#i hope moving forward she is able to find a balance in being there for her mom and caring for her own needs as well

[c0nfessions-of-a-writing-freak]

Tingling Screeches

Pairing: Clarisse La Rue x Fem!Reader

Word count: 1.1k

Summary: After having the brilliant idea to watch a movie with your long-term crush at camp, things don't necessarily go your way as you get reminded just how much you hate horror movies.

Bingo: @eclipsingbingo with the square 'Horror Movie'

*Gif does not belong to me

Even though it was the middle of the day at Camp Half-Blood, your cabin was empty. Save for you and Clarisse of course. With the artful act of bribery, you were able to convince all of your half brothers and sisters to leave the small building completely empty for the next few hours all so you and Clarisse could watch one of the latest horror movies to come out.

It had taken some time trying to set everything up. Finding someone to supply you with a fully functioning laptop was one thing, but asking Clarisse to actually join you was another, even if you never explicitly asked her on a date, more of just a hangout. But you had done it and now you were sitting with her by your side cramped onto one of the bunk beds while the laptop sat in between the two of you.

Your choice of location for the laptop hadn't been the best as it left a good distance between you both, leaving no room for accidental shoulder brushes, though the popcorn that had also been propped between them could lead to some hand grazing. Still, it would be filled with butter.

The movie hadn't been the best decision either. When recommending a horror movie, you did it with the intent to spark Clarisse's interest, which you easily did since you had heard her talking about this movie in passing to her friends. But actually sat in front of it and watched the gruesome deaths of most of the cast, you were starting to think you picked something a little more suiting to your own tastes.

Every few seconds you seemed to jump, a quick thrash backwards into the pillow as if trying to push yourself away from the movie like you would do if on a quest and a monster was looming over you. You could feel your fight or flight instincts kicking in and though your body screamed at you to leave or at least turn off the movie, instead you ignored those feelings and stared forward, hoping that Clarisse was getting at least some enjoyment out of all of this.

When another scene flicked onto the screen, your immediate reaction was to whirl back, you felt a shift in the bed as the popcorn was moved and pushed to the end of the bunk along with the laptop. Your confusion was enough to draw you away from the movie as you looked over at Clarisse who seemed to be getting up.

You blew it, was the first thought that came to mind as you saw what you thought was Clarisse getting up. To your surprise though, she instead scooted herself over, plopping herself down directly next to you. Shocked, you couldn't utter a peep but had enough power to stare at Clarisse as she brought the food and movie back, balancing them on her legs before getting comfortable next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders in the process.

"What?" Clarisse muttered in a low drawl once she noticed your eyes and how they hadn't turned back to the movie. If you hadn't known what to say before, you were rendered speechless now. Up this close, you could see every spec of flaming brown in Clarisse's eyes, the way her hair coiled and how her lips tinged. Instead of taking your silence as being breathless, she took it as a challenge. "Can I not do something nice?"

"Of course you can," The words rushed out of you, quick to try and ease any growing tensions within Clarisse. Though they may have been rushed out, they seemed to do the job as Clarisse relaxed a little bit further, fully leaning against you while also pulling you closer as she turned to watch the movie.

You were content to stare at her for a few more moments before her voice came barreling towards you, "Watch the movie."

Then your head snapped back, eyes landing on the screen at the perfect time for a jump scare to come a few seconds later. A quick exhale of air as all the oxygen left your lungs matched with a small jump was your usual response to a certain scene like this.

Only this time, Clarisse had her arm wrapped around you, her fingers drawing circles into your skin as a comforter as she never drew her eyes off the movie. And by some miracle, you felt whatever she was doing starting to work.

Every time a new jumpscare or particularly gory scene was meant to pop up, Clarisse seemed to know in advance as she shifted, putting you in a position where there was no need to jump back as her comforting hold was already on you.

By the time the movie had reached its end, you hardly had to worry about a scene coming up, Clarisse giving you all the warning you needed to be prepared for when it did. So as the end credits came rolling in, the two of you slowly made your way to the outside of your cabin for some fresh air.

The light was blinding after spending well over an hour in the dark, but you didn't mind as you could still feel the presence of Clarisse near.

"So," You began, drumming your fingers along your thighs as you stood across from one another. With a halfhearted smile, you announced, "That was fun."

"Really?" Giving you a deadpan expression, Clarisse cracked a smile of her own. "You seemed like you'd rather fight the gods themselves than watch that movie again."

"So horror movies aren't really my thing," You nervously chuckled, ignoring what she had said in favour of not actually considering which option you would rather be faced with. "But I had you there with me, so it wasn't that bad. It seemed like you knew whenever something bad was going to happen anyway so I didn't need to worry too much."

"Yeah," Clarisse agreed. "I watched it the other day with one of my brothers but seeing it again was nice. Got to look at all the smaller details, you know?"

"Right..." You trailed off, slightly disappointed that it hadn't been the first time Clarisse saw the movie. You also couldn't understand what details someone would want to see in a movie like that.

"Anyway, it was fun. We should catch another movie sometime," She offered, making your mood do a full 180 as a smile split across your face. "I've got to go now anyway, strategies for later to plan. Maybe I'll see you on my team for Capture the Flag if you speak with your head counsellor."

"I'll get onto that," You called after Clarisse as she had already turned, a laugh echoing off her lips as she dashed away.

#percy jackson #pjo #pjo tv show #pjo series #percy jackon and the olympians #clarisse la rue #clarisse pjo #clarisse x reader #clarisse x you #reader insert #x reader #fem reader #fanfic #fanfiction #percy jackson series #pjo fandom #pjo show #eclipsing bingo #eclipsingbingo #dior goodjohn #camp half blood #rick riordan #pjo hoo toa #heroes of olympus

[aloneinthehellfire]

For the RH Reader Version can we pretty please get the scene in RH4 where reader faints in the Upside Down (she wakes up in Eddie's arms)? I've been longing to find out what happened in between, like with character interactions and how she ends up in Eddie's lap? Love u and ur work btw 💜

ooh you won't believe this, but this has been saved in my drafts from where i had started writing scenes for (eddie's version) and now i get to share this with all my eddie loves <3

RAINING HELLFIRE (READER'S VERSION)

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of blood/death, not proof-read because i wrote this on a lunch break from uni

Set in RH4: Chapter 12: Riding To Freedom

Find all Raining Hellfire works here <3

Summary: Just when Eddie started thinking they'd never find you, you quite literally show up at their door... sporting a knife and a terrified expression.

[A/N: Whilst we are all aware that Eddie isn't the endgame, I hope we can still appreciate that they have a bond that could never be broken, even if it isn't romantic]

RH4: THE THIRD TIME EDDIE THOUGHT HE LOST YOU

When you had come creeping in through that door holding a knife, that petrified look on your face, Eddie felt so… weak.

His heart had jumped at the sight of you stood there, alive. He was so afraid when he found Steve in the Upside Down alone, rambling about you being dragged away. Part of him always knew you would survive. You were strong. Stronger than him, at least.

But now here you were, staring at them like they weren’t real, a shaky hand aiming the knife at your friends. You thought this was all in your head, you were doubting yourself, that strength he had grown so accustomed to shattering your armour into pieces. He wasn’t going to let you lose control so easily.

“Queen of the Demogorgons.” Eddie suddenly blurts and everyone looks to him, confused. He makes sure he’s in your line of vision before continuing. “That’s the name I gave you when you stopped that fight with Tommy. You… You called me King of the Freaks. Would Vecna even care enough to know that?”

You stand there for a moment, pondering the thought. He waits in bated breath for you to believe him. For a moment, he thought you wouldn’t, and then you were letting out a shaky breath and lowering the knife until it slipped from your fingers and clattered on to the floor.

“Thank god.” Robin mumbled under her breath behind him and he feels his shoulders relax.

“You okay?” Nancy asks tentatively, being the first to move toward you. Eddie watches in silent disdain as you wipe a tear from your eye, a strange look on your face.

“Um… actually…” You try, but then you’re blinking rapidly and his stomach drops.

“Y/n?” He takes one step forward and suddenly you’re on the floor, eyes fluttering shut. “Shit.”

He runs over, still calling your name. But you’re not responding.

“What happened?” Steve asks to no one particular, crouching beside you as well as Nancy shakes her head in disbelief.

“I don’t know, I don’t-” Her words are cut off and Eddie whips his head to her, following where her trembling hands hovered. Your stomach was covered by a dark red jumper. Which, to Eddie’s sudden burn of panic, he realised it was never the original colour.

“Shit, okay, shit-” Steve spits out, suddenly spinning around to where Robin stood, her eyes wide. “There could be a first aid kit around here somewhere, maybe the kitchen-”

“Bathroom.” Nancy nods, her hands already applying pressure on your stomach. “Upstairs, to the right.”

“Okay.” Robin nods quickly, flailing her arms as she finds the staircase and starts sprinting her way up, barely balancing herself.

“What do we do?” Eddie asks in a whispered voice, not liking the way your lips looked paler. He was scared, way too scared to be able to help you when you looked like this.

“We need to wrap the wound.” Steve states, much more confident in his decisions than Eddie could ever be. That’s probably why you picked him in the end.

“I don’t have…” Nancy glances down at herself, frowning. Her eyes start darting around the room. “Maybe the curtains, or the… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

As she and Steve debate over various materials, unsure of if it would only add an infection if they pressed something from the Upside Down against it, Eddie took look at himself and already knew what he needed to do.

“I got it.” Eddie decides, standing up and slipping his jacket off. Nancy looked surprised, but nodded nonetheless and started peeling away the jumper from your wound.

“What’re you doing?” Steve frowns up at him as Eddie slips his Hellfire shirt over his head. He chucks it over at him.

“Rip that up.” He orders, already slipping his jacket back on. “I don’t care how much you use.”

Steve stared at him for a minute, an unrecognisable expression on his face.

“Steve.” Nancy snaps him away from Eddie and nods, making quick work of ripping up the one shirt Eddie held dearest to him. It was Hellfire, the decision that changed his high school life forever, his way of being a hero to all the sheep in need of their shepherd. But you needed him right now. And that trumped everything else.

He’s not sure what else he can do as Nancy hisses at the blood pouring from your stomach. The wound matches those currently scattered across Steve, who was currently looking like it pained him to realise.

“She tried saving me.” He says and Eddie looks at him, noting the way Steve’s eyes never left your face. “Using those… powers. If she hadn’t, maybe Vecna wouldn’t have found her.”

“Vecna took her?” Eddie frowns. Steve didn’t inform them of this the first time he explained your disappearance.

“I think I heard him.” He nods slowly, finally meeting Eddie’s eyes. “He’s not gonna stop until he has her. We need to get her out of here before he tries anything again.”

Eddie can’t help his eyes drift to the darkened table behind him, your scratched but still worthy Walkman laying there. He had picked it up from where it had been abandoned in that dried up lake, using it to grasp onto that hope that you were alive.

“I got it! I got… it.” Robin jumps off the bottom step before focusing on them. “Why have you got your shirt off?”

Eddie glances down before slowly zipping his jacket up to hide his bare chest. “Bandages.”

“Uh-huh.” She dismisses, crouching beside Nancy and handing her the bag. “Here.”

“Thanks.” The girl breathes out, rooting through. “Shit.”

“What?” Steve frowns.

“It doesn’t have the stuff I want….” She mumbles before shaking her head and pulling out a bottle. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll use what I can.”

“She’s gonna be okay, right?” Robin asks, eyes shifting between each of their faces. “I mean… it’s Y/n. She always bounces back.”

“Yeah.” Steve says with certainty, but his expression was telling a different story.

“I did what I can, but....” Nancy leans back, your stomach now wrapped in black and white bandages, a splash of red from where Eddie’s logo was peaking through. “I don’t know what else to do.”

They didn’t have time to think about what to do next when something started humming in the walls around them.

“… hey… guys… there?”

It was indistinguishable until Dustin’s voice blared through and Nancy jumped to her feet. When Eddie looked over, he was surprised to see her eyes already on his.

“They got your message.” She smiles and Robin sighs in relief.

“What now?” She questions and Nancy’s eyes are light.

“Now we find a way to communicate.”

Eddie sat on the floor with your head on his lap as the others rushed around him, desperately looking for a Lite Brite that was apparently going to get them home? He wasn’t entirely paying attention. His only focus right now was you.

Nancy was quick-witted, immediately figuring out the best course of action. With a little yelling back and forth, picking up on some words, they managed to decide that they needed to go to her room.

Steve had offered to carry you up, and he would have if Eddie hadn’t suggested that his bites, while they were cool, would make it a little difficult. So Eddie took you instead.

“Got it!” Steve shouted up from the stairs, Eddie paid no attention.

Every so often he would slip his finger to the pulse point in your neck, reassuring himself mostly. He didn’t want to lose you again. Especially not like this.

The first time Eddie lost you was when he decided his pride was more important than your friendship. That night on your porch steps, the look of defeat in your eye when you realised he wasn’t going to let you keep your secrets. He walked away from you, then, knowing he had lost the only person that truly cared about him.

The second time ended with a kiss, thinking it was going to be the last time he saw you. Part of him wishes he hadn’t done that. Kissing you only made each day you were gone that much more painful. He didn’t have someone to laugh with, no one to argue over Lord of The Rings, or even sit and watch those long practice sessions with Corroded Coffin. He thought he would miss your lips, your touch. Turns out, he just missed your presence. He missed his friend.

And now he thinks he might be losing you again. He’s tried so many times to wake you up, subtle to avoid suspicion from the others. They assured him you would be fine, recollections of a fainting that happened three years ago. But he wouldn’t be assured until you were awake and talking.

“How’s she doing?”

He looks up to see Steve stood there, running a hand through his hair as he stares woefully down at you.

“Um… still breathing. Hasn’t woken up yet.” It was stating the obvious, but Steve looked grateful anyway. When he doesn’t move, Eddie frowns. “You good, man?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I, uh…” He stops his thought and does something Eddie didn’t think he would. Steve gestures for him to step aside with him and he’s so confused by the matter that he does exactly that.

Carefully laying you back down, and making sure Robin gave him a thumbs up when she could see he was leaving, Eddie follows Steve out into the hallway.

“What’s up?” He asks sceptically.

Steve leans against the wall, looking like he hadn’t thought it through. It was silent for a few seconds before he finally sighs. “I’m sorry, man.”

Eddie shifts from his position, unfolding his arms. “For what?”

“I…” He begins, tightening his lips. “I know why you and Y/n broke up. I… I only found out last summer but, I, uh… I’m sorry if I ever…”

Is Steve Harrington apologising to me right now? Eddie ponders as he struggles to find a response.

“No… worries.” Eddie frowns and Steve lets out a breathy laugh.

