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k-evans-reads · 2 years

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Playing With Fire

Chapter 20

Summary: After a change of heart nearly ten years into her career as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, Ellie Maxwell has moved back home and returned to her old job at the local bakery, where the regulars are the firefighters from down the street. When sparks begin to fly between Ellie and the guarded, closed-off Chris, will anything come of it?

Pairing: Firefighter!Chris Evans X OFC Elizabeth “Ellie” Maxwell

Word Count: 4,263

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | Playing With Fire Masterlist

The refrigerator rattled as Ellie shut it with her hip, a frown on her lips as she carried the glasses of wine over to the butcher block island. Chris could barely pay any attention to her expression as he read the Google page that took up half the screen on his computer, the other half being occupied with a calendar for the rapidly-approaching summer months.

Ellie put the glasses down before she wrapped her arms around Chris’ broad shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to his bearded cheek to help relieve the tension in his body. She knew how much Ashlee’s impending move was weighing on him and dealing with the logistics of it didn’t help at all.

“What about that horseback riding camp?” Ellie quietly asked as she rubbed a hand over his shoulder, reminding him of the camp at a local equestrian center.

“I don’t know if Hazel being in charge of an animal that big is a good idea. The carnage she causes with a mini shopping cart is bad enough,” he muttered with upturned lips as he made himself chuckle. His fingers quickly began scrolling again before he sat upright some more, “Oh here’s an art camp, I bet she’d like that.”

Ellie nodded, reaching onto the plate in front of her for her slice of pizza. “There’s also that science camp through the school I’ve heard is fun,” she suggested, gently knocking her shoulder against Chris’ as she munched on their dinner.

“These camps are going to be really good for her but I still don’t know what I’m going to do on my days working,” Chris sighed, shooting her a sideways grimace as he double-checked the calendar before he began to register Hazel for the art camp. “I just didn’t expect Ashlee to be gone this soon.”

“Have you talked to your mom?”

He paused, sighing quietly before he nodded. It was something he’d put a lot of thought into given the new situation, and while he was relieved Hazel wouldn’t be leaving him, it didn’t mean it wasn’t stressful to figure out. “Yeah and she’s more than happy to have Hazel on Thursdays and Saturdays, but she works Fridays and wouldn’t be able to pick Hazel up on time from any of these camps. Besides, I don’t really feel comfortable having her do that much… it’s not her responsibility,” he told Ellie, trailing off at the end as he shrugged.

She stayed quiet for several moments, long enough that Chris’ curiosity was piqued. Once he finished entering her medical history, he turned to give Ellie a look. “I was thinking about that too…” She finally replied, a nervous look on her face.

Chris nodded, reassuring her, “I think I have an idea though.”

“I do too,” Ellie responded, pausing as she raised a brow at him. “But what’s yours?”

“I think the best solution is to look at hiring a nanny,” Chris sighed and explained, his fingers tapping against the wooden counter. “That way the responsibility wouldn’t fall on my mom and they could have her Friday and Saturday until I’m off. It’s not that unusual and I have the guest room too.”

Ellie was quiet as she listened to his words, nodding carefully before she tentatively pointed out, “But is bringing a new person into Hazel’s life while all of this is happening a good idea?”

“I know, but I don’t know what else to do,” he sighed. “Ash already offered to pay more in child support because of the new arrangement, so it’d probably cover the cost.”

Ellie turned as she listened to him, leaning her side against the fabric bar stool and looking at him.“You could ask me about my idea… it’s a pretty good one…” she told him with a smirk, her hand reaching out to loosely grasp his own.

Chris huffed out a laugh, shaking his head and asking, “Alright smarty pants, what’s your genius idea?”

“I know someone who loves Hazel, owns her own business, and would be able to adjust her schedule to be able to pick up Hazel from camps on Friday and have her until you’re done with work on Saturday,” she smiled as she squeezed his hand.

He dropped his head and sighed, closing his eyes as he realized what she was offering. “Ellie-”

“No, hear me out for a minute,” Ellie interrupted him firmly. “Chris, none of this is going to be easy for Hazie. She needs some consistency and I could pick her up and even take her to your house so she'll have all her toys and be in her house. I love Hazel and would adore getting to spend more time with her.”

His lower lip jutted out and his jaw clenched as he listened to her words, unable to wrap his head around the generous offer. It was nothing short of over the top kindness, but that was everything Ellie was, even to strangers. But for him and Hazel? He couldn’t help but think they didn’t warrant this shift, this extra responsibility added to her plate, just to ease some stress off of his shoulders. “I just can’t have you do that much,” he whispered to her, thoughts echoing through his mind as the sound of Dodger’s light snoring carried into the kitchen from the living room.

She laughed, and the genuine smile that appeared on her face never failed to warm him from the inside out. “Well if you’re really planning on marrying me then you’re going to have to get used to relying on me a little more,” she retorted playfully.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t love for you and Hazel to be together, I just don’t feel like I can ask you to do that, Elles. Especially not when you’ve just started your own business,” he attempted to explain as he watched her and grasped her hand tighter.

“Well with all these camps she’s in, I’d be able to work most of the day on Fridays anyway, and then on Saturdays, Brooke has it covered,” Ellie assured him, and she smiled before she dropped his hand for a moment to drink her wine, but before he barely realized it, her hand was back in his. “Honey, I want to do this.”

“...Are you sure?” He finally asked her, his voice soft and unsure.

“Completely.”

“I can’t tell you what a load that takes off my mind knowing Hazel will be with you,” Chris admitted with a smile. “Besides, I kind of like seeing my girls together.”

“Well I might not be quite as cute as your other girl but I also don’t bruise your heels with a shopping cart,” Ellie grinned, and Chris couldn’t help but burst into laughter at that. Once their laughter stopped and he made a move back to look at his computer – which was still open on the registration – Ellie’s voice interrupted him as she asked, “So when are you going to tell Hazel?”

“Ashlee and I are telling her tomorrow morning,” Chris murmured, huffing out a sigh. “God, I’m dreading that.”

“Let’s not borrow tomorrow’s troubles. You’ll handle it in the morning with Ashlee,” Ellie reassured him, her hand moving to travel up and down his back comfortingly. “But how about you tell me all the camps Hazel’s in so I can do my schedule and start planning all the fun things I’m going to do with her.”

Chris watched her with thinly-veiled near-awe, and he shook his head as he playfully asked, “Why do I have a feeling I’m about to be replaced as Hazel’s favorite?”

“Who are we kidding, neither of us can compete with Dodger,” Ellie retorted, and it was then that Chris realized how well she not only knew him – but how well she knew Hazel as well – only after a short time in their lives, and it warmed his heart to know that what they already had between them was only going to continue to grow.

Chris rinsed his hand off in the sink, before he dropped the peanut butter and jelly covered knife into the dishwasher, then placed the sandwich and cut up strawberries on one of Hazel’s purple plates. He passed by the living room – where Scott was watching a Red Sox game – before he reached the small playroom to tell Hazel lunch was ready. But his brows furrowed as he looked over the room, finding his curly-haired daughter sitting at her mini-table, furiously coloring away in a coloring book. “Hey Hazelnut, I thought you were supposed to pick up your toys?” He asked her pointedly, leaning his hip against the open archway as he looked over the disaster of a room.

Her tiny shoulders quickly shrugged, her voice unhappy as she simply replied, “I don’t wanna.”

“I told you to pick them up before lunch and then that it was naptime,” he reminded her. He’d been cognizant of the fact that Hazel had woken up earlier than normal and had already had an emotional morning, and while that was already enough for him to attempt a nap, he was desperately looking forward to a break to decompress from the day.

But she clearly had other plans as she looked up at him with a deep frown on her little face, shouting, “No!”

“Hazel June, pick them up now. No arguments,” Chris ordered, and he pushed himself off of the wooden archway to carefully cross the room, but not before he could step on a Lego. He quickly bit back the several curse words he wanted to say before he pulled the markers and coloring book away from Hazel and pointed at the mess behind her.

