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tooweirdforyou · 3 years

Note

Aight aight, here I am HAHA so I have this litol prompt that I've been wanting for someone to write it out 👉👈 it's totally your choice with how you want it to be, whether fluff or angst or whatever HAHA feel free to do what you want, but as always it's a prompt for Zoro! "Roronoa Zoro, the man who not even death could bring fear to, has found the one thing he feared the most: losing you." Really excited to see how you would write it out 💖 feel free to fix the grammar HAHAHA all the best 💖

Zoro Being Afraid to Lose Someone

a/n : this was so cute 🥺💚 I hope you like this! :))

ngl, particularly somewhat proud of this one- 😊👉🏼👈🏼

summary : In the midst of battle, Zoro sees you sacrificing yourself and his heart breaks, coming to a realization and soon lectures you afterwards. not good with summaries-

“How could you be so reckless?!”

Choosing to remain silent, you just take in all of his shouts and pent up frustration built because of you. You couldn’t blame him either.

Did you regret it though? Not for a damn second.

You would do it again in a heartbeat, and unfortunately, Zoro knew that too.

“I’m fine. I’m alive, right?”

Your nonchalant tone seemed to irritate Zoro further as you only thought back to the cause of you being hospitalized in the first place.

“These guys are starting to piss me off.”

Growling under his breath, Zoro swung his sword with his right hand once more with ease, before running down the street in hopes to lose the growing crowd of marines behind him.

“Zoro!” Hearing a voice, Zoro snaps his head to the right and sees you running towards him in shock. “What the hell is going on? How’d you attract the marines?! Where have you been?”

“I’ll explain later, just run!” Zoro shouts, grabbing your hand in his and picked up his pace, hearing the angry yells and protests of the marines.

“Oi! Get back here, pirate!”

“Look, there’s another one!”

“You’re not getting away from us!”

“Tch.” Zoro turns the corner when a few of the marines were rushing towards them from the front.

“Oi, Zoro, let’s get the others, they’re still in town.” You call, managing to catch up with him and match his pace.

“Who cares, they’ll find out that we’re caught soon enough, so let’s just keep going.” Zoro says, swinging his sword once more, successfully knocking back a wave of soldiers heading their way.

“Alright!” You nod as you pulled out their own weapon and succeeded in knocking out a few more.

However, you were soon trapped by the coast of the island, having no where to run since the marines were quickly surrounding you.

“Give it up, pirates, surrender!”

“We have you cornered now!”

Smirking, Zoro scoffs and pulls out his Wado Ichimonji and brought it up to his mouth. Clenching his teeth onto it, his hands gripped his other two swords tightly.

Bringing the hilts of his two swords in his hands together, he began spinning them.

“Three-Sword Style...”

You stepped back to allow Zoro to attack and just focused on taking out the others on the sidelines.

“Three-Thousand Worlds!”

Almost instantly, the cries of agony and pain was heard loud and clear from the marines as they all dropped to the ground, sword cuts all over their bodies.

However, after Zoro was successful in his attack, a few other marines thought it was best to attack from behind him, making you widen your eyes.

“Zoro!” You call out, kicking the marine in front of you to the ground as you jumped over towards him.

Zoro had observation haki. He already knew what those marines were going to do.

But he couldn’t have known you were going to jump in to protect him. It was already too late before he could stop himself.

An ear-piercing, shrill scream of pain filled the air. But it wasn’t from the marines. It was from you.

His eyes widened and his pupils shrank at the sight of you dropping to your knees. A long gash spread across your back and blood was dripping everywhere.

“[NAME]!”

He didn’t know how to react, as he quickly took the sword from his mouth and knelt down beside you, picking you up in his arms.

“[Name]! Hey! What the hell were you doing?!”

He was just shouting at you now, panic and worry filling his body and voice as he grips you tightly, shaking you a bit. “Hey, stay with me, damn it! Why did you do that?! What kind of idiot are you?!”

He could only insult you now, not knowing what else to do. The marines were nearing him now, but fortunately, the crew had shown up just in time.

“Zoro! [Name]!”

You weakly brought your hand up and grabbed onto his shirt, breathing shallow as you tried to ignore the burning pain forming from you trying to say awake.

“Z-Zoro.. I’m fine... are you.. okay?..”

“You stupid woman! Don’t talk! Chopper, where the hell are you?!”

He stood up with you in his arms, his clothes soaking up in your blood as Franky, Brook, Luffy and Robin took care of the marines.

“[NAME]!” Chopper shrieks in shock and panic, seeing the sight of your body and injuries as he ran over.

“What happened?!” Nami shouts, but Zoro ignored her.

“No time, let’s just get back to the ship and get her fixed up already!”

“R-Right!”

And then, you lost consciousness.

Looking down, Zoro clenches his jaw and struggled to even think properly, straining to keep calm.

He wasn’t about to fucking lose you.

Zoro couldn’t believe it.

Staring over at your unconscious body, he felt mixed emotions running through him.

Regret, worry, anger and most of all, confusion.

Sure, he was always worried for his crewmates when they were in danger, even swirly brows, but they could handle themselves.

He knew they were strong, just like you.

So why was it different now that it was you especially, the one who was hurt? Who was in pain and unconscious with fatal injuries?

Was it because he’s the one who did it? He was the cause of it?

Or was it because you were different?... because he felt something else when he’s with you?

Was he in love with you?

Exhaling heavily, he closed his eye and leaned his head back against the wall.

All he knew right now, was that he just wanted you to wake up. To be able to see your smile once more and relieve all of his stress.

He didn’t want to lose you. He couldn’t lose you.

You were his life and without you, he was as good as a dead. He didn’t feel complete without knowing that you were alive and well.

He could only hope. But even then, he was losing it.

It was nearly a week and a half before you finally woke up, pain spreading all over your body.

Everyone was sobbing when they found out and lunged at you which only caused more pain.

Fortunately, Chopper gave you some medicine to help subside the pain for a bit and forbid anyone to come in unless it was important.

However, Zoro was an exception, and now here he was, lecturing you.

“You know, I don’t regret what I did.” You state, turning away from him and let out a sigh.

“Of course you don’t, but what if something happened? What if Chopper couldn’t save you on time?”

Hearing how angry he was made you frown. You weren’t sure how you felt.

“You were being attacked, I wasn’t going to let you be hurt.” You defended but he scowls more. “So you were willing to sacrifice your own life over mine?”

“Of course.” You responded with no hesitation, nearly startling him but he remained stoic.

“Your life isn’t something to throw away so easily, you know.” He scoffs, shaking his head at you. “And what about you?” You retorted, raising a brow.

“I already gave up my life when I made my dream to become the world’s greatest swordsman a goal to accomplish.” He states, crossing his arms and you roll your eyes a bit.

“Look, Zoro, you’re overreacting, okay? I’m fine, I’m awake now and—“

“You dumbass, what if I fucking lost you?”

Your eyes widen at his words, his tone softening just in the slightest bit, as he scowls and turns away.

But you didn’t miss the hurt and pained look behind his eyes.

“..I don’t think I could live with myself if I found out you died... Because of me, no less.” He continues, looking down as a shadow casted over his face.

“How can I even dream of being the world’s greatest swordsman, if I can’t even handle a small cut, having someone else I care about take it for me..”

“I don’t deserve to be part of the future pirate king’s crew, much less his first mate, If I can’t protect my crewmates.” He utters out, clenching his fists tightly.

Staring at him and watching him carefully, you feel your heart warming and chest beating quickly. A faint blush washed over your cheeks as you smile slightly.

“Roronoa Zoro..”

Zoro looks up questioningly when you said his name, seeing your smile towards him.

“The man, who not even death can fear him, has finally found what feared him most. Losing someone so dear to him.” You couldn’t help but tease him.

Zoro’s felt his cheeks turning pink at your words as he scoffs. “So you have the strength to start making fun of me now?”

“I’m not making fun of you.” You defended, giggles erupting from your lips as you shifted and sat up more, making yourself comfortable.

“I just think it’s cute is all.” You shrug playfully, a cute grin displaying across your lips as Zoro simply clicks his tongue.

“Honestly.. you’re such a pain.”

He scratches the back of his head, closing his eye as he makes his way towards you bed and sits down beside you, crossing his arms.

“Besides, it’s an honor to be that special someone you care about.” You laugh softly once more.

He rolls his eyes and made himself comfortable, ignoring your comment.

“Well, now that you’re awake, I’ll sit here and guard you. Make sure you aren’t moving with your injuries.” He firmly states, leaning against the headboard as he shifted to make himself comfortable and relaxed.

“Oi, I don’t need a babysitter, get out. But get me some food.” You hum, nudging his side and beginning to push him but he didn’t budge.

Instead he just spoke.

“Promise me.”

“Huh?”

Stopping your actions, you look confusedly towards the swordsman.

Zoro tilts his head to face you and opens his eye, his tone serious and low.

“Promise you won’t ever put yourself in danger again. Especially not when I’m around, you hear? Even if I die, I’ll protect you with my life, I don’t want you doing the same.”

Frowning, you went to protest but he simply moves his arm and wraps it around your side, forcefully pulling you into his chest.

“..please.. I don’t want to lose you.” He whispers quietly, his voice softening once more.

His hand went up to rest on your head as he discreetly leans his chin on the top of it.

Then he slowly leans down further and pecks the top of your head, making your heart melt at how soft and vulnerable he was being at this moment.

Closing your eyes, you nod gently and reach to grab his hand, intertwining it with yours and gripped it tightly.

“I promise, Zoro..”

Satisfied with your reply, Zoro nods approvingly. “Good. Now sleep.” He tightens his hold around you and leans back, closing his eye again.

“W-wait, but I’m hungry!”

a/n : AHHHH THIS WAS SO CUTE ACTUALLY OMG I hope you enjoyed!! 💚🥰

Sorry if it seems a bit rushed— ;-;

#tooweirdforyou #one piece #one piece x reader #op x reader #x reader #op #roronoa zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #zoro x reader

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bbrandy2002 · 3 years

Text

Fool’s Rush In

Part 10

I’m participating in @wackydrabbles prompt 71 “Dont be stubborn. Try it.”

Word Count: 1890

Pairing: Liam and Riley

Thanks @burnsoslow for beta reading and pretty much having to drag me across the finish line, as well as all the weeks and weeks of listening to me whine and pity myself. And @emkay512 for pre-reading and your encouraging words late Monday that made my whole night.

a/n: this is crack, plain and simple. I haven’t written since mid-october; just been paralyzed with fear over my own writing and this is my practice run and basically the best I could come up with. I’m going to try so so hard to finish this series

The new royal couple, fresh off their Vegas flight, stepped up to a makeshift podium the press had created on the tarmac. It was packed tightly with news station microphones crammed in every nook and cranny, one on top of the other. Voice recorders were spread across its surface, and the crown's private jet served as the backdrop. A bevy of frenzied reporters -- domestic and international -- pushed and elbowed their way into one another in hopes of getting the closest shot of the newlyweds and a chance to have their questions answered first.

“King Liam! Is the marriage binding?”

“How long have you known, Miss Brooks?”

“Were you trying to make a political statement by having a hooker at the ceremony?”

“Your Majesty! Will the monkey be joining your court soon?”

So many questions, most followed by laughter and snickers directed at the King and his bride.

Liam frowned as his eyes dashed side to side in a diligent effort to understand the literally thousands of questions that were lobbed at him all at once. He blinked rapidly as one flash of a camera after the next blinded and bleached his vision. Just as it would return to normal, another successive set of flashes would set him back again.

He had been a part of news conferences since he was a child, when he would watch his late father speak from different parts of the world, near and far, about this policy or that deal. Yet this was different. This was not only the biggest breaking story in Cordonia -- or even Europe -- but one that had swept the world.

His drunken actions two nights ago, no doubt, would have created a stir; however, it was Maxwell's post on Instagram of the ceremony that now made him tabloid fodder. Everyone knew about the king who was married by his own brother and an Elvis impersonator, the leg-humping monkey that served as a ring bearer, and the chain-smoking, tube-top-wearing prostitute who was the maid of honor. As confident as Liam had been that he could handle this, as he'd dealt with so many other stories of intrigue regarding the monarchy, he couldn't dispel the twisting feeling that burrowed deep into the pit of his stomach.

Maybe Madeleine was right: he had become a laughingstock. A failure. Just one big fuck up.

As much as he hated to hear the things said about him, he could deal with it. In the morning, he would call Prince Harry to swap stories, survival tips, and perhaps share a good laugh about it.

It was just ...

Liam felt Riley's tiny hand grip his a little tighter. He wouldn't blame her one bit if his little pussycat turned around and headed back up the steps to the jet and returned to Las Vegas. The only thing Liam wanted to do was keep her shielded from the hurtful comments and insensitive questions. But to his astonishment, she stood there with all the feigned confidence in the world, flashing a big, beaming smile that lit his heart on fire, while staring back at him affectionately. She was handling the situation better than she was before they stepped off the plane. He knew she was doing it for him. God, she just makes everything better.

Feeling a little more grounded and in control, Liam returned her smile. A touch of radiance sparkled between his eyes and hers, as if it were some sort of unspoken conversation only they understood. Riley knew exactly what he needed at that moment to rise above this scandal they were both being raked over the coals for: He needed her to be okay.

Raising his free hand to calm the crowd so that he might address their concerns, he noticed the press' attention and cameras suddenly shift away from him and into the distance. Murmurs and chatter soon erupted. Naturally, Liam's gaze followed suit -- towards a group of heavily-armed soldiers heading their way. They wore white hazmat uniforms and had self-contained breathing apparatus and personal protective equipment. Leading the charge was a well-dressed gentleman in a three-piece suit with a shiny bald head that glistened with heavy perspiration.

He walked like he hadn't shit in weeks.

Liam squinted and lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight. “The hell is that?”

Riley inched closer to Liam and clasped his suit jacket. "What's happening right now? Who are all those people, Liam?"

Liam's forehead creased in puzzlement; he didn't know. Wrapping his arms protectively around Riley, he pulled her even closer but never answered the question. It wasn't until the uniformed men stopped briefly and pointed to Drake, who was standing with his arms crossed at the bottom of the stairs, that it suddenly became clear who they were looking for.

Reporters and onlookers had been so focused on Liam’s return with the American woman, they hadn’t noticed that the brooding Walker had exited the jet last among their posse. Just as everyone had watched replays and snippets of Maxwell’s Instagram video, they were also fully aware the King’s best friend wasn’t exactly returning to Cordonia … healthy … thanks to Maxwell’s Tik Tok sing-along.

A video Drake Walker had no clue existed.

The crowd began to disperse in fear and panic. If men in hazmat suits were needed, they could only assume this went well beyond your casual, run-of-the-mill STD.

Still in no mood to play around, Drake started yelling obscenities and gradually backing away from the hazmat brigade that was closing in on him like a cheetah at a water buffalo hole.

"Mr. Walker," a heavily echoed voice called out, sounding oddly reminiscent of Darth Vader through their breathing contraption, "we need you to come with us."

"The fuck I do." Drake shook his head emphatically while continuing to slide away from them. "I'll beat the shit out of all of ya if you so much as touch me."

"Now, Mr. Walker, don't be stubborn. Try it, and you'll find yourself with a nice little tranquilizer to the ass. Are you going to come with us willingly, or do we have to make this more difficult than it needs to be?"

Drake stood motionless in disbelief. "I don't even know what you guys want or what you think I did," he squawked with a hint of desperation in his tone.

"Tough titties. SEIZE HIM!"

With that order, Drake twisted on the heels of his boots and took off, dodging and weaving away from a bunch of men he had no clue why were even after him.

He had a pretty good hunch, though, who set this chain of events in motion.

The bald guy in a three-piece suit walked up to Liam and flipped his badge open. "Your Majesty?"

Liam nodded, not bothering to acknowledge the man's credentials. "I am. What is the meaning of all this? What the hell are you doing with Drake?"

"Sir, if you will, it has come to our attention that Mr. Walker is a public health risk and highly contagious. We will have to secure him into our custody at once."

Liam scrunched up his face in utter confusion and stared back at the official before responding, “He just has case of crabs, syphilis, herpes, genital warts, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. You’re treating him like he’s about to start some damn worldwide pandemic. Without sexual contact and with heavy doses of medications and creams, Drake should be able to live a normal life like anyone else. So, as the ruler of this country, I am ordering your men to stand down at once.”

“My apologies, King Liam, but my orders come from the World Health Organization and the United Nations. You'll need to take this up with them. Dr. Wolfschitz was clear on the protocol."

"Dr. Wolfschitz?" Liam questioned as realization quickly set in. He twisted around to face Leo, who had this enormous shit-eating grin, the likes he'd never seen on him before. "You? You did this?"

“Walker messed with the wrong bull, little bro.” Leo stuck up his pointer fingers on both sides of his head with a menacing scowl and smugness in his tone. “Now he gets the horns.”

Liam swatted away one of Leo's finger horns. “This is serious, Leo. Not everything is a joke! You're going to fix this, NOW!"

Leo placed a comforting hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, patting it a few times before speaking softly to him. “Look, I know you’re upset right now. You two were very close. But the Drakester is going to a far better place. There’s a big open field and everything where he can run and play all day with others just like him. And all the meaty bones he can eat too … lucky bastard.”

Riley had to bury her face in Liam’s chest to prevent the laugh that threatened to escape, but the bobbing of her shoulders was something she couldn’t hide.

“NOW, Leo!”

Leo tried to hold his ground but was too weak to resist the impatient glare Liam was burning into his soul. After a brief moment, he rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "Why ya gotta be such a dillhole, Liam? Do you realize you get rattled faster than a two-tit turtle on a tightrope? It's really not your best quality, little brother, but we can work on that." Annoyed, Liam rubbed a hand over his eyes and groaned as his brother continued, "Either way, Father always said, ‘if you can't help your fellow man out, you might as well become one of the Walkers.’ Truer words were never spoken so eloquently.” Leo raised his eyes to the heavens thoughtfully before thinking better of it and lowered them toward the ground. "May you rest in peace, Father," he shouted.