“No, I- I genuinely am sorry.” He persists, checking with a glance that no one was at the door listening in. “I never meant to get between you. And I knew how much she cared about you, still cares.I, uh, I had that happen to me once. I know how shit it feels. If I had known, I swear to you I would never have- shit, I don’t know. I’m just sorry.”

Eddie lowers his head. This feud he had been having with Steve had apparently been completely one-sided for the last two years. He just assumed Steve knew, that you had told him everything you’d argued about, right down to the grit of it. But you hadn’t said anything. And, judging by the look on Steve’s face, you had never said a bad word about him at all.

“It’s not your fault.” Eddie sighs, running a hand down his face. “We weren’t, uh… it wasn’t gonna end well either way. Even if you weren’t there with her that night, we… we probably would have broken up anyway. I was the one that messed up. Not her. Not you.”

“What do you mean?” Steve’s brows pinch together and Eddie lets out a breathy laugh.

“Come on, I’m- I’m resident freak. I snuck around her back, hell, even my uncle’s back for months. And I was so scared of getting found out that I just used the first excuse I could find.” He admits, starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the amount he was sharing. So, he clears his throat and straightens. “I should…”

Steve merely nods and Eddie is free to walk away, back to where Robin was crouched beside you, returning to his post.

“What were you boys whispering about?” Robin asks with raised eyebrows. “Guy stuff?”

“Guy stuff.” Eddie responds with an amused grin. “Don’t you have some weird light shit to get to?”

“Okay, okay.” She raises her hands in surrender and pushes herself to her feet. “I get the hint.”

He didn’t bother looking up when Steve eventually returned to the room, running a hand through his somehow still perfect hair and helping the girls with their set up. I knew how much she cared about you, still cares, he had said. Eddie couldn’t deny how that made his stomach flip just a little.

When you had left last summer, he had expected you’d call, or write, or anything. He expected something. But you hadn’t. It invoked this deep-seeded fear that maybe you realised how much of a screw-up he was. One of the last things he had said to you was that he was dealing drugs, of course it would make you rethink everything. Him. So rather than spend each miserable day laying on his bed and smoking until the marijuana kicked in, he tried to forget you. It was sad. But it was true.

All it did, however, was make him look back on the past three years. You and him meeting, getting off on the wrong foot. Discovering mutual interests, sharing something he hadn’t shared with anyone ever. He loved being around you simply to be around you. He cherished that, and after eight long months he finally realised he wasn’t in love with you anymore.

He just didn’t expect to be thrown into the Upside Down and start questioning everything again. Why the hell was he reminiscing romance when a few short hours ago it never once crossed his mind?

You stir in his arms and he tenses, eyes wide.

“Y/n?”

A soft groan leaves your lips and he’s never been happier to hear it. Your hand instinctively moves to your stomach but he’s quick to stop you, just in case the pressure will cause you pain.

A warm smile stretches his lips when your eyes finally meet his once again, his name falling from your lips. The heavy weight of dread finally lifts from his chest, letting him breathe in the relief that you were okay.

if you would like to request a new pov scene for the Raining Hellfire universe, please feel free to put it into my ask box and I'll get to it when I am available :)

#stranger things x reader #stranger things #fanfic #steve harrington #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #stranger things reader insert #steve harrington x reader #raining hellfire

[ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes]

Anytime, Love

pairing: will turner x reader

genre: fluff (?)

el's thoughts: mentions of being sick and throwing up. this is my first time writing for mr. turner and hopefully the more i write for him, i'll get more comfortable with his character! requested by @masivechaos

Thunder clapped overhead and made Y/N jump. She didn’t want to be out at sea in the first place, and now the Gods above decided to play with her some more. “Jack, don’t you think we should… I don’t know. Find some land to stay while the storm passes over?” 

Jack didn’t turn to look at her as he tried to keep his control of the wheel, “No, love, we wouldn’t be able to anyway. There’s no land in sight, it’d be best if we just weather it out. It’ll pass over soon enough.” 

Y/N hummed nervously, “Okay.” She walked closer to the center of the ship, trying to keep her balance as the waves crashed into the sides, rocking the ship back and forth. Back and forth. She tried to hold herself together, but couldn’t help the sick feeling of bile rising up her throat. She ran on wobbly legs to the side and emptied the contents of her stomach, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand in disgust. 

“Are you alright?” 

She spun around to see Will standing behind her, worry painted across his face. “Oh, yeah. Just a little sick is all.” She turned to avoid eye contact in hopes he wouldn’t notice her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. She kept her arms wrapped tightly around the railing, shutting her eyes as the ship rocked again. Back and forth. Back and forth. The voices of the crew became muffled slowly. Time seemed to slow around her as her senses narrowed into the sounds of the waves, thunder and rain pounding the deck. 

Will watched her carefully, his worry growing with every passing second as he noticed her skin going pale. Her grip on the railing seemed to loosen as her body swayed with the ship, rocking back and forth. Back and forth. “Y/N?” She didn’t seem to hear him call her name over the strong winds. “Y/N?” He tried again louder, still unable to get a hold of her attention. He stumbled forward when the ship rocked harder, trying to reach out to her but wasn’t quick enough. 

Y/N leaned too far over the railing, the strong waves tilting the ship far enough for her to slip over the side. She faintly heard her name being yelled before she crashed into the beating waves below. Not even strong enough to scream she let herself be pulled by the current, sinking further down before losing all consciousness.

~

Jerking wake as she coughed up the water in her lungs, Y/N looked around frantically, reaching mindlessly from something to grab. Anything. Will moved closer and held her in his arms, “It’s alright. You’re fine. I got you.” Y/N couldn’t bring herself to think of anything other than leaning closer to him, accepting the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders. The ship is still rocking back and forth, but not nearly as bad as before. 

“I’m fine… I’m fine.” Her voice was muffled as she buried her head into Will’s shoulder. The two leaned back on the barrel behind them, breathing in and out deeply to catch their breath. “Thank you, Will. For saving me.” 

Will smiled to himself, “Anytime, love.”

~*~

will turner taglist: @masivechaos @broccoliitree @sophierequests @caldor-28

#will turner #will turner x reader #will turner x you #will turner x y/n #pirates of the caribbean #ellora.writes

[jawritter]

Carry On

Chapter 7

Summary: It was just a simple hunt, found on a pie festival. It was supposed to be easy. Something they’d all done one hundred and one times a million. No one could have told Y/N, Dean, and Sam that nothing from that point on would ever be the same again.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader x Sam Winchester

Word Count: 2262

Warnings: Pain, Angst, Nudity (But some pretty big stuff too!)

Due to the graphic nature of this fic, and the fact that it will eventually contain Smut. This fic is an 18 + only fic! If you’re under 18 DO NOT read this fic!

A/N: This fic is beta’d by @kazsrm67​ Thanks so much love! Please do not copy my work! Feedback is golden! I hope you all enjoy this ride with me!

My Mastlist        Series Masterlist

The week had been a challenging one. There was no other way to put it. Sure, there were some good things that had happened. For instance, Dean could now sit himself up in the bed, and was able to relieve himself without a catheter's assistance. That was a big step all by itself. But there was also the fact that every time they tried to stand him up, there was a shooting pain that went all the way from his back, down to his feet. 

The doctor had warned him about the nerve pain he might experience, and that there were several things that they were going to try to do to relieve the pain, but it didn’t make him feel any less helpless;  it didn’t make Y/N feel any better either. 

Both of them knew that this was a hurdle that he might just have to learn to deal with, because both of them knew that some of the damage was permanent. That didn’t change the fact that Y/N hated to see him in pain. 

His appetite was also still a struggle. Depression was a constant battle. Even with the little victories, every day seemed to bring a new challenge. Today’s challenge; was keeping Dean in the bed. Y/N had to stop him from trying to swing his legs over the side to try and stand up on his own. 

Once he’d figured out how to hold his back so that he could move without the pain being so extensive it would literally take his breath away; it was becoming a challenge to keep him still. What it really boiled down to, was the fact that Dean was damn tired of being in this room. 

“Dammit Dean!” Y/N yelled at him as she reentered the room that they had been in for the past few weeks to find Dean standing next to the bed, hunched slightly, and gripping the railing on the bed tight enough to break it. “I was gone less than five minutes! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

Dean gave her a dead panned look that just manifested the word ‘done’ so well that any other situation would have been hysterical. 

“I’m tired of being in this Goddamn bed, and I’m tired of taking a piss in a Goddamn bottle. I’m going to shuffle my way to that bathroom, and when I’m done, I’m going to figure out a way to take a proper shower, because I’m just fucking done.”

Y/N quickly put the snacks down that he had sent her to retrieve from the vending machine, and hurried over to brace him as he tried to shuffle a foot forward and grunted as the pain and effort it took to do so radiated through his still weakened state. 

“Dean, I don’t know if you can get your back wet, even if you could make it to the bathroom,” Y/N tried, but Dean just shook his head and took another shaky shuffle forward; it was only a few inches progress, but it was a lot further than he’d moved so far. 

Dean’s hand left the side of the bed where he was bracing himself and he reached to grab both of her arms, choosing to use her for balance. 

“They get it wet every time they give me a sponge bath,” Dean argued, “I just won’t get it soaked.”

Dean gave a heavy growl as he pushed his right foot forward, making a little further progress and forcing her to walk backward towards the bathroom door. 

Y/N’s heart was racing as Dean shoved his left foot forward to match his right. Sure, he wasn’t ‘walking’, but he was on his feet and moving, and if she wasn’t so afraid he’d fall flat on his ass if she lost concentration, she would have started to cry. 

Dean was a warrior, a warrior that had been knocked down and wounded. He might not have taken off at a run, hell he was barely shuffling his feet across the floor, moving an inch at a time, but he was up again. He had a determination to get up, and there was a fight in him she hadn’t seen since the night he closed the trunk on Baby, for what no one knew at the time would be his final hunt. 

“You’re getting there; Dean just a few more steps” Y/N encouraged breathlessly as he paused; his head lulling slightly onto her shoulder as he fought against the pain and the urge to just give up, a light layer of sweat spotting at his hairline. 

Slowly, ever so slowly the pair of them moved together until Dean’s hand reached out over her shoulder to grab hold of the door frame, finally reaching his destination. 

“Oh my God Dean, you did it!” Y/N said, her voice choked with emotion. 

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Dean answered, disbelief in his own voice as he shuffled forward a few more feet, and turned to sit himself down on the toilet. “Get the shower warming up for me sweetheart.”

Y/N turned to the small shower to her left in the tiny bathroom, and thanked whatever God was listening, that a little seat for patients to sit on was attached to the wall, along with a detachable shower head, apparently this was going to work after all. 

“Do you want me to give you a minute to use the bathroom?” Y/N questioned, and Dean chuckled darkly. 

“You’d be too late for that sweetheart. Sorry, I just ain’t in a standing mood right now.”

She turned to make a snide remark in his direction, but was struck dumb by his piercing green eyes and a smirk that would have murdered the entire female population if he so minded to use it as a weapon; a feeling she hadn’t experienced since before he’d been injured.

“You just gonna stare at me, or are you gonna help me get in there,” Dean asked  with a nod toward the shower, before gripping the sink tightly and standing with a loud groan. 

Y/N shook herself, and pulled the seat down for him to sit on before helping to guide him into the small walk-in shower and sat him down on the seat. 

“I got it honey, just stay here for me in case I need you,” Dean instructed before pulling the shower door closed, and Y/N sat on the seat of the toilet with a huff before she noticed a dumb struck nurse standing in the doorway of the bathroom. 

“Did… did he walk in there?” she questioned; Y/N nodded her head slightly in disbelief of her own. 

“Well, kinda,” she admitted with an amused chuckle, “It was more like an old man shuffle.”

“Fuck you,” Dean retorted from inside the shower, and Y/N snorted a laugh at the nurses shocked face. 

“Oh, wow, well, I uh, I’ll let the doctor know he’s moving around some now! That’s great news! But I will bring a wheelchair to the room to make it easier for you to get him back to the bed and leave it by the door once he’s done, and if I’m not bothering you guys while he’s showering, I’ll go ahead and give him some fresh sheets and pillows.”

“Thanks,” Y/N said, and the nurse closed the door to the bathroom to give them both some privacy. 

Y/N was no idiot. Dean probably shouldn’t have gotten up and did what he was doing, but no one wanted to discourage any progress he was willing to make, so the nurse was using the bedding as an excuse to keep an eye on him. 

“Fuuuck,” Dean groaned loudly. “I think I’m going to stay in here until I’m 90.”

She shook her head and smiled to herself, glad that for the first time in a long time, he was starting to sound a little more like Dean. 

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Y/N warned, and Dean chuckled before shooting back a “yes mom,” in a mocking voice. 

“You know, you keep this up, and you won’t need my help at all pretty soon,” Y/N said, suddenly voicing her silent fears aloud as the smell of body wash filled the small space. 

“That’s not true,” Dean answered back quickly. “Y/N I’m gonna need you around for a long time. So, I shuffled to the shower. I’m still gonna need help drying off when I’m done, and I still need you for almost everything else… That is… unless you're sick of being here with me—”

“NO,” Y/N cut in probably a little too quickly. “No, I just, I just figured you were getting sick of me hovering over you, and would probably prefer Sam over me anyway.”

Dean cut the water off himself before sliding the shower door open, pouting and looking much like an abnormally attractive drowned rat. Y/N snorted; holding back her comment; she stood with the towel in her hand and started to slowly dry him off, careful not to jostle him around and hurt him. 

Suddenly, he reached up and grabbed her arm, stopping her from patting at his shoulders and chest as she worked her way down his body. 

“Hey,” he voiced, drawing her attention back up at his candy apple green eyes. “I hope I didn’t do anything to make you think that, because I really am grateful, you’re here, Y/N/N. I probably wouldn’t be doing as well as I am if you weren’t here with me. I love my brother, but he’s not exactly good at these sorts of things. That’s probably my fault, because I always took care of things like this, he never really has had to take care of me, but I’m so fucking sorry If I have done anything to seem ungrateful, or like I don’t want you here, because that’s not true. My biggest fear is that you will get tired of taking care of a fucking cripple and leave me.”

She helped Dean stand up, and he towered over her as she looked up at him, making sure he was well braced on the shower bar before she finally let him support himself. 

“And I’ve told you, over and over again, you will literally have to run me off Dean, I’m never gonna get tired of taking care of you. Ever.”

The air hung thickly between the pair of them as he reached out with his free hand and brushed the loose hair that had fallen around her face behind her ear. Neither really could look away from the other if they wanted too. It was as if there was an invisible pull between the pair of them. Like magnets. It wasn’t something they could control, they just naturally gravitated to stare at one another. So many unspoken feelings were bubbling in her chest, and she was pretty sure that for a moment, she’d stopped breathing all together, until the knock on the bathroom door made her nearly jump out of her skin. 

