#he holds my heart in those giant punching-bad-guys-in-the-face fists of his

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

I Wonder What It’s Like (3/3) - fic

Characters: Jon Kent, Damian Wayne, some Maya and Kathy Pairing: jondami Summary: One person’s bad timing is another person’s good timing. A/N: And *mumble mumble* they live happily ever after. Damian was already curious because the way Jon was holding him in the rescue was the way Clark holds lois in similar situations and ONLY Lois. It was just a giant ‘oh fuck it’s reciprocated.’ moment I guess, so he egged it on.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

~~

It was an alien invasion. Of course it was.

All hands on deck. Justice League, the Titans, and their Teen variety, Young Justice. Even some less desirables like the Outlaws, Suicide Squad, Deathstroke and, well, their own little ragtag group.

And it was a weird time to be thinking about it, you know, punching out aliens and their robot pets over the city harbor and all, that their little foursome didn’t have a name. Didn’t go by anything. They weren’t League and they weren’t Outlaws. They weren’t really…anything. The ace in the hole? The backup?

He didn’t like any of those-

“Focus, Superboy.” Crackled in his ear. He glanced down to the nearby skyscraper. Saw Damian and Maya fighting back-to-back. Felt himself smile. Kicking ass and taking names – that was so them.

It was Damian who had spoken. Damian, who wasn’t even looking at him. Too busy flipping over Maya’s shoulder as they switched opponents.

Jon blinked a few times, then looked back at his own enemy, clutched tightly in his fist, shrieking to the machine that Kathy was taking out a few feet away from him.

“How’d you know I wasn’t?” Jon mumbled, throwing his rock-monster-looking alien towards the ground.

“Because we know you.” Maya chimed in. “And you float when you zone out. Notice how high you are right now?”

Kathy laughed as Jon sheepishly floated back down to where she was. “What were you thinking ‘bout?”

“…We don’t have a team name.” Jon practically pouted. “We’re just…the Other Ones.”

“And that’s a problem?” Damian snorted. “The less who know about us, the better, in my opinion.”

“Oh, right, and your opinion is never wrong.” Maya droned. A moment later she let out a shout, and Jon glanced down to see that Damian had thrown an unconscious and oozing alien right at her. “Okay, no need to be childish, you little worm!”

Damian cackled at her annoyance, and Jon ignored the flutter in his stomach.

“And there was no need for you to open your mouth at all, yet here we are, Nobody.” Damian sneered. Maya let out a string of curses, and Jon watched her throw a body in Damian’s direction. Damian dodged it, and then spoke again, but softer this time, aimed at him. “…Were you just lamenting the fact, or coming up with names yourself?”

“Mmm, both? Neither?” Jon shrugged, shooting himself across the sky to intercept an alien heading straight for a group of fleeing civilians. “I just thought it was odd.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say it, but I agree with Damian.” Kathy said, making a retching noise right after. Maya laughed through the comms. Damian scoffed. “I like it how it is right now, you know? People call us when they need us, and we get to be normal people otherwise. It’s like being a hero part-time, and honestly, after our childhoods? I think the four of us deserve the break.”

“Freelance heroes.” Maya echoed. “I mean, I don’t think actually having a name or title associated with us would change anything, but I suppose I get the general principle.”

“I just mean, like…what if we’re interviewed by the news? Or some little kid asks who we are?” Jon pushed. An alien came flying towards him. He caught it like a baseball, spun, and threw it back from where it came. “The day is saved thanks to…who? Justice League Jr.? The Ghosts? The Powerpuff Girls? Like, what’s our backup?”

“I think concerned citizens would suffice in most situations.” Damian drawled.

“Concerned and capable, that’s us.” Maya mocked.

Kathy laughed at the joke, and Jon just rolled his eyes. He turned towards the water, seeing a new hoard of aliens and their robots coming their way. He sighed – when would this end?

Suddenly, there was a sharp static crack in his ear. In his periphery, he saw Kathy flinch at the noise too. Their communicators, then.

But before either of them could open their mouths to ask, Maya gave a shriek.

“Fuck!” She screamed. Jon and Kathy spun back towards the building their teammates had been on. The rooftop was no longer swarmed with aliens. In fact, the aliens were all scattered and flailing, like they were turtles knocked on their backs.

Jon’s stomach dropped as his mind processed what else was wrong. Maya and Damian were gone.

“Damian!” Maya shouted. Jon saw movement below the roof, glanced down to see Maya scrambling to her feet on the fire escape, pointing straight up into the sky. “Guys, he grabbed Damian!”

Jon’s eye followed her finger, and sure enough, speeding above even his head, one of these rock creatures – but bigger, more reptilian – was flying full speed towards the stratosphere, Damian hanging from his clawed hand by his ankle.

Damian, of course, wasn’t fazed in the slightest. Already had a knife in hand, and was stabbing at his captor’s grip.

Jon’s heart pounded, and he found himself glancing over at Kathy. She nodded, gave him a grim smile.

“Go get him.”

Jon needed nothing else, and felt the sonic boom snap behind him as he took off after the reptile man.

“Does he always break the sound barrier when he takes off?” Maya’s voice buzzed through his communicator. She was most likely talking to Kathy. He paid it no mind. “Or is that just another one of those Damian things…”

But because Damian was, well, Damian, he couldn’t leave well enough alone and kept stabbing at the monster’s fingers. And even as Jon sped towards them, he could see the creature getting frustrated, questioning how worth it it was to have Damian as a captive.

Without warning, he decided that, apparently, it wasn’t worth it at all.

So he dropped him.

Panic electrified Jon’s system, and his breath came up short as he twisted his course to follow a now-plummeting Damian.

What if he wasn’t fast enough? What if he didn’t catch him? What if the alien came back?

What if Damian died? Right here? Right in front of him?

“I’m coming!” Jon found himself shouting, both for himself and for Damian. In freefall, he saw Damian look towards him. “I’m coming, D!”

And as he got closer, flying as fast as he could, he saw Damian believe it, believe in him, and slowly, steadily, reach his hand out.

Jon was almost there. Jon almost had him.

But god, the buildings below them were already so close.

His heart was on fire, the wind in his face was causing his eyes to tear up. But he was close, he was so close-

(And the jagged corner of that skyscraper was even closer.)

-so he reached his own hand out, brushed his fingertips against Damian’s. Watched Damian watch their hands. Watched all fear drain from Damian’s face, turn into blind trust.

Then grabbed his forearm and yanked him into his chest. Held the back of Damian’s head as he spun them, so it was his back that bounced into the corner of the building’s roof, and not Damian’s skull.

The momentum kept them bouncing. Off that first building into another, into a fire escape, into a broken window, into brick, against a dumpster. And all the while, Jon kept tight hold of Damian, kept him curled into his chest, hidden by his cape.

Anything to keep him safe. And alive.

They landed in a heap in the alleyway, Jon’s back against the dirty ground, and Damian spread on top of him. Jon let out a small groan as Damian scrambled up and backed off of him.

“I hate falling. It’s my least favorite part of flying.” He mumbled, sitting up himself. He rubbed at the base of his spine as he glanced up. “You okay?”

“Am I…?” Damian scoffed, holding out his hand. Jon took it, and let Damian swing him up into his space. “You’re really asking me? You’re the one who just crash landed.”

“Being Kryptonian helps with that.” Jon winked. “Besides, you were the one who was just almost kidnapped, and then almost splattered on the pavement. I think it’s a valid question.”

Damian scoffed and crossed his arms, glancing away. “I’m fine…Thank you.”

“Any time.” Jon grinned. But almost instantly, he let the smile drop. Furrowed his brows and, without thinking, reached out, cupping his hand along Damian’s jaw and turning his head. “Hey, what’s…”

He’d seen blood, he thought, coming from Damian’s hairline. Was it from the previous fight, or their fall? Jeez, if it was from their fall, Jon wasn’t sure if he could handle…

But no, it was just dirt. Grime from being in battle all day with no breaks. His bad. He went to smile once more, but found himself hesitating as he glanced towards Damian’s face, and found Damian staring at him with wide eyes. Wide, too knowing, too soulful, too hopeful, too green eyes.

He felt his own heart beating against his chest. Especially as he remembered just how close they were standing. Damian had pulled him up into his chest, and Jon had never backed up.

And Damian never asked him to.

Suddenly, he found himself unable to let go of Damian’s face. Kept his hand glued to the curve of his throat, Damian’s own heartbeat pulsing against his fingers. Swallowed, and could have sworn the whole city heard it.

“Damian, I…”

But Damian cut him off with a simple, blunt demand. “Kiss me.”

Jon stumbled over the noises suddenly coming out of his mouth. Not words, not even thoughts. His attempts at speaking coming out like television static instead.

“Wha…what?”

“You heard me.” Damian said lowly, and Jon could feel the cheek under his hand heating up in the start of a blush. “And you know I don’t repeat myself.”

“You…I…this…” There was a crash a few streets over and Jon flinched. Instinctively shifted even closer into Damian’s space to box him in against the wall, to protect him. Just in case.

He never dropped his hand.

A second later, he realized his movement, and glanced down. Damian was still watching him with those sharp jade detective eyes. The ones Jon could stare into forever, if given the chance. The ones he could see the universe in, that were brighter than any star in the sky.

God, Damian could always see right through him.

“…I don’t think now’s the best time.” Jon whispered, almost desperately. Damian smirked.

“Timing and invasions and life-or-death danger has never stopped your mother and father. Hell, that never stopped my parents either. I’m pretty sure I was conceived in the middle of an assassination plot. On both of them.” A pause, to think, to bite at his lip. “But you didn’t say no.” Damian breathed softly. “Bad timing is not a no.”

“Well, of course not.” Jon rambled – admitted – as he looked off to the side, towards the invasion still happening all around them. Looked at anything but Damian. “But, we have to save the city. The attack is still going, and these aliens-”

Suddenly, there were fists in the front of his cape, and he was being yanked down, lips crashing into his.

Damian tasted better than Jon could ever dream, ever fantasized all those nights alone in his room. There was no distinct taste, but rather…he tasted like the donut Maya had forced him to have for breakfast that morning. The black coffee he’d drank with it.

He tasted like blood and chapped lips, with a fading hint of the cheap chapstick he used because it was a gift from a little girl they’d rescued a few months ago.

He tasted like insecurities and heartbreak. He tasted like a man who had never been sure of anything in his life until this moment, this action.

And Jon wanted to devour him. Jon knew he had to devour him.

Consciously this time, he raised his other hand, held Damian’s face as tenderly as he could. Felt his breath hitch as Damian skimmed his hands down Jon’s chest to grab at his waist.

It felt like he’d been waiting his whole life for this.

Damian seemed to almost melt against him, and when he leaned back those few centimeters to take a breath, Jon guided him backwards, until his spine pressed against the building’s brick wall.

“Jonathan…”

But Jon pushed against him, swallowed his voice. He couldn’t help but smirk, just a little. Damian may have started this, but he had no problem taking control.

And his heart stuttered at the thought that Damian was letting him.

But then, of course – of course – there was a explosion from the building behind them. They broke apart as Damian ducked slightly, and Jon once more hovered over him protectively.

Debris collapsed loudly around them, a sharp rod of steel bouncing off Jon’s back at one point. But as soon as it began to settle, their comms. crackled to life with their allies, friends and fathers calling for them, asking for their locations and statuses. Roars of the aliens echoed all around them.

Damian sighed.

“I suppose…you were correct.” He grumbled as he stood back to full height, looking up towards the clouds.

“About?”

“Now probably wasn’t the best time for...” He whined, waving his hand awkwardly between them. He put his hands on Jon’s chest again, but this time to push him gently back and step back into the street. “There’s an alien invasion to stop.”

Jon watched him for a moment. “…Damian?” Damian glanced over his shoulder. “Are we going to talk about this later?”

Damian blinked, then smiled. But not a hero smile. Not a Robin or Nightwing or Batman smile. A Damian smile. Warm and genuine and just the slightest bit mischievous.

“What’s there to talk about, Beloved?” Damian asked, leaning back and taking Jon’s hand, pulling him forward. “Now come on, there’s a world to save.”

#jondami #jon kent #Damian Wayne

[levisnackajack]

The Wrath of War

Chapter Twenty

A few days later, Eden was officially free of being barred away in the medical quarters.

Hurriedly, she gathered her things and practically sprinted back to her bedroom before wrapping herself up in her harness, uniform and boots. She felt so elated, as though a heavy weight had been lifted off her chest as soon as the nurse graced her with the green light.

Now, the only thing that was properly on Eden’s mind was the Levi’s last words to her. 

I guess it is, brat.

His words had carved themselves deep into her bones; as well as finding shelter in the darkest, most hidden place in her brain. She couldn’t stop thinking about him; scheming of ways to beat him at his own hot and cold game. 

Jean was more than happy to assist her with her games. Although she had never asked him for help, Jean would almost always find a way to flirt with her. It was just their way of communication- light, innocent and incredibly refreshing. He’d throw his arm over her shoulder lazily after training or lean against her side whilst they ate. 

Eden found herself laughing harder, talking louder and becoming more buoyant around Jean when the Captain was around. The atmosphere automatically grew bleaker when the intimidating man entered the room. He didn’t mean for that to happen, merely focusing on his cup of tea or the paperwork in his hand, but the daunting aura followed him everywhere. 

It put the raven-haired girl on edge every time she could sense him close by. Their eyes would meet over Jean’s shoulder when he’d walk into the dining area and Eden would automatically bat her eyelashes at her comrade; sending him the toothiest of grins that made her plump lips stretch widely, and eyes crinkle.

She’d never miss the chance to catch the way Levi’s jaw would clench tightly, stormy eyes twitching in irritation as the grip on his teacup would visibly grow stronger.

It made her thrive.  

When Levi had the chance, he’d be ruthless with Eden; making her run more laps than the others because he ‘wasn’t satisfied with her running’. His scowl would grow deeper when she’d flicker her eyes to Jean in front of him, a devious smile painted across her face. 

That made the Captain grab her by the arm and shove her away from the rest of the Squad, barking at her to continue running laps until the sun went down. 

Then one warm, sunny afternoon, Eden and her comrades were training outside, beside the wall of giant trees and buzzing bees. 

Levi was busy speaking to Hange as Eren trotted behind them sulkily, sending Eden a playful smirk when she caught her childhood best friend’s eyes. 

“Are you tired? Want me to carry you back to the medical quarters?” Jean’s deep voice mocked her as they stood opposite each other. Eden’s eyes snapped back to him, arching a brow. 

“Stop trying to make up excuses for not sparring with me, Jeanie-boy. If you’re not up for a spar session; all you need to do is beg me to go train with someone else,” she retorted, folding her arms across her chest. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, darling. I promise to go easy on you,” Jean sneered back at her, rolling the cuffs of his white shirt up to his elbows as he settled his body in the first fighting stance. 

She mirror him, pouting her lip as her hands balled into fists, stretching them outwards. 

“My hero, let’s see what you’ve got for me,” she said smoothly, charging at him without a second’s notice. 

He recoiled quickly, shifting his body out of the way as her fist swung at him. Raising his own fist towards her, Eden grunted as his knuckles nearly collided with her jaw. She captured his wrist, twisting it in an awkward way, kneeing him in the gut. 

He swore under his breath, smirking mischievously at the sight of Eden growing angrier; her erratic moves quick and choppy. 

“Feisty. I like it,” the boy muttered when Eden sent another punch towards his face. She caught him in the chin; ducking hurriedly when he stepped to the side, attempting to elbow her away from him. 

Suddenly, she let out a squeak when he grabbed her by the waist, slamming her down onto the ground. 

“Jeez,” she groaned, letting go of a shrill giggle when his fingers brushed against her side. “What the hell? That’s not fair...Jean...-” Eden shook with laughter as his fingers ghosted over her tickle spots. He fell to his knees as he attacked her ruthlessly, watching her try her best to squirm away in between heavy gasps for air. 

Eden was an extremely ticklish person. Her reflex was so bad to the point of her growing violent if someone touched her sides, just below her ribs and against the curve of her slim waist. 

Her palms pressed against his chest as she tried shoving him off of her; but her attempts were for nothing. Sighs of pleading echoed out of her, hazel eyes filling with tears as he continued pushing her, a wicked, victorious smirk masking his handsome features. 

“Don’t you dare ever say I’ve never won against you,” Jean growled at her, unable to suppress the lopsided smile that stretched across his face when Eden began nodding fervently. 

“Sure, no problem, I promise. I...-”

“Oi, idiots.” 

Her blood turned into ice as Jean froze above her. He quickly scurried to his feet, saluting the approaching man firmly. 

Eden lay on the ground, shaking; eyes wide as she tried her best to purse her lips and completely conceal the grin threatening to contort her face. 

The sun grew covered by Levi as he loomed over her, scorching eyes blazing down at her. She swallowed thickly as she moved to sit up. Thankfully, her Captain was a gentleman, and he decided to assist her with that by grabbing her by the collar and pulling her up to her feet. 

Her hands shot up to catch his wrist; but he shook her forcefully, his chiseled jaw defined by the muscles tightly clenching underneath. 

“This is why you nearly got yourself killed, you dumbass,” he seethed at her, brows furrowed deeply as Eden continued trying to free her collar from his iron grip. 

“Captain, it was my fault too...-” Jean began urgently, snapping his mouth shut when the Captain’s glare settled on him. 

“Shut it. You weren’t the one who spent nearly a month bedridden, straw-head,” Levi retaliated in a lethal tone, his words dripping with poison. Shifting his glare back to Eden, he ended the training session for the rest of the Squad and ordered for them all to head back to base and clean their quarters. 

“I didn’t tell you to go, brat,” he barked at her when she tried stepping away once more. 

He let go of her abruptly, causing her to lose her balance for a split second before recollecting herself. 

“Captain,” she began, her words halting their path on her tongue when he held his hand up. 

“According to the nurse, you’re fit enough to handle a real fight. Let’s see if you’ve forgotten what you’ve learnt,” he quipped, craning his neck before holding her gaze for a long moment. 

Eden stared at him in shock, her heart racing avidly as she stepped towards him. 

“I bet you missed beating me up,” she replied, raising her fists at him. 

He scoffed under his breath, swinging his arm towards her harshly as he spoke flatly. “Trust me when I tell you I could care less about your injuries, Eden. I can do what I want, whenever I want.” 

She dodged him quickly, twisting her body effortlessly until her back collided with his chest. “I find that hard to believe, sir.” The bone of her elbow caught Levi in the ribs. 

Eden didn’t know whether it was her retort that had affected him or the unexpected move; but Levi visibly grew angrier. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her against the tree bark beside them. The wood grazed her cheek and she winced; knowing better than to thrash when he kicked the spot behind her knee. 

Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, her bones cracking as they met the hard floor with a thud. Pulling her by the hair once more, Levi craned her head until her face was looking up at his whilst he towered over her menacingly. 

“Watch your mouth, brat,” he snarled at her, ignoring the way she hissed when his fingers stiffly laced with her locks in a harsher manner. She couldn’t do anything but look into his blown-out, steel pupils. Yet, both of them had no knowledge of the tall individual who stood far away from the scene; watching them intently- cerulean eyes glinting as a smirk formed on his lips. 

With a tight nod to himself, a level-headed Commander Erwin watched as the pair sparred, undoubtedly sensing the intensity of each calculated move from afar. The tension made him affirm to himself that they would be the most suitable team for the new mission sealed in his mind. 

Gripping her collar once more, Levi shoved her to the ground before wiping his hands with the small handkerchief hidden in the pocket of his uniform at all times. 

“Get up. I want you to go clean the bathrooms. If you have the energy to mess around, I’m sure you can spend a good hour hunched over those grimy toilets.” He blinked down at Eden as she pulled herself to her feet; caught a little aback at the fabricated smile that plastered itself onto her face. 

“It would be my pleasure, sir,” she chirped back at him in a spiteful way; sauntering away rapidly in fear that he’ll pull her back and punch her in the face. 

She swore under her breath when she heard the door of the restroom swing open. 

“I literally just started. I hope you didn’t come to inspect my cleaning just yet...Sasha? Connie? What are you doing here?” Eden blinked at the duo who had walked in sneakily, twisted grins splayed over their faces as they both gripped some sort of cleaning supply.

“Nonsense, Eden. We came to help you out!”

“Ain’t no way we’ll let you clean on your own when you’ve just healed,” Connie retorted, heading towards the bottle of antibacterial cleaner. Sasha sprayed the mirrors with glass cleaner liquid, winking at Eden, affirming what the boy had just stated. 

Eden felt her insides warm up. “Thanks, you guys. I truly appreciate it. Can’t say the Captain will commemorate your actions with a medal though.” 

“Yeah yeah,” Sasha rolled her eyes at the girl’s words. “We know that! But, that’s only if he knows we’ve been here. Trust me, Connie and I are super good at remaining undercover. Don’t worry about anything but removing those icky stains from the floor, ewww.” 

They chattered as they cleaned rapidly, each individual focusing on a different area. Eden laughed when she found out that her friends had watched her spar with Levi; feeling a little proud that Sasha had decided to bet on her that she’d win this one. She kicked Connie’s boot when she realized that he had bet on the Captain. 

“You can’t blame me. I won in the end. Now Sasha owes me her weekly fruit snack.” 

Sasha concealed the grin from the oblivious boy, directing it only towards a set of warm, hazel eyes. “Allegedly. I just said I’ll consider giving him my fruit snack if I see that the Captain was being too harsh on you.” 

Their conversation came to a halt when the sound of boots resonated around them. 

Three pairs of wide eyes searched each other’s faces for an answer on what the hell they should do. 

“The cubicles,” Eden hissed through her teeth, shoving each comrade in a separate stall. The front door swung open viciously just as Eden managed to close the second stall’s door shut. She leaned against the wood, pretending to be taking a break when Levi’s glare settled against her face. 

She cleared her throat awkwardly, tapping her palm against the door as she pushed herself off it. “Hello there, Captain. I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” 

Levi didn’t respond. His steady stare lingered over the spotless floor, the sanitized sink and the shiny mirrors. He then sharply turned to frown at her.

“Quit playing, Eden. Who helped you clean the restrooms?” 

Silence settled around them as Eden’s brain racked with excuses. Her eyes widened and she feigned offence. “No one? You told me to come clean the bathrooms and that’s exactly what I did.” 

He paused, scrunching his nose at her words. “I didn’t take you for a liar. There’s absolutely no way you managed to clean everything in fifteen minutes.” 

Eden’s brows furrowed as she tipped her chin towards him. “I guess you need to stop underestimating me, Captain. Maybe I’m just full of surprises.” 

Levi let go of a breathy huff, shaking his head ever so slightly as he turned to the side; still standing stationary at the threshold. “Come with me. Commander Erwin wants to speak with us.” 

Curiosity seeped through her as she quirked a brow in his direction. “Oh?” 

Letting out an exasperated sigh, he titled his head towards the hallway. “We don’t have all day for you to process my words. I can write everything down for you later. Let’s go.” 

“I’ll meet you there. Let me just put everything away...-”

“Did I ask you? I said come on,” he impatiently threw at her, watching with a dark glint in his eyes as she trotted towards him wordlessly. It was as if she could sense Connie and Sasha’s impending laughter and she wished she’d just linger around a little longer. 

Walking past the threshold, Levi drearily matched her pace before placing a hand on the small of her back; guiding her towards his office in a bored, aloof manner. 

Eden’s face remained emotionless; but her insides grew heated up as she couldn’t focus on anything but the firm press of his hand against the thinly concealed skin. The sound of cackles and giggles echoed through the hallway a moment after the pair had disappeared towards Levi's office.

“I’m sorry Commander, I’d just love some confirmation. So, you want me to accompany Captain Levi to retrieve an undisclosed report regarding ancient titan findings for Hange from the Trost District?” Eden repeated what the Commander had previously just reiterated, making Levi pinch the bridge of his nose in irritation. 

“That’s right,” Erwin smiled at her from behind Levi’s desk, his arms clasped behind his back. His height intimidated Eden so much. The Commander was definitely a force to be reckoned with and although he had starkly contrasting features in comparison to her Captain; his deep-blue eyes visibly revealed the thirst he had to lead his people towards victory. 

Inclining his chiseled jawline towards the shorter man, Erwin spoke again. “I trust you are able to manage this assignment on your own. If you’re aware of the type of man Dimo Reeves is; you’ll know better than to trust the words he’ll throw your way.” He leaned over the desk, fingers settling against the immaculately clean wood, “At the end of the day, merchants thrive on bargains and what better way to lure the Survey Corps in with a deal regarding unspoken secrets about the world outside the walls?” 

Eden nodded her head in affirmation, trying her best not to continuously flicker her eyes back to the Captain beside the Commander. She could feel his stare piercing through her skull; as though he was urging her to break her pact and meet his eyes. 

Blinking rapidly, Eden pressed her fist over her heart, saluting them both formally, holding the Commander’s inquisitive stare. “I would be honored to assist my Regiment on a mission that could substantially assist humanity in the bigger picture. Thank you for considering me, Commander.”

The tall man waved her off, but stood impressed by the confidence emitting from the young woman. He could definitely appreciate why Levi seemed so intrigued by her. 

She was like a fresh breath of air; her eyes glinting with the flame of hope- although having first-hand experiences with exactly what humanity’s hardships were like. Many comrades would lose that spark after the second, or even the first battle in open territory. 

This was why Erwin has decided Eden was the best choice to accompany Levi on this classified operation. Putting all his cards in, Erwin knew that there was a considerably enormous chance for Dimo Reeves’ proposition to be a farce. 

But, it was worth the risk.

“Very well, Chiasa. Prepare yourself. You are to depart tomorrow at the brink of dawn. The Regiment has full trust that this will all be for something. You're dismissed.” 

Bowing her head lightly, Eden began stepping backwards towards the exit of an office she knew all too well. 

“Thank you, Commander. Captain.” She glanced towards Levi, the butterflies in her stomach going wild as he stoically tipped his head downwards in response. 

Closing the door with a trembling hand, Eden rushed back to her bedroom, praying to whoever could hear her thoughts that she’d have the power to go through a long mission with only Levi by her side. 

Tags: @idiot-juice-enthusiast     @hadassackerman

Link to the story in AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919136/chapters/70952145

#attack on titan #aot #levi #levi ackerman #levi ackerman fanfic #levi ackerman fanfiction #levi x oc #levi ackerman x oc #eren yeager #mikasa ackerman #armin arlert #jean kirschstein #sasha braus #connie springer #hange zoë #erwin smith #fanfiction #fanfic #slow burn #enemies to lovers #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #ao3 fanfiction #anime #manga #manga edit #levi ackerman imagine #levi imagine #levi ackerman smut #levi smut

[hookahmancer]

Coldsteel: Hot and Cold part 1

The howling sirens of the Mobius City bank can be heard from across the village, out running with a big sack of money is none other than the nefarious naydoer Coldsteel.

He pulls down his bandito mask just long enough to tell the chasing guards behind him "nothing person-el wagie cucks!" The guards stop and gasp

"He took off his mask! We've been exposed!" "He really is the most vile!"

He sneers but in his path is Amy Rose.

"What do you think you're doing Coldsteel?" He looks around confused

"You're not Sonic. What was he busy or something? Sending his poor little..." He looks up and down her body. "Sister? To umm...buh"

"SISTER?! I'll have you know little man I'm Sonic's future wife!"

"I doubt that..." She grumbles and pulls her hammer back and he mutters "oh shit" and runs towards his left. She yells for him to come back here and in the far distance "nothing person-el kiddo!"

She grumbles and says "what trash..." The guards have these smirks on their face.

"What are you two smirking about?!"

"Nothing kiddo. Nothing at all." "He calls everyone kid."

"It's about context Amy. You know if you plan to win Sonic's heart you gotta pick up on these things."

Meanwhile as Coldsteel is still running he starts getting short on breath.

"Wow this running stuff is hard work how does Sonic do it?! Imma take a smoke break. That'll reinvigorate me. Smoking is way better than cholesterol riddled chili dogs." As he starts vaping he realizes where he is.

"Wait...isn't this one of Eggman's territories? Oh that schizo could be of great use to me!" He puts his vape away, grabs his money sack and heads toward the entrance where this giant spike robot looks down at him assessing.

"Hedgehog... Not Sonic, not Shadow, state your name and business."

"Coldsteel. Business is let me in or else."

"Threat assessment confirmed. Hate that hedgehog." Spikes come out of it's body that Coldsteel easily avoids, but realizes he can't make physical contact with the robot without those spikes prodding into him.

"I probably should've thought this through... How does friggin Shadow do it?! Oh wait he has a gun. I should probably get me one of those. I mean now that I have MONEY I can... But..."

Eggman's fortress doors slide open and Dr. Eggman walks out aggravated.

"What is all this commotion about? HEDGEHOG!"

"Wo wo there Eggy! I didn't come here to fight but make a deal!"

Eggman raises his hand to have the spike robot stand down "I'm listening..."

Coldsteel plops down the sack revealing the swathes of cash inside.

"I got all this money see? And I'm willing to pay you a large sum of it to make me something..."

"Pthfft. I am a SCIENTIST! What good is your money to me?! I'm basically a god! If I want something I can just create it. Perfect it. Your money is no good here, go home."

Coldsteel puts on a Joe Biden voice "comeon man!"

"What would you even have had me build you? Some sorta ray gun to nuke that insipid Shadow? Perhaps some sorta quantum accelerator boots so you could fight toe to toe with Sonic?"

"Man you are a one track mind Scrambled Eggs. No I don't want anything like that. Use that genius of yours to create something useful like a love potion."

Eggman squeels a bit but plays it off as a cough at being called a genius.

"A love potion you say? Such trivial engineering and morally incomprehensible! Why would I manipulate the thoughts and feelings of the neurological pathways of Sonic or one of his annoying friends just to rattle them with false dopamine and serotonin?!"

"Cause we're BAD GUYS you fucking..." Coldsteel rubs his nasal cavity.

"Look, if lets say as an example, you used a love potion on Sonic."

"ARE YOU INSANE PURPLE HEDGEHOG?!"

"Figuratively green eggs and ham! If you used a love potion on Sonic, he'd stop ruining your evil plans. Than you could do whatever you want!"

Eggman strokes his mustache and paces.

"I see your point...However, my relationship with that...hedgehog is complex enough as it is. I don't need to make the situation worse with..."

"Well it's not for YOU, IIII want the love potion to use on..."

"There is NO WAY I'm going to develop a love potion for you to defeat MY sworn enemy!"

"Holy crap I'm gonna kick you in those two little eggs of yours dangling. IT'S NOT FOR SONIC!!!"

"Hmmm..." Eggman paces around some more playing with his hands.

"The answer is still no. Your intention to bait out one of his little friends is commendable, but"

"Oh I see. You just can't do it."

"That's not it at all I just..." Coldsteel grabs his money sack

"You're not a genius at all. You're just some incel playing with his dangerous toys!"