As Leo trotted off to speak with Bald Dude to confess his false claim, Bastien helped guide Liam and Riley through the rambunctious swarm of reporters and spectators. Once they reached the limo, Liam helped Riley inside as Maxwell rounded the vehicle and climbed in on the other side. Pausing for a moment before sliding in, the King placed his hands on top of the open door of the limo and turned one last time to check on his friend. He swallowed hard over the guilt of leaving him behind. As His Majesty watched in horror, Drake took a tranquilizer dart to the back of the thigh and Bastien insisted the area was a security threat, shoving him inside. They would send another car to transport Drake and Leo back to the palace.

Bastien stomped on the gas pedal and sped off, kicking up dirt and smoke as the tires peeled and squealed against the fiery Cordonian asphalt.

When they passed through the airport's security gate, a small motorcade following closely behind, Liam finally lifted his head, his eyes growing wide when he realized what just happened: Bastien's shove had sent Liam flying across the seat to land face-first into a lap — her lap.

He stayed frozen in place, unable to look anywhere but the two slender, bronzed legs peeking out below the hem of his new wife's dress.

Riley lifted an eyebrow, a slight grin dangling from her plush pink lips. "Something you wanna say, Your Majesty?"

Everything that had just happened in the 15 minutes since they landed was long forgotten. Drake who? Liam glanced up with a devilish smirk. "Welcome to Cordonia, Pussycat."

@burnsoslow @dcbbw @ao719 @hopefulmoonobject @texaskitten30 @janezillow @merridithsmiscellany-blog @mskaneko @loveellamae @queenjilian @sirbeepsalot @drakexwillow @caroldxnvxrs @jovialyouthmusic @forthebrokenheartedthings @bebepac @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @cordoniaqueensworld @amandablink

@liamxs-world @choiceskatie @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @charlotteg234 @annekebbphotography

@txemrn @ofpixelsandscribbles @alyssalauren @cordonianroyalty @monsoonblooms12 @mom2000aggie @theroyalheirshadowhunter @princessleac1 @kimmiedoo5 @graceful-leah @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @thegreentwin @gkittylove99 @cinnamonspongecake @lifeaskim @neotericthemis @pink-diamond13 @walker7519 @natureblooms24 @yourmajesty09

Liam x MC only: Cordonia-gothqueen

Anything with Drake: @tinkie1973

FRI Series Tags: @sanchita012 @narrytheworld @queenwalton @gabesmommie1130 @cordonianprincess @liamandneca @emkay512 @waywardromancefantasygirl @nomadics-stuff @queendianaofcordonia @zaffrenotes @zilch3 @kat-tia801 @drrookie @sfb123

#fools rush in #liam x riley #the royal romance #liam x mc #trr #drake walker #king liam #bbrandy2002 #liam x oc

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firefam-stan · 3 years

Photo

(inspired by @bvckleydiaz post: “ someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write something where eddie and the rest are sitting around telling stories/talking about buck!! my heart needs this! 😩🥺”)

yeah my inspiration muse struck, and here we are

(a.k.a. help I accidentally wrote a bit more than a drabble)

************************************

“Hello? Is anybody in here?”

Eddie looked up from his locker, surprised to see an older couple making their way over from the front entrance. A quick glance around revealed nobody else on duty nearby.

He sighed. He really didn’t want to deal with well-wishing senior citizens today. They tended to be overly nice and expected his full attention, even when he had other things to do. Usually, Eddie enjoyed the visits as a welcome break during the day, but this time he was a bundle of tightly-tensed nerves waiting to combust ever since Buck had come in that morning.

Buck.

Eddie lightly rested his head against the cool metal of the locker, chasing away the sudden onslaught of images from earlier, the terror that had overcome him when he’d thought his friend had... gone in the explosion. The events from earlier had affected him more than he’d let on.

Maybe if he just stayed really still and didn’t look up again, the older couple would find someone else.

“Excuse me?”

Or not.

Eddie turned around, plastering a tight smile onto his face. “Can I help you with anything?”

The man nodded. “Is Evan here? We... need to talk with him.”

Eddie spun around and felt his blood run cold as the words fully registered.

It was them.

And they had the nerve to show up here after Buck had nearly died saving a stranger’s life. Eddie's gaze flickered to the punching bag in the corner, a memory springing up of Buck, angrily punching the ever-loving crap out of it.

“Two dinners, and I’m twelve years old again,” he’d said, face filled with fury. And pain.

And now? Faced with the dread parents themselves?

“Mr. and Mrs. Buckley, I presume?” Eddie finally managed to say, snapping himself back to the present.

“Yes, it’s good to meet you!” Mr. Buckley offered his hand, but Eddie ignored it under the guise of turning around to look for someone else.

“Buck isn’t here right now,” Eddie’s tone was terse. “He’s getting examined after our last call.”

“...examined?”

“Medically examined. He was exposed for too long at the factory fire.”

“Factory fire?!” gasped the woman, dread etched on her features.

The man’s face only hardened, his jaw clenched. “He has no right,” he said. “no right to do this to us!”

“Excuse me?” Eddie interjected, feeling his temper quickly rising to dangerous levels. But he pushed it down, bottled it securely into the bottom of his chest. He couldn’t afford to behave rashly---lives were lost when people behaved rashly.

But he allowed a small trace of his anger to show itself in his eyes and the tense set of his shoulders. Judging by their silence, it was enough.

“If you’ll please come with me, you can wait upstairs in the seating area.”

Eddie gestured up the stairs and they soon followed. But before they reached the top, he turned around and leveled his gaze at them. “Your son is a hero, not the reckless daredevil you think he is.”

“You have no right to tell us what we do or don’t think of our son!”

Eddie clenched his jaw tighter. That punching bag was looking more and more appealing.

“Just please, sit down over there.” He looked up at the seats and saw with relief that Bobby, Hen, and Chimney were all nearby.

Good, that accounted for all his impulse control.

He turned his face away from the couple and raised his eyebrows deliberately to the team. “Bobby, Hen, Chimney, this is Mr. and Mrs. Buckley.”

After that, it got very tense, very quickly. Chimney’s expression was very blank and tightly controlled, while Bobby and Hen looked closer to a tightly wound spring.

“Oh, Howard! It’s good to see you!” smiled Mrs. Buckley, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room. “We’re just looking to talk to Evan for a moment. I understand he’s gone and hurt himself?” she pulled a distasteful face.

“With all respect, unless you have something to apologize for, I think you’ve talked to Buck enough for now,” said Bobby, trying to sound courteous.

“He still lets people call him that?” broke in Philip Buckley, clearly annoyed with the fact.

“Yes, and it suits him.” said Hen, stepping forward a bit.

“Oh, enough with the stupid nicknames already!” snapped Margaret Buckley. “Just tell us when he’ll be back!”

Eddie cut in softly, “he’s getting a medical examination after a massive fire and you’re worried about when it’s most convenient for you to talk?”

“That’s not what...” Margaret trailed off. “Fine. What of it?”

“Did you know that he has smoke inhalation--” Eddie started, but Philip cut him off.

“I’m so sorry on his behalf, he seems to get himself injured often. It’s been a problem for--”

Bobby put his hand up. “Stop right there,” they looked up. “You have no right to apologize for him,” he nodded to Eddie. “I think what Mr. Diaz over there was trying to say is that he has smoke inhalation as a result of giving his mask to a stranger trapped in the burning building.”

This seemed to shock them, and they looked at Eddie for confirmation, and he nodded, never breaking his cold stare.

“Well that’s a first,” mumbled Margaret. “I wish he’d had that kind of character when he was younger.”

Bobby squared his shoulders. “I will not tolerate unnecessary and untrue degrading comments in my firehouse.” his tone was icy and brooked no room for disagreement.

“It’s not untrue...” Margaret murmured under her breath.

“That’s enough,” ordered Eddie, letting the soldier in him leak into his tone.

They stood around awkwardly for a few moments, until Hen spoke up. “I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but your son, our Buck, is an incredible person. He would never needlessly endanger himself. He knows we care too much.” That last sentence was ever so slightly barbed.

“One time he climbed to the top of a roller coaster with no safety equipment to get to someone in trouble.” Eddie said, raising an eyebrow. “It was on the news and everything.”

“And the man let go---he failed!” Philip dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand.

“But he still tried!” Hen uncrossed her arms and stood up straighter. “From what we’ve heard, it’s more than you’ve done.”

“Look, we don’t care what he has or hasn’t done, but it wasn’t Evan’s place to complain to you about his personal problems. Did you know he even has to see a therapist?!” Margaret was indignant.

“Margaret,” Philip put his hand on her shoulder. “These firefighters haven’t done anything wrong. We’re here for Evan, not them.”

“He saved my son’s life.” Eddie said suddenly, remembering what Buck had said about Daniel. “He was with my young son on the pier when the tsunami hit.” He shifted, his voice softening. “Christopher would be... gone if Buck hadn’t been there.”

The Buckley’s had frozen. Sensing an opening, Eddie continued, “My son has cerebral palsy, and Buck risked his life over and over again to make sure he was safe. Christopher wouldn’t have stood a chance if he hadn’t been there.”

Just like that, Margaret and Philip stopped. And Eddie knew it was because the story of Christopher had reminded them of Daniel. It was a low blow, he knew, to exploit their grief like that. But he had to make them see.

Chimney picked up the conversation. “He was pinned under a fire truck---it shattered the bones in his leg---and he still came back so he could help people.”

“And he once saved a man who was hanging out of a car windshield on the road. Off duty.” Hen added.

Bobby sighed and cleared his throat. “Whether you see it or not, Buck is a hero. He’s brave and selfless, always making sure everyone else is safe before checking himself.”

Margaret nodded mutely, still processing the information.

“And whether Buck knows it or not, he has a family here who will always be there for him.” Bobby spoke the last part with such conviction that the Buckley’s couldn’t help but look ashamed.

Philip turned to Margaret, unsure how she was reacting. “Margaret, I think we need to apolog---” he stopped short when he noticed Eddie had perked up and was now looking at the door, listening intently.

A red paramedic truck pulled up, and then Eddie was gone, already halfway down the stairs.

Bobby had noticed too, and addressed the couple again. “It looks like Buck is back now. We’re going to go check on him, and we’ll let him know you’re here.”

“And whether he comes up or not is his choice,” added Hen.

Margaret and Philip watched them hurry down to greet Buck.

“We messed up,” she said softly.

Philip only nodded.

#9-1-1 #evan buckley #evan 'buck' buckley #bobby nash #eddie diaz #the buckleys #henrietta wilson #hen wilson #firefam #9-1-1 fanfiction #soft eddie #implied buddie #protective bobby nash #protective eddie diaz #bobby nash is such a dad #christopher diaz

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imaginetonyandbucky · 4 years

Text

The Buy In

For the prompt: Mafia AU with Tony as the Boss (except he's a really good one, making the streets safe, keeping drugs away from kids etc) and Bucky as the detective sent to go undercover to catch him out but ends up realizing he's actually doing more good than harm and they end up falling in love

Chapter One: Fresh Meat

by @dracusfyre

“Hey, boss, we got fresh meat for you,” the man at Bucky’s elbow said. Bucky’s heart was in his throat, pulse racing like mad; he was the first detective ever to get this close to Tony Stark, to the Mechanic, and he prayed he would live to tell the tale. For years Stark had only been seen through the lens of a telescoping camera, impeccably dressed with sunglasses hiding his eyes and surrounded by his men at all times. Before today there had been no wiretaps, no informants, no insight into the elusive mob boss and his inner circle. But after years of hard work, Bucky was about to change that. As he was pushed into the echoing warehouse, his eyes darted around the room, taking in the classic cars, the souped-up sports coupes and half-built engines, looking for the man himself. Bucky wondered how many of these were stolen and awaiting new buyers. Men in suits were spread out guarding the exits, but he didn’t see a desk or an office, any kind of throne from which Stark ran his criminal empire.

After a moment, in the middle of the room, a man that Bucky’s eyes had completely glossed over unfolded himself from a work bench. He was wearing a tank top and low-slung jeans, and as he stood, he pulled his welding mask off and put down the butane torch. Bucky blinked, stunned as he approached; the man’s hair was tousled and messy, jaw dark with a five o’clock shadow, arms toned and tan. His eyes, when they met Bucky’s, where whiskey brown and warm with amusement. Bucky barely kept his jaw from dropping as he recognized Tony Stark, right down to the scar on his jaw he’d gotten in the car crash that had killed his parents.

“New meat, huh?” Stark asked, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he tilted his head and studied Bucky with eyes that seemed entirely too perceptive. “Tell me about him.”

“Wants a job,” the man at his elbow said. Bucky didn’t jump, but it was a near thing; he’d forgotten the man was even there. This was Tony Stark? The Mechanic was actually a mechanic? Everyone, from Bucky's fellow policemen to the FBI task force that had been organized to take him down, to the ATF agents and federal marshals that swapped stories over beer, had a different theory about where the man’s klichka came from: because of his well-known penchant for nice cars, because shop tools were his favorite methods of interrogation, because he was good at greasing wheels and making things happen. No one had ever suggested, even as a joke, that it might be because the man was a grease monkey. “Former military, spent time in Iraq,” the man continued. What was his name? Oh yeah, Harold. Everyone called him Happy. “Got out and a friend of a friend got him a job, if you know what I mean. His info checks out; he used to do work down at Brighton Beach then moved up to Red Hook before crossing the bridge. You said we needed new muscle down on 6th, remember?”

“I remember.” Stark pulled out a wrench that had been hanging from his belt and started flipping it from hand to hand as he considered Bucky thoughtfully. Bucky lifted his chin and met Stark’s eyes, hoping his nervousness didn’t show; this wasn’t his first undercover assignment, just the one with the highest stakes. Stark controlled most of Manhattan and had been successfully expanding his territory at the expense of the Russians and Irish and gangs from Harlem. As the silence stretched, the metal of the wrench flashed in the light from the windows as it rose and fell, his hands sure and steady. “Go away, copper,” Stark said finally, and Bucky gaped as Stark turned away.

“I’m not a cop,” Bucky protested to Stark’s surprisingly muscled back. This operation, his job, maybe even his life depended on convincing Stark he wasn’t a cop. “Look, this is the biggest outfit in the city and I just want a paycheck, ok? My last boss came up short and ran back to Armenia without paying his debts. Word is you always pay up.”

“Sure you do,” Stark said, the corner of his mouth turning up. “We all just want a paycheck, right? Happy, remind me why we need muscle on 6th?”

“Cops have been hassling our people,” Happy said, taking a step away from Bucky and eyeing him with suspicion. “Trying to shake’em down, demanding a cut.”

“Right, right.” Stark picked up his welding mask but didn’t put it on. “What’s your name, copper?”

“I’m not-“ When Stark just raised an eyebrow and gestured like get on with it, Bucky said, “Jason. Jason Brooks.”

“That’s it? No street name?”

“My friends call me JB sometimes, but that’s it.”

“Alright, Blue Eyes,” Stark said as he pulled his mask back down over his eyes and fired up the torch again with a hiss of blue-white heat. “Get the cops to lay off my people, and you’ll get your paycheck.”

Happy put a hand on Bucky’s back and shoved him back out the door of the warehouse since they’d been dismissed. “That’s it?” Bucky said, bemused.

“Yeah, that’s it. Whaddya want, to provide a resume and cover letter? It’s not like the Boss has to check with HR here.”

“Does he really think I’m a cop?”

Happy shrugged. “Only the boss knows what the boss thinks. Guess not if he said you could stay. Come back tomorrow at 5.”

“Do you really think he’s a cop?” Rhodey asked when Tony was done welding, coming over to admire the smooth bead he’d put on the chassis of the classic car he was remodeling.

“Oh, he’s definitely a cop,” Tony said, stretching his back and shoulders. “But then I thought, we have a cop, we have cop problems, let’s let one take care of the other. Either he’ll get them to back off, or he won’t, but either way one of my problems will be solved.”

“Oh, so it’s not because he has a pretty face?”

“I didn’t know you were on the market, platypus,” Tony said with wide eyes. “I’m sure I could get his number for you, along with his bank account, social security number, and entire relationship history.” When Rhodey just rolled his eyes, Tony grinned. “He did have a pretty face, though, didn’t he? I wonder if that’s why they sent him.”

“Not unless the feds have changed their MO in a big way,” Rhodey said, handing Tony a towel to clean his hands and wipe the sweat off his face and neck.

“I’ll let him run around a bit and see what happens,” Tony said, voice turning serious. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Like I had about Natasha. Or Natalie, whatever she’s calling herself now.” Natasha had been a plant from the Russians, trying to crack his operations so they could retake some blocks they’d lost a few years ago when Tony had taken advantage of infighting to push his boundaries out. She’d taken one look at the ladies working in Tony’s territory and taken to them like a mother cat with kittens. She’d also organized them with the ruthlessness of any NY City union boss, eliminating pimps with such prejudice it earned her the klichka the Widow. Six months into working for him, she’d flipped and given him everything she knew and was the reason why the Russians had been pushed back to their tiny toe-hold in Brighton Beach, with most of them heading back for greener territories back in the Motherland. “Put him with KT. He’s good with newbies.”

“You aren’t worried he’s going to find something?”

Because it was Rhodey, Tony gave it some thought. Whatever law enforcement sent Blue Eyes had apparently done a better job with his cover than the previous people did; so far Happy had been able to weed them out pretty early on. Tony couldn’t even say why he was getting a cop vibe from the new guy. He had short hair, little longer than military regulation, but the stubble on his jaw screamed six-day bender and he had the thousand-yard stare of an ex-soldier used to violence down pat. Hell, that part was probably true. Maybe it was the surprise in his eyes when he’d seen Tony; in Tony’s experience, most people who made their living on the streets had the ability to be surprised burned out of them long ago. “Nah,” Tony said eventually. “For the good stuff, he’d have to go through me. Anything else he’d just be nibbling around the edges.”