“Mr. Clearwater, the doctor is on his way up, he wants to examine you and talk to you. I’ve also got your bedding changed and ready for you!” the nurse called through the door, and Y/N quickly began to work on drying off the rest of Dean’s body before helping him step into a pair of clean boxers, as well as a clean hospital gown. 

“Be right out,” Dean yelled, grumbling incoherently to himself as he turned and looked at his reflection in the small bathroom mirror. 

“Think he wants to chew my ass out for getting out of bed?” Dean questioned, and Y/N shrugged as she opened the door and moved to help him start to shuffle his way back up to the hospital bed that lay in wait for him in the center of the room. 

“You never know, maybe since you’re moving around now he might let you go home,” Y/N offered, and Dean nodded slightly before shifting his feet forward with a wince as he moved. 

“That would be great, if I could actually go home. I don’t want to go to some apartment Y/N, I wanna go home. I wanna be miserable in my own bed with Miracle and you. I don’t want to have to stay here for months.”

Y/N understood. She figured when and if the time came, he wasn’t going to want to stay here, but what she was worried about was whether or not, no matter how stubborn he was, would he be able to travel all the way back to Kansas with a big whole in his back, and cracked ribs. 

“Let’s just see what he has to say, and we will take the rest as it comes, one day at a time remember?” she tried, and Dean just nodded as he gently lowered himself onto the bed to await whatever might be to come from the doctor. 

If Y/N was being honest, she wanted to go back to the bunker with him too. She wanted to get him home where she and Sam could take care of him. She wanted him to be out of the fucking hospital bed, but she was also afraid the more independent he became, that their time together was limited. She wanted nothing more than to get Dean back on his feet, she just didn’t want him to run away once he was able. 

Forever:

@whittysunflower

@demongirl1996​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​  

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Jensen and Dean’s Babes

@deans-baby-momma​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​  

@impalaslytherin​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

@perpetualabsurdity​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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@ladysparks78

#carry on #dean winchester #dean winchester series #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x you #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fanfic #dean x reader #dean x you #dean series #hurt!dean winchester #hurt!dean winchester x reader #hurt!dean winchester x you #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn series #x reader inserts #jawritter #jensen ackles

[princesseevee06]

TELL US ABOUT THE ROSE & VIOLET ROUTES!!! (if you want)

fundamentally they are just different flavors of mlm on wlw violence

ok in all seriousness though i have no idea where to even START because there is SO MUCH!!!! i cannot possibly cover it all in one post. so i will just give a basic rundown under the cut.

as i briefly addressed in some of my earlier posts, the rose/violet routes are the equivalent of the emotion and logic routes for ytr, w/ the difference being that the choice in the 2nd main game vote is between shin and sou instead of shin and kanna. i wanted to take a different approach tonally, since unlike kanna who is a total sweetheart, these two are Very Bitter and Vengeful (in other words ryoko is soooooo screwed no matter what she does LMAO). i tried my best to balance out both routes to make em have more of a bittersweet feeling

shin’s actions are still pretty much the same as they are canonly at the end of the 2nd main game. if ryoko votes for him then he will set up a Nice Good sara ai for her :) and if ryoko votes for sou then instead he will set up a Fake Bad sara ai :((( this difference ends up massively affecting ryoko’s psyche in each route so i will get into it

rose route sara ai scene: so yeah the express intent of the ai that shin sets up here is to torment ryoko. and like i said in my last post ryoko literally just punches the shit out of the monitor and breaks it. like when she realizes what’s happening she just says “no❤️” but she is of course still INCREDIBLY shaken up by it. she already feels so guilty over sara’s death, and she’s having to cope with the weight of everything else as well— she doesn’t know how much longer she can keep it together. my idea is that kugie would find ryoko crying in the room of rubble, and they’d have a very touching scene where kugie reassures ryoko she doesn’t have to handle everything by herself. that everyone is in this together and so kugie will always be there for her, the same way ryoko was for her :) it’s very sweet and i love them dhshhdh#hshx

so after ryoko gets back on her feet, she’s able to cope a bit better but throughout the events of chapter 3 she is still very much in a frail state. like, extreme emotional turmoil. yet at the same time she’s burdening herself with less of the load and learning to rely on her friends

violet route sara ai scene: in the violet route ryoko does get her touching goodbye with sara!!! yay!!! sara inspires ryoko to keep moving forward and not give in. she tells ryoko how much she meant to her as a best friend, and for a moment they just get to be sappy and sweet :,) so as ryoko leaves, she’s certain she can be confident now and she’ll be able to help everyone and oh god why is sou here

yeah if you assumed sou would also try to do something terrible here, you were right. although instead of taking a psychological approach like shin, he decides to go directly for ryoko’s jugular ^_^ i mean that so literally btw. when sou goes into the room of rubble and sees ryoko standing over shin’s corpse and yet still looking so hopeful something in him just Snaps. and he starts trying to choke her to death. awkward. he does not go through with killing her though. bc he realizes he has a “much better plan” (i will get to this in a little bit) anyways im sorry for sou beinngterrible i promise he gets better (he gets much worse but i promise hes still a sympathetic character in this au i promise i pr)

violet route ryoko is veeeeery interesting to me because while she’s able to keep it together better, and not so distraught over sara’s death anymore, in a way because she loves sara so much, she feels obligated to “live up to her name” after she’s gone, trying to stay strong and take everyone’s burdens unto herself not recognizing how unhealthy it is. but through this behavior she’s pushing herself away from others more, and as a result of that anzu later makes some very bad choices (murder) (it’s ironic because sara would certainly Not want ryoko to burden herself) (but ryoko also wants to be someone who sara could be proud of) (not realizing sara loves her just the way she is) (augh. can you tell im normal about them)

OK ENOUGH RYOKO now let’s get to the awful awful green(teal?) haired men and their terrible decisions. starting with shin

shin acts pretty similar to how he does in the logic route here. very much “i have no allies >:( i’m only working with you out of necessity” behavior. although while he is initially hellbent on vengeance against ryoko and the others, he sort of just ends up…faltering. i don’t see him harboring as much antagonism against ryoko as he does against sara, partially because she doesn’t have the crazy win percentages sara does and also partially because she has more of a blunt bundle-of-sunshine personality, and really couldn’t keep a secret to save her life, making her seem less suspicious to him overall. so i definitely see shin being “softer” here, still being clear about his resentment but less in a “i’m going to kill you one day” way and more in a “i want nothing to do with you after this” way

sou on the other hand. jesus christ he is on his LAST STRAW. ok idk if you’ve seen that one chapter 3 cut content scene anon but i decided to take inspiration from that for sou’s actions here because i’m incredibly abnormal about it. (IDK IF THE TRANSLATION IM WATCHING IS ACCURATE BUT STILL…) basically in it sou asks mr. chidouin/meister if he can end the death game, and then he basically resolves that “to end it as soon as possible, i’ll kill everyone myself” which. ok girl. and then meister replies “it’s broken you after all” WHICH. OK GIRL? whay does that mean.

so yeah his ingenious “plan” in ytr is that in order to prevent another death game from ever happening again, he wants to destroy the game from the inside by killing everyone at asunaro + all of the participants. his logic behind this is that there’s nothing for him to go back to, he betrayed asunaro and the person he betrayed them for in the first place is dead. he also figures he’s likely to die soon if another main game rolls around and so well. if he’s going to go out might as well go out in flames!

of course this plan immediately has a wrench thrown in it when his mother shows up and he is plunged headfirst back into childhood trauma. and also the fact that he truly does care about both kai and kugie (and maple if she’s still alive at this point) even though he’s desperately trying to act like he doesn’t. so much like his cringefail best friend he ends up being much less of a villain throughout chapter 3 and more just a Guy Who’s Having a Really Bad Week

ok i cannot. write anymore i am so sorry if this is completely incomprehensible iwas drafting this at 1am. but if you are interested in hearing more i give full permission to you (or anyone else reading this) to ask me about specific events that happen in chapter 3 on either route because i would be very glad to talk about them 👍

#princesseevee answers #can you tell i’m not normal about ryosara #and sou hiyori. Just generally #yttd #your turn ryoko #my art #ryoko hirose #shin tsukimi #sou hiyori #yttd midori

[tothepointofinsanity]

Do you have any super into detail thoughts on kyosaya? I know you've drawn a few art pieces for the ship, but I haven't seen any written think pieces about it from you.

I know there are some who don't like to use ships as a way to tie to a characters personality, so I guess I'm curious what your overall thoughts are on it and how it ties into sayaka as a whole.

"Think pieces" is a pretty neat way to put it...The primary foundation of KyoSaya to me revolves around a uniquely sapphic relationship that I hope would be expanded upon in future shows in the series.

↑ Yet, what are all these words supposed to mean? Sayaka has always done things for the sake of others. Her sense of justice elevated to the point where she views herself as a knight, someone who kneels in the face of goodness in respect of whatever is honourable to maintain it. But a knight is just another form of a pawn, just a stronger one whom everyone perceives has the ability to: 1) protect others 2) kill The Enemy.

Sayaka used to only ever have been able to interpret this in an extreme and binary vision. If she has to defend others, she has to devote herself fully to the cause. To her, the notion of self-care and self-preservation is difficult to comprehend since she feels as though she always has to be a monolith of one singular thing, of one side of things. To her, everything is like a chessboard. There is no way to play knight for both teams at once: either you prioritise yourself, or you prioritise others.

I understand that it is also a realistic depiction of how individuals like Sayaka constantly push through their own struggles alone while always uplifting others, a demonstration of unbalanced relationship dynamics. When this vision is challenged, Sayaka does not know where and how else she is expected to just "move forward" when she realised reality is not a simple game of chess. So she shrinks her view of the world further by clashing with Kyoko, since Kyoko is The Enemy who obstructs Sayaka's own perception of all that is Good and Just. Sayaka knew she was manipulated by Cubey™, but it was not only in the later movies that she comprehended the full extent of it. Something like that feels too complicated in her mind, so it's easier, much less burdensome to just lock onto one person to be angry with. This mentality is almost a sort of fallacy for Sayaka given she becomes a Witch in every cycle she becomes a magical girl.

Sayaka wants to feel relied on by humans. Kyoko does not desire nor expect anything from people, and thus balances out the extremes of Sayaka by being detached from worldly expectations - at least, that is what's consistent with Kyoko's perception of herself. A puppet without strings. She is not a pawn, not a knight. That's why she was angry when she realised the wish-granting alien omitted information on magical girl mechanisms and their life cycles. Instead of shovelling forward headstrong like Sayaka, however, Kyoko reconsiders her childhood memories and her desire, and it was to die with Sayaka so that Sayaka would not have, in Kyoko's eyes, perished for the sake of The Greater Good, because Kyoko believes still in the Self, not the vague promise of a better future.

Uhm. It's probably nonsense now that I put it in legible words. Some other KyoSaya fans who are big brained enough should educate me more on their dynamic, but I find their relationship to be interesting. It's very fallen angel x demon coded. I feel...as though Sayaka and Kyoko are hard to separate given they exist as characters that neutralise and support each other. Perhaps not codependent, but Sayaka was unhinged enough for Homura to not threaten her once, but twice whenever Madoka's feelings are involved. Meanwhile Homura was more...tolerant of Kyoko. Kyoko is there to keep Sayaka in check to make sure she doesn't piss off the Devil to the next century, and to me that is also funny.

[Although, it is tragic that since Sayaka embodies the sea, the only way Kyoko can only be with her "in death" due to the theme of Ophelia, her lover and the flame of the witch. Who could have predicted the doomed yuri is doomed. A sinking ship, even.]

#me rereading this: maybe i am a fake kyosaya fan... #i do love all ships with sayaka in it except maybe when it involves kyosuke #since it was confirmed that even if sayaka got together with him she would have been called a monster #okay. #mfw seikyu is literally too mentally ill to support herself. she's. trying guys #but it feels nice for sayaka because she feels being cared for by someone else for once #and it's “better” because she doesn't want to burden madoka #so she instead she turns to a person not previously familiar with her #but oops she caught feelings and now sayaka is stuck with 99 insight and kyoko is just eating as usual #i also like that their colours and personality are inversed #the ocean is furious but the flame is cozy #ASKS 💌 #kyosaya #madoka magica #sayakyo

[lec743]

Darksiders Consept Thing-y with Death (2)

She was quietly singing to herself as she road with Death on Despair. She was leaning languidly against his chest and he could feel the vibrations of her voice through her and into him. It was a comforting feeling even though he'd never admit it.

His siblings were off doing their own jobs that he ordered them to do and the two of them had gotten one of the ingredients needed to bring back humanity. The experience went smoothly. Yes, there were enemies to defeat like there always are, but with her there with him to figure out the puzzles it went by a lot quicker. She may not be able to physically defend herself too well in a straight fight, but he'd be remised if he didn't acknowledge how smart she was.

The two of them were headed to the rendezvous point and may make it there before any of his siblings will. As they traveled they came across a rocky landscape with steam. Soon running water could be heard and large pools of hot water surrounded them and made the air much warmer. She stopped singing and leaned forward.

With a little gasp she said, "Hot water!" Then she turned around with a big smile on her face and added, "We should stop and take a bath!"

"No. We don't have time for that."

She scoffed. "Don't have time? I don't think humanity is going to get any dead-er Death. And the whole balance thing you're worried about, isn't going to get any worst if we take thirty minutes to get this thick layer of demon blood off ourselves."

"We can do that at the rendezvous spot."

"But not with hot water. Come on! It's relaxing." She began to shift around so that she could slip out from Death's grip. He immediately moved to grab her by her waist but she slipped too far, that all he grabbed was her shirt and she freely slipped out of it, and landed on her one foot and hands.

Death sighed. "The Horsemen do not have time to relax." He watched her shake her hands out from the pain of landing on hard rocks.

Again she scoffed as she crawled to the nearest heated pool. "Sounds more like to me that you don't make time for yourself."

Death hopped off Despair to wrangle her and the horse followed him while taking the shirt from his hands and into her mouth. "Don't be childish. We have a mission."

"The only one who's being childish here is the person who refuses to take care of themselves just because they're a Horseman." She was testing the water with her hands and pulling them out quickly when it felt too hot, quickly moving on to the next nearest pool.

Death followed in a slow pace. Hoping that if he let her wear herself out trying to find the perfect pool he'll be able to scoop her up with out trouble.

"Oh! This one feels nice!" She exclaimed as she had her arm in the water to the shoulder. Her face looking rosy from the heat coming from the water.

Death bent down and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style. "Okay. You've had your fun. Time to go."

"Absolutely not!" She wriggled in his grasp but she couldn't break his firm but gentle hold. "You haven't even gotten to be in the water yet."

"It's not needed."

"Fine. Looks like I have to take things to the extreme then. Any final words, Death?"

If it was physically possible, Death's eyebrows would have risen high above his mask with how confused he was by that statement. "What?"

