she knows a couple of them from way back and they don’t bother her. She works for them occasionally, when she’s gonna be short on rent. But Manila’s ex runs the other gang, and she’s powerful and dangerous.
The Gemini is not to be fucked with.
“Wait!” exclaims Manila, her eyes going wide and expressive for a moment, “What about your friend- your friend, what’s her name…?” Manila snaps her fingers frantically, as if to jog her memory.
Katya just looks at her, skeptical.
“Uh, uh,” says Manila, still snapping. “You know her, uh, she’s Laotian, short, great ass-“
“Jujubee?” says Katya, in complete disbelief.
“Yes!” says Manila, triumphantly. “Her.”
“No,” replies Katya, mouth twisting, “She’s not involved anymore, she said she’s getting sober and getting out-“
“Yeah whatever, everyone says they’re ‘getting sober and getting out.’ You said that.”
The words hurt. Katya looks down, drawing in a breath, the shame crushing her for a moment. Manila indulges all of Katya’s worst sides. Manila parties hard, she disappears and re-appears with new and better stories every time, she’s doesn’t get sad, she never gets tired, she encourages, she enables, she’s always in control, and it’s so, so hard to let go of her. Even when Trixie had given Katya the ultimatum.
Especially when Trixie had given her the ultimatum.
“Fuck,” says Katya, standing up and stalking back into the living room. “Fine, you wanna go hassle a dead end, whatever-“
“She’s not gonna be a dead end,” argues Manila, shrugging her leather jacket back on and following Katya, “I bet she still knows people who’ll buy. We have to shift at least some of this shit and quick, and maybe she’ll take it. We sell it to her on the cheap, she’s happy, we’re happy. Who cares what she does with it?”
Manila’s cynicism is so oddly pragmatic, so heavy. It’s crushing even Katya’s own cynicism, which is a weary weight to drag around. But it’s so hard for Katya to say no to Manila, saying no to Manila always comes with caveats.
“Fine,” agrees Katya, grinding her teeth, taking her phone out and firing off a quick text to Jujubee.
“Great,” replies Manila, and walks over to pick up the duffel bag next to the table, and begins shoving the neatly wrapped bricks of cocaine into it. She dumps some of the opened-up brick into a loose little ziplock baggie for easy access, rubs a bit on her gums, then puts the baggie into the duffel bag too.
There’s a sudden leak of noise as a car goes by outside, blasting music loud enough that Katya can hear the lyrics drift up into the apartment.
“Loving you forever can’t be wrong, even though you’re not here won’t move on-“
As quickly as the song arrives, it fades. Katya picks up her car keys, and wonders what Trixie’s up to right about now.
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