“Whatever you say,” Rhodey said with a shrug.

#tony stark #winteriron #bucky barnes #no powers au #tony x bucky #dracusfyre

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felassan · 3 years

Text

Highlights and insights from the N7 Day cast & crew reunion panel

[Rewatch link]

In case a text format is better for anyone. There are some NSFW references. Cut for length.

(Some paraphrasing.)

“Some of us are inebriated”

“Patrick Weekes, the killer of man and beasts, the breaker of hearts”

JHale put the whole thing together, it’s the biggest ME cast reunion to date

The cast had no idea that the remaster was a thing

Lots of ace discussion about what the magic of the MET is (“it captured lightning in a bottle”)

Lots of warm fuzzies between the cast, crew and community, and lots of fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes

Lots of great discussion on the diversity and inclusion in ME: on gender, sexuality, representation, empowerment, the core message in the MET that “we’re all in this together or we’re screwed”, the progress made in the portrayal of female characters in gaming, etc. “Everything behind what went into these characters was authentic, we [the VAs] could tell that so much research, texture, authenticity etc had gone into them. It really made a difference”. JHale: “I’ve spent my career kicking down ceilings [barriers and so on women actors experience] with my steel-toed boot. To get to be a part of this game that has now created the expectation that there now be a female PC, ‘duh’, is once of the great things of my life. BioWare listened and put her on the box. The first time someone dropped the box in front of me I held it over my head and screamed over the crowd, ‘Casey Hudson, thank youuu!!’ It was a divine moment. This game was the moment the boot finally crashed through the glass, pushed by millions of women.”

The panel received many messages from the question submission from fans expressing that MET really helped them through very dark places and periods in their lives. The cast have had a lot of interactions with fans over the years where the fans expressed similar sentiments to them

ME was one of the first games Keythe Farley (Thane) acted for that had branching dialogue/dialogue choices, and when he saw the script with that when he went in, he was like “wow”. ME was the second big game D. C. Douglas (Legion) ever did. In his first audition he didn’t know it was for a robot-type character as it was disguised as something else with a military-feel. The second time it was to do a speech/lament at someone’s funeral and he knew it was for a robot. He said playing Legion for him was a case of “wake up, drink some coffee and go to work”

Jack was really special to her VA Courtenay Taylor because she relates to her so much and had a lot of similar emotional problems and personal troubles in her past. Jack helped her become who she has became. The host added that in his interactions with Courtenay over the years, he realized very quickly that she is very much like Jack

AWR has two moms, something which she hasn’t talked about/expressly said publicly before. Talking about recording lines between Sam and Femshep made her tear up. She said that being raised by two moms in the 80s was tough due to societal attitudes at the time, and so to see a loving relationship between two women depicted in a game was a big deal for her. When recording the white picket fence conversation, she was actually crying (“and then I’m crying because of the lesbians”). It was a huge moment for her to represent her moms’ journey. When she went home she told them all about how her character is gay and wants a white picket fence and everything “just like we had”.

When PW was working on Sam’s arc, one of the things they did was show it to one of their colleagues, who is a lesbian, asking what things she’d like to see in an arc like that and what things she felt were missing from it. The white picket fence conversation came from the colleague’s feedback (“we wanna see the nice, healthy, happy domestic stuff”, as it’s often missing in portrayals of wlw relationships)

As the VAs got more into their characters, they sometimes had feedback and input to the process to offer, like “I don’t think she’d say [this] like [that]”. Sometimes they knew their characters even better than the crew did sometimes. JHale waxed lyrical about Caroline Livingstone’s awesome direction, with the host adding that he has interviewed a lot of the VAs over the years and they all talk about Caroline like she’s Gandalf the White coming to the rescue in LotR. AWR expressed that Caroline is really funny (“don’t worry it’s not you, PW was sick when they wrote this line that’s why”) and emotionally in-tune with them and this makes long hard sessions with her a joy

When Mark went into record for the Citadel DLC one day he asked Caroline “wouldn’t be great if Shepard’s clone had been made to be the opposite gender? Then the two Shepards could fight each other!”

William Salyers (Mordin) likes the way Mordin’s story ended and felt that it was wonderful to be able to play that. He feels like the luckiest person because as he wasn’t the original VA of Mordin, he got to come in late to something that was amazing. “Caroline helped me get to where I needed to be emotionally to play that final scene. It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever gotten to do personally for a piece of interactive art”. PW related that with Mordin’s writing, they didn’t realize how much they were asking for. They thought William was amazing doing all the science-speak/technobabble, as they themselves didn’t know what it meant, and then suddenly having to deliver emotional heartbreaking lines. William’s always been a secret science nerd and so he loved that fact about Mordin. “It was a real treat to say your words”

Karin: “I always claim credit for the Scientist Salarian song even though I had nothing to do with it. I opened that door for PW”

Steve Blum (Grunt) found it a real treat playing Grunt as Grunt is a tough soldier on the outside but a [babey] on the inside, while he is more the other way around (softer on the outside, fight-y inside). He isn’t a gamer and so didn’t know what to expect or what he was getting into. There was the big pile of words, they showed him the picture of Grunt, and he just ran with it. “Grunt was kind of a perfect character for me in that respect”. Side note: his wry comments throughout the panel were hilarious

“Casey Hudson, our glorious loving overlord”

Courtenay jokes about “interspecies snorkeling”

The women Courtenay met working on this game are her friends for life. Ali Hillis (Liara) gave her her number the night of the ME3 drop and was like “let’s hang out!!” “JHale is the shit. I go to England and there’s AWR and I have this friend for life”.

“We’re a family”. The host comments that you don’t see this kind of closeness between the people on a lot of projects

Kimberley Brooks (Ashley) thinks things have and are changing for the better in terms of roles for women, and roles for brown and black women. This year she has noticed increasing awareness of inclusion and of where it’s lacking. “The copies I’m being sent for auditions, it’s drastically changing, I’m seeing it change before my eyes. It’s really exciting, there’s more and more roles for me.” “Ash is such a strong character and I felt very badass playing her, it was life-changing”. She’s excited that the remaster is going to be a new way to see these characters that they’ve been so lucky to voice. Kimberley/Ash was the first female character Karin saw in the studio, when she saw her she was like “Wow, she’s so kickass and inspiring”. At this point Karin hadn’t been working at BioWare for all that long, and she wanted to thank Kimberley, because she saw her and heard her voice and had a personal ‘this changes everything’ moment

Raphael Sbarge (Kaidan) finds it very moving how many women were encouraged into gaming due to ME

Raphael: “Everyone here has awesome varied careers, but because ME was so collaborative [and so on], [it was something really rare and special]. Nothing else I’ve done has been so important or impassioned, it has almost a religious experience to it, which you can see from tears in fans’ eyes and tattoos and people talking about it 10 years later”. “I’m so grateful for it.” “Clearly we’re going to do this again next year! :D” D. C. added that it’s going to follow him for the rest of his career. Courtenay says it has catapulted her career

PW talked about how it’s great that the female chars in ME were allowed to have real, realistic flaws and dark periods (as opposed to nonsense stuff like ‘her flaw is that she’s clumsy’)

Having the male and female PC be voiced was a big, expensive commitment for the studio. Karin commented that at the time, it was a risk that the pretty-much almost entirely-male leadership of BioWare at the time decided was important to take, and so she was happy that these were the values her colleagues had

PW was “the junior baby writer on ME1. I’d just gotten to the studio and Mac Walters fell down a flight of stairs and hurt his back, and they pulled me in while he was healing”. Karin: “Mac was very understanding when PW fell on the ice and hurt themselves during ME2.” PW: “My job in ME1 was to come up with conversations between followers to pass the time in the elevator loading times. I was throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick”

Steve turning his volume down before he shouts classic Grunt quotes down the mic

Caroline: “Do you know how many tears were shed in the booth? How many times have we all cried in the booth...” JHale: “We were recording the end of ME3, which I never call the end, because I’m always like I’M HERE! [wink] The goodbye Garrus lines” - these lines got right under her skin and when she went to say her lines she couldn’t speak because she’d burst into tears. “It was all I could do to say those words... and then there was silence... [and Caroline had gotten choked up too].” This was one of the last sessions they did. PW: “John Dombrow wrote Garrus in ME3 and I’m gonna tell him that he got you both to break.”

Caroline was also really teary during Keith David’s (Anderson)’s performance where he tells Shepard she’s like his daughter. This moment was one of JHale’s favorites to act

BioWare came up with a proprietary VA recording system which JHale describes as a secret sauce as-yet not widely-used in the industry

Lots of fun in the line-reading portion at the end. The lines/scenes were sent in by fans. This starts around timestamp 1 hour 50 mins. There’s a break where they discuss more anecdotes after a bit then some line-reading resumes at 1 hour 59 mins 18 secs

"Salarian Vorcha Conrad Verner simmering sexual tension scene”

One of PW’s fondest memories is of ME3 when JHale and Mark got to play off each other (which they naturally didn’t get to do very much), when PW had shoved the entire script of the Blasto movie into random ambience throughout the Citadel. They knew Mark was going to be Blasto as he voiced most of the hanar. PW: “We had to have Blasto’s elcor partner’s hot sister... And I was like could it be JHale?? Because they hardly ever get to talk to each other. It was one of my proudest moments”. Mark: “Not only that, we had a romance.” JHale: “Yeah, it was hot”.

“Think of the poor cold freezing Edmontonian hanar”

PW’s story about Sam’s toothbrush: They wrote it as a throwaway line but AWR did it so well that PW wanted to bring it back in the Citadel DLC, as that DLC was the action-comedy one. So they decided the toothbrush was going to save the Normandy. The art director at the time was in an early playthrough of the scene and in that version of the scene Sam held up her empty hand. The director was like “We gotta make the toothbrush? Really? It’s gonna be thousands of dollars to render the toothbrush.” It then got to the next few lines and the director deadpanned at PW “Okay that’s pretty good, we’ll make the toothbrush.” PW: “Good, I got my toothbrush.”

It was John’s idea that we find out that Mordin had been working on a crime noir novel. There was a period in the development of the Citadel DLC where PW was feeling like “Mordin’s gone, he had his big moment, I want to respect and honor that” and the entire team were like “I think Mordin needs a couple more songs dude”. “Well alright!” By that point William had shown them he could deliver literally any line

“Oh I need a shower that was so steamy hot”

PW got in trouble with Localization over Jack’s “Save some of your energy, we’re gonna do it on the pool table” exchange. Localization were like “Um could you explain what Jack means by this??” These lines were PW’s, Karin as an editor got the question about it and passed it on to PW like “nope this is your fault”. “The best part is it was France that needed PW to explain the joke while apparently Germany were like ‘Yes please confirm that this is regarding the possibility of oral sex-’”

Keythe on voicing Thane: “Thane was a real lesson in opening up to the character, allowing this beautifully conflicted character to exist. Each character in the MET has conflicts within themselves and a tragic flaw that is revealed through the course of conflict.” He also waxed lyrical about how the MET was akin to Star Wars and Citizen Kane, and about the interconnectedness and representation in it

D. C.: “I have a question for you guys. Was it a conscious decision to not have Legion as a romance? Because there are a lot of upset people out there!!” “Voltage problems.” “A lot of creative reuses of ‘There was a hole.’” PW: “It was a process of us figuring out what we wanted to do. If we had known... The number of people who were like ‘I don’t know, are people gonna wanna romance Garrus? Liara? She’s blue and has no hair. Are people gonna be okay with that?” Karin: “We were young and naïve, now we know BioWare fans are thirsty.”

Derek brought in the first picture of Thane to show Caroline and she was like “He’s really hot, that’s gonna be a killer character. People are gonna want to romance that gentleman”

Raphael asked the BioWare team if there’s ever been a point where they thought about doing more DLC content or some kind of revival. “Has that ever come up?” “We’re legally obligated not to say, sorry, we’re going through a tunnel right now, bad reception!!”

D. C.: “Does this country have a soul?” “It does.”

“An N7 Day to remember! Go forth and heal.”

#bioware #mass effect #video games #lgbtq #feels #lul #garrus vakarian #best boy #please remember if you are a minor you should not be following me #a minor = under 18 #next mass effect

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harghoes · 4 years

Text

Your Memory is Killing Me.

Pairing: Wolffe x f!reader

Word count: 1854

Warnings: alcohol, grief, not taking care of one’s self, it’s really sad.

a/n: I had this idea stuck in my head after hearing my favorite song. (More Than a Memory by Garth Brooks obvi). It hurt me to think about but I realized it would be a good chance for me to get back into writing things I like! tagging @morganas-pendragons 💓 Enjoy, it’s sad. :)

—-

everyone tells him it’s all in his head. that the image of her isn’t anything but an apparition. he’ll over come it eventually, of course he will, he’s Commander Wolffe of the 104th. he’s the strongest of them all. except, he isn’t that strong. he’s barely holding on by a thread and the only comfort he gets is “it’ll take time, but you’ll forget, everyone forgets.” that’s the opposite of what he wants to hear. in fact, he never wants to hear those words in that arrangement ever again, not when it deals with her. the girl of his dreams. gone, like she was never there, and like no one even knows who she is. that’s who Commander Wolffe, of the 104th, is so tragically missing.

Wolffe tries to talk to his vod. the only words offered are a “c’mon Commander. move on. we all have to get on with our life.” and Wolffe knows this is true. in war, you lose things you never thought you would, but you also gain things too. Wolffe knew from the moment he met her that his life would change. he wasn’t just another clone in this fight anymore, he had a purpose, a home. he would’ve done anything to keep her safe. anything at all.

the thing with his vod telling him to move on is that he doesn’t think they understand what it means to him. they don’t realize the pain and trauma he gained with her loss. he can’t look at things and see them the same. he can’t hear certain words without thinking about her. he can’t do anything without her being with him. it was a blessing but now it’s a curse.

Commander Wolffe, as of right now, is on leave. his Jedi General saw it fit for him to take a break. General Plo is good at keeping his men healthy, but even now he can tell there’s something deeper going on. Wolffe, while stoic and not one to get emotional, had been near his breaking point for weeks now. General Plo could tell.

that leads back to Wolffe. he’s laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling empty. his quarters once held light and hope and now it feels cluttered and small. Wolffe decides he needs to do something to clear his head and that’s what has him reaching for his comlink. he starts dialing her number before realizing he can’t. he hangs up immediately, afraid someone else will pick up, and that he wouldn’t have an explanation. Wolffe has to clear his mind somehow.

he ends up at 79’s eventually. he can’t remember how he got here but all he knows is he needs a drink. Wolffe heads to the bar immediately and sits down. he orders a glass of whiskey and bows his head. he’s never been much of a drinker but he needs to get her image out of his mind. he needs to get her smile out of his mind. the whiskey is set down in front of him and he downs it right away. the bartender watches with curiosity but goes about her business. Wolffe just wanted time to dwell on his mistakes and to feel his grief.

a pretty Twi’lek woman walks towards him and leans against the counter. Wolffe doesn’t pay her any mind until she sets her hand on his.

“what’s a handsome man like you doing alone? whoever has you sure is lucky.” her voice is sweet but nothing like hers.

“i’m not looking for anything tonight, i just want to be left alone.” Wolffe registers the look on her face as concern before adding, “please.”

thankfully, she understands. she sets a friendly hand on his shoulder and leaves with a ‘good luck, soldier.’

Wolffe gives her a nod in response before flagging the bartender over. he’s going to need a lot more to drink to deal with this.

————

Wolffe is drunk off his ass. the bartender had to get a taxi for him to even make it near the barracks. Wolffe is stumbling his way through the hallways when he sees the familiar hair. it’s only a flash before it’s gone, but it was there. he knows it.

Wolffe is intent on following the shadow until he spots his vod. Boost and Sinker are heading his way. he doesn’t want them to see their Commander like this. by the time he’s figured out he needs to move, they’ve caught up to him and are now helping him to his quarters.

“Maker, Commander, what’s gotten into you? you have never acted like this before. is it because of... her?” Sinker questions on the walk.

Wolffe can only let out a grunt and the rest of the walk is quiet. once inside his room, Wolffe collapses. he’s sitting on his knees with his face upturned. he takes two deep breaths before getting up to reach under his bed. he grabs his lockbox that holds millions of memories and starts pulling out things she wrote him, photos she took, anything that had her presence. Wolffe was a grieving man and the best way to grieve? destruction.

he leaves his quarters for the second time that night on a mission. he heads for an empty room and finds an ashtray. once finding the ashtray, he looks for matches and sets the photos and letters on the tray. he finds the matches, lights one up, and looks at the top photo. the two are smiling brightly, their faces smushed together, and you can see the happiness in Wolffe’s face. he’s never been happier than in that moment. Wolffe grabs that photo off the top before setting the match on the rest. there’s no way he could get rid of her entirely.

——

by the time Wolffe gets back to his quarters, he’s exhausted. he lays on his bed and hopes to get a quick nap in. he hasn’t been sleeping properly since she’s been gone. it’s like she was his one and only comfort. Wolffe stares at the ceiling and recounts their time together. eventually, he does fall asleep.

it doesn’t last long though. within a few hours, he’s waking up in a cold sweat. there wasn’t anything he could do but the guilt is still there. he reached for his comlink again and stops himself from dialing the wrong line. instead, he calls someone he can trust.

Cody.

Cody answers after a few rings and he grumbles out a greeting.

“Cody, i don’t know what’s happening to me. i’m scared and i’m tired and i just can’t stop thinking about her. it’s been weeks and i still see her. Cody, she’s haunting me. she’s more than a memory, i’m telling you.”