Instead of giving an explanation, she whistled and snapped her fingers in four rapid snaps. Death heard Despair whiney loudly before the heavy hooves started running on the rock floor. When he turned to see what is wrong with her, he felt her run into him with her shoulder and he fell into the warm water of the natural pool. In his shock he had let go of the human woman and quickly resurfaced as he sputtered behind his mask in shock. The human was laughing gleefully and Despair was whiney-ing in such a fashion that it seemed like she was laughing with the human. Waving the human's shirt in her mouth like a flag.

Death stood in disbelief and in hot water. "You turned my horse against me."

"Oh don't me so dramatic. No I didn't. She and I are just on the same page. We both think you should take a break." She was taking her now wet pants off. Leaving her in only the little loin cloth around her hips and the strips of cloth around her breasts. She laid out the pants on the ground near where she was sitting. "Doesn't the water feel nice?"

Death pursed his lips underneath the bone mask and stood rigidly as he watched her slip her shoulders under the water with a satisfied sigh. He wanted to argue more, but how does one argue with their own horse... He silently sloshed over to the human and sat down next to her, not bothering to take off anything, not seeing the point in trying to dry what was already soggy. He watched her rub the water on her skin and through her hair before speaking up again.

"I know you've been spending time with our steeds ever since you've decided to join this mission, but I'm wondering how long you've been training them to listen to you."

She snorted. "I don't think they listen all that much to me. They only do what they want to do and Despair was wanting to listen to me for the time being." She turned towards his horse, who was standing sentinel behind them, still holding the shirt in her mouth and the human raised a hand up to her and Despair leaned in to put her nose in her hand. "You're such a good horsey. Loving Death so much. Huh!"

Despair nickered quietly as she leaned into the petting.

Death looked away from the fawning and sighed into his hands. He's in so much trouble. He promised himself he wouldn't get attached and now look at him. He's sitting in hot water because his horse is just as much around her finger as he is.

"Hey. Don't pout. We'll move on soon. Just take a moment to breath will you," She asked him as she put a hand on his shoulder.

He moved his hands from his masked face and placed them on his knees. She then pulled on his arm and said, "Death, let me do your hair. Come on."

She maneuvered him to sit with his back to her and pushed him down a bit to show him that she wanted him to lay his head on the surface of the water. Once he was half floating in her lap, she began to gently untangle his long, greasy, black hair and scratch at his scalp in a soothing motion.

Death was tense at first, not really sure what to do with himself, but as she hummed to herself while she worked on grooming him, he found himself relaxing more and enjoying the hot water and her ministrations. He sighed as he leaned more into her. Then all too soon she was done.

"Okay, Mister Party Pooper. We can go now."

She lifted him up from behind as he tried to steady himself, feeling disoriented from how relaxed he had gotten. It made her laugh.

"You okay, Death?"

"I'm fine... You feel better?"

"I do. It's nice to have hot water, huh?" She asked as she climbed out, grabbing the shirt from Despair and using it as a towel.

Death only gave a noncommittal hum and he followed her out. He waited for her to get dressed and get a new dry shirt on. Then when she was standing on her one foot to attempt to reach Despair, he pushed her back into the hot spring. He smiled under his masked as she stood up sputtering while moving her newly wet hair out of her face!

"Death!"

"Pay back."

"Ass!"

He chuckled at her indignation as he helped her back out of the spring.

#fanfiction #darksiders #darksiders death

[evebestt]

I LOVE Eve's new hair and I think the style really suits her 😍 ... but like, as soon as I saw how short it was, I immediately felt like there was a fic-idea in this change of hair. Seeing how immaculate Farah's hair always looks, I'm sure she puts a lot of effort and love in her haircare and style and she probably prides herself on it, or like values it as one of her favourite features (I mean, who wouldn't with hair like that). So what if she had to/ someone made her cut it off, or, for even more angst, someone just cut it off against her will? I imagine she'd feel completely insecure afterwards and maybe would even try to hide it, and it would take a good deal of reassurance to make her feel better about it and let her know she still looks breathtakingly beautiful, even with shorter hair ❤️

Hi hon! Thank you for the prompt!! I love Eve’s new short hair too, but I have to admit I do miss her long hair, styled like Farah’s (some of the most gorgeous hair I’ve seen). So I was very intrigued to think about how she would react to it being cut.

Is this incredibly vague as to why there’s a battle? Yeah absolutely. Do I care? No I wanted to get to the good hurt/comfort part 😂 I hope you all enjoy

Read here on AO3 or below. As always, send me an ask or a message to submit a prompt.

Mild warning for descriptions of violence in the beginning.

The Shooting Stars

The battle raged around you, Alfean Specialists and fairies spread across the lawn, trying to force the opposing forces back into the forest from which they came. But it seemed as though everywhere you looked there was another skirmish, another fight, and you were beginning to lose hope as to how the small Alfean forces were going to drive back so many.

You held out your hand as a tall, muscular man ran towards you, willing the earth to swallow his feet before he reached you. Slowed by your magic, you slashed him with your dagger, and when he fell you turned to meet the next opponent.

It was another man, more burly to the other one’s muscular, but still he moved nimbly for his size. You summoned earth again, but he managed to step through it as though it were nothing, leaving you stunned as you stepped back away from his reach. You summoned water and let it mix with the earth to form a pit of mud, the man sinking in up to his chest, and pulling the water away until the earth hardened again, you left him to his fate.

Panting, you turned not to find another opponent, but Farah standing across the lawn, hand outstretched as she threw power out at her opponent, but too late to do anything about the man who grabbed her from behind, one hand gripping her ponytail and the other wrapped around her waist. You tried to run, legs lurching forward, but then you saw the glint of a dagger in her hand only a second before she plunged it into the man’s thigh. He grunted, his knee buckling slightly, but he regained his balance quickly, seeming to just tighten his hold on Farah.

They’re so strong, you thought in dismay, terror seizing your body as you watched Farah struggle. How are we going to win if a dagger to the thigh can’t even loosen their grip?

You lurched forward again, trying to move quick even as your legs were unsteady – you had to get to Farah, had to try, had to save her – but then the man reached for his hip and pulled out a dagger from a hidden sheath, his hand still twisted in her hair. There was a scream, and only belatedly did you realize it was your own, watching powerless as he palmed the hilt.

Then there was the glint of a second dagger – Farah’s this time, but instead of reaching back to stab the man, she blocked his arm before he could slice her throat. They struggled, the man trying to force her arm down with sheer brute strength. She resisted, but you could see her arm quivering, and you knew she wouldn’t be able to hold him for long.

She twisted her arm, so quick that you almost missed it, and then with one quick move, she forced her arm back and drew the blade through her own hair.

The man stumbled back as he lost his grip, and before he could charge forward again Farah had turned and plunged the dagger into his chest.

