#hawkeye x y/n

[abbyromanoff]

can you do rough g!p kate bishop??

BOYFRIEND

PAIRINGS: Kate bishop x reader

WORD COUNT: 1,149

WARNINGS: smut, cheating (R had a husband), kitchen sex, breeding, Kate has a dick, being caught, blood kink, knife kink, use of knives, kinda playboy!Kate, degrading, praise kink, think that’s all :)

NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO STEAL, COPY, OR REBLOG MY WORK AS THEIR OWN!!

Your walls clamped tightly around the younger woman’s cock as she drove into you, forcing her hand over your mouth in order to silence your loud moans. Your eyes squeezed shut while your body continued to rock back and forth, her smirk only bringing you more annoyance combined with a sick pleasure. Your husband was sleeping a singular room away, your body being placed on the cold counter of the kitchen as Kate stood in front of you. Her clothes had been discarded previously along with yours, creating a small pile of fabric by her feet but neither of you could care less about the mess.

“You need to be quiet, slut. Weren’t you just worrying about him hearing you?” She muttered in a hushed tone, yet you could still hear it loud and clear as the words seeped into your mind, the degrading nickname sending you into spirals. She picked up on this.

“Awh, you like it when Daddy tells you how bad you are? You must fucking love it, I can feel you clenching around me.” She moaned lowly, goosebumps traveling across her body as a chill went down her spine. You weren’t the first to be panting beneath her, but you were definitely her favorite sight out of all.

“C’mon, tell me, tell me how much you love it.” She removed her hand from your face, and before you could even process what she had done, whimpers were escaping you faster than the speed of light.

“I-I love it, Daddy.” She slapped your cheek, causing the rising tears to suddenly fall onto the now reddened skin.

“You love what, baby?” You threw your head back, hands fumbling to find her biceps as you held onto her for dear life. Her grip landed on your thighs as she held you firmly, her face close as she created marks of her arrival on your neck.

“I love it when- fuck! I love it when you treat me like a bitch, wanna be your slut.” She groaned, chuckling darkly in response. You should’ve never let her back in, but when she came to your door late at night after sending you a quick yet truthful ‘I miss you’ message, you knew there was no hope. You felt so shameful for acting on such sins, but it felt so heavenly when her cock would tear you up in ways your husband could never do.

That’s when it all started, her pinning you to the wall as she groped you through the loose pajamas you had worn for your partner, only to receive a small compliment before he went to bed, not even registering what you were ensuing or just not wanting it. Kate would never. She’d never miss an opportunity to worship your body in all the ways he failed to do. She thought, no, knew he was a fucking idiot for not falling to his knees and begging to make sweet love to you right then and there, so it was her job to make up for it.

“Maybe I’ll get you on your knees to suck me off like a dirty whore. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” You nodded sharply, placing your chin on her shoulder as she inhaled your scent. It was her favorite perfume, the one she bought you during her shopping spree where only you were on her mind, resulting in thousands of dollars worth of clothing, expensive jewelry, and slutty lingerie, none that were meant for your husband's eyes.

She fluttered her eyes open as her sight landed on a knife holder placed on the same counter you were just on, now you were in her arms and it was even better.

“Here’s the deal, baby,” She started. “You’re gonna cum all over my cock and in return, I’m gonna fill up this pretty cunt. Then, I’m gonna take that knife, and ‘ima carve my name on your beautiful body. So whenever Steve wants to fuck you, he’ll see that you’re all mine.” There was a part of you that feared the pain she’d cause, but the other side of you craved it. You craved her touch, whether it was sweet or painful, you wanted it all.

“Please- need your babies, Daddy.” You pulled on her long, black hair that caused an ache in her scalp, but she didn’t mind. Your feet dug into her ass, your legs around her waist starting to become sore.

“I’ll make you a Mommy, baby girl, I fucking promise.” She grabbed the sharp object, now holding your entire weight in just one arm. Her strength had always amazed you.

The blade sunk into you, causing you to let out a silent scream. She bit her lip as blood seeped out of you, droplets landing on the counter and floor. It hurt so bad, but it felt so good.

“You doing okay?” She asked in the heat of the moment, and you could feel the care she held for you, creating a puddle of warmth in your heart.

“Yeah, ju-just keep going…please?” She didn’t give a worded response, only continuing as you asked. You looked down, noticing the letter being carved into your soft skin. It was a K, and you realized there would be no hiding it from Steve. This was it. This was the moment when everything would change for better or for worse.

Her thrusts weren’t as fast but exchanged for a deep, powerful desire. She didn’t want to ruin her creation, she wanted it to be perfect, it’s what you deserved.

“Nothing but the best for my princess.” She admired her work before disposing of the knife, letting her thumb brush over the open wound. Now she could fulfill her promise, now she could release her finish deep inside of you like both of you had been wanting for months now. Ever since you two slept together for the first time, it all changed. You couldn’t get enough of one another, you’d grown addicted as if she was some sort of drug, a highly illegal drug that is.

“Cum.” A small phrase did so much as your release instantly hit, bringing Kate even closer. She wasn’t letting you go, not even when her thrusts stilled in response to her cum filling you up, a few drops leaking out of you and joining the mess on the floor.

“Take it. Fucking take it, whore.” You choked out a sob as you felt your womb being filled to the brim, just like she planned.

“I hope you get pregnant, just so I can show that bitch you’re mine.” There was a small moment of silence between the two of you, the only sound being your shared pants and your winces whenever she brushed over your torn skin.

“Y/N? Honey, is that you?” You both shared a look of fear when the deep voice was heard.

“Shit.”

#kate bishop x reader fluff #kate bishop fluff #kate bishop x fem!reader #kate bishop x y/n #kate bishop x female reader #kate bishop smut #kate bishop x reader smut #kate bishop x reader #kate bishop #kate bishop angst #kate bishop x you #kate bishop x gender neutral reader #hawkeye x reader smut #hawkeye x you #hawkeye #hawkeye x gender neutral reader #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x y/n

[wild-lavender-rose]

Hi love! I don't know if you still take requests, but looking at your MASH content and I forgot how much I fell in love with this series. If possible, with the Hurt/ Comfort Alphabet, I was thinking Nightmare x Unable to Breath for Hawkeye. Reader had succumbed to a bad case of pneumonia and is having to stay in Post- OP to gain some antibiotics via IV. With Hawkeye taking the night shift, he hears reader mumbling and stirring in her cot as she has a horrible nightmare. He wakes her up which startles her and throws her into a slight panic which makes it hard for her to breath from the sickness and the panic. Hope you're having an amazing day/night!

Hey, Mer! I will never not love and want to write for this series, these men *deep sigh of longing* I absolutely love everything about this show. I hope you enjoy!

Warning: Description of nightmare, pneumonia symptoms, panic attack, struggling for breath

"No. No! Leave me alone!"

"Hey, easy, easy,"

"No," you bolted upright, finding yourself tangled in the arms of Hawkeye. The demon in your dream vanished, replaced by the recuperating soldiers lying in the cots around you in post op.

Hawkeye was there, his blue eyes worried as he held you upright and brushed the sweaty hair from your face. "Easy, it's okay. You're safe, it's okay,"

You looked into his eyes, seeking his stability. You were sweaty and shaking all over, and the congestion was making it hard to breathe. You had been brought to post op for antibiotics after a common cold had mutated into pneumonia. The past couple days had been a haze of pain killers and fever. dreams, usually involving demons. It was hard to breathe when you were calm, but now it felt impossible.

"H-Hawk," you rasped, gripping his arms. "Can't, I can't,"

"Look at me, sweetheart. Just look at me." Hawkeye took deep breaths that you tried to copy. "Slow down, just focus on breathing."

You nodded, panic easing as your breathing began to slow. The nightmare left you weak and exhausted. You leaned over, resting your head against Hawkeye's shoulder. "I love you."

The words slipped out, unfiltered, a result of your illness and the warm, overwhelming safety you felt in his arms.

"I love you too." Hawkeye pressed a kiss to your forehead. "Just rest now."

Fanfic Masterlist

#mash hawkeye pierce #hawkeye pierce #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x y/n #mash show #hawkeye mash #mash fanfiction #mash hawkeye #mash #hawkeye pierce x reader #Hawkeye pierce x you #Hawkeye pierce x y/n #mash series #mash 4077

[steinfellds]

Not Your Hero

Pairing: Kate x Fem!Reader

Summary: Kate gets too wrapped up in her hero life and stops contributing to her relationship with you, you don't think you can stay with her anymore.