Wolffe pours his heart out to his vod and Cody takes a minute to respond. finally, he sighs and begins to talk.

“Wolffe, do you know what time it is? it’s the middle of the night. i’m not angry at you, i’m sorry you’re going through this, but i’ve got a campaign in a few days. i need to sleep.” Cody let’s out another sigh before he ends the conversation with, “it’s going to be alright, Wolffe. i know it is.”

the comlink beeps signifying the end of the call. this is going to be a long leave.

———

when Wolffe gets a call from General Plo to check in, he goes immediately. he’s barreling his way down the halls to meet with his General, and when he finally reaches the room, he clears his throat.

Plo turns around, expecting to see a clean-shaven, sober Wolffe. what he sees in front of him is a broken man. Wolffe is swaying slightly, he has dark circles around his eyes, and he looks like he hasn’t shaved in years.

Plo is taken aback by Wolffe’s appearance and takes in a breath. Wolffe shakily raises his arm in a salute. Plo walks towards Wolffe and sets his arm down. he sets his hands on his shoulders and looks at his son. Plo had heard Wolffe’s situation had gotten worse. he knew about his excessive drinking, his bar fights, his erratic sleep schedule. Wolffe wasn’t taking care of himself and it was affecting everyone.

“Wolffe, you need to sleep. please, son, stop the drinking. you need to take care of yourself and your brothers.”

he’s been hearing the same message just worded differently from everyone. he’s at his breaking point now. Wolffe starts shaking with anger and Plo just watches. Wolffe’s fists clench at his sides before they loosen. he falls to his knees and looks at his General.

“please, General. please. i can’t do this anymore. Maker, please! i need her! Maker, this is a worthless life without her.”

Wolffe bows his head and, though never religious, starts to pray to anything out there that she’ll return to him. he needs to see her again. Wolffe is a strong man but even strong men need someone. she was his someone.

Plo drops to his knees besides Wolffe and brings him into a hug. he sets a hand on his back and one cradling the side of his face. Wolffe starts sobbing and screams until his voice is hoarse. he screams for anything and everything in hopes that she’s listening.

Plo just sits there, cradling his son, and sending reassurance through the Force. this is a time for Wolffe to get everything out.

a while later, Wolffe is finally calmed down enough to where Plo can talk to him.

“i’m sorry you dealt with this alone for so long. i’m sorry you lost her. i’m just sorry, Wolffe. you’re a good man, you deserved to be happy with her.”

Wolffe takes in a shaky breath and leans back. his back ends up against the nearest wall and his legs are outstretched.

“i‘ve tried everything, General. i’ve tried every coping mechanism available. nothing helps. i’ve left her old comlink messages saying i love her, i’ve walked by her old room, i’ve called my vod in the middle of the night and none of them can relate or help me.”

there’s a pregnant silence between the two. Plo is about to speak again before Wolffe finally explains.

“i’ve let myself go because i don’t see a reason to be put together. there isn’t a reason to look decent without her. i’ve tried to drown out her laugh with alcohol and it doesn’t work. the more i drink, the louder her laugh rings through my head.”

Wolffe takes in three deep breaths before telling Plo the main problem.

“the reason i’m not sleeping is because i know she’s waiting for me. i find things to do because i know she’s waiting in my dreams. and i don’t think i could handle seeing her without being able to touch her.”

Plo gives Wolffe’s shoulder a firm pat before bringing him into another hug.

with his head resting on Plo’s shoulder, Wolffe breaths out a soft murmur.

“people say she’s only in my head. it’s killing me.”

and the two sit there sharing the grief together.

#Commander Wolffe #commander wolffe x reader #commander wolffe imagine #Clone Wars #clone wars imagine #The Clone Wars

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Stark Spangled Forever

One Shot: Changes

Intro: Dealing with the changes of growing older can be a right, royal pain…

Warnings: SMUT (NSFW, NO under 18s!”)

Pairing:Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So this all came from that damned photo of Evans and Dodger…and my mind went to a very warped place, sorry not sorry. (You can blame @icanfeelastormbrewing and @sweater-daddiesdumbdork for encouragement!)

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

July 2029

The Rogers household was at times with three kids all under 10 was chaotic. Before school, after school, at dinner times and bed times. But later at night, it was quiet, a time for Steve and Katie to relax with one another, ready to face it all again the day after. Well, that is when Bucky and Sam weren’t around, eating them out of house and home.

Tonight was one of those nights. All younger kids in bed, Emmy away with Brooke in Miami attending some beach party, and getting up to all sorts of mischief which Steve didn’t want to think about, leaving the two of them to snuggle on the sofa with a beer and a glass of wine, simply taking time out. And it wasn’t like they had to talk either to enjoy it. Like right now, Katie was curled up, her back nestling into Steve’s side as his arm lay across her chest, her nose buried in a book. Steve was watching some documentary on the History Channel, every so often dropping a kiss to the back of her head as she would reach up to rub his arm.

Domestic? Yes. Mundane? Yes. Absolute bliss? Yes.

The door the living room pushed open and Stark wandered in, tail wagging as he flopped down on the rug next to the fireplace, rolling onto his back, his preferred sleeping position. Katie eyed him for a moment and snorted.

“Thinks he owns the place.” she muttered, reaching out for her glass of wine. Noticing it was empty she gave a low groan and sat up.

“I’ll go…” Steve offered but she shook her head.

“No, honestly its fine…you need one or?”

He nodded, draining his bottle and she took the empty off him.

She headed out of the room and as soon as she had left Stark hopped up onto the sofa, laying his head against Steve who chuckled, giving him an ear scratch, his concentration still on the TV.

“Seriously.” Katie deadpanned and he looked up as she placed their drinks on the table. “I was gone for like 3 minutes if that…”

Steve shrugged and gave her a grin. “Guess he wanted a snuggle.”

“I don’t give a shit. Down.” Katie said, looking at the dog. Stark glanced at her reproachfully and instead twisted slightly so that he was on his back, looking up at Steve. “Fine…don’t listen to me…Steve, move him.”

“But look at him, baby…” Steve chuckled, glancing down at the dog.

“He’s in my seat.”

“Awww he’s comfy…”

“Steve!” Katie said louder this time and he turned his head up to see his wife stood there, arms folded as she glared at him then the dog. “I’m being serious…”

“Don’t shout you’ll upset him.” Steve said, not being able to resist teasing her a little more, but where as she would normally just laugh and call him a jerk or a dumbass, her eyes narrowed and her face grew stony.

“I’m not fighting with a dog over a seat on my fucking couch.” she said, “I said move him Steve…”

“Ok…” Steve said, holding his hands up “Stark, down…”

The dog gave a huff and slid off the sofa and Katie settled back into her seat. Steve glanced at her, his eyebrow raised.

“Don’t look at me like that Steven.” she warned him “You let that dog get away with murder.”

Steve took a deep breath, and bit back the response that she had been the same with Lucky. He knew now wasn’t the time so instead he made a joke “Well, I have a soft spot for Starks…” he muttered as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“Yeah, and it’s gonna stay soft tonight too.” she said, pushing on his chest causing him to laugh. “Seriously though that dog’s a menace…” “He’s not that bad…” “Not that bad…” Katie sat up “Steve, 4 days after he arrived he ate 3 boxes of crayons-” “Yeah but it made his poop multi-coloured-” “He chewed up my favourite pair of Laboutins-” “I told you not to leave them by the stairs. I’ll buy you some new ones-“

“And last week he ate the keys to my Camero Steve, my fucking keys!”

“Yeah but you got them back-“ “And I put up with all of that…” she rambled on, her tone and pace increasing and Steve frowned slightly as he could sense now there wasn’t a bit of humour or good nature in her voice any more “What I’m not gonna put up with is him stealing my fucking seat next to my fucking husband on my fucking couch!”

She finished her rant and Steve blinked, raising his eyebrows.

“Are you done?” he asked her a moment later, his voice flat.

She took a deep breath and moved to grab her book, resuming her previous position. “Yes.”

“Feel better for getting that off your chest?”

“That’s not what I was doing.”

“Sounded like it to me.”

She groaned and slammed her book shut “I’m going upstairs…” Steve signed “Katie, come on sweetheart…don’t be like this.”

“Like what?”

“All pissed off over the dog!” he said, shaking his head “You’re being ridiculous.”

As soon as the words flew out of his mouth he grimaced inwardly. The worst thing he could ever say in the middle of one of her outbursts was exactly that.

“Really… ok, well how’s this for ridiculous? You love the dog so much? You can sleep with him in his basket tonight…” she snarled at Steve, before she stormed out of the room.

Steve watched her go, his mouth dropping open before he let out a groan and threw himself back against the cushions. In a second Stark had jumped back up into the spot Katie had vacated.

“What the fuck just happened?” he asked the dog, who promptly thumped his tail as he turned his head to Steve, before sneezing straight in the soldier’s face.

******

“And that’s all you did?” Bucky eyed Steve suspiciously.

“Yeah…” Steve protested his innocence “She just absolutely lost it! Then she gave me the cold shoulder this morning, and maintained radio silence all day other than to reply with the word OK when I said I was coming out to meet you guys after work.”

“So is it all down to the dog then?” Bucky asked.

“Possibly.” Steve conceded “He’s a little…different to Lucky…”

He trailed off, pondering what Bucky had said, wondering if his best friend had hit the nail on the head. Stark had been with them just over 7 months now and whilst Katie wasn’t overly hostile towards him, she wasn’t as loving either as she had been with Lucky. Steve got it, well he thought he did, she’d loved Lucky to pieces, but Stark was just as good a dog. Ok, so he was a little boisterous and far more mischievous than Lucky had been and had taken time to settle in. And he still had a habit of eating and chewing things but, all in all, the kids loved him, Steve loved him…

“Well, whatever it is I do know one thing…” Sam said, drawing Steve’s attention back to him.

“What?”

“The more you try and make sense of it, the less sense it’s gonna make.” he shrugged “Dude she’s a woman, just…”

Steve shook his head, whilst Katie was prone to her little moments and bratty outbursts, he was normally pretty good at getting into her head and understanding what was wrong with her. That was something that came from knowing her for 17 years and being in love with her for 16. Or 17 as he often admitted to himself that he was pretty sure he’d fallen for her that day she’d given him her cell number as they waved goodbye to Thor. Hell, if you added in the 15 he’d spent back in time after taking the stones back it was over 30…

“She’s not like that.” Steve said, “Ok she can be a bit hormonal at times but…”

“There you have it, maybe it’s time of the month?” Bucky shrugged and Steve rolled his eyes.

“She’s never normally that bad…”

Sam pondered for a moment “How old is she?”

“45 just gone, why?”

Sam made a noise as he clicked is finger and pointed at Steve “Menopause?”

“What?” Steve looked at him as Bucky scoffed.

“Shut up Birdbrain.” Bucky shook his head “That’s far too young to-“ “I’m being serious man…” Sam shrugged “That’s about the time my mom started going through the change and it was like living with a fucking velociraptor…” Steve took another drink of his beer.

“She been having any other symptoms? Hot flushes? How’s the sex life?” Sam pressed.

Steve groaned, his neck and ears flushing “The sex is fine, it’s great, as always…” he trailed off, refusing to discuss this anymore but even as he shook his head he thought back to a moment a few days ago when Katie had been complaining that she was really warm, despite him cracking the AC on full whack.

Bucky, sensing Steve’s discomfort changed topic and they spent the rest of the evening discussing far less dangerous subjects than Katie’s potentially dwindling ovaries before they called it a night and set off home. Sam headed for the subway to go back into Manhattan whilst Steve and Bucky continued towards their relative homes.

“Don’t worry about it.” Bucky said “She’ll be waiting when you get home with an apology, maybe in the form of a blow job…” Steve snorted “Maybe.” “And don’t listen to Sam. He talks shit.” Steve bid Bucky goodnight, and as he walked the few blocks back to their house he pulled his phone out and started googling symptoms of the menopause, grimacing as he read them.

Hot flushes, night sweats, weight gain, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, sore or tender breasts, headaches, difficulty sleeping, vaginal dryness…

Fuck.

…a reduced sex drive

Double fuck.

…, mood swings, palpitations, joint stiffness, recurrent UTIs.

“Jesus” he groaned to himself, shoving his phone back in his pocket. He could attribute at least 10 of those to Katie over the past few months, remembering clearly the other day she’d flipped out at the fact her jeans were a little tight at the moment, and she’d had a banging headache yesterday morning, and had managed about 4 hours sleep…then there was the memory loss as she’d gone into the kitchen with the remote control and come back without it, having put it in the fridge, she’d complained last week her boobs were constantly sore…

Steve shook his head, if she was going through all this then she was entitled to be a little off and he was going to have to just put up with it as best he could.

He pressed his palm to the pad on the gate and once it was open enough he slipped through and walked to the door, sliding his key into the lock. Stark instantly shot out to greet him and after bending to give the dog loves he stood up and followed the soft tones of the piano to the den where Katie was playing with Rori on her lap already dressed for bed.

“Ok, now you try…” his wife said softly, and Rori placed her hands on the keys and began to track her mother’s movements.

“Almost…” Katie grinned, looking down at her, before her hands moved back and she played up a slowly “Try again.” This time Rori nailed it and let out a squeal as Katie laughed and dropped a kiss to her head.

“Nice work Princess…” Steve said, and they both turned to look at him.

“Daddy!” Rori said with a grin, shooting off the stool to run to him. He swept her up and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

“Hey.” he smiled at her “You had a good day?”

Rori nodded “We did err…that thing where you do the numbers with each other and…what was it momma?”

“Times tables.” Katie smiled and Rori nodded.

“Yeah that, and then we did some reading and I got a gold star for doing a full chapter.”

“No way!” Steve grinned “You’re a brainbox just like your ma.” “So Momma made us all tacos for tea as a treat and then I did some piano!”

“I saved you some.” Katie looked at Steve “Wasn’t sure if you’d have eaten or not.” “Thanks.” he smiled at her taking her gesture for exactly what he knew it was, an apology. “The boys in bed?”

“Harry is. Jamie is in his room on his computer.”

“Ok, I’ll pop up. You ready for bed munchkin?”

Rori nodded “Story time?”

“You bet.”

With Rori in his arms he crossed the room to drop a kiss to Katie’s head before he took his daughter upstairs, Stark following. By the time he’d read Rori a story, tucked her in, checked on Harry and then had a hushed argument with Jamie about how he had another 30 minutes before lights almost 40 minutes had passed before he finally headed downstairs.

Katie was in the kitchen loading stuff into the dishwasher and he made his way over, wrapping his arms round her waist.

“I’m sorry.” she said gently, turning to face him, her hands gently scratching at his beard “I was out of order yesterday…” “It’s ok…” “No, it’s not.” she sighed “I’ve been up and down all over the last few months and taking it out on you and the kids isn’t fair.”

“Do you know why?” Steve asked, wondering how on earth he was going to broach the subject.

“Yeah, well, maybe. I spoke to Pepper before when she rang asking what time she should send Happy for the kids tomorrow, and she suggested I might be…” Katie took a deep breath “…going through the change, so to speak…” If Pepper had been in the room right there and then, Steve would have probably kissed her for being the one to bring this up so he didn’t have to.

“Anyway, I’ve made an appointment to go to the Doctor’s tomorrow.” Katie shrugged.

“Do you want me to come?” Steve asked.

“No.” she said, “It’s the middle of the afternoon. You’ll be in class.” “Ok.” he said, “Well, whatever it is we’ll work it together, yeah” “I know.” she smiled, as he leaned down to give her a kiss.

“And as the kids are at Peppers tomorrow, I think that means we can spend a bit of time alone…” he nudged her nose with his and she smiled “Take out, bottle of wine…” “The dog…” she smirked and Steve laughed.

“I’ll lock him in the hallway…” “You can’t do that to him!” she said, scoffing. “Poor Stark…”

“You hated him yesterday…”

“I don’t hate him.” she said softly “He’s just not Lucky…but Jamie made me realise something before. He pointed out that he has so many little personality traits that are different to Lucky…he’s his own dog, in his own right…I’ve not really been fair to him…”

“Hey…” he said, spotting the tears in her eyes. “Honey don’t…” “See!” she blurted out, spluttering a laugh as she wiped at her face “This is fucking ridiculous…”

Steve chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her again and she pressed her cheek into his t-shirt, breathing in his smell as she always did when she needed to ground herself. A mixture of the sandalwood notes in his aftershave, the soft linen smell of his clothes and, well, another smell, a manly type of note that she simply called his Steve scent. One that she insisted no other man smelt like and that she told him she was convinced came from the serum.

“I don’t wanna be going through the menopause” she moaned, “I don’t wanna get old, and wrinkly, and fat and…barren…”

At that Steve laughed, because he couldn’t fucking help it.

“Barren?” he looked down at her, shaking his head “You’re such an idiot…we have 4 kids…you gave birth to 3 of them.” “Don’t remind me.” she pulled back and narrowed her eyes “Rori’s birth still haunts me.”

“You know I was so proud of you that day.” he smiled at her. “Still am.”

“I’ve never been so frightened in my life.” she said, “And I mean that…even when we fought…and Tony…” she trailed off and swallowed “But I’d do it all again in a heartbeat because she’s so damned perfect and amazing…”

Something washed over Steve at her words, a feeling of pure love but also unadulterated absolute, heartfelt desire and he tipped his wife’s chin up so that she was looking directly at him, and he dropped his face.

“God I fucking love you…” he mumbled, pressing his lips to hers again, his arms pulling her closer.

“Yeah?” she asked as his hands moved to her hips and he gently lifted her up onto the counter.

“Yeah…” he said, standing in between her legs, his mouth dropping to her neck. She rolled her head back, giving him better access as he nipped at her pulse-point, before his lips moved to that hollow at the bottom of her throat, his beard scratching her skin. She let out a soft sigh as he smirked a little, her legs hooking around his waist to pull him closer.