He stumbled back again, his mouth open in pain and surprise for a long moment, before his knees buckled and he fell to the ground dead, his hand still gripping the long, blonde lock of Farah’s hair.

~~~~~~~~~

It felt like a miracle when Alfea finally fell silent – the enemy driven away and the campus and the students safe.

And then came the aftermath.

Medics rushed, treating everything from shock to serious wounds (though you felt it another miracle that the medics assured you no one would die). A unit from the Solarian army came in helping to secure the boundaries of the school – and then the questioning came. Captains, generals, bureaucrats, all asking the same questions over and over, well into the early morning as you and the other faculty of Alfea did your best to explain to them just what had happened that night.

But after every question had been answered and re-answered, after the infirmary had been emptied except for the few who needed to stay overnight, and after the quiet fell over the grounds again, you finally got to go home.

You found Farah in the main hall of Alfea, , her back straight and stiff as she stared out at the battle-scarred grounds. You touched her arm, and she turned to look at you, blinking as though coming out of a vision, before she slowly nodded at you, and then together you slowly stumbled back to your quarters, the glow of pre-dawn giving you just enough light to make your way.

You moved straight to the bedroom you shared, shedding shoes and jackets along the way, not bothering to put them away. In the room you flopped down on the bed, groaning as you sat for what felt like the first time in days.

“Gods,” you murmured, not knowing what else there was to say. “It’s been a long night.”

Farah was quiet, and confused, you looked over to see her still standing stock still in the doorframe, staring into the vanity’s mirror on the opposite wall.

“Farah?” you asked slowly, suddenly worried she’d been more hurt in the battle than she let on.

“I…” she trailed off, and then reached up with a trembling hand, touching the ends of her hair that fell around her neck. “In all the chaos, I forgot…”

She trailed off again. And then when her lip trembled, you felt your heart crack.

Standing, you padded over to her, guiding her to the vanity and coaxing her to sit. You let out a soft murmur, and gentle enough as though not to startle her, you ran your hand through her hair, scratching her scalp to try and comfort.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head before they could fall, letting out a wry laugh.

“It’s just silly, isn’t it? Crying over hair.” She ran her hand through it again, and her lower lip trembled again when it stopped so short. “It will grow back, and what’s more important is that everyone is alive and well.”

But there was such sadness in her eyes, a grief you could see she was desperately trying to hide and push away, so much that it made your heart clench. You ran your fingers along her scalp again, your other hand coming to squeeze her shoulder gently, trying to soothe. “It will grow back, yes, but you’re allowed to mourn, too. Just because this is fixable doesn’t mean you can’t be upset.”

She nodded, eyes still filled with tears, and your heart clenched again. She’d never said it aloud, but you knew how much pride she took in her hair — the time she spent caring for it, morning and evening, the elegant styles she put it in every day that were almost as central to her as her personality. She’d had long hair for as long as you could remember — as long as she could remember, she told you, and you couldn’t imagine how exposed she must feel without the armor her carefully composed appearance provided.

But then again, there was no reason her short hair couldn’t become a part of that appearance.

“Can I try something?” you blurted, Farah looking at you curiously in the mirror, blinking away the tears.

She nodded, and reaching for her brush, you slowly worked it through her hair, removing the remaining pins. Then picking up the bottle of mousse, you squeezed a bit onto your palm and worked it through, then carefully parted it to one side. It took a few tries to get it to stay, but finally it did, and it had the volume you’d hoped it would. Then you gathered the hair at her neck up into a sweep and pinned it with an elegant comb she had on the vanity, pulling out a few curls to frame her face.

“It’s not perfect,” you said as you toyed with her hair, pushing it to lay a bit more neatly. “We’d probably have to trim it to give it a little better shape, but what do you think?”

You couldn’t read her expression for a long moment, but then she met your eyes in the mirror, and a small smile slowly spread across her mouth. “I… feel more like myself than I have since this dreadful day started.”

You let out the breath you didn’t know you’d been holding, relief coursing through you now that Farah’s eyes didn’t hold such grief.

She turned in her chair to face you, bringing her hand up to cup your cheek. “I had been through many battles before I met you. But how I survived the aftermath without you, I do not know.”

You smiled, then turned your head to kiss her palm. “You survived because you’re strong, and determined to continue on despite it all.” You leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head then, linking your arms around her neck as you straightened. “But you don’t have to do it alone anymore.”

“No,” she agreed, leaning in to rest her head on your chest. “Thank the gods I don’t.”

It was a long time before you could let go of her, the solid, warm feel of her a comfort to the visions of her grabbed by that man still flashing through your mind. But eventually the adrenaline of the night began to wear off, leaving you nearly shaking with exhaustion, and you had to step back, pulling her towards the bed.

“Come on.”

She followed you, and uncaring of your dirty clothing or the mousse in her hair, you both collapsed, sighing as you finally lay vertical.

“You know,” you murmured, almost too tired to know what you were saying, “you’re quite rakish with the short hair.”

She snorted, a noise you rarely heard from her until she was over exhausted. “The rakish Headmistress?”

You hummed, eyes closed and half asleep already. “To me. But I’m allowed to think that.”

She chuckled and snuggled closer to you, her nose bumping yours as she settled in. "Thank you."

You opened your eyes a little, seeing the gratitude in hers, and you smiled, reaching up and brushing back a lock of her hair. "If there's anyone who looks good with long and short hair, it's you. You'll always be one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen."

She smiled sweetly, a light blush on her cheeks, and with that in mind you finally drifted off, the worries of what tomorrow would bring far away from the warmth of your bed and Farah besides you.

#honestly farah would look really good with short hair #but i'll always be a sucker for her long hair #you can tell how far behind i am in my prompts bc anon sent this in when the hotd promo first started #and we all freaked out about her short hair again #farah dowling #farah dowling x reader #fate the winx saga #ftws #eve best

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

500 Miles (Chapter Two)

Summary: This is Part Nineteen of my series A Herrmann/Halstead Production. It is an AU where Christopher Herrmann's mom had an affair with Pat Halstead resulting in a baby. The series follows this OC character (Rebecca "Bex" Herrmann) as she grows up and gets to know her brothers and the various Chicago teams. It is very much an AU, just to underscore that. It doesn't follow the same timeline and characters will follow different paths.

Click here for the Series Rundown where you can find the links to read all of the previous installments (which I highly recommend you do so that this one makes sense.)

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Christopher Herrmann & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Original Female Character, Will Halstead & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, Greg 'Mouse' Gerwitz/Original Female Character, Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes, Assorted OC Couples

Warnings: Light Angst, Emotional Conversations, Dealing with Past Trauma, Minor Character Injury, Swearing, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, An Unholy Amount of Fluff

A/N: To underscore my previous note, this is an alternate universe so things have unfolded differently. This will not follow the canon arcs exactly by any means. But I hope you'll still enjoy it!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Connor

Connor woke up to light streaming through his windows and the silence of his apartment pressing in from every side.

Quiet was all he’d wanted when he first moved in. The only way he could handle being back in Chicago was if he had a place where he could shut out the world and ignore its demands for a while. A refuge from his father. A stronghold.

Then he met Will Halstead. And Bex. And every other person in the weird, sprawling family those two had pulled him into. It was everything his own family wasn’t and would never be.

(Despite his best efforts at reconnecting with an uninterested Claire—his sister was committed to the Rhodes empire over everything else, just like their father.)

The longer Connor spent at ‘Casa Herrmannstead’, as Emery called it, the more he realized that solitude was the last thing he wanted.

He wanted the noise and laughter and mess. He wanted shared meals and warmth and arguments over stupid tv shows while sitting crammed together on the couch. He wanted to stay and weave himself into the fabric of their family until he was so enmeshed that none of them would ever be able to let him go.

Which was why he’d excused himself around midnight last night and head back to his empty condo. His father always told him he asked too much of people. Always wanting more.

Connor had promised to honour any boundaries Will set out and that applied to every aspect of their relationship. He might have stayed over the other night, but that had been under special circumstances. When they both needed the comfort closeness brought and instantly fallen asleep together in an exhausted heap. One night didn’t mean an open invitation going forward.

He was following Will’s lead. Taking his cues and not pushing for more than was offered. He did his best not to over-insert himself into their lives, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself. (Hello, five cartons of ice cream.) He always tried to balance it out after though. Even when it meant coming back to suffer through the damn quiet.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Connor sighed and hauled himself out of bed. His brain was too awake to attempt going back to sleep. Best to get on with it.

Feeling slightly more human after a shower, he was in the middle of getting dressed when his phone started buzzing incessantly. Someone was texting him. Aggressively.

Connor picked it up and snorted at the name that popped up, swiping to read the messages.

BEX Connor Connor Connor Are you awake? Wake up, Connor! Answer! Connor! CONNORRRRRRRR! GET DRESSED AND COME DOWNSTAIRS RIGHT NOW!!! BRING YOUR ARMS!!!!!!  

Bring his—what?

Texting back questions wasn’t likely to net him any answers so Connor finished getting dressed, grabbed his keys and his wallet, and headed downstairs.

The Tin Can 2.0 sat parked outside with Bex and Emery leaning against it. All three of them were holding up admirably under the stink eye of his doorman. Connor reassured him they were friends before making his way over.

“Get in, loser,” Bex said with a grin. “We’re going to the farmers’ market.”

“We are, are we?” Connor laughed.

“Yes!” She came over to link an arm in his. “Will and Jay have gone off to play sports of some kind—”

“On a Saturday morning,” Emery added with disgust.

“So, they’re dead to us,” Bex continued. “And Emery and I decided to go to the farmers’ market like normal people and we thought, you know what would make this trip even better? If Connor came with us.”

“The direct quote was ‘we should totally kidnap Connor’,” Emery stage-whispered to him and Bex scowled at her.

Connor couldn’t hold back his grin as he replayed her text messages over in his brain. “Sure you want the pleasure of my company and not just my arms to help you carry everything?”

“The arms are simply an added benefit,” Bex sniffed.

“Well, then they and myself are at your service.” He paused as he got close enough to take a good look at Bex’s car. “How about I drive us too?”

“No, no, no,” Bex said, steering him toward the backseat while Emery held the door open. “My car has more storage.”

“Exactly what are you planning to get?”

“It’s the farmers’ market,” Bex said as she nudged him to sit down and pull all of his limbs into the car. “You have to be prepared for anything.”

“Don’t forget your seatbelt!” Emery chirped as she slammed the door.

Connor buckled up quickly and bid a happy farewell to his quiet morning.

***

Will

“Who is it?” Jay asked, bouncing the basketball around while Will stood off to the side checking his messages.

“Uh,” Will laughed to himself before holding up the phone for Jay to see. It was a selfie from Connor with a single word. Help. He’d angled the shot to show Bex and Emery in the front seat of what was clearly the Tin Can. “Looks like Bex and Emery roped him into the farmers’ market.”

“Oh, good!” Jay perked up. “More arms to carry shit. Ask them to grab me some strawberries.”

Will rolled his eyes, but sent the message along anyway. And added a little heart from himself.

“How are thing going with him lately?” Jay asked as Will set his phone back down. They’d been playing for a while, taking advantage of the empty court and had a lot of ground so far for their long overdue catch-up. Will should have figured this topic would come up. And he was glad Jay was asking! So glad.

He just had to take a second to fight back that initial impulse to keep it all a secret and remember that he could share.

“It’s good,” he said, smiling a little as he thought about how well it was actually going. Connor fit. Not only with Will, but with their family and that meant everything to him. “He’s amazing and he’s been so supportive with everything that’s been going on with Emery and Bex.”

“That’s great, man,” Jay said. Will didn’t miss the wince when he mentioned the Bex part of everything, but it was a genuine smile he offered now. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Me too.” Will stole the ball from him and let it fly, cheering when it swooshed through the hoop. “It’s really great. Did I mention how amazing he is? And considerate?”

Jay chased down the ball and returned with a narrow-eyed stare. “Okay, well, now I’m suspicious,” he said. “What’s going on?”

Will sighed. He and Jay were close, but— “This might be more than you want to know,” he said, giving Jay full warning.

“Hit me.” Jay tucked the ball under his arm, giving Will his full attention.

“We haven’t done more than kiss and it’s my own goddamn fault because I said I wanted to go slow and now I’m ready to not go slow, but with everything that’s happened lately, there hasn’t been a chance, but now things are calming down, BUT, Bex and Emery are at our place and it’s hard to find time alone and he’s being so freaking considerate and it’s not like I can invite myself over to his place—”

“Whoa! Will, breathe.” Jay held out a hand, looking concerned. “That’s a lot, bud, I get it.” He patted Will’s shoulder and Will focused on taking measured breaths. “Have you tried…talking to him about this?” Jay asked.

Will groaned. “What part of that pile of word vomit sounded to you like I’d had a chance to talk to him about any of this?”

“Fair.” Jay nodded. “Okay, like you said, things are calming down so maybe you give it a day or two and see if an opportunity to talk about it comes up? And if it does, you jump on it.”

“Yeah,” Will sighed. That was the sensible thing. “Thanks. I think I just needed to vent a bit.”

“No problem,” Jay said. His face lit up with a little shit-eating grin. “And if that doesn’t work, you could show up at his place and jump him.”

“Okay, that’s enough advice from you. Come on.” Will clapped his hands and motioned for the ball. “Let’s get back to me destroying you.”

“Oh, you think that’s what’s happening?” Jay raised an eyebrow at him. He started dribbling the ball before stopping suddenly and pressing a hand to his side.

Shit. Will should have remembered Jay’s injuries. “Are you okay?”

“Bruises are still a bit tender,” Jay grunted. “I’m fine.”

“Want me to take a look?” Will stepped toward him and—

Jay ducked down to grab the ball, swooping past Will to make his shot and do a little victory dance. Which he then had to stop and clutch at his ribs for real this time. Dumbass.

“You’re such a jerk,” Will laughed and Jay shot him a grin.

“I think I’m good,” Jay said, taking a deep breath and giving him a thumb’s up. “Let’s keep going. Winner buys breakfast?”

Will grinned back. Happy to have the space to enjoy being ridiculous with his idiot brother. “You’re on.”

***

Later that night.

***

Otis

Seemed like everyone and their brother was at Molly’s tonight.

Of course, that number might be skewed by the sheer number of brothers Bex seemed to bring with her wherever she went, but still—place was packed.

The chaos level was not being alleviated either by Herrmann practically standing on the bar to make his announcement.

“Hey! Hey, everybody, shut up!” Herrmann yelled. “This for 51. Pay attention.” The noise quieted down enough for him to be heard. “August first is the CFD-slash-CPD grudge match—”

Boos and catcalls filled the room.

Brett turned around in her seat and the end of the bar and leaned toward Otis. “Grudge match?”

“Charity baseball game,” he explained. “Proceeds go to the community centre in our district.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Brett said, her eyes going soft.

“You’d think so,” Otis agreed. “The charity part is. The game itself?” He nodded at Herrmann, directing her attention back to him as the man waved his arms to get everyone to shut up again.

“It’s two weeks today,” Herrmann said. “I got no names on my sign-up list.”

“I got a black eye last year,” Capp complained. “That game is dangerous.”

“Dangerous only for people who don’t play so well and lost horribly last year,” Platt said with a smirk. “I can see why you’d have trouble getting people sign up for that level of humiliation again, Herrmann.”

Herrmann sputtered, shaking a finger at her before turning back to their crew. “You hear that? This is about honour. This is about integrity.”

“I thought it was about charity,” Casey yelled.

“Yeah, that too.” Herrmann waved him off. “Come on. Get your names on here. This is our reputation at stake.” He hopped down and started making the rounds, strong-arming people into signing up.

Brett signed up easily and Otis shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

“It sounds like fun,” she shrugged, smiling when Atwater came over and sidled into place beside her.

“Did I see you signing up for the game?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Baseball’s fun,” she said. “I loved playing when I was a kid. My dad coached out Little League team.”

“Have you played since then?” Atwater asked, laughter colouring his voice.

“It’s like riding a bike!” she shot back.

Otis continued to side-eye watch their exchange as he worked the bar. Something was definitely going on there. Brett hadn’t mentioned anything official yet, but Atwater’s name had come up in conversation more than a few times.

She seemed happy though and that was what mattered. He wanted his friends to be happy.

He would just also like to be happy. Everyone around him was already paired up or on the verge of some kind of romance and Otis was…Otis. Comic-relief, good friend, perpetually single Otis.

It seemed like everyone was moving forward with their lives in some way. Casey and Dawson were engaged. Severide and Kidd were doing their ‘pretending it’s casual, but really we’re gone on each other’ dance. Shay and Julie were moving in together. Boden and Herrmann had their families. Mouch was engaged for pete’s sake.

What was Otis doing? He was moving into a three-bedroom place with Cruz and Brett which was going to be great, sure, but if Cruz ended up finding someone, Otis was going to be stuck fifth-wheeling in his own apartment.