"How dare you?! Fine hedgehog, I will devise you the weaponry you so desire...but it will be on my terms as you are incapable of realizing how volatile playing with emotions can be!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, great. Free will and all that fortune cookie goodness. Let's just do it!"

Later Eggman is mixing together compounds in his lab, puts it in a dart vial, and loads it into a gun. Pointing it around squinting one eye.

"So whom is the intended target hedgehog?"

"Well, I don't know her name, but she's pink, and has this hammer, and..."

Eggman fumbles almost dropping the gun but catches it. "AMY?! YOU'RE PLANNING TO SHOOT AMY OF ALL PEOPLE?!"

"Watch where you're aiming that thing hard boiled!"

Eggman smirks.

"I'll admit. I had my doubts at first...but that is a diabolical plan! Amy has obsessed over Sonic for such a long time, to suddenly lose those feelings for you would leave a subconscious impression Sonic was no good for her. Her infatuation for you will turn into a bitter resentment for Sonic and SHE will be my weapon!"

"...Yes. Yes that's totally what I was thinking. Now gimme the gun." Eggman pulls it away

"As if I would trust something of my creation in the hands of greasy grubby hedgehog hands! I'll be the one doing the shooting!"

"...please no." "Come hedgehog. We have a soldier to recruit into our villainous army!"

As they're hiding in some bushes with binoculars Any is talking with Sonic and Tails about something or another. Eggman whispers to Coldsteel. "Do you see them?"

Coldsteel is checking out up Amy's skirt while she playfully fidgets talking to Sonic.

"Oh I see'em..."

"Alright than I'm going to take the shot. In 3...2...1!"

He shoots the dart and in all her little movements and dancing smitten over Sonic it just misses her and Tails is shot right in the chest with the dart.

"Darn it I missed."

"Eggman I swear to God I'm gonna hang your webos as a trophy."

The heroes are freaking out. "Where did that dart come from?!" Amy screams and Sonic traces it from that angle to the bushes they're hiding it and sees figures in them and runs over drop kicking Eggman right in the face while Tails is having a panic attack saying "is it poison?! Am I gonna die Amy?!"

Sonic thrashes on Eggman "I knew you were a nasty ambre Eggshit but I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to do something like this!"

Coldsteel is hyping Sonic up like "yeah Sonic, kick him again! That Egg punk is getting everything that's coming to him!"

"Mutiny! Treason! All you hedgehogs are alike..."

"Heh, nothing person-el kid."

Tails sees them essentially bullying Eggman and just starts to laugh.

Amy puts her hand on Tails shoulder "are you ok Tails?"

"I feel fine... Actually I feel great. Who, whose that other hedgehog over there just making fun off Eggbutt while Sonic"

Amy squints her eyes and clenches her fist. "Coldsteel!"

Coldsteel notices Amy has spotted him and says

"Well I'd love to stay Doctor but I uhh...I think I left my vape on."

"Don't leave me here with this blue brute! We're a team!"

Sonic about to punch Eggman again says "team?" And looks Coldsteel's way. Coldsteel looks around and makes a run for it. "Gotta go fast!"

He runs for it and trips "ahhh fuck! Me knee!"

Tail gasps and flies over there as quickly as he can. As Any and Sonic notice Tails is acting strange.

"Are you ok Coldsteel?" "Yeah, that just friggin hurt... Sonic never stumbles. Fricking Mary Sue ass nigga."

Tails giggles and says "hold on..." Pulls out a first aid kit with anti bacterial, napkins, and bandaids, and puts it on Coldsteel. "All better!" With a big innocent smile and Coldsteel smiles back.

Sonic yells at Tails "Tails get away from him. That guy is bad news!"

Tails gets up and scolds Sonic "Sonic you know what sorta psychopath Egg garbage is! He probably used to some sorta mind control device, or or...held his family hostage! Or maybe he thought we were the bad guys! Or..."

"Tails bro, you're acting really strange... Whatever Eggman infected you with. It's messing with your head."

"My head is fine! You're just...being a jerk!" Tails turns back to Coldsteel and holds his hand.

"You wanna stay a while Coldsteel? I'd love to show you the plane I've been working on! Maybe Any could cook us up a...well I mean her cooking stinks but she tries."

"I heard that you little twerp!"

Coldsteel rubs the back of his neck really uncomfortable at the predicament he's found himself in and says "Ehhh, sorry. But your friends are kinda right about me little guy."

"My name is Tails." "Yeah yeah Tails. Uhh... Y'see EGGMAN HERE kinda screwed up the plan."

"He does that a lot." "I'm noticing..."

Eggman is crying on the ground "WHERE'S MY BANDAID?!"

"So I'm gonna go..." "Please Mr. Coldsteel?" He sees the sadness is Tail's eyes, the suspicion in Sonic's, the disdain in Amy's, he raises his hand and Tails flinches thinking he's gonna hit him but just places it on top of his head.

"Nothing person-el kid..." And runs away. Amy screams "yeah you better run coward!"

Eggman is still sobbing and looks up at Tails

"C...could you spare a little of that oxytocin hormone scoring through your blood stream for a genius?" Tails just raises his chin up like the Skinner meme

"Pathetic..."

#sonic the hedgehog #fanfic #cold steel #sonic memes

[fraink5-writes]

From Darkness Into the Lantern Light - Chapter 3

Hi, whoever is reading this!  If you've been following this fic so far, thank you! Due to a change of circumstances, I'm going to have to alter the publication of this story; however, my number one priority still remains giving you the whole story, so, as a result, I will be releasing chapters at a greatly increased rate. Nevertheless, I hope you can still enjoy them!

As usual, I’d like to thank @leio13 for editing and all her moral support!

Summary: Once upon a time, there was a cold-hearted queen. Although the Tsaritsa, as she was called, possessed her own divinity, she coveted the powers of the other Archons. Aiming to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis, she sent her strongest warriors to Liyue Harbor. But just when Rex Lapis was almost defeated, he escaped to another vessel, that of a powerless baby, and was swept away to a hidden tower for his protection.

Many years after the great fight, the young and ambitious Harbinger, Childe, arrives in Liyue to grant the Tsaritsa’s desire, but, on his search for the Geo Archon’s gnosis, he ends up tangled in a mysterious man’s dreams to see Liyue Harbor’s Lantern Rite.

This chapter can also be found on Ao3 here. Without further ado, please enjoy!

The incessant, distant ruffling of leaves and chirping of birds could not penetrate the dense silence that sank in the valley. Childe could not think of any small talk to make with a man who had spent his entire life up until present in a tower, and Zhongli refused to converse at all; he just trailed slightly behind. Of course, Childe couldn’t fault Zhongli for distrusting him, and he was flattered by the attention (even if it was overwhelmingly negative), but the silence was irritating. At this rate, no sort of trust would ever result. 

“Childe.” Despite his previous complaints, even Childe was surprised by how delightful he found the sudden voice to be. “Look at this.” Zhongli pointed to the right.

Lying on a nearby stone was a mutilated skeleton. The holey remains of his cuirass and tall spear suggested that he was once a millelith. His arms were cracked in several places, and there was a notable dent in his skull. His hollow eye sockets reflected nothing. How did they look before the end? Was there fear? Pride? It was too late to identify him, but Childe honored his remains nonetheless; he had died honorably in combat.

“Don’t worry. This man died a long time ago; whatever killed him shouldn’t be around here anymore.” Childe didn’t know why he was reassuring Zhongli—it went directly against his goal of scaring him back to the tower. But, for some reason, he couldn’t stand to see Zhongli’s eyes searching frantically under furrowed eyebrows.

“You’re right.” Zhongli’s eyes were calm when they met Childe’s. “I was overthinking it.” He turned mournfully from the body. Then, his head shot up again, his hand reaching for the base of his ponytail. “Agh—!”

Childe peered over Zhongli’s shoulder. A pair of hilichurls were tugging at Zhongli’s unbelievably long hair. Already? His short-lived sigh broke into a grin. “Don’t move, Zhongli. I’ll take care of them.” He pulled out his two daggers. This would be over in no time and cement Childe as a good guy in Zhongli’s mind. 

Hilichurls were rather simple creatures, so the fight would not be too exciting. But any kill—any victory—would help lift Childe’s spirits from the recent series of misfortunes. Noticing his murderous approach, one of the hilichurls, armed with a club, charged at him. With one hand, Childe knocked the weapon from its hand; with the other, he rammed a dagger through its chest. Its arms fell limply, and when Childe pulled out the dagger, it collapsed on the earthy ground. One down. 

Childe peeked back at Zhongli, who, while holding his frying pan defensively, was coiling up his long hair.

Then, Childe turned back to the other hilichurl with a grin. Unarmed and next to its dead comrade, it began to flee. Not so fast. Childe threw his second dagger into its lower back. If it hadn’t died, it certainly could never walk again. Nevertheless, Childe was thorough and strided over to finish the job. 

Up the road, Childe spotted a mitachurl: a slightly more entertaining opponent. He quickly stamped the fallen hilichurl’s skull to ensure its death--two down, he counted as he prepared for the mitachurls charge. And sure enough, the beast flew at him in a swirl of its axe. Childe ducked under and swung at its leg. Then springing up, he slashed at its throat. Finally, he stabbed through one of its arms to stop the swing of its weapon and slammed the other dagger through its jaw. Three. All clear. 

Childe strutted back to where Zhongli was—or was supposed to be. He had disappeared. “Zhongli?” Childe called out. Theoretically, if Zhongli disappeared, that would free Childe from his obligations, but he had made a deal with Zhongli, and he intended on carrying it out—at least until Zhongli changed his mind. 

Childe didn’t have time to look for Zhongli, however, because something more outrageous caught his eye: a mechanical giant. What was a ruin guard doing near Mingyun Village? Before Childe could contemplate that question or Zhongli’s safety, a series of missiles flew in his direction. He dropped and rolled away as the missile cratered the ground meters away. By then, the ruin guard was already looming over him. It lifted its foot to crush him. Childe just barely managed to get away in a quick scramble to his feet.

In theory, with Zhongli gone, Childe’s fighting would be less inhibited. But in reality, concern for him plagued Childe’s thoughts and slowed his reactions. He had to quickly end the battle and find Zhongli, but it would be difficult to hit the ruin guard’s weak spot on his face with two short blades. The polearm! Childe glanced over to the skeleton, but the spear was nowhere to be seen. Not now! I swear it was right by him earlier—

The robot’s large fist slammed into Childe’s cheek, knocking him to the ground a couple of meters away. He blinked in and out of consciousness several times as he watched the ruin guard spin closer in a blur. It pulled back its fist for the final blow. 

But it was impeded by a swoosh of black hair. No, rather it was stopped by Zhongli shielding Childe with the dead millelith’s spear. “Are you all right, Childe?” He asked, pushing the ruin guard back.

Still working his way out of a daze, Childe easily accepted Zhongli as his spear-wielding savior. But that couldn’t possibly last. “Zhongli, let me help you. Give me that.” Childe gestured towards the spear.

Zhongli shook his head. “I can’t do that right now,” he said, still parrying the guard’s punches.

Fine. Childe groaned and charged at the machine with his daggers. If he could divert the ruin guard’s attention from Zhongli for a moment, he could borrow the spear. As expected, the ruin guard turned its fists towards Childe. “I need the spear to hit its weak spot on its head.”

Instead of passing the polearm to Childe, Zhongli stepped back several meters—Great—and lobbed it straight at the ruin guard. In that split second, Childe had accepted his damnation: the polearm was lost. But then, the ruin guard faltered and fell.

Zhongli confidently approached and yanked the spear from the ruin guard’s head. He smiled faintly. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Perhaps from the earlier daze or sheer disbelief, an earnest laugh bubbled up in Childe. “Maybe you should hang onto that.”

***

Zhongli strode briskly along the path, the fear having been lifted from his shoulders. Frankly, even he couldn’t explain the fight earlier. Logically, he should have given the polearm to Childe, who seemingly had experience fighting such robots (which Zhongli believed to be ‘ruin guards’), but his body acted on a different accord, as though he were possessed by some divine spirit. The movement of the throw had felt entirely natural, and Zhongli was curious as to whether or not the feat was replicable. Of course, Childe was his guide, and Zhongli didn’t want to cause him any more trouble. Childe had already taken quite a blow from the ‘ruin guard.’ 

Zhongli actually wondered if Childe was okay following that incident. After the ruin guard was defeated, he had laughed and urged them to recommence the journey, but since then, he had an air of sullenness. Before the fight he had strolled confidently in the lead, wearing a plastered-on smile, but now he was trailing a meter behind Zhongli with a distant look on his face. Perhaps even this vulnerability was another act, but it allowed Zhongli to pinpoint something undeniably real that had been obscured by his grin: there was no light in his eyes. But there was no evil in them either. They reflected only apathy. When Childe had been acting amiable, they had thrown Zhongli off-guard, but now he understood them, and Childe by extension. In an odd way, their indifference made Zhongli feel safer. Such was the character of their transient relationship.

Zhongli felt another tug on his hair. He whipped around and pointed his spear.

Childe threw up his arms, dropping the hair he had balled up, and jumped back. “WOAH.”

Oh, it’s just you. “What are you doing?” Zhongli demanded. 

“I just thought you shouldn’t let your hair trail like that. You know—well, maybe you don’t—most people don’t grow out their hair like this. Have you ever considered cutting it?”

Cutting it? Zhongli wouldn’t entertain such a foolish proposal, but the one suggesting it did spark his interest. If Childe were after his hair, then he must know better than to cut it. It was possible he wasn’t aiming for the hair after all. Zhongli, deciding to wait and see how the rest of the conversation played out, said nothing.

Childe took another step back. “I won’t ask anymore questions, and I’m sorry for touching your hair. But…”

Zhongli tensed up again.

“If you want my opinion, those hilichurls found us because of your long hair, and leaving it as is is an invitation for more creatures to come out and play. Besides, it would be a shame for it to get dirty, no?”

Childe was right. Zhongli had never worried about it because he had spent his time indoors, but by now, his hair had been dragged through many substances. Washing it would be an awful pain later. It would be a good plan to try minimizing the damage. Moreover, Childe seemed to have no personal interest in Zhongli’s hair; in fact, he was rather clueless about it, which Zhongli hoped would continue indefinitely. For now, at least, he probably could be trusted. “Thank you. If you wouldn’t mind helping me…” 

“Not at all.” Childe laughed. “Anything to keep the hilichurls away!”

“You seemed to enjoy that skirmish earlier.”

Childe choked. “Wh-what? You know I could say the same about you, Zhongli. What’s with those spear moves? Have you been training up in that tower?”

“I do exercise every day.”

“With what? A javelin?”

“A javelin? No.”

“Aww come on.” Childe pouted. “You can’t tell me you’re that good on the first try!”

Zhongli shrugged. He didn’t have an adequate explanation either.

“At least humor me!”

Oh, was he making a joke?

“Alright, miracle spearman, let’s keep going.” Childe scooped up Zhongli’s hair from the ground. “We’re almost at our destination.”

#Genshin Impact #Chili #Childe #Zhongli

[begluketostay]

distractions // luke mini series pt 1

distractions - luke mini series | pt 2 | pt 3

Word Count: 2.9k

Rating: M (this part isn’t bad but the rest of the parts will be mature)

Keywords: smut, bestfriend!luke

Summary: You’ve loved Luke for as long as you’ve known him. When he gets back from tour, it’s getting harder and harder to live with never being able to have what’s right in front of you. You know you can stay strong, you just need some distractions.

Wattpad Link

A/N: this is going to be a mini series with about 4-5 parts, super excited for you all to read it :)

You hold your drink in the air and cheer along with the crowd around you when the door opens and the four boys you’ve been missing so much walk in. There are dark bags under their eyes from the lack of sleep they’ve been getting on tour, but there are still twinkles in their eyes from the happiness of finally being home and surrounded with all their friends. You watch as they walk through the crowd, fist bumping and hugging everyone in thanks for coming. 

They’ve been on tour for the past six months and they’d finally just gotten back that morning, so naturally, everyone had to celebrate their return. You’re not sure which of their many friends had offered up their house for the party, but you’d been placed in a giant group chat with all the details yesterday and you wouldn’t miss it for the world. 

Your heart swells as you watch Luke hug his friends and thank them so much for being there, and you can’t help but notice the confidence that he exudes from him as he makes easy conversation with each person and throws his head back in laughter at all the stories they tell him. You patiently wait for your turn to talk to him, standing toward the back of the room next to all of the drinks. 

The punch is actually just a giant cooler of jack and coke mixed together, and you sip on it easily, using it as a distraction to calm the jitters that have come to you. You don’t know why you’re so nervous to see him, he’s your best friend after all and you’ve missed him so much. 

He’s been looking around for you but has been unable to find you, and he almost thinks you didn’t even come until he sees you, your back turned to him as you fill up your cup once more. 

He wraps his arms around you and picks you up, twirling you in the air and you gasp as your drink sloshes over the rim of the cup and lands on your bare legs. “Luke,” you laugh, swatting at him to put you down and half-heartedly wipe at the sticky drink that’s all over your legs now. 

“‘M sorry, ‘m sorry, just excited to see you,” he grins, slinging an arm over your shoulder and pulling you into a tight side hug. “Didn’t hear from you much while I was gone.” You can tell there’s a hint of something in his voice as he says that, almost like disappointment, but you wave him off. 

“I know, I know, just had some stuff going on with my brother, you know,” you respond, acting like it’s no big deal because you don’t want Luke to worry about your family problems. He looks at you with wide eyes, and you already know he’s going to ask about it, so you say, “it’s not a big deal, he’s fine, I just had to go back home and help get him into another rehab. Had to help my parents deal with him a bit, and well… you know how it goes with him,” you shrug, rolling your eyes.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asks, a little hurt that you didn’t come to him in your times of trouble. 

You laugh, because you know the exact reason he wanted you to call him is the exact reason why you didn’t call. “You were across the world touring. I know how busy you get while you’re gone and I didn’t want you worrying about me or my brother or anything,” you explain gently. “I know you would’ve tried to get on the next flight home and come help, and I can’t have you doing that anymore.”

“I could’ve made it work,” he says, “I have enough money to buy a flight, you know that, and I could’ve just popped in for a quick weekend to help.”

“You’re in the big time now, Lu, you can’t just fly home to help me whenever I have a problem. And I don’t need your help anyways. I’m a big girl, I do take care of myself while you’re away, you know,” you chide him. 

He shakes his head. “I know you can take care of yourself... god, do I know that.” He thinks of the time when you broke the nose of the guy who tried to humiliate Luke by tripping him in middle school cafeteria and then, many years later, when you punched a guy in the face at a bar for grabbing your ass. You’ve always been able to take care of yourself, and it makes leaving you for months at a time a little easier to handle. “I just like being there and helpin’ ya.”

“Anyways, it’s really not a big deal because you’re back now and instead of texting me, you can just show up at mine like you always do,” you laugh. 

He wraps you in another tight bear hug and you feel his lips pressing lightly against the hair on the top of your head as he squeezes you closer to him. “Ahhh,” he groans. “I’m so glad I’m back. Been a little homesick,” he admits. You just let him hold you and breathe in his scent that you’ve become so familiar with over the years. You’ve been missing that smell for months now. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop being sappy now, I’m gonna go grab a drink from the kitchen. You need one?” he asks, and you hold up your two-thirds full cup in response. He pinches your arm as he walks off to hopefully find something with tequila. 

You smile and close your eyes, trying to hold onto the feeling of his lips against your head just moments ago. It’s the closest you’ll ever come to a kiss from Luke again. 

When you open your eyes, you spot a pair of dark brown eyes across the room and curse under your breath. He’s already looking at you and you know he’s going to walk over any second. Now isn’t the time to talk about what you know he wants to talk about, and you really don’t want to be seen with him here. You don’t want Luke to notice the two of you together.

As he starts taking his first steps toward you, you rush over to him instead, glancing at Luke in the kitchen, glad that he’s occupied with more hugs and handshakes and congratulations. 

“What are you doing here?” you hiss. 

“If you haven’t forgotten, I’m friends with them too,” he rolls his eyes. 

“Sorry, I just…” you trail off, trying to find the words to explain why you’re so unnerved by his presence here. “I just don’t want to be suspicious,” you finish. 

He rolls his eyes once more and laughs at you. “You’re the one making it look suspicious,” he chuckles. “I was just on my way to have a casual conversation and here you are all jumpy and paranoid that your little lover boy is gonna find out that you’ve been sucking my dick.”

“Hunter!” you slap him on the arm. “Be quiet!” 

“Ouch!” he overdramatically rubs his arm, shooting you a quick glare. “C’mon, Y/N, you’re being a little ridiculous. And even if he does find out, who cares? It’s not like you’re his girlfriend or anything.”

You don’t know why those words make you feel like you’ve been stabbed. 

“Low blow,” you mumble, turning away from him. 

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t be mad at me, you know I’m right. Maybe could’ve said it a bit nicer, but you have nothing to hide from anyone. We’re all adults here,” he spins you back around to face him and sees that you’re still annoyed with what he’s said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you. Let’s go upstairs?”

You look back toward the kitchen and see Luke talking to a pretty blonde girl who is hanging onto his every word and you breathe out a big lungful of air. A distraction would be nice right now, but you’re at this party to celebrate Luke and you haven’t seen him in months and it would be pretty scummy of you to sneak upstairs with the guy that you’ve been using in his place. 

“No, not here,” you decide. “It’d be pretty shitty of us.” 

“It’s not fair you expect me to keep my hands off of you when you’re dressed like that,” he groans, trying to convince you. 

“I’m dressed like this for Luke,” you remind him. “But thank you for the kind words.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “He has no idea what he’s missing out on.”

Luke is looking around, desperately trying to get away from this girl who’s acting like they go way back when he’s sure they’ve never even met before. He’s trying to find you in the crowd and sighs in relief when he finally spots you, but narrows his eyes when he sees who you’re talking to. 

He and Hunter used to be close, but have drifted in the years that passed since middle school. The only reason they’re still on relatively good terms is because they’re cousins and have to behave around each other at family events, but Luke was always jealous of how he got all the girls in high school and how he’s always rubbed it in Luke’s face. 

And now Luke is watching as the two of you talk and share laughs, and he tells himself that the anger that is starting to bubble up deep in his stomach is just because he doesn’t want to let you get treated the same way all the other girls have been treated by him. He doesn’t want you to get tossed to the side once Hunter gets bored with you, because you deserve so much better than that. 

Luke smiles politely at the girl who is still talking to him, and interrupts, saying, “I’m so sorry, McKayla-” 

“McKenzie,” she corrects him. 

“Right, I’m so sorry McKenzie, I really have to go say hi to someone. It was nice seeing you again!” He knows he’s never seen her before, but just wants to escape politely so he can swoop you away from Hunter.

He’s halfway to you when some guys throw their arms over his shoulder and drag him to the front of the living room. All the boys have been brought up there and they look at each other in confusion. 

A group of girls bring shots to Luke, Ashton, Michael, and Calum, and the whole crowd is cheering for them to drink. They take one, two, three, four shots as the blurry mass of bodies screams and yells. 

The host of the party steps up in front of everyone and congratulates the boys once again on a safe return from their tour. “I think it’s only fair,” the host says with a mischievous sparkle in his eye, “that since you lot have been out performing shows for everyone in the world, you can give a performance for your closest friends, eh?”

The boys are all pretty drunk at this point. Calum’s cheeks are tinted pink from the alcohol and he can’t stop giggling while he watches Michael trip over his own feet. Ashton is so drunk that he just kind of stands there with his eyes glazed over, staring into the distance. Luke is a lightweight, so even though he hasn’t had that much, it goes to his head quickly and he’s starting to feel the effects of the shots. 

Someone cranks up one of their old songs and the boys “perform” for the crowd - meaning that Ashton continues to stare into space in the back with a dopey smile on his face, but is moving his hands to match the sounds of the drums in the song perfectly while the other boys jump around and loudly sing  offkey and in the wrong octave. 

Luke is jumping around and using a pack of cigarettes as a fake microphone, whipping his hair around to the beat until his eyes land on your body that is still laughing with Hunter in the back of the crowd. He tries to keep dancing, but a frown is now on his face and he can’t remember what words come next to sing along with. He stumbles through the crowd back to the kitchen to make himself another drink, hoping to get the picture of your hand resting so delicately on Hunter’s arm out of his head, and everyone is so enthralled with Michael and Calum dancing together that they don’t fuss too much about Luke leaving.

A few more drinks and he is well and properly drunk. By this point, you’ve noticed his absence and have excused yourself from Hunter to go search for him, worried about where he’s gone off to. 

“Luke,” you say when you find him, “what are you doing?” 

“Nothing,” he smiles at you, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Jus’ having another cup, this is so good.” 

You take the cup out of his hands and sniff, gagging as the smell of straight tequila enters your nostrils. 

“Oh my god,” you mutter, setting it down on the counter and grabbing his wrist. “Why straight tequila, Luke?” you laugh under your breath, shaking your head. “You are so gonna regret having that in the morning.”

You expect a drunken laugh from him, but there’s only a dramatic sigh. 

“Lu?” you ask. 

“‘M tired,” he says softly. “Can you jus’ take me home?” 

You rub his back softly and look up at his face, really taking him in. The bags under his eyes look purple against his pale skin and his eyelids are starting to droop. He always comes back looking a little worse for wear after touring and it makes your heart hurt for him. 

You know he loves it, but it takes so much out of him. 

“Alright,” you sigh. “Let’s get you home.”

You half drag and half hold him up as the two of you move toward the door to wait for the uber you’ve ordered. He slurs something about calling someone for a ride, he is Luke Hemmings after all, but you shush him and pull up your app, knowing that it will be faster than waiting for anyone that works for him to get there.

Getting him into the car is an ordeal, but after several apologies to the driver and lots of pushing, you finally get his long limbs shoved into the backseat. He doesn’t live too far away from the party, and you’re glad because you want him to still be awake when you get home because there’s no way you’ll be able to carry him in. 

You get him out of his leather jacket and pull his boots off his feet as soon as you get in the door, trying not to laugh as he stumbles around trying to wriggle his way out of his tight pants. 

“Y/N,” he mumbles from where he lays on his bed, clothed in just the t-shirt he was already wearing and his boxers. 

“Yeah, Lu?” you laugh. His face is smushed against the mattress, his cheeks pressed so far up that it’s hard for him to fully open his eyes. You want to kiss those cheeks so badly. 

“I’m happy I’m home.”

“I’m happy you’re home too, Luke.”

He opens his arms and reaches for you, and even though the two of you don’t often cuddle, it feels familiar and safe when you crawl into his arms and let yourself fall asleep there.

---------------------

You open your eyes, smiling as you breathe in the scent that is one hundred percent Luke Hemmings. You scoot further against him and savor the feeling of being in his arms, closing your eyes and picturing him waking up and kissing you on the lips and confessing the things you want to hear from him most. 

You’re caught up in your little secret fantasy when several loud dings snap you out of it. You groan as you roll over, blindly reaching for the phone that’s making so much noise, just wanting to turn the sound off and drift back off to sleep in Luke’s arms, but the texts on the screen of the phone you’ve grabbed put a dent in those plans. 

The phone in your hand is lit up with several unread texts, and you read them at first, thinking it’s your own phone, but it’s not yours, because you definitely would not be receiving half naked pictures from a girl on your phone. 

If the pictures don’t make you sick, then the captions that accompany them definitely do. 

wearing the thong you liked so much and wishing you were here ;)))

ugh i can’t stop thinking about your tongue

also can’t stop thinking about your massive dick and how you -

You can’t finish that one, shutting the phone off before your eyes get ahead of you and practically fling yourself out of his bed. You look at the boy sleeping so peacefully and want to throw up. I mean, you know he sleeps with girls while he’s gone on tour, you can’t expect him not to and there’s nothing stopping him from it - it’s not like you’re his girlfriend or anything. 

But you can’t help but feel a little betrayed by him. 

It’s one thing to know in your head that he’s sleeping around, but it’s another to see a full frontal nude of a girl he slept with just last week. 

You gather your things up as quickly as possible before giving him one last longing look and slipping out the door, trying not to let any tears leak out of your eyes before the door is shut.

part 2 here

#writing #writings #luke hemmings #luke hemmings imagine #luke hemmings writing #luke hemmings fanfic #luke hemmings fanfiction #luke hemmings fic #luke hemmings smut #luke smut #luke blurb #luke imagine #luke fic #luke fanfic #5sos #5sos fic #5sos fanfic #5sos fanfiction #5sos writing #5 seconds of summer #ashton irwin #calum hood #michael clifford

[wrongwiredmind]

Before I start saying anything I'd like to warn that the content of this post is both gore and contains suicidal thoughts, if any of that triggers you, please do not read, I care about whoever is reading but I can't hold any responsibility for anything that might follow, stay safe, and remember that no matter what, what comes next in your life will be better, one way or another.

This post is rather long, but that's kinda the point of this page, here we go, then.

So, I had almost my weirdest dream to date, right now, and then I thought, to heck with it!! Let's share something!

So first of all, I need to set some points straight before writing so it might explain a few things, hopefully, without giving a lot away about my personality:

(I have no idea how to put them on order, so they're pretty much a mumbo jumbo. Ah~ My favourite type of writing~. Kidding, of course, I actually prefer reading well written stories and articles)

Anyhow:. 1- I have a really deep unexplainable fear of the vast beast called an ocean (or a sea, or really anytype of deep water), I still go to the beach and pools and whatever, but there's always some sort of an icy grip tightening around my non-existent heart.

2- I love IronMan! So so much, and I kinda adopted Tony Stark!! (no one tell him, please!).

3- my adoration of a certain supernatural series made me love batman! (well, not entirely true, I always loved him, but kinda from afar, you get me?)

4- want me to get hooked on something? Give me a fanfic of it!! (of course like a series or a book, not a substance, you bad bad people!!), that's how I loved Bilbo!! (imagine me saying it in my adorable voice, the one I use when I try to sound cute 😉)

5- I binge read a certain fanfic about those two amazing superheroes saving the world, and themselves!! (I refuse to give up the name since if you think this is me oversharing? You've got another thing coming, honey!) that had a cruise and another prototype of the IronMan suit (don't ask which mark it is but it's so fast it broke the sound barrier!!)

6- I'm a little bit under the weather, (not corona, folks!) and my throat is kinda itchy, to the point that I lost all my vocal prowess for a little more than 24 hours a few days ago, still kinda annoying, and my stomach rebelled so much yesterday (before and during sleeping) that I thought she should take the rebellion symbol from Mr. Che Jivara!! (with all due respect to him, I'm only joking, so please no one takes it seriously).

7- I'm a little bit of a spacetoon (and all that's good and beautiful in our childhood) encyclopedia, want a name of a cartoon or a song you can't remember? I'm usually your best bet, after the second mother, google, of course!!

8- this week is so dead that if you want to see zombies come to our lectures any time in it, seriously we're so under a lot of exams, thank God and the doctors for postponing our tasks and assignments' due-date.