“I don’t want to take a nap!” She insisted as she pushed the messy strands of hair out of her face, and every word from her mouth was only increasing the pounding headache that had started for Chris.

“Hazel Evans this is not a discussion,” he told her, his voice low and stern as he took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

She let out a shuddering breath as she cried, “I want Ellie!”

He shook his head, gently lifting her from the seat and standing her up, nudging her in the direction of her toys as he ordered, “Not until you pick up your toys.”

“I just want my Ellie!” The little girl pleaded again, her voice wavering as furious tears fell from her eyes.

“Hazel, I already told you to pick up these toys!” Chris finally snapped, frustrated at the situation, at Hazel’s inactions, at the stupid waves of pain in his foot, and even at the damn occasionally-flickering lightbulb overhead, the very one he’d been meaning to change for weeks.

As Hazel’s cries grew louder and Chris’ mind continued to scream at him to do something, his brother stepped into the room, his voice a much-needed calming force as he said, “Hey, relax for a minute.”

“Scott, I don’t need you to tell me what to do,” Chris replied harshly, jerking his arm away as Scott touched it lightly. He instantly regretted the action when he saw the way Hazel’s eyes widened and her breath caught, her eyes bouncing between her father and uncle.

“Bro, remember what happened this morning, okay?” Scott whispered under his breath, his face serious as Chris met his eyes. “Everyone’s emotional… just go take Dodger out and breathe. I’ll handle this.”

He nodded, swallowing as embarrassment suddenly flooded his system. He looked at Hazel in shame, seeing the way her body wracked with tears. As Scott once again whispered “I got this,” to Chris, he leaned down, pressing a long kiss to his daughter’s forehead and squeezing her quickly before he turned, leaving the room.

Chris whistled for Dodger, meeting the always-happy pooch in the mudroom as he clipped his leash to Dodger’s red collar, and he barely remembered to grab his phone from the kitchen before he hastily left the house. He moved quickly down the street, frantic to put some distance between himself and Hazel as he processed what’d just happened, how he blew up over nothing, and took out his frustration with the situation around them on his young, innocent daughter.

Before he could spiral further, Chris reached into his pocket for his phone. He paused as he stared at his phone background, at the large smile that filled Hazel’s face as she held an ice cream cone in her hand and sat on the curb outside their local ice cream stand. Feeling as though his tail was between his legs, he called the one person who’d hold no judgment, listening as the call rang until she answered. “Hey Elles,” he murmured, his voice quiet and sad. “You busy?”

“No I’m just at home,” he heard her reply, a rustling in the background. “I’ve been thinking about you guys all day. How did everything go this morning?”

“I think we ruined Hazel’s life,” he told her drily, a frown on his face as he watched Dodger sniff a bush. “And I’m not joking.”

Ellie’s sharp intake of breath carried through the call, her voice sad as she sympathetically answered, “Oh honey, that’s not true.”

“Ellie, she was so upset. At first she just didn’t seem to understand and then she cried, but then Hazel just wouldn’t say anything,” he recalled, unable to get the image of Hazel’s blank stare and then her sobs out of his mind, or the way she clung to him as he carried her back to their car when they left the park.

“Well she’s processing it, give her time,” Ellie suggested, her voice kind and even. “Think of how hard it was for you to process.”

But Chris shook his head, shooting a tight smile as they passed a neighbor on their walk. “She hates me, Elles,” he repeated.

“You know she adores you,” Ellie reassured him, but Chris couldn’t help but think those days of Hazel’s unending love were behind them.

“I just chewed her out for not picking up her fuckin’ toys… I chewed her out an hour after she found out her mother is moving. What kind of a fuckin’ father am I?” He asked incredulously, turning to begin walking back towards his home.

Ellie was quiet for several beats and he distracted himself by watching Dodger stare at a bird, but he nervously tapped his fingers against his legs as he waited for Ellie’s response. “Beating yourself up isn’t going to help anything, honey,” she finally began tentatively, but he knew she was trying to show her sympathy.

“You should have seen the look on her face, Ellie. She was so upset and then just cried for you,” he confessed, his heart breaking at the memory.

Ellie was silent for another beat, her voice confused when she finally asked, “For me?”

“She just said she wanted you,” he repeated, unable to not hear Hazel’s pleading voice in his mind.

He heard Ellie hastily stand, something – probably a book – thumping to the floor, forgotten in her rush. “I’m coming right now,” she told him as she moved, the call switching to speaker as she quickly gathered her things.

“Elles, I love that she wants you but why doesn’t she want me? I want to help her and all I do is hurt her,” he asked her, insecurity filling him as his fears about his and Hazel’s relationship only grew.

“Christopher Evans, stop right now and listen to me,” Ellie told him firmly, pausing until Chris quieted down. “Hazel adores you to no end but today was a shitty day for all of you. I think you both just need some comfort and I’ll be there in less than ten minutes so just hold out until then, okay?”

He nodded his head, not even realizing for a long moment that she couldn’t see it and eventually spit out a worried, “Okay,” before they hung up. Chris could feel the deep regret and anxiety flowing through his body, hating how all of this hurt the little girl that he loved more than anything in the world. He kept his head down, just staring at the pavement as he kept walking Dodger, letting the sweet pooch stretch his legs but all too soon he was back right where he started and walked into the house where Hazel’s loud, exhausted wails could still be heard.

Chris let Dodger off his leash before pulling off his shoes, quietly walking into the living room where Scott sat with Hazel on the floor, rubbing her back while she loudly cried. He saw the look of pure distress on Scott’s face before he noted to his brother, “Sounds like it’s not going too well in here.”

His brother frowned, glancing towards him before focusing on Hazel and moving her hair from in front of her face. “I’m trying but nothing is working,” he finally admitted to him.

“Hazel, honey I’m so sorry I got upset earlier. Can you forgive me?” Chris’s voice was soft as he sat down on the floor in front of her, his heart practically aching as he heard her hiccup interrupting the steady flow of tears down her cheeks as she nodded her little head. He couldn’t stand it any longer and just held his hands out for her, telling her, “C’mere Basil.”

She scooted closer to him, letting Chris lift her into his lap and holding her tight against his chest. He couldn’t imagine all the emotions flowing through Hazel right now, knowing just how upset and shocked he had been when he found out about Ashlee’s move but at least he had an adult brain that could process it. He hated hearing the deep wails muffled against his chest as she cried, making Chris’ own tears start to flow down his cheeks while Scott reached over to squeeze his shoulder, doing what he could to comfort them.

Although Hazel’s tears didn’t stop, he could feel her body relaxing a little bit in his embrace and it made him feel as if he was doing at least one thing right. He wanted to be that place of comfort for her, but in this moment he felt like he needed his own bit of comfort and calm, which soon came in the form of a compassionate blonde who came racing into his home only moments later.

He watched her face drop as she looked at them both crying in the middle of the living room but Ellie wasted no time dropping to her knees and brought an arm around Chris’ broad shoulders while she pressed a kiss to his cheek. Seeing that they’d want a moment, Scott quietly stood and excused himself to the kitchen, leaving the three alone in the living room that was only filled with the sound of Hazel’s loud cries.

Chris tilted his head, giving Ellie a grateful half-smile before he focused his attention back on Hazel. “Basil, look who’s here,” he murmured quietly, his hand moving to loosen her grasp on his silver chain.

“I-I want m-m-my Ellie,” Hazel whimpered, her breath coming out in shudders as she clung to Chris’ frame.

He saw the way Ellie’s shoulders slouched in pity at the cry, and she held her arms out, telling her, “Oh Hazie girl, I’m here.”

Chris let go of his tight grasp on Hazel, letting Ellie take the curly headed sobbing girl and pull her into her own lap. She held onto Hazel while pressing a kiss to her forehead then rested her cheek against it, slowly rocking her back and forth while reminding her, “It’s okay Hazie, we’re right here for you.”