“Want something baby girl?” he asked and she let out a groan at his words.

“Yeah, you…” she said, shamelessly.

“Well we all know that you always get what you want, brat…” he muttered, his lips sliding up to hers and he kissed her hard, his tongue sliding against hers as his hands moved to pop the button on her denim shots before he gently grasped at the waistband and she shifted to allow him to pull them down over her legs, tossing them to one side. His hands slip up underneath the t-shirt she was wearing, pulling down one side of her bra, his hands gently teasing at her nipple, all the time listening to the soft noises and groans she was making as he continued, his nose brushing against hers, smiling softly.

“You like that?” he whispered, knowing full well that she did, but he knew she liked his soft dirty talk and she gave a sigh and a nod, followed by a little squeak as he pushed two fingers insider her.

Her head fell forward onto his shoulder as her hands grasped at his back through his T-shirt, and as he continued to stroke and coax her she bit down on his neck causing him to hiss slightly at the bite of pain.

“Need you…” she purred into his ear “Please.”

And when she asked like that, he was always powerless to refuse. This woman was his absolute weakness.

He moved his head to kiss her again, and removing his hand from her panties he reached up and pulled them down before he stood up, and she reached for his belt, opening it easily and quickly before doing the same to the button and zip on his jeans. She pushed them down, over his hips as Steve’s hands moved to her back and he gently pulled her forwards, sliding her towards him, letting her feel how ready he was. She reached down and gently gave his hard cock a pump up and down and he let out a groan as he pulled her off the counter slightly, her legs wrapping around his waist, arms round his neck, her lower back resting against the side of the worktop both of them letting out a load moan of satisfaction as he pushed forward, all the way home.

Steve’s head dropped to Katie’s shoulder, his mouth once more on the pulse point in her neck as he thrust again, his hands on her back, keeping her supported slightly

“God you feel so good…” he said, his lips moving back to hers as he set a pace that was torturously slow, and deep, and loving. Thrust after thrust he kept his lips either on hers or centimetres away, watching her intently as her pupils blew as he worked her up, driving into her, as deep as he could go, one hand resting at the back of her spine to keep her back from slamming into the harsh marble edge of the counter, the other guiding her head so he could kiss her, hard.

Her hands moved, the nails scraping lightly at the nape of his neck, and Steve felt himself falter for a split second at her touch.

“Fuck doll…” he groaned into her mouth as she grinned cheekily, her hands sliding down to his bare ass as she urged him on, desperate for him to pick up the pace. So be obliged, giving her what she wanted.

Because he always did.

She held on to his ass for dear life, moaning with her body arching in his hands, the fabric of his jeans chafed delectably against her thighs, the belt buckle hitting her hard with every thrust and before long she let out a loud groan, her hands tightening on his skin as she cried out as he quickened his pace even more, causing her to gasp his name, a broken mumble of the word “Stevie…” before she let out a breathless gasp, her voice catching in her throat as the world began to tip on its axis.

“Come on, come for me doll…” he whispered, his breath hot on her ear. And that was it, she dropped over the edge, her head falling back as her hands slid up and grasped tightly on the hem of his shirt as she clenched around him, again and again, groaning and trembling, powerless to stop her body’s reactions. It took him another couple of thrusts before he gave a soft “oh” of pleasure, her name tumbled from his mouth before he bit down on her shoulder softly, reacting his own end. He gave a few erratic thrusts, pumping with short, deep strokes which sent Katie over another peak, but this was feeble as she collapsed forward, her head laying on his shoulder, utterly spent.

They stayed still for a moment, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall as Steve gently held his wife to him, as they both evened out from their high.

“Love you…” she said softly, kissing the tip of his nose causing him to smile, that cheeky smile he saved just for her before his lips met hers again

“Good, because I love you too pretty girl, more than you could ever know.”

***** If he was honest, Steve had forgotten all about Katie’s appointment until just after lunch, when he ushered his students into the seminar room and smiled at one of them, a small, slight red head, also called Katie. With a quick curse at himself, he fired his wife a text telling her to call him when she’d been seen, and that he loved her, before he closed the door and sat down in his chair and began to talk the group through the notes from the lecture before he invited them to discuss the subject of Money, impressionism and the understanding how the juxta positioning of colours against one another reflected the effects of light on objects.

Katie didn’t reply, other than to say that she was ok, the appointment had been fine and that Happy was on his way to collect the kids to take them to Pepper’s for the weekend. He’d said goodbye to them this morning, the 3 of them not in the slightest bit bothered they wouldn’t see him until Sunday, which was always something that slightly peeved him a little, but also made him glad that they had a good time with the Auntie and Cousin whilst they were at the lake house. It was important to him, and Katie, that their kids kept a good relationship with Pepper and Morgan, as they’d all be so close before Tony had died, so once a month all their kids headed up there, and then 2 weeks later Morgan would spend the weekend with them.

Steve drove the relatively short distance home and walked into the house, finding Katie at the kitchen table, face-timing Emmy and Brooke. He dropped a kiss to her cheek and waved at his eldest and he best friend, joining in the chat until they declared they had to get ready for the next round of partying and bid them both goodbye. Katie dropped the phone to the table as Steve stood up and retrieved a beer from the fridge. Katie waved off his offer and ran her hands over her face, a tired expression on her features as she stood up.

“Hey, you ok?” he asked, a little concerned as he flipped the lid off his beer. “Yeah…” she nodded, her eyes flickering to the white bag on the table which bore the Pharmacy logo on the front.

“I take it the Doctors gave you something then, for the…” he said, nodding towards it, taking a drink from the bottle. “It’s not the menopause.” she cut him off, shaking her head.

Steve frowned, “It’s not.” “No, I err…” she swallowed and looked at him “Steve, you might wanna sit down.”

“Are you sick?” Steve frowned, ignoring her instruction, his mind flying all over the place. That was his worst nightmare; that she got sick and it was serious, meaning she’d end up leaving him and the kids behind…

“Steve…” “Baby you’re worrying me…”

“I’m pregnant.” she blurted out.

The bottle Steve was holding slipped from his hand and landed on the tiles, shattering at his feet, showering the bottoms of his trousers in beer but he paid it no attention. Instead, he blinked, his wife’s words echoing around his head.

“Pregnant…” he whispered. “How, I mean…you’re on the pill…”

Katie shrugged “It can happen, apparently, and of course it would happen to us…”

Steve looked at her as she stood, her eyes locked onto his. They had certainly not planned this, one iota. Harry was meant to be their last, their little “one more” as they’d put it. But here they were, with another “one more” on the way.

“I…” Steve was struggling to find his words. “Honey…this…I…shit…”

“You know I expect this one…” she pointed to her belly “To be more articulate than you’re being right now when they’re two…”

He looked at her, blinked and then his face split into a huge grin and he pulled her to him, pressing his lips to hers in an excited kiss. “Oh my baby momma…” he pulled back, his hands cupping her face as she smiled up at him and he grinned cheekily “I got you pregnant 4 times…”

“Yeah, now I come to think of it the plants in the hallway are withering a little. Maybe you can go jerk off in the pots, bring them back to life.” she quipped.

“I’d rather fuck you if it’s all the same…” he grinned, reaching down and grabbing the back of her thighs, hauling her up against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Take me to bed Soldier” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and not one who needed asking twice, Steve kissed her again before he backed them out of the kitchen.

N/B SURPRISE MOFOS…BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT ONE COMING!!! Baby Rogers no 5 is on the way!!!!!

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled forever #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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invisibleanonymousmonsters · 4 years

Text

Déjà vu - Part III

Character: Bucky Barnes x Tall!Reader

Summary: Bucky thought his days of memory loss were done. But after a serious head injury, he can’t seem to remember anything past his time in Wakanda. But he’s starting feel like his life is missing more than just memories.

Word Count: 5,100

Part II

Bucky didn’t know how he got tricked into actually helping with the new recruits.

No, actually, he knew exactly how.

Steve asked him and Bucky realized Y/N would also be helping.

Things hadn’t changed between Y/N and Bucky since she told him everything.

She still avoided him.

For the most part, she still appeared to hate him. She ignored Bucky, barely even looked at him when they were in the same room. She was keeping her distance and it didn’t look like that was ever going to change.

Even now, when they were standing just feet apart, both watching the recruits.

Bucky figured he might as well try his best to help and not be a complete waste a space. Y/N would probably be even more annoyed with his presence if he remained silent and useless.

But he chose the wrong person to do it with.

One of the male recruits – who Bucky had caught checking Y/N out too many times to count – was holding his knife incorrectly during a drill.

“Agent Brooks, is it?” He asked politely.

The guy seemed annoyed that he was even being talked to. But he nodded.

“You might want to adjust your grip. You’ll break your wrist if your victim gives up a fight or any kind of push back.” Bucky thought it was a fair criticism to give.

But Agent Brooks didn’t seem to agree. “The US Army would have to disagree...” He muttered, but clearly wanted Bucky to hear.

At this point, Bucky didn’t realize his quiet conversation had caught Y/N’s attention.

Bucky just blinked. “Right. Carry on then…” He didn’t care enough to pick a fight with a cocky recruit.

Agent Brooks moved back to a friend. “The fuck does he know?” He mumbled to him. His friend just laughed.

“I can’t believe they even let him on the compound. Guess they overlooked all the people he murdered,” Agent Brooks added. “He just keeps losing his memory and the government keeps forgiving him.”

Bucky’s jaw clenched. He could ignore them. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Agent Brooks!” Y/N snapped out of nowhere.

At some point, she’d made her way over to them.

Y/N was notoriously the instructor who almost never even spoke. People looked shocked by her simply raising her voice.

“Did you have something you wanted to say to the group?” Y/N asked impatiently.

“I-I-I–No!” Agent Brooks stuttered. Then he got a little braver. “I just don’t value the criticism of–” His eyes glanced to Bucky. “Of a Winter Soldier.”

Y/N stepped closer to Agent Brooks. He was shorter than her, almost all of the recruits were.

But Bucky noticed how her shoulders and back were held even straighter than usual. And her head was held high enough that she was looking down at the recruit.

“Agent Y/L/N,” Steve warned.

Bucky hadn’t even noticed Steve come over.

But Y/N ignored the Captain.

Without breaking her glare with Agent Brooks, she pulled out her gun and offered it to him.

He looked confused, but took it anyways.

“Do you not believe in mind control, Agent Brooks?” Y/N asked, raising her voice so everyone could hear. They were already all watching, might as well put on a show.

“I don’t…I don’t know,” he stuttered.

“It’s a yes or no question.”

“No,” he finally admitted, adding a glare to Bucky for effect.

Y/N crossed her arms and watched him. “Point the gun at Agent Roxwell.”

His eyes widened in horror as his body did what she said, without him wanting it to.

A few people gasped quietly. None of the recruits had known about Y/N’s abilities.

Bucky’s heart started racing as he watched Y/N make an example. He looked at Steve for some kind of help. But Steve knew better than to use his authority against Y/N.

“What’s the matter, Brooks? Feel like you’re out of control?” Y/N asked.

But Agent Brooks didn’t answer. His hand was shaking as he pointed a deadly weapon at his friend.

“Pull the trigger,” Y/N ordered.

He did.

People yelled out, expecting to see their comrade’s brains blown out right in front of them.

But the gun was loaded with blanks.

Agent Brooks dropped the gun and keeled over, gasping for breath.

“You could’ve just killed your friend. What would you have done, Agent Brooks? Run from the government? Waited for them here?” Then she turned to the rest of the group. “But more importantly, what would you tell them when they asked why you shot your best friend?”

Y/N turned back to Agent Brooks. “I guess we know you wouldn’t say mind control…because you don’t think it exists.”

Everyone watched Y/N with shock and fear.

Without giving anyone any chance to react further, Y/N walked out of the training room.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Steve told the group. “You’re released.”

Everyone quickly made their exit, leaving just Steve and Bucky alone in the giant room.

“She didn’t have to do that,” Bucky muttered.

“No, she didn’t.” Steve agreed. He started picking up equipment around the room. “But she’s always been protective of you.”

Bucky swallowed, finding that his mouth and throat were dry.

“Even when she hates me?” He challenged.

Steve paused. “Buck, you and I both know she could never actually hate you.”

Bucky didn’t see Y/N for days after that.

But now he didn’t know if it was him avoiding or her avoiding him.

———————

Bucky was eating breakfast in the kitchen with Steve, minding his own business, when all hell broke loose.

He heard her before he saw her.

Then he gave Steve a look of both fear and betrayal.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell her,” Steve immediately defended with his hands held up in surrender.

“Stupid, broken, white boy,” was being mumbled loudly around the corner right before she made her entrance.

Bucky shot to his feet. “Shuri! What are you doing here?”

The Wakandan princess stormed up to him and pointed a finger, jamming it into his chest. “Do not play dumb with me, Bucky! You know exactly what I am doing here!” Her Wakandan accent got even thicker when she was upset.

Bucky looked to Steve for help, but there was no helping him.

“You get amnesia, and you do not think to call and tell me?” Shuri yelled.

Bucky looked over to see that Okoye was in her Dora Milaje uniform, trying to hide a smirk. Clearly she was enjoying the show. “You brought Okoye?” Bucky accused.

“Oh, I’m not here to protect her. I’m here to make sure she doesn’t kill you,” Okoye clarified.

“What is the matter with you?” Shuri asked Bucky. “You are walking around for months without 5 years worth of memories!”

Bucky’s face finally dropped. “I…I didn’t want to bother you,” he admittedly quietly, so Okoye and Steve could barely hear him.

————————

Next thing Bucky knows, he’s being shoved onto a Wakandan jet and getting flown back to the country.

When Shuri got a glimpse of the lab at the compound, she hid her chuckle and muttered something about having a better work space when she was a toddler.

She snapped at Bucky to pack a bag.

Bucky was too scared of her wrath to argue.

But the princess seemed to have calmed down by the time she was piloting the jet back home.

She sighed. “When I said to call if you ever needed anything, I meant it, Bucky. We are friends. We always will be.”

Bucky bowed his head in shame. He intention had never been to insult Shuri.

“I know. I know all that.” He sighed. “I just…I didn’t want to feel more like a burden than I already do.”

Shuri gave him a sympathetic look, but stayed quiet.

“I just wanted to be strong enough to get it all back on my own,” Bucky finished sadly.

Shuri reached over and gripped his hand. “There is no shame in needing help, Bucky.”

“How did you even find out? I told Steve not to call you.”

“Sam,” Shuri answered with a shrug.

“Traitor,” Bucky muttered under his breath.

Another silence filled the jet.

“He also told me about…” she hesitated, “about what happened with Y/N.”

Bucky tensed at just the sound of her name. “I messed up, Shuri.”

“But you still have a chance to fix it,” she countered.

————————

It barely took a few hours for Shuri to scan Bucky’s brain and diagnose the problem. She assured him that his memory loss was not Hydra’s doing. It was just good ol’ fashioned brain damage. But damage that would have nothing against Wakanda’s technology and medicine.

“Are you ready?” Shuri had asked him as she held a weird looking helmet.

Bucky hesitated.

He was about to be reminded of how he broke Y/N’s heart, of all the mistakes he had made that led to him losing her. It was going to be hard to process.

What if the return of his memories was also the return of his old mentality? What if he saw reasoning in his past actions and decided to stay away from Y/N?

Shuri could see Bucky’s thought racing. She leaned forward and gave him an encouraging smile. “It will be fine, Bucky. I promise you that.”

Bucky blinked and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.”

“This might be overwhelming. Your memories could come rushing back or it could take some time,” Shuri explained.

“Will it hurt?” He asked. Not that he cared. He just wanted to know what to expect. Pain had lost its meaning long ago.

“A bad migraine will most likely occur. But other than that? Painless.”

Shuri slipped the helmet on Bucky’s head and then grabbed her tablet, punching a bunch of keys.

Bucky closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“We don’t let just anyone into the family,” Tony argued as he kicked his feet on top of the conference table.

Fury glared at him. “She has prevented World War III from happening more times than you’ve saved both the country and the world, Stark.”

“Oh, really?” He rolled his eyes. “So, how come none of us ever heard about it?”

“Because that was the point. No one was ever meant to.”

Bucky stared at the hologram images that were shuffling through like a slide show. Images of the agent – Y/F/N Y/L/N was her name. Bucky felt like he was almost too intrigued with the photos. No one else was glancing between her y/e/c eyes or her lips.

Bucky looked up to see that Steve was watching him. And his best friend was holding back a smirk, proof that he knew exactly what Bucky was thinking. Steve recognized that Bucky found her attractive.

“I wouldn’t worry about her trying to be a part of your ‘family,’” Fury said as he stood up, his signal that the meeting was over. “She doesn’t tend to make a lot of friends, keeps to herself, doesn’t talk much.”

“Wonder why…” Tony noted sarcastically.

“Enough, Tony.” Steve scolded him. He turned his attention to Fury then. “We’d be lucky to have her.”

“Figured you’d say something polite like that,” Fury answered before leaving.

That was the first time Bucky saw her. It wasn’t even in person and she’d already caught his eye. He felt guilty after because he couldn’t stop himself from reading her file. Her past was dark – like so many of them.

But Bucky still felt a pull towards her.

“You haven’t so much as given a woman a second glance since your brainwashing was eradicated,” Steve pointed out to him when they were alone. “What’s gotten you so enamored with Agent Y/L/N?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, punk.” Bucky feigned ignorance.

Steve glared at him, insulted that Bucky would ever think he’d believe him.

“She’s beautiful, I’ll admit that,” was all Bucky said before leaving the conference room.

“God, you’re fucking beautiful,” Bucky almost slurred.

Damn Thor and his too-effective Asgardian liquor. It completely did him in.

Y/N seemed taken back. But she recovered quickly. She reached for Bucky’s drink, “Maybe you’ve had enough of this shit, Bucky…”

The team had dragged her to a bar after a mission had really put them all on edge. They almost didn’t make it.