Bex elbowed him gently, pulling him out of his thoughts. “You signing up for the game?” she asked with a little eyebrow waggle.

“Obviously,” he said. “Our honour, integrity, and reputation are at stake. Didn’t you hear?”

“Last year was kind of a blood bath,” she mused.

Rude.

“You finally going to pick a side and play this year?” He nudged her back.

“When I could sit on the sidelines and heckle both teams?” She shot him a look. “Be for real.”

Mouse popped up at the bar, stealing her attention away. That was another situation Otis couldn’t get a handle on. He didn’t know all of the details, but he’d heard enough to know that things had gone way off the rails between the two of them. And that it had been rough for awhile there.

Bex had been more like her old self the last couple of days though so Otis wasn’t sure if that meant they’d made up and it was game back on or if they’d worked through it, but decided to be friends. If it was option number two…

Otis was considering how much time would be appropriate before maybe, possibly asking her out. Theoretically. He wasn’t sure yet. It might be a horrible idea. Or an awesome one.

He hadn’t decided yet.

Herrmann might kill him. That had to be considered as well.

He watched as Bex leaned across the bar to hand Mouse his order. “How was pizza night?” he heard her ask. Mouse answered with a small smile and a duck of his chin as he nodded which apparently meant a lot to Bex because her smile was blinding as she watched him walk away.

Well, crap.

That looked like option number one.

It had only been an idle thought anyway. Probably would have been too weird since he was pretty sure she basically saw him as another brother. He was kind of glad he’d witnessed that little interaction before he embarrassed himself by asking.

Otis sighed. Maybe he should try shaving his moustache again.

He shuddered.

No.

That was crazy talk.

“You okay there, Otis?” Sergeant Platt asked, waving a hand in front of his face. “I asked if I could get a ginger ale.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.” He got to work putting her drink together and avoiding her piercing stare. Platt had a way of knowing things and he didn’t need her input on this particular internal conversation.

“Hey, sarge!” Ruzek bounded up to the bar, slotting into the spot beside Platt. “Heard you were in charge of PD side of the grudge match this year. Where’s our sign-up list?”

“What do you take me for?” she asked as she accepted her drink from Otis with a nod and then walked away.

Ruzek watched her go with a frown before turning back to them. “I don’t know how to answer that,” he whispered. He looked over at Atwater who shrugged.

“It means there’s no list because she didn’t bother asking,” Bex said. “You’re all signed up.”

“Seriously?” Ruzek’s eyebrows went up.

“Guaranteed,” Otis nodded.

“Sweet.” He reached out to fist pump Atwater, cheering “Grudge Match!” before wandering off again.

Nice to know some things in life were that easy.

“Hey,” Bex turned to him. “Did you ever hear the story about Chris’s first grudge match? It involves golf clubs, a stolen ice cream truck, and a flood at left field.”

Otis set down his towel. “Tell me everything and leave out no details.”

***

Chris

Promptly at eleven am the next morning, there was a knock on the door of the Herrmann house. Chris went to answer it and found Beau and Ed on the other side.

“Crap,” he said.

He’d forgotten about brunch.

“Nice to see you too, Chris,” Beau laughed. “Is this a bad time? We can reschedule.”

“Uh, it’s a little hectic in here,” he admitted. “But come on in.” Chris ushered them inside. He could whip something up easily enough and he needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later anyway.

Beau and Ed followed him inside, greeting Cindy and the kids. They hung out in the kitchen and helped Chris whip up a pancake feast while the kids rotated through asking question after question, entranced by the new people in their midst. (And the lure of second breakfast.)

Once the kids were settled with their food and Chris had made sure Cindy was feeling steady, he headed out to the back deck with the two of them and their meals.

The pleasant chit chat continued for a bit before Chris decided to dive right in. “I know you guys came here to talk patio construction for Molly’s today,” he said. “And I really appreciate you making the time, but we gotta have a different chat today.”

Both Beau and Ed sat up straighter in their chairs. “Is everything okay?” Beau asked carefully.

“I mean…yes?” Chris shrugged. It was better than okay in some ways, but it was still a complicated answer. “We’re not telling everyone yet,” he said, lowering his voice. “But Cindy and I are expecting another kid—”

“Dude!” Beau smiled widely. “Congratulations!”

Ed was watching him a little more closely. “Are congratulations in order?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Chris said, smiling back and accepting the hand slap on the shoulder Beau leaned in to give him. There was a flip side to it though. “It’s just—kids are expensive no matter how you slice it and we weren’t exactly planning this.”

Understanding began to dawn on Beau and Ed’s faces.

“I hate to say this when you’ve both been so helpful,” Chris said. “But we gotta put a pause on the patio project. Cindy and I can’t afford a big spend like that right now and I don’t want to ask the others to cough up more than their fair share.”

“I get it, man,” Ed said with a nod. “If you’re able to pick it up down the road, feel free to give me a call. I can talk construction any time.”

“I appreciate that—”

“What if, uh—” Beau began hesitantly. “What if there was another option?”

***

Beau

He didn’t want to overstep, but this felt like the sign he’d been waiting for.

“What kind of option?” Chris asked, eyeing him. “You know of some kind of secret money stash we can pull from?”

“Not a secret one,” Beau said. “Me. Maybe Ed, if he’s interested.”

Chris sat back. A slight frown crossed his face. “We don’t need a handout—”

“No!” Crap. Beau was already messing this up. “That’s not—that’s not what I meant at all.” He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed.

“Take a beat,” Ed said. “And then start at the beginning of that thought instead of the middle.”

Beau huffed out a laugh. Fair enough. “Okay,” he said, after he took a moment to organize his thoughts. “So, you know how we’re going on tour soon?”

Chris and Ed nodded.

“It’s going to be Taggert’s first and last tour,” he said. The two of them raised their eyebrows in a twin moment of shock. “Yeah, that’s kind of how I felt about it at first.” He explained how Patti had sat him and Elle down and told them that as much as she loved their band, she couldn’t see herself doing it long term. Not touring anyway. Not when she and Pete were wanting to start a family soon. Heck, Pete had only joined the band for Patti to begin with.

She’d been thinking about it for awhile and had been trying to figure out how to tell them. A lifetime of performing in crappy bars in the hopes that it all went somewhere was not where she wanted to focus her energy. She wanted to build something with Pete.

It was hard to argue with that.

And then Elle admitted she’d been thinking about going back to school.

There was no Taggert without the three of them. Beau had no interest in trying to replace them in any way. Taggert was literally his family. So, they were going to go on their tour and have the best time possible before calling it quits

Beau had no intention of giving up music, but he was still working out what his pursuit of it would look like going forward. Waiting for a sign.

And it looked like this might be it.

“I have some money,” he said. “From my dad after he passed. And he also left us his recording studio.”

Chris’s frown had turned more contemplative at this point so Beau continued.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping other musicians and I’ve been thinking about focusing more on the production side of things,” he said. “My thought is, what if I invest in Molly’s so you can still get the patio up and running?”

“I don’t think we’re really in the market for another partner,” Chris said slowly. “I wouldn’t ask for any say in the bar side of things,” Beau said. “I could be in charge of the patio though. The music side. Booking live shows? If I’m working with people at the studio, Molly’s could be the perfect opportunity for them to try out new material in a welcoming space.”

He could see it perfectly. “Molly’s could become a destination spot for live music.” And it would be a chance for him to start building something for himself. Something to counteract the sting of being left behind by his sisters—as happy as he was for them.

“That’s…not a horrible idea,” Chris said.

“I’d be happy to invest too,” Ed offered. “As a completely silent partner though. I’ve got plenty of other jobs and my partners would kill me if I took on another.”

“Wow.” Chris looked a little bit overwhelmed, but excitement was creeping in on the edges. “I gotta talk to everyone else about this and they’ll probably want to sit down with you too, but you might be on to something here, kid.” He raised his mug.

Beau grinned at him and clinked his mug with Chris’s.

***

Bex

Bex watched the time, counting down. At four pm on the dot, a text popped up on her phone and she smiled as she read it. A flutter of nerves and excitement passed through her chest. The first walk. Okay, this was—

"Stop psyching yourself out and go!" Emery yelled from the kitchen.

Fair point.

"I'm going!" Bex fastened Kol’s leash to his collar and headed out the door. “Come on, Kol,” she said. “Mouse is waiting."

Click here to read Chapter Three. Click here to read Chapter Four. Click here to read Chapter Five. Click here to read Chapter Six. Click here to read Chapter Seven. Click here to read Chapter Eight. Click here to read Chapter Nine. Click here to read Chapter Ten. Click here to read Chapter Eleven. Click here to read Chapter Twelve. Click here to read Chapter Thirteen. Click here to read Chapter Fourteen. Click here to read Chapter Fifteen. Click here to read Chapter Sixteen.

Click here to read 500 Miles on ao3:

And here is the tag list (let me know if you wish to be added or removed):

@sorry-i-spaced, @iunnowatuwant, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @ivyalmighty, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3, @multifandomgrl08, @foxes-and-cats, @sensitivemallysix, @thebewingedjewelcat, @emme-looou,

#A Herrmann/Halstead Production #one chicago #chicago fire #chicago pd #chicago med #jay halstead #will halstead #christopher herrmann #oc character #rebecca 'bex' herrmann #a herrmann/halstead production #alternate universe #not canon #not beta read #romance #light angst #fluff #building relationships #shenanigans #team as family #family feels #friendship #healthy relationships #SO MUCH FLUFF

[darsynia]

Nat and Steve romance pls!

I enjoyed this, thanks for the request! Requests are still open!

Summary: Steve Rogers' mom had loved stories about romance, especially between two people who saw each other as equals. Pre-serum, fulfilling his mother's wish had seemed a hopeless ideal, and post-serum, equally so. Until he met Natasha.

Length/Warnings: 820 words, no warnings

Equals

Steve’s mom had loved romance novels. Her favorites had always been the ones where a secretary falls for her boss, or a nurse for her patient, but he could remember her complaining: ‘Where are the stories where they’re equals, Stevie? I want to read about them being equals!’

He’d never forgotten, had held that hope in the back of his head like a talisman, but Steve had never expected his romantic life to bring her wish to fruition. He was weak, puny, overlooked. Women wanted someone who could provide for them, who could stand up for them-- and then suddenly, he’d overshot the mark. ‘This Hero Has No Equal!’ one article had crowed.

No equal.

Steve came out of the ice, but it took him awhile to thaw. Once he did, he handled the task of adjusting to modern life, of warming up fairly well, in every way but one. He was… distracted by Natasha Romanoff.

Yes, by her beauty at first, but once he got used to how luminous she always seemed to be, Steve never ‘got used to’ her competency. It always floored him, how Nat was strong in ways he’d never be able to master, lithe when it counted, clever always. Her quick wit and sharp strategic mind left him alternatively in stitches and in awe, and falling for her was so easy he was almost embarrassed it took him so long to realize that’s what he’d done.

He didn’t intend to tell her, of course. That would be an overstep, and if Steve couldn’t be her partner, at least he could be her protector, someone she could count on to see her as-- oh.

An equal.

A couple weeks after that realization, Steve found himself being shoved up against the wall during a sparring session with Natasha. She’d taken him off guard, which was fair. He was still coming to grips with… everything.

“Out with it,” she said, her smaller frame no less threatening or deadly as she held a static weapon bristling with energy at his throat.

“Lunch didn’t agree with me?”

Natasha pushed the weapon closer. If he so much as swallowed hard, it would sting him. “What else?”

He felt completely out of his depth. “Your, ah, uniform shirt is unzipped more than normal,” he admitted. It was the truth, and he’d caught himself staring more than once so far.

Natasha’s smile was feral. “True. And?”

He moved swiftly and without warning, darting sideways and catching her waist with one hand to spin her off-balance. As usual, Nat rolled with the movement and turned it to her advantage, shooting out a kick that stole away his breath for a few seconds. He was fast enough to trap her kicking leg in both hands, yanking her forward into his body.

She should have tried to escape.

She should have pressed her advantage.

Natasha did neither. Instead, she leaped at him, and instinct led Steve to catch her weight at her ass and her back, one leg falling behind to brace the two of them so he didn’t tip over.

“And?” she repeated, one leg on either side of him, a steady hand brushing back his sweaty hair from his forehead.

There was no way his feelings weren’t written all over his face, Steve realized as he looked at her unblinking, green-eyed expression. She’d tricked him into showing her, meaning that she’d figured him out.

The best he could do was hope she felt honored, instead of offended. He’d wanted to be different than other men, for her. He’d wanted to be her equal.

“How long have you known?” Steve asked, entranced, impressed, imprisoned.

“Kiss me and find out,” she suggested archly-- and oh. Oh.

Natasha Romanoff kissed like time was running out, like no one was watching, like she couldn’t get enough. Steve sank to his knees in self-defense, needing to touch her, to ground the two of them with his hands cradling her face, tangled in her hair. His heart hadn’t pounded like this when he’d jumped from an airplane, and when their lips parted enough to catch a breath, he told her exactly that.

“Mine either,” she said, taking his hand from her cheek and pressing it against her too-low zipper, so he could feel for himself.

“So, you’re saying--” he started to say, needing reassurance, but Natasha stopped him with a quick kiss, then drew back.

“I’ve wanted to jump from the airplane before,” she said, a shadow crossing her face for a split second before she refocused on his face, and smiled. “With you, I’m not worried about how we land.”

He pulled her close, unable not to, and as he kissed her hair, her forehead, and her tear-wet cheek on his way to her lips, Steve realized that she could either mean they’d never land, or that she wasn’t worried about the fall.

He was equally happy with either.

#steve rogers x natasha romanoff #romanogers #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #steve x natasha #steve rogers fanfiction #natasha romanoff fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #steve rogers romance #natasha romanoff romance #blurb week

[snapscube]

You might have said this before, but what happened to the SnapStreams format? Did you just end up deciding to replace it with the style of stream highlights you've been doing lately? If so, that's fine obviously, I was just kinda curious on what happened to the format

Initially it was put on hiatus as Sophie was in need of some time off to deal with life stuff. After a while, she reached out to me and explained that the time off would most likely need to become an official stepping away from the SnapStreams editor position. Of course I was fully supportive of both decisions, but I didn’t really have a backup plan at the time so it kinda just ended up being the case that SnapCube majorly slowed down for a bit, as not only were SnapStreams defunct but Let’s Plays had also been moved over to SnapCube 2. After a while longer, I was inspired by the many MANY Jerma985 highlight compilations and stream edits I started to get into at the time and I thought “I’d like to try this out for my own streams and see if I can maybe get some eyes on my own stuff this way :)”

So the idea in Summer of 2021 became:

- I would hire an editor to create edits of individual streams that could be uploaded to SnapCube and uniquely branded so as to best keep engagement up and allow myself to be creative with upload style again. This would happen weekly, which is in most cases a wonderful balance based on my average stream consistency and the needs of SnapCube as a channel. Ellie applied for this position and was ultimately chosen.

- I also wanted to, alongside the individual edits, re-utilize the SnapStreams branding for monthly super compilations of the absolute best stream bits throughout a month. I offered this position to Tracey, who initially applied for the first position but was enthusiastic to try this other idea out as well and accepted the role.

This structure worked for a couple of months but, as you can probably assume based on the shockingly few episodes of this new take on SnapStreams that were uploaded, ran into some hiccups. Namely, only a couple months into the new run I started to deal with some serious fatigue and mental health struggles that prevented me from finding enough energy to stream at a consistent rate. The amount of footage that Tracey was able to compile in a single month was hardly up to the length standard we had agreed on, through no fault of her own, so we experimented with trying to keep up with the goal by combining the last couple of months into a single compilation. The problem with that though is that this plan suffered from some scope creep we did not anticipate and ended up just becoming way too stressful.

Not to mention, honestly, people weren’t really responding to this new version of SnapStreams. All the episodes performed way below expectation and it didn’t really have the audience draw that I was hoping it would. It was nice for those who already cared, but the new version of the series was supposed to act as a bit of an investment into allowing more people to discover my streams and possibly tune in live sometime, which you can’t do if the only people watching are mostly the ones who already watch. So, Tracey and I had a few discussions about how we wanted to move forward and I made the call to basically call it quits on SnapStreams for good.

So, yeah, TL;DR: SnapStreams as a video series is basically done, I can’t see a future where I have any reason to bring it back based on how well the current structure is working out for the main channel. I think it’s overall a positive thing though. it was exactly what it needed to be for a time, and though the revival wasn’t the success I was hoping for, it gave me a chance to work with Tracey, who is an incredibly skilled and thoughtful editor, and we’re actually gonna be working together to develop another idea in the next couple of months I’ve been wanting to try for a bit: a dedicated short-form SnapCube clip channel for the trendy sites like TikTok and YouTube :) which I’m excited about!!

[cssns]

CSSNS Get to Know Me!

Let’s warmly welcome @snowbellewells​ to the 2023 CSSNS event!

How long have you been in the CS/OUAT fandom?

Since the summer before Season 3 began, so about 2013.

When did you start shipping Captain Swan?

I would say right about then, the start of the Neverland arc. I was of course intrigued by Killian from the start, but shipping them as a couple? It was probably there at the beginning of Season 3.