9- if I was a little more of an extrovert I might not have had to write most of these strange snippets about me in a freaking post!!!

And finally, on with the dream! (another thing you probably know by now, that I kinda take you around and under and left and right before I say what I want to say).

So, it was an assignment to some sort of subject (don't ask me which, since as far as I know, not a single thing in our curriculum will make me do what I'm about to do here, or at least, I hope so!!!), we made some type of fall-body suit that needed analysing (who am I kidding, it was the IronMan suit!!), and guess who was picked as a pilot? That's right! Yours truly!!

Anyway, good thing to bad, we had to make the prototype test in the middle of the (as I said above) the vast beast! Mr. Oceanus (I know that that is a Mr. Titan, but who am I, the lowly mortal, to deny his decision to appear in my paragraphs? And no, he didn't show up in the dream, thank God! [ours, not any of the others]),

So, I was put in the cruise, in the middle of the ocean, with the IronMan suit, and a seriously sick stomach, can you guess where we're going with this? (I'm actually kinda enjoying writing this since it reminds me of a certain mad superhero/not superhero who finally joined the XMen!, of course he joined a few years ago but I only watch the second movie circa a month ago) no? let me tell you, a bit of dizziness, seasickness, and an already rebellious stomach? Not a good combination, and remember that I really, really fear the ocean (just remembering the dream and the images in my head is traumatising, let alone living it vividly for a few hours), so, I fell, and strangely enough, I was a good swimmer (ah~ I really count my blessings here since no matter who or when someone taught me to swim, I still can't manage), I was able to stay close to the ship, but couldn't really pull myself up, so all I could do was keep a good hold on a rope tied around the ship and keep my legs in a calculated, slow what feels like a walking-in-place exercise,, (I can still feel the water around me, and the gentle waves of the ocean, it was both a calming feeling and a horrible one) and then...

Something touched the soles of my feet, and it kinda hurt, and it continued to move under me till something hit my toes, it was a shark fin, that's right, a shark choose me as his next meal, how honoured I was!!! Kidding i was kinda terrified, but all that YouTube survival videos came to mind, I left the rope of the ship and kinda dipped under water (triple scare, here, yikes!) and I... pushed.. his muzzle?

Yeah, so not really what they taught you in the videos, my polite nature rears its ugly head again (politeness is not as good as it seems, people! actually once a stray dog entered our home and jumped on the couch, and I was asking nicely and politely if "Mr. Dog would pretty please leave us be", and no, I wasn't scared but mom told me not to touch it, and it kinda was a cute, if a mangy mutt)

I didn't really want to punch the shark, even if my life kinda depended on it here, for a few reasons and actually at least one of them was pretty reasonable, which is, my punch is pretty weak, guys!!

Anyway, of course since its skin kinda scratched my feet there was blood, so it didn't leave me alone, two things I concluded here, first, Mr. Shark was either a lazy guy since he was coming to me slowly as if he either was a giant cat coming for pets no matter how many times you push her, or he was playing with his food, aka, me.

The second thing I discovered was that I was really sick in real life since my imagination couldn't conjure another family member of my guest here (again with the small mercies, can you imagine being alone around all these carnivores? And I bet not all of them will be moving so leisurely!!)

So, I finally decided to be the champ of my cruise and punch the thing in the face, so I pulled up all the power I can in my fist and punched him in his snout!!!

And let me tell you, it's not as easy is they make it sound, first, his nose is actually pretty hard, not the sensitive area they led us to believe, second, my hand really hurt and his skin scratched my knuckles, and I believe it kinda broke a bone in my hand, third, and worse, it actually enraged the mister so much that it left me, J-squared again and this time, flew! in my direction and I swear I still feel his teeth sinking in the shin of my right leg, but before he tore it apart, I actually did the right thing to defend myself, I (and I apologise, Mr. Dream shark, but you really hurt both my leg and my feelings!!) poked his eyes, which made for a very awkward stretch to my body, but finally, I was left alone!! With a mangled leg, of course, but hey!! It's not real life, so let's be glad.

The saltwater stinging my feet, still sick, and more dizzy from blood loss, you have no idea how glad was I that I was still near the ship, a little bit more than a meter but still floating, and then, the bad became worse, I actually goT SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A WHALE!!!!!!!!, YUP!! THE WHALE IN THE PICTURE!!!

And then god with his mercies again, it swallowed the ship but opened his mouth for me to leave, neat, ain't it?

But let me tell you what happened in a little more details, I felt a ripple in the water beneath and around me, and the ship started to sway, and a faint sound of something between a roar and strange song-like-sound, feeling the rumble under me was what made me look, and lo and behold!! The mighty animal wanted the meal that the shark didn't get, bye bye world!! Bye bye the suit that I still didn't to get to wear! And bye bye the report I needed to write for this freaking assignment that because of it I might fail and my friends will rail me when they see me!!

The ship and I couldn't help but enter the mouth of the humongous fish, the sounds of the wood, metal, glass and whatever is the cruise was made of was deafening, so loud and cruel, and I got a more than a few bruises and abrasions, and the feel of his teeth behind my back, sharp and huge and bigger than my own size, was something I don't know how to describe, and suddenly between all the breaking and suffocating water and absolute darkness, something caught my eyes, the slits in the helmet of the suit were lit, I'm sure it was a malfunction because of all the destruction on Mark, but it took all my fear, as if sucking it from my own eyes, and as sudden as it glowed, it vanished, but the calm remained, I closed my eyes, since it didn't matter, and just stopped everything, even trying to hold my breath, but not breathing as well, as if all body functions just... Stopped.

And then my eyes flew open again, not because I woke up, but because of an almost crushing change in the water pressure, it just pushed me forward more inside the huge mouth, and when I thought that this is it, I found the whale mouth moving further away from me, taking the ship and Mark with it, and leaving me alone, in the middle of the ocean that I wanted to say "c'mon!! If you ate me it'll be a win-win situation!!!!" but the second I opened my mouth water rushed inside that I tried swimming up to breath (even though not knowing which way is up was problematic, since something similar happened in real life before I wasn't worried, but that's a story for another time), breaking the surface was a godsend, I tell you! But my misery wasn't in any way over, I was so thirsty I actually wanted to drink salt water a again (and then death, oh wow, how smart?), and once the adrenaline deserted me, my leg returned to trying to kill me, and I don't know if it was a real thing if it happened in real life but it actually stopped bleeding, which was both fantastic, since it means that I won't die of bloodloss, and horrifying since I'm not going to die because of bloodloss, at least then I would have been able to calculate an approximate time for my death, but no, I have to wait and see what kills me next, I almost wished that I just had my previous stomachache and be done with.

Anyway, moving was not really an option, and staying was not either, and the breeze was making me so cold my teeth almost broke from all the shattering they were doing, I wasn't really sure when the others might decide to check on me, and I'm not really sure if I was still in the place they left me at, and I really didn't know what to do, I was so helpless, and cold, and thirsty, in so much pain and so so tired.

I cursed the whale again for not ending my misery, and cursed the shark for being a coward and not finishing what he started and cursing the assignment for being so impossible yet important, and most of all cursing myself, though I don't know why, but my self-loathing decided that now is the time to remember how horrible I am.

As physics does, the water raised me till I was floating on my back, which made me feel even more cold but I didn't have any energy to do anything about it, and strangely, I fell into some sort of doze, not asleep yet not really awake and aware, my whole body half above half into the water, though my right, injured leg, was bend in the knee into the water, which made my pained scream when something took hold of it in its mouth the more agonizing since it made my upper body enter the water, and the thing holding my leg left it alone, and I was able to right myself and look around me for the next threat, the fear was immense that I thought I might get a heartattack, which, admittedly would be better than the pain going to be inflicted upon me any second now, looking around finally led me to what attacked me, and for a moment, with my blurry, and fear filled eyes looked like Mr. Shark has indeed returned to finish what he started, he even returned to his play-with-my-food attitude, but when my eyes finally focused they detected differences, from the lighter shade of colors, to the more smooth curves of the fin and snout, and the gentle, warm (even if it looked sleepy) strange brown tone of the mammels eyes,

The dolphin was about two meters away, and looking at me with intense, twinkling eyes (if they were blue and he wore glasses, or at least marking that looks like it, I would have thought that the dolphin was Dumbledore' animagus and I really wouldn't have hesitated this time to punch his already crocked nose.. err.. snout [which it isn't, the dolphin's snout was perfect] with my broken hand!!) and moved slowly towards me, he pushed me gently with his nose in my abdomen, swam back a few inches, then entered the water and moved towards my leg, not touching it, but he was close enough to feel with my already almost destroyed sensitive nerves, he did all of that while I'm standing/floating, stupefied, hardly even breathing, and then he left, and pushed me again with his snout on my back, this time with more pressure that my body couldn't help but move to the dolphin's right side to let him pass, with my hand just above his back, when my hand touched his prominent back fin, he pushed my hip gently, as if telling me something, and pushed his fin into my hand again, it felt like rubber, and I couldn't help but ask "you want me to hold you?" he made a strange clicking noise then kinda slapped the water with his side fin in the other side of me, and bizarrely, his actions made me feel as if he was saying "are you stupid? Why else would I offer you my magnificent dorsal?!!" I stared, flummoxed, at the creature and couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh, I'm certain that it was the tension, fear and hysteria that made me do it, but for me, the whole situation was so hilarious that it seemed like it made Mr. Dolphin look at me and think "alright, the pathetic, hurt, star-shaped blemish is, indeed, stupid and needs help from my majesty" and then, using his right fin, slapped me non-too-gently on the side of my left hip, squeaking something as well and pushed his dorsal in my left hand again, but when he noticed my wince, he actually kinda rubbed his slippery appendage on my thigh while honest-to-god cooed at me that I couldn't help but smile at him, "it's okay, big guy, and thanks; you know, you kinda remind me of flipper!" and then I petted him a couple of times (which he purred at, I think I need a cat! 🤔🤔) then grabbed his fin in a tight but non constricting grip, my right hand was swollen by now so my only hope was to keep holding using my left hand, after shaking his body a little as if to check my hold, he dove with me into the water!! I almost screamed in fright but then he broke the surface and jumped about three meters high into the air!!!

Hello, there, adrenaline, didn't see you since a few!!

He dove again into the water and this time gradually moved towards the surface, with the water flowing into my hair and pushing me from my saviour, my left leg moved on its own violation and moved around the body as if I was riding a horse,

"WOOHOO!!", I shouted once we were in the air again, it was exhilarating; cold, but thrilling, though the warm body beneath me was perfect, he took me in a straight if slightly curvy line, and when I noticed that, I also noticed that his right fin was not moving as his left, I even thought he was injured for a second, but then a sharp sting in my leg and a slight jerk from him made me understand, my injured leg was beneath his wing-like appendage, and he was being considerate, as a solution, I flattened myself on his back, kept my left leg dangling as if in the horse saddle, my right one, as gently as possible, bend on the knee above the dolphin's back, my left hand gripping the top fin with it touching my shoulder, and my broken right hand above Mr. Flipper's cousin head, and then I came into a a sudden realization!! "does that mean I'm Lopaka????" I asked Flipper the second, and he made a sound suspiciously almost like a snort, but my change of position made him move in a much more pronounced straight line; the speed decreased as I started to doze again, as if he was worried about dislodging me, though the annoying feeling of the salt crusting on my skin woke me up, no idea how much time had past, except that the sun was on either the verge of descending or rising, and finally, finally, I saw land and buildings and what not from afar, and I certainly moved to another continent all together, let alone another country, after reaching the area where I could stand comfortably on the ground beneath the water, people started to come to see what was happening, I ignored them for the sake of my silent companion, suddenly he actually stood on his tail fin, and kinda sort of awkwardly leaned on me without trying to put too much pressure, I didn't understand what was happening though it seemed sorta like a hug?

Anyway, I pat his back again, (and again with the weird purring noise), when he released me I felt buzzing in the back pocket of my jeans, I actually still have my phone!!!

Pulling it out and snorting that after everything that happened my phone was still working!! all I could say is "well, it seems like the time of a picture, Mr. Flipper, sir!" and after an awkward kneeling so I could put my injured arm around him and trying to stretch my bloody leg (both meanings are accurate here, tbh) so it wouldn't interfere with the selfie, I positioned my left hand.

And the last thing I remember is the picture of my (Lopaka the second 😂) wide mouth grin and an equally wonderful grin from Mr. Flipper the second!!!

The End.

It really was a dream I had, with all these details, the only thing that's not entirely true about this post, is saying that this is the weirdest dream I had.

[monstersandmaw]

Male dom orc x female sub reader (nsfw)

Edit which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

This commission was posted first on my patreon for the lovely @rangerofthegods. They wanted a story with a couple who had been together for a little while, but who had not yet explored the idea of a d/s dynamic, despite both being into it. Consent and discussion were major themes that both of us were very keen to promote, so here you’ll find a budding relationship featuring very much consensual d/s play between a really big orc and his short human girlfriend. I hope you enjoy!

Wordcount: 8.5k Content: consensual d/s play between an established partnership, size difference, spanking, edging, aftercare, sex, ‘sir’, and praise kink.

Finally, ‘Bresz’ is pronouced ‘Bresh’, but with the ‘sh’ voiced as in Polish, with a voiced ‘sh’ rather than an unvoiced ‘sh’... so it’s kind of szch, but not quite...?

___

“I’ll be back in half an hour,” you called over your shoulder as you struggled and flailed slightly to get out of your barista’s apron. Grabbing the huge packed lunch, you waited for your friend - and technically your boss - to acknowledge, and you swiped the cardboard carrier for the two hot drinks off the counter before bolting out of the door.  

Normally, Bresz came to the cafe for his lunch, and that had been how your relationship with the big, confident, flirtatious orc had started, but today, you wanted to surprise him. You almost blushed as you recalled those early encounters where he’d shamelessly complimented you, leaning his muscular frame on the counter top while you tried not to send jets of hot steam up into your own face while making him coffee. It hadn’t taken him long to ask you out for dinner, and soon after that you’d made it official. Six months later, and you were happier than you’d ever been in your whole life.  

He still liked to treat you and surprise you, even though technically he was no longer courting you. He still brought you flowers, he still cooked you frankly enormous, thankfully nutritious meals, and he still let his gang of loud, obnoxious, big-hearted orc friends rib him mercilessly for still behaving like a courting male. Bresz gave zero fucks about that, and proudly declared that he was completely in love with his little human girl, often nuzzling his tusks gently into your neck until you giggled and squirmed, and he was able to pick you up. You liked that a lot more than you let on.  

But now it was your turn to do something for him, and you were determined not to be thwarted by the generous spirit of your massive orc. You raced down the street, praying you’d get to the kick boxing and martial arts gym before he left, and to your relief, the street was devoid of anyone even resembling your seven foot tall boyfriend.

Grinning, your hands full of lunch, you backed the door open and turned around, only to come face to face with a slender tiefling. The combination of her dark blue skin and the soft lighting of the reception had made her blend in with the shadows, and you almost screeched with surprise when you noticed her. “Belle!” you gasped. “You scared me!”

“I’m sorry,” she chuckled, stepping back and taking the weight of the door for you so that you could step inside without it smacking you in the back. She wore a tank top that showed off her enviable arms, but your eyes didn’t stay fixed on her for long because Bresz emerged from the changing rooms and you almost forgot how to speak again.  

“Hey!” exclaimed when he saw you standing there. His whole face lit up and he beamed a broad smile at you, thick, blunt tusks glinting, and his coppery brown eyes crinkling attractively at the corners. “What are you doing here? I was just on my way to come and see you!”  

And with that, he had strode over to you and put his hands on your waist. He picked you up and kissed you, holding you aloft with absolute ease, as though you weighed nothing at all. “Oof. Careful! I wanted to surprise you,” you grinned.  

“And now that I’m surprised?” he asked. He sniffed ostentatiously and his grin widened even further. “You brought food? Oh man, I’m the luckiest orc in the whole world.”

“And coffee,” you added. “Put me down now?”

He set you down and placed both his palms over his heart and tilted his head back, his long, beaded braid swinging free down his back. “My hero!”  

“Knock it off, you two,” Belle laughed playfully. “I swear, it’s sickening.”  

“C’mon,” Bresz snorted. “Ignore the jealousy of the loveless. Let’s get out of here.”  

Belle snorted. “Don’t let my girlfriend hear you say that, Big Guy.”

He flashed her a broad smile and turned his attention back to you. “It’s a gorgeous day. You want to go to the park?”

You nodded, and he blew Belle a playful raspberry as he guided you to the door and held it open for you. Belle punched him on his colossal bicep as he passed her, and he ignored it. He was too focused on you.  

He wore a loose, white tank top that showed his stunning figure and gorgeous, green skin off beautifully, and his black tracksuit hugged his bubble-butt in just the most perfect way. It was so hard to keep your hands off him. Luckily though, you had your hands full with the giant, brown paper bag of sandwiches and the carry-tray for the drinks. Well, you did, until he glanced down at you and gasped. “Shit, here, let me take them for you!”  

“Bresz,” you complained. “I’m perfectly capable of carrying a bit of lunch. I know you’re a huge beefcake, but I’m not that useless!”

“Oh I know,” he said, a sweet and affectionate look dawning on his handsome, rough-hewn face. “I just like spoiling you. Please?” he said, his eyes widening.

You rolled your own at him and said, “You know I can’t refuse those puppy dog eyes. Fine.” You slammed the sandwich bag into his solid chest, and he laughed.  

“You still up for our usual Friday night dinner at my place tonight?” he asked as you settled down onto the warm grass at the edge of the park. A black dog was barking and tearing around the place like a bat out of hell, and the two of you watched it while you spoke and ate.  

“Of course,” you said, chuckling as the Labrador leapt into the air, twisting half way to catch a frisbee that its owner had hurled an impressive distance for ir. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, breaking off his gaze to look at you. He kissed your temple. “Just checking. You don’t always have to come over to mine…”

He was propped up on one arm, leaning close to you and casting a welcome, cool shadow across you, and you leaned your cheek against his arm for a moment before pressing a kiss into the dip of muscle at the base of his tricep. “I like your place,” you said. “Plus, you don’t fit in my bed.”

“You want dinner in bed? Or are you offering to be dinner?”

“Shut up,” you snorted. “You know what I meant. And you nearly broke mine the last time you came over and stayed the night.”

“Fair point. My place it is then.”

A shout from across the park made both of you look up, and you realised that the pink blur shooting towards you was the dog’s frisbee. Bresz chuckled and popped to his feet, catching it easily before it sailed all the way over and hit you, and sent it spinning away. The dog did a handbrake turn, screeching to change direction, and the pair of you laughed.  

“Smooth,” you said when he sat back down.  

Bresz simply kissed your forehead in response.  

That evening when you got to his after work, Bresz was in a bad mood. It was unusual to see your orc scowling, but you knew the moment you let yourself in that something was wrong. He turned and looked at you with such an expression of hopelessness that you thought something awful had happened. “What?” you asked, ditching your overnight bag and striding over to him. “What’s happened?”

“The oven’s bust,” he said. “I had everything planned out, and when I went to pre-heat it, it just sparked and went out. It’s not a fuse, and I think it’s dead.”

Your shoulders went slack with relief, and you started to laugh.

“It’s not funny!” he grumbled.  

“I’m not laughing at that, or you,” you said. “I just thought a person had died, not your oven!” you laughed. “You looked devastated.”

“I am devastated,” he countered. “I wanted to cook you something nice, and now we’re going to have to have omelet or something. Fuck.”

“We could go out?” you suggested. “There’s that nice place round the corner that you said you wanted to try.”

“Sure,” he said after a moment. “Ok. Let me get changed then. And don’t distract me this time,” he added, pointing a knuckly finger at you.  

You plastered an expression of pure innocence over your face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

One thick eyebrow sailed high, and he put his fists on his hips. “Oh, don’t you?” he smirked playfully. “I distinctly remember me having to ring up the restaurant last time because you got distracted and I ended up sporting the evidence of that distraction…”

“You couldn’t do your jeans up,” you smiled. “I remember. Well, I promise to behave and be a good girl.”

His pupils soared wide at that and he turned away. You thought you heard him curse in orcish and his breathing turned a little ragged as he stalked to his bedroom to change. Interesting. Power play was always something you’d found intoxicating, and half of the reason you’d been attracted to Bresz in the first place - before you’d started going out and learned what an absolute sweetheart he was - had been the size difference between the two of you. The other half had been his good looks and confidence. You’d have been lying if you’d not spent your (admittedly rare these days) nights alone thinking about him dominating you, using that power and strength he had to hold you up one handed by the wrists, teasing you with his other hand until you were a writhing, begging mess, and just… leaving you like that. You’d also entertained the idea of being spanked too, of mixing pleasure and pain together.  

You’d been standing there so long, thinking about his reaction to your simple promise to ‘behave and be a good girl’ that he had dressed and returned before you’d really registered it.  

“You alright?” he asked.  

You looked up at him, blinking. “You look amazing,” you said. “My big handsome orc. Come on, let’s go.”

He took you by the hand, his huge fingers engulfing yours in a gentle grip.  

Deciding to test the waters and explore your sneaking suspicions that he’d rather liked the idea of your being good for him, you accepted the menu from the waiter and then immediately handed it to Bresz without opening it.  

He frowned, curious, and had been about to ask what was going on when you interrupted him and said firmly but sweetly, “You know me well enough by now… Why don’t you choose for me?”

He swallowed thickly and then let out a rough exhale. “Sure. Alright,” he said, a gleam kindling in his rich, copper-brown eyes.  

He didn’t tell you what he’d chosen, and you didn’t find out until the waiter returned and asked if you were ready to order.  

“I think we are,” Bresz smiled. “I’ll have the surf n turf, and the lady will have the special.”

“Very good, sir,” your waiter nodded, and retreated.  

Bresz cocked an eyebrow at you. In silent answer you smiled, bowed your head, and sipped demurely at your water.  

Bresz reached out his hand across the table and took your small fingers in his. Your whole hand barely stretched across his palm, and you sank your teeth into your lower lip at the sight of it. “I love you,” Bresz rasped. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I think I’d be an idiot not to know that by now,” you reassured him.  

He kissed your knuckles, the set of his tusks so wide that they didn’t touch your hand at all, and he seemed to relax after that. It was almost as if he felt that he’d been too eager to take you up on your offer of handing control to him, and needed to apologise, or be reassured. You were only too happy to reassure him, and you also ran your foot gently up the inside of his calf beneath the table.  

“You,” he said, rolling his eyes, “Are trouble.”

“Good trouble?”

“Oh yes.”

The rest of your meal passed more normally after that, though he did take the opportunity to feed you some of his dessert from his spoon. His eyes glowed, reflecting the candle light like cats’ eyes at night, and he studied the way your lips moved around the curve of the spoon perhaps a little too closely. He insisted on paying, since he said it was his fault you’d had to eat out in the first place, and you let it slide this time.  

“Next one is on me though,” you said. “I do want to keep some independence you know.”

“Fair enough,” he said, sliding his hand around yours again as you walked home.  

Waiting for the lights to turn green at a pedestrian crossing, you tugged his arm and made him lean down to kiss you. You took his lower lip between your teeth and sucked hard enough to draw a deep, rumbling moan from him. “Are you trying to cause trouble?” he hissed.  

“Is it working?”

“Yes, you little minx,” he laughed. “Very much so.”

“Good.”

You made it to the hallway outside his front door before he cracked. He’d just started to look for his keys in his pocket when he found you already sneaking your hand in there. He paused, surprised, and looked down at you. He cursed again in orcish, and surged forwards towards you, pinning you against the wall with an exact and careful display of strength that made your knees turn weak. He grabbed your wrists and raised your arms, holding you in place while he crushed a kiss into your lips. “Fuck,” he snarled, feeling the way your body was responding. “Fuck, look at you…”

Your brain was spinning with just how perfect this was. You’d always enjoyed the way he took charge in the bedroom, but this had a new flavour to it, and you found yourself tipping into a gentle, buzzing part of your brain that you knew all too well as sub-space. Your knees turned to water and you felt your eyelids growing heavy, your lips parting, your chest heaving.  

He murmured your name, pulling back, and the moment his touch left your wrists, your arms fell limp to your sides and you let out a little whine. “We should get inside,” you managed to whisper.  

He nodded curtly, and as he turned to unlock his door, you saw the tent that he was sporting in his dark jeans. He looked almost fully hard already.  

Very interesting.  

You stepped inside as he held it open for you to enter first, and as he closed the door behind you, you turned.  

His apartment was large, open plan, with a kitchen just to the right beside the front door, and a large living area at the other end. Exposed brickwork, high ceilings, and big windows marked the building as a former warehouse, and he had divided the space up with tall bookshelves so that it didn't feel like an aircraft hangar inside. The effect was amazing, and the fact that he was a prolific reader was one of the things you had in common. You’d spent many an afternoon curled up on his battered old leather sofa together, your feet in his lap while he read. He would idly circle your ankle with his fingers and run his thumb over the arch of your foot while his eyes skimmed over the pages. Sometimes he would read passages aloud to you if he found something particularly worth sharing, and the whole thing lent an affectionate sense of domesticity to your relationship.  

Now, however, he stared at you with an impenetrable expression on his handsome face; part curious, part turned on, and part… something else that oscillated between hope and insecurity.

“So, er… that… back there…” he said. “That… That felt different… somehow…”

“Mmm,” you agreed. “I…” you shrugged and then said, “I like it when you’re rough with me.” He frowned. “I don’t mean that you hurt me, you don’t and you never have; it’s just… I like it when you use your strength carefully like that. A lot.”

He tilted his head slightly, his long braid swinging behind him like pendulum. His breathing was very shallow and you could see his pulse racing at the hollow of his throat.  

“What?” you asked.  

Bresz didn’t respond immediately. He turned away and braced his weight on his forearms, leaning on the kitchen table. “I… I’m always wary of bringing this up. It’s been misunderstood in the past, and… what with my being an orc… I mean, we’ve already got a reputation for being aggressive, brutish assholes… But…”  

You knew then what he was dying to say but couldn’t. You wondered if perhaps you should go first. Taking the plunge, you said quietly, “I’m sexually submissive. I think you probably figured that out already though. Look, I… I would be open to trying a few things if you’d like.”

From where he stood hunched over the counter, arms straight, back curved, his braid dangling down beside him, Bresz gave a great, shaking sigh. He rotated his head and glanced sideways at you with a soft smile. “Yes,” he said. “I’m not very good at admitting I have dominant tendencies. Especially because orcs get enough flack as it is. I… I didn’t want you to be afraid of me. I never want you to be afraid of me.”

You shook your head and stepped close to him, running your hands up his bare forearms to the sleeves of smart, plain white t-shirt he wore, and sliding your fingers over the bulging muscles of his biceps. You squeezed, though it was like squeezing a bronze statue, and he relaxed, straightening to his full height.  

“You’ve never given me even a hint of a reason to be afraid of you,” you said. “If you had, I would never have brought this up, and I wouldn’t be in a relationship with you. I trust you. I’d like to explore this new side of things.”

“Alright,” he said. “Let me get us both a drink, and we can talk about it.”

And you did. You talked late into the night about what each of you was prepared to do and to have done, what the rules were, what you thought you might need afterwards, and perhaps most importantly, you agreed on a colour system for during any play.  

It was Bresz’ idea. “Green, amber, and red,” he explained. “If I ask you for a colour, you have to give me one. Green means that you’re fine to keep going with whatever we’re doing. Amber means you need a break to think about it or to have a short breather, but you have to give me another colour soon after saying amber; either green or red. Red means we stop, no questions asked, no judgements, and the play ends. We do our aftercare, and we can talk about it later.” He paused and kissed you. “I can also call amber or red if I’m unsure or worried…”

You nodded, excitement fizzing in your lungs. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this,” you said. “You’ve given this some thought already, haven’t you?”

“We don’t have to do it,” he said quickly, eyes widening with worry. It was endearing how worried he was about dominating you and having you not like it.

“Shh,” you smiled, reaching for his cheek and asking him to move his drink out of his lap with a quick jut of your chin. He did, and once it was clear, you swung into his lap and straddled him. You stroked your fingers through the dark hair above his ears, and even though it was pulled back into his braid, you could still scrape your nails over his scalp enough to make him exhale and moan. “Let’s start slow and small. You said you like the idea of having me over your knee…”  

He grunted and you felt his cock twitch beneath you in answer.  

“And I very much like the idea of you using these big hands to make my skin all hot before massaging them and taking care of me. Why don’t we try that?”

“What, now?” he asked, his pulse leaping in his throat again.  

You rolled your hips and he groaned, setting his drink down on a nearby table and grabbing your hips, palms wandering over the curve of your ass as you sat there, working him up already. “Why not now?” you said. “Just a little test… If we decide we don’t enjoy it or it doesn’t work for us, then we can chalk it up to curiosity, and move on.” You very much hoped that wouldn’t happen. Already just the size of his hand on your hip was making you ache for the sting and heat of a spanking.  

He nodded slowly. “Alright. Alright,” he said more gently. He started to work his hands up your back in loving circles. “That it, my little girl,” he murmured. You’d told him what names you liked him to use, and hearing him use that one sent a jolt of heat straight between your legs. “My good little girl,” he crooned in your ear, his hot breath fanning over you. “If I agree to do this, will you promise to be good for me?”  

“I will,” you whispered.  

“Stand up,” he said, and you obediently slid off his lap and stood there while he sat, legs spread, hands resting on his thick, muscular thighs, staring up at you with pupils blown dark and wide. He cursed in orcish, and you shuddered. “You like it when I speak my mother tongue?” he asked, voice deepening slightly.  

You nodded silently, lower lip slightly between your teeth.  

“Well, well,” he chuckled. He said something which was clearly an order, but which you didn’t understand. You loved the way his tongue rolled behind his teeth when he spoke his own language. “You’ll have to earn a translation,” he added softly, and you whimpered.  

“What would you have me do?” you asked with just a little smile.

“Fetch me a glass of water.” It was not a request, but the order was gently given, as though he were testing out the sensation of demanding something from you. “You’ve made me thirsty.”

You nodded. “Yes, Sir,” you said, and he groaned again at his newly acquired title, eyes rolling. He liked that then.  

Returning, you presented him with the glass of water but he shook his head. He pointed at the floor between his parted knees. You smiled and knelt willingly before him, offering up the glass instead. “Much better,” he said, quite deliberately denying you the pleasure of being called a good girl. It seemed only fair; after all, you had not knelt immediately.  

He drank from it slowly, draining the glass. Bresz then handed it back to you and told you to put it on the table and return to your knees in front of him.  

You did. Each order, given with his softest, most gentle expression, sent pulsing heat to your clit and you were wet and breathing shallowly by the time you returned. This was finally everything you could ever have hoped for in a relationship with Bresz. It had been pretty perfect before, but knowing that he was willing to dominate you with consideration and playfulness was just…  

You didn’t have much time to think because he repeated his command in orcish, and then leaned one elbow on his knee, bringing his lips close to yours where you knelt between his legs, and said, “I told you to undress for me.”