Warnings: angst without a happy ending, fighting, mention of depression, blood, injuries.

945 words

/ masterlist / / k.b masterlist /

"...That newest Avenger, Kate Bishop, is just incredible! Have you seen that video of her shooting that bow? She's insane."

You sighed softly and closed the book you had resting in your lap. You had decided to go to the library after Kate had cancelled another date night to distract yourself from the anger and sadness you felt. Though everywhere you went, Kate is always mentioned.

You left the library quickly, knowing that tears would form in your eyes. You loved Kate so much and it hurt that she put her work over you. You just wanted her to give you the love and affection that she used to give.

You hadn't driven your car to the library because you needed fresh air so you started to walk back to your and Kate's apartment (though it was really turning into your apartment with Kate's absence)

When you arrived at the apartment, your heart skipped a beat. Kate's car was parked out the front. You hadn't physically spoken to Kate in a week and you weren't mentally prepared to see her.

You went to unlock the door with your keys but froze. The door was already opened and had blood smeared on the handle.

You quickly ran into the apartment, "Kate?" Your voice was full of panic and stress. How hurt was she? Could she be dead?

The horrible thoughts started to crowd in your head.

The further you stepped into the apartment, the more blood you saw. It was smeared on the walls, it was on the floor. It was everywhere.

"Jesus fucking christ, Kate. Where are you?"

A loud slam came from the kitchen.

You ran into the kitchen and gasped at the sight of a shirtless Kate leaning against the counter with blood dripping from a massive gash across her stomach.

"Kate, what the actual fuck!" You yelled, making Kate jump in fear.

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I know there is a lot of blood and I promise I'll clean it up after this." Kate hissed out, her face full of pain.

You shook your head and grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink. You didn't know anything about first aid so you handed the kit to Kate.

"Do you want to explain to me why our house is covered in your blood?" You demanded. You honestly felt like screaming at Kate. The anger of her leaving you constantly and now the house being covered in blood was pushing you over the edge.

"It doesn't matter-"

"It fucking matters, Kate. I haven't seen you in a week and I come back home to you being covered in blood!"

"I know, I know! I'm sorry but I had this mission Clint needed me to go on and it went sideways." Kate let out a soft grunt when she pressed on her wound in the wrong way.

"Of course, it's from your work. Kate, do you ever think before you go on missions? Or do you just jump into them without ever thinking how your death would affect people if you died?" You didn't hold back your tears this time. You wanted Kate to see how destroyed she made you feel.

"I do think of that, Y/n," Kate argued. She had cleaned up all the blood and was working on stopping the blood from flowing out.

"Do you though?"

Kate glanced up at you, her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. You couldn't bring yourself to pity her though. She had hurt you so much and it was her time to hurt as well.

"No- You know what? I can't do this, Kate. We're done." You turned around and started walking towards your shared bedroom with Kate.

When you slammed the door shut behind you, memories that you made with Kate in this room started to come back.

You remember when Kate got some sticky, glow-in-the-dark stars and stuck them to the roof. You remember feeling annoyed because it would leave a sticky feeling but then melted when you saw what Kate had set up.

She had put a bunch of blankets and pillows on your bed, creating a relaxing, fluffy spot to sit. She had a galaxy light pointed towards the roof, creating a space look.

You two had cuddled together and spoken about random stuff for hours. It was one of your favourite memories.

When you were just about done packing all your clothes, Kate slowly opened the door. She had her hand over her stomach and was limping.

"Please don't leave me, Y/n. I need you," Kate whimpered, leaning against the door for extra support.

You scoffed, "You need me now? Yeah, well I needed you months ago when I was doing my big exams and you weren't there for that. I also needed you when I was depressed, yet you weren't there for that either."

"I'm sorry-"

"You aren't sorry, don't pull that bullshit with me." You turned your back to Kate and continued packing, anger flowing through your bones.

"We can work through this! It's just a little bump in our relationship." Kate exclaimed, "My mom knows a person who does couple-"

"Stop it, Kate." You yelled. You were sick of her trying to bargain your relationship and you were sick of her voice.

"I love you

You slammed your suitcase shut and quickly walked past Kate. You couldn't even look at her. You have no idea what Kate was yelling out to you as you left and honestly, you didn't want to know.

All you knew was that an incredible amount of weight had been lifted off your shoulders as you drove away from Kate.

#kate bishop x reader #kate bishop x you #kate bishop x y/n #kate x reader #kate x you #kate x y/n #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye x reader #kate bishop #kate bishop mcu #kate bishop angst

[vibraniumarm06-bucket]

It's Hard To Think With You Around

Summary: Drabble - Clint catches you on the phone with Steve and his jealous side is released.

Pairing: Clint Barton x Reader

C.B Masterlist || Main Masterlist

“Who was that?” Clint’s voice spooked you as you didn’t realise he was home yet. “Who was what?” You quip back, your heart beating fast hoping he doesn’t ruin the surprise you had begun to plan for him. 

“The man’s voice on the phone” Clint spits out jealousy laced into his tone. You close your eyes trying to calm yourself instead of jumping onto Clint. Somehow seeing him jealous was absolutely sexy to you. “And don’t play dumb,” he says as he walks around the couch kneeling in front of you, giving you no room to escape. You bite your lip trying to hide your nerves, you see his eyes following the movement and have to swallow hard to stop the butterflies moving around in your stomach. 

“It was Steve,” You say softly not looking him in the eyes. If you did you would spill the surprise and the team would be upset with you. “Aw come on Sugar, you know I know it was Steve, what did he want?” He asks leaning forward, cupping your chin and tilting it slightly. “Look at me baby, I wanna see your eyes as you speak to me, I know when you lie” . You gulp again as you meet his stare. His warm breath against you, his hand cupping your jaw and his other hand on your thigh rubbing it gently made it hard to think. 

“It was nothing important” You manage to get out. Clint tsks softly “Then why was he calling if it was nothing, Sugar?” . You whimper softly as he spreads your thighs pushing his body closer to yours, his hand moving from your jaw to your neck. “Don’t lie to me, baby girl” his voice sent shivers down your spine and you couldn’t help the whine that came out. Why was it so hard to form sentences when he was like this with you? 

You look up at the ceiling as if the team were there and whisper a mental prayer saying how sorry you are for the words that are about to slip your lips. “Surprise party. Your birthday” You say looking him straight in the eyes and seeing them darken. A smile bursts across his face “That’s a good girl, thought I would have to go up against a super soldier for a minute”. You shake your head slightly “No one makes me feel the way you do. When you touch me, my mind is gone” You mumble blushing as you admit this to him. “I know, Sugar. You just crumble under my touch. Now be a good girl for me okay?”. You look up at him and nod your head, a huge smile breaking out across your face. “ Always for you”.

#clint barton x you #clint x reader #clint barton #clint barton x y/n #clint barton x reader #hawkeye #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye x reader #the avengers #steve rogers #jealousy #dom!clint

[flightlessangelwings]

Kinktober Day 10- Drunk Sex

Clint Barton x fem!reader (no use of y/n)

Word Count- 1.2k

Warnings- smut (18+ only), reader wears a dress, pining, clumsy sex

Notes- I always imagine comic book Clint whenever I write him, and writing silly drunken sex with him was a lot of fun! List provided by the lovely @the-purity-pen​!

To say up to date on when I post, follow my update blog too and turn on post notifications @flightlessangelwings-updates​​. Reblogs highly appreciated!

~

You and Clint giggled into each other as you kissed sloppily and stumbled together down the hallway. Alcohol coursed through both your systems after another one of Tony’s parties where you both indulged a little too much. But, it was fine, you trusted Clint to still take care of you even when you were less than sober. And Clint still had enough of his wits about him to guide you home.. Especially after you both shared a look across the room…

All it took was one look, one glimmer in your eye and Clint dropped everything and made his way to your side. You were unsteady on your feet, but you still knew exactly what you wanted: him. You bit your lip as you scanned him up and down, admiring the way he looked when he dressed up a little.

And Clint thought the same about you in that dress you wore, so he leaned in close and murmured in your ear, “Wanna get out of here?”

“Yes,�� you breathed.

That was how you found yourself pinned against the doorway of Clint’s apartment, your lips desperately chasing his in a heated kiss. While your tongues tangled together in a clumsy dance, he reached into his pocket for his keys. Inebriated by the alcohol, Clint had a harder time than usual finding his keys.

“Damn keys,” he cursed under his breath. 

You laughed against his lips, “Having trouble, Barton?” you teased.