Now they all drank at a local dive bar. Tony had taken over the juke box, paid all the patrons’ tabs, and it made everyone leave them alone for the most part.

Bucky let Y/N take his drink away from him. Yes, he was feeling bold and a little buzzed, but he still had his wits about him.

He read her reaction and his face scrunched up in confused. “What? No one has ever said that to you before?”

“Bucky, can you stop?”

He noticed how she always spoke in questions. Not because she wanted to or because it was part of her personality. It was because she was so scared that she’d accidentally tell someone to do something.

“No,” Bucky defied with a smile on his lips. “No, your beautiful. And I’m not telling you that because I’m drunk. I’ve always thought that. I’m just sick of not saying something.”

“No,” Y/N mumbled as she stared at the floor.

“No?” He asked. She looked up at him.

And it was the very first time Bucky saw her not confident or unapologetic or ready to attack at any moment.

Y/N was flustered.

“I’m answering your question. No, no one has ever said that to me – at least…not to my face.” Then she genuinely thought about it. “Well, I guess it’s always been – I don’t know – just alluded? And when it was, it was because they wanted something from me.”

Bucky’s amusement disappeared then. He realized she was being serious.

“Y/N,” his tone was no longer flirtatious and happy. He was serious, voice gone low.

She looked at him. “You are beautiful.”

“Bucky, please–”

“No, shut up.” He cut her off. “You’re beautiful. And the fact that no one has told you that every day of your life is a damn shame.”

Y/N just stared at him, utterly baffled by him.

She’d gotten used to the lack of attention she received from men. She assumed it was a combination of her height and the general ‘don’t fuck with me’ aura she couldn’t stop from having.

But here Bucky was – a man that she had decided almost immediately after meeting was ridiculous handsome and sexy – telling her he thought he was beautiful without hesitation and with no ulterior motives at play.

“I’ve made you uncomfortable,” Bucky now looked disappointed with himself.

“No!” She yelped. “I’m sorry. You haven’t. I just…umm…”

“I’m sorry,” Bucky told her. “Listen, I’m gonna go.” He turned around to start leaving. But then he turned back to her. “But…everything I said. I just…I need you to know that it’s all true. OK?”

Y/N didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded. Then she watched him go.

“Fuck me. I need a drink,” she muttered to herself before making her way to the bar.

She was completely zoned out as she waited for her drink. Her eyes were glazed over as she went over and over and over what Bucky had told her.

“You OK?”

She jumped and looked to see that Steve was standing next to her.

“Yeah…umm…Bucky – I think he was pretty drunk.”

“Oh, yeah?” Steve asked without any concern.

“He told me…I was beautiful?” That was putting it lightly.

Steve chuckled. “Oh, he didn’t say that because he was drunk. He’s in love with you.”

Y/N blinked. “What?”

“Yeah, he’s in love with you,” Steve repeated and then shrugged.

She glared at him. “Steve, why are you fucking with me right now?”

He chuckled. “I’m not!” Then he finished his drink. His whole demeanor got serious as he turned to fully face her. “And the reason I’m telling you is because I know Bucky, but I also know you. He’s in love with you. And you? I don’t think you know what to do with someone who’d love you the way that Bucky would.”

“Well – fuck, Steve.” She muttered.

“Figured you’d appreciate me getting right to the point,” Steve smiled.

She was stunned into silence.

“You two are my best friends,” he gave her a sincere look. “I think you would make each other really happy.”

It was raining hard out. Every so often a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder would join.

Y/N couldn’t sleep through the noise, but she still enjoyed it.

Bucky was still fast asleep.

Y/N watched him, studying every inch of his face.

He’d grown out a beard in the past few months and she had become quite the fan.

Now she stroked it, not being able to keep her hands off him, even when he was sleeping.

“Hmm…that feels nice,” Bucky hummed without opening his eyes.

Y/N smiled and then brushed some of his hair behind his ear.

“Couldn’t sleep with the rain?” He asked sleepily, slowly opening his eyes and squinting at her.

She nodded.

“Come here,” he lifted his arm, silently telling her to move into his embrace.

She did just that. Burying her face into his t-shirt.

He instantly started combing his fingers through her hair.

“James?”

Only Y/N called him that. And Bucky liked it that way. She called him Bucky around everyone else. But James was saved for when they were alone. Somehow she made a basic name sound like poetry.

“Mhmm?”

“I love you,” she whispered so quietly that she didn’t even know if he would hear her.

She felt his body tense and he sat up and pulled her away so he could look at her face.

He didn’t ask her to repeat herself and he didn’t question her.

But his eyes were searching for some sort of further confirmation.

Y/N just nodded her head. Then buried her face into his neck, hiding.

“I love you,” he whispered into her hair as she kissed the top of her head.

But they both had already known his whole perspective on it. He’d done everything to tell Y/N besides say those words, mostly because he didn’t want to pressure her to return them or panic her with his truth.

“I’m scared, James,” Y/N finally admitted in a whisper. She was braver as she burrowed herself into him and didn’t have to stare into his steel blue eyes.

Bucky held her even tighter, letting her fears wash over him. He knew how he wanted to respond. But he also knew nothing he said was going to push those thoughts out of her mind.

“I keep having nightmares where I…” She took in a short breath. “I use my powers on you. Like I’m so scared I’ll lose you that I force you to stay, even if you don’t love me anymore.”

“They’re just nightmares, Y/N.” He told her softly. “I’m always going to love you.”

And that wasn’t a lie. The lie was that he’d make her believe it wasn’t true someday.

Shuri was right about one thing, Bucky had a splitting migraine.

He woke up covered in sweat, like his memories had exhausted him physically as they returned to his mind.

He had to take a shower before he hunted down Shuri.

It felt the same way as someone saying a name of person you hadn’t thought about in forever and all of sudden you think, ‘I forgot that person existed in the world until you mentioned their name again.’

Bucky remembered how it felt when he’d finally heard Y/N talk after she hadn’t said a word to the team in the first few weeks at the compound.

Bucky remembered what her face looked like when she laughed so hard that her stomach started hurting. With it, he remembered how it felt to be responsible for the laugh, how he was jealous of anyone else who did it before he could.

Bucky remembered the first time he saw Y/N cry when she finally opened up and told him about her childhood and the state that Fury found her in. How, even though she was making terrible world leaders and crime bosses kill themselves, she felt like she’d finally learned how to do some good in the world.

Bucky remembered what it did to him every time he subtly stole a few seconds to stare at her long legs. Whenever Y/N would try to self-deprecate her tall and lean body, Bucky immediately shut it down. He refused to let her talk badly about the body that he worshipped.

Worst of all…Bucky remembered breaking her heart. He remembered lying to her, telling her he never loved her and that he never could. He remembered what it felt like to break his own heart in the process. He remembered the guilt that worked its way into his gut as he saw Y/N and Steve’s friendship fall apart because Y/N wanted nothing to do with Bucky, including still being friends with his childhood friend.

Bucky remembered it all.

–––––––––

It felt good to get back to the compound.

The feeling of home had been missing these past few months, having forgotten that it was exactly that: his home. Between the sense of the purpose and the friends he grew to call family, it was the only home Bucky had since before the war.

Bucky walked into the kitchen with his duffle bag to find the majority of the team having some sort of family dinner. There was a dozen pizza boxes on the island. Bucky assumed six of those were for Thor if he decided to stop in.

They all looked at him.

“Hey, Buck,” Steve greeted casually.

But Bucky knew they were all waiting for some kind of indication that Shuri had been successful.

Bucky’s eyes glanced around the room.

“Where’s Y/N?”

Everyone looked around at each other, but stayed quiet.

“She went out out with friends,” Natasha finally broke the tension.

“Where?” Bucky was insistent.

Nat eyed him. “Why should I tell you?”

“Nat, come on,” Steve pled innocently.

She turned her glare on him now. “What? He gets his memories back finally and we’re all just going to let him break Y/N’s heart all over again?”

Bucky looked at all their faces, remembering how everyone had taken Y/N’s side in the breakup, but never vocalized it. Except Bucky didn’t need to hear it from anyone. He knew they blamed him for Y/N alienating herself from group again – just like she had when she’d first arrived at the compound.

———————

Y/N could hardly hear herself think with how loud the music was playing.

It wasn’t a club, but it was nowhere close to being like the dive bars she usually frequented when she went out.

The lights were low and there was a big enough space for a dance floor. There was even a DJ. It was a bar for people who wanted to dance but didn’t like the club scene.

Y/N had moved back to the bar, pretending to fail at getting the bartender’s attention for another drink.

Her friends had caught the attention of a group of men. Y/N was immediately bored with their sad attempt at genuine conversation. But her friends remained amused and Y/N didn’t want to ruin their fun by failing to hide how annoyed and disinterested she was.

So she made a lazy excuse to her friends of getting another drink. The guys didn’t even acknowledge her departure, further proving their eyes were never set on her.

Despite being a woman standing alone and open to be hit on, she was left unbothered by any men. It was the typical scenario for her during a night out.

Y/N was lost in her thoughts, staring off into space.

She wondered how long she could hide there before her friends dragged her back.

The only thing that snapped her out of it was a bartender putting a martini in front of her, one she definitely hadn’t been able to order for herself yet.

Y/N blinked and looked up.

“From the gentleman at the other end of the bar,” the male bartender smiled at her.

Y/N blinked again and stood straighter.

What the hell? Only people in movies did this.

She looked down and her stomach dropped when she saw Bucky waiting for her gaze to land on him.

Y/N would’ve rolled her eyes.

But the way he was looking at her. It wasn’t like Bucky these days. No. It was how Bucky looked at her when they were together.

Y/N suddenly felt hot and nervous. When she reached for the martini, her hand was shaking. She tossed the whole thing back, wincing at the burn.

Then Bucky was in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” Y/N asked him harshly.

Despite the music blasting, she knew his super-soldier hearing would understand her just fine.

“I came here for you,” he replied.

Y/N said nothing.

“I just got back from Wakanda,” he added.

“Oh, yeah?” She pretended like she hadn’t heard that he’d left.

“It was raining,” he said loud enough to be heard over the music.

She squinted. “What?”

“When you told me you loved me for the first time, it was raining.” He clarified. “You already knew I loved you. You knew I was just waiting for you to realize you loved me too.”

Y/N shifted her weight awkwardly, looking around to see if anyone was watching or listening to them. But no one cared.

She put it together as soon as Bucky had said he’d returned from Wakanda, that his memories had been restored.

But hearing him recite memories still jarred her.

“Do you remember what I told you when you said you were scared?” He asked.

“Bucky…” Y/N shook her head. Not because she didn’t know the answer, but because she didn’t want to talk about it. “I said I was always going to love you,” he answered for her.

“Why are you doing this?” She snapped.

“Because I was telling the truth the day. And any time after, where I told you otherwise, was the lie.” He waited. “Do you understand what I’m saying? I loved you. I still love you.”

Bucky stepped closer to her. “I lied because I would’ve rather pushed you away and kept you safe than be with you and risk your life.”

“You’re lying,” Y/N accused and shook her head.

“I’m not. And I know there’s a part of you that realizes that.” He reached forward, cupping her face and making her look at him. “Use it, Y/N. Use it on me. I’ll do anything to get you to understand that I made a mistake. I broke your heart and I broke my own…and it was all to keep you safe.”

He took in a deep breath.

Y/N tried to pull her face out of his grasp, but his hold was steady. Her eyes were watering as she stared into his sad, blue irises.

“Do it, Y/N.” He demanded.

“James…”

“I want you to,” he cut her off.

She swallowed and straightened her shoulders. “Tell me, James, how do you feel about me?”

The command of her powers enveloped him. He’d never felt the effects of it before. But they didn’t scare him, for she was asking for things that he wanted to tell her.

His hands dropped from her face and he stood still.

“I’m in love with you,” his words came out robotically. But his eyes only held truth. “I never stopped loving you. When I didn’t have my memories, my heart still found you. Even without our history, I still loved you.”

Tears slide down Y/N’s cheeks now.

The forced confession was finished and Bucky’s body relaxed. The effects of Y/N’s powers now faded. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I was an absolute fucking idiot. I shouldn’t have lied. I shouldn’t have broke your heart.” Then, to her shock, he started crying. “Tell me what I have to do for you to take me back. Because…Because I can’t live the rest of my life with you hating me.”

He was going to keep going, but Y/N cut him off with her lips crashing onto his.

Her senses could only register the feel of his lips.

Even the loud bar music faded away with the kiss.

Bucky didn’t let her go quickly. He kept kissing and kissing her. He had to make up for lost time and he had to make up for all the hurt he caused her. It would take more than a kiss, but it was a good place to start.

When they finally pulled away, Y/N stared into his eyes. “Let’s go home.”

She was his home. But he nodded his head anyways.

---

When they returned to the compound, the family dinner had turned into a family party. Everyone seemed to have drank their weight in alcohol in the short time Bucky had been gone. But they all cheered when they saw Y/N and Bucky walk in holding hands.

Sam pulled Bucky away, screaming something about shots.

Y/N couldn’t help but laugh at it.

Then she made eye contact with Steve, who was slowly making his way to her.

“Can we be friends again?” He asked her softly.

She gave him a sad look, finally acknowledging how much hurt she had caused Steve when all she had been trying to do was protect herself from Bucky.

Y/N nodded.

And then was caught off guard when the super soldier pulled her into a giant hug.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Steve.” She whispered into his shoulder.

“I know you didn’t, Y/N.”

They broke apart and took in the craziness that was their family.

Both of their gazes just happened to fall onto Bucky, who was laughing at something Sam was saying.

“Are you guys going to be OK?” Steve asked her.

“He did a lot of damage. There’s a lot to make up for. It’ll take time and it won’t be easy.” Then she looked at him. “But I hope one day, we’ll be more than OK.”

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

That’s the last part, everyone. But my ask box is open for questions. NOT requests. QUESTIONS.

Also, let me know what you thought!!!

#deja vu #deja vu part 3 #deja vu part iii #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky reader insert #bucky barnes one shot #bucky one shot #bucky angst #marvel fi #bucky fic #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x tall!reader #bucky barnes x tall!reader #bucky barnes x tall girl #tall female reader insert #bucky and tall reader

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ducknotinarow · 2 years

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🍸 - “dad, do you ever…” Brooks voice trails off for a moment, the girl unsure if she even wants an answer, “Do you ever… regret adopting me…?”

| send me 🍸 + a question and my muse will answer while drunk. Wasn't often the tower was ever too quiet like this but it was something to take advantage of for sure. Steve was taking some well-earned downtime for himself a moment as he sat at the bar of the tower. Not that it mattered much he wasn’t all too able to feel the effect of alcohol ever since he got the super-soldier serum. He still like the taste though and it at least gave him the time to decompose from long days of work and handling two whole children under his care. Tony making jokes about Steve collecting kids well also threatening he had reached his limit as well, apparently being two. Yeah, Tony didn't mean it personal but at the same time some fatherly protectiveness came out as well over that statement. Steve sighed out, Tony and he had a bit of a spat over the more recent case. Leaving him in the doghouse at the moment. Real reason he was out here drinking.

Steve couldn't help it, in the long run, his girls were in thier situations indirectly because of him after all. One side effect he missed from alcohol was how it could make one drowsy but that didn't really kick in for him either. But seemed his own night owl had been up and about just like him when he heard Brooklyn's softer voice break the silence in the room. He slightly turned in the seat to smile to hear. "Hey kid, can't sleep?" She nodded and gave a shrug of her shoulders, as Steven waved for her to join him not like he was heading bed soon himself anyway, seeing as someone locked up his room so he couldn’t. She stepped over and took a seat beside him as she placed her hand to the bar top and seemed to have something on her mind from how she played with her fingers. “So?” Steven started “ What’s buzzin’, cousin?“

Brook just looked at him confused correcting she wasn’t his cousin only for Steve to laugh a bit. “It’s just a saying Brooks, what’s up? you look like you got something you want to say.” Soon though that smile would fade when Brook had finally gathered up her nerves to speak up. Steve just sighed out wondering if this had anything to do with his and Tony’s spat before. He knew Tony was kidding even if it annoyed Steve to a degree. “What?” he said bit louder than he needed to take a moment to think before he continued “Of course, I don’t Brooklyn.” He started off with. “I’ll admit fatherhood was a surprise and not something I was expecting to happen.” In his current situation, sure he thought he settle and have kids once. He never once saw him just having kids land in his lap though. Moving his arm over Brooks smaller shoulders as he managed to tug her over and hug her. “But I would make the same choices all over again. You are one of the best things to ever come out of being frozen you know?” “And I used to think that was the worst thing to happen in my life because of what I lost out on.” There was no need to pull punches on the truth. A whole life was just lost in what felt like seconds to Steve when he was trapped all those years. Frozen in time but everything else moved on without him. “But what I have gained in return? I would never trade for anything anyone could try and offer to me. And that includes my girls.” he stated flatly. “You worry me sure, and you can be a handful but mostly that because you don’t like to listen and rest your feet when you really should. Or your reading on some stuff that I really don’t think you need to be putting in your mind that. But if I could go back in time you bet I would make the same choice that day I met you, because no matter what you are my daughter. Nothing will change that. I will never regert adopting you. I will only regert how long it took to find my missing kid.” Ther last bit might not make sense since he didn’t know about her but far as Steve was concured she was always his daughter.

#muse| steve rogers #madamkezzie #aflockoffeathers #[ superman got nothing on me im only one call away - aflockoffeathers]#meme answers #(( if you feel maybe I implied Stony then your right cause im stony trsh uwu))

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hilarieburtonmorgan · 3 years

Text

Ten Years Later, the One Tree Hill Cast Is Setting the Record Straight

Ten years after the finale of One Tree Hill, the actors Hilarie Burton Morgan, Sophia Bush, and Bethany Joy Lenz have never been closer. Despite their shared experience growing up on screen, the trio— who played Peyton Sawyer, Brooke Davis, and Haley James in the heartland-set high school soap for nine seasons—were kept largely isolated from one another during those years.