He just sat there watching every motherly bit of Ellie come pouring out as she comforted his daughter, holding her tight and reminding her that everything was going to be alright and somehow managing to remind Chris of the same thing in the process. Chris eventually stood to his feet, going to the kitchen to get a glass of water for Hazel before bringing it back and resuming his place on the carpet, Ellie giving him a thankful smile.

“Okay Hazie, it’s time to take a big deep breath. You ready?” Ellie asked, lifting her head up but keeping Hazel right in her lap. Ellie grabbed the hem of her tee shirt, lifting it up to wipe away the tears covering Hazel’s cheeks and chin before the sniffling girl nodded and took a deep breath with Ellie, helping to calm her tears.

Chris gave the little girl a tight smile before he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. As he continued wiping her face and moved to messily tie her hair back, he quietly asked, “Are you hungry, Basil?”

“N-no,” she whispered, her wide brown eyes blinking slowly and tiredly as she leaned against Ellie.

“How about just a drink of water, then?” Ellie suggested, her head downturned as the couple each watched Hazel hesitate before she nodded. Chris handed the children’s cup to Hazel, watching as she slowly took a long sip of water before relaxing again. “Chris, can you go get Mr. Duck?”

But Hazel’s brows furrowed momentarily before she interjected, “I want Clucky!”

Chris pressed another kiss to her cheek before going to the playroom to find her chicken stuffed animal, digging through the bins of plush toys before finding it and bringing it back to the living room. He couldn’t help but stop for a moment, a pang in his heart as he looked at the scene in front of him. Rather than on the floor as they were a minute ago, Ellie had moved to sit on the couch with Hazel in her lap, laying up against Ellie’s chest with her head tucked under Ellie’s chin. The caring blonde had pulled a blanket over them – the very one she’d made him for Christmas – and rubbed her hand up and down Hazel’s back, helping to comfort the little girl who was already struggling to keep her eyes open. When Chris held out the stuffed chicken, Ellie took it, pretending to make Clucky kiss Hazel on the cheek and getting a giggle out of the tired girl who then tucked her toy under her arm before her eyes fully closed.

It was several minutes filled with much-needed silence before Scott’s tentative footsteps sounded, his younger brother coming down the front hall and pausing in the open archway of the living room. “Hey Chris, I’m going to head out,” he quietly announced.

“Okay, I’ll go out with you,” Chris replied, gently pressing a kiss to both Hazel and Ellie’s heads before he stood up, heading towards the front door with Scott. “Thanks for everything, Scott. I don’t know what I would have done without you today.”

“Of course, you know I’m always here for you,” Scott told him without hesitation, his shoulder bumping Chris’ as he paused for a moment. “Anything you need, you can always call me.”

Chris nodded, his lips pursed as he admitted, “I might be needing you a lot more while Ashlee’s moving if Hazel keeps reacting like this.”

“I’m not so sure about that, I think Ellie’s got everything covered,” Scott replied with a chuckle, glancing behind them, barely able to see Ellie and Hazel on the couch. “Although I think she always does.”

“You obviously weren’t there while we were redoing the bakery,” Chris muttered, watching with a smirk as Scott laughed quietly at his words before he left the small, thankfully peaceful home, shutting the front door behind him silently.

Chris hadn’t even realized just how hungry he was, his stomach growling loudly at his lack of food from the day, it instead being tied in knots. But now that Ellie had come and helped relax his whole body, he found himself reaching for the uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had made for Hazel, taking a bite as he walked back to the living room. His girls were still on the couch, Ellie just gazing down at Hazel and pushing some of her curls off of her forehead while she slept soundly.

He couldn’t help but feel so full of emotions, his body exhausted from what the day had held so far but when he saw that soft smile of Ellie’s shining back at him, it felt like the weights that were laid on his shoulders simply fell right off. Chris silently shuffled over to the couch, sitting down as he kept biting into the sandwich while he slunk down on the cushions, his head resting against the back while he let out a long breath. It stayed completely silent in that room as he felt a warm hand rub along his shoulder, causing him to glance over at Ellie who was smiling brightly before tugging at his shirt, wordlessly urging him to come over where he rested his head on her shoulder.

She surprised him in more ways than one when she rested her cheek against his forehead then whispered, “You're a great dad, Chris.”

And although in that moment, he was feeling anything but a great dad, he knew that Ellie wasn’t one to say things she didn’t mean and that faith in him was enough to give his anxious thoughts a rest. He turned his head to kiss her cheek, communicating all he needed to in that one action and for the first time since hearing that Ashlee was going to move, he had a glimmer of hope that just maybe everything would be alright.

A/N: Not gonna lie, that entire last sequence with Scott, Hazel, Chris, and Ellie is one of our favorite scenes ever. We love them and feel for them all so much, but we also adore the fact that Scott pushed Chris to even ask Ellie out in the first place, and now here she is comforting Hazel!

We can't wait to hear your thoughts! We are in the homestretch now for Chellie... they'll wrap up right before the holidays. We have some big plans not only for them, but for Sam and Nat's stories as well that we can't wait for you to read soon!

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somewhereincairparavel · 3 months

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Jason: *dies in an excruciatingly painful but heroic way because his dad screwed up again, saving the lives of a literal God, his ex, a random girl and his dad's fucking ego*

Zeus: um chile anyways so-

#This is basically how Zeus reacted #Jason DIED for his dad's mistakes smh #And all that mf has to say is “bitvh I didn't kill him”#i hated hera but i did cheer when she called zeus out on his bs #and she atleast had the decency to shed tears. She didn't even have to since jason wasn't even HER son. Yet she got attached but Zeus didnt #pjo #percy jackson #pjo series #pjo fandom #pjo hoo #pjo hoo toa #pjo toa #jason grace #annabeth chase #hazel levesque #frank zhang #leo valdez #piper mclean

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livwritesstuff · 12 days

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Hazel posts a tiktok that says: POV ur stuck between my dads at my sister’s graduation

Steve: Gotta check what yardline we’re on

Steve: *spends several minutes checking, including getting up out of his seat for a better look*

Steve: 44

Steve: That’s no good. Shoulda got a seat closer to the edge.

Eddie: Shit, I don’t know any of these people

Eddie: You think we’re at the right school?

Eddie, looking at Steve: You hear that?

Steve: House wren

Eddie: That it is *high-fives him across Hazel*

Steve: Robbie’s here, right?

Steve: Like, she definitely woke up in time, right?

Eddie: I think they left her off the program.

Eddie, pointing to the R's: No Robbie.

Steve: Well, for one, her name is Amelia.

Steve: So...off to a bad start, but it's alphabetical by last name so you should be looking under the H's anyway.

Hazel: Yikes, Dad.

Eddie: How should I know?

Eddie: *I* didn't graduate!

#major inspo from kickball dad on tiktok #this one is in honor of the three grads I went to in 72 hours (arguably too many)#steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie dads #hazel's tiktok page

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aroaceleovaldez · 6 months

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some musings about deified death sibs designs. ft obligatory sibling tormenting

#pjo #riordanverse #nico di angelo #hazel levesque #my art #they both get their dad's weird ghost-fabric clothes #nico gets horns and wings cause he needs to be Extra at all times (also the horns are a Zagreus thing)#the wings were probably a gift from another god. they've got iridescence cause again: nico needs to be extra #Hazel went ''yeah i'll be comfy and in a standard outfit'' and Nico went ''IF I'M NOT DRAMATIC THEN WHAT'S THE POINT''#< sacrificed pants to look cool #also WE SHOULD BE GIVING HAZEL CROWNS if Nico gets to be a king Hazel should get to be royalty too #also Nico has a diadem ergo the ribbons #and of course both of them get SO MUCH JEWELRY cause their dad's god of riches. so.

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punkeropercyjackson · 5 months

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The AUDACITY of Pjo fans to act like ANNABETH is the mom of the Seven because 'hahaha,she's the most smart one and the meanest and also a girl,ofc she's the mom friend!!!' as if PERCY wasn't the one who adopted Nico and Hazel as her younger siblings and pseudo-kids,the latter within ONE BOOK of knowing her,and has more chemistry with the Team Dad of their friend group(Jason)than anyone else does.Bffr,Annabeth is the cool butch lesbian aunt and Percy is the trans mom.It's almost 2024,we're not cishet anymore,get some reading comprehension beyond gender roles!!!