What drew you to this event?

I was drawn in through talking with Krystal (@kmomof4) about wishing there were more werewolf fics and being able to finally bring an idea of my own I’d had to life for the event. Plus, I was VERY excited for all of the other stories and new friendships that would surely come from it!

What inspired your topic?

The MC I am writing this year was inspired by the book (and TV movie adaptation of the book) Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts. Emma’s character in it will have psychic/clairvoyant abilities, which I have been assured is supernatural enough to qualify, and there will be some mystery and suspense thrown in with the romance if I balance it all as I hope!

My one shot was inspired by a story prompt idea I saw floating around on Tumblr.

If you would like to share a snippet/sneak peek/summary of your fic or artwork, please use the space below.

From the Prologue of Carolina Moon:  “But, more than all of that, she had come back to this place to find peace, to lay to rest the ghosts that followed her everywhere else she’d gone in the years between, once and for all. If she expected others to leave the past in the past, she’d first have to manage it herself.   She’d had no way to know as she and Rose parted that afternoon with promises and plans for later that it would be the last time she would ever see her friend. Emma had harbored the pain and the guilt and the unanswered questions ever since. Finally, it was time to meet the gazes of all of those who’d stared at her in suspicion before she’d been packed up and moved away once more, and it was time she found answers. She wasn’t the scared, whipped, mistreated adolescent she had been at 13. What she had lived through then wasn’t her fault, nor was what had happened to Rose that muggy July midnight.   And if she had to return to Storybrooke, South Carolina to lay that burden down… well, it was long past time she did.”

For our betas: Who/what have you beta'd before, or is this your first time? Feel free to give as much info as you like.

I have beta’ed a bit for authors in this event in previous years, and occasionally for other fic writer friends if they need someone to glance over a story for them before they post it. I love doing that. The collaboration and idea sharing is so much fun, and I feel like I am getting a special sneak peek!

What are you looking forward to most about participating in this event?

Digging back into this story I’ve been anxiously waiting to put my full attention towards, and seeing what everyone else will create and post!

We’re looking forward to TWO stories from @snowbellewells​ - the OS dropping on August 2nd and the MC on August 18th!

#GTKM #cssns23 #snowbellewells #gtkm interview

[felidacy]

Because I have been sucked back into my figure skating a.k.a. Yuzuru Hanyu like every couple of weeks by now I will share a random idea I've had in my head for a while now. Secretly hoping that maybe someone writes something like that. (I could write it myself but it wouldn't feel the same.) The man has a chokehold on me for real. It doesn't help that I genuinely have been picturing Tim more than once in Yuzuru Hanyu's stead. It would even work together with his grace and because they both seem small and very lean, while having the appropriate muscles for the needed work.

Idea begins down below!

|

|

I wanna share my random little thought of Tim after getting Bruce back from the timestream debacle he comes to a well needed realisation. After two more near death experiences, one lost organ and a struggling morales complex, Tim makes the discovery that maybe he doesn't want to live a life that is barely going forward any longer. And though he acknowledges that he deserves to be happy and have a good family and friends, he does not know how to set boundaries and what changes are needed so he doesn't feel so tired anymore.

Tam Fox, his still fake fiancée that both forgot, then comes to the rescue to talk some sense into him. She is her fathers daughter and not one to mess with. This is why she manages it that Tim actually listens to her. First of all he finishes high school, moves in with Tam (Tam was not amused when she saw how he lived. Tim has never been so terrified.) and tries to keep a healthier work-life balance.

But Tim loaths the work as CEO, because it's so monoton he has too much time to overthink and it is what Jack and Janet Drake had always wanted for him. Tim did learn by now that he was never treated like he should have been. Not by the Drakes or the Wayne's. And so the decision is made that Tim needs to get out of Gotham - far, far away to heal.

Tim is smart, but he can also be so incredibly dumb sometimes. Which is why instead of being honest with family and friends, he fakes his death while in his Red Robin disguise and after that is secured he runs away before anyone can even properly mourn him. Tim would like to clap himself on the back, the death was a 10/10 in his mind with all the dramatic flair that his family naturally possess. Tam knows the truth immediately after all she didn't find the boy all across the world for nothing and so he instead gets nagged for hours on end after some hits.

(Tam later on does apologise. She had been worried sick as she once again went after him without knowing for sure that he lived and now they were in Malaysia.)

Tam refuses to leave and after a long talk with her father she decides on staying with Tim. Tim could have left again to shake off Tam, however he had always wanted to come to his mothers hometown and he was not willing to give that up now. They take up new identities, still engaged because its easier to explain and have a new life. The regular normie life does not work out for Tim that much. In winter Tim rescues a young child that's trapped on a frozen lake where locals were ice skating and is in danger of sinking. Unable to let a innocent person die, Tim takes one of the skates and relying on his training he is able to get the child back on safe land.

He was a bit too impressive as a figure skating coach saw him and Tim promptly gets scouted by the woman. At first he doesn't want to, but she is stubborn and Tam wants him to have a great future if that is what he wants as well. In the end he gives in and the coach is delighted because she wishes to come very far with Tim so her beloved, old company can see it's glory days again.

Cut to three years later, newly 21-year-old Tim comes on on the TV in the Manor while holding a gold medal. After the ceremony a young woman runs towards Tim and only when he spins her around do the people in the living room recognise them as Tam and Tim. Who were apparently newly married as a reporter states? Tim was secretly alive in another country and became a championship winner in figure skating?

Mayhem ensues.

#tim drake #figure skating au #tim learns to set boundaries #possible actual romantic Tim/Tam Fox if you squint #can be entirely seen as platonic though #batfamily #tim is trying his best #fanfiction idea #tim drake isn't red robin #civillian tim drake #coach as his mother figure #“what do you mean you are married and its not a big deal?!” #marriage for convenience

[bi-bard]

I'll Love You When the Oceans Dry - Malcolm Bright Imagine (Prodigal Son)

Title: I'll Love You When the Oceans Dry

Pairing: Malcolm Bright X Reader

Based On: She Calls Me Back

Word Count: 653 words

Warning(s): subtle reference to insecurities

Summary: Malcolm wasn't one to go out looking for love. When he met (Y/n), it simply hit him like a train. He felt like he was balancing on the line between healthy and obsessive. Maybe that balancing act wasn't as scary as he originally thought it was.

Author's Note: It has been a while since I've written for this character. I hope people still like how I write him because I've missed him.

STICK SEASON - NOAH KAHAN WRITING CHALLENGE MASTERLIST

**Written in third person**

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

It would be reckless to claim that one person could repair any problem that one had with their sleep cycle.

However, Malcolm would be lying if he tried to claim that having (Y/n) next to him didn't help him a little bit.

Maybe it was because being able to wake up and see them was very comforting.

Now... it was thoughts like that that worried him about his feelings for them.

He couldn't help but feel obsessive at times. He would find himself awake far earlier than he should've been and let himself relax next to (Y/n) like it was the most natural thing in the world.

His hand would cup the side of (Y/n)'s face as he scanned every part of their face.

Malcolm knew that they loved him, but he couldn't help but wonder if it felt like it did for him. If it felt like one touch could calm them in a moment. If it felt like being away from them made it just a little bit harder to breathe. If their mind couldn't help but wander to him and wonder about what he was doing when he wasn't with them.

He wanted to know how much of their mind he occupied.

(Y/n)'s eyes would slowly open a little while after Malcolm's. They would grin at him, tilting toward the palm of his hand. The skin offered them a sense of comfort and safety.

"Morning," (Y/n) muttered before looking over Malcolm's shoulder to the window. "Well... almost."

It was still dark outside. The best light source at the time was the streetlight outside of the window. It barely managed to graze part of Malcolm's arm.

"How'd you sleep," they asked.

"Fine," Malcolm said. (Y/n), through tired glances and a yawn, raised an eyebrow at him. 'Fine' was rarely a good answer from Malcolm. "Better."

(Y/n) chuckled. They reached up and grabbed his hand, moving it enough so they could press a kiss to his palm. He took a deep breath as they did. How could one small motion bring him so much comfort?

(Y/n) kept Malcolm's hand in theirs. Their lips rested against the side, a small grin forming as they watched his eyes study them.

"What's on your mind?"

Malcolm almost didn't hear the question. He was just so focused on committing every detail of them to memory.

"Malcolm?"

He blinked a few times, feeling like he was tuning back into the moment in front of him. (Y/n) had leaned back a bit, their thumb still running over the skin of his hand.

"What are you thinking about?"

"You," he replied. He was well aware of how sappy that sounded. He saw it in the amused look on (Y/n)'s face. "Sometimes I think I'm too in love with you."

(Y/n) furrowed their eyebrows.

"When does it become obsessive," he asked. "When does you constantly being on my mind go from sweet to creepy?"

He leaned forward, his forehead pressing against theirs. (Y/n) wasn't sure if he wanted a real answer or not.

In all honesty, Malcolm wasn't quite sure either. He just felt like his heart was being pulled to them. A constant state of longing that he grew to adore. He couldn't imagine his life without that feeling at this point.

(Y/n) pressed their lips to his.

It was a gentle kiss. Gentle and slow. Malcolm felt like he couldn't kiss them back fast enough before they pulled away again.

"I love you," they mumbled to him, face mere inches from his. "I love you so much. I couldn't see you loving me as 'creepy'. I just want to love and be loved by you."

Malcolm's smile grew again. "I love you too."

(Y/n) leaned forward and kissed him again.

He could live his entire life with that longing feeling in his chest as long as he knew that he could always come back to moments like this.

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

Author's Note: Not gonna lie, I really like this. It's just so gentle and loving.

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

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

#malcolm bright imagine #malcolm bright x reader #malcolm bright fanfiction #fanfiction #imagine #x reader #prodigal son imagine #prodigal son fanfiction #prodigal son x reader

[auroragehenna]

AI-less Whumptober

Day 16 Amputation, Chronic pain, Hospital

TW/CW: Hospital setting, no medical whump, comfort, a bit of trauma aftermath, briefly mentioned IV-mishaps, creepy whumper, posessive whumper, threats, interrogation, implied self-poisoning (non-life threatening, kinda self-defense really), implied threat of torture Word count: 776

Finally after what felt like thousands of questions and hours of waiting Lyra was finally in the room she was supposed to be in. It was quiet here, especially compared to the emergency department. The sun was just setting and finally she had some time to think about what was going on. She felt so bad for what she’s done but she hadn’t been able to think of another way! The hospital calmed her nerves a bit. She always liked being in them. Probably because there was no pressure to be anywhere. To go anywhere. To do anything. Quite the opposite, you’re forbidden to do so.

But the comfort could only keep the darkness away that much. The threat of Adam still hovered over her. She had most definitely not solved the problem. Merely postponed it. But she needed a break. She needed to be safe, at least for a little bit. And she didn’t want the next torture. For the next hour or something she tried to find a good balance between her racing thoughts and the sense of calamity of her hospital room. Despite the doctor’s worries about the poison she felt well so far. Just gotta close my eyes against the thoughts. She felt half-heartedly.

The door to the hospital room opened.

Lyra paused the music in her headphones and sat up, making sure to not knock off the magnetic-sticky-thingy’s that were attached to her. She saw a nurse step aside and then a young men enter. He had a hood pulled over his head which was nothing special with these temperatures. The guy mumbled something and then turned towards the other bed in the room. Lyra laid back down, she didn’t want to spy on her visitors. She could only hope that these ones weren’t so loud as the others. A cold hand touched Lyra’s IV-d hand and she flinched hard. The cold hands also pulled her headphones off her head and her eyes flew wide open.

Adam grinned down at her.

Lyra choked on air. What was he doing here?! How did he get-How did he know?!! He shouldn’t have known! Nonono. Shit. Even if I’m not weakened by the poison this is way too vulnerable. Not here. Not this comfort too…! She thought. Meanwhile Adam’s fingers were moving over her hand. Turning it around and inspecting it.

“Why is your hand bloody?”

“There-Lyra cleared her throat-There was a leaning nurse and she did my IV. She messed up for a second.”

“Interesting. Now tell me, how did you end up in the hospital?"

“Is that a question or an interrogation?”, Lyra asked apathetically.

Adam only raised an eyebrow, looking at her unwavering.

“I don’t want to answer your questions. Not now. Not here.”, she said with grief-stricken voice.

“I really thought I taught you better, Lyra.” Adam replied coldly.

Lyra shivered and discretely pulled the blanket a bit higher up. But unfortunately not discretely enough.

Adam’s hand shot forward and grabbed the blanket. With force he pulled the blanket down. “You got something you wanna hide from me, sweetheart? Or are you perhaps just trying to protect yourself from me?”

“You can’t hurt me. Not in a freaking hospital.”, she scoffed. Adam fell forward, towering over her, effectively pinning her down on the bed.

Before Adam could even start talking he got distracted by mechanical peeping. He slowly looked up and saw the heart monitor. The lines were very clearly falling out stronger than before. He dropped his gaze down onto Lyra again. “Something wrong, sweetheart?”

“Asshole.”

“How articulate.”

“You know one push of a button or something and-“

“And what, huh? You could have called for help a million times already. You know you won’t do it. And I can’t have something that belongs to me die now can it? So I ask you one last time. What. Were. You. Doing?!”

“I won’t answer your questions. Not here, not now!”

“I see. Well, then I suppose we’re gonna have a lovely little chat once you’re back home, won’t we.”, he said threateningly.

“Well definitely not here.”

“You’re lucky tonight, Thýma. Visiting hours are already over. So I will see you very soon.” Adam said darkly before turning around and leaving.

Lyra was exhausted, and scared. But she was proud of herself. And she definitely wasn’t going to tell the bastard that she ate about thirty needles of a poisonous tree to avoid him. If-When he asks she will lie and tell him it was to avoid an exam…

Then the lights were turned off in the room.

Taglist: @princessofhe11, @greatkittencloud, @bisexuawolfsalt, @ailesswhumptober

#jayna's writing #ailesswhumptober #ailesswhumptober2023 #ailesswhumptoberday16 #ailesswhumptoberday16hospital #ailesswhumptoberdaysixteen #ailesswhumptoberdaysixteenhospital #“Torture-watching stuff-singing” #whump #whump writing #whumpee #creative writing #coping #trauma #hospital #hospital setting #hurt/comfort

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

For every action, a reaction - Chapter 2 - Acceleration

Pairing: Raven Scientist (Victoria Van Gale/The Raven Leader)

Summary: Taking a step back from our poetry nerds, this instalment focuses on academic research projects, less than legal shenanigans, and most importantly, two coworkers who are smart enough to be geniuses in their respective areas but apparently not enough to confess.

Over the span of two decades.

Seriously.

Somebody has to do something. Before all their students lose their minds.

Updates weekly.

Notes: I didn’t want to think up a new name for Raven so eh. Now we’re all using his nickname. Which is Raven. bc I said so. Btw, the end of this chapter happens on the same day as Carpe Diem’s chapter 7. They were planned to intersect all along, so if you like CD, maybe it’d be nice to go give that a re read for the context :)

Read it on ao3: (Carpe Diem verse) (previous chapter) (this chapter)

Going to the Sunday Market with his cousin was something Ed looked forward to every month. At this point, they already recognized most of the stalls, even if they changed occasionally. Most times, they didn’t even buy anything, it was just fun to walk around pointing out nice or bizarre things to each other, failing to pronounce the name of vegetables they had never even heard of in the farmer’s area, taking the time to be with each other without the day to day hustle hanging over them. But he couldn’t say he was mad about not spending this one outing with her. This time, he had an actual mission to accomplish in the market.

And it was one that he wouldn’t even have to spend his time with if all people were as effective as his cousin and simply asked their crushes out on dates. 

As soon as he told Johanna and her new… friend that he was going to take a look around on his own, he walked away purposefully to where he knew his professor’s stall would be. It was generally at the same place, so the only question was whether or not she’d be there herself that weekend. Edmund got his answer as soon as he caught sight of the stacks of honey jars, which were being taken care of by a younger woman as Birgitta herself talked (presumably about their conservation initiatives) to a client who had just made his purchase.

He waited a couple of feet away for her to be free again, and luckily enough she caught his sight as soon as the buyer had gone away.

“Edmund!” She said, as warm as ever. “How nice to see you here!”

“Afternoon, professor.” Even though professor Bloom had long since become intimate enough with him to call him by his first name, he had never been able to do the same, no matter how many times he had been told he was allowed to. “I was hoping I’d find you around. I just wanted to thank you, the lecture last Friday was great.”

“That’s too kind. I know it must be despairing to watch the same facts being flung at you every year.”

“Aw, come on, don’t do that. They’re not the same ones, they get worse.”

Birgitta snorted, which to him was a good sign. He needed her in a good mood if he wanted to have any hope of what he was going to say landing correctly.

"Besides, you and your wife look so cute that it balances out the despair.”

His move had been a bold one, and she blinked a couple of times in quick succession as she whipped her head up to meet his gaze. 

“My what?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He feigned innocence, hoping that his cupid impulses didn’t cost him his advisor. “Is she your girlfriend, then? I shouldn’t have assumed-”