He growled as he dug into his pocket deeper until he found what he was looking for, “Got it!” he exclaimed cheerfully.

“Good boy,” you smirked, and the fiery look he gave you made you clench your thighs together.

In a flash, you found yourself in his apartment, on your back, with him on top of you. But you weren’t going to complain at all. You welcomed him into your space and pulled Clint down by the collar of his shirt for another heated kiss. You moaned into his mouth as you savored a mix of liquor and his own taste on your tongue while you hastily unbuttoned his shirt.

“Fuck,” you hissed under your breath as you had trouble removing his shirt.

“Not so easy now is it?” Clint teased you right back.

You gritted your teeth together and finally ripped open his shirt. His eyes went wide as buttons flew everywhere and suddenly his chest was exposed. Both of you stayed still for a moment as you realized that in your drunken haste, you just destroyed what was most likely Clint’s nicest shirt. You gasped as you opened your mouth to apologize, but he stopped you.

“That was so fucking hot,” he murmured before he took your lips again, this time even more desperately. 

He swallowed the moan you let out as his hands dipped underneath your dress and grinned against you when you bucked your hips into his touch. Clint rolled up your dress to expose your panties and he broke away from the kiss for a moment to admire you underneath him. Under your dress, you wore thigh highs and the sexiest panties Clint had ever seen. And paired with the glazed over look on your face, Clint felt his cock twitch in his pants. 

“Clint… Please…” you begged as your mind swam. The room felt like it was spinning, but in the best way possible.

Before he continued, something in his brain caught up with him, and Clint cupped your face before he asked, “Are you sure? You haven’t had too much to drink?”

You let out a deep breath as you stared into his eyes, “You know Tony always has the strongest booze… But I’m sure. I’m totally sure,” you bucked your hips against his as both of you let out soft moans, “Please Clint.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the way you begged for him, but Clint couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He whispered your name before he captured your lips once more and fumbled with the zipper of his pants. You clawed at his back as you pushed his open shirt off his shoulders while he freed his cock.

You broke away from the kiss for a moment to admire him above you, and the sight took your breath away. Clint stocked himself as his cheeks glowed red and sweat lined his brow. He looked down at you with the same admiration that you held in your eyes, and both of you instantly knew that it wasn’t just the alcohol that fueled your passions.

“Fuck me, Barton,” you purred as you reached for him and parted your legs more.

He exhaled sharply as a smirk graced his face. As Clint’s vision momentarily blurred, he hooked his fingers on your panties and pulled them aside, and he groaned when he saw how wet you were.

“Fuck,” he whispered as he lined himself up with your entrance and slowly pushed in.

Matched gasps from both of you escaped your lips as Clint slid his cock into your pussy. You threw your head back and wrapped your arms around his shoulders as he stretched you out inch by inch. Curses and moans filled the room as Clint filled you. 

Too needy for more, Clint couldn’t hold back and he immediately pounded into you with everything he had. You screamed in pleasure as your mind swam in the bliss that was his cock and the alcohol that ran through your system. It made you more aware, more sensitive, but it also added to the sensations of him fucking you, and it drove you absolutely wild.

He grunted as he thrust into you over and over again, clinging to you just as much as you clung to him. Clint moaned your name as the room continued to spin while he fucked you, but he didn’t care. It felt like the entire world was out of focus except for you, and at that moment, you were all that mattered to Clint anyway. He snaked a hand between your bodies to rub at your clit, and he growled when you let out a loud scream.

“Clint… Fuck… I’m…”

“Me too…” he groaned as he pumped himself into you harder and faster.

It took just a few more thrusts of his cock for you both to fall apart at the same time. Screams and grunts and groans filled the room as you and Clint came together. Neither of you had felt pleasure like that before, and you were both so lost in each other that neither of you noticed that you were slipping off the couch.

Just as you both reached your highs, you both suddenly came crashing down as you and Clint slid off the couch and crashed onto the floor. Clint wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close as you both hit the ground hard.

“Awww floor,” Clint grumbled before he snapped to your attention, “Hey, hey, are you ok?” he asked with worry.

But he immediately relaxed when you burst out into laughter, “Perfectly fuckin fine,” you replied as you nuzzled into him.

Clint joined your laughter and held you close. He was sure he would feel these aches tomorrow when he was sober, but for now he just wanted to keep you against him. And you were perfectly content to stay in his arms on the floor just the way you were.

#clint barton x reader #clint barton #clint barton x you #clint barton imagine #clint barton x y/n #clint barton x fem reader #clint barton fanfiction #clint barton fic #clint barton fanfic #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye imagine #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #marvel fanfic #marvel fic

[ynscrazylife]

Kate x teen sister yes yes yesssss okay I don’t really have the best ideas but I second you writing something for that so I’m going to give it a shot and suggest maybe like maybe her sister tries being superhero-like to get kates attention bc she’s been so busy getting into the hero world but like reader obvs isn’t prepared for that kinda stuff and then yeah Kate helps them out from a risky situation and then it’s all nice (albeit a bit of a rant from Kate abt her sisters irresponsibility) and sisterly resolved! Yeah again I’m not good with ideas and don’t usually rec but I love Kate Bishop too much to let it pass

Jealousy, Jealousy

Summary: Your big sister Kate comes to the rescue when your attempt in being a vigilante gets you in trouble.

Warning: Reader gets captured and beat up (not too descriptive)

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

Main Masterlist | MCU Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

Jealousy was an infectious, suffocating disease . . . And unfortunately, you had caught it.

As much as you tried to help it, over the years, jealousy over older sister had seeped in and invaded you over the years. It was subtle, silent, at first but lately, it was attacking with full force and twisting up your insides. By now you were aware of it, and knew it wasn’t good, but what was there to do about it? You were jealous. It was a fact.

Jealous that she had become a star archer, could fence so well, was a master in martial arts, and got to go off to that fancy, expensive college. You were pretty good at martial arts too, as Kate needed a partner to practice with at home when you guys were younger, but not as good as her. Other than that, you were pretty average at everything else, at least, in your mind, that is.

All this jealously spilled out one day when you were visiting your mother in prison and were updating her on your life. You hadn’t spoken to Kate since finding out she had gotten your mother arrested. She tried to explain, but you were too overwhelmed, too shocked, to listen.

You were recounting to her how of course Kate had become a superhero and was working with the one and only Hawkeye when she interrupted with: “You can be a hero, too, honey.” Her voice was sweet, a little too sweet, but you didn’t pick up on that — wouldn’t notice it until later.

This made you stop and blink. “What?” You asked dumbly.

Eleanor smiled. At the time . . . It seemed sincere. “You want to be a hero, do you not?” She asked with an innocent shrug.

You couldn’t deny that the idea had run through your mind. That kind of job must not only be exhilarating, but also rewarding—getting to help people, change the world, and work with other heroes. Work with Kate. Get closer to her. It was the perfect opportunity to bond with her, though you shoved that feeling aside. Why did you have to be the one to reach out to Kate? To get her attention? Couldn’t she reach out to you?

Your mom always had a knack for knowing what you were thinking. “Maybe,” you admitted, suddenly feeling small. You didn’t think anything of it and just wrote it off as anxiety.

“You can be a hero, Y/N . . . You can help me. It’s horrible in here, honey. You can free me,” Eleanor said, moving closer to the glass separating the two of you and putting her hand against it.

You furrowed your eyebrow in confusion, but mirrored her action. “How?” You asked. It never occurred to you that you could help your mom.

“I’ll give you the number of the woman I’ve been working for, Valentina. She could use a smart agent like you. Do some good for her and then . . . You can get Valentina to get me outta here. She’s a little unhappy with me right now, but I know you can show her that none of it was my fault,” Eleanor exclaimed.

It was intriguing — but something felt off. The name Valentina . . . It was familiar. “I think Kate said—” You began.

“Kate’s confused,” Eleanor intervened, a little sharply. When she saw you start to pull back, she quickly continued. “She’s misguided. So is Hawkeye. They misunderstood our work. Valentina can show you—how her agents have helped people. Tell her I sent you.”

If she wasn’t your mother, if she was anyone else, you’d be more suspicious than you were. But you were inclined to trust her, she was your mother. And you and Kate didn’t really get along. So you decided to give it a shot, see if Valentina was really helping people or not.

Of course, when you contacted her, the lies spilled off her tongue so quickly and easily. The proof she showed you — it was an elaborate web of fakes. You were being manipulated, although you didn’t know it at the time, by both your mom and Valentina. You were convinced that you could help both her and innocent people, so you started doing missions for her . . . Which is how you ended up captured by Kingpin’s allies.