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undertheredhood · 8 months

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jason 'raised by wolves' grace: *returning to camp jupiter as a soft boy with a girlfriend*

everyone in camp jupiter: *immediately getting in a circle around him to exorcise whoever it is that is possessing him because there is no way that is the jason grace they grew up with*

#percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #jason grace #camp jupiter #i know for a fact they were horrified when they saw him again #reyna shows piper a picture of jason and she cries because he used to have long hair #even nico was shook and he didn't know jason for that long and that's saying something #hazel is clutching her pearls and gasping #jason grace acts like a ray of sunshine and everyone in camp is begging hera to give him his memories back #octavian is sacrificing many plushies in the hopes that jason will go back to normal #dakota is begging his dad to cure jason's insanity because there is no other explanation for how he's acting #pre-hera jason was a feral boy you cannot tell me otherwise

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l-just-want-to-see · 6 months

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Leo being the most important of the seven is so obvious because like. For the others Gaea’s just some woman they’ve never really met before that just kinda shows up basically right before they go off to their quest. And sureeee she’s always saying about how she hates Jason and Percy etc etc but I’d argue she’s just being manipulative. You know who she tries to persuade is useless for some bizarre reason? You know whose life she affects early on and completely unprompted? Well. It’s the kid that kills her!

#unprompted because obviously Hazel’s mom kinda summons Gaea #and ik piper’s dad gets kidnapped but again it’s right before the whole seven thing happens. Convenient #Leo she’s scared of you btw. You think you’re useless but actually some primordial is running insane machinations to ruin your life because #you terrify her #pjo hoo toa #hoo #heroes of olympus #leo valdez #percy jackson

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newts-and-sharks · 8 months

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I want to show off my baby and her family, please.

#she’s a faun satyr #druid too #hence the spider #she got chopped in half #that’s why she has that golden scar lol #she has a sister named clover/a dad named fern/a deceased mother named willow/and a step dad named clay #clay is a werebear and I love him dearly #tw spider #she’s about to turn on her party so wish her good luck 👍#dnd oc #dnd #dnd character #Hazel #Hazel Chestnut #I had to use a reference for the modern fit btw #newts doodles

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kanerallels · 12 days

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Today I heard that a friend of a friend who read my book thought it fit for the demographic I was aiming it towards (kids to middle grade) and she would have loved it at that age and honestly it's very reassuring

#i'm getting a good grade in writing kid's books something both logical to want and possible to achieve #also my dad brought home lemonade #also also i finished a fan fic that has been literal years in the making #all in all a good day!#hazel rambles about her original writing

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happyk44 · 8 months

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Jason howling as a vocal tic on the ship, and it startles everyone else (except Hazel, who knew him briefly before he vanished and was aware that this was something he did). He's not ashamed of it, she can tell that much and, besides, he never seemed quite ashamed of it before, but this time, his shoulders are drawing up to his ears and he looks... frustrated.

Oh, she thinks. Camp is one thing - they already knew and it was understood as that thing that Jason did sometimes, same as with Dakota suddenly jumping rapidly while shaking his fists.

But this is a different setting, different people. Judging from Annabeth, Leo and Piper's faces, this wasn't something he demonstrated in front of them before. She'd only known him for a little bit, but she was well aware Jason didn't appreciate the label of "different". He was already that Roman kid that Percy was replaced - different in his mannerisms, his rigidity, the repressed snarl behind him lips.

At Camp Jupiter, he was Jupiter's son, the foregone leader. Stronger, more powerful. The child raised by wolves, the defeater of Krios. The golden boy.

He always laughed off when people said things like that. They were half-jokes. An easy kindness between friends, but reflecting on fact nonetheless. His teeth would always grit a little. His body tightening. Discomfort.

Just like now.

It didn't even register as a thought before she was already crossing to the other side of the boat. She leaned over the well crafted railing. Jason was stiff. His throat was so tense, she could imagine it like a rope, seconds away from splitting in half.

She turned to face the clouds like he was. Cleared her throat and howled alongside him.

She was not good at it. It was more of a "whoooo" than a real howl. But Jason didn't seem to mind as he shot her a quick look. It was kind of funny. It reminded her of little kids howling alongside their dogs.

Jason wasn't her dog however. But Frank was - sometimes.

She turned to where he had been reloading the cannons and jerked her head out to the clouds. He took the hint. Tightening the cannons back into place, he hopped over and leaned across the railing on Hazel's other side. His initial howl was a weak, cracked thing that her had giggling and him frowning. Jason wasn't stopping in his noise, but his shoulders shook anyway, a crooked grin cut against his lips as he howled.

Frank's head shifted into a proper wolf. This howl was lot better than the others. The sound of it, a rough guttural thing that trailed off like a song, encouraged Jason's own crooning. In seconds, it broke into a battle of who could do better.

Hazel accepted her loss with grace. Behind them, the others were still a little lost, but carrying on nonetheless. Sneaking peeks back at the three of them while they continued on. Annabeth ducked over to Percy. Their heads lowered together. She was probably asking him if this was a thing he saw at Camp Jupiter. A Roman child thing.

A wolf-trained thing.

He shrugged and gestured loosely outwards. He had not seen it. For starters, he hadn't been around long enough. And secondly, Jason was the only kid at Camp who howled like that. The little ones did sometimes, but they were strewn about New Rome playing pretend. Not howling because it itched a part of their brain that needed to be scratched.

The howling died off slowly, gently. Hazel steadied her grip against the railing and leaned back. Her feet kept her firmly planted. She held herself there for a moment. Then swung back up. The air rushed past her face and she exhaled with it.

"Better?"

Jason flexed his fingers one right after the other against the railing. "Better?" he echoed with a frown. "Better? Better?"

He was like a parrot.

Hazel snorted and tilted her head back. "Helloooo," she drawled.

His head snapped up from where he'd dropped it to mumble to himself. The echo was instant. "Helloooo!"

"Hello!" she called back.

He clicked his tongue twice then, "Helloooo!"

She grabbed his hands and began jumping fast like Dakota would. Frank's warm hand steadied against her back. Jason "hello"ed one more time before copying her. Big jumps with knees pulled up as far as they could go, calves tucked into thighs, and head ducked over. They mimicked Dakota's tight fists with their entwined grip.

"Hello!" she shouted with every bounce. The word tied up on her tongue quickly.

Jason echoed the greeting back for a few seconds before devolving into his repeated chant of "teeth".

Hazel did not understand what exactly was soothing about the word "teeth". "Hello" made sense. Even "Reyna" was a good one. "Teeth" was a gritted word that just sounded menacing as fuck and did not tickle any part of her brain.

So she stuck with with a repeated and enthusiastic "hello" for the couple minutes they jumped in tandem. Her legs ached by the time they faded into a slow stop, Jason's words quieting down into steady silence and breathing.

She keeled over and gripped her knees. "How the fuck does Dakota do that?" she panted. She held her head back. "Gods-dammnit - he makes it look so easy."

"He makes it look like he's having a spasm of some kind," Frank said. "Or a tantrum because someone drank all his koolaid."

Jason snorted. Damn, sky baby was breathing fine. She almost wanted to whack him for it. But instead she just rose up and leaned against Frank's strong center.

"Better?" she asked.

He ran his hand through his short tufts of hair. "Yeah," he said. He gazed off into the clouds, then back at her with a quiet smile. "Thanks."

She waved him off. "It's fine." She gestured towards the inside of the boat. "Do you want me to explain it?"

She wasn't fully sure how to explain it though. It's just a thing that he does sometimes, they'd said about Jason. If it interrupts a conversation, just wait a moment. And that was it.

Dakota's was explained a little better. It's not because I'm hyper, he'd said. But sometimes I get all, like, tense and stressed and it helps me shake it out.