That distance began to dissipate with age, and when the #MeToo movement alerted the actors to some of their common experiences while working on One Tree Hill. In their new weekly iHeartRadio podcast Drama Queens, the three actors unpack the moments—nostalgic and traumatic alike—that unfolded behind the scenes of the wildly popular drama. To celebrate the podcast’s success, Burton Morgan, Bush, and Lenz joined us for a bit of reminiscing. —BRIAN ALESSANDRO

———

HILARIE BURTON MORGAN: Sophia, you were the person that called me about a podcast. What was the catalyst for you to be like, “It’s time”?

SOPHIA BUSH: When we first finished the show, I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to touch it. I didn’t want to be close to it. And then as time went on, and we all started being able to get together, and share stories, and talk some shit. We all finally told each other the stories we’d been afraid to share — I wish we’d been able to have the friendships we have now back then! — and hearing everyone’s stories really made me so furious. It lit that fire in me, and I thought “well, we just have to burn it down.” But, I also had to remember how much our fans love the show, and to realize that despite so much that was insidious we also had fun. We’ve shared stories about what was painful and hard, and I think especially because of what you were put through, I wanted to call you first and just say, like, “Does this idea feel triggering?” You said “No, this feels quite cool.”

BURTON MORGAN: What was your first reaction, Joy?

BETHANY JOY LENZ: I was definitely hesitant about more One Tree Hill anything. But the more we talked about it, I was like, “Wow, this is actually a chance for redemption.” Also, I don’t want to throw shade on the show that did give us amazing opportunities. I always try to temper my frustrations with a good bit of gratitude. But as for the bad stuff, I really do love the opportunity to redeem that. Some of it was us being young and stubborn twenty-year-olds, but a lot of it was the people around us who were using our youth and naïveté to keep us from arguing back. It was always, “Joy, you’re the odd man out. Sophia, you’re the odd man out. Hilarie, you’re the odd man out.” So we never reached out to each other. I’m incredibly grateful for the relationship I with you amazing women now.

BURTON MORGAN: I left the show first, and it was the divorce of my life, because I’d committed so much to being the good soldier. “I’ll do whatever press you want. I’ll go on whatever mall tour.” And so, the loss of that was traumatic. But the next relationship I got into professionally was with White Collar, and the best person I could have ever encountered was Tiffani Thiessen, who was an icon to me. She told me right out of the gate, “Don’t bad mouth the show that got you started. Defend your character, forget the bad guys, take what’s good.” That was such great advice. She was someone whose opinion meant something to me, because she’d been a teen idol of mine. Who were some women on TV that that you felt like we were trying to emulate while we were doing the show?

LENZ: I don’t think I ever really knew how to process it. I actually feel like I missed a lot of the excitement because I kept asking myself what it all meant.

BURTON MORGAN: I was the opposite! I like experience. But I made terrible choices.

BUSH: I’m with Joy. Now, I over intellectualize everything because back then, I was always soaking up all the experiences and I got my ass handed to me. So now I’m like, “What does it mean? What is it all?”

BURTON MORGAN: How many years out are we now? Like 17 years out from the first year?

LENZ: I don’t even know how to process that.

BURTON MORGAN: 18 years out? Jesus, we could have children in college at this point. Why do you think people still care?

LENZ: Comfort food. I mean, that’s it, like especially now that there’s so much content. I can only speak from my experience, but when I settle in to watch TV, I will spend 20 minutes scrolling before saying, “You know what, fuck it,” and turning on Frasier. And that’s what I watch because I know those characters, and I just want that familiarity. I honestly think the over-saturation has played a huge role in our fans’ need for One Tree Hill.

BUSH: And I would also say that there is something about how — as outlandish it got at times — there was also a lot that felt honest. People write to us about how they feel seen, how they feel represented, how they see their own struggles in our show. When I meet new people who are just discovering it and I think, “You could be watching anything! Why? Thank you?”

BURTON MORGAN: Honestly, having an older kid, and seeing the things that he’s drawn to, he loves watching TV shows from our era. Probably the same reason I loved watching Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and What’s Happening – it’s retro. They’re mystified by it because there’s no social media on our show and so people are actually talking to each other. You actually had to show up at Karen’s Cafe to have that important conversation. It’s a wish fulfillment for these younger kids where they’re like, “Oh, my life doesn’t look anything like that.” We are the time warp, which is super fucked up.

LENZ: And we were also the last show that was doing, dare I say, wholesome content? I mean I know our show, like, jumped the shark several times in many regards, but in terms of the“hometown kids, middle of America, just dealing with regular emotions and life stuff,” those shows became very rare. Everything that came after us was like rich kids—Gossip Girl and The OC, and then it was all brought to a high-concept place like the Vampire Diaries, Riverdale stuff. And I don’t know that there’s anything out there that’s kind of gotten back to the roots, like One Tree Hill.

BURTON MORGAN: Can you imagine pitching One Tree Hill now? Like, “it’s about some kids. Two of them play basketball, and the rest are just moody.”

BURTON MORGAN: What episodes are we all excited to review the most? Some of them are cringey as hell.

BUSH: I’m sure a lot of them will be.

BURTON MORGAN: I like the Halloween episode we did at Tric [the “all-ages” nightclub]. That was batshit. It was 1000 degrees in there and everyone was dying and miserable and we’re dressed up like cartoons.

LENZ: I know. The one with the car, where they made me fucking siphon off gas.

BURTON MORGAN: That was fun cause that was really the first time the three of us were put together.

BUSH: Having to pretend to be high on pills when I never had been, I was like, “I’ll try!” Hilarie, your wedding episode was…

BURTON MORGAN: Christ.

BUSH: That was such a shit show, man. You said the Halloween episode — you’ll cackle when you see we did a Halloween episode after you were gone. And I had to be dressed up as one half of A Clockwork Orange, but was abandoned in my costume, and I was written to be dressed as a giant orange and Carol (Cutshall, costumer) papier-mached a workout ball and drilled armholes in it, and I had to wear it. AND I directed that episode!

BURTON MORGAN: That’s perfect! That’s a chef’s kiss.

BUSH: I had little T-Rex arms, being like, “well, if you go over there” – And they’d say “Where?” And I’d be like, “I can’t show you! I’m stuck in an orange!” It was, it was so humiliating. But when I think back on it, great comedic fodder.

BURTON MORGAN: What is your favorite keepsake from the show?

LENZ: I have the Julius Caesar book that Haley gives to Lucas in the pilot.

BURTON MORGAN: I have the leather jacket that Peyton takes after Ellie [Sheryl Lee] dies. That was an intense crying scene for me. My body has a physical reaction to that jacket.

LENZ: What’s yours, Soph?

BUSH: I have, like, a bin.

BURTON MORGAN: You have everything!

BUSH: There’s like this sad episode where Brooke celebrates her birthday alone in her room with a cupcake. I have the photo album from that scene, which is very sweet because it’s all photos of you and I, Hilarie…

BURTON MORGAN: You have that?

BUSH: Oh yeah, I took that immediately. There are real pictures of us from growing up, because it was this story of these friends who grew up together…

BURTON MORGAN: Joy, we’re gonna photoshop you in.

BUSH: Honestly, we should just make a new one. Of all the stuff that feels sentimental, that “Brooke Davis for President” pin kills me. It’s up on the wall in my office, because it makes me laugh. When I think about why that’s the one thing I’ve displayed—next to a photo of the three of us— it’s because it symbolized something that at the time really embarrassed me, but now I respect. Brooke Davis took the thing she was made fun of for, and turned it into an anthem. She was this bad bitch who owned her shit. That’s something I’ve tried to emulate.

BURTON MORGAN: One thing that I keep thinking is, “we deserve this.”

LENZ: Because we do! It’s hard to say that as women, I think.

BURTON MORGAN: What makes you two feel like we deserve this?

LENZ: Because we’ve worked our asses off, and because it’s beautiful to experience friendship with each other in a way that we were robbed of in our younger days.

BURTON MORGAN: We were really good girls. I’m excited to set things straight.

#hilarie burton #sophia bush #bethany joy lenz #drama queens oth #one tree hill #interview #2021

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corner-stories · 3 years

Text

babbling brooks and fair maidens

Serena. Calem.

Medieval Times. Swords. Cup Bearers. Squires.

3329 words.

(ao3.)

King Alexandre Zacharie Lyon sat upon the Golden Throne of Kalos in Shabboneau Castle, a place that was often abuzz with news and gossip. The words in the halls stated that Prince Lysandre — King AZ’s nephew and heir — was returning to Kalos from his travels abroad. When he had left he had brought a small Litleo with him, a gift from his Uncle, but according to many the tiny thing had finally transitioned into its final form — a ferocious and mighty Pyroar with a mane like fire. It was fitting seeing as a male Pyroar was the sigil of the House of Lyon. The House’s bright orange and red banner was hung in every hall of the castle.

Serena herself belonged to no house, but as a mere Royal Cup Bearer that was to be expected. All she had ever been told in life was that she was one of the many bastards who lived in Kalos — a child who was given up for one out of many reasons. In another world perhaps she would have lived happily under the care of a mother, but in that world the society of Kalos would have to not bring shame to unwed women who would suddenly find themselves with a child.

Serena had lived the first six years of her life in a children’s home in Lumiose City, where she would survive off scraps of bread and bowls of brown pottage masquerading as stew. Then one day the head of that home decided to sell her to Shabboneau Castle to clear off some debt. From that day on she found herself existing within the walls of the Castle kitchens, where her tiny nimble hands were responsible for cleaning the glasses and goblets that the King drank his wine from. Despite the sudden change in her life, she found the upsides to such a drastic life change. The servants at the Castle, while adamant that everything be up to royal standards, treated the younger servants with kindness — the same could not be said for the people who ran the children’s home in Lumiose. They also made sure that she was well fed, because King AZ fully believed that a good set of servants ran on their stomachs. It was also quite fortunate that the bowls of brown pottage at Shabboneau Castle were much more palatable than the ones at Lumiose.

Upon turning eleven she had been promoted from her job as the Royal Cup Washer. King AZ needed a new Cup Bearer after his last one was banished from the Kingdom. Apparently the old Bearer had been accused of treason and faced either permanent banishment or execution — he clearly chose the former. Serena was picked because she was careful with the glasses she handled and had never broken one in her life. King AZ had also been convinced that a mere eleven-year-old girl was not capable of betraying Kalos much like the older Bearer.

So Serena went from spending her days cleaning in the kitchens to holding a pitcher wherever the ruler of Kalos went. King AZ was rather fond of wine from Ambrette Town and thus wanted his trusty goblet to be filled with it at every second, something Serena was rather competent at doing. She initially expected the job to be monotonous and repetitive, but a week in she discovered just how interesting the life of a Royal Cup Bearer could be. When she was not serving rooms of Royals and Nobles, she was accompanying King AZ on trips around the region, as the King could not stand a day without a pitcher of wine by his side. She was even permitted to join the King on military related missions, where in between serving up drinks she would explore the Kalosian countryside and watch the soldiers train.

When she was not serving the King she was resting in the Servant’s Quarters, the place where most of the Castle gossip spread. When Serena was not in the Servant’s Quarters, she was exploring the Shabboneau’s Courtyard, which was often the second best place to hear gossip and lore. The only difference was that a Lord or Prince could easily take a midday stroll through the area, thus risking a noble hearing the words that the commoners loved to spread around. While King AZ had more important things to worry about than mere gossip, the Lords in his court were less tolerant. The last servant to speak ill of the higher borns was sent to a place that was considered to be the second closest place to hell — Galar.

With King AZ busy making preparations for the return of his nephew — including creating a feast fit for a Prince — Serena’s role as a Cup Bearer was rather underutilized. As a result she was granted a few hours of freedom in the midst of a busy work week. She spent her free time roaming around the castle grounds as many castle workers were permitted to do as long as they did not interfere with any royal operations.

With a buttery brioche bun in the pocket of her dress, Serena made her way to the castle gardens where the shrubbery and flowers were as lush and green as the fauna in the Winding Woods. North of the garden was a mill with a water wheel where a babbling brook would push the large circular contraption around and around, thus giving King AZ the freshest flour one could find in Kalos. Once the wheel was spun the water would simply flow down the brook once more, weaving itself through the greenery before flowing down to the moat beyond the wall.

It was in this brook that Serena often found friends. There were a variety of amusing little creatures that called the water their home, creatures that the older castle servants taught her the names of. There were adorable spherical mammals with twitching ears called Azurill and Marill and Azumarill, finned creatures called Magikarp and Carvanah, two-footed yellow things called Psyduck, and small stubby creatures with oval-shaped heads called Wooper.

But one creature in particular was a short little thing that many called a Froakie — this blue-skinned being had two long legs and a longer pair of arms, as well as a pair of large yellow eyes and a froth of bubbles on its back that partially resembled the cloak of a knight.

Serena always found herself coming back to the garden brook for this creature in particular — not just because it was an utterly adorable little one, but because Serena noticed that it was the only one of its kind that lived in the brook of the garden. The Wooper and Marill and Magikarp and Psyduck all had others with them, whether they be friends or potential partners. Froakie did not have such a thing and was often alone when the others were not around — sometimes there were even days when Serena arrived at the brook to see the blue creature waiting for her. Perhaps in Froakie’s eyes Serena was one of its closest friends.

So in her free time Serena came to the brook. She removed her shoes and pulled up the hem of her dress, sitting on the bank to dip her feet in. She spent a few moments alone accompanied by nothing but the lush greenery and the sound of rushing water. In time she saw some bubbles arise from where the wheel met the water, knowing full well that her old friend was near.

A pair of yellow eyes upon a light blue head rose out of the stream, with glee and swam over. Froakie leapt out of the brook with grace, landing on the bank and immediately snuggling against Serena’s leg. With a grin, she gently pet Froakie on the head.

“Missed me, didn’t you?”

Froakie didn’t nod, but simply kept snuggling up against the fibers of her dress, getting it damp but she couldn’t care at all. Sometimes it was nice to know that Froakie always wanted to be by her side. There were days where she wished she could bring Froakie into the castle with her where it could be her partner for real — however servants were not permitted to have a creature with them unless it was to help with work.

So for now, Serena was content with what she had. She sat in the garden with a lovely Froakie on her lap, the sound of the rushing water filling her ears and letting her relax for what felt like a single moment of her life. She took the buttery brioche bun out of her pocket and tore it in two, letting Froakie eat the bigger half while she took the smaller. She could not remember the last time she felt this peaceful.

The sound of a twig breaking was heard.

With haste, Serena glanced up to see a person standing by the tree. Had it been a stranger, then she probably would have dashed away in fear. However, her knowing the person did not make things feel any less strange.

Underneath the leaves of the tree was the Royal Squire to Sir Wikstrom, the main Knight and leading general of King AZ’s army. Just like her Calem was fifteen and was another orphaned bastard sold to the castle, except he was quite a bit taller with a dark head of hair that went just below his ears. For his age he was quite tall, almost as tall as his master, and his face was rather fair and youthful, something many people did not expect from a Squire of such an esteemed Knight. On Calem’s torso was a blue gambeson that fastened in the front and in his hand was a blunted sword that his master used to train — perhaps he had been doing some practice of his own.

Calem was lankier when they met years ago, back when she was a Royal Cup Washer and he was a Not-So-Royal Stable Boy. The year of working in the service of such a valiant knight had made him more physically capable than back in his days of tending to Skiddo and Gogoat. But all that armour scrubbing and flag carrying and sword sharpening seemed to do to sharpen the one thing Calem had trouble with — social skills.

“Were you a Vullaby in a past life?” Serena asked, amused.

Calem was caught off-guard and blinked, but in seconds he managed to recollect himself. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you appear to have a fondness for lurking,” Serena said in a voice more cheeky than what was expected for a Royal Cup Bearer. “And here I thought we were friends.” Her playful tone was something she only ever used for the people who knew her.

The Squire rolled his eyes. “And here I thought you were busy.” He took a few steps forward, leaning the practice sword against his shoulder. “Our Majesty would be saddened to know his Wine Courier has disappeared.”

Serena chuckled. “Our Majesty does not require my services right now,” she explains. “I figured that I’d see a friend.”

Calem’s eyes looked down to Froakie. The expression on his stony face morphed into a mild smile — as stoic as he was, he often reminded the world that he was not entirely heartless.

“Are you planning on standing there all day?” Serena asked. Her good-natured tone did little to douse the sarcasm in her voice.

Calem shook his head. “Only until Sir Wikstrom needs me again.” As he continued to walk he removed his well-worn leather boots and placed his practice sword onto the grass. He then rolled up his stockings to expose his rather shapely legs and sat next to Serena, dipping his bare feet into the babbling brook as well.

Serena moved her legs back and forth in the water, then eyed Calem. “Where is your Master anyway?”

“He is on rest from an injury,” he explained. “He hurt his ankle the last time we sparred.”

Serena raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Because of you or because of something else?”

For a few seconds Calem went silent, he let his eyes glance down to the rushing water.

“...I may have gotten a lucky blow on him.”

Amused, Serena laughed. “You’re much too modest,” she said cheekily. “Do not look so glum — at this rate you could become a Knight at sixteen.”

Calem seemed unconvinced, yet humoured. “That could never be — bastards don’t become knights, nobles do. I should be lucky they let me be anything but a Stable Boy.”

As she gently caressed Froakie’s head, Serena found herself nodding along. To an extent she knew what Calem was talking about. To her knowledge, she knew that Squires were often promoted Page Boys, and that Page Boys were often the sons from one of Kalos’s high born families, a bloodline that neither him nor her hailed from. Similar to how she became a Cup Bearer, Calem initially found himself performing the job when Sir Wikstrom’s original Squire left after an accident. A mistake while training caused the poor young boy to mar his dominant hand, leaving him unable to properly perform the duties of Squirehood.