You were sitting, tied to a chair with your wrists and ankles handcuffed and duct tape over your mouth, glaring at your captor who was holding your phone. “Let’s see how much you mean to them, dear,” the man mocked, and then proceeded to dial Valentina’s number.

On the last ring, she picked up. “Did you do it?” Valentina asked neutrally.

You watched the man like a hawk as he brought the phone to his lips. “We’ve captured your little agent,” he said gleefully in a sing-song voice.

Your glare sharpened and you heard Valentina curse. “Let’s say . . . 25 grand?” The man said.

You were sure that Valentina had the money, so imagine your surprise when all she did was scoff. Your gaze shifted to the phone, missing how the smile on the man’s mouth grew wider.

“You think I’m going to pay that amount of money for a rookie agent who got herself captured?” Valentina could clearly be heard saying. There was some shuffling, as if she was moving the phone, and then she muttered to someone nearby, making you strain to listen: “I knew she’d never make it if I had to make her believe that she was saving helpless people.”

You could barely believe your ears as you were forced to listen to Valentina mock you, eyes wide and cheeks burning in embarrassment. The man, though, he loved this. He was eating it up.

“You lied to her, then? To recruit her, I suppose?” He guessed, keeping his eye trained on you. You could feel his taunting glare and it just fueled the burning fire inside you.

“It’s none of your business,” Valentina snapped, before forcing a breath. “Look, the girl knows jack shit about me so there’s no use in questioning her—” She laughed. “—just have your fun with her and dump her somewhere, alright? I have no time for this, I’ll get what I want from you another way.”

“We already knew you were interested in us when you sent the girl here — but openly admitting it? That’s bold, especially with who our boss is,” the man said, not paying attention to you anymore.

“Kingpin’s dead, everyone knows that,” Valentina said, and then laughed again. “Have fun with your toy. I know I did, while it lasted.”

With that she hung up, having no clue that you heard all of this. Meanwhile, your mind was reeling . . . How could she give you up like this? What did she mean by you knowing “jack shit”? She told you a lot about herself and her business . . . Unless it was all lies . . .

You let out a muffled, angry scream through the duct tape. You had had an inkling that something was off with your mother’s story — especially about Kate being confused and misguided — since the beginning. Hell, you had been weary of her ever since she had been arrested, as you never knew the full reason why. You had never wanted to know, you still clung to hope that your mother was who she says she is, that your world wouldn’t be thrown upside down like Kate’s was.

Well, now it was definitely on a rollercoaster. Everything was shattering into tiny pieces that you weren’t sure you could put back together, and all you could do was blame yourself. God, you felt so stupid, so useless.

The dread set in when you looked up from where you had been staring at the floor and the man was walking towards you, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat. No one was coming for you.

“We’re gonna have some fun, darling,” he sneered.

It was hours later when you started to hear crashes and bangs. You looked up at the door curiously — what was going on? Who was here? You got answer when the door burst down and, to your surprise, two purple-clad heroes entered.

“Y/N!” Kate cried, immediately running over to you. She removed the tape from your mouth and then undoing your bindings. Clint stood at the doorway, watching silently.

Your eyes widened and you ignored the sting on your lips. God, you never thought you’d be so happy to see her. “Kate . . . How did you know I was here?” You asked — confused, but grateful.

“A friend of ours used to work with Valentina — she has connections and, uh, ways of discovering things,” Kate answered cryptically. Honestly, you didn’t really care about how she found you.

“She lied to me,” you mumbled, shifting your gaze to your lap, embarrassed. “Mom told me that by working with Valentina, I could help people . . . Help her. They both lied to me.”

Kate’s heart broke as she listened to you. Despite your strained relationship, she was your big sister. She’d always look out for you. “Yeah . . . I’m sorry you had to find out the hard way,” she murmured softly, petting your hair to soothe you.

Your gaze slowly found Kate’s. You had expected her to be mad at you for falling for this, but instead all you saw were tears and regret. “I wanted to be a hero like you,” you admitted, shaking your head in disbelief. “I was stupid to think that I could do that.”

“Hey, you can be a hero, Y/N. You just need the right training. Clint helped me become a hero and now . . . We can help you,” Kate assured you.

You just shrugged, still caught up in Valentina’s words. Kate decided to let it go for now, as the last thing you needed was to feel like she was persuading you into something.

“I can already tell you’re a great kid, like your sister. You were brave even to go up against these guys. Let us help you, okay?” Clint said in a soft tone he’d usually use with his kids.

You nodded slowly and Kate smiled warmly. She wrapped her arm around you, supporting most of your weight. Clint came to your other side and they both helped you walk out of there.

You knew it wouldn’t be easy to repair your relationship with Kate, but at least it was a start. You were safe with her and Clint and found yourself leaning into her. She cared for you. She loved you. And you loved her. She was family—your big sister, your protector.

“Thank you, Katie,” you murmured to her as the three of you walked out.

“No need to, Y/N/N,” Kate said, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I’ll always be here to save you.”

And so it began — the green envy started to seep away.

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#kate bishop x reader #kate bishop x y/n #kate bishop x you #kate bishop x female reader #kate bishop fanfiction #kate bishop fic #kate bishop imagine #kate bishop fluff #kate bishop angst #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye fanfic #hawkeye fanfiction #hawkeye fic #hawkeye imagine #marvel #mcu #marvel fanfiction #sister!reader

[vilentia]

Two Worlds Embrace

Clint Barton x reader

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the tranquil scene as you sat on the porch swing, gently swaying back and forth. Clint Barton, the man you loved, joined you, his eyes reflecting the fading light. You had been together for three beautiful years, but the past still lingered between you.

As the two of you held hands, the soft breeze whispered through the trees, carrying a mix of emotions. You remembered the day you had met Clint, when the weight of the Blip still burdened his soul. He had lost his family, and you had been his solace during those dark times. But now, a new chapter was about to unfold.

The sound of a car approaching interrupted the peaceful silence, and your heart skipped a beat. A mix of anticipation and anxiety coursed through your veins as you stood up, tightening your grip on Clint's hand. The car door opened, and there they were—the family Clint had lost five years ago.

Tears welled up in Clint's eyes as he saw his wife, Laura, step out, followed by his children. You felt a pang of insecurity, fearing that the rekindled presence of his family would make him question your place in his life.

Clint turned to you, his gaze filled with a mix of emotions. "Y/N, I... I don't know what to say," he whispered, his voice trembling.

You gave him a reassuring smile, squeezing his hand gently. "Clint, they're your family. It's okay to be overwhelmed. Just remember, I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens."

As his family approached, Clint's grip on your hand tightened, his knuckles turning white. Laura embraced him, tears streaming down her face, and his children rushed into his arms. The reunion was bittersweet, a blend of joy and grief.

Days turned into weeks, and Clint found himself torn between his love for you and the deep bond he shared with his family. He spent every waking moment trying to find a balance, but it seemed impossible. Your insecurities grew with each passing day, and you couldn't help but wonder if you were just a temporary placeholder until his family returned.

One evening, after a particularly emotionally taxing day, Clint sought you out. His face was etched with lines of weariness, his eyes filled with an unspoken conflict. He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts.

"Y/N, I need to talk to you," he began, his voice tinged with sadness. "These past few weeks have been overwhelming, and I've been torn between the love I have for my family and the love I have for you."

Your heart sank, and you held your breath, preparing for the words you feared would come next.

"But," Clint continued, his gaze locking with yours, "I can't deny the profound impact you've had on my life. You've been my anchor, my source of strength when I had lost everything. I don't want to let go of what we have."

Relief washed over you, but a trace of uncertainty remained. "Clint, what does that mean for us? What about your family?"

Clint's eyes softened as he reached for your hands, his touch gentle and reassuring. "I don't have all the answers, but I know that I want you in my life. We can navigate this together. I want to build a future with you, but I also want to reconnect with my family. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight, but I want to try."

The weight of his words lifted a burden from your shoulders, and a glimmer of hope ignited within you. Love had a way of persevering, even in the face of challenges.

With tears pooling in your eyes, you nodded, your voice filled with emotion. "Clint, I love you, and I want to fight for us. Let's take this one step at a time, supporting each other through it all."

Clint's smile was tender, filled with a mixture of gratitude and determination. "I promise, Y/N, I will do everything in my power to make this work. Our love is worth fighting for."