Slowly you drew your top off over your head, revealing the (mercifully rather nice) underwear you’d selected that morning, but he grabbed your wrist as you made to continue undressing.  

“Wait.” The strength of his grip made you gasp. “Does that hurt?” he asked, concern flickering in his warm eyes.

You shook your head. “Almost.”

He paused and then carefully tightened his grip just a fraction. You watched his knuckles clench, his fingers close around your wrist, and you sagged sideways slightly with a mewl of pleasure.  

“Oh…” he crooned, drawing you easily up into the air to dangle by one arm, legs limp, “You are a dream. Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more turned on by you… you go and make a noise like that. Come here,” he said, and he simply draped you across his knees and drew the rest of your clothes off by himself.  

“Look at you,” he said again, circling the curve of your ass with his palm before squeezing hard enough to make you gasp and jerk slightly. “Easy,” he murmured. “Easy. I’ve got you, beautiful.”

He massaged you and stroked the backs of your thighs, letting his hands roam all over you until you were breathing deeply and revelling in the contact.  

“How do you feel?” he said. “Give me a colour.”

“Green,” you said immediately, and he laughed.  

And then he brought his fingers down hard over your ass cheek with a resonant ‘crack’. You gasped, more surprised than hurt, and he let it ring for a moment before rubbing a circle over it and caressing the place where heat and blood rushed in. Euphoria ripped through you a second later and you gripped his ankle, pressing your face down into his leg.  

“You took that so well,” he said softly, massaging gentle circles over your backside. “So well. Look at you. It’s all hot now too,” he smiled, running the pad of his thumb over the place where he’d spanked you. “You think you can do something for me?”  

“Mmhmm,” you nodded.  

“First, let’s get you relaxed again,” he purred, sliding his hand up your spine and back again. “Look how big my hands are compared to your little body,” he whispered in awe. “I feel like I’m going to break you all the time, but you’re so tough. You’re incredible. You’re beautiful. Look at you…” When you’d gone completely slack once more, he murmured, “Now then, my beautiful little one, you think you can count to five for me?”

You nodded.  

“I need you to say yes or no aloud,” he said firmly.  

The word left you as a moan. “Yes.”

“Good girl. Gods above, but you look so good like this,” he muttered, adding something under his breath in orcish. Then he bent right down over you and brought his tusks raking across your ass cheek. They dug in, but they were rounded and polished, smooth and sleek, and they slid over you, digging almost bruisingly deep without breaking the skin or truly hurting. He sucked a kiss onto your skin and played with your body a little more before beginning to make you count.  

“One… Two…” you said confidently as the first two strokes made contact in a slow, searing rhythm.  

“Good,” he said, and your ears buzzed at the praise.  

Strokes three and four came in rapid succession and left you winded and gasping. They stung, but the pain vanished into the rush and the heat afterwards.  

“Colour?” he prompted.  

“Amber,” you gasped, stilling for a moment. He stroked your skin with his leathery palms but otherwise remained silent. “Green,” you smiled, relaxing and waiting for the final spank.  

You practically yelled, “Five!” as the last one hit, but he immediately began to kiss you and croon praises against your skin.  

“Beautiful girl,” he purred. “You’re so beautiful. Well done, you took that so well. Look at you…” and he slid his fingers between your legs, seeking out your wet sex. When he found that you were dripping down your inner thighs, he growled and let one fingertip dance over your swollen clit, circling around your folds before withdrawing. You heard him moan and guessed that he was tasting you.  

“I want you,” he said quietly, returning his hand to you. You could feel how hard he was beneath you, and you knew you wanted nothing more than to have his cock buried inside you, filling you.  

“Please,” you whimpered. “Please…”

“I want to take care of you first,” he said. “Can I carry you?”

“Gods, yes,” you moaned, and he smiled and rolled you carefully over before scooping you up into his arms and standing. He nuzzled at your neck and your head lolled back over the crook of his huge arm to expose your throat. Orcs, like werewolves and a few other shifters, took an exposed throat as a sign of intimate trust, and the rush of his hoarse breath fanned across your skin mere moments before he mouthed kisses across your neck until you were whimpering, rubbing your thighs together, desperate for something more. This was far hotter than anything the two of you had ever done, and Bresz, you had discovered, was good in bed.  

He laid you down on his massive bed with its industrial scaffolding bed frame, and he turned you onto your front. “Here,” he said. “I’m going to get some lotion for you. I’ll be right back.”  

Bresz tested to see if it stung first, and when it didn’t, he worked his hands all over the heated areas of your cheeks until they were soothed and cool.  

He rolled you back over and took his time enjoying your body. You lay there, limp and gazing up at him with doe eyes. You wished he wasn’t wearing so many clothes, but somehow the pleasant buzzing in your head had smothered your ability to formulate such a complicated sentence. Luckily, he obliged anyway and was undressed in no time.  

He knelt over you, his thick cock hard, pre-come beading at the top again almost the instant that his underwear was off, and you found your fingers reaching for it, trailing up his thighs with weak, gentle strokes. He stared at you and his cock twitched and he cursed in orcish. That word you did know.  

“Please,” you said, parting your legs and sliding one hand down over your hips towards your centre. “I want you…”

He slipped his hands beneath your thighs and tugged you towards him, sinking his face to you and letting his tongue glide over your wet folds. He lavished attention on you, teasing circles and nudging your throbbing clit with the tip of his tongue until you thought you might just tear yourself apart with want.  

“Please!” you sobbed, tears rolling down from your eyes into your hair as you lay on your back. After the euphoria of being spanked and then cared for so gently, it was too much. He took you right to the edge and then backed away, repeating the process three times until you practically screamed.  

With a gentle, reassuring, and extremely playful smirk, he lined himself up, paused, and then sank hilt-deep into you in one stroke. His thick cock stretched you, his thumb swept a single upward motion over your clit, and his tip hit you so deep that you came around him with a sharp cry of pleasure.

He began to move while you were still coming. He murmured praises and told you how good you felt around him until it wasn’t long before he leaned forwards, one hand braced beside your head, and emptied himself into you with a series of deep, guttural grunts and groans. His strong muscles pressed his hips right up flush against yours, the heat of his release flooding you, as he gave himself completely to you.  

It was a long time before either of you could move, but eventually his cock softened and he rolled off you. Lying on his side, he stroked the backs of his fingers over your body. “You alright?” he asked in a raw, hoarse whisper.  

“Mmm,” you hummed happily, aching in all the right places. “I should clean up though.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard,” he said.  

“Nor me, and that’s saying something with you as my boyfriend,” you grinned back, still a little dazed yourself.  

He blushed sweetly at the praise, and you slipped away to clean up in his bathroom and brush your teeth before bed.  

You returned to find him dozing on his back, one arm flung across onto your side of the bed in an open invitation to snuggle up against him. You did, draping one leg over his thighs and tugging yourself as close to him as you could possibly get.

The next morning you woke and turned over, expecting to find Bresz snoring softly beside you, only to discover that the bed was empty and the sheets on his side were cold.

You sat up, surprised not to feel groggier than you did given your usual state in the mornings, but you relaxed a little when you heard sounds coming from the kitchen. It wasn’t all that unusual for him to get up before you, and he had been known to prepare breakfast for you at the weekend on more than one occasion.  

You glanced around the room and found that his t-shirt from the night before was still lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. You smiled and slipped it on, inhaling the scent of him for a moment before opening the door to his open-plan living and kitchen area.  

Looping your arms around his torso, you paused when you heard how rapidly his heart was beating, and pulled back. “Bresz?”  

“Mmm?” he asked, concentrating on spooning out his home-made granola onto a second bowl with some fruit. He didn’t look at you.

“Bresz, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly.  

“Bresz,” you insisted, turning him around by the hips until he had to look at you. “Talk to me.”

He inhaled shakily and set down the spoon. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I’ve never slept better than I did last night, and I’ve never felt better after sex than I do this morning…”

He took another unsteady breath. “Good. I… I was worried that maybe… maybe I’d gone too far. That maybe… I’d hurt you or��” He swallowed thickly. “I was suddenly terrified that when you woke up… you’d… you’d be afraid of me. I didn’t want to see that. So… I made breakfast.”

“Oh my big, sweet orc,” you smiled, kissing his solid chest. “Pick me up…”  

His hands found your waist and he hoisted you up so that you could latch your legs around his hips. You snaked your arms around his thick neck and pressed a kiss to his lips.  

“I love you,” you said. “Sounds like a bit of dom-drop talking there. You were perfect. You didn’t go too far, we talked about limitations beforehand, you always asked me for a colour if you weren’t sure, and you gave me the best aftercare any sub could ever want.”

“Good,” he sighed. “That’s good. I… The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, I mean… for real, you know?”

“I know. You have a good heart, and that’s what will make you a good dom, I think, and an even better boyfriend. And look,” you said nodding over your shoulder at the fresh fruit and granola, “You’re still taking care of me.”

“I’ll always take care of you, whether we’re playing or not…” he growled, backing you towards an empty stretch of the counter and sitting you down on it. “You stay there a moment.”

“Yes… Sir,” you added cheekily.  

He chuckled and picked up a strawberry. For a moment you thought he was going to throw it at you, but instead Bresz fed you a few berries. Before you’d made any real kind of inroads into the cornucopia, however, he said, “I need you to promise me something though…”

“Ok…”

His warm brown eyes turned serious again. “If you decide you don’t want to do that again, I want you to promise me that you’ll say so. I don’t want you to do it just because you know I like it.”

You would have rolled your eyes if you weren’t sure that he was genuinely worried about putting you in a place you really didn't want to be. Instead, you grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged him a little closer. “Thank you,” you said. “But I categorically do want to do this again. As soon as possible.”

A small sound left his throat and he laughed quietly. “Well, I’m at your beck and call all weekend…”

“Surely it should be me serving you, Sir…?” you said, watching his eyelids flutter softly at your intonation.  

“Alright,” he said. “If that’s how you want to play it. How about this?” he asked, and proceeded to lay out his rules for the day.  

He began by demanding that you remove the clothing that you had purloined from him, and as punishment - since you had not asked permission to wear his shirt - you had to remain naked. You agreed to that. His apartment wasn’t overlooked by any other, being right on the river, and you felt comfortable enough walking around naked. You drew it off, and as you did he leaned down and took your nipple between his teeth, playfully tweaking it. He sucked a kiss over it, taking both your breasts in his hands and groaning softly as he kneaded them. Your back arched a little and he smiled and drew back.  

“Next,” he said, “I want you to go back to bed. I’m going to feed you the rest of your breakfast, and you’re going to eat it like a good little girl, and after that, you cannot walk anywhere in this apartment.”

“I have to stay in bed all day?” you asked, disappointed.  

He chuckled and shook his head. “No. But unless it’s a call of nature, I have to carry you wherever you want to go, but you have to earn it from me first. How does that sound?”

“I like that,” you said softly. “A lot.”

“Good,” he said. “Let’s see how you earn a change of scene after breakfast then. Go on,” and he practically shooed you off to the bedroom while he finished up preparing and altering his breakfast plans slightly.

He came in and found you lying naked on your back, ankles crossed, wrists crossed lightly above your head, and he stopped dead in the doorway. He looked like his brain had shorted.  

In orcish he said something, of which you were only able to make out the words ‘fuck’ and ‘beautiful’. Bresz rallied himself and knelt beside you. “Do you have any requests of me?” he asked softly.

“What if I get cold?” you said.  

“Then you can ask me for something to wear, but it’ll be something of mine, and it’ll be my choice. Ok?”

You nodded.  

“Words?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl,” he said, and he let his fingertips play briefly up your calf. You jerked at the sudden touch, and he smiled, looking at your face with a slight expression of wonder. “You’re already tipping back into sub-space, aren’t you?”  

He was right. You wouldn’t need much encouragement today. The warmth filled your head; that blissful vagueness of knowing he was there to take care of you, so long as you did all that he asked, and that he would never ask too much of you. You nodded and he set the bowl of fresh fruit down beside you and kissed your stomach and up between your breasts. “Let me take care of you then,” he said, his words echoing your thoughts. “I promise I’ll take care of you.”

He did.  

He fed you and kissed you, taking his time with you, arranging your body how he liked so that he could enjoy you and even taste you too. He used his mouth and brought you screamingly close to release before backing away again. “Not yet,” he said, leaving you whimpering. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he added, picking up the now-empty bowl and returning to the kitchen. “Don’t move, and do not touch yourself,” he said from the doorway.  

When he returned, he found you squirming slightly, but otherwise well behaved. Your reward for that was for him to take his shirt off, and then you were quickly told that you were not allowed to touch him unless you asked permission first. You whined a little at that, but agreed pretty quickly, and with that, he picked you up and carried you out into the living room.

He let you rest on the couch for a moment, taking a good long time to caress you and reassure you, making sure you were well and truly into sub-space, before announcing quietly that he had some work emails he needed to look over, and that he would like you to kneel beside him on the floor while he did that. “You don’t have to do anything, but just -” he ran his palm over his thigh for a moment and said, “Just be there, and don’t interrupt me unless you absolutely have to. Alright?”

You nodded.  

“I promise you’ll be rewarded though,” he smiled.  

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl.”

He fetched his laptop and proceeded to ignore you for a solid half hour. Well, he might have ignored you, but his cock told a different story as you laid your head against his thigh and basked in the gentle, swirling euphoria of being there with him like this. You’d often sat on this sofa with each other in companionable silence, but this was different entirely. While your presence felt needed, necessary almost, you also burned with the desire to touch him, to make him gasp and cry out and need your touch as much as you needed his.  

That, you realised, was the whole point of this exercise; to sit there and luxuriate in the quiet limbo he had created, settling into the new situation while the incentive to behave hung over you throughout the duration.  

By the time he finished on his laptop, he was hard, and you suspected that he hadn’t got all that much done. He closed the lid and set it aside, staring down at you with his eyes shining. “Well,” he said. “Didn’t you do well with that little test?”

You smiled, basking in his praise.

“Thank you, my beautiful little one,” he said. “Thank you for doing that for me. Now, would you like your reward?”

You nodded and tentatively reached a hand to his thigh. He bowed his head slightly, giving you permission to touch him, closing his eyes, and you repositioned yourself between his legs, unzipping his fly and drawing his jeans and underwear off his hips and down to the floor. His cock sprang free and you thumbed an arc across the sharp cuts into his muscle above his hips. He rumbled something softly, and you licked your lips and took the tip of his cock into your mouth. You tasted his pre-come on your tongue and moaned softly, making his balls clench slightly. He bucked upwards a little but caught himself in time before you choked.  

“Fuck,” he cursed, letting his head roll back into the sofa cushion behind him. “Fuck, that’s so good.”  

You let your tongue play briefly with the ridge around his head, licking at his slit, before taking him as deep as you could, wrapping your other hand around the remainder of his shaft. The long, deep groan of satisfaction he let out was reward enough for your good behaviour, but soon, as you got to work in earnest, his chest was heaving and his fingers were clenched in your hair. He tried so hard not to fuck your throat, but he couldn’t keep his hips completely still.  

You matched your rhythm to his, and soon he grunted that he was close. You let your fingertips tease his tightening balls, and he released into your mouth. You drank him down as he came with a bellow, breathing hard.  

He reached a shaky hand down and tilted your head up. Your eyes were watering, and a little of his release had escaped down your chin. “You look perfect,” he smiled, thumbing it away. “You did so well.”

That marked the mood for the rest of the day. Since it was your first time playing together like this, he kept it relatively simple. He did indulge - though whether it was for his benefit or yours, you weren’t sure and didn’t care - in another session of spanking. He had you half draped over his left knee and half over the sofa. You were already in sub-space, so again he didn’t linger too long on praising you first. That would come after.

Each time his fingers collided with your exposed backside, your knees wobbled and you felt a heady rush sweep through you. The pain was more like heat than discomfort, but it still stung gloriously. Your ass felt like it was glowing after just a few, but then the pain began to grow with each strike until you found yourself breathless and gasping. “Amber,” you said softly - so softly that he almost missed it.  

You felt the rush of air as his hand shot towards you again, but he pulled back at the last moment and stroked his fingers through your hair instead, curious and concerned. “You doing alright? Do you need a break?”

“I… I’m not sure…”  

“Ok. You were doing so well for me. Do you think you can take three more? Just three more, and I’ll let you stop…”

You whimpered, not quite sure if you could take three, but you nodded.  

“I need you to give me a green, and then I need you to count them,” he said, listening carefully to the timbre of your voice in your response.

“Green,” you croaked after another few seconds. “Green.”  

“That’s it,” he praised. “Well done. You’re being such good girl for me, you’re taking it so well.”  

The first wasn’t so bad, but the second and third hurt. Your skin was sensitive and hot, and the pain was just pushing through the pleasure enough that you weren’t sure you could handle anything else. You were hyper aware of all sensations, but it took you a while to notice that he was reaching to the coffee table in front of the sofa for the lotion already. As the cold liquid touched your skin you yelped, but he steadied you.  

“Easy,” he said. “I’ve got you. Let me take care of you. Let me take care of my beautiful, good little girl.”

You felt your arms waver and you sank down, face first, onto the cushion. Each slow circle of his thumb and palm over your searingly hot skin felt like ice on a burn, and he took his time with you. Bresz used both hands, working up and down your legs, reassuring you all the while. Pride soared in your chest that you had succeeded. He had known your limits and taken you to them, supporting you all the way.  

When he was satisfied that your skin was no longer aflame, he turned you gently over and rested you on your side with your head in his lap. He stroked your hair and gazed adoringly at you with glassy eyes. As you settled and calmed, he leaned forwards again and picked up a large glass of water. “Here,” he murmured. “Drink some of this.”

You hadn’t realised how thirsty you’d become, and you allowed him to hold your head and cradle you softly while you drank gratefully.  

Returning the nearly empty glass to him you hadn’t noticed that you had begun to shiver, and he frowned.  

“You’re cold,” he said, looking down the length of your body and finding goosebumps prickling your thighs and arms. “You should have said something…”

“I didn’t really notice,” you admitted. It felt so nice to be lying in his lap, feeling small and sheltered after the euphoria had settled down to a pleasant, all-pervasive hum.  

He frowned and carried you to the bedroom, setting you down on the bed. He pulled out a clean hoodie - one of his kick-boxing ones - and asked you to put it on. You snuggled into it and he cupped your cheek in his hand. “You look so tiny in that,” he said. “It’s just swallowed you up…”

The two of you cuddled together for a long time, just sitting on his bed, enjoying each other’s steady presence.  

By the end of the afternoon, you were beginning to resurface, and while you were honestly exhausted, it was the perfect kind of tired. Bresz seemed tired too, and you both wound down together, curled up on the sofa.  

“Do you want to put your own clothes on now?” he asked by way of signalling that he was ready to end it.  

“Maybe let me get some underwear and my pyjama trousers on…” you said.  

“I’ll get them for you. You stay there.”

When he came back, he too had a shirt on, and while you would always relish the opportunity to stare at his naked body, it felt right that you should both get changed.  

“Are you alight?” he asked when you’d got a few more clothes on besides the hoodie. “Do you need anything?”

“Just a cuddle,” you said, and he tugged you gently into his lap. “And maybe some food? You?”

“Mmm, a cuddle,” he smiled back, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “And I’ll order some pizza. I think we earned it, don’t you?”

You nodded.

He turned the TV on and ordered. When the food arrived, he didn’t feed you, and you both enjoyed the quiet closeness. You were ravenous, and ate much more than you would normally have done. When you said as much, he laughed. “You worked really hard for me today,” he said. “And maybe I don’t want to do this all the time, but… I have to say this has been one of the best weekends I’ve ever had with you.”

“Mmm, I had fun too. I think I actually needed that.”  

The light of the TV flickered, but you ignored whatever was on and let yourself be lulled into a warm, cosy, full-bellied sleep. You didn’t remember being carried to bed or tucked in, but you stirred in the middle of the night to find Bresz wrapped tightly around your body, like a protective outer shell.  

His breathing was deep, even, and steady, and his arm was curled around your waist. He shifted slightly and, impossibly, pulled you even closer to him, mumbling something soft in orcish. You would have to ask him what that particular word meant in the morning. At that moment, you knew you had never been more comfortable in your whole life, and with that thought, you drifted back to a dreamless sleep. 

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I really hope you enjoyed it! If you did, don’t forget to leave a like on it, and reblogs are always welcome.

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#orc #exophilia #d/s #d/s exophilia #dom/sub #orc dom #male orc dom #male dom #female sub #commission #writing commission #exophilia writing #orc x reader #male orc x female reader #male monster #female reader

[secret-engima]

AUW ask! Any Wren Getting herself in over her head bits of pieces? Just- generally anything Suitably Fairy Tail Dramatic with Wren, and the Guild's PROTECT response with Team Mom please?

hgdghgfd great ask now if I can just get my brain to work and think of some answers....

Imma time-skip a bit and make this when Wren is .... 13. That makes Mest 21, Laxus 20, Bickslow 19, Evergreen and Freed 17, and Cana 15.

-So. Here’s the thing about Fairy Tail.

-Fairy Tail might be known to accept just about anybody, from any walk of life or background, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have STANDARDS.

-That doesn’t mean that breaking those standards don’t have Really Bad Consequences to whatever soul comes in looking to cause trouble.

-Wren is usually good at staying out of trouble (despite major incidents like the AoT arc when she was younger and the other things that have happened since then). She’s also really good at staying out of trouble in the guild hall. But sometimes ...

-Sometimes trouble finds her.

-It starts out a normal enough day. Get up, chat with the Raijinshū, go down to the guild hall with everybody to look for a job or just hang out.

-They get to the guild hall, and it’s fairly busy. Wren spots the new member that joined up about three days ago near the job request board, but doesn’t think anything of it. She doesn’t recognize him from the anime, but he could’ve just been a background character, and while he strikes her as ... arrogant and violent prone, Gajeel in canon was both of those things, and it isn’t like a guild that gets into a brawl almost every day can be considered “non-violent” anyway.

-It’s Wren’s turn to go up to the request board and snag a job for the Raijinshū, and she nods politely to the new member, who smiles a little too sharply at her and nods back. Wren, not wanting to get into conversation with the new guy and waste the morning when she’s probably going to have to travel a ways for whatever job she picks, Wren proceeds to focus on the request board and ignore him.

-She also rolls her eyes and ignores the guild brawl that breaks out behind her as well, only keeping her senses trained behind her enough to track if someone flings a chair her way or something.

-She isn’t watching her flank, where the new member is standing.

-So busy reading a job poster and keeping an ear on the brawl behind her, she doesn’t have time to register and dodge the kick that comes from the side.

-The roundhouse kick slams into her stomach hard enough she hears at least two of her ribs crack, feels the wind get knocked out of her as she is propelled across the room and into the far wall almost as fast as one of her shadow teleports. The world goes bright and sparkly with pain in her stomach and ribs and back and head and even if she’d had a functioning voice, she wouldn’t have had enough air to scream in pain when her body peels free from the dented wall and hits the floor with jarring (agonizing) thud.

-Beyond the ringing in her ears, the guild hall has never sounded so silent.

-She registers someone landing next to her, glimpses a foot cocking back for another kick past the swirling colors in her vision, then feels the entire guild hall erupt around her.

-Thunder shakes her bones (it-hurts-it-hurts-) as Laxus crashes into whoever just landed beside her (the new member, he attacked her, why-why-why) and she can faintly hear Bickslow’s tikis shrieking nearby. Wren struggles to get up (she’s fought through worse, suffered worse, it’s just the unexpectedness of it, the fact it happened in one of her safe spaces, her home that makes it so hard to think and move past), feels too-warm hands grab her shoulders and pull her close. She wheezes a bit at the feeling, glances up and is dizzily confused to see Natsu holding her, the young teenager wrapping his arms protectively around her, his focus more on where the Raijinshū and the rest of the guild are mobbing than on her, his pupils slitted and teeth inhumanly sharp as he snarls deep and bass in a way that Wren can feel prickling her skin with restrained (barely) fire.

-Laxus is shaking the new member, roaring in his face with eyes that glow bright gold while the rest of the guild essentially tries to be the next in line to murder him without getting too close to the lightning Laxus is giving off. Wren thinks Levy has run to get the Master from upstairs because she can’t see the bluenette in the crush of shouting and fists and angry, seething magic.

-Her hearing is back, but it’s hard to tell what anyone is saying when they’re all talking over each other. Erza is there with a sword, standing between Wren in Natsu’s arms and the new member even though there’s no way he’d be able to get past the rest of the guild hall at this point.

-She thinks she hears the new member (not for long) protest that he was just joining in the brawl. After all, everyone here fights all the time, it isn’t his fault is Wren is just a wimp who can’t take a hit.

-She watches, dazed for reasons she can’t quite place, as Freed bodily rips the man out of Laxus’s grip, heedless of the lightning that singes his clothes, and punches the man’s teeth in.

-The Master arrives before the murder can really start, has to wade in using his Giant Magic just to get the guild to settle and let him see what has happened. Then he takes one look at Wren and her stuttering (painful) breathing and the new member (not anymore) spitting teeth while Freed stands there with split knuckles and Master Makarov’s magical pressure makes the building physically shake.

-In a very quiet voice, he orders Mest to teleport Wren to Porlyusica. Wren spends three days in Porlyusica’s care, getting her ribs treated and her healing enhanced with herbal remedies that actually don’t taste too horrible while the literal entire guild take turns keeping watch (there’s always at least one Raijinshū member, but Erza, Natsu, Gray, Pauz, and so many others all stop in and linger for minutes on end until Porlyusica throws them out. None of them will tell her what happened to the guy who kicked her, though she knows it’s a given he was kicked out of the guild. The daily brawl was one thing, bruises and a few minor scratches were stupid common in that, but breaking bones? Then chasing her down for another hit? Not acceptable.

-What Wren doesn’t know was that Makarov just about gave the man a heart attack through sheer magical pressure while Laxus paced and snarled for blood like the dragon he usually pretended he wasn’t. That Makarov had ripped the man’s guild mark away and bodily thrown him out of the guild with the warning to never come back to Magnolia. Ever.

-She doesn’t know that the guild essentially chased him to the borders of Magnolia, or that for literal months (probably closer to a year) after that, if any of them saw the man while out on a job, they would they would, at best, radiate killing intent his way. The more violent members of the guild (read: Natsu, Gray, Bickslow) would use their magic to cause trouble (Natsu maybe was too sloppy with his fire roar on purpose, Gray maybe made an “accidental” blizzard down that one street the man was on and Bickslow’s tikis maybe “accidentally” cut through an awning with their lasers that then fell on the man and tangled him up for several minutes.

-Is it petty? Yes. They all know this. They all acknowledge it. Do they stop? .... eventually. When the man, years later and well after their petty revenge has stopped (because angry as they are they aren’t cruel), crops up as a member of Raven Tail, do they immediately and gleefully take the opportunity to kick him around in the way Makarov didn’t let them all those years ago? As well as teach Gajeel, arguably the guild’s most petty and violence-prone member to do the same just through observation?

-A b s o l u t e l y.

-Wren is a capable mage in her own right, strong in her own right, and compared to some of them gets into far less trouble. It’s her self-imposed job to help out the guild, keep the more reckless ones in line, and yes, Team Mom basically everything that breathes and wears Fairy Tail’s mark. But when trouble does come and find her, no matter how capable she might be of handling it herself, the guild will go feral for her.

-The guild will always go crazy for it’s own. Any of it’s own. This is a given, proven fact. But with Wren ... it’s a bit different. She’s basically their self-control and restraint. Even if she isn’t there, the members remember her rules and tend to follow them (most of the time). So if she is the one hurt? The one to go down? Especially in a place where she should have been safe?

-All the attacker has done is single-handedly taken out the guild’s restraint and removed any chance of getting their mercy.

(hope this is what you had in mind, Wolf!)

#SE asks #wolfsrainrules asks #auw verse #AUW Wren #fairy tail

[runnfromtheak]

fanfic author’s tagging game (yay!)

Thank ya darling for tagging me!!!! @boyblunder-thedarkheir!!!!!

AO3 Name(s): LostandLonelyBirds aka RUNNFROMTHEAK

Fandom(s): Primarily Batfamily (so, Dick Grayson) and Young Justice (along with DCU obviously, but I also dabble into Miralculous Ladybug, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, and MCU (none of which I will ever seriously write for? Idk man).

Number of fics: 22 I will admit to (how do you have so many, my dear @boyblunder-thedarkheir​? What is your secret?)

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Are we talking writing or thinking about writing, cause those are two very different answers. I spent the most time writing this bitch of a fic I’m working on right now, and the most time thinking about the two latest installments of my main series, Death is But An Illusion (aka How Could He and How Could It Be). I agonize over every goddamn detail with Dick’s anger, Jason’s Jason-ness, and every person’s every move and word. I am a mess, and I’m going to be murdered if I don’t update them soon. I am not sorry about that XD

2. Fic you spent the least time on:  You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) aka my pick-your-own-canon clusterfuck of Dark!Dick Grayson and Dick Grayson being traumatized and tortured with no comfort (Some of them are so fucked up I question my own mind). I take less than an hour to write 80% of them, cause they’re short, and they very rarely take any time to plan. Fun and easy!

3. Longest Fic: At present, he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn)  is my longest, but the fic I’ve been hinting at on my other tumblr, @lostandlonelybirds​ is easily double the length (why do I do this to myself? Why am I like this?) the long boi (named one, not the one I won’t shut up about) is easily my best fic at the moment, and I’m so excited to write a sequel whenever I get the chance.

4. Shortest Fic: With Bated Breath and Pain You See (We're Nothing More Than Memories) technically, I have one shorter than that, but it’s a collab that wasn’t my original idea so I’m not counting it :)

5. Most Hits: You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) why do you people like this trash-fire so much? I don’t understand

6. Most Kudos:  How Could He which does not surprise me.

7. Most Comment Threads: Technically, How Could He followed by the trash-fire AU title thing I’m too lazy to type again, but I’m gonna love on this one: Just Close Your Eyes (No One Can Hurt You Now) because it’s my baby, and it deserves it okay?

8. Fave Fic You Wrote: Ooo we are doing a top five.

             5. How Could It Be (Jason is precious and sad and Dick is oblivious, and I love one-sided pining wayyyy too much)

             4.  How Could He (I put my life force into this stupid fic, so ofc it’s here)

             3. I'm Scared to Live But I'm Scared to Die (I'm Numb Inside) (the suicidal boy, major trigger warning)

             2. I See Things That Nobody Else Sees (And It's Slowly Killing Me)  (the only fic I’ve ever written from Cass’s perspective, and definitely one of the creepiest and most fucked up. Bruce does not look good here)

             1. he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn) (so ummm Bruce doesn’t look good here either? RHATO #25 if DC wasn’t cowardly and let Dick react how he actually would, aka fuck Batman is the new motto)

9. Rewrites?: Fuck. All my older ones? Everything? Who knows.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:

Let’s do two. I’m nice.