She'd stared at him. Then said, Being at Camp doesn't help you shake it out? I think I've ran around more here than I did when I was a kid.

He'd laughed and bumped her with his shoulder. Nah, it's not like that. That's energy. This is different. Like when you sit and bounce your leg. But that's controlled. This is like my brain telling my body it's full, and we gotta let some stuff out or I'll explode. I can feel it coming on, but I can't stop it.

Kind of like going to the bathroom, she'd thought. How many times had she'd bolted through the door and race to the toilet before it could all come rushing out of her without permission? And when she did make it, sat down and let go, the relief was instantaneous.

Was Jason's like that? It had to be similar. Being on the boat, sailing right towards the enemy, yet another war slapped on his back, knowing that his home felt betrayed by him, dealing with being possessed back and forth, being the only one who could handle all the bitter wind and sky spirits that attacked them - his brain had to be sending out multiple alarms to his body telling him to let go or implode by now. Probably had started days ago. When Leo made the first attack and everything went downhill.

He didn't say anything, but his brows were furrowed. "I-" He grit his teeth. "I'll do it. It's fine."

She played with Frank's fingers. The two of them shared a brief look. Then she kicked the side of his foot with hers. "I'll do it, Jason."

He scowled. "I can-"

"Shut up, I'm doing it," she said. She eased off of Frank and prodded Jason in his belly. "I already decided and I'm older than you so shush."

He blinked, almost owlishly. The tension in his shoulders stuck, high and tight. Then slowly began to drift down. He opened his mouth then clamped it shut, staring back out into the clouds.

"Okay," he said softly after a few seconds of plaintive silence.

She poked his belly again. "Whoooo."

Frank came up beside her. "Whooooo."

The corner of Jason's lip twitched. He tilted his head ever so slightly to catch them both with his electric eyes. It was quiet, then he laughed soundlessly, and gave a quiet, "Whooo" back.

#jason grace #hazel levesque #frank zhang #happy talks pjo #my writing #my fanfic #hazel harnessing her dad's big brother energy at the end there 👍

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jasontoddssuper · 7 months

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Stop making your punk Percy Jackson designs wannabes who're just edgy when we all know he'd look like this

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k-evans-reads · 2 years

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Playing With Fire

Chapter 16

Pairing: Firefighter!Chris Evans X OFC Elizabeth “Ellie” Maxwell

Word Count: 6,518

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: Smut. 18+ ONLY. Minors DNI.

Previous | Main Masterlist | Playing With Fire Masterlist

A little clunk echoed in the bakery as Chris laid in the last tile for the brand new flooring, his back tight as he finally stood up and looked around at the finished flooring. It had been a long few weeks, first with Ellie deciding to jump into buying the bakery but that was only the beginning. What had come next was Ellie becoming lost in samples of all kinds before they started renovating and remodeling the damaged bakery. He had spent all of his days off while Hazel was at school putting in the work side by side with Ellie, but lately, the stress on both of their shoulders was nearly suffocating.

Chris let out a sigh when he glanced over to see a familiar blonde in the exact same place she’d been for the past two hours. Ellie was sitting in the doorway to the kitchen, pieces of wallpaper spread out around her as she stared at each one, picking them up and inspecting them before putting it back down and doing the same with the next. He crossed his arms as he came over and leaned against the doorway, waiting until she finally lifted her head so that he could give her a look.

“I thought you already picked a paint color?”

Ellie shook her head as she turned back to the samples, holding up a pale pink wallpaper square and inspecting it. “I changed my mind, I think yellow is going to be way too off putting inside,” she informed him firmly.

“Elles, we spent hours yesterday going through all the samples of that paint,”

“I know but I don’t think it’s right,” Ellie sighed and confessed, her shoulders hunching under his stare as she continued to avoid his gaze. “I think I should do wallpaper instead.”

Chris refrained from letting out the sigh of exasperation that he so desperately wanted to, and instead frowned and asked, “Okay well did you pick one?”

“What do you like? I think I like either of these,” Ellie replied, holding identical samples in either hand.

“Ellie, those look exactly the same.”

“It’s the same pattern but look, this one the leaves are a lighter green and this one it has a darker green,” she murmured as she moved over to stand next to him, trying to point out the supposed differences as Chris felt the headache that’d been looming all afternoon begin to ache.

Chris’ voice was delicate as he watched Ellie’s hands fly all over the sample in her efforts to pick apart the samples, interrupting her as he said, “I think you’re starting to see things, honey. They literally look identical.”

“They’re not though,” she insisted, a deep frown on her face.

He let out a huff that broke into a sigh and waved a hand, too tired to battle. “Then just pick whatever one you like.”

She continued to stare at the samples in either hand, practically deflating as she quietly admitted, “But I don’t know.”

“Okay then how about you take a break and come see the tile? I just finished it,” Chris suggested as he nodded his head towards the front area of the bakery.

For the first time that day, he saw a smile on Ellie’s face before he rested a hand on her back, gently leading her to the doorway and around the corner so she could come over behind the counter to see his handiwork. Chris felt a little bit proud of himself, knowing that he hadn’t exactly been inept when it came to things like this and he’d certainly done his fair share of house projects over the years fixing up his small home, but laying tile was a new challenge and he was pretty happy with how it had come out. He glanced over at Ellie, seeing her bite her bottom lip as she tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear and immediately he knew he wasn’t going to like what was going to come out of her mouth.

His jaw clenched as he saw the way her eyes stared at the tile and froze as a frown appeared on her face. “I don’t like that look,” he murmured nervously.

“No, no, it looks great,” she rushed to tell him, but the familiar deflating of her shoulders occurred and she shook her head. “I just… okay don’t hate me but I just think that maybe the grout is too dark.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Chris muttered, feeling his patience finally snap. It’d been several weeks of her indecisiveness, and while he was more than understanding, he was also fucking tired of redoing things because she couldn’t make a decision. “Elles, I’m not ripping up all of this tile and redoing it just for the grout color. It’s gray! Nobody will even notice it!”

“But I’m afraid it’s going to look dirty and I don’t want that in a bakery,” Ellie rushed to explain, but she didn’t seem sympathetic to the strain on Chris as she continued, “I knew I should have picked white.”

“Elles, it literally does not matter. You’re making everything a huge deal,” Chris muttered as he shook his head in disbelief.

“It is though Chris,” she insisted firmly. “All of this is a huge deal. I have to make sure everything is perfect.”

“Well you don’t have to, you just want to,” his low, nearly sarcastic voice amended.

Ellie’s demeanor reminded Chris so much of Hazel – the upset pout, the worried eyes, and the nervous fiddling and movements, and he felt a rush of sympathy wash over him as she repeated the sentiment, telling him, “Things like this matter though.”

And as much as Chris wanted to say more, he decided to keep his mouth shut. In all their months of dating, he’d never seen Ellie like this. He knew she was a perfectionist but he’d never actually seen it come out in this way. She had been on edge ever since buying this business and there wasn’t a day that had gone by that she didn’t obsess over some minute detail or change her mind for about fifteen different things. Chris couldn’t help but feel frustrated but knew that she just was stressed and he hoped things would calm down soon enough.

He was thankful that Ellie eventually looked at the clock, suggesting they take a break for lunch and nothing sounded better to him. They both washed their hands before grabbing the sandwiches that Ellie had made and brought out to the front porch, sitting on the top step and soaking in the spring sunshine. Neither said anything for a long moment, Chris being able to see the gears inside Ellie’s head churning on high speed and if he was being completely honest, he didn’t really even want to know all that was going through her brain.

Ellie wiped her face with a napkin, putting it in her lap as she asked him, “When do you think we’ll be able to finish the bakery?”

Chris lifted his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug, a small smirk playing on his lips as he told her, “Depends on how many times you change your mind.”

Ellie rolled her eyes at him fondly, but then moved to stare at the paper plate on her lap as she whispered, “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Chris replied, but dropped the teasing tone as he saw the anxiety in her expression. “I think we can have everything ready in the next two, maybe three, weeks probably.”