In that moment, you both knew that the road ahead wouldn't be easy, but the love you shared was strong enough to withstand any obstacle. With renewed commitment and an unyielding bond, you embraced the uncertainties of the future, ready to navigate the complexities of Clint's rekindled family ties while cherishing the love you had found in each other.

As time passed, Clint's family began to notice the significant role you played in his life. Laura, his wife, observed the way Clint's smile brightened whenever he was with you. His children, though initially confused, saw the genuine happiness you brought to their father's eyes.

One day, during a family gathering, Laura approached you, her eyes filled with kindness and understanding. "Y/N, I want to thank you for being there for Clint when he needed someone the most. I can see how much he cares about you."

You smiled, grateful for her understanding. "Laura, I care about him too. I want what's best for Clint and your family."

She nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. "I believe that you bring him a different kind of happiness, a new chapter in his life. I hope you'll continue to be there for him, just as he'll be there for us."

Clint's children, witnessing their mother's acceptance, gradually warmed up to you as well. They saw the love and support you offered their father, and in time, they began to consider you a significant part of their lives too.

While there were moments of adjustment and occasional insecurities, Clint's family slowly came to accept the depth of his feelings for you and the importance of your place in his life. It wasn't an easy journey, but love had a way of bridging gaps and healing wounds.

In the end, Clint's family and your relationship with him found a delicate equilibrium. They understood that your love wasn't a threat to their bond; it was a new connection that brought happiness to their beloved father and husband. And as the days turned into years, you continued to navigate the complexities together, creating a blended family rooted in love, understanding, and mutual respect.

#clint barton x reader #clint barton #clint barton imagine #clint barton one shot #clint barton angst #clint barton drabble #clint barton fanfiction #clint barton fic #clint barton fanfic #clint barton x you #clint barton x y/n #clint barton x female reader #clint barton x fem!reader #clint barton oneshot #clint barton fluff #hawkeye #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye imagine #hawkeye one shot #hawkeye oneshot #hawkeye fanfic #hawkeye fanfiction #hawkeye fic #hawkeye angst #hawkeye fluff

[jessybarnes]

Shot Through the Heart

Pairing: Clint "Hawkeye" Barton x Reader 

Rating: Mature

Tags: Angst, fluff, aliens, explosions, mentions of fear, broken wrist, slight description of gore, language, kissing, implied sex, and implied feelings. 

Word Count: 1,237

Beta and Title Card: Yours Truly 

The whole building shook as another explosion sounded in the distance. Out of all the days for this to happen, why...why did it have to be the day your biggest report was due? Everyone on your floor had already evacuated, fearing for their lives as the Avengers worked to save the city from the aliens. 

Aliens. 

Something you never thought would cross your mind. It felt like you were stuck in a Men in Black movie and soon you'd be approached by Will Smith's character being made to forget everything you'd already seen.

Bullets shattered the large row of glass windows to your office floor pulling you back to reality and you moved to duck under a desk. The one day you decided to wear a pencil skirt and high heels, and you had to tactically hide from a deadly species? 

Fucking awesome. 

The sarcastic voice inside your head stopped suddenly, raw fear making your blood run cold. One of the monsters was stomping its way through the room, and it could smell you.

The awful sounds it made and the scrape of its clawed feet crept closer and closer to where you hid. Out of all the ways to die this was not even remotely what you'd envisioned. 

It stopped in front of the big oak desk, sniffing and snarling and you contemplated trying to fight it. Heels or no heels you weren't going down without at least trying to get away.

The desk was ripped from the floor, crashing somewhere behind you, and you took the opportunity to slip your left heel off and stab the creature in its abdomen. A loud pained screech pierced your ears and you backed yourself haphazardly away towards the opposite wall. 

The alien trained its eyes on you, drool dripping from the sides of its mouth where rows of sharp white teeth displaying its hunger. It ran toward you, a scream falling from your lips as you waited for the inevitable. 

Before you could blink, an arrow shot right through the creature's left eye, its body sinking to the floor like an anchor. Your chest heaved, tears of relief pooling in your eyes as one of the Avengers fell to his knees in front of you.

"Shh. It's alright...it's okay. You're safe now. I've got you."

Even through your teary vision, you knew who he was. He was even more beautiful up close. Short brown hair and the bluest eyes you'd ever seen stared down at you, filled with concern.

You couldn't speak, the shock made your body shake uncontrollably.

"Can I take your jacket off, honey? Just wanna see if you're hurt. That's all." A small nod was all he needed. 

His hands were gentle despite his well-defined arms. Those arms. The ones you'd only seen on TV. The ones you'd imagined touching you, holding you, pinning you beneath him as he made you come apart over and over. 

Oh, you were so fucked. 

He must have finished his assessment because now his right hand was pressed to his ear, his voice low as he spoke to an empty room...well, except for you two.

"Cap? Cap, can you hear me?"

His tongue flicked over his bottom lip and you shivered. A hot curl of arousal began to ignite like wildfire. Damn, this man.

"Got a female on the forty-second floor. She's got a few scrapes and possibly a broken wrist. You gonna be alright without me for a few minutes?"

After a few more seconds he turned his attention back to you. "Can you stand, darlin'?"

You let out a shaky breath, "I-I think so…" 

He helped you stand and steadied you with his hands splayed along your sides. "What's your name?"

"Y/N...I um...th-thank you for uh...for saving me, mister Hawkeye sir."

He snorted and shook his head. "Haven't been called sir in a long time. No need for formalities, sweetheart. Call me Clint. And you're welcome for saving you. Couldn't let that thing slay a pretty lady such as you."

Your breath hitched as you snapped your head up to meet his eyes. "Y-You...you think...me?"

Way to go, Y/N. Your internal conscience facepalmed at your lack of response. That's definitely the way to win an Avenger over. 

He smiled and brushed his fingers against your cheek.

"You're gorgeous, honey. S'not every day a pretty girl takes my breath away."

Blue eyes passed over your features and settled their gaze on your parted lips. "I usually don't do this," his voice was breathy and it made you weak at the thought of how he'd sound in a more intimate setting. "but I really wanna kiss you right now."

Somehow your brain was coherent enough to form a proper sentence. "So do it." 

His lips pressed against yours, tentatively at first, but soon became more heated. Taking care not to hurt your wrist, he slowly backed you into the nearest wall. His fingers curled around your waist, his toned body becoming flush with yours while his mouth trailed kisses along your jaw.

"So pretty…"

The feeling of his hot breath against your skin was intoxicating, your skin burned everywhere he touched you.

"Clint...please."

His teeth nipped at your neck before he soothed the fresh mark with his tongue. "I know, sweetheart...I got you." 

As much as you both wanted to, you knew now wasn't the time to take this makeout session any further. Reluctantly, Clint pulled away and rested his forehead against yours.

"I gotta finish the fight, honey. Will you wait for me? I can have Stark bring one of his suits to take you to the tower. They'll treat your wounds there."

Your mind was still reeling from his kiss, so it took you a moment to realize he'd asked you a question.

"You with me, love? If you don't wa-"

You shut him up with another kiss, your fingers sliding through his short hair. "Yes. Yes, call Stark." 

He chuckled, his eyes not leaving yours as he once again raised a hand to his ear.

"Tony, hey, you there?"

You were close enough to hear his immediate response.

"Yeah, Katniss. You need backup or somethin'?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "No, but I do need a favor."

Tony was quick to reply. "Robin Hood is asking me for a favor? Oh, this oughta be good."

"I need one of your suits to bring the woman I saved back to the tower for medical treatment."

Tony whistled, "damn Barton! Thought you were killing aliens not plannin' a date."

Steve chimed in before he could respond. "Language!"

"Seriously, Tony? Just lend me a suit and I'll buy you a beer or something later."

Tony sighed, "oh, alright fine. But I want a whole case of beer and some tacos. Oh! And some margarita mix." 

Clint caressed your face gingerly as you both waited for your ride. "Everything will be okay, honey. Don't worry about me. These creatures are nothin'."

You kissed him sweetly, "promise you'll meet me later?"

The sound of metal landing nearby caused you both to look up.

"I'm here to escort you back to headquarters, miss."

Clint led you to the robot and watched as it carefully lifted you into its arms.

"Clint, promise me."

He pressed a parting kiss to your lips and smiled softly as you were carried away. 

"I promise."

#clint barton #clint barton x reader #clint barton x you #clint barton x y/n #hawkeye #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #tony stark #iron man #steve rogers #steven grant rogers #captain steve rogers #captain america #avengers #the avengers #marvel fanfic #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction

[strawwritesfic]

Clint Barton x Female!Civilian!Reader: Pusher

Summary: Holding out for a hero never does you much good...until tonight.