First comes from How Could It Be:

“You loved him,” Donna says, ignoring his barb. “You loved him, and no one’s seen you or heard from you and I’m concerned, damnit.”

 She punches his shoulder roughly, and he’s reminded of her strength, no matter how small she seems in her dead best friend’s sweater.

 “I’m fine. Peachy-keen. Couldn’t be fuckin’ better. Honestly, you should be more concerned with Replacement, don’t think he’s slept in—”

 “Jason.” Her voice is firm, even as her eyes swim with tears and she holds her arms tight to herself, breathing in the well-loved item’s scent. Jason wonders when Dick wore it last, if Donna had taken it from his abandoned Gotham Penthouse or his Chicago Apartment. He wonders if he’d left it draped over the couch, like the natural disaster he was, or if it had been folded neatly in a drawer.

For someone who prides himself on not being sentimental, Jason suddenly wishes he had something of Dick’s too.

 “I’m here because I care, and because if Dick was here, he’d be doing the same thing I am.”

 “But he ain’t here,” Jason snaps, “Is he?”

 Donna’s head falls, and he feels like a giant jerk. He just… reacts poorly to that name, hasn’t heard it spoken since the transmission and subsequent funeral, since the guy he’d had the hots for since wearing the scaly panties had his mask ripped away and his life taken in front of Bruce’s eyes (who, to absolutely no one’s surprise, failed to save his son).

In the aftermath, no one said Dick Grayson’s name, always Nightwing, or some inane nickname the superhero community had for him. Last time he said it was to Damian, a failed attempt at comfort. But even Jason’s form of mutual grieving had been better than any of Bruce’s shit ideas. Bastard immortalized the ripped costume from his own son’s corpse (not that it had been the first time) and hadn’t even had the decency to give it a plaque (No ‘Good Soldier’ or ‘Good Son’, just a bare glass case with a bloody suit). Which… was weird. Jason was far from B’s best friend, but even he noticed something seemed strange, off, just not quite right. Like the funeral he didn’t speak at, like the breakdown none of them had witnessed beyond a one-off rage fit

“B, what the fuck happened down here?”

The Batcave was a disaster, dents glaringly obvious in several vehicles and a large spiderweb crack across the Batcomputer. Bruce closes the screen down, but Jason manages to catch a spiraling eye.

“Nothing, just…”

Bruce looks at the spare Nightwing costume none of them had taken down yet, still clean and ready for use (too bad its owner died and would never wear it again).

“Dick?” Jason questions, and the way Bruce’s eyes snap to his face is almost suspicious, almost enough to arouse concern.

“Yes. I—”

Jason sits next to Bruce on the desk, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I miss him too, Old Man. Don’t mean you need to be an ass about it.”

 A memorial next to Jason’s own, but Dickhead’s is empty and broken from Damian’s fists and grief, and Jason’s is just gone. No one told him why, it was just gone.

Kind of like Dick.

He wonders if Bruce would have told him if the video hadn’t been broadcast, if he would’ve told anyone. B did love his fuckin’ secrets.

 “No,” she whispers, and he can hear the tears in her voice, can feel her grief as keenly as his own. It’s palpable, tangible, “He’s dead, and I’m alive, and I don’t know how to handle it.”

 And then, to Jason’s mounting horror, she starts crying openly.

…..

Second comes from my one I’m working on rn with Stray!Dick called I See Sunset In Your Eyes (I Hate This Part Right Here)

“Come on,” Wally says with a pout, dragging an overly amused Jason and Dick with him through the karaoke bar doors. “Donna and Roy are waiting for us, and Dick had to take forever to primp.”

 Dick shrugs with a grin.

 “Beauty takes time, time I can tell you did not take.”

 Jason snorts, and Wally glares at him.

 “At least I don’t take five hours to finish getting ready.”

 “At least I can last longer than five minutes.”

 “Ouch!” Roy butts in, throwing an arm around Jason and Dick’s shoulders. “Claws are out tonight!”

 “Speaking from experience?” Jason asks, eyebrow raised.

 Dick smirks without comment, sauntering past the group towards the table Donna’s lounging at.

 “Hey gorgeous twin of mine,” He greets with a kiss to her eyes. She smirks, rolling her eyes at him.

 “You’re just stroking your own ego with the twin tacked on, Wonder Boy.”

 Dick bumps his shoulder against hers.

 “Can’t I stroke both our egos?”

 “You can stroke mine,” Wally mutters, turning red when Stray winks at his phrasing. Jason and Roy both facepalm, groaning. “Not what I meant guys!”

 “Why Kid Idiot,” Dick replies, hand on his heart, “I had no idea you could be so forward~!”

 Wally glares, waving over the waitress.

 “Round of shots, on this dick,” he jerks his thumb at Stray, offering up his fake ID. She doesn’t bother checking it, probably because this is Gotham, and they were all in uniform. “Whisky, please.”

 “Trying to get me drunk?” Jason jokes. It is, after all, his first big outing with the Titans for non-mission reasons. Stray had practically dragged him out of the Manor with a wink at Alfred and a middle finger for Bruce, saying that Jason needed to have fun outside of books.

Jason knows better than arguing with Dick Grayson-Kyle when he wants something, Stray trained him well.

 “Of course, Batboy,” Roy replies, “It’s not a Titans outing if Stray is fully dressed and everyone’s sober.”

 Dick shrugs.

 “You’ll have to get some real liquor in me if you want me to do anything like last time.”

 “Last time?” Jason asks, looking to Donna for an answer. Dick snorts. You get near naked one time…

 “Boy Blunder ended up in just his boxers in a dancing cage drunk of his ass. Everyone thought he was one of the strippers, and he made, what, three-hundred dollars in bills?”

 “Five-hundred,” Dick replies proudly, offering the waitress a twenty as she came back with their drinks. “Keep the change, darlin’!” He adds with a wink.

 She flushes, making Jason frown.

 Stray, of course, notices this and elbows Jason.

 “Don’t get jealous, Blue Jay, it’s not becoming.”

 Jason does not blush. He doesn’t, and that’s the hill he will die on.

 “I’m not. On an unrelated note, pass me a shot.”

Jason is the master of changing the subject, Stray thinks sarcastically, passing him a shot and downing one of his own.

 “Five bucks says alley cat blacks out,” Roy says smugly as Dick makes a face, the way he always did with heavier liquors. He glares at the redhead, who shrugs unapologetically.

 Donna eyes them both speculatively, taking a sip of her own drink.

 “Twenty says he gives a lap dance before he blacks out.”

 Roy snorts.

 “I’ll take it,” and to Dick, “Don’t do it, for me.”

 Dick bats his eyes innocently.

 “Lil’ old me? I would never do something so…” He trails a finger down Roy’s chest, making him swallow roughly. “Scandalous.”

 Donna grins victoriously as Roy groans, trying and failing to hide his excitement.

 “I hate you. I hate you both.”

 Tagging whoever sees this, I suppose? 

#dcu #dick grayson #my writing #stray!dick

[writerrsj]

Destiel fanfic one-shot (fluffy)

Dean and Cas - one parachute - one life-changing realization.  Guest appearance by Sam and a witch. No beta - just something I couldn’t get out of my head. 

###

“You knew, didn’t you?” Dean Winchester switches his attention between his brother and best friend. Neither denied it as they combined ingredients for the spell. A spell that would destroy the witch and the plane they were on. “I hate flying.”

The pilot rushed by the bound and gagged witch and by them. Opening a compartment, he held up two packs. “There are only two for the three of you.”

“Sonovabitch,” Dean ran the words together and turned away. Punching the tin metal deathtrap wouldn’t help, but he still considered it. The pop of the potion made him turn back. Cas held the small bowl in both hands as Sam added the final ingredient. 

Grabbing one pack, Sam started putting it on. He nodded to the pilot.  “We’ll be fine. You need to get out of here.”

“Have you guys jumped before?” The pilot looked at them then shrugged. “Pardon the pun, but you’re about to get a—”

“Don’t say it,” Dean interrupted. He shook his head slowly even after the man snapped his mouth shut. Considering they’d saved his ass, it was the least he could do. “He was going to say crash course.”

Cas’ mouth shut on the unasked question. He now held the small bag that continued to drip. There wasn’t time to let it cool and harden. The plane was still hurtling through the air toward a mountain.

“This is an altimeter. You need to pull the chute by 4500.”  The pilot tapped the gauge as Sammy connected the cords.  “ 4500.”

“Got it. Cas?”

The pilot moved to the former angel who shook his head. “Put it on Dean.”

“If you’re doing a tandem jump—”

“Put it on Dean.”  The deep voice prompted the man to move.

Dean almost smiled.  Cas might be a fallen angel, but he could still command authority over most lesser mortals. He had let Cas get by with all kinds of crap he’d have killed anyone else for doing. The thought pulled something in him tight but there wasn’t time to think about it. There was never time to think or feel...and he wanted to be grateful for that. He was grateful for that. Glaring, he stepped his legs through the holes as the pilot prompted. The man helped him snap everything into place.  

“4500.”  

The words still hadn’t penetrated the fog in Dean’s head. He’d agreed to come on the plane because that was the job. Dying (again) because he was still trying to do his job and fight monsters didn’t seem fair. He tried to shake off the fog as memories of things he’d done that were less than right filled his mind. “I guess it doesn’t matter that I’m cursed if I’m dying again.”

“You aren’t dying, but we’ve gotta move.” Cas walked calmly even as the plane tilted. “Sam.”

“I’m on it,”  Sam grabbed Dean’s arm and pulled him toward the open door of the small plane. “We have a plan and that doesn’t include dying with this witch.”

“When do our plans ever work out?” Dean tried to bite the words back when the plane pitched to the left. He turned back in time to see the witch roll into Cas’ legs to trip him.

“DEAN!”

Ignoring Sam’s call, Dean blindly pushed him back. The roll of the plane did the rest and sent his brother safely out the door.

“CAS!” Dean rushed forward as the witch continued to strike with her bound legs. Cas continued to hold potion steady. His blue eyes swung to Dean.

“Get out of here!” 

Dean ignored those words too. He kicked the witch and placed his hand on Cas’ shoulder. “I’m not leaving without you,”

Glaring, Cas repeated the incantation for the final time and tossed the bag and bowl to the ground. His body slammed into Dean as a bright light exploded.

Heat seared Dean’s flesh from the inside out. Either air or blood rushed in his ears, but he wasn’t sure which.  Pain didn’t flash through his body - it consumed it. He couldn’t pry his eyes open to look beyond the blinding light. It wasn’t the first time he’d died, but he thought it might be the last time. He no longer had a guardian angel…

‘It needs every last Winchester it can get and I will not let you die.’

‘That is your problem, Dean. You have no faith.’

Images of the angel accompanied the words - blue eyes, furrowed brow, trenchcoat, shadows of wings.

‘Hey, assbutt.’

‘I’m hunted, I rebelled, and I did it, all of it, for you.’

Memories of purgatory and hell flared briefly before the angel filled his mind again. Healing touch, rare smiles, awkward hugs.

‘I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.’

Something pulled Dean away from the light. His eyes opened to see a hand on his shoulder. He followed it to see familiar blue eyes.

Thunder and lightning. Wind. An angel flying. Dean remembered his first meeting with Cas - his lips twitched. “I stabbed you in the heart.”

Cas couldn’t hear the words anymore than Dean could. Air still rushed by but when Cas turned him he saw the earth below. The ground rushing to meet them. Too damn fast.

‘I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.’

The words repeated seconds before his body was jerked back hard enough to rattle his head. Time slowed to a crawl, but the memories continued. Battles and beer. Late nights and early mornings. Pain and laughter.

‘I”ll just...wait here then.’

‘I love you.’

The storm broke and blue sky appeared in front of him. Blue. He twisted to see Cas behind him and the parachute beyond him. The dark clouds still lingered, but they hadn’t died.

“Breathe, Dean. We didn’t die on the plane.” 

Dean wasn’t sure if he heard the words or not, but he felt Cas’ tight grip around him when he’d spoken against his ear. Air rushed into his lungs and the heat became a pleasant warmth. There was no longer pain. He could almost believe Cas had found his angel mojo again, but he knew he was just a man. 

More memories flashed even though his life wasn’t ending. Cas could never be a mere man.

‘I’ll interrogate the cat.’

‘I think it’s time for me to move on.’

He didn’t realize he was gripping Cas’ hand until he again felt words against his ear.

“There’s Sam. We’ll aim for him.” 

They veered left and Dean studied the ground floating toward them in slow motion. His brother was on the ground watching them - his arms waved wildly and his grin was wide.

“Bring your legs up. It will be like sliding into home base.”

“Have you ever played baseball?” Dean had meant to snap but the words came out with a chuckle. 

“No,” Cas answered needlessly. He also hugged Dean from behind as they slid along the ground.

“What the hell happened?” The words weren’t welcoming, but Sam dropped to his knees to hug them both.

Dean returned it then pushed him away. “What happened is you two idiots set me up. Your plan was always for us to jump. No one told me that.”

“If we’d told you, you wouldn’t have come.” Cas released the snaps connecting them.

Sam stood and stepped back. Dean remained on the ground - the memories flashed brightly once more as the truth became clear. He started laughing then laughed harder when his giant little brother stumbled back.

“Uh, Cas?” Sam scrubbed a hand over his face and stared.

“It wasn’t ideal and we probably got hit with some magic, but he’ll be fine. He isn’t broken.” Still seated behind him, Cas placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“Falling is easy, it’s that last foot that kills you.” The words were garbled since Dean continued to laugh. “I’ve been falling for over ten years.”

The hand on his shoulder tightened and pulled him back. Dean rested against Cas’ chest and tried to find his control. The control that had always allowed him to do his job. Emotion clogged his throat and choked off the laughter. His eyes burned when he rolled them away from his brother and his angel.

“Dean.” 

Cas’ mouth brushed his ear when he said his name. A shiver rippled along Dean’s spine. It wasn’t the same adrenaline rush as when he’d fought for his life - when he’d fought to save Cas, when he’d fought to kill him. Ten years of life shared - good times and bad. Cas had always been with him. No, he wasn’t fight Cas. The feeling was something different, something softer, but still all-consuming, life-changing. More memories rippled from the darkness of his mind.

‘Dean and I do share a more profound bond.’

‘I’ll find some way to redeem myself to you.’

‘Whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite.’

‘I always come when you call.’

Dean didn’t realize he’d turned until he stared into Cas’ eyes. Familiar, challenging, comforting.

‘I love you.’

Never breaking eye contact, Dean tried to find the words to explain his fall. “You aren’t my brother, Cas.”

Sam cursed, but it was Cas’ flinch that had Dean reaching for his tie. He fisted a hand in it and remembered the number of times he’d had to straighten it. The former angel had never learned to tie one well. He still looked good in a suit though.

“Always with the invasion of personal space.” It wasn’t the first time he’d reminded Cas. Dean had never backed away after any of them; this time, he didn’t let the other man lean back even an inch. He pulled slightly on the tie to bring him closer still.

“Dean?” Cas’ voice was even deeper. Brow furrowed, he tilted his head to the side. 

“Didn’t I once tell you to never change?” Dean watched pupils expand to cover move blue. 

“I’m just gonna...go...somewhere else…” 

Ignoring his brother again, Dean’s gaze flicked down to Cas’ mouth. It was a habit he’d never been able to adequately explain or stop. Now, it seemed so obvious. “Let’s hope this last foot doesn’t kill me.”

There wasn’t a foot between them, but Dean closed the distance and pressed a kiss on Cas’ mouth.

###

The last foot hadn’t killed him. Dean had even admitted to Cas that it had given him life. His fallen angel had saved his life and broken his own fall. It hadn’t been a chick flick moment though. Maybe a porn—

“It took you falling out of a plane to realize you loved him?” Sam shook his head with a laugh and drank more beer.

Dean frowned on principle.

“Demons and angels have said it for years.” Sam ran a hand through his hair and grinned. “None of that clued you in?”

“You didn’t know either,” Dean grumbled even as his eyes darted back down the hall. Cas had been sleeping when he’d left their room and still hadn’t joined them.

Beer spewed across the table when Sam laughed.

“Choke on that laughter, bitch.” Dean grabbed a towel and cleaned up the mess. Another glance, and still no Cas.

“Knowing and saying something are two different things. You always do the opposite of what I say.” 

Dean’s head spun back to frown at his brother. “Cas said something like that.”

“That one of your memories when you were falling?” 

“You just can’t let that go, can you? Don’t make me regret telling you.” Dean had shared some of those moments since Sam had been worried about the witch being able to use their spell against them. It had been weeks now and his brother continued to bring it up. 

“I could’ve said that when your life story flashed before your eyes it was all about Cas,” Sam pointed out with another laugh. “I’d be insulted by your lack of family devotion if it wasn’t so funny. It only took you ten years to figure it out.”

“Your point, Sammy?” 

“It was a helluva fall, Dean.” Sam smiled instead of laughed and lifted his bottle.

Dean clinked his against it and repeated the toast. “It was a helluva fall.”

“Would you do it again?” Cas now stood in the doorway. Sleep rumpled, he stared at Dean with his head tilted to the side.

“Yeah, angel, I would,” Dean vowed.

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Sam took the bottle with him and clapped a hand on Dean’s shoulder as he passed. “See ya, Cas.”

“Goodbye, Sam.” Cas entered the room and moved into Dean’s personal space.

Dean watched him with a grin. His gaze moved down to Cas’ lips as the fallen angel said the familiar words he’d never get tired of hearing.

“Hello, Dean.”

#fanfic #destiel #Supernatural

[lolabean1998]

This Better Work Part 6

Sweet Pea X OC

Summery; Hey guys, not sure how well this is going to go but I originally put it on Wattpad so its way long, but hopefully its not horrendous. Let me know what you think! So, it follows the story line kind of, it’s not exact but I have tried and it follows my OC Ali as she navigates through the hell that is Riverdale. Whilst struggling with financial, social and romantic difficulties, she has the added pressure of keeping up with school work and bonus of being thrown into the frightening world of the criminal underground.

Side Note; None of the gifs or pictures I use are mine, I’m not talented or smart enough to even begin an attempt at making my own. Thank you to those who have such abilities and if you don’t want me using them then please let me know so I can remove them for you. 

Word Count; 5,407 (Give or Take)

Ali hid her bike half a mile from the tattoo parlour where Penny Peabody had set up shop. Sticking to the shadows as she crept silently towards the door. Picking the lock in seconds. Her father had taught her to pick car locks as her mum was always locking her keys inside. Ali tip toed in checking for an alarm system. But this was Southside and Serpent territory, so it was very unlikely. 

Thank god for honour amongst thieves, I guess. Who'd be dumb enough to break into the snake pit? Ali thought to herself and she headed cautiously to the office at the back. 

On second thought Ali, don't answer that! She chuckled when she remembered that she was probably the only person in the whole of Riverdale dumb enough to do so. She was quick to upload the virus. Making sure to infect all aspects of the computer writing the last of the code to focus on the set files. Once she was satisfied with her work, she quickly crept back to the comfort of the night air. Heaving a sigh of relief when she made it in and out without a hitch.

"OI WHAT ARE YOU DOING." A deep terrifying voice bellowed from a small huddle of bikes across the road that Ali had failed to spot. 

"Premature sigh. PREMATURE SIGH!" Ali muttered to herself as her heart rate met speeds that would put her bike to shame. She didn't have much time to plan her escape as 3 ominous figures raced furiously towards her. 

Well that’s just fucking great, Of COURSE it's them. Ali hissed internally to herself as the light of a street lamp hit the faces of her attackers. Revealing none other than Sweet Pea and Fangs charging head on towards her. 

"Wait why am I still here!" Ali thought aloud leaping into action. Just in time to avoid a large heavy fist swinging mere millimetres from her face. She didn't have time to run from the fight. She had hesitated too long. Leaving her only one option. She was going to have to fight her way out. 

She didn’t have any time to thinking before ducking from a second swing. Upper cutting Fangs before he could get another hit in. Landing a perfect jab to his diaphragm winding him instantly. Ali couldn't help but give him a sharp boot to the ribs for good measure. He had tried to hit her twice. It was only fair. One of the two Serpent boys Ali wasn't familiar with grabbed her outstretched wrist pulling her towards him. 

Dumbass took the bait! Ali smirked using the momentum of his pull to heave herself up wrapping her legs under his arm and over his shoulder hurtling him head first to the concrete. Swinging herself out the way at the last moment. 1 winded, 1 knocked out. 

Keep it up Ali-Cat! She thought. Dodging a fist to the jaw only to be caught in the ribs by a surprise attack from Sweet Pea. Jackass! Ali quickly gave the second Serpent boy a hard kick to the sternum sending him flying back. 

However, Fangs was now recovered enough to be back on his feet. Grabbing her leg before she could bring it back to the ground. Ali felt bad for Fangs. But he left her no other choice. She was just about to push herself up to kick him with her free leg. But a large pair of hands landed heavy on her shoulders gripping them tightly. She was defenceless. 

Come ON! I don't want to stab you, but I will if I must! Ali gasped exasperatedly in her head. 

Ali, determined not to seriously harm her friends, quickly twisted wrapping her hands around Sweet Peas arms kicking up with all the strength she had. Kicking Fangs square in the jaw as her legs cut swiftly through the air. Making their way up over her head and landing heavily on Sweet Peas shoulders forcing him to release the hold he had on her shoulders. Fangs staggered back. His eyes rolling in their sockets before his body dropped to the ground unconscious. Ali wasted no time in throwing her upper body backwards to the ground. Her legs gripping tightly around Sweet Pea. Slamming his back hard against the concrete. 

But he was a stubborn boy and could take a hit. His hands gripping Ali's arm as she scrambled to her feet, heaving her back down rolling her to her back before she had a chance to break free. But he slipped up. Missing Ali's free arm giving her just enough time to grab a knife from her holster. Moving the blade to press threateningly against his crotch as the giant straddled her. She had only recently fixed his jacket. She didn't want to be the first one to slice it again.

"You've got some explaining to do!" He snarled, his voice cracked and gravelly. He had just been smashed against the floor. 

Ali lay there silently. Pushing the blade harder against the inside of his thigh in response. His eye's searching her masked face. Like he was looking for something. Waiting for the ball to drop. One hand pinning Ali's hand to the ground above her head whilst the other subtly searched her pockets. Ali was so focused on planning her escape she didn't notice him pull her lock picking kit from her breast pocket. Ali could see the realization gradually begin to surface in his eyes. She had to get out of there before he recognized her. Pulling her blade swiftly from his crotch and thrusting the handle full force into the side of his ribs. Angling the blade so the handle wedged smoothly between the ribs as she struck, winding him. Giving her the opening she needed to pull her arm from his death grip punching him hard on the side of his face.

That should be a lovely shiner you fucking tosser. You're lucky I fixed up that jacket otherwise I'd have used the other side of the knife. Bean Pole! Ali huffed leaping to her feet and launching into the race of her life. If she could make it to her bike before Sweet Pea came too, she'd be in the clear! Her feet pounded hard against the ground. Legs blazing and lungs close to bursting as she whipped around the corner. Frog leaping onto her bike throwing on her helmet and taking off in one clean swoop. She tore down the street not wanting to look back. Afraid of what she might see. Her heart was still racing when she crossed the border. Only settling when her bike was safely snuggled in its little shed, with her back in the confines of her home.

"You've got a split lip Ali. Did you walk into something or were you spotted?" Rosie asked the next morning when Ali made her way groggily over to the kitchen island. Her body sore and stiff from all the galivanting of the night.

"Car part dropped as I was fitting it. But yes there was a minor hitch in an otherwise smooth mission." Ali groaned, already practicing her excuse so she wouldn't raise suspicions if she was asked about it. "Poor Fangs. He didn't deserve that last night. We should make cookies or something for him."

"Because nothing says innocent like a guilt basket!" Rosie retorted sarcastically handing her worn out daughter a large mug of steaming hot tea and a full English breakfast.

"You're right. We need a Trojan horse." Ali pondered. The two girls faces lit up into a wickedly innocent smile as Izzy skipped into the kitchen. Freezing when she spotted the concerning glares her mother and big sister were giving her.

"Whatever it is I want no part of it. That look never brings anything good!" Izzy declared edging cautiously to her seat beside her sister.

"Isabelle. My darling dearest little sister." Ali started, her voice sweeter than sugar. 

"How would you feel about a sparring session with Sami? We could bring cookies and train this afternoon. I'll teach you any move you like!" Ali offered batting her eyelashes pleadingly. Izzy had to fight the urge to leap in the air in celebration. Instead opting to play it cool even if it went against every fibre of her being.

"Since you asked so nicely. I guess it wouldn't hurt to fit in some extra practice." Izzy agreed calmly. Play it cool Izz. Play it cool. She thought fighting the grin that was tugging ferociously at her lips. It was no use. Less than a second after she had spoken her face was set alight by the happiest grin ever seen. Way to play it cool Isabelle! 

"Hey Mamma Fogarty. We were just wondering if Sami was up for a sparring session? Ali promised to teach us some of her moves since we did so well with our science project!" Izzy asked politely. Handing the tall, dark skinned woman a large box of cookies. 

"You my dear, have perfect timing. They're just round the back sparring now." Mamma Fogarty smiled pointing the girls in the direction of their friends. "He does this every time he gets into a scuffle."

"Thank you Mamma Fogarty. Enjoy the cookies!" The girls called jogging around the corner to find Sami trapped in a headlock with Fangs ruffling up her already frizzy hair.

"SWEEP HIS KNEE AND SLAM INTO HIS SIDE TO KNOCK HIM OVER!" Ali instructed. Laughing at the panicked expression that flicked over Fangs' face as he crashed into the long grass beneath him. 

"Nice job kiddo. That'll teach him for messing with the hair!" Ali grinned coming to a halt beside Fangs. Looking down and waving sarcastically down at him.

"You're such an ass sometimes Ali. Did you know that?" Fangs mocked grabbing the back of her knees and heaving them towards him sending Ali toppling over. Pulling a nervous squeak from her as she landed heavily beside him.

"Ali said she's going to teach us some of her special moves. Want to join?" Izzy grinned re-plaiting Sam's wild, untameable hair. 

"Oh cool! Can you teach us the arm swing thing? The one where you grab their arm and pull yourself to wrap around their shoulder? Can we learn that one?" Sam asked eagerly, an enthusiastic beaming glow flooding her face.

"If Fangs is up for helping then hell yes. It's one of my favourites!" Ali winked helping Fangs to his feet. The boy sighed heavily but nodded in agreement. A dark bruise already making its presence on his face known from the spot Ali had kicked him the night before. Sorry Fangs! Ali thought getting a clear view of the full extent of his injuries. 

"You sure you're up for it, you look like shit!" Ali remarked as they got into position.

"Shut up Ali. I look like shit 'cos I got in a fight last night. You just look like shit!" He quipped with a cheeky grin. "At least I have an excuse!"

"Fuck you Fangs. I was going to go easy on you. But now you're just asking to get your ass whooped!" Ali defended playfully. Unaware of the extra pair of eyes observing from the cover of the surrounding trees.

Izzy and Sam watched eagerly as Ali took them step by step through the move. Allowing them to practice on her first so she could give them the necessary pointers before they practiced on Fangs. For someone who'd had recently had his ass kicked he showed no signs of weakness. If anything, it looked like he was enjoying the extra practice. Even getting to practice the move and try out a few counter-moves on Ali. 

The girls had just finished perfecting their third new move when the figure that had been watching from the shadows decided to come forwards into the light.

"This looks like fun. Mind if I join in?" The voice called gruffly.

"SWEET PEA!" Izzy cheered running over to throw her arms around his waist in a hug. 

"Of course you can! The more the merrier!" She beamed skipping back alongside him, making his face crack into the smallest of smiles. 

"Can I try out the new moves Ali taught me on you?"

"Sure kid. Let's see what you've got!" Sweet Pea agreed. Bracing himself ready to be thrown, pushed and pulled to the ground. Grunting and groaning with each landing and giving the little girl pointers where possible.

"Hey, now that Sweet Pea's here you can show us how to defend against two opponents." Sam piped up, looking hopefully up at the older trio stood in front of her. Fangs shrugged, nodding in agreement turning to Sweet Pea awaiting his answer.

"I'm up for it if Ali is. We're all friends here." Sweet Pea paused turning to Ali, a knowing look in his eye. 

"Aren't we Ali?" He finished, twitching an eyebrow at her daringly.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Ali smiled nodding in agreement. 

"What could possibly go wrong!" She muttered sarcastically under her breath moving into position, ready to be attacked by the two boys for the second time in less than 24 hours. This time it was Sweet Pea to make the first move. Lunging forward to sweep her leg. Ali jumped out the way just in time. Grabbing his arm and using it to pull herself up to wrap around his chest trapping his arm between her powerful legs. Twisting herself to the side using her body weight to hurl the giant into his friend knocking the pair down like a set of bowling pins.

"That was awesome!" The two girls cheered giving the boys and Ali a round of applause as they got to their feet. 

"Could've done with this yesterday huh Sweet Pea." Fangs joked helping Sam perfect her stance and hold on Ali.

"Took the words right out my mouth." Sweet Pea muttered scowling suspiciously at Ali. 

This was a bad idea. This was a very bad idea! Ali cringed.

"What happened yesterday?" Sam asked curiously, helping Ali back to her feet ready for Izzy's turn. Ali felt the question slam into her like a bus. This couldn't get any worse.

"Caught someone breaking into serpent territory late last night and got our ass kicked by crazy Ninja moves like these." Fangs sighed defeatedly, the disgust of his defeat evident in his voice.

"Reckon they just got lucky." Sweet Pea baited glancing slyly over at Ali, registering the eye roll she gave his comment.

"I don't know Bean Pole. They certainly managed to give you a rather nasty black eye." She replied flicking her eyes over the deep purple bruise spreading over his eye. Her gaze breaking as she hurtled towards Fangs by Izzy's forceful swing. Ali coughed a little as she sat up feeling slightly winded, accepting the hand being offered to her. Regretting it almost immediately when Sweet Pea heaved her up pulling her uncomfortably close to him as he leant to whisper in her ear. Placing something in her hand.

"You've got some explaining to do!" He whispered glancing down to the silver writing embossed on the pale blue lock picking kit in her hand that read 'H.M'. Ali swallowed hard in a desperate attempt to drown the panic that had risen in her throat. It just got worse.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ali replied casually. Stepping back smiling her signature smile and moving ready to teach the girls another move. The group spent the next few hours practicing moves and counter moves. With Sweet Pea keeping a very close eye on Ali.

"Ok, if you boys don't say it I will." Ali panted lying on her back in the long grass. Her cheeks flushed and head sweaty. "I'm absolutely shattered. Everything hurts and if I don't eat something soon, I'm afraid I'll eat Fangs." Ali half joked as her stomach gave a low grumble, making the team chuckle.