Ellie nodded as she chewed on a carrot, her eyes watching the cars drive by. “I want to get open so we can start making some money but I’m also nervous,” she admitted with a tentative and nervous look on her face, one that broke Chris’ heart. “When it opens then I actually have to run it.”

Chris turned to face Ellie fully, his hand moving to cover her own and squeezing it lightly. “Hey, you’re going to do a great job,” his low voice rumbled.

“I hope so.” He could see the invisible weight causing her shoulders to sag, her eyes looking anywhere but him as she mentioned, “I actually was thinking about something though.”

“What’s that?”

“Well I was thinking of hiring Brooke,” she finally turned to look at him. “She hates her job cutting hair and she’s so good at details that I was thinking she could help me order inventory, schedule all the employees and manage the custom orders.”

Chris smiled at her idea, reaching his free hand over to rub her back, encouraging her with, “I think that’s a good idea. I think you’re going to drive yourself insane if you try to do it all by yourself.”

“Yeah…”

He could tell more was lingering inside of her anxious shell but Chris felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, pulling his attention away from her. With both his job and having Hazel, Chris always made sure to check his phone in case something had happened, but the text that he read caught him completely off guard.

“Who is it?” Ellie asked lightly before she took a swig from her water bottle.

He grimaced and raised an eyebrow as he unlocked his phone and opened the text, telling Ellie, “It’s Ashlee.”

“...Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, she just is asking me for your phone number,” Chris’ brows furrowed as he looked at the text, as if staring at it longer would somehow explain it all. “She didn’t say why.”

“Oh…”

He watched her neatly folding her napkin as she tucked it underneath her paper plate before finally asking, “Are you okay with me giving Ashlee your number or do you want me to ask her why?

“No, no, it’s okay.”

Chris’ blue eyes lingered on Ellie for a long moment, studying her face before finally looking back at his phone so he could type out her number and send it off to Ashlee. An uncomfortable silence fell on each of them, neither knowing what this could be about and honestly not feeling great about it. At the sound of Ellie’s phone buzzing with an alert, they each jumped a little while Ellie instantly grabbed the small device.

Ellie had a deep frown on her face as she stared at her phone, and Chris felt his heart begin to race. “Ashlee said she wants to talk to me,” Ellie began slowly.

“About what?” He asked instantly, confused at the sudden shift thanks to Ashlee.

Ellie shrugged, looking at him helplessly. “She said she just wants to meet next week to talk,” she explained with another shrug. “I don’t know.”

“Elles…you don’t have to answer. I’ll call her and find out what’s going on,” he sighed, reaching for his phone again and clicking on Ashlee’s contact.

“No, don’t,” Ellie’s voice interrupted him. He glanced up at her and at the resolute expression on her face and the way she shook her head, he locked his phone again with a sigh. “If we’re going to continue to get more serious, I’m going to have to figure out how to have a relationship with her.”

“But you don’t have to do it now,” he reminded her with a clenched jaw.

“I think it’s probably for the best if I do,” she replied, an odd mixture of nerves and confidence all over her. “I didn’t feel like when I met her that one time that it went well, so I think it’d be good for everyone if I went.”

Chris was struck by the simple way Ellie turned her mood around in light of a pretty fucking large curveball being thrown her way, something he never felt he did well himself. “...You’re pretty wonderful, Ellie,” he murmured in admiration, shaking his head with a small laugh. “I hope you know that.”

Ellie shrugged, raising an eyebrow. Her voice was sarcastic and that teasing smirk – the one that’d gotten them into so much trouble already – taunted him as she reminded him, “I don’t think you were thinking that about twenty minutes ago.”

“Well when you’re devoting hours on end to identical wallpaper, you can’t really blame me,” Chris drawled as he laughed, feeling that stress from the last few weeks begin to lighten off of his shoulders.

Ellie rolled her eyes, looking at him as she protested, “They weren’t identical though.”

“Yes they were!” Chris insisted, laughing loudly. Despite their ‘arguing’, he knew it was all in good fun. It was a side of Ellie and himself that had been all but locked away in the last several weeks. He’d missed this – he’d missed her – and he welcomed the shift in Ellie.“I think you’ve been smelling too many paint fumes at this point and it’s making you insane.”

“You know what? Just for that I’m going to go meet Ashlee just so we can talk shit about you.”

“Oh do you mean shit like how I just laid an entire bathroom full of tile for you?” Chris couldn’t help but quip with a raised eyebrow.

And although he didn’t know it, that little smirk of his had Ellie’s stomach doing flip flops. Chris watched from under his long eyelashes as Ellie rested a hand on his broad shoulder before leaning in to press a kiss to his lips. He was so hungry for her kiss that he couldn’t help but deepen it quickly, needing more, but with them still sitting on the front porch, Ellie quickly pulled away.

Resigned to his kiss-less fate at the moment, Chris looked back down at his unfinished lunch but got it taken away by the blonde sitting next to him. He shot her a confused look as she put their paper plates on the porch before standing up and tugging on his arm. When he saw the little familiar grin on her pink lips, he knew exactly what was happening and he practically leapt to his feet, chasing after her through the bakery and up the back stairs as she laughed wildly before she stumbled at the top of the stairs, allowing him to capture her in his thick arms.

He was happy to forget about everything that was downstairs, all the wet grout, paint samples, and boxes of trim to be installed. It felt like their past few weeks together had been completely engrossed in the bakery and he’d missed not having Ellie’s full attention, even in moments like this being able to tell her brain was elsewhere. He loved her so deeply and seeing her so weighed down with all of this had not only been frustrating but had broken his heart a little to see her so different and withdrawn.

But he wasn’t about to let that be the case now, his lips caressing hers just the way he knew she loved, making sure he got her full attention this time. Chris’ chest was tingling with warmth, loving the needy way she was tugging at his sweaty clothes. Needing her just as badly, Chris shimmied out of his athletic shorts and his tight boxers, kicking them over to where she’d already left his shirt before he set his sights on peeling her out of every layer that kept her body from his.

Normally they liked to take their time, loving all the soft touches and sweet kisses that came before, but Chris was burning with so much desire for her that the only thing he could think of was getting deep inside her and hearing those sweet moans that poured from her lips. His pure need for her took over his actions, making him spin her around in his arms, lips attaching to her neck while his fingers dipped inside her warmth.

Chris felt drunk on the sound of her sighs, loving the way her back arched against his chest while his fingers spread around her wetness, rubbing deliberate circles on her sensitive button to keep her writhing in his grasp. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Ellie’s head tip back to rest against his broad shoulder, her chest heaving as he whispered so many things into her ear as he kept working his fingers in those tight circles.

But just when he could tell her body was about to snap, he pulled his fingers away, needing to be able to be tucked deep inside her so that he could feel the way her body grasped his as she hit that peak. He turned them around, pushing Ellie into the wall a little harder than he intended but the soft grunt she let out when she hit the wall was enough to drive him wild and somehow got him even harder than he already was.

In one swift move, his hands were around her thighs, lifting her up and pinning her between her body and the wall. Her back was resting against the tan colored wall, legs being held on either side of his hips and pushed straight into her with a little guidance from her slender hand. They both were moaning loudly with that initial stretch, each of them having missed this deep connection and primal need for one another. Chris relished the way that Ellie’s soft hands reached out, rubbing across his firm chest, her core clenching down on him from being able to take in the way his muscles were bulging from how he was holding her up. If it was any other moment, he would have loved to just stand there and just get to watch the way she was already coming undone, melting against the wall and clenching him so hard, but right now, he couldn’t manage any of that.

He needed her and he needed her so fuckin’ bad.

Chris’ hips started thrusting, fast and unfocused as he chased after that euphoric feeling. He was thankful for his choice to hold her up, being able to lift her slightly and drop her back down to meet his thrusts, causing him to hit her so fucking deep with each thrust, making Ellie cry out in a way he hadn’t heard before. They were both panting, Ellie grasping at him blindly as his grip on her thighs tightened, his pace picking up as he kept hitting her hard and deep.