Rating/Warnings/Tags: T (alcohol; alcohol consumption; language; threatening behavior; possible abduction; meet-cute)

Challenge: "120 Bits of Random" challenge by SugarLandBabyGirl on Lunaescence Archives.

Tag List: @imaginesfire​​

Pusher

Even with the alcohol running through your system, you knew a bad situation when you saw one. The guy herding you toward the bar parking lot had seemed nice enough back at your table when he’d came by to keep you company while your friends were out dancing. Now something about Jared just screamed creep.

“What’s the hold up?” he asked as you hesitated once again to look at the dance floor. 

You had hoped you’d be able to wave a friend over to rescue you. If any of them remained in the club, they couldn’t see you any more than you could see them. As far as you could tell, the only person near enough to hear or see you was some drunk guy slumped over at a table to your left–and fat lot of good he would do you in a pinch.

While you were busy trying to fighting through the haze of the shots you’d consumed that evening, Jared smiled and pushed you toward the exit again. 

“Come on,” he said in a hard, sugary voice. “I haven’t got all night.”

Unable to control your tongue well enough for a sharp response, you only laughed weakly. Were you drunk? No. But you were pretty buzzed, and Jared wasn’t having much trouble shoving you exactly where he wanted you to go. Once outside, nobody would see you. Maybe you couldn’t think straight, but you knew you didn’t want this complete stranger to get you to a secondary location.

“You weren’t teasing me earlier, were you?” he asked.

You shook your head frantically before attempting to dart around him back to the relative safety of the crowd. 

Jared blocked your way, still grinning. “Running off on me wouldn’t be very polite, especially after I bought you a drink and all.”

“I–” Finally, words! Well, a word. Thank God said word started an excuse: “...need to get back. I’m the designated driver tonight.”

“You’re in no state to drive yourself. How about I drive you home?”

“No, thank you. They’ll worry if they can’t find me when they’re ready to leave. We’ll call a cab.”

He placed his hand on your shoulder, then slid it slowly down your arm. His smile didn’t put you at ease. You tensed under his touch with your mind racing uselessly. 

“Don’t be like that. We’re really hitting it off here.” The hand on your arm thrust you backward, causing you to stumble. “We’re almost to my car already. So let’s just–”

“I think the lady’s made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want to go anywhere with you.”

Both your and the man’s heads whipped around toward the table where the drunk guy had been slumped only minutes before. He wasn’t drunk anymore. Now you didn’t think he hadn’t been drunk at all. His blue eyes were sharp and clear as they trained on your companion’s face, and his smile remained polite as he waited for an answer.

“You stay out of this,” Jared said stiffly. 

The-not-so-drunk guy smiled more widely and shifted in his seat. Suddenly, the nocked bow he held under the table became very apparent, and it was trained right Jared’s head.

“Let’s try this again,” said the not-so-drunk guy calmly. “I think the lady’s made it perfectly clear she doesn’t want to go with anywhere. If you’re in such a rush to get home, why don’t you go ahead and leave?”

You froze in place, still with his hand clutching your arm. Who brought a bow to a club? Whatever the reason, aggravating this intruder probably wouldn’t do you any favors. Best not to attract his attention.

Jared apparently didn’t think the same way. “You–You’re fucking crazy. Bet you can’t even shoot that thing properly,” he said.

“Maybe I am. You want to keeping standing still there? We can find out real fast if I’m a decent shot."

Your possible hero tapped several seconds off with his foot. You guessed that Jared must have decided you weren’t worth the trouble of a possible arrow to the brain, because he made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat, threw you out of his way, and walked out the door, muttering darkly all the while.

You didn’t thaw out right away. Who knew? Perhaps Jared would pop back inside and drag you out to his car after all. When several minutes had passed and he didn’t return, your muscles  slowly unwound. Once they did, you had calmed enough to notice the not-so-drunk guy’s bow was gone. His unusually sharp gaze fell now upon you.

“You all right?” he asked. 

You nodded shakily. 

“Need some help getting home?”

After the near-disaster you had only just avoided, was it any surprise that you quickly shook your head again? What if that guy had only rescued you so he could get you somewhere alone himself? You didn’t want to be rude, though. Swallowing roughly, you managed to rasp:

“My friends are around here somewhere.”

“Busy with their dates?” 

You shrugged.

He pulled out the chair next to him and pointed at it. “How about I sit with you until they’re ready to leave, then? I promise I won’t try to take you anywhere.”

You hesitated. The thought of waiting somewhere alone again made you shiver. Without speaking, you walked swiftly over and sat down.  Neither of you spoke for a long while. Eventually, he stopped watching you and turned his attention to bartender a few feet away. About half an hour later, your voice and your manners returned.

“Thanks,” you murmured.

He turned to you with a smile. “It was my pleasure.”

#fan fic #straw writes #reader insert #second person pov #clint barton #hawkeye #avengers #marvel #mcu #challenge fic #one shot #clint barton x reader #clint barton x you #clint barton x y/n #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers x y/n #marvel x reader #marvel x you #marvel x y/n #mcu x reader #mcu x you #mcu x y/n

[neeuqiakeht]

Bucky: i love both of them but how to i propose to two people?

Sam: two different restaurants. propose to Clint at one restaurant and Y/N at the other. twice the desert, twice the applause.

Bucky: wont people think its weird if theres a third person just sitting there though?

Sam: i once saw someone feeding their pet peacock crème brûlée from their mouth at that new french place. i think faux third wheeling an engagement is the least of your worries.

#incorrect self insert quotes #y/n #bucky barnes #clint barton #sam wilson #clint barton x reader #hawkeye #hawkeye x y/n #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #winterhawk x reader #winterhawk

[wild-lavender-rose]

Perfect Timing

Pairing: Hawkeye Pierce x reader

Category: Hurt/Comfort

Summary: In a world where soulmates have matching tattoos etched on their wrists, Hawkeye is convinced that he won’t live long enough to find anyone with a tattoo similar to his, let alone matching. However, the day you arrive at the MASH 4077, injured and refusing to accept help, Hawkeye is shocked to discover that your tattoos match. 

Warnings: Description of injuries, blood, gore, war setting, mild language

     “You’re going to be just fine, John. I promise.” You ran your hand through the sweaty locks of a soldier that looked barely enough to hold a gun. “I promise.” 

     “What-whatever you say, d-darlin’.” John tried to smile as if the only thing stopping his insides from spilling out weren’t your hands holding them in place. 

     You looked up at the blur of green and brown and blood as doctors and nurses ran back and forth between the soldiers being unloaded from the bus on stretchers. “Doctor! I need a doctor over here!” 

     “We’re movin’ as fast as we can here.” A tall man dressed in a pink silk dress stopped long enough to acknowledge you. “The docs say that the worst cases go first.” 

     “This is the worst!” 

     “Not by their standards.” 

     Anger flared within you. You’d heard that the 4077th was one of the best units. Clearly it was being populated by a bunch of pansy pediatricians. “Idiots, they’d think a hangnail was the worst case. Get over here!” 

     “But I’ve got to finish unloading the bus.” 

     “Well now you’re a tourniquet.” You nodded down to John’s wounds. “Keep constant pressure on this, even if he screams.” 

     “Oh god,” the man knelt beside her and did as you asked, paling as John gave an anguished moan at the additional pressure. 

     Hands dripping with blood, you stood and made a run for the surgeon’s tent. No one noticed you in the chaos. No one stopped you as you expertly maneuvered your way through the crowd and into the surgeon’s scrub room. 

     There were three men prepping when you shoved the doors open and walked in. “All right, who’s the idiot in charge around here?” 

     The oldest of the three didn’t even bother to stop scrubbing his arms. “Depends. In charge out there or in charge in surgery?” 

     “Whoever has the final say over which patient goes first. I have a man out there who’s insides will become his outsides unless someone can stick him up fast.” 

     “Honestly, I leave you guys for two seconds and you let the riff raff in,” a man with black hair and blue eyes walked in through the door across from you. The door that led into the operating room. He stopped and regarded you over the top of his surgical mask. “You’ve got a complaint, sweetheart?” 

     Your anger bubbled over at the nickname. “I have a man outside that needs help now.” You demanded. “And if you’re too busy in there making bets on which of your patients dies first, then give me a med kit and I’ll do it myself.” 

     “Which kid is it?” The man’s voice had sobered, his expression growing pained. “Is it Lieutenant Smith, the one you were working on when I was out there?” 