"Hey why me? Why not Sweet Pea? He's much bigger than me!" Fangs questioned sounding rather hurt by her suggestion, turning on his side to face his exhausted friend.

"Sweet Peas are poisonous. I'm starving not stupid. Sorry Fangs." Ali replied sympathetically before looking him over and licking her lips mockingly.

"Right Pop's it is. We can take the truck. Ali you can catch a lift with the poisonous plant. I don't feel safe being in a confined space with you right now." Fangs laughed rising to his feet and fetching his jacket and keys from the pile by the trailer.

"Come on Ali, the sooner you eat the better. You look like hell." Sweet Pea teased offering her a hand up. Scowling when she slapped his hand away.

"Last time you did that it was a trap!" Ali scorned struggling to pull her lifeless limbs into action.

"Just take the help Ali. It's becoming painful to watch." Sweet Pea coaxed smirking at her repeated failed attempts of standing. Ali huffed but took his hand only to heave him to the ground. Smiling smugly at his unamused expression.

"There, now you don't have to watch!" Ali chirped happily, rolling onto her hands and knees so she could scramble up leaving Sweet Pea in the grass. "I'll leave you here if you want."

"Oh yeah and how are you going to leave when I have your keys?" Sweet Pea asked smugly. Jingling a set of keys with a bright blue letter A hanging from them. Ali’s eyes squinting irritably for a second. Quickly returning to its previous proudly smug expression, throwing Sweet Pea completely.

"Simple," Ali chimed smugly. "I'll take yours!" She grinned waving his own set of keys back at him. 

"You're dead!" He growled playfully, leaping to his feet and grabbing Ali's waist before she could make a run for it. Throwing her over his shoulder and swiping the keys from her hand. 

"Did you just squeak like a mouse? Ali-Cat, more like Field Mouse!" Sweet Pea scoffed carrying her over to his trailer where his bike was parked.

"I'll dig my claws in if you carry on insulting me like that!" Ali threatened playfully. Trying to wiggle her way out of his grip.

"Oh no you don't. Not after that comment. You can stay there and think about what you've said!" Sweet Pea scolded slapping her ass hard as he spoke. Smirking when she squeaked at the contact.

"That's fine I've got something to keep me occupied anyway." Ali teased resting her head in her hands to stare at his ass.

"Harley Masters, are you staring at my ass?" Sweet Pea inquired playfully. Waving to Jughead who was watching in confusion as they passed his trailer. Ali's eyes flew wide open and her heart rate increased tenfold at her full name. How did he know. She immediately began trying to swing out of his hold. But he had her in a firm, unbreakable grip.

"How the-? What in the Hell did you just say?!" Ali demanded. Her brows knitted into a furious blend of panic and confusion.

"You heard!" Sweet Pea replied smugly placing her on the back of his bike and handing her his spare helmet. 

"Izzy told me all about your nickname. About how it took you ages before you could pronounce your R's properly. How you used to say Haly instead of Harley." Sweet Pea teased putting his helmet on.

"That's what you meant earlier." Ali exclaimed. "You seriously confused me!" 

"Ali what are you talking about?" Sweet Pea asked frowning.

"When you said I had some explaining to do..." Ali trailed off, avoiding Sweet Pea's leg as he swung himself on in front of her.

"Oh that. I already know what the H.M stands for. What I don't know is why you broke into Peabody's place. Hold on tight!" He called not giving Ali a chance to reply. Speeding off just as she wrapped her arms around his waist. The feeling of her hands clinging to his shirt made it very hard to concentrate as he whipped and weaved his way to Pops. Ali's mind to busy racing with an endless list of possibilities to notice what she was doing to him. What does this mean? Are Mum and Izzy going to get beaten up? Killed? Did he tell her? How did he know? What have I done? Why am I still on his bike? She felt like her mind was about to explode. 

By the time they arrived at Pops she was in full panic mode. Pulling off her helmet to reveal her bloodless face. Panic overwhelming her eyes. Sweet Peas eyes widened when he saw the fear coursing through her body sending her into small scale convulsions. Making her very uneasy on her feet when she climbed gingerly off his bike. Her centre of balance was so uneasy, he had to catch her before she fell over. Helping her back over to lean on his bike for support. 

"Ali relax I'm not going to say anything. I just want to know why. Nothings going to happen. Hell, I'm even willing to look past the fact that you pulled a knife on me." He comforted rubbing her back and pulling her into a gentle hug.

"You sure you're not going to tell Penny?" Ali asked tentatively. She wasn't so worried for herself they could do what they wanted with her. As long as they left her family out of it. 

"And you're not mad about the knife?" She looked up hesitantly up feeling ridiculously pathetic.

"The knife? No that was just self defence. The black eye however... that, I'm going to be coming back too." He joked stroking her hair, looking deep into her puppy eye's. Feeling his heart melt with every second she was with him. Ali scowled giving him a playful shove and standing up straight again.

"I found out what she was making my Uncle do and we can't afford to get caught up in anything. So I figured if she didn't have anything on him then she couldn't black mail him anymore." Ali explained, technically she hadn't lied. Just not told the whole truth.

"And you thought that was the night to do it?" He asked as they made their way into Pops. Smiling at the familiar ring of the bell as they entered.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Fangs called dramatically as the pair joined the group at the booth in the far corner. 

"I've been stuck listening to reruns of how I got my ass kicked yesterday. And this morning!" Fangs scowled crossing his arms and turning his nose away like a drama queen.

"Man up Fangs! You're turning into a Northsider. Got your ass kicked twice in less than 24 hours and now your acting like a spoilt brat. Carry on like this and you'll be joining Ali for cheerleading practice!" Sweet Pea sassed slumping down beside his best friend.

"Ouch Sweet Pea. Even I felt the sting on that." Ali exclaimed smiling at Pops when he handed the group their milkshakes.

"You were supposed to. Cheerleaders are just preppy little bitches. It's pathetic really. All you do is bounce around grinning all the time." Sweet Pea mocked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah. I'd like to see you throw a human being in the air and catch them without damaging them, yourself and looking amazing whilst doing all that." Ali defended raising a daring eyebrow at the Serpent. 

"Thank you, Izzy, for ordering for us. It was very nice of you." She smiled turning to her little sister who was watching intently whilst she slurped her chocolate milkshake.

"No worries, but how did you know it was me?" She questioned.

"You're the only one crazy enough to tolerate spending enough time with these clowns to know their order." Sam and Fangs elaborated in chorus before bursting into hysterics at their perfect sync.

"What can I say?" Izzy shrugged nonchalantly. A playful twinkle beaming in her eyes. 

"I've got clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am. Stuck in the middle of you!" She sang motioning either side of her to the rest of the group making everyone laugh and Ali choke on her drink. The group watched in frozen horror for moment as Ali battled against the desperate force trying to spit her drink. But after a moment struggle, she swallowed the drink with ease.

"At least now we know Ali doesn’t spit she swallows." Fangs commented nonchalantly sending everyone into another fit of giggles. 

Pops placed their order on the table once they had all calmed down. Giving Ali and Sweet Pea a knowing glance before handing Izzy a 10-dollar bill. 

"What was that?" Ali asked suspiciously before taking a large bite of her burger. Her gaze fixed on her little sister as she tucked the money into the arm pocket of her jacket.

"Nothing just tip money." She shrugged innocently. But Ali knew there was something else going on. She was her sister after all. 

"Uh huh sure it is." Ali nodded sarcastically before several waving hands caught her eye distracting her. Sweet Pea saw the focus completely disappear from her face the second the waving hands caught her attention and couldn't help but laugh.

"Is she always like this?" He asked watching as she ushered the group over to the table.

"Like what?" Izzy questioned through a mouthful of cheese burger.

"Easily distracted." He elaborated before scowling at Ali as she shuffled him over to the wall so Jughead, Betty and Cheryl could join. 

"Only when she’s trying to ignore something at the back of her mind." Izzy replied truthfully. She knew exactly what was playing on Ali's mind. The only problem? Ali didn't. 

The group spent the rest of the evening debating over the black hood and enjoying milkshakes, cheesy bites and fries. Ignoring the lingering unanswered questions and looming cloud of doom making its way closer and closer to their side of town.

"You'll never guess what's happened!" Cheryl exclaimed the second Ali took her seat in Chemistry making her jump a little.

"Oh god! What happened? Did Archie do another stupid thing again?" Ali moaned with a heavy sigh, unaware of the person sat behind them.

"Hey! What did I do to you?!" Archie gasped throwing a ball of paper at her head in mock offense. 

"OUCH!" Ali cried sarcastically. A smirk spreading across her red lips as she threw it back. 

"Sorry Arch but you have been a dumb ass lately." Ali replied before turning back to Cheryl who looked as if she was about to burst.

"Southside High got shut down so now the scumbag Snakes are being sent here!" She raged making several students jump at her sudden outburst. The thought of the serpents coming to Riverdale High sent butterflies to her stomach and she couldn't figure out why. Some of them were her friends sure but that wouldn't cause this surely? Cheryl's continuous bitching pulled Ali from her daze.

"Chill Cheryl, they aren't that bad. You got along with Fangs and Sweet Pea sort of. Ali grimaced a little at her words and the memory of Cheryl hanging out with her and the Serpents at Pops. Everything is going to be fine." Ali reassured her but she knew that come the next day, it would all go sideways. Chaos would rain down on them all. 

Cheryl spent the rest of the day whining about the Serpents and how they were going to ruin the school. It was after all, a sanctuary from her home life.

"Oh God. Why do you like the cat that ate the canary?" Ali groaned when she walked into the girls changing room. Only to discover the Vixens already in gear and rallied with Cheryl who was looking very pleased with herself. 

"Because my dear Ali-Cat, me and Reggie have come up with a solution to our little dilemma." Cheryl chirped before heading out with the rest of the cheerleading squad in quick procession.

"Oh, dear god! Of all people why Reggie?" Ali whined as she quickly threw on her cheerleading uniform. Chasing after the team of preppy teens about to pick a fight with the biggest gang in town as soon as she was dressed. 

"Too late." Ali huffed as she darted down the corridor to where Cheryl and Toni were standing toe to toe. She was just about to jump in to defend the Southsiders. To at least give them a chance but Principle Wetherbee beat her too it. Cheryl and Reggie lead their crowd of puppets away whilst Jughead led the Southsiders down the corridor to the common room, passing Ali as they went. 

"I told you when it came down to it, she was a Northsider." Sweet Pea muttered to Fangs as they passed her. His eyes scanning her uniform as they passed. 

That rat bastard! The little git thinks I'm siding with Cheryl! Ali gasped internally, watching as they disappeared around the corner.

It didn't take long for Ali to find an opportunity to redeem herself in the eyes of the Serpents. She was sat in the cafeteria talking to Varchie and Bughead about the happenings over the holidays. Laughing at the awful puns Jughead kept adding in. He seemed to be happy for the first time in a while and Ali hoped this would last forever. Queue Reggie and his team of meat heads.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He snarled as the Bulldogs slowly surrounded the leather bound, snake tatted table. 

"This can't be anything good." Ali grumbled before standing up and strolling casually over to the table. Watching as Sweet Pea's jaw clenched, his fists balled up to the point where his knuckles were turning white. 

"Back off mutt. We don't want your fleas." Sweet Pea snarled squaring up to Reggie. His gaze stone cold as he stared down the preppy jock.

"Really Reginald? This is what you do with your spare time? Pick fights with poisonous flowers?" Ali sighed looking very unamused as she pushed herself between the two testosterone fuelled boys. 

"Stand down Mantle the Magnificent before you become Mantle the Mauled to death." She warned feeling rather annoyed at his arrogance. 

"And you can wipe the smug grin off your face too Sweet Pea. Picking a fight on the first day isn't a very clever start is it?" Ali called him out without even needing to turn around to see his smug expression. His heart was racing faster than he thought possible and he couldn't believe his eyes. 

"Sorry Princess did we disrupt your fine dining?" Sweet Pea quipped giving her a smirk and a wink as he sat back down in his chair. He could never pass up the opportunity to tease her. Ali rolled her eyes at his silly little remark and turned to leave. But just as she was about to, a large warm hand wrapped around her wrist pulling her backwards. 

"You look good in that uniform you should wear it more often." Sweet Pea whispered, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke flooding her body with butterflies. His hand was warm against her skin and she could feel the heat radiating off his muscular body. He released her hand allowing her to stand up straight. Only to grab her hands and pull her closer again. 

"Ali you're freezing." He claimed his voice filled with genuine concern as he searched her eyes. She smiled her usual bright smile shaking her head with a light chuckle.

"Pea I'm always like this. You're just freakishly warm." Ali smiled pulling her hands away and turning to walk back to her table. As for the uniform My eyes are up here, so keep them there. She warned playfully pointing to her smoky eye shadow and bright blue eyes.

"Wait!" Sweet Pea instructed stopping her in her tracks. She turned around slowly to see why he had stopped her from going back to her friends again. 

"You're going to freeze to death, and I need you to do a paint job on my bike later. This should keep you warm." Sweet Pea stated pulling a large black hoodie from his bag and handing it to Ali. Who only put it on after a stern raise of his eyebrow. 

With a reluctant huff she made her way back to her table. Who does this kid think he is? I don't need his charity.

#riverdale #riverdaleedit #riverdale serpents #riverdale fanfic #riverdale fic #riverdale imagine #southside serpents #sweet pea #sweet pea x oc #bad boy sweet pea #sweet pea fanfiction #sweet pea fanfic #sweet pea imagine #toni topaz #cheryl x toni #jughead jones #betty cooper #archie andrews #archie x veronica #cheryl bombshell

[sonicasura]

I had a dream one night. It was a battle between a Pokemon Trainer and her partner Chomp the Snorlax against...

Jotaro Kujo and Star Platinum.

Yes. These two. How does it turn out? Read down below.

Mitsuru was called many things in her life. Queen of Contest Battles, Snorlax Lover, Toxic Freak and such. Yet, in her life, she was never called a Stand User. The young 17 year old Pokemon Trainer had found herself in some strange place called Singapore and noticed the large absence of Pokemon, creatures of her world. She also kept getting uncomfortable looks by the people staring at her hair and outfit.

She was born with purple hair with a large flare like white splotch at the front almost like a Toxel's. Her clothes were more punk with a black cassock with spike like rimmings, a yellow vest like drape over it with a thunderbolt pattern, a Snorlax hat  that the blue of it was dyed purple and a necklace holding a blue and yellow X ball that to many unaware was a Quick Ball.

This type of item or Pokeball held one of her aces when it came to Pokemon Battles but also her childhood friend. Deciding to explore the peculiar town, she ran into a creepy man called Rubber Soul. It was a very odd name and the guy gave her a very bad vibe. She told him to leave her alone since he had been following her for less than an hour. Next thing she knew, the creep attacked her with some kind of yellow slime he called 'Yellow Temperance'.

Luckily he chose to attack her in a wide empty space so it didn't draw much attention to send the asshole flying with her partner, Chomp the Snorlax. Snorlax were very large bear like Pokemon easily recognized by their blue fur and light peach face and underbelly along with stubby feet and cat like ears. Mitsuru had grew up with Chomp in her home of Galar so the 18 ft tall Pokemon was a powerhouse. Yeah, he was way bigger than the average Snorlax.

Rubber Soul had a look of pure horror seeing Chomp before he was sent flying with a Giga Impact straight into the bay. This was how she found herself in her current predicament. The 17 year old girl looked at her large partner who seemed happy with himself. "Good job sending that creep flying Chomp. I didn't know what the yellow slime was but I'm just glad your ok." Mitsuru said looking at her partner. "Snorlax." Chomp answered happily.

"No way, another Stand User?!" Mitsuru turned to see a group of men run into the empty space where she and her partner stood. An old man dressed like Indiana Jones, a guy in green with a large noodle curl, a man with a tower of white hair on his head and broken heart earrings, a dark skinned man with his hair in top knots but the punk guy got her interest.

He was tall around 6'5, buff as all hell and a nice ass to boot, ocean blue eyes clear as the waters of Lake Axewell, curly dark hair under a black hat topped with gold pins, an open black coat pierced with a gold chain by the collar showing a grass green shirt tight on his chest, two colored belts with one orange and the other blue, expensive black slacks and boots. "What's going on Chomp?" Mitsuru asked only for the Snorlax to shrug.

"That's a big fella right there! Bet he could flatten a truck like a pancake." The guy with pole hair shouted. "Do you need something? If not, Chomp and I will be going." Mitsuru said getting ready to walk away with her partner. "Where do you think your going?" She turned to face the delinquent who asked. "What's with the attitude? You guys are looking at me like I'm public enemy number 1! And I don't even know you." Mitsuru asked clearly getting aggravated.

"You're a Stand User. That fact alone means we can't leave you alone. You could be working for Dio for all we know. Dumb bitch." The delinquent said earning a glare from Chomp. Mitsuru however look triggered with her face red with pure rage. "Excuse me?! Dumb bitch?! Do you want to fight asshole?! You just earned yourself a battle!" Mitsuru roared as Chomp couldn't help but agree.

"Snorlax!" Chomp roared glaring down at the teen. "Old man and the three stooges go to the sidelines. Unless you want to accidentally get caught in the crossfire. It's a one on one battle. As for you Bitchboy, what's your name? Challengers must always give their name to the opponent." Mitsuru said as the 4 men didn't hesitate to get out of her line of fire. The teen looked a bit taken aback by her attitude but merely hid it.

"It's Jotaro Kujo." Suddenly a large buff purple warrior with flowing black hair, gold shoulder pads, black fingerless gloves, capped chim, knee high boots, loincloth and bright ocean blue eyes emerged from the male's body. "And this is my Stand, Star Platinum." Jotaro spoke as Star let out a loud battle cry that sounded like he was shouting 'Ora'. "Mitsuru Toxele and this is my partner Chomp, a Snorlax. I don't know what the hell is a Stand or Stand User but don't think for a second I'm backing down!" Mitsuru shouted as Chomp let out his own battle cry.

"Guy in green. You can start the battle." Mitsuru said as the guy in green or Kakyoin nodded reluctantly. "Let the battle begin!" Kakyoin called although sounding a bit confused. Star Platinum shot forward at Chomp baring a fist for an attack. "Chomp! Block it then counter with Brick Break!" Mitsuru called the Snorlax held his ground arms held up as a shield. Star Platinum let out a barrage of high speed punches shouting ora with every attack.

Despite blocking Chomp definitely felt the powerful hits but didn't back down. His right arm like paw glowed white before slapping Star across the face. Jotaro's face also turned like he got slapped too. 'What the hell? I felt Star's jaw breaking yet mine didn't. I still feel a lot of pain but not as much as I should be.' Jotaro thought as Star skidded across the ground. The Stand got up and fixed its jaw before looking back at Chomp.

Chomp's arms were lightly scratched and with few small bruises. "Holy hell! He took an onslaught of Star Platinum's punches and doesn't look that much bothered! Then that glowing fist looked really painful!" Pole hair or Polnareff called out. "Our turn! Use Gyro Ball!" That got heads turning as Chomp spun on his foot like ballerina before rotating so fast he became a giant ball shaped twister while silver light spun around him.

Star was too confused at the bad logic of the move to avoid Chomp as the Snorlax slammed into him like a heavy metal beyblade. The result? Star Platinum was sent flying into the wooden fence while Jotaro got the air knocked out of him. 'Fuck! That was much stronger than that last attack! Yet, I'm not getting any one of Star's injuries. Is it because her Chomp, this Snorlax isn't a Stand?' Jotaro thought to himself.

He could clearly see that Mitsuru and Chomp were fighting in sync. Almost like that of a Stand and their user but all of her commands had been all vocal. Not mental like how Stands mainly operate. Star Platinum pulled himself from the hole he made and rushed forward at Chomp once more. The Snorlax couldn't block fast enough earning a powerful blow to the head and upper chest. "Chomp!" Mitsuru called out as the Snorlax skidded across the ground but still remained on his feet.

He rubbed his cheek as if imitating wiping blood off his mouth before giving Star an impressed smirk. Chomp definitely was going to have a few bruises but clearly looked happy taking some serious damage. It was understandable for the Snorlax's case since in every battle he fought until now, no physical move barely scratched him. To get this much injuries despite how little it was got the Snorlax all pumped up. "Snorlax!" Chomp roared out.

"You seem to be quite pumped! This battle clearly got you all fired up huh bud? Then let's take it up a notch! Giga Impact!" Mitsuru called out. Chomp suddenly charged at Star Platinum with speed of a rampaging bull as a purple blazing aura and orange light spiralled around the Pokemon. "He's like a giant elephant amongst a large stampede! Get out of the way Jojo!" The top knot haired man or Avdol called out.

Star Platinum attempted to grab Chomp and try to stop his charge but the Snorlax easily overpowered the Stand sending it flying into the air. "Time for you to get a taste of our finisher!" Mitsuru called out revealing a white bracelet that held a blue gemstone with a pawprint on it. "What's that? Some sort of bracelet?" The old man or Joseph asked. "Prepare to get a taste of our Z-Move!" Mitsuru shouted as her and Chomp began to move in sync. "Z-Move??!" All 5 called out at the same time.

They moved their arms to have it make a upward slanted line before moving the upper elbows across forming a Z. Chomp's closed eyes flashed demonically as all 5 men knew nothing good was going to come out of it. "Pulverizing Pancake!!" With those two words Chomp sped off towards Star Platinum faster than a bullet. "OH MY GOD!!! HE'S GOING EVEN FASTER THAN LAST TIME!" Joseph shouted in pure horror.

Mitsuru pointed up with both hands as Chomp leapt high into the air way higher than he should be able to from the guys' point of view. "Yare yare daze." Jotaro said as Chomp body slammed Star into the ground. The crash exploding out huge bursts of dust and dirt creating a large dust cloud. It cleared to reveal Jotaro lying on his back clearly shell shocked by the carnage or the fact his Stand just got fattened by a 200 ton Pokemon.

Chomp picked himself off the ground to reveal a cartoon style pancaked Star Platinum with spirals on his eyes signifying defeat. "Ora…" The poor Stand clearly going feel that in the morning. "That looks so painful! Star Platinum is practically flatter than a piece of paper right now!" Polnareff exclaimed looking at the poor Stand's state. "Luckily all that punishment didn't get reflected onto Jotaro. Apparently battling Mitsuru's Snorlax only made him feel Star Platinum's pain not actually taking it." Avdol deduced clearly intrigued by that fact.

Chomp picked up Star and shook him a bit unflattening the Stand while Mitsuru helped pick up Jotaro. "What do we learn about calling me a dumb bitch for no reason?" Mitsuru asked with a wicked glare in her eyes. "Yare yare daze. To...not do it." Jotaro muttered reluctantly. "Good! I eat this if I were you. You too as well Star and same for you Chomp." Mitsuru said before tossing a yellow almost pear like fruit to Jotaro, Star Platinum and Chomp.

Chomp ate it in one go as his energies faded causing Jotaro and Star to follow his lead. Both had shot up to their feet with a jolt before eating the rest of fast enough that the trainer thought they were going to choke. "Whoa! What kind of fruit is that to make someone like Jotaro eat it if it was his last meal?!" Joseph exclaimed as the other three looked equally both surprised and interested.

"It's a Sitrus Berry. Helps restore the eater's lost energy and heal a good chunk of their wounds. I keep tons of them on me since its Chomp's favorite fruit and in case of emergencies when I'm out of medical supplies." Mitsuru answered not making a big deal out of it. "Keep a bunch of healing berries in your bag? Who in the world even are you?" Kakyoin asked. 

"*sigh* My name is Mitsuru Toxele. I'm a Pokemon Trainer from Monostke City in the Galar Region. This is my partner and first Pokemon Chomp. People at home call me 'Just Desserts' because those who challenge me find out the hard way that they 'took a bite too much.' Guess you can say me and Chomp are out of this world." She said with a smile before high fiving her partner. 'A bite too much indeed.'

Yes. Snorlax can't learn Gyro Ball but this came from a dream of course. As a friend of mine quoted about Chomp: That's one deadly Snorlax.' Move Set is Brick Break, Body Slam(Pulverizing Pancake), Giga Impact and Gyro Ball. If Snorlax can learn Gyro Ball then he'll pretty much bench press the entire game! Have a good Thanksgiving guys!

#jojo s bizarre adventure #snorlax pokemon #oc #pokemon trainer #pokemon #jotaro kujo #star platinum #pokemon vs jojo #jjba #jojo's anime #stardust crusaders #part 3 #dream inspired

[redrobin-detective]

Street Kids Do it Best

“I had a fight with B, needed to get out, let me crash with you for a few days,” Jason shrugged, hiking his backpack high on his shoulder. Billy Batson blinked and then decided it was totally worth it to die by Batman’s hand in order to spend time with his best friend.

Now edited and up on AO3

The sound of knocking at his door instantly awakened Billy and sent him into panic mode. He was an incredibly light sleeper and had trained himself to wake up when anyone walked by the hallway outside his door. The fact that someone was able to get all the way to his door to knock meant he was dealing with someone who knew how to move without being noticed. None of the people he hung with in the city knew where he lives and, even if they did, they wouldn’t be stopping by at just past 4 am. He supposed Toyman or Monsieur Mallah wouldn’t waste time knocking but tell that to his paranoia? He grabbed a baseball bat he’d found at the dump and held it at the ready in front of the door.

“Who’s there?” He demanded in his deepest voice, trying to channel Batman as best he could.

“It’s Goldi-fucking-locks, now let me in dipshit,” Billy relaxed instantly, lowering the bat and opening the door to reveal Jason Todd, his best friend and also the latest Robin. He looks almost bored with Billy’s attempt at defense but when you live with Batman, everyone else kind of pales in comparison.

“Jay, jeez you scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here anyway, B didn’t tell me about any uh work stuff,” Billy added, holding the door open for Jay to come in. He noted immediately that Jason was on edge; his eyes wouldn’t stop casing Billy’s one room, broken down apartment and his free hand was twitching against his thigh. The other hand was tightly wrapped around the strap of an overfilled backpack. Billy has a bad feeling about this.

“I had a fight with B, needed to get out, let me crash with you for a few days,” Jason shrugged, hiking his backpack high on his shoulder as if he hadn’t asked Billy to hide him from the World’s Greatest Detective and probably the World’s Most Paranoid Over-Protective Father. Of course that wasn’t the real issue here.

“A fight? What was it about?” Jay’s frown deepened at the question so Billy diverted. “Please tell me you at least told someone where you were going. Batman’ll rip my arms out if he found out I kidnapped his sidekick, how’d you even get here?”

“Drove my bike to Bludhaven and used one of the Zetas there to get here, made a couple of other stops to throw off the trail.” Jay said clinically, dumping his bag on the floor and flopping onto the bed, making himself comfortable on Billy’s pillow. “And I’m not a total moron, I told Alfie. He saw I needed to blow off some steam, said he’d keep the Bat off my back for a day or two but don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair by then.”  

This is way too much for Billy to comprehend at 4 in the morning so he joined his friend on the bed and rubbed at his eyes. He’s seen Clark do this when dealing with Batman and some of the Titans with Nightwing so he guess it was just a Bat thing.

“Let me get this straight,” Billy drawled, “you decided you wanted to leave your fancy mansion in order to slum it with me for a few days, practically inviting the goddamn Batman to wring my neck, because you’re in a pissing contest with him?”

“Pretty much but I brought food, the good shit and B will never know I was here,” Jay countered. Unlikely but whatever, he’s too tired to think about this right now.

“Fine, but the sun’s not even up and Captain Marvel had a busy day yesterday so I’m going back to bed,” he dramatically rolled over on top of his friend, eliciting a squeak of protest. But he already gave Billy one heart attack tonight and was totally messing up his schedule which is probably why he was letting Billy use him as a giant heat pack.

“For what it’s worth Jay, it’s good to see you,” Billy murmurs into Jason’s chest.

“Shut the hell up and go to sleep, Batson,” Jay growled back but he didn’t protest the contact. Content, Billy let himself drift back to sleep still curled up in his friend’s side.

XxX

Billy woke for the second time that day considerably more comfortable than the first time. For one thing, he was warm which was unusual considering it was February and he didn’t remember his pillow being this soft… or breathing. He peeked open one eye and saw Jason watching him with a bored look.

“About goddamn time, I lost feeling in my arm hours ago, probably gonna have to chop it off now,” Jay said, pushing Billy off of him. Billy himself just shook his head to catch up, right, Jay stayed the night er morning, was gonna stay in Fawcett until Batman tracked them down and killed them both. Cool.

“You coulda moved me,” Billy yawned as Jason rolled out his arm.

“You looked like shit kid, you clearly needed the sleep. You gotta take better care of yourself or you won’t be doing anyone any good,” Jay sneered.

“You’re barely six months older than me,” Billy frowned but Jay got up and stretched anyway.

“Might as well be six years, I see how the Cap acts out in the field with all his ‘aw shucks’ charm. It’d be sickening if it wasn’t so goddamn genuine.”

“At least I’m wearing pants, Mr. ‘I like to feel the wind on my bare thighs,’” Jason turned and stared at Billy with an intense expression which Billy returned. It lasted a solid 30 seconds before Jay cracked and grinned at him. Billy returned the smile; this is why they were best friends.

“Alright fuck, way to hit below the utility belt,” Jay said, still smiling slightly as he ruffled his wiry, slightly curled hair and looked out the dirty window. Now that he’s more awake, Billy saw Jay is wearing a sweat stained t-shirt and tight black work out pants which he wore under his costume when it was cold out. Did he come straight from patrol? Jay got pissed at Bruce all the time but he’d never shown up at Billy’s doorstep with a packed bag before. This might take more than a few days separation to heal but there’d be time for that later.

“How about some breakfast, there’s a shop up the street that sells uneaten food off plates for 1/3 the price,” Billy chirped.

“I’m not making you spend your meager savings in addition to putting up with me,” Jay rolled his eyes, his Gotham accent coming out especially thick as he grabbed for his bag and pulled out a Tupperware. “I told you I brought the good shit, Alfie made those obnoxiously sweet fruit crepes you like.”

“Please tell Alfred I would die for him,” Billy responded automatically as his mouth watered.

“Me too man but I won’t pass that one, he’d just get all sad,” Jay smirked and conversation kind of died off as they attacked the lukewarm crepes with mismatched forks. It tasted heavenly and Billy closed his eyes, letting him enjoy the sensation of eating amazing food prepared just for him. Jay could have had these baked in front of him, fresh and warm with a glass of sparkling water or whatever rich people drank. He chewed thoughtfully, looking at Jason through his bangs. He’ll open up eventually, Jay was terrible at hiding things that upset him and Billy could be patient and wait until he was ready to talk. That’s why they worked so well together.

“Alright, what’s the plan, Bill?” Jason asked, wiping off some blueberry from his face with his arm. Jason was the only person who called him Bill; he said Billy was too childish for someone who could punch out Superman. Billy liked his name but he couldn’t deny a thrill of pleasure at having a special nickname from his best friend.