“No, no!” By now Birgitta was blushing hard and putting her hands up in front of herself in a ‘I’ll stop you right there’ gesture. The vendor, who was probably one of the people who worked with her in the land trust, was watching them with a smile wanting to blossom on her lips. Clearly she’d seen some shit as well. “Victoria and I are just friends, actually.”

“Really?” He tried to sound as surprised as he could, and not at all the way he actually wanted to sound (that being like a cop trying to force the truth out of the person they were questioning, which would probably be more effective). “Oh, my bad. She just looks at you like she’s so lovesick, you know? Anyway, thanks for the lecture again. I’ll see you Tuesday for the mentoring?”

The delivering of a lot of information at the same time had the desired effect of not allowing her to question it, and she was only able to weakly mumble that yes, their appointment remained before declaring that she needed some air and walking away from them and from the market. 

Both Edmund and the vendor watched her cross the street, turning her back to the cluster of people and activity that the square currently was. After a moment, the younger woman huffed out the laugh she’d been holding back.

“Thank you.” She sighed. “Maybe this time it won’t go over her head.”

Before walking away to find his favourite stalls (he really deserved to go see the cool wood carver after this), Edmund nodded at her in recognition.

“I did it for us all, sister.”

.........

Mondays are awful. They are awful because you have to get into weekday mode again after having turned it off. They’re awful because you have to eat leftovers from the weekend since you don’t have time to cook more food. They’re awful because, if you procrastinate on doing your chores during the weekend, your house is now dirtier than ever and you have to simply find the time to deal with that. But that Monday sucked in particular because Raven was pretty sure he was doing something illegal.

Thinking thunder was cool, he realised, had been his downfall. It was liking thunder that had led him down this path in his life. It had been what brought him to study Weather Science in the University of Trolberg, which got him into contact with professor Van Gale. She, in turn, had listened to him talk about wanting to study how weather events like lightning, thunder and storms were made and if it was possible for humans to create them, and said that she was going to begin a research project that dealt with very similar things. He remained in the university for his Masters, and got the only spot that was available in her project.

And now here he was, unwillingly helping her commit sabotage.

He didn’t even know why she wanted him to look over her plans. She was a genius, and much better at the mechanical part of what they did than him (really, it was as if she’d studied as much engineering as climatology in her life), so his only guess was that she didn’t want him to feel left out.

A true shame, that, since he very much wanted to be left out of this.

“Are you okay, Raven?” His flat mate’s voice cut through his thoughts. “You’ve been sighing a lot for the last fifteen minutes.”

Checking in with himself, he noticed that both his hands were in his dark, straight hair, gripping tight. He took them out and smoothed over his head, hoping he hadn’t ruined his ponytail too bad. Next, he straightened his posture and schooled his features into something that didn’t look as much like the anguish he was feeling.

“Oh, I’m just reading some things Dr. Van Gale sent me. She remains very distressed about the lack of funding for our project. It all keeps going to professor Ahlberg.”

Alfred put his phone down on the kitchen table and sat down in front of him, reaching out to touch one of his hands to his. “I’m sorry something is distressing you so. Is there anything that can be done?”

“Against a professor’s project? Hardly.” Both Raven and Alfred jumped at the voice. The third person they shared their flat with, Tontu, was suddenly sitting at the table with them even though neither had seen him coming, a bowl of fruit loops and milk in his hands despite it being six in the afternoon. Raven could swear that that man popped out of nowhere, sometimes. “You could try doing something against the professor himself, though.”

Staring fixedly at Tontu, like sometimes he couldn’t believe that he was real, Alfred cleared his throat. “Yeah, maybe Raven can store that idea away for another time.”

“Whatever. Anyway, I was just on the phone with my family. Timtum told me to say hi to you guys.”

“Uh, send our hellos to him as well.” Raven said as Tontu stood up and walked away to the kitchen sink. After he was out of earshot, Alfred turned to him again.

“Do you think those are the actual names in his family?”

They had never had the courage to ask if ‘Tontu’ was really his name. They weren’t sure if they wanted the answer. Raven just shrugged and tried to go back to the conversation in a way that didn’t continue to touch on Victoria or her academic nemesis.

“Anyway… you texting Bart?”

Alfred had been giggling at his phone for the past ten minutes, which had been another thing to help Raven completely immerse himself in Van Gale’s emails. He hated the pang of jealousy he felt when he thought too much about his flatmate and his older boyfriend, so he had had no better option than to read through his mentor’s madness, really.

“Oh, no!” He chirped. “I’m talking to Jo, actually. She went out with a girl she likes yesterday and now she’s losing her mind about it. I shouldn’t be having as much fun as I am with this, honestly.”

Resting his chin on his hand, Raven sighed as Alfred kept going on. At least someone was having a good time.

…......

Birgitta had to do something. She didn’t know what, though. Was there even an appropriate way to react to the fact that the person you’ve yearned for for nearly two decades might feel the same? It wasn’t even a certainty, but rather a guess made by a student who had done nothing but watch them lecture together. He could very well have been wrong. Victoria had been a dear friend for a long time, it was to be expected that she was sweet to her, it didn’t have to mean anything else.

But even if that was the case, the fact that it was driving Birgitta this insane was a sign that she had to do something about it. It would swallow her alive otherwise.

She waited far longer than she should have, telling herself that she was waiting for the right moment and ending up losing momentum. It was only one week after Edmund had talked to her, on a Monday, that she had enough nerve to reach out.

She had waited until the end of the day, because of course she had. Busying herself with all sorts of tasks hadn’t been enough to settle her mind down, and she spent the entire day feeling like her insides were frozen because of how anxious the thought of having that conversation was making her. It would have been worse if she had done it in the beginning of the day, though. Regardless of what Victoria told her, she knew she would not be able to focus afterwards. 

It must have been around eight in the evening when Birgitta locked her office’s door. She had waited so long that if it were any other professor she wanted to talk to, she would have had to worry about them having gone home already. Not Victoria, though. That woman spent as much time in the university as someone who lived off campus could.

The path to Victoria’s lab was a familiar one; Birgitta had been there many times before to spend time with her under the pretence of learning more about her research on cloud seeding. Sure enough, when she got there, there was light coming from under the lab’s door, even though the corridors were mostly empty. After certifying herself for the seventh time since she left the office that her outfit wasn’t dirty with soil, leaves, or animal fur, as it tended to be, Birgitta took a deep breath and knocked gently on the door.

“Good evening, Victoria!” She called out, knowing that if her friend thought it was someone else it was entirely possible that she’d pretend to not be there just so she didn’t need to open the door and talk to someone. “Birgitta here. May I come in?”

“Yes, of course!”

Her voice sounded like she’d been caught by surprise, which was understandable. Birgitta wasn’t usually around in the university at this time. Turning the doorknob, she noticed that not even forcing the door forward allowed it to open.

“It is locked, though, you know.”

“Oh!” The sound of Victoria hastily getting up from a wheelie chair came from the other side, and soon so came the metallic cling of a key against the door. “Sorry!”

Victoria’s face was slightly pinker than usual, and her lopsided smile made a dimple appear on the left side of her face. Yes, Birgitta was going to have to confess to this woman. She’d simply been left with no other option.

“No worries. May I come in?”

Opening the door wider gesturing for her to come inside, Victoria stepped out of the way and allowed her to come closer. Birgitta was vaguely aware of the sound of the door being closed again while she looked around, trying to find something to say.

“Sorry to interrupt you.” She said, noticing that Victoria’s laptop was open and the screen bright at her desk. “I can come back later, if you want me to!”

“No, not at all!” Four words that wrecked Birgitta’s hopes of leaving that building with her dignity intact. “I was just stalking a coworker to see if I can find dirt on them.”

The scientist had walked closer to her again, and Birgitta blinked at her. After all these years, it sometimes still impressed her how blunt she was. It was most endearing, really.

“Well, as long as it’s not me…”

“What- No!” She exclaimed, making Birgitta chuckle. “No, no, you probably don’t even know the woman. It’s just that a friend of mine told me she’s not having, let’s say, the greatest experience with a specific literature professor, and I wanted to see if there might be any reasons for it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” She said, assuming that the friend was one that Victoria mentioned every once in a while, seeing as Raven, the only other student who she knew Victoria had contact with, had nothing to do with literature. The thought reminded her to thank the heavens that he wasn't in the lab at that moment. “Found anything yet?”

“Maybe, maybe not. It will require further research.”

She shook her head fondly. As Birgitta looked around, there were many gadgets and boards filled with annotations that she knew she could point out and spend hours talking to Victoria about, but that hadn’t been why she had come. Postponing this conversation had been how she’d ended up with years and years of heartache.

“Tell me, Victoria, can I talk to you about something? It’s good, don’t worry, but it’s serious. So I understand if you’re tired or don’t want to do this now for any other reason.”

Seemingly switching into Business Mode, Victoria turned to her like someone who hadn’t realised she was supposed to be taking this visit more seriously, and nodded eagerly. Birgitta didn’t miss the way she began to fidget with the hem of her lab coat.

“Feel free to say whatever you want to. Would you like to sit down?”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” She took a deep breath. They were grown women, damnit, the world wouldn’t end over a crush. “I got a comment… about our lecture together, and I wanted to talk it through with you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. A student told me he got the impression you have feelings for me.”

All that came from Victoria was a stunned silence, but Birgitta followed on, knowing it must sound like an accusation so far.

“And I just wanted to come clean to you, because <em>I</em> have been interested in you as more than a friend for the longest time now, but I never said anything because, well, I thought you were happy with how things are. But since he said this, I thought it might be worth a shot to actually talk to you about the matter.”

“Yes.”

Victoria had been staring at some point to the side of her face when she began, but brought her gaze directly to her eyes as she continued. Birgitta had barely finished talking when that one word came.

“Pardon?”

“I- sorry, I’m not entirely convinced that this is happening, hold on.” She took a couple of seconds to breathe and organise her thoughts, and then looked back at Birgitta. “He was right, your student. I do have feelings for you. I’d apologise for letting them show, since I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I’m guessing that it wasn’t an issue, right?”

Google, how do I make it any more explicit that I like someone than telling them I like them?

“It wasn’t. I was happy to hear that because honestly, it was getting embarrassing to just sustain this crush on you and do nothing about it.”

Putting her feelings out there so bluntly would have felt embarrassing too, if only each word didn’t make Victoria look happier and more at ease.

“If you were sitting on it for as long as I have.” She began, her dimples showing again. “Then it got embarrassing for us both a long time ago, Birgitta.”

Even though she had already admitted how she felt, it was the quip that released the tension that had built up on her chest and shoulders, a cage being flung open and allowing her anxiety to fully dissipate. It was okay. They would be fine.

“Reluctantly, I’ll have to agree.” She chuckled, knowing her blush mirrored the one in Victoria’s cheekbones. “Will you go out on a proper date with me, then? I’m free tomorrow after my tutorings, if you want to go have dinner in the city.”

Victoria’s grin widened and she gripped the labcoat’s hems even tighter, holding herself back from doing more energetic movements in her excitement.

“I would love that.”

………

Raven arrived at the lab the following day with tension levels so high that Victoria could swear that their weather equipment should be able to pick it up. They didn’t turn them on, though. Currently their work had turned towards… other things.

“Quit complaining, for heaven’s sake.” She said, unable to hold back any longer after an hour of building the base for small gadgets with him. Not even knowing that she had a date with Birgitta later that day made it any easier to stand his constant whining; she imagined that the small recording device she wore at her lapel in order to keep track of experiments would be filled with his sighing, now. “You know Erik Ahlberg is a tool and that his project shouldn’t even exist. We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

Not morally, at least. Legally? Yeah, they probably were.

“I’m not worried about whether or not it’s right, Victoria!” He put his tools down on the desk with a clang, making Victoria jump in her seat both at the loud noise it made and at the use of her first name. It was generally a sign that he was really mad at her, which wasn’t really an uncommon occurrence however much she tried to avoid it. “I’m worried about the very real possibility of us getting caught! Even if your plan works out, these devices won’t turn to nothing when they self-destruct! They’ll still be there, and if anyone finds them, it won’t be hard to trace them back to you. They have to have some control over the materials that are bought with the university’s money, don’t they?”

He sighed deeply, putting his hands on his lap. His copper skin looked pale, and there were bags under his eyes. For the first time, Victoria stopped to consider the toll that what she had asked her student for must be taking on him. 

Raven was a good boy, he really was. She had tried to nourish his interest and give him a good shot, a good opportunity to learn new things and to work on exciting research that would no doubt give him a CV that couldn’t be ignored.

What was she doing instead?

“I know you have good reasons, doc. I do, and I agree. But I’m afraid. I’ve fought hard to be here. My family is counting on me. If I lost it all, and left with a criminal record, no less… I’m not sure what they’d do. I’m not sure what I’d do, either.”

“I know.” She answered, even though a new, more terrifying scenario was coming to her mind. “That’s why we need to do this. We haven’t been able to do a quarter of what we could yet! And only because Ahlberg is getting all the funds, somehow! Isn’t allowing this to happen just another way of disappointing the people who put their trust in us?”

“Maybe it is.” He sounded as tired as he looked as he got up from his bench, his voice slurred as if it pained him to speak. “But at least it isn’t dishonest. It’s not… morally dubious. I don’t know. I need a break, be back in ten.”

Walking away to the door quicker than she would have been able to stop him, Raven left her alone at the lab, only her and her swirling thoughts. 

If their devices were found, they would be traced back to them. She had been aware of it. Raven’s innocence was easy enough to forge. There was nothing written or drawn in his handwriting that didn’t have to do with their official project, and she could simply give her word that her student was innocent. After all, why would a researcher try to protect someone they had nothing other than a professional link to? He would simply be innocent, and there would be nothing to prove him guilty.

Not Birgitta, though. Victoria could remember as if it were yesterday how angry she’d been when Ahlberg’s project got approved. It’s an absurd!, she had declared while they took a stroll through the campus. And a complete disservice! We’re over here, giving our lives to debunk the myth that troll flies are dangerous, and that idiot shows up promoting the opposite thing!

She had protested the continuation of his research however way she could, back in the day. She had sent essays to the dean, the university’s board, the research ethics committee, even to Erik Ahlberg himself to try and stop it. But despite her best efforts, the project not only flourished but also became the one that received the best grants in the whole university. To this day, it was something that Birgitta was openly bitter about, though her efforts were now concentrated at protecting that species in her lands.

And if she was dating Victoria, and their sabotage was caught, the dots would be wrongly connected and the blame would fall directly on her lap. She would lose all her prestige and the job that she loved.

What a terrible gift that would be.

Victoria didn’t know how, but her phone ended up in her hands. Time seemed to be jumping from moment to moment without her realising as her mental cogs worked, trying to find which was the least worse way out of the grave she’d dug for herself (because there really was no ‘better’ way out). Unfortunately, she found herself in hers and Birgitta’s conversation.

And began typing.

………

As he was waiting for his tutoring to begin, Edmund didn’t even remember what he had done the former week at the market. All he was doing was trying to remember the points he wanted to discuss with his advisor in the new material he had sent her, which he had revised on the Saturday afternoon during which Johanna had left him alone at the house. He only hoped that the fact that he had sent it in a hurry when his cousin had arrived back home, so that he could hear her ramble about the Pilqvists, hadn’t too heavily impacted the quality of the text he had submitted. 

The sound of a door banging brought him back to reality. Abigail, the one other student that professor Bloom was currently mentoring, had just left her office looking like she’d tasted something sour.

“Everything alright?” He asked his friend, earning an eye roll in response.

“With me? Yeah, sure. Be warned, though, Bloom is in one hell of a mood today.”

The woman walked down the corridor without another word, leaving Edmund to face whatever would come next alone. Swallowing down his anxiousness, he stepped forward and knocked on Birgitta’s door.

...……

[7 unanswered messages]

Victoria 💙

Birgitta, hi

i’m so sorry. i know what i said and i meant it, but i cant see you later

it’s better that we dont keep in touch for some time, actually

i know it doesnt make sense but please believe that its for the best

im trying to do the right thing

i promise

im so sorry

#fic: feaar #verse: carpe diem #my fic #raven scientist #raven scientist ship #victoria van gale fanfic