     “John.” You didn’t remember seeing him outside, let alone watching you. 

     The man shook his head. “He’s too far gone. I could save four men in the time it would take me to maybe save him.” 

     The truth of his words hit you harder than any bullet, a truth you had been pushing aside the moment you had first found John bleeding out in the trenches. Still you clung on. “No.” You shook your head, throat closing up with the sting of unshed tears. “No! You’ve got to try. He’s got a wife. They just had their first baby.” 

     “Hawkeye, did you see the-” the man in the pink dress burst into the room, stopping beside you. “I guess you found the idiot.” 

     You turned on him. “What are you doing?! You need to be with John!” 

     “There’s no point.” 

     “What do you mean there’s no point!?!” The tears were falling now. Hot, angry tears. You reached up and shoved them away, streaking blood across your face. “I told you to stop the bleeding!” 

     “He’s already dead!” The man yelled back, eyes full of pain. “Houlihan confirmed it. He died a few seconds ago.” 

     It was like you had been hit with an enemy attack all over again. Only instead of the outside in it was from the inside out. 

     The man in the dress gave a nod. “I’m sorry. Truly.” 

     You nodded back. He turned and left. The three other men had finished their scrubbing prep and filed into the operating room. The oldest man, the one who had spoken before, placed a hand on Hawkeye’s shoulder. “You coming?”

     “Yeah, in a second.” Hawkeye was staring at you. 

     You stared back, body feeling numb and unsteady. But his blue eyes grounded you in a way that you had never felt before, a way you never expected to find in the middle of the hell you were living. It was like he knew what you were thinking. That he knew of the nightmares, the dreams, the fears, the experiences. All of it, just by looking. And he hurt for you. More hurt than you thought possible for one man to feel so deeply. 

     “Are you all right?” He asked. 

     “I...I’m sorry.” 

     “Is that all his blood?” Hawkeye’s gaze dropped to your right side and the dark blood stain seeping through your green shirt. 

     “Yeah.” You lied, taking an uncertain step back. “I’ll...I’ll leave you to it. I’m sorry.” 

     You turned and left the room before he had a chance to say anything more, leaving him to stare after you.

Part 2

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𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 -> 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓅, 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝑅𝑜𝓃𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓅𝒶𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓃’𝓈 𝓌𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽. 𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒩𝒶𝓉𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒶 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓂, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒.

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 -> 𝒞𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓉 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝓍 𝒢𝑒𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒩��𝓊𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝒜𝓋𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 -> 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽, 𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓈𝓉, 𝓊𝓃𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒸𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓈𝑒𝓍

𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲, 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐢𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭. 𝐑𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲, 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞'𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐈𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐱 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. “𝐘/𝐧.” 𝐀 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥; 𝐢𝐭’𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. “𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?”

𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥. 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. “𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 - 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.” 𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧.

𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨. “𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞.” 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝���𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭.” 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. “𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞?" 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚; 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒.𝐇.𝐈.𝐄.𝐋.𝐃 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

"𝐘/𝐧…" 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫��𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. “𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞- 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈’𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.” 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥.

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧, 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥; 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐏𝐲𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐝𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 - 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈’𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟��𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐑𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭; 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐬𝐬’ 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭.

𝐀 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ����𝐢𝐦. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧; 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.

𝐈𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭; 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐒.𝐇.𝐈.𝐄.𝐋.𝐃 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞-𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 -𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧.

"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲/𝐥/𝐧." 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭, 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝.

𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧', 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞; 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 - 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨.

#clint barton x reader #clint barton imagine #clint barton x you #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye fanfic #avengers x reader #endgame x reader #hawkeye imagine #hawkeye fic #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye x you #clint x reader #clint x y/n #clint barton fic #clint barton x y/n

[cozage]

Hi hope you are having a good day

I wanted to know what would it be like if, Mihawk, Shanks and Buggy had a female s/o that was basically like inosuke from demon slayer, they are a bit dumb but will pick a fight with everyone, and they only wear a bandaged top with like shorts or smt.

You guys have been asking me lots of questions and making me feel loved so here is this!!! (And maybe more spicy things to come later this week 👀)

Characters: female reader x Mihawk, Shanks, Buggy Wordcount: 850 CW: the last bullet point in all of them that are a little spicy

She’s Kinda Stupid, but…

Mihawk

This man is literally so tired. He’s so tired. 

Will very often say things like “I didn’t know I was in charge of three children.” (yes Perona and Zoro are his CHILDREN okay) or “Are you acting your age today, or are we pretending you’re six years old again?” or “I’ve met dogs more behaved than you.” (it’s all coming from a place of love and he knows you won't take offense because you don’t take offense to anything)

You’re a brat and he knows it (and loves it). He loves you but god you are so much work when the two of you are out in public. He feels like he can’t take his eyes off you or you’ll end up in a fight with some random guy because he looked at you funny. 

Most of the time he doesn’t acknowledge your shenanigans. When you fight with someone, he’ll grab your wrist and physically pull you away from them, usually with some kind of snide remark. 

Sometimes you’re justified, though. And when that happens, he gives the guy who wronged you five seconds to apologize before he sets you loose. Most of the time the guy sees Mihawk and apologizes, but the swordsman secretly hopes the guy won't apologize. And on the few occasions they don't apologize, he smirks as he releases you. 

He always has to pull you off the guy because you just don't know when to stop. In all truthfulness, it kind of gets him hot and bothered, but he always pretends to be irritated. “You’re psychotic. Do I need to teach you how to behave?” he scolds, his gold eyes scanning your body. “I can think of a few ways to get you to listen.”

Shanks

Shanks adores you. Cheers you on. Loves watching you cause absolute chaos. Why? Because you are him without a conscience. 

Shanks knows when he needs to flip the switch from polite to fight, but you don’t. You are always at 100%, your most authentic self 24/7. And he absolutely adores that about you. Even if that means that sometimes you take it a bit too far. 

Sometimes Shanks will even use your emotions to his advantage. “Can you believe that guy just did that?!” or “Talk about rude!” knowing full well you’re ready to throw down whoever wronged you or him. 

The absolute only time that Shanks will stop you from fighting someone is when you all are in a building. He’s had to pay SO MANY owners back for you destroying glassware and furniture and plenty of other damaged goods. You learned pretty quickly that the first words out of your mouth should be “Wanna take this outside?!” because if you were outside then Shanks didn’t stop you. 

The first few fights, he watched carefully, making sure he would be able to jump in if he needed to. The next couple of fights, he watched you with an amused look, excited to see how you were going to beat up the guy (and just to make sure you would win). Nowadays, he doesn’t even feel the need to go outside with you, but sometimes he does just to cheer you on. 

After your victory, he always rewards you with a bunch of kisses and sings your praises. He pulls you onto his lap at the bar, making sure everyone knows you're his. “You did so well. I loved how you stomped that guy into the dirt,” he’ll coo, dotting kissing across your neck. “How about later I show you just how proud I am of you, okay?”

Buggy

You never cease in stressing this man out. He is always on high alert now because of you. 

Stealth missions? Forget it. Normal day in town? Absolutely not. He BEGS you to be a normal human being in public. To have an ounce of self preservation. But you cannot comprehend that. People who talk shit deserve to get hit.

He is constantly running after you, screaming at you to stop fighting people for no reason. Sometimes he’ll even jump in front of your punches to try and de-escalate it (which of course doesn’t work and results in you just punching him in the face). You don’t even feel bad, you just scream at him to get out of the way and beat up the other guy even more since he made you hurt your boyfriend.

If anyone makes fun of him, he doesn’t even have a chance to scream at them anymore. You’re already pounding their face into the ground. And every time you do, he falls in love with you a little bit more. 

“That’s right, that’s my baby!” he screams, watching you smugly walk away from some guy’s beaten body. “Let’s go celebrate, you can do whatever you want.” He grabs your hand, practically pulling you back to the ship.

#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #hawkeye mihawk #mihawk x reader #mihawk x y/n #shanks #red haired shanks #shanks x you #shanks x y/n #shanks x reader #captain buggy #buggy the clown #op buggy #one piece buggy #buggy x reader #buggy x y/n #cozage #✧˚mihawk✧˚ #✧˚shanks✧˚ #✧˚buggy✧˚

[teaaagan]

Sleepover

Clint: Have a sleepover they said.

Kate, from the kitchen: PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!

Y/N: IT’S TOO BIG TO SMOTHER!! GET THE ANTI FLAMETHROWER!!

Peter: It’s called a fire extinguisher. A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!

-Glass shatters, something explodes, screams in unision-

Clint: It’ll be fun they said.