“Um I didn’t really have anything to do today so why don’t I show you around Fawcett,” Billy shrugged.

“Yeah but like show me the real deal,” Jason stressed. “I don’t want to see the clean tourist shit, I want to see what you deal with every day. Wanna make sure you’re taking care of yourself out here plus I gotta prove that I still got the stones after almost a year living the high life.”

“Uh okay,” Billy said, quirking an eyebrow. It was weird but considering that it was Jason, it could have been way worse. “Let me get dressed and we’ll head out.”

Their day ended up being pretty uneventful. True to his request, Billy dragged Jay along to his usual haunts: the diner where they let Billy sit even when he didn’t buy anything, the nice ladies on the street corner selling their wares, the library where Billy tried to catch up on his studies, the homeless shelters where Cap went for information and Billy got food if he really needed it. Jason acted his usual self: sizing up everyone they saw and spoke to, asserting himself to anyone who even thought about hassling them. One older teen looked like he was gonna go for Jason’s bag when Jay flipped out a big-ass switchblade Billy knew the Big Bat didn’t authorize. Billy is a notorious pacifist in their little community; he knows going to have a lot to answer for being seen with someone like Jason.

Jason bought them hot dogs with the frankly ridiculous amount of money he brought with him and they sat on a park bench and munched in silence.

“You got any work lined up tonight, you know, for the big guy?” Jay questioned through a mouthful of hot dog. Billy shook his head because his mouth was also full but he didn’t like talking with food in his mouth unlike some people. Honestly, which one of them lived in the fancy mansion again?

“Sweet so you and I can go out,” Jason grinned and Billy almost choked.

“Woah,” he wheezed, catching his breath. “Woah are you insane? I thought you were trying to keep a low profile? I can’t have Rob- you know who running around Fawcett, what would people say?”

“I didn’t say Cap and Robin would go out,” Jay whispered under his breath, still with that animated, half crazed look in his eyes. “I say you and me throw on some cheap masks and take out some baddies the old fashioned way, no powers, no fancy toys, just our fists.” And Jason’s grin is all fire and teeth and Billy can instantly see why Bruce took one look at this crazy kid before deciding to bring him home. What was he getting involved in, being friends with Bats?

XxX

“Jay, I don’t know about this,” Billy whispered, incredibly uncomfortable in his friend’s slightly too big work out pants while gripping his wooden bat. He went out fighting bad guys all the time, yeah, but unlike Robin he was used to being a 7 foot tall god, not a scared kid in borrowed clothes and an itchy domino mask.

“Don’t say my name,” Robin, and he was Robin right now no matter what he’s wearing, warned. He stood tall, weight perfectly balanced for ass-kicking, playfully spinning a piece of pipe they’d found lying around. Billy, meanwhile, felt terribly exposed and had literally no training in street fighting. He should have called Batman when he’d had the chance, too late now.

“What am I supposed to call you then?” Billy spat back but kept his voice down.

“Well try not to call me anything first off but I guess Rob works if you really need my attention, you can be Marv,” Jay grinned and Billy felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Normally that’d get at least a good-natured groan but he’s not exactly happy with his best bud right now. He was going to suggest, once again, that they head back to his place and do something notlikely to get them beat up and in trouble but Jay’s smile smoothed out into something serious. He held up a hand to be quiet and then stalked forward, not making a sound and clinging to the shadows like he belonged there. Billy watched him go with an incredulous expression, how the hell was he supposed to do that? He tried his best, creeping after Jay but he knew he was too loud and too noticeable compared to the other boy. This is why he was not the street rat chosen to be the new Robin.

“Hey ass-lickers!” He heard Jay say confidently, Billy stepped forward and found his friend confronting no less than 6 guys in ski-masks with a crowbar jammed under a window to pry it open. Amateurish compared to what Rob and Cap have dealt with but those adults were more than enough to do serious damage to a couple of street kids. Well to him anyway. “You’re about to have your butts handed to you.” Jason didn’t waste any more breath on the meat heads, immediately diving into the fray and unleashing some wicked martial arts on the criminals who sure as hell weren’t expecting it. Billy would almost feel bad for them if he wasn’t terrified and angry at the same time.

“You little shit,” one robber hissed, ducking away from Jason and speeding towards him. Billy planted his feet and swung his baseball bat with all his might into the man’s side. While he hunched over and wheezed, he brought the bat down again onto the back of his head and he went down like a lead balloon. His heart swelled with victory as he gave the bat a little spin. Not bad considering it was his first proper bad guy taken down as regular ole Billy. Of course, Robin has taken down all the others by the time Billy got the one. Jay finished tying up his goons and gave him a thumbs up.

“Way to go, Marv, felt good, didn’t it?”

“No,” Billy frowned as the brief high crashed down around him. He looked down at the groaning man at his feet then at the bat in his hands. It suddenly felt a lot heavier than it had earlier that morning. He wasn’t used to his fights being this, intimate. “This isn’t what being a hero supposed to feel like.”

“Yeah well it is for us mere mortals,” Jay sniped, “Don’t get on your high horse, Cap. You live on these streets; you know how ugly shit can get and sometimes you gotta get dirty to take care of it. Now come on, help me drag these suckers out to the sidewalk and we’ll keep going.” Billy pursed his lips and did what he was told but already his stomach was twisting with nerves.

Luckily it turned out to be a quiet night in Fawcett; they stopped one attempted mugging, kicked around a few drug dealers and returned a lost toy to local girl. Billy gave thanks to the Gods he knew exist but still wasn’t sure he believed in because he’s not sure he could have dealt with anything bigger tonight. They’re on a rooftop and it’s clear his partner wasn’t as relieved as he was by the peace. Jay had the same restless energy he’d had when he first arrived that morning. It took some convincing but Jason eventually, reluctantly, agreed to turn in for the night. He remained sullen all the way back to the apartment, changed into his nightclothes and fell into bed without saying a word. Billy did the same, he’d grown used to Jay’s mood swings and he knew sooner or later, the Boy Wonder would crack. He slipped underneath the covers next to Jason and watched his friend angrily rub at his eyes.

“Feel better?” He asked quietly.

“No,” Jay hissed, “fuck, no, I’m sorry Bill,” he covered his eyes with one arm. “I shouldn’t have made you go out like that. You ain’t like me, that’s not your scene. You’re better than that and I was annoyed enough to try and drag you down to my level.”

“There are no levels, one is better here. We’re both just dumb kids Jay, but I accept your apology anyway,” Billy said before letting a few moments pass. “What did you fight with Bruce about?”

“Fuck, I don’t want to talk about it,” Jason cursed before turning his back to Billy. Billy huffed sadly but decided he’d simply try again in the morning. He was just getting comfortable in bed when Jason spoke again, quietly this time. “B said he loved me for the first time.” Oh Jay, Billy thought fondly, Only you would get upset about that.

“Oh really?” He coaxed and Jason turned onto his back again, his arms crossed protectively across his chest. He rustled his legs under the scratchy blanket like an angry cricket before continuing.

“We’d just got back from patrol, cracked a big case we’d been working on for the past week. I said something that helped B figure it out so I was riding pretty high, y’know? Alfie made those lemon scones he knows I’m apeshit for and B ran his hand through my hair and said, well, said the L word.”

“That’s great, Jason,” Billy said warmly, genuinely meaning it. It’d been so long since anyone had said those words to him but he’s still happy for his friend. Jason is amazing and deserving of love and Billy is so glad he’s finally receiving it.

“I freaked out,” Jay huffed. “Got skittish, you know the way I do. Bats turned back into an awkward potato and said some things that set me off. I screamed some stuff at him that I uh really shouldn’t have. Real deep shit about him and Goldie’s fucked up relationship and how I’m just some weak attempt at replacing him. B started getting mad, I got even madder and I just left which doesn’t make things any better, I know, but I did anyway.” Jay sighed and scrubbed at his face.

“I came back ‘bout an hour later, all filled with apologies and overheard the big guy complaining to Alfred about how he just doesn’t get me, how it was never this hard with Dick. My head was still kind of fucked up so I wasn’t really thinking when I grabbed my Go bag and left again. Was halfway to the ‘Haven before I realized they’d flip if I just disappeared so I called the house and told Alfie I was visiting you and I’d be back in a few days. He at least seemed to understand me,” Jay grumbled the last part.

“To be fair, you’re kind of a mess Jason, not even Batman can be expected to figure you all out,” Billy teased lightly and was rewarded with a light chuckle.

“You know it, Big Bill.”

“I know this may seem kind of sudden but Bruce does love you,” Billy whispered, scooting a little closer. “It’s obvious every time he’s with you. He brings you up all the time in League meetings; he’s like stupidly proud of you.”

“I mean I guess I know but it’s just so weird,” Jay said, pulling up the blanket a bit. “I mean, I came to him with a suitcase full of problems and that’s not even factoring in all of B’s bullshit. I just don’t know how to deal with people actually, y’know, liking me. Plus we all know I don’t fit in there.”

“Jay…”

“Nah shut up it’s true. I’m not fucking Dick Grayson with his award winning smile and magnetic personality that just makes everyone better, made Batman better. Fuck, I guess,” Jay sighed heavily and curled in a little on himself. “I’m just afraid I’m gonna screw it all up. Bruce… he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and he’s out there doing honest to god good shit, as both Bruce and Batman. I just know I’m going to mess it up, mess him up. He’s too goddamn soft, if he really does love me, he can be hurt by me and I’d rather go back to the streets than drag one of the only good men I know down.”

“Jason,” Billy said, closing the distance between them and setting his head on Jay’s chest, wrapping his arms around his friend and listened to his fast beating heart. “I can’t speak for Batman but all I know is that we love you, warts and all and it would be a privilege to be hurt by you because that means we got to have you in our life.”

“Fuck man, no wonder that wizard guy gave you superpowers,” Jay mumbled in a watery voice. He brought a hand up and tightly gripped Billy’s and they cuddled like that for a long while, just feeling each other with all their faults out to bear because there was no one else to judge them for being less than the ideals they strived to be. It was so freeing just to be for a change and Billy relaxed into his friend’s absurdly warm body.

“You know the same goes for you, Bill,” Jay added on after a bit, sounding half asleep. “You got a lot of people who love you, including me, Alfie and B who know who you are under the cape. I want you to have your freedom but fuck man you deserve so much better than this shithole. You know you just need to say the word and B will have you in the Manor in a heartbeat. We could be brothers, much better than the awkward thing me and Dick got going on.”

“Thanks Jay,” Billy muttered. “I know you and Bruce mean well but Fawcett is my home and I’m happy here. I have my normal friends, my job as Captain Marvel, the League, you; I don’t need any more and besides,” he gently kicked Jay from underneath the covers. “We’re already kinda brothers; don’t need any papers to tell me what I already feel.”

“Christ you’re sappy,” Jason huffed but he sounded a lot better than he had earlier. “I’m going to sleep before you make me vomit with all that sweetness.”

“Night Jay,” Billy grinned but he suspected Jason was already asleep. He probably didn’t sleep much at all yesterday; Jay was someone who let issues keep him awake and as soon as they were solved was out like a light. He was kind of dumb that way but Billy loved him anyway. With Jason asleep, he took the time just to watch his friend. The way his whole face just completely relaxed, how many teeny tiny freckles he had all over his nose and cheeks and spotting down to his neck and collarbone, how long and thick his eyelashes were, highlighted by the moon.

Billy thinks he might have a little crush on his best friend, is it weird to think your bro is kinda attractive? The Wisdom of Solomon he has when he’s Cap tells him that it’s just Billy’s loneliness latching onto one the only true relationships he has with someone his own age and turning it into something more. Still, all that seemed so far away when he’s half on top on a boy who’s the most wonderful asshole he’s ever met. He decided to stop thinking about stuff he can’t figure out and let himself enjoy the moment, falling asleep himself, warm and with the undeniable knowledge that he is loved.

XxX

Billy was woken up by the sound of violent cursing. He bolted up out of bed for the second day in a row and turned to see Jay’s face twisted in a snarl as he held a note. He peeked over his friend’s shoulder and recognized Bruce’s neat handwriting, ‘Let me know when you’re on your way home.’ It was folded with Jason’s name written on the front, obviously left near Jay’s portion of the bed for when he woke up. Billy scrubbed at his eye, he probably should be more mad about Batman breaking into his place but he’s growing desensitized to the level of bullshit that comes with Bats. He and the others should form a support group.

“I thought Alfred would hold him off longer,” Jason grumbled, throwing the note across the room.

“Probably just wanted to make sure you were where you said you’d be. I bet he was real worried when you didn’t come home,” Jason hummed, still annoyed but with a note of understanding in it. “You know, he didn’t make you go back with him. He’s trying to give you the space you asked for, you can stay as long as you need to.”

“Nah,” Jason breathed out. “I can’t keep sponging on you and I need to own up to the things I did and said the other night. I’ll treat you to breakfast then head out.”

“If you insist,” Billy said, stretching out his limbs. “But seriously Jay, stop by anytime. It’s nice to see your dumb face outside of League business where we gotta act like a wise god-like adult and the perfect little sidekick. Just like, tell Batman where you’re going next time.”

“No promises Captain Lame-o,” Jay answered in a mocking tone with a little salute and Billy pushed him over. He loved having Jason Todd in his life. There weren’t many other kids his age who knew not only what it was like to be a superhero but also dealing with all the shit that comes with being out on your own at a young age. So yeah, one of these days Jay was going to talk him into something that got them into massive amounts of trouble and B’s totally gonna ream him for willingly hiding his son away from him. But it’s totally worth it to spend some time with his best friend

#my writing #billy batson #jason todd #this was so cathartic to write #reblogging again because this is cute dammit #there isn't nearly enough Jay/Billy friendship content out there #and I will fill that gap

[tjkiahgb]

Episode Recap: 3.08, “I Got Your Number”

Let’s see if I still remember how to do this.

Wait. Nope. That’s not it.

One second.

The episode begins with Andi and Bex in their apartment. There we go.

Andi says Bex is using her charger because it has pink tape on it, but then Bex finds another charger and it also has pink tape on it.

Then Bowie jams his head through the still-unfixed giant hole in the wall.

Those bricks look like loose teeth. They’re going to fall out any second. The whole wall is going to come down and no one seems to care.

Bowie also has a charger with pink tape on it and Bex realizes Andi has put pink tape on all the chargers as a ploy to be able to seize any charger she sees for her own use.

I don’t know how Andi thought that plan was going to hold up for longer than a minute. Once Bex found another charger with pink tape on it, it was all over.

On the other hand, I’m glad she’s doing sneaky stuff like this. It’s like living with a little velociraptor. She’s clever and dangerous and always plotting something. It keeps Bex and Bowie on their toes and keeps their minds active, which is important as you start to age.

The next day, Buffy finds Andi at the Jefferson Middle School Machu Picchu.

She delivers her a handwritten invitation to hang out that weekend. It’s a bit extra, but I appreciate the effort.

Then Buffy says her plan is to watch a ton of bad dance-themed movies and reels off a list of films that -- and I did the math on this -- would take Andi and Buffy over 16 full hours to watch. It would basically be: wake up, watch nothing but dance movies the entire day, then go to bed.

Buffy calls it the “DanceDance Film Festival.”

I call it cruel and unusual punishment.

I’m pretty sure the Geneva Convention has rules against treating prisoners of war this way.

Watching 16 straight hours of dance movies sounds like something a conspiracy theorist barking up a wrong, dumb tree would do.

If I was trapped in a steel box for 16 hours and had nothing but a portable DVD player and the Step Up films, I’d spend my time trying to punch my way out of the steel box. (don’t @ me, Step Up fans)

Andi’s into the idea though, except she can’t do it because she already has plans for that night with Amber. Andi suggests they do it tonight, but Buffy has plans with Walker.

They decide to postpone this marathon of pain until another time and say they’ll plan out a future date for it. And then they both talk about how crazy it sounds for them to be making plans like some kind of lame adults or something.

20! Hah! Can you imagine? Can you even imagine??

*laughs and laughs and laughs until the laughter turns into tears and now I’m laughing and crying and I don’t know if I can stop* Help me.

Speaking of being old, Bex and Bowie read books on the couch. Bex asks Bowie to hold her foot which makes Bowie feel like they’re an elderly married couple. They swap visions about how cool it’d be to be unaware seniors.

Then Bowie tells Bex he could see her as a grandma...

...which is something I would never say to someone. I don’t care if she’s 100 and wearing a shirt that says “Ask me about my grandchildren!” You let them say they’re a grandma first, and then you always say something like, “You’re a grandma?? That’s crazy! I’d never have guessed!”

All this talk of being old freaks Bex and Bowie out and they decide to get out and have themselves a little romantic evening. The type only young folk have.

Over at one of Cyrus’s houses, Cyrus brings Jonah down to his stepdad’s man cave for some ping pong. Jonah is surprised Cyrus has a ping pong setup, but Cyrus says it’s because until recently his stepdad was using it for civil war reenactments.

Oh so they’ll let Cyrus imitate guns firing but they won’t let him say gay. Ok.

They start to play and Cyrus quickly goes up 3-0.

Suddenly, TJ comes waltzing down the stairs.

Who let him in? Do Cyrus’s parents know him? Does he have a key? Was he already in the house, stalking around like a cat? I like any and all of these possibilities.

Either way, he’s here now. Just in time to congratulate Cyrus on taking a 3-0 lead. He does this by saying, “Niceberg.”

Sorry. Hold up. I gotta rewind.

This’ll just take a second.

Ok. Be right with you.

Alright, just gonna put that in the mail and I’ll be right back.

Ok. Back.

Anyway, long story short, I don’t feel like “Niceberg” is gonna catch on the same way “Underdog” did.

Jonah’s mood immediately flips. He starts looking for any reason to get out of the basement.

Cyrus is like, if this is about the gun thing, we worked that out. Jonah’s like, it’s not about that. I couldn’t care less about that. I had the Metcalf tattoo thing and the Libby thing, I barely even know what happened.

Jonah storms out, leaving Cyrus and TJ in a metaphorical hole of confusion.

Also, like, a literal hole. Because that’s kind of what a basement is? A hole in the ground? I’m trying too hard to be poetic I think. You can’t force art.

Jonah retreats to Red Rooster Records. He wants to know why he wasn’t warned of this surprise TJ. Cyrus is like, I didn’t think I had to.

You’re universally liked and you universally like everyone back. You know, like a Golden Retriever.

Cyrus says TJ’s in between friends right now, what with TJ sending Reed and Lester up the river to Sing Sing to do 10 years hard time.

Jonah says he’ll never be friends with TJ. He says it’s a long and embarrassing story, though I imagine it’s nothing like the embarrassment Alfonso Mazzanti would feel if he saw his record was still sitting unpurchased in this ratty store.

Does no one in Shadyshade have an appreciation for opera anymore?!

Jonah says the story goes all the way back to little league and we get basically a Drunk History retelling of the Jonah/TJ fight, except Jonah’s obviously not drunk, he’s just Jonah, so, you know: Jonah History.

And the story is this: Jonah used to love baseball. He idolized Roberto Clemente. Now, I’m not going to argue Clemente isn’t an all-time great, but I do find it strange that this kid in Shadyside loved a player who spent his entire career in Pittsburgh and died some 40 years before Jonah was even born. Most kids just go with Derek Jeter, but to each his own I guess. Anyway, Jonah wanted a “21″ jersey to be like Clemente.

But before he got to wear it, it was nabbed by a young TJ, from way back before he changed the direction his hair parts.

This leads to an argument where young Jonah gets angwee.

Cyrus asks Jonah if he cried, but Jonah invokes the baseball law laid down by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own: there’s no crying in baseball. Cyrus says that’s just a line from a movie, but since when did he become an expert on sports? Stay in your lane, Cyrus.

Jonah says the jersey thing led to a shoving match that got stopped by his dad (their coach) before it could get too far. Jonah took another jersey, but the emotional scars remained. He couldn’t take the pain of watching TJ playing in his number and Jonah would never play a real sport again, banished forever to a lifetime of frisbee.

Cyrus says Jonah has proclaimed multiple times that Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport, and Jonah’s like, “Yeah...”

...let’s stop lying to ourselves about what frisbee is.

Jonah thinks the whole grudge is stupid, but Cyrus feels that it’s clearly important to him and it’s part of what shaped him as a person, so it can’t be that stupid.

Cyrus wants to figure out why TJ did it. Jonah thinks it’s because he’s permanently mean. Cyrus is like, no, he isn’t. He just has resting mean face.

Jonah feels glad to have talked it out and says he’s ready to let it go, but Cyrus isn’t, more so for TJ’s sake than anyone else’s at this point, I assume.

That night, Andi and Amber walk through a parking lot. Amber asks about the Buffy/Walker situation, which Andi says is still a situation, although she’s feeling less strict about following the Girl Code’s laws to reacting to such situations. They discuss how there’s room for interpretation as far as the Girl Code goes. It’s not exactly the Ten Commandments chiseled into stone.

Andi suddenly realizes they’ve been walking a long time and have somehow found themselves deep in the warehouse district.

Amber leads Andi towards a warehouse party. Andi starts to get a little unsure about this whole thing. As they head for the entrance, a man with facial hair exits.

A man that does not shave on a regular basis is one of the best indicators of questionable behavior in the area. You know the old saying: clean faces, clean hearts.

Amber says it’s a high school party, but not to worry, because she’ll protect Andi. They head inside.

Guys. This high school party. I’m losing my mind. I feel like I could make 1000 gifs of the people dancing in this place. I’m not going to, but I could.

Because this party...

is a party...

for dweebs.

I mean, I get part of the problem. It’s Disney Channel. They aren’t allowed to really show anything, so nothing like underage drinking or whatever. You just have to assume it’s an intimidating party off-screen. Ok. Fine.

But maybe the costume designer could’ve put everyone in less floral prints?

There’s very little that’s intimidating about a floral print unless it’s being worn by some kind of iron fist island dictator.

Andi gets separated real quick from Amber and immediately begins to panic.

Bex and Bowie, meanwhile, take a romantic nighttime carriage ride through the park when they get a text from Andi about the warehouse party.

Bowie asks the carriage driver (conductor? horsier?) to take him to Andi.

I hope he understands these carriages are not taxis. I’m not even sure they’re really street legal.

Bex is surprised to find out Andi snuck off to a warehouse party, but Bowie says at least she came clean to them about it within minutes.

Bex wants to know if the carriage can go faster. Bowie stops the carriage instead and says he’s going to run all the way across town to the Meatpacking District to get their daughter.

Bex stops him and says he’s doing a great job as a dad. Really dadding it up. And then they make out again.

These two. They’re always making out. It’s like, get a room.

Bex sends him to find Andi and he takes off running as the carriage horsier sits in uncomfortable silence.

Bowie finds his way to the warehouse party and runs in with the pitch perfect energy of a dad come to take his teenage daughter away from a party.

Although, and I don’t want to harp on this too much again, but if I was Bowie and walked into this party and this was the first thing I saw...

...I’d breathe a big sigh of relief.

I’d be like, “Oh, thank God: dweebs. It’s a dweeb party. Phew.”

He quickly finds Andi and she asks him what took so long. They start to leave when Amber returns. She’s like, are you leaving? And Bowie’s like, you’re darn tootin’ she’s leaving! Amber tries to take the blame but Bowie says it was Andi’s decision and she’ll take responsibility for it. They leave together.

Outside, Andi thinks Bowie’s whole dad thing was an act, but it turns out he was actually very much in dad mode. He says her behavior has led him to not trust her at this moment and then he throws his hand over his mouth like he just called Andi an expletive by mistake.

Bowie and Andi are shocked by this sudden dad-ness.

Andi promises to never do this again, but Bowie isn’t listening because all he can hear is how much he just sounded like his father. He and Andi both see this as a big moment in their father/daughter relationship, and I guess that sort of releases any of the tension as it seems Bowie actually isn’t going to follow up on any of the punishment talk.

They head off. Bowie tells Andi to call Bex but before she can, Bex shows up in the carriage in the middle of this industrial parking lot like some kind of misplaced Disney Princess.

Andi realizes she’s ruined Bex and Bowie’s date night, but they forgive her and all ride off together.

At Cyrus’s house, Cyrus has brought TJ and Jonah back together to solve this little league thing. TJ thinks it’s crazy. Jonah wants to let it go but TJ doesn’t want Jonah going around rest of his life proclaiming him some kind of jersey thief.

At this point, I was kind of like, “Oh, I actually like TJ’s outfit here.”

But then I was like, “Hold on a second. Enhance.”

That’s a basketball hoop! This is a surprise basketball shirt outfit!

Dammit! I can’t believe how many basketball themed shirts he has in his closet.

Anyway, Cyrus pulls up a picture of the two in little league.

Both Jonah and TJ think this proves their point.

But then Cyrus confirms the jersey number is actually 21 and TJ realizes his dyscalculia has struck again.

He explains to Jonah he’s got a learning disability. That this whole thing has been something of a misunderstanding.

Jonah apologizes for holding onto this grudge for so long and for never thanking him for helping him when he was having a panic attack at the Bash Mitzvah.

TJ notes that everyone has struggles.

Cyrus notes his fear of flamingos, which is not the first thing I’d think of when it comes to him, but I don’t disagree. They have unnaturally thin legs.

I don’t trust them for one second.

Jonah and TJ fist bump to end the grudge.

That was such a great little scene. One, for tying up the TJ/Jonah loose end from the Bash Mitzvah, but two, for showing these characters’ growth. It’s nice to see these two, who had previously been so guarded, be able to discuss their mental health openly without fear or anger, and then support each other.

On the other hand, Jonah’s now told TJ about his anxiety before he’s told Andi about it. I guess she was always going to be the hardest one to tell, but uh... yeah...

Speaking of Andi, she shows up at Buffy’s house with a big ol’ bag of popcorn and a pretty sweet new impression.

She explains the party was no fun, but that Buffy is. She wants to hang with her and participate in her crazy film festival.

They start dancing the night away.

Buffy asks if they’ll still be doing this when they’re 20.

*laughs and cries until I’m suddenly scream-wailing into the night sky for some reason* I’m fine.

They dance and dance until the episode ends.

So I guess there really isn’t going to be any punishment if Bowie and Bex just let Andi go hang out with a friend that very night.

Unless they heard what Buffy’s plans were and decided that was punishment enough.

Sure it seems like fun now, but when she’s at hour 12 of this and the credits are rolling on Step Up 3D and then Buffy goes, “Awesome! Let’s watch it again!”, Andi’s going to be wishing she was grounded.

#Andi Mack #Buffy Driscoll #Cyrus Goodman #Jonah Beck #TJ Kippen #Amber #Bex Mack #Bowie Quinn #Andi #episode recaps

[jmeelee]

CHAPTER 2        [Read Chapter 1 here]

As soon as the sun kisses the shore of the Black Lake, Derek and his pack simultaneously rise from their seats around the common room, heads cocked in a distinctly lupine way, bodies answering a supernatural call Stiles and Lydia can not hear.

“I’d give anything to shift again,” Erica whines. Her body screams run: balled fists, hunched shoulders, muscles taut.

“It’s alright,” Boyd consoles. He reaches out, plants a huge hand on the back of her neck, blunt fingertips rubbing gentle circles into the fine blonde hairs at her nape. Isaac sways closer to her, brushing her sweater-clad shoulder with his own. Derek places one hand on Isaac’s forearm, below the rolled-up sleeve of his white button-down, and the other hand on Boyd’s broad back, completing the circle. Erica closes her eyes, whole body relaxing with a soft exhale. Everything, from their silent, comforting gestures to Boyd’s tender tone, broadcasts their connection, the bonds of devotion and friendship between them. Jealousy rears its monstrous head, spitting fire and scraping talons along the inside of Stiles’ rib cage, hoarding every affectionate gesture. You used to be that close to Derek; you should have Derek’s trust and love.

He buries the feelings and memories unearthed by the intimate scene, and falls back on his standard, reliable line of defense: being a sarcastic asshole. Stiles leans into Lydia’s personal space and mock whispers out of the side of his mouth, “That was kind of creepy.”

Lydia smacks him in the chest, hard, without sparing him a cursory glance.

Derek drops both hands from Isaac and Boyd like they’re on fire, and crosses his arms over his chest, directing angry eyebrow at Stiles. “You always knew how to ruin a moment, Stiles. Glad to find nothing has changed.” Derek is a sarcastic asshole, too, a trait Stiles likes to imagine he is at least partly responsible for. Derek stalks to the common room door, throwing it open for his friends to pass through. “Everyone knows the plan?” Five heads nod. “Good. It’s time to go.”

Derek’s decision to shed his skin and become something other never surprised Stiles; Derek had been questioning his place in the magical world before he’d ever received his Hogwarts letter. He hadn’t minded listening to Derek bemoan the lengthy, arduous process—mandrake leaves, electrical storms and all sorts of impossibly unique tasks. What he did mind was Derek’s new transformation skill came with more than additional body hair; it came with Erica, Boyd and Isaac, who, in Stiles’ loudly-voiced opinion, embodied the worst aspects of Ravenclaw House.

“You don’t even know them.” Derek had spit the words at Stiles’ feet in the Entrance Hall. Scores of voices, distorted and distant, filtered through the heavy doors of the Great Hall, a chaotic soundtrack to the dissolution of their friendship. “As if your Gryffindor girlfriend is any better?” Derek jeered. “Or Scott McCall?”

Stiles saw red. “Scott’s more puppy than snake, and you know it! And for the last time, her name is Lydia and she’s not my girlfriend!”

“Whatever.” Derek had run a thick-fingered hand through his hair, pulling at the roots in frustration, causing it to stick up in all directions. Stiles took grim satisfaction in the chaotic locks, so opposite from Derek’s usual polished exterior. “If you have a problem with my friends, than you have a problem with me.”

“Fine! If your obnoxious, revolting Ravenclaws are so important to you, go sprout a tail and piss on trees with them, and leave me and my friends the hell alone.” Stiles sneered, and uttered the words that would haunt him for almost two years. “That way I won’t have to see it.”

Derek sucked in a breath, turning hurt, wild eyes on Stiles’ stone-cold face. He’d clutched his Charms textbooks to his robe-covered chest. “So much for always. You were full of shit, as usual.” He’d spun on his heels, and marched away.

Now, as everyone drifts out of the common room, Stiles is rooted to the spot, a terrifying stray thought freezing the blood in his veins; if they fail tonight, Stiles will never get the chance to see Derek in his wolf form. Lydia heads for the door Derek holds open, but pauses when she realizes Stiles isn’t following her.

“Stiles, what is it?” she asks, raking shrewd eyes over his immobile form.