He could hear the almost obscene squelch as he kept diving into her over and over again, that wildly amazing feeling starting to tingle inside of him. Chris wanted to let go, he wanted to fill her up so badly and have that feeling of pulsing inside her warmth but he was determined to hang on, keeping himself steady as he kept thrusting until Ellie’s body was exploding while her fingers dug into his shoulders.

Chris focused on working her through that high, loving the way she was practically wilting onto him, her arms wrapping around his neck, face buried in his neck and chest heaving against his own while he kept pounding into her. It only took a few more thrusts and Ellie’s muffled whimpers against his skin to have him spilling into her and finally having that incredible feeling that they each needed more than they even knew.

After a long moment of them both panting, he heard her voice say against his skin,“I think you broke me.”

“Oh fuck, honey I’m sorry,” Regret instantly washed over him as he pulled out of her and then gently lowered her down to her feet. He knew he shouldn’t have gone that hard, knowing it wasn’t something they normally did and certainly not without talking it through before. Chris’ blue eyes anxiously scanned over her bare form, his hands on her waist as he surveyed her and asked, “Are you alright? What can I do?”

He heard Ellie’s soft laughter before her arms snaked around his neck, leaning in to peck his lips before telling him, “I meant in a good way.”

Chris squeezed her a little tighter, his anxiety washing away as he commented, “Well in that case, I’m glad I could be of service.”

He watched her as she trailed a hand along the side of his face, cupping his cheek tenderly as she stole another kiss, commenting, “So I think it sounds like you did end up enjoying working on the bakery.”

“If this is what comes with it, I’ll work here every day.”

“Need a hand?” Chris asked Hazel with a raised eyebrow, unclipping the buckle of her car seat. At Hazel’s stubborn shake of her head, he moved his arms back to his sides and stepped back, watching as he stood next to the car while she pulled the straps of her car seat off her shoulders. She shot him a grin as she slipped out of the seat, grabbing her water bottle from the cupholder before she moved towards the open door. Before Hazel could leap out of the car, Chris hastily latched onto her spare hand, keeping her still before he scooped her up.

“Why can’t I walk by myself?” The little girl muttered unhappily in his ear as he shut the door of the SUV, locking the car with one hand before he began walking them to the front of the grocery store. Her fist clung to the collar of Chris’ plain t-shirt, the same one that was stained with grout in a few places from earlier that day.

Chris paused and looked both ways before he crossed the walkway, hurrying before the waiting cars impatiently drove through. “Because it’s busy right now and I don’t want you to get hurt,” he murmured to her just before they reached the sidewalk in front of the store. He glanced towards the doors as a constant stream of people, having likely just left work or gotten their kids from school as well, poured in and out of the store, smiling instinctively as he felt Hazel grasp his hand tightly. “Let’s go get a cart, Basil,” he told her with a smile, leading her over to the carts.

Hazel’s eyes were locked on the small section of mini kid’s carts as he pulled a cart from the row. “Can I get one?” She asked him quietly, her brown eyes wide as she met his own blue eyes.

A chuckle rose from him as he shook his head, reaching under her armpits and lifting her before he placed her in the seat in the cart. “You lost your cart privileges last time, remember?” He asked her, raising an eyebrow as Hazel moved to avoid his eyes and stare at the ground with a pout. “Maybe in a few weeks, my heels still hurt Hazie,” he told her quietly, a small smirk on his lips before he leaned down and kissed her forehead and began steering the cart through the double doors of the grocery store.

Hazel’s displeasure was quickly forgotten as they moved through the produce section, the little girl excitedly instructing Chris on what to get. “I want the candy grapes!” She cheered as the cart stopped, pointing at the container of cotton candy grapes in the display.

Chris huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “You mean the organic, $5.99 a pound grapes? Not the normal green grapes?” He asked, holding up the container as he looked at his smiling daughter.

“Yeah, the yummy ones,” she affirmed, holding her hands out until he handed the grapes to her. She quickly turned in her seat, carefully dumping the organic grapes into the cart before she spun back with a wide grin.

“You’re lucky you’re so cute,” Chris muttered before he began pushing the cart away before Hazel could make any more costly decisions. He navigated them through the story, pausing every few moments to pull something off the shelves as he listened to Hazel’s chattering, hearing about her day at preschool.

“I drew a unicorn today but I didn’t like it,” Hazel told him seriously, her brown eyes as wide as saucers as she watched him slyly pick a box of pasta made from zucchini and spinach off of the shelf, dumping it into the cart before Hazel’s eyes could linger on the ‘normal’ pasta boxes.

“Oh, really?” He asked her as they moved down the aisle, then turned and paused in the cereal aisle. “What cereal do you want? Cheerios or Mini-Wheats?”

She turned in her seat, looking up and down the aisle next to her at the brightly covered cereal boxes, each adorned with some cartoon character and image to entice her. “Cocoa Puffs,” she finally answered, turning to look at Chris with a satisfied grin.

His lips curled in amusement and he leaned against the cart, Hazel’s hand reaching out to tap along the skin of his bare forearm. “I don’t remember offering Cocoa Puffs…”

“I know,” the girl replied with a small shrug of her narrow shoulders. “But Cocoa Puffs seem like a cereal Ellie would like.”

“Really?” Chris asked, pursing his lips as he thought. “I don’t think Ellie’s ever mentioned them before.”

“Yeah, but they’re chocolate and Ellie makes chocolate things all the time for us,” she informed him, and he had to admit her logic was fairly sound as she pointed to the box again, almost reminding him to get it.

He let out a long sigh with a small shake of his head. “Okay,” he finally agreed, refraining from grinning at the excited look on her face. “But only this one time, then only Cheerios or Mini-Wheats until summer, alright?”

Chris kept pushing the cart through the store, Hazel’s small legs swinging gently as they weaved up and down the aisles while she asked, “Daddy, can we have peanut butter sandwiches for dinner?”

“Not tonight honey, I’m going to make spaghetti and meatballs,” he informed her.

“Why can’t we have peanut butter?” She asked, not understanding why he couldn’t simply change the menu.

Chris was looking at all the different kinds of bread, checking the dates and placing a loaf for dinner in the cart as he told her, “Because Ellie’s coming over tonight and she’s had a long day working on the bakery so she’s going to be hungry.”

“I want spaghetti now,” Hazel stated firmly, her little hands playing with the beaded necklace she had on while telling him as he looked for sandwich bread, “I like it when Ellie comes over.”

Although Hazel didn’t know it, that one simple sentence completely melted his heart. Ever since Ashlee, he hadn’t been in a relationship with anyone, and if he was being honest, he hadn’t expected to for a long time. Hazel was his priority in life and he hadn’t planned on bringing anyone new into her life… or into his. He tried to just keep his head down and take things day by day, going to work, then taking care of Hazel and not focusing on much else.

But Ellie had changed all of that.

She had come into his life and made him want things that he didn’t think were possible anymore. She pulled him out of his little bubble that was filled with so much loneliness and showed him that life could be so much more than what he had been experiencing. She made him feel loved in a way he hadn’t ever felt before and getting to see that love extend to Hazel and to see how Hazel loved her so much in return made him know that this was right.

All of those thoughts brought a warmth inside of him that stayed present as they finished shopping and headed back home to unload the groceries and start on dinner. The chaos of the evening passed by in a blur between Chris getting dinner ready and Hazel buzzing around, happily greeting and pulling Ellie away the moment she arrived from the bakery, still covered in various paints and grout smears.

It wasn’t until after the spaghetti dinner and cleaning up that Chris finally pulled the tired little girl away from the bright-eyed blonde that time seemed to slow. After giving her a bath and helping her into bed, he shut Hazel’s door with one final “goodnight,” and trudged down the stairs, ready to relax with Ellie, but when he came to the bottom step, he found a much different scene in front of him.