#kate bishop x you #kate bishop #kate bishop x male reader #kate bishop x reader #kate bishop x female reader #mcu #mcu fandom #incorrect quotes #marvel #incorrect marvel quotes #marvel incorrect quotes #kate bishop x male!reader #kate bishop x fem!reader #kate bishop x gender neutral reader #kate bishop x gn!reader #kate bishop x y/n #hawkeye #hawkeye kate bishop #hailee steinfeld #kate bishop mcu #kate bishop marvel

[ynscrazylife]

A hc/imagine for spending the holidays w Kate (your big sister Kate fics literally fill my heart rn) maybe with Yelena too?!

Spending the Holidays With Kate Bishop Would Include . . .

Personally I hc Kate as Jewish since there was a menorah in her aunt’s house during Hawkeye

But no matter your religion/what holiday you celebrate, Kate wants to celebrate with you

She is the Queen of celebrating holidays and will go all out on each and every one

She absolutely refuses to let you celebrate a holiday alone and will drag Yelena along

Yelena’s definitely resistant at first but she soon warms up to you

You and Yelena gang up on Kate, making her regret all her life decisions

Unfortunately for you, Kate is not a very good cook. She tries, but she fails spectacularly

It doesn’t stop her from trying (and failing) to cook every year

It’s always a disaster, but you love and appreciate it

Which also always ends up in you having to cook or ordering in

You don’t mind, though

Kate invites you over every night of Hanukkah, but makes it clear that you don’t have to come

You go anyway and enjoy seeing her light the menorah and eat matzo ball soup

Kate will also definitely be dragging you outside for snowball fights and to build snowman

Kate wins all the snowball fights. She’s a master at it

She also makes you watch a movie marathon of all the holiday classics

And when you fall asleep, she just tucks the blanket around you and kisses your forehead

Kate spoils you with presents

(It gets a little concerning)

But she loves you and she loves buying you gifts!

Also, you are definitely taking holiday card pictures with Kate and Lucky

You can try to get out of it but Kate is quite persistent

You end up giving in and help her write the note that goes along with the picture :)

Sometimes Yelena or Clint is in the pictures too (mostly Clint)

Speaking of Clint, you are definitely going over to the Barton’s with Kate and Yelena for Christmas Eve and day

It’s always so much fun and the Bartons adore you

You are obviously baking cookies with Kate and the kids for Santa

And have a massive sleepover in the living room

Clint dresses up as Santa Clause and pretends to come in and deliver presents

(Kate doesn’t realize it’s him, almost shoots him with an arrow. Thankfully you stop her)

You and Kate end up all cuddled up by morning

Everyone thinks it’s absolutely adorable

Your favorite part is spending time with Kate, cuddling and watching movies while it’s all cozy and snowing outside

You’re literally always saying you’re cold to get Kate to cuddle or hug you

She very gladly gives in

Kate is just the best person to spend the holidays with, no pressure, no drama

Except, you know, all the superhero drama

Holidays can get pretty crazy sometimes . . .

But that’s a story for another time

#kate bishop x you #kate bishop x reader #kate bishop x y/n #kate bishop x gender neutral reader #kate bishop x gn!reader #kate bishop fic #kate bishop fanfiction #kate bishop fluff #kate bishop hawkeye #kate bishop #hawkeye fanfic #hawkeye fic #hawkeye fanfiction #hawkeye kate bishop #hawkeye mcu #hawkeye x reader #hawkeye x you #hawkeye x y/n #hawkeye imagine #hawkeye #kate bishop headcanons #kate bishop imagine

[writingoddess1125]

Morticia and Gomez Effect pt. 2

Mihawk X FemReader

Since people liked this made a part two!

Part 1 <<<

• Mihawk mood had been fowl as of late, Clearly issues had been getting to him silently. His wine intake growing and his irritation rising

• You needed to fix this, Anger was never the most attractive look for your husband anyway-

• He had been home for two days and still hadn't spoke. Instead sitting in his study and doing paperwork while drinking, Sometimes the waft of cigar smoke greeting you as well from the halls.

• "Growling at the wall?" You call out seeing him sitting there scowling at the wall with his face turned up like a beast growling.

• He glanced at you, Seeing you close the door behind you, as well as noticing your done up appearance- mainly the black dress that fit you like a lustful sin he had bought some time again- already lessening his angry face.

• "I am in no mood Wife, leave me" He said with a irritated sigh. He never called you 'Wife' only when truly upset did he say this, Just like how when he was furious he would use your name.

• "I see, so you don't wish for your spirits to be lifted?" You said with a smirk starting to crawl across your face. Walking to the other side of his desk to close a curtain.

• "No- nor do I wish for whatever parlor trick you have p-pla-" Mihawk couldn't even finish his sentence as you pulled down the front of your dress flashing him your naked chest with a smile.

• Just like any man at any age his eyes widened and mind blank at the sight of breast. You quickly pulling the dress back up with a smile.

• He frozen, His drink almost falling from his hand if he didn't clumsily catch it and hold it steady.

• Mihawk stared at you for a moment like he was trying to formulate a response, his stoic face starting to break as a hearty laugh broke through his lips. His woes easily being wiped away by your trick as he tried to wave it away.

• "Dragostea mea (My Darling) you are too much, drawing me from my mood in such a childish way" He mused as he reached his arm out and pulling you into his lap.

• You smile at his words and nestle yourself against his strong chest, Your fingers playing with the cross on his chest.

• "Well anything for you my Love~" You smile and pepper kisses on his face and lips. He gives a delighted groan and his hand travels to find the zipper of the dress.

• "Idle hands my Love" You warn making him grumble for a short while- Mainly cause you both knew what was coming.

• His lips falling from its smile as the door bursted open and Perona March in like she owned the place. Recently you had been in charge of training her- Especially since you felt like Mihawk was too soft on her.

• Mihawk sighed as he sat up and saw Perona standing there making a face at the two of you.

• "So Gross!-" She tried as she stared at you two and invaded the space, You smoothing down your dark gown as you stared at the young woman with a amused face.

• "What do you want Perona?" Mihawk said as she stomped into the room, You watching her glare at you and look away flustered.

• "I never got a thank you from you for my recent mission!" She yelled as she pointed to you

• "Thats because you failed-" You spoke plainly.

• "I didn't fail!" She began to rant about the events of loosing to someone who flashed rainbow colors and worse 'disgusting' pastels.

• "So you lost to someone in pastels, Didn't get the information needed, didn't listen to the advice I gave you for the last mission. Now you come through here causing a ruckus cause I will not reward you?" You spoke very carefully, watching her stiffen at the lace of irritation through your voice.

• She shuffled a bit awkwardly and gave a single nod. You sighing at this-

• "Now your failing in the mission is one thing but my darling girl- Being beaten by Pastels?" You mused, she had fallen prey to a pastel nightmare was just too much of a burn. Her face turning as pink as her dress as she fluttered out screaming and throwing a temper tantrum thankfully she slammed the door closed behind her.

• Mihawk sighing as he leaned in his chair and pulled you back against him properly.

• "Disobedient" You hummed with a tired sigh.

• "If we had our own they would be more obedient and skilled" He mused, You feeling him place another kiss to the back of your neck.

• Surprised by his words you roll so you are facing him now, seated on him like a saddle. His intense yellowed eyes meeting your gaze before continuing to kiss you this time down your throat.

• "You're making it sound like you actually want one?" You said in mused question, a few breathy moans leaving you as he proceeded to bite rather hard down on your soft skin and his fingers digging into the flesh of your hips.

• Catching his gaze as he pulls back you could read him like a picture book. He did?

• "You actually want a child?" You hummed as your eyebrow raised, Feeling your husband's eyes wonder your form. His arm doing a quick sweep over his desk to push everything to the side and floor, uncaring as he had a goal in mind.

• "I am surprised we haven't already given an army due to us taking caution to the wind" He said calmly, setting you on the desk as his hands made easy work of rolling up the dark garment over your thighs.

• "Well if it's an army you want-" You purr and pull him closer to you by the cross around his neck feeling him close the distance between you two. "We better make up for lost time~"

• He smirked at this as he leaned down to kiss you with wine flavored lips as his hands found the front of your dress and in a fluid motion ripped the fabric down the center.

• Lost time indeed

Tag list-

@who-the-hockeysticks @vexladin

#x reader #one peice x reader #one piece #one peice live action #mihawk x reader #hawkeye mihawk #one piece mihawk #dracule mihawk #op mihawk #mihawk x y/n #dracule mihawk x reader