Even half hidden by a mask, Stiles can tell two bushy eyebrows are raised in question above Derek’s green-gold eyes, his fingers grip the door so hard they turn bone-white. Derek’s face will always be a Marauder's Map to Stiles, spilling secrets, no matter how much time passes. Derek thinks Stiles has second thoughts about helping him, but that isn’t the case. The brick wall Stiles erected around his heart to keep Derek at bay has been cracked and crumbling from the start, patched together with stubbornness and spite, and tonight, regret for all the time he’s wasted claws at the mortar.  

Stiles looks to Lydia, blinking fast, mouth gaping but no words spilling forth to express all the what if’s bottle-necking in his throat. “I know,” she says, firm but gentle, and the rare softness in her voice dispels his panic, “but you’ll get the chance.”

Derek glances between them, mouth tight. His shoulders fall. “Come on, guys. We have a long night ahead of us.”

*****

They tiptoe through hidden corridors, avoiding detection from portraits and professors, and skirt along the outer walls of the castle, flying past Hagrid’s hut on fleet feet. It amazes him there isn’t a path worn permanently in the grass leading down the hill past the Whomping Willow. He and Derek traipsed this exact route countless times, courting adventure—and a fair share of trouble—over the years. They broach the shadowy tree line as sunset slips from the sky, where thick spring foliage swallows the last of the warm, dying rays. Stiles shivers, partly from the temperature drop under the leafy canopy, and partly from the ominous feeling of the Forbidden Forest settling into his bones. The reasons this place is off limits to students have never felt more consequential.

Boyd and Isaac lead the way down the dark path, conversing quietly, dead leaves and twigs snapping under their loafers. Derek and Lydia walk together, heads bent close, rehashing the plan yet again. The familiar scents of damp earth and Lydia’s perfume wafts toward Stiles on a cool, fragrant breeze. Glimmering eyes follow their progress from hollow tree trunks, as Stiles lags behind the group, with Erica keeping pace.

“I stand by what I said,” she declares, boldly.

Stiles rolls his eyes, side-stepping a gnarled tree root. “And what was that, exactly? When you told me I looked like a wart-faced toad during the Yule ball?” Stiles smirks. “Or was it when I scored higher than you on all my O.W.L.’s, and you told me to eat slugs?”

Derek quickly glances back when Erica laughs, loud and carefree. Be nice, he mouths. Stiles isn’t sure which of them he’s admonishing.

“Neither.” She playfully punches Stiles in the shoulder, with a bit more force than necessary. “In the common room tonight, when I said you were supposedly the best wizard Hogwarts had seen in ages. I still can’t believe someone so clever could be dumb enough to drop his best friend like a sack of potatoes.”

Stiles bristles, eyes grimly focused on a lone grey squirrel scampering up the bark of a tree, loudly announcing to the world that it’s late for bed. “I’d call it a ‘mutual dropping’.” He makes air quotes. “Derek didn’t like Scott and Lydia, and I didn’t like you three. Still don’t.” Stiles bites the inside of his lips. “It was better to part ways,” he says in a softer voice. “Not all childhood friendships last.”

A rude noise escapes from under Erica’s mask. “Well that’s bullshit. Did Derek actually say he hated Lydia or Scott? Did he ever utter those words?”

“Well no, but—”

“Because he didn’t. He doesn’t. He resented the time you were spending with them. He’s not like you, Stiles. Derek doesn’t make friends easily. People don’t flock to him like they do to you.” She appreciatively eyes Derek's pert backside. “Despite how good looking he is.”

“Don’t try to distract me with Derek’s perfect butt. We hate each other, and Boyd and Isaac don’t tolerate me either. There was as much bad blood on your end as there is on mine. You three think you’re better than me, better than everyone.”

She scoffs. “Don’t tell me you buy in to the rubbish about our house placements determining our personalities. If someone has shown me kindness, I return the favor. You’re not my favorite person at Hogwarts, I’ll admit, but that wasn’t always the case. In third year, I tried to be your partner in potions.”

“What?!” Stiles’ incredulous eyebrows can rival Derek’s. “You did not. I’d remember.”

“I thought you were smart and funny. I thought we could get top marks in class if we worked together. I certainly didn’t think I was better than you. You didn’t even notice me. So I thought, why waste my time liking this guy if he only cares about himself?”

Stiles stops walking, turning to face her fully in the feeble light of green glowing insects and a waxing crescent moon. Overhead, branches bang against each other like drumsticks in the hands of a giant. “I don’t only care about myself.”

Erica pauses, contemptible smile full of sharp white teeth beneath her gold mask. “Oh, sorry. You, Lydia Martin and Scott McCall. Derek Hale didn’t make the cut.”

He sucks in a noseful of wild herbs and rotting wood. “That’s so unfair.”

She takes one step closer, a pine cone splintering under her foot, chin jutted high and feet planted wide. “When we all started to spend more time together, I asked Derek why he hung around with you; you were so self-involved. Do you want to know what he said?”

“Not really, but I’m guessing you’re going to tell me anyway.” All around them, the cacophony of the forest falls silent; no buzzing insects, no hooting owls or the flutter of unseen wings, no foraging of animals in the detritus. The eerie silence lends itself to Erica’s ominous admission.

“He told me, Stiles is the most loyal friend in the world.”

Stiles stares at Derek’s back, growing further away with each heartbeat. His fingers itch for his wand, for the orange and purple ropes of a Carpe Retractum, something to force the distance between them to close. “It was a mistake.” The whispered confession loosens something in his chest. “I’ve missed him every day.”

“Hey guys!” Boyd pivots, squinting in the low light and yells, hands cupped around his mouth. “Hurry up! It’s right here.” He points to a trailing canopy of moss.

Erica pushes Stiles forward. “Maybe tell the guy? Before we all get trapped in the Faerie Realm and dance ourselves to death.”

They march on, but a few yards from the rest of the group Erica grabs Stiles’ shoulder, halting his progress. “And Stiles?”

“Yeah?” He doesn’t think he’s imagining the softening of the hard lines around her mouth when she looks at him. It’s minute, but a spark of hope ignites in his chest.

“Derek missed you too.”

*****

Lydia digs the invisibility cloak out of her satchel. “You don’t have to do this,” Stiles tells her, grabbing hold of her forearms and bending down slightly to peer into her eyes. They’ve been over the plan a hundred times, but he still needs her to know. “You could stay out here, go for help if we don’t return.”

She shakes her head, strawberry-blond tresses trailing along her shoulders. “Who else is going to save the day if you fuck this up?” She throws her arms around his shoulders and squeezes him tightly.

The cloak falls over her head, removing her from sight. “So, Stiles?”

“Yeah?” He answers the disembodied voice in front of him.

“Don’t fuck up.”

Isaac reaches out, pushes through a thick canopy of vines hanging from an old, tall oak tree, and Stiles shudders as he steps over the threshold of a world outside their own—a strange and wonderful twilight kingdom. A reverent hush falls over their entourage.

Stiles has never witnessed anything like it—and he’s grown up with magic. A silver forest stretches ahead of them, as far as the eye can see. When they’d been in the human world, the moon was almost new, a sliver of pale yellow light, but now a full moon leads them down a narrow footpath. Under the moonlight the pure silver leaves sparkle and dance like musical chimes. Stiles hears the sound of violins far in the distance, so faint he wonders if he’s imagining them. Stiles spins in circles, eyes darting from one gleaming branch to another.

A warm, fragrant breeze scented with jasmine fills the air when they draw clear of the silver trees, and come to a dazzling forest of gold. Thousands of gold leaves catch the light of the moon, turning the world to bright golden day instead of silver night. The music is clearer now, closer, and Stiles catches the sounds of many different instruments playing a beguiling tune.

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Stiles says, fighting a euphoric smile.

Derek steps beside him. “Just wait.”

Finally, they cross into another forest, far more stunning than the others, where glittering diamonds cluster on every leaf. It’s as though all the stars in the heavens rained down to rest on the leaves.

Stiles can’t help himself; he laughs, overcome with delight. Every time a diamond catches the light the moon shatters hundreds of tiny rainbows over the entrancing world they’re traveling deeper and deeper into. Stiles stretches out his arms, watching them play on his skin.

He cups a few in his palm, holds them up for Derek to inspect, like they’re kids again, discovering magic together. “Look.”

Derek never takes his eyes off Stiles’ face. “Beautiful,” he says.

Stiles drops his hands to his sides, sobering. “Derek, I owe you an a—”

“I need to tell you something,” Derek says at the same time.

They blink at each other. “You first,” Stiles says.

Derek reaches up and plucks a sprig of diamond off a low-hanging branch. “What if… I think I…”. He sighs, tossing the priceless jewels away. “When we came here, the first night, I felt like you do right now; overcome. I try my best, all the time, everyday, not to think about you, but when I saw this I…”

His rainbow-dappled mask turns toward Stiles. “I wished you could see it. I wished you could be here with me. I swear, I never said it out loud but… here you are, all the same. What if my wish brought you here? Put you and Lydia in danger? If something happens, and we can’t leave, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Derek.” Stiles steps closer. “You didn’t bring me here. I brought me here. And I should have been here”-he gestures between them-“all along.”

The music grows stronger, drowning out Stiles thundering heart, and all at once Derek and his pack turn toward the sound, the same unsettling hive mind behavior from earlier in the night.

One second, they’re alone, then Stiles blinks and a handsome man stands before him.

At first, all he can register is silky black hair, a strong jaw, gentle, piercing eyes a kaleidoscope of green-gold-blue, but the harder Stiles looks, the more his appearance changes. Every time he blinks, it’s like starting all over again. Stiles shakes his head, trying to clear it, as the man steps up to him and bows deeply, taking one of Stiles’ hands between his ice-cold fingers. “Ah, you’ve brought a guest tonight,” the King says, eyes playful but shrewd. He kisses the captured appendage with plush lips, and the feeling of a thousand tiny ants crawling beneath his skin ripples out from the spot.

“You must be Stiles.”

#sterek #eternalsterek #haleinski #stiles x derek #sterek fanfic #the link to the story on AO3 is in the comments #sorry if I put an outside link on my posts they won't show up in tags

[waypathfinder]

Crimson Lane - Chapter 20 - Twilight

Beta’d by @kathknight and @ashtyntaytertot

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Chapter Text 

And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes in a hundred worlds in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you  

—Kiersten White, The Chaos of Stars  

The grand old place had fallen into disrepair. Lawns infested with weeds, the pond had flooded and at least a dozen shutters had half-fallen off their hinges. Ben wiped his boots on the steps, trying to kick away a layer of mud. There used to be a welcome mat here, he knew this as it was his job to beat the dust and dirt from it every week, but now there was nothing but scuffed concrete, cracked with weeds, covered in muddy footprints.

He was responsible for it all, another failure, like notches on a belt, they wrapped around him, squeezing the air from his lungs some days, other times it held him together, an identity that gave him certainty.

Much had changed here, but the spirit of the place remained; elegant but austere in this place of nature with its white-washed walls, keeping watch over the cliffs that overlooking a wild sea.

A growl of thunder rolled from the horizon. Ben pulled his coat across his chest as a fresh slap of wind billowed his hair and slammed the shutters against the windows.

He hadn't knocked yet. He'd travelled over a hundred kilometres to get here but the space between himself and the door was like a step between worlds.

Leia's voice came from inside and he froze, the sound of it hit him in the heart. She could be gentle, away from the public spotlight, forgiving to a fault, unyielding in her opinion, ferocious in her defence.

And God, he had missed her.

Ben reached his hand towards the door, ready to knock, while his other hand buried deep in his pocket. The door opened.

A gust of wind rallied the trees behind him, and Ben's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he struggled to find something to say.

For a woman who was grander than life, Leia's stature had always betrayed her. She'd answered the door in her nightgown, a long white robe that reminded him of childhood days, her grey hair, rarely loose, tossed behind her shoulders.

She gasped, hand clasped over her mouth in shock.

Twelve years old again, shame coloured his face and he averted his gaze, slipping his free hand back into his pocket.

Why did she have to look at him like that? Brown eyes shining with tears, pale lips cracked with aged lines and parted in shock.

He shot a fleeting glance back at her, pulling his hands out of his pockets and balling them into fists, swallowing an overwhelming urge to vomit over her petunias.

She had changed too much, grown older. And, even more unnerving was the fact she was speechless.

He opened his mouth … hi, I've missed you, I'm sorry …

But instead.

"Senator Organa-Solo lost for words? That's a first."

Shit.

It was a jerk thing to say, but she was making him nervous.

"Ben," she whispered in awe and from the corner of his eye he saw her hand lift, as if she would caress his cheek.

"Yeah, well, I've —" He scrunched his face. He shouldn't have come back. He went to turn away but this time she stopped him, pressing her warm hand against his cheek and forcing him to face her.

One touch was all it took. He broke like a piece of clay crumbling in the hands of his maker.

"I messed up, mum." They were barely words, rather jumbled gasping breaths.

"Oh, my boy—" She pulled his head to her shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. "You came home."

Rey leant her forehead against the car window. The glass was bitingly cold and vibrated against her forehead. Finn had warned her the drive would be long, just over an hour, to a place she'd only ever known by name for its massive estates and ocean cliffs, Chandrila.

The world shifted, from grey hues of the city to clean-cut lines of suburbia, and onto large homes on acreages sitting atop velvet green hills.

Her eyes lazily opened and closed, giving in to the overwhelming fatigue. On the horizon, curtains of grey mist reached down to the ocean, blurring the line between sea and sky. Clouds and sunlight painting it from turquoise blue to navy grey.

She wound the window down and the icy wind whipped against her face.

Lost in a sensory shower of sea salt and ozone, her mind wandered. What had happened to Ben after she left?

She would have called him right after her talk with Maz, but if that number belonged to the First Order, or worse, Snoke, she wouldn't risk it.

What would she have said to him, anyway? He'd tried to explain the truth to her and now it was with some shame that she acknowledged a part of her would never have accepted what he had to say this morning. Not then. Not from him. The reality of knowing what really happened that night had broken her. It was like every bad thing in her life had led to that point, the memory that had fired and moulded her into who she was and what she believed.

He'd broken her apart and now her soul rebuilding itself on new foundations, her understanding of the world, skewed in a new light.

"Are you alright, peanut?"

"Yeah." She put the window up and hugged her arms with a gentle smile. "I'm good."

"I hope you don't mind being dragged out to this interview?"

"Are you kidding? I love seeing you in action."

A smile crept onto Finn's lips and he straightened in his seat. It was so easy to shift gears with Finn; for a moment in time, she could find the part of herself that was always happy, no matter what life threw at her.

It wasn't true. But everybody wore a mask, not just monsters.

"So… What's your status now anyway—you got a girlfriend?" She flashed a mischievous smile in his direction. "Boyfriend?"

"Oh my God. That was once!"

"I know."

"In college."

"I remember," she giggled.

"I was very drunk."

"You told me."

"And curious..."

"You don't need to defend yourself to me," she said, trying to placate him now he'd given her the rise she knew that was coming. "There's nothing wrong with being curious."

"Geez, Rey, I told you that in confidence."

"And I've never told a soul."

"I like girls," he said. "Like, a lot."

"Okay, okay," she laughed. "I just thought, you know, Poe's a handsome guy and you work pretty closely together."

"Poe's married with kids, and his wife is a researcher at the paper!"

Rey nodded, pressing her lips together. The noise of the car dulled into a quiet roar as they came onto the smooth road leading to Chandrila.

Finn exhaled, as though he'd been holding his breath.

"Look, I know in the past I might have swung both ways…" He glared at Rey, daring her to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. "But I haven't met that someone yet. I thought I had but life just pans out differently than we think it will sometimes… "

He gave her a pointed look and returned to concentrating on the road ahead, leaving those unsaid words to fall into oblivion.

Rey stared at her hands. At some point, she had started wringing them together. There was nothing to say, they'd been here before and he knew, as well as she did, that sometimes you can love someone but still only ever see them as a friend.

And now, she'd felt what the other end of that spectrum was like, when you loved someone so much that the boundaries between the two of you blurred. Rapture, belonging … coming home after never having one…

"How about you?" Finn asked, back to his happy self again. "Got a boyfriend, a cute boyfriend?"

Rey's stomach dropped, and she stared straight ahead.

"Well?"

Cute boyfriend? No, Ben was hardly what she would call a cute boyfriend.

"It's complicated," she deadpanned.

"Isn't it always? What's he like?"

What was Ben like? He was darkness, and light, and shadow all mixed together. Intense and achingly expressive. Strong and vulnerable. Beautiful and terrifying. He wasn't any one thing, he was everything. How could she come close to describing such a man?

Rey cleared her throat. "Tall."

"He's tall?"

"Yep." She nodded, gluing her eyes on the dashboard.

"And … that's it?"

"Yep." Couldn't she just hide in a hole now? Anything was better than answering these questions.

"Wow," Finn said, nodding. "Wow." He turned to her, those wide friendly lips bubbling in a smile. "He sounds amazing, Rey."

She cracked, laughter breaking the tension. They only stopped when there was a loud bang beneath them and the car began to tilt with a recurring thump.

"Ah, crap!" Finn stuck his head out the window, trying to see the damage.

"What was that?"

"I dunno. But it's blown the tyre." He looked back again. "I don't have time for this."

"It's okay. I can change it for you. You got a spare?"

Finn sunk into the driver's seat, avoiding her gaze. "That was the spare."

"Oh."

The thumping sound slowed as the car pulled over to the side, crawling along the shoulder in the shadow of wind-tossed maple trees that let through tiny pinpricks of rain every time a gale blew.

"Tell me again, what did they teach in that military academy you went to?"

"How to kick butt, that's what! Care for me to show you?"

"Bring it on, soldier. I'll take you!" Rey laughed, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.

They got out of the car, jostling and laughing until they were holding their sides and out of breath.

Meanwhile, the ash-coloured rain clouds had swarmed overhead, covering them with light rain and mist.

Rey wiped the light droplets from her forehead. "Seriously though, what are we going to do? You can't miss your interview."

Finn stared at the car, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Not much we can do. I'll call Poe and let him know what's happened. But first, I need to pee."

He wandered away from the road and into the bush.

Rey shivered, listening to the melodious rumble of thunder rolling overhead like a giant stone. The wind picked up, blowing a sleeting rush of rain across her cheeks. In the distance, she could hear another vehicle and when she looked up a pair of lights were coming at them from the end of the road.

She looked back at Finn. He hadn't even noticed the car. It was travelling far faster than the speed limit and as it approached, the warm yellow lights bounced off the slick grey road creating a line of light before it.

Rey bit her lip, calculating a risk. In a flash, she'd shoved her thumb in the air, walking backwards along the side of the road, eyes fixed on the oncoming car.

Tyres screeched on wet bitumen and she held her breath as the eighties-style silver car with butterfly doors came to a sharp stop beside her.

A Millennium Falcon. She beamed at it, as Finn ran up to meet her.

"Are you mad?" he hissed. "He could be a psycho, a murderer, a…"

Finn closed his mouth as the driver's side window came down with a whir.

Rey strolled up to it, ignoring the way Finn pawed at her hand to come back. "Thanks for stopping."

"You could have given me more warning," a male voice grated out the window.

"I wasn't sure you would have stopped," she said, catching sight of an overactive Newfoundland dog dashing around the back seat in a blur of hazelnut-coloured fur. "Aren't you a beautiful guy!"

The dog barked at her excitedly, trying to nuzzle past the front seat to lick her.

The driver got out, walking over to her with a slight bend in his back, straightening with each step.

"His name's Chewie, and don't be fooled, he'll rip your arms out of its sockets if you cross him."

"I wouldn't believe that for a minute."

Finn came up to meet them, wiping his hands on his pants.

"We blew a tyre back there," Rey said. "Can you help us out?"

"I don't think—" Finn began but even as he spoke the man flipped the front seat forward indicating for him to get in.

"I'll take you as far as the next petrol station. Where are you headed?"

"You probably won't even know it," Finn rushed. Rey noted the way he'd brushed his eyes over the car, lingering on the ripped leather seats and rubbish scattered on the floor. "It's just one of the houses around here…"

"Try me." Han was gruff and Rey suspected he'd also noticed the way Finn had looked at the car like she was a pile of junk. If only he knew. A Millennium Falcon was far more than outward appearances. It was the way she moved, the speed, the old-world devil-may-care character —

"Senator Organa-Solo. I've got an appointment with her."

Rey's mouth hung in shock. "You do?"

Finn nodded, buoyed by her reaction.

"Yeah. It's a pretty big deal."

"Well, big deal, jump on in. I'm on my way home, anyway."

Home?

Rey stared at the man, noticing the familiar long nose and narrow face. Time had worn away some of his good looks, but it didn't take much imagination to see the man that he once was. Han Solo, four-time winner of the Kessel Run, a notorious scoundrel—

Ben's dad.

"You're lucky I found you, the Senator doesn't like to be kept waiting. Get in back. We're not more than five minutes away."

Han stepped back, holding the door open for Rey as she scrambled in the front seat, no longer able to meet his eye.

Her hands shook as she secured the belt, heat rising in her cheeks.

"So, what's your story?"

"Mine?" she stammered. "I don't have a story."

"Right. What's your name then, kid?"

"Rey." She flicked her eyes up at him before pulling the door closed and trying not to gauge his reaction. "You know, with an 'e'."

He held his chin, nodding, and for a fleeting moment, Rey had the startling realisation that he'd seemed to recognise her name. But when Han got in the driver's chair, he just he revved the engine and said: "Rey? What kind of name is that?"

Rey had never seen such richness in her life. The estate and its grounds were breathtaking, even under the grey hue of the passing rain clouds. All around them, long verdant grass stretched out before them. Before the mansion was a pond, flooded from earlier downpours; even now raindrops tickled the surface of the water in tiny radiating waves. A worn fountain lay at its centre, dripping a steady stream of water like a leaking tap. They stood before the oak doors as Han wiped his muddy boots on the cement and ushered them inside.

The sound of Rey's heart competed with the roar of thunder as she stepped over the threshold into what must have been Ben's childhood home. Han showed them through a long narrow corridor lined with photo frames, while Chewie nuzzled into the back of her hand.

She felt a stab of pain as she spotted the familiar flop of black hair in the photos, each one of them sending an electric charge to her heart. With every step, she passed a story of Ben's life, as he transformed from a stocky, doe-eyed toddler with grazed knees to an awkward teenager who hadn't grown into his long arms and legs. The last photo was of Ben in his karate uniform, smiling proudly, his parents on either side of him sharing his enthusiasm.

That was the last photo they had of him. The rest of the hallway was empty, hospital-white in contrast, like life had stopped from that point.

By the time they reached the end of the hall, Rey noticed the older woman with salt-and-pepper hair and a regal expression standing in the lounge room. Rey's breath caught at the sight of her. Ben's mother. Yes, she could see the resemblance in her dark, intelligent eyes and the proud way she held herself. This was a woman who would never bow before anyone. She was magnificent. There was no other word that came to mind.

"You must be Finn. I'm so happy you got here safely. Poe called me about your car troubles." She turned to him. "It was lucky Han found you on his way back from town."

"Senator Organa-Solo, it's an honour."

"Call me Leia, please." She turned to Rey then, regarding her with an odd expression. "And you are...?"

"Rey." The word was blurted out, and she pushed her hand towards the Senator a little overzealously. Finn raised an eyebrow at her, but she dared not look at him. She already knew she was being awkward. "I'm here as a friend to Finn."

Leia reached her hand, wrapping it in her own, a smile spreading across lips and sparkling in her eyes. "Rey," she repeated. "I'm very happy to meet you."

The tight press of Leia's hands filled Rey with warmth and time slowed to a crawl. How lucky Ben was to have a mother. Did he even know what a blessing that was?

Rey blinked, pushing the thought of him away.

"Rey's helping me on the Snoke story, too."

"I see," Leia nodded. A small line spread across her brow as she indicated for them to sit.

Finn pulled out his notepad and phone, and the sky burst with loud clamouring rain, pelting against the glass.

For a moment, Leia's guarded expression faltered as she looked to Han, who was already staring out into the grounds, pacing like the scurrying raindrops making lines down the windows. He turned back to Leia, shaking his head, and she sat back in her chair, mask back on.

"So, Senator Organa-Solo—Leia, I wanted to ask you about your decision to return to politics after all these years?"

Leia cleared her throat, her voice was low and rusty, like she had spent a lifetime delivering speeches. "I hadn't planned on returning, but when I see our political system being flaunted and abused by the current government with their hands chained to the pockets of larger corporations, I couldn't stand by any longer. It has gone on long enough."

Leia looked up at Han, but he was not listening. Instead, he still paced by the window, growing more and more restless.

"It has been … difficult on my family," she said haltingly. "But they stand by my decision to run again…"

"Your family is happy with your decision?" Rey could have slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Finn peered at her with an expression as if to say what the hell?

"Yes, I believe so," Leia answered stiffly.

"All of them?" She couldn't stop herself, her words were like knee-jerk reactions.

Leia's face twitched. "My husband has always supported my political career."

"And your son?"

What the hell was possessing her to keep going?

"My son?"

Rey sighed. She'd dug this hole, she may as well keep going. "Doesn't taking up the helm of the Resistance put him in a position to be under more scrutiny, or worse, blackmailed?" She stumbled at her words. "'Them', I mean to say. Not 'him'."

Finn choked, poking her in the side with a sharp but subtle elbow jab.

"Excuse me?" Leia seemed incredulous at the line of questioning, her gaze searching for Han even more so, almost demanding him to look at her. But he wasn't there anymore and through the heavy lines of rain, Rey could make out his form heading out into the grounds.

Leia composed herself, not missing a beat. "I've always kept my son out of the media spotlight."

"But that hasn't stopped him from being a target though." The words rushed out of her again.

Rey's flushed with colour, astounded at how defensive she had gotten.

There was a beat and Leia stood then, smiling at them both. "Give me a minute, please."

She left the room, opening the French glass door panels and standing under a small alcove. Leia's outline glowed beneath a dull outside light, lines of rain provided a backdrop to her stoic figure, drowning out every other sound.

Eventually, Han emerged, running slightly, out of breath. He leant in close to her ear; they could have been shouting for all Rey could hear amidst the constant clamour of the rainstorm. Leia raised her chin, brows furrowed as she spoke to Han, and biting her lip when she listened. Rey leant forward, trying to imagine she could lip-read, and that's when Leia looked straight at her.

Rey turned away in a flash, only to be faced with a very angry-looking Finn.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh?" she asked, refusing to meet his eye.

"Why are you asking her about her son? Everyone knows she doesn't like to talk about him."

Rey shook her head, overcome with shame. The last thing she wanted was to mess this up for Finn … but, being here, before his parents, knowing what challenges Ben was facing alone right now. How could she not fight for him if no one else would?

"I'm sorry," she whispered back. "But don't you think it's worth asking?"

"No," Finn said through gritted teeth. "Not if it will cost us the whole interview. The only reason Leia agreed to do this was as a special favour to Poe."

Leia returned from outside. As she did a fresh zephyr of wind swept in through the sitting room. The cloud burst had passed now, leaving only a small drizzle of mist-like rain floating in the outside air once more.

Her mask was unreadable. She was seasoned at concealing her expressions, something her son had never learnt.

Nor Rey, obviously.

She attempted to apologise when Leia spoke up, interrupting them.

"Do you know my son?" she asked, the question to both of them, but Leia clearly directed the words at Rey.

"We met in town the other day," Finn replied.

"And you?" Rey's cheeks glowed at the way Leia stared her down, almost like she knew what they had done together in the privacy of her apartment.

"As Finn said," she mumbled. "Poe introduced us."

"He must have made quite an impression on you then."

Rey gaped, speechless for the first time.

"I—"

Fuck. She scrambled for words and every one of them failed her.

"I appreciate your concern with my family," Leia said. "But you won't find what you're looking for here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ..."

Oh, God. She had messed this up so much.

"Perhaps, you could take a walk about the grounds while Finn and I finish this. The rain has stopped now. Who knows, it might give you the answers you're looking for."

Was she really being kicked out? Rey's face felt hot with humiliation and guilt. Without saying another word, she got up and walked over to the double bay doors where Han waited, smiling.

"Don't be offended, she gets very defensive about Ben," he said, and then raising his voice again. "And she likes to order people about. It gives her something to do."

"I'll give you something to do, you scoundrel" Leia snapped at Han, but her expression was fresh, all mischievous joy. "Where should Rey go?"

Han and Leia's exchanged a look, and Rey could have sworn there was some kind of conspiracy brewing between them. Han opened the door, handing her a large golf umbrella.

"There's a small pond by the cliff face. It looks out over the ocean. You'll find it if you head north through the rose garden and cross the bridge over the brook," he said, adding, "You'll know it when you see it."

Rey nodded, glancing back at Finn one last time. He was now deep in conversation with Leia, scribbling notes on his pad without even noticing she was leaving.

She sighed, pushing open the umbrella and with a fleeting smile at Han, embraced her banishment.

Rey slipped off a pair of shoes and stepped out onto the wet grass. It was freeing to be outside, no longer in danger of saying or doing the wrong thing. Overhead, a breathy roar of wind thrashed through the canopies of silver eucalyptus trees. The daylight was fading into twilight, with the sun trapped between grey storm clouds and a grey sea.

She began walking, enjoying the way her toes sunk into the overgrown grass. The air was crisper and brighter now that the rain had passed. She stepped over a small bridge that passed an overflowing brook, and she cleaned her feet in the water, listening to the sounds of nature coming back to life after the downpour.

Seagulls called from the cliff face, frogs croaked by the pond and the wind continued to roar like distant rivers, the quiet backdrop to it all.

Rey let the sounds fill her senses, and it didn't take long until her thoughts turned inward, thinking back to the morning when she and Ben had made love. For one moment, she had been so blissfully, divinely happy.

Perhaps they could have that again.

Even after … everything.

She felt close to him here, walking through the grounds of his childhood. Longing for him to be here, telling her where he used to play as a boy, the secret hideaways and mystical forests that made up imaginings of youth.

In the dim light ahead there was a large pond that stretched out to the edge of the cliff, dotted with fading solar lights and white lilies. The young trees around the edge cast long slim shadows on the ground, shivering and swaying dark shapes upon the ground.

But one of those shadows moved against the others.

Rey squinted, trying to make it out … large, hands in pockets, hair wet and stuck to his long thoughtful face, his gaze fixed to the ground.

Rey pressed a hand over her heart. How long had he been out here in the rain? Did he even know she was here?

"Ben!" she cried out.

He froze, slowly turning to see her. His face was pale and shiny with rain. Even in the darkness, she could see how he shivered.

Ben hadn't moved, and nor had she. Then she felt a wave of tenderness wash over her and the stillness shattered. She ran, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him everywhere she could reach.

Chilled hands pressed into the small of her back, tucking her into his body.

"What are you doing here?" his voice croaked, barely audible. "I thought—"

"You saved me!" She pressed her cheek to his chest, holding him close as her breath came in halted sobs. "Thank you."

#crimson lane #reylo #reylo au #save ben solo #reylo fan fic #reylo fan fic rec #angst #angst with a happy ending #reylo angst