Ellie was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, her back resting against it while she looked at flooring, wallpaper, and paint samples spread out in front of her that she must have brought with. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated with Ellie and how she had let herself be consumed with every tiny detail of redoing the bakery. He knew it was a big event for her, but the level with which she had become obsessed was taking a toll on them both. Ellie was perpetually exhausted these days, that little Ellie sparkle she always carried with her being dulled. Her extreme patience, calmness and all around good nature had been overtaken with anxiety and perfectionism to an unhealthy level and he couldn’t help but miss his Ellie, just wanting this bakery to be open already so he could have her back.

“Elles, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Chris murmured quietly as he stepped in front of her with a sigh. He had hoped they’d be able to just relax tonight, maybe share a beer and watch something on Netflix, but Ellie was turning the evening on its head.

“I just need to pick out some tile for the backsplash for the counter and in the bathroom, and the color for upstairs in the breakroom and my office,” she insisted with a shake of her head, not meeting his gaze as she held up a piece of tile next to the sample of the flooring for the back counter area. “The painters are coming on Friday.”

Chris refrained from saying something rash and instead moved to grab a beer from the fridge. “Well it’s only Tuesday so you still have time,” he pointed out.

“No I don’t because I have to order the paint and pick it up and tomorrow I’m meeting with Dottie to go over things. Then I’m meeting with Brooke since she accepted the job to kind of go over what it’ll look like,” Ellie rambled, her voice wavering as Chris made his way back into the living room as he took a long sip of the beer. He could tell her brain was moving a thousand miles a minute, and while it hurt him to see the way she was overthinking and overdoing everything, he didn’t know how to make it stop. “And I’m still nowhere close to being finished with decorating it and I need to go find what tables and chairs will fit and then-”

“Ellie, will you just fuckin’ stop? If I have to hear about tile or paint or countertops one more time I swear I’m going to go insane!” He interrupted, his voice raising in what was a somewhat sharp manner, while still low enough to not wake the curly-haired girl upstairs. He’d watched Ellie think, move, and go nonstop from the moment she woke until the moment she – restlessly – fell asleep each night, if she even did fall asleep, and he could tell she was approaching the point of no return. She could put up some boundaries, leaving the bakery stuff at the bakery each night, giving herself a few hours of a break she desperately needed, or she could keep going, and likely crash and burn in the process. And while Chris would support her either way, he couldn’t watch her self-destruct like this without at least trying to help her.

For the first time since he had come back down the stairs, she brought her eyes up to meet his, but Chris almost wished she hadn’t. He could see the tears brimming in her eyes and immediately felt a wash of guilt, knowing that his harsh words had brought those dripping tears there. But this wasn’t Ellie, the cool, calm, and collected blonde. This was the Ellie that her parents, brother, and Brooke all vaguely referenced from time to time, the one who didn’t know when and how to stop until it was too far gone. And while he hated having to be the one to proverbially smack it out of her, it had to happen, for everyone's own good.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that so harshly Elles,” Chris whispered guiltily, shaking his head as he fell backwards onto the couch. “But you can’t keep doing this, you’re going to burn yourself out before the bakery even opens.”

She gasped as she took a breath, the tears falling rapidly as she abandoned the samples to turn and face Chris. “But I have to make these decisions,” she whispered.

“Yeah make decisions, that means make a choice and then you’re done with it. Not stress over a miniscule decision for days on end.”

“They matter!”

Chris shrugged half-heartedly, a hand lifting in the air unconvincingly. “Yeah they matter but not enough to make yourself sick over, especially when it's a decision like faucets and wallpaper and trim color,” he tried to reason.

“They all make a difference,” Ellie’s voice was hardened, and she shook her head. “This has to be successful.”

“And tell me how picking this white or this tan for the break room upstairs is going to matter if you run a successful bakery or not,” Chris pointed out, crossing his arms after he took a sip of beer, then leaned back against the couch cushion.

Her voice was impossibly tiny, her shoulders hunching as she caved in on herself. She seemed – in the moment – as small as Hazel was, so delicate and breakable, but still with a stubborn, fierce fire inside of her, just buried below all of her anxieties. “You don’t understand,” she insisted again.

“No, don’t do that. That’s just trying to shut this conversation down,” Chris called her out, shaking his head as his jaw clenched. “Tell me, Ellie. I want you to be able to articulate what it is I don’t understand.”

“It just…” she paused, floundering as her eyes were locked on her wringing hands in her lap, Chris barely able to see the white and black wool rug beneath her. “I just have to make sure this is all is right. It all has to be right. It needs to be perfect.”

He sighed in frustration, nostrils flaring and his hands flying apart from where they’d rested over his chest and into the air. “But what does that even mean? How is there a right or wrong when it comes to picking a paint color!”

“Because I can’t fail at another thing!”

“Elles,” his voice cut through, suddenly losing all his steam in his argument at that admission. “Hey, come sit by me and tell me what this is all about.”

He held a hand out, waiting as Ellie slowly stood up from the floor and sat next to him, leaving a reasonable distance, something Chris was grateful for as he could see her face clearly. “I already failed at one career so what’s to say I won’t fail at this one?” Ellie asked him, her eyes wide and all but terrified at the thought. “Only this time will be ten times worse.”

“How’s that?”

“Because now I’m responsible for other people’s income. My parents invested money, you’ve put in all this work getting it repaired, Brooke quit her job to work for me and all these other employees are depending on me,” she informed him, but the notion was nothing new to Chris. He was incredibly proud of her, the way she was able to be in this position where others worked for her and wanted to do so, and do it well. But he couldn’t help but acknowledge how terrifying that must be, especially in a moment of weakness like this. “I’m responsible and when I fail, it’ll affect all of them.”

“But obsessing over paint and tile isn’t going to help change any of that,” he told her with a soft whisper.

“I just can’t fail again, Chris. I just can’t.”

“Ellie, you have to stop thinking of yourself as a failure. You worked as a nurse for quite a few years and decided it wasn’t for you, so what? Now you’re doing something else,” he shrugged, pausing a bit before he continued, “and if the bakery doesn’t end up working out, it’ll be hard but you’ll find another job and so will everyone else. That’s just a normal part of life.”

She gave him a tight smile – although it leaned more grimace – before she admitted, “It sounds so simple when you say it, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

“You can be dedicated to something and work hard without killing yourself, honey,” Chris reminded her, tilting his head as he studied her. “You have to be able to let go of some of it.”

Ellie frowned, looking down at her lap as she pulled on a loose thread from her shorts. “I just don’t know how,” she quietly confessed.

“You do know that there are quite a few people in your life who’d be more than willing to help you, right?” Chris asked, an eyebrow raised before he smiled a little. “And there’s one sitting right next to you.”

Her eyes were wide as she took in his words, something shifting inside of her before she quietly said, “I love you, Chris.”

“I love you too, Elles,” he easily replied, the phrase being the easiest one he’d ever said. “Now let’s put all those samples away and you’re not going to think about it for the rest of the night, okay? You’re officially taking a break.”

She nodded, leaning down to put the samples back into her large brown tote bag. Before long she glanced over her shoulder at him with a smirk, saying, “Just so you know, you’re not allowed to leave me ever, because I don’t know any other man who would do all of this for me.”

His shoulders relaxed as he comfortably leaned back, taking a sip from the lukewarm beer in his hand as he playfully admitted, “Well don’t worry, the only plans I have are getting you closer to me.”

Chris watched as Ellie zipped up the top of her bag, stowing away all the samples and hopefully putting them out of her mind. He caught her gaze as she turned back to look over at him and he took the opportunity to pat his chest with a hand, a silent invitation to her that she gladly took. Ellie curled up next to him, her head coming to rest on his chest and her arm curling around his waist. It wasn’t until he draped his thick arms around her that a soft contented sigh came out of her, and although it seemed far-fetched only a matter of minutes ago, he had his Elles back.

A/N: Sorry for the delay- it got stuck in our queue! Whoops. We’ve missed Chellie so much! This chapter was one of our faves to write between everything, and so many headcanons we’ve had for so long ended up getting brought up here! We can’t wait to hear your thoughts, and feel free to send any asks you want to our inbox for Firefighter Friday tomorrow!!

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