Now without someone to tend to armour or sharpen swords, Sir Wikstrom employed the hardworking fourteen-year-old Stable Boy to fill the role until a replacement was found. Seeing as Calem always performed his duties to the best of his abilities, Sir Wikstrom grew rather fond of the boy in the short time he employed his services. In the Knight’s two decades of service to the Kalosian Crown, Calem had been the fastest armourer in all of the region, often getting his master suited up in the nick of time. He was also exceedingly adept at the other jobs of Squirehood — which included things like scrubbing armour, keeping swords sharp, and occasionally keeping a Knight well-shaven and clean.

When a dutiful son from one of Kalos’s most esteemed houses was sent to Shabboneau Castle to fill the Squire job, the mighty Knight discovered that the life of luxury that had sheltered the young boy had left him inept at the jobs bestowed to him. The noble son was sent back to Coastal Kalos in a week and Calem was offered the Squire job permanently — tradition be damned.

Although Serena did not know much else about Knighthood, she believed that Calem was fully capable of attaining it. Sometimes when she was travelling from King AZ’s study to the kitchen, she would glance outside to see Calem and his Master fencing in the courtyard with wooden weapons and shields. Additionally, if Sir Wikstrom and King AZ’s other soldiers were sent out for any military operations, Calem would be following on a Gogoat of his own carrying the valiant knight’s flag. There had even been a day where the Knights of Kalos were invited for a feast — instead of spending time being wined and dined by the King, Calem was outside in the courtyard, practicing his sword drills and striking a dummy with a blunted weapon.

Squirehood certainly seemed more interesting than being a Royal Cup Bearer, that was for sure.

With curiosity in her steely eyes, Serena glanced at Calem's practice sword. It was made of metal and not wood and the tip was rounded to avoid any accidental skewering of King AZ’s mighty soldiers.

Serena stood up and pulled her feet out of the water, causing Froakie to suddenly slip and tap its head against the ground. The poor thing looked up in confusion as Serena walked over to the sword sitting in the grass, Calem doing the same.

When she took the weapon in her hand, the first thing she noticed was how heavy it felt. Calem and Sir Wikstrom often maneuvered their weapons like they were made of nothing, whether warhammers or swords or spears. With one hand grasping the handle and the other holding the pommel, she used all of her strength to hold the blade up as if she were as fearless of the knights of yesteryear.

Suffice to say, Calem and Froakie were less impressed and more perplexed.

“What in Yvetal’s hellscape are you doing?” asked Calem.

“The latest ballroom dance,” replied Serena dryly. “Or is it not proper for a Lady to handle a Squire’s sword without position?”

There was a beat while Calem glanced to the ground with a kind of awkward grace, blinking as he did so. “I do not know,” he ended up saying. “Sir Wikstrom has not told me yet.”

In moments Calem pulled his feet out of the babbling brook. He did not bother to dry off as he stood up and walked to Serena, getting behind her and touching her hands with his.

“But if you are to use a sword, you might as well do it properly.”

He adjusted her grip on the handle — knowing that she was right handed, he placed her dominant hand underneath the crossguard and her left right onto the pear-shaped pommel. Although the sword could be used effectively with one hand, a beginner would benefit from using two.

Curiously, Froakie hopped a few feet forward as it watched Calem teaching Serena the ways of the blade. Had the creature been capable of human speech, perhaps it would have asked what on earth the Royal Cup Bearer was intending to do with a sword.

“Keep your feet shoulder’s width apart, it’ll help you stay balanced,” Calem explained. With his head situated just by her ear and his arms guiding hers, he showed her a few basic attacks — while thrusts were more effective, strikes were not to be ignored either.

For all of three minutes, Serena managed to make herself feel like a warrior, one that could slay dragons and go on endless adventures. As she swung the weapon at an imaginary beast, she glanced over to her teacher — Calem kept a watchful eye on her, much like Sir Wikstrom often did with him during training.

“That’s it,” Calem said. He stepped away from her and watched as she struck air on her own. “At this rate you shall be saving maidens in no time.”

Serena smirked. “Why wait?” She stopped swinging the sword and rested the practice weapon against her shoulder, looking at Calem playfully. “Why don’t you climb up to the tallest tower? I can rescue you by dinner time.”

Calem rolled his eyes. “Assuming I can play the role of a maiden, how original,” he spoke dryly.

With a laugh, Serena replied, “You’re certainly fair enough to be one.”

Amused, Calem gave her a quizzical glance. But before he could say anything else, the sound of a servant’s call garnered both of their attention.

“Serena!”

The two turned around to see an older maid running out of the servant’s entrance — specifically the one that gave access between the castle gardens and the kitchens.

“The King requested an early lunch!” the maid explained. “Please come!”

With a nod of her head, Serena turned to Calem and gave his weapon back. “Fear not, Fair Maiden, I shall be back another day.”

Calem managed a subdued chuckle as he took his sword in his hand. Before she left, Serena stepped forward and gave Calem a cheek-to-cheek kiss, a customary gesture between Kalosians. With a grin, she patted his shoulder and left him by the babbling brook, following her colleague through the servant’s passageways and disappearing into Shabboneau Castle.

Once she was gone, Calem glanced around. He immediately made eye contact with Froakie, who did nothing but stare at him with a vacant expression on its adorable face.

“What do you want?” the Squire asked, confused.

Froakie made no noise and simply turned around, seemingly deeming Calem unworthy of its time and hopping back into the water. Once the creature was gone, Calem scoffed and began walking away, taking his boots and sword with him. As he went, he began to wonder if every day of Squirehood would be like this.

#kalosshipping #trainer calem #trainer serena #froakie #pokemon starters #pokemon calem #pkmn #xy #az #lysandre #80% of this is worldbuilding #i'm aiming for a late 15th to early 16th century kind of vibe

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merakiaes · 4 years

Text

The Tracker’s Sister - Reg Slivko

Pairing: Reg Slivko x reader

Requested: Yes.

Prompts: None.

Warnings/notes: The title is horrible but I really couldn’t think of a better one so I hope you’ll be willing to ignore it hahah😭 Not proofread so I apologize in advance for any possible mistakes, I hope you like it. Let me know what you think xx

Wordcount: 4377

Summary: Captain James Conrad’s younger sister comes along on the ship for the mission on Skull Island, and catches the eye of a certain brown-eyed soldier.

Somewhere in Saigon, district Quảng Nam, you were sitting in a club and casually reading a book, completely uncaring about the fact that you were the only woman there who wasn’t a stripper or an escort, and also about the fact that your brother’s harmless game of pool had turned into a full-blown fight and that he was now beating on his opponent and his friends with a broken pool stick.

You were used to this kind of behavior at this point. You weren’t very bothered by his aggressive habits, knowing he could hold his own more than well enough – much to the dismay of anyone who happened to land themselves on the receiving end of his temper.

You simply sat there at your table, wetting the tip of your fingers in order to flip the page of your book while James flipped one of the guys to the floor and hit another in the face, declaring himself the winner in well under a minute.

And that’s when they approached him, two men you had never seen in your life before, finally causing your attention to leave the book.

“An uncharted island?” Your brother’s eyebrows shot up in an unimpressed manner as the man who had introduced himself as Bill Randa explained the mission for him, and so did yours, before you moved your eyes back to your book.

“Let me list all the ways you're gonna die.” He continued, raising his hands and beginning to count off his fingers. “Rain, heat, mud, disease-carrying flies and mosquitos. Sure, you could load up on the atabrine for the malaria... But what about the other bacteria?”

“And don’t forget the things that will try to eat you alive.” You spoke up flatly, without looking up from your book.

The two scientists turned to look at you, and the youngest of the two, Brooks, gave you a look. “Who are you, again?” He asked, and you simply spared him a glance and a raised eyebrow.

However, you immediately went back to the book in your hands, letting your brother do the talking.

At the question sent your way, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back into his seat, setting his stern gaze on the young scientist. “She’s my sister.” He replied. “So I would watch that tone if I were you.”

A look of realization crossed over his face, and Randa cleared his throat, motioning for the money laid out on the table. “We'll double that.” He said.

“You have no idea how dangerous this is.” James wasted no time in replying. “I want five times that. Plus, a bonus if we make it back.”

“If?”

“Pay him.” Randa said, waving his hand. “I mean, I think Mr. Conrad should be fairly compensated.”

Brooks nodded, and Randa gave your brother an expectant look.

“So that’s it then?” He asked. “You’ll come along?”

“I’ll agree to it.” James nodded. “But my sister is coming.”

The two scientists instantly exchanged a doubtful look. “I don’t think-“

“If she doesn’t come, I don’t either.” James quickly interrupted him, giving him a stern look.

This time, it was returned, their demeanors turning sour. “If you bring her along, she’s your responsibility.” Randa said. “We’re not going to let inexperience jeopardize this mission, let’s make that clear.”

At this, you finally had enough of just sitting by and listening in, closing the book in your hands and looking up at him with a heavy sigh. “With all due respect, sir, the only thing I’m good at is reading. I have no interest in going to an unexplored island.” You told him in a flat tone, your face equally as neutral.

“Do you take me for a fool?” James joined in. “You really thing I would bring my nineteen-year-old sister along on a life-threatening mission? She’s staying on the ship.”

“Obviously.” You added, watching as Randa’s face pulled into a tense and awkward smile.

“Of course.” He nodded. “You’ve got yourself a deal then. We look forward to seeing the two of you again soon.”

With that said, the two of them stood up and left, and come the next evening, James and yourselves were boarding the ship with your bags slung over your shoulders, ready for a new adventure.

Or, well, James was. You weren’t really the adventurous type, but rather more of a sit in silence and read kind of girl, something you’d inherited from your late mother.

When James joined the army and went out into the world to follow in your father’s footsteps and honor his name, you stayed behind in your hometown with your mom, and you remained there until she passed away when you were sixteen and James became your only living relative and therefore also your legal guardian.

You’d been on the move with him ever since. You wished he would settle down somewhere and stop accepting missions that put his life in danger, but that was more so for his sake than for yours because you didn’t really mind moving around, and at the end of the day, it was your only source of income.

So you made the best of the situation every time, this time being no different.

You happily greeted anyone you came across on the ship, and you also took it upon yourself to introduce your brother seeing as he was too distrusting to do so himself.

Other than a dozen scientists, you got to meet with Preston Packard and Jack Chapman, who both greeted you with respect even though you would be doing nothing to contribute to the mission, something that instantly brought your mood up.

After that, James and the rest of the scientists and soldiers who would be coming along to the island were called to a briefing, leaving you to get settled in yours and James’ shared room on your own.

In the briefing room, everyone of significance were gathered and divided into their respective groups, soldiers on one side and the scientists on the other, the latter sitting quietly and awkwardly, but the former chatting away like it was just any other day.

And right now, you were the topic, and Reg Slivko being the victim of his fellow soldiers’ torment.

“I heard he brought his sister.” Cole said, pushing on Reg’s shoulder lightly and flashing him a playful grin. “She’s supposed to be your age.”

“Oh, I met her just a few minutes ago.” Jack joined in, smiling. “A fine looking young lass, good manners, and funny too.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively at the youngest soldier, and Reg was all in on it to a start, laughing along with them.

“You hear that, eh?” Mills said, smirking mischievously. “Maybe this is the time where you finally meet your match, get lucky and lose your V-card.”

At that, everyone but the boy on the receiving end of the jokes broke into loud laughs, his face pulling into an angry, offended glare. “How many times to I have to tell you? I’m not a virgin!” He exclaimed, which only made them laugh louder.

“Keep telling yourself that, man.” Mills slapped his back, not at all fazed by the glare he got in return.

None of them got the time to say anything else as Jack was called to the front and the subject was changed, all of them turning serious – as serious as Reg Slivko could get, that is.

About half an hour later, the briefing was all over and done with, and you were still in yours and James’ room, the latter not yet having returned.

You had made it a habit a long time ago to not fall asleep until he was there to sleep too, so you occupied yourself with the cassette player you had brought with you.

It was an old and worn-out player, however. It tended to stop working every once in a while, one of those times being right now, of course when James wasn’t there to help you fix it, leaving you to annoyedly fiddle with it yourselves.

You had no idea what you were doing, though, no matter how much you tried to convince yourself that you did, strings of curses leaving your lips.

Reg Slivko was in a mood as good as ever, whistling a happy tune as he walked through one of the many corridors of the ship, heading in no particular direction.

It was then that his ears picked up on the light, gentle voice from one of the open doors ahead, and more specifically the colorful language said voice was spilling out.

The contrast caused his eyebrow to raise in surprise and mild interest, his whistling coming to a stop and his pace slowing down.

He instantly realized who the voice had to belong to and when he reached the open doorway and peeked his head inside, he got it confirmed when his eyes found your form sitting cross-legged in one of the two beds, cursing and roughly handling a cassette player.

His face instantly pulled into a wide grin, at first because he realized you were extremely attractive, and then because he, for some reason, found your frustration and the accompanying pout on your lips extremely cute.

He stayed right there for a moment, amused at the fact that you hadn’t noticed him yet, but when he noticed you becoming too aggravated, he raised his hand to the doorframe and gently knocked on it, watching as your head whipped around to face him.

Your eyes were wide with surprise and your heart beating hard and quick in your chest, but when you regained your composure, your face instantly pulled into a smile to match his own.

“Oh, hi.” You greeted him, and he wasted no time in pushing himself off the doorframe to step inside your room.

“Do you need help?” He chuckled, motioning for the cassette player in your hands with an eyebrow raised in amusement.

Your smiled turned shy, your eyes flickering down to the device. “Would you mind?” You asked carefully, looking back up with a sheepish chuckle. “I'm afraid I’m not nearly as handy as my brother. I’ve been trying to get it to work for an hour but can’t seem to figure out what the problem is.”

He chuckled right back, coming over to you. “I don’t mind at all.” He said, motioning for the bed. “May I?”

You wasted no time in scooting over to make room for him, and in turn, he wasted no time in sitting down.

You wordlessly handed him the cassette player and he immediately started working on it, pressing and twisting all of the buttons first, and when getting no response from the device, he turned it around and peeled off the plastic piece at the back.

From then on forward, you had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but not even a minute later, the cassette player released a rustling noise, and not long after that, music filled the room.

A proud grin overcame his features, and your lips pulled into a wide smile too.

“Wow, that was quick.” You said, taking the player back from him when he held it out for you, looking up to meet his eyes. “Thank you.”

He casually shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t mention it.” He said, holding your gaze for a moment before nodding to the player in your hands. "You've got good taste in music." He complimented, and you chuckled.

“James isn’t too fond of it.” You replied, eyes squinting playfully. “Would you believe me of I told you he likes classical?”

“It’s always the ones you least expect who do.” He snickered, before sticking out his hand. “I’m Reg. Reg Slivko.”

You turned off the music and put the cassette player to the side, and took his outstretched hand in yours, giving his a soft shake. ”I’m (Y/N). It’s nice to meet you Reg Slivko.”

“Pleasure’s all mine. It’s not every day a guy meets a girl as pretty as you.” He answered smoothly, his demeanor taking a more flirtatious turn.

You chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “Does that usually work on girls?” You asked, tilting your head and squinting your eyes.

“I wouldn’t know.” He only shrugged, his smile softening. “I signed up for the army the second I graduated and I wasn’t very popular in school.”

You hummed, the playfulness melting off and being replaced with sincerity. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” You said softly. “I was something of an outcast myself.”

“Really? I find that very hard to believe.” He said, his flirty smile returning. “Pretty, funny, polite. You don’t strike me as an outcast.”

Your entire body turned warm at the compliments that never stopped coming, and you hoped to God that he couldn’t see the blush rising to your cheeks. “Tell that to Theresa Jackson.” You chuckled, back, and before either of you could say anything else, James walked in.

“What’s going on here?” He asked, slowly walking into the room and causing the two of you to turn to look at him.

“Oh, James.” You instantly smiled at the sight of your brother, holding a hand out to the boy next to you. “This is Reg.”

“Slivko, sir.” Reg quickly added, clearing his throat and the humorous, flirtatious demeanor melting right off.

James hummed, obviously not impressed, and raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “And what business do you have in my sister’s bed, Reg Slivko?” He asked, and you rolled your eyes at that, the smile falling from your lips.

“He was just helping me fix my cassette player.” You said, giving your brother a pointed look.

In return, he raised his eyebrows at you, silently asking you “are you sure that’s all there’s to it?”, but before either of you could say anything else, Reg got up to his feet, standing up from your bed with a shrug.

“I was just about to leave.” He said, and James didn’t miss a beat, giving him a nod and a narrow-eyes look.

“I’m sure you were.” He agreed, lips pulled into a tense and sarcastic smile.

Reg nodded, and after sparing you one last glance, he walked right past your brother without another word, taking a right in the corridor outside and disappearing from your view.

The second he was gone, James closed the door to the room and flicked off the light in the roof, instead moving over to his bed where he turned on the table lamp standing beside it.

Falling back on the bed, you clasped your hands over your stomach and heaved a heavy, over-dramatic sigh. “You’re the worst.” You told your older brother in a grumble, and all he did was chuckle in response, the two of you going to bed shortly after.

When you woke up the next morning, the first thing you wanted to do was to find Reg and talk to him again, but your brother had other plans, dragging you along for the entire first half of the day.

By the time he finally let you go off on your own, you couldn’t find Reg anywhere, and when you did some time later, he was out on deck joking around with all of his soldier-friends, drinking beer, listening to music and playing around shirtless in the afternoon sun.

You weren’t a very big people-person, hence the foul mood you had been in when in the club with James two night prior, so you weren’t very keen on approaching him when he was surrounded by people.

Unfortunately for you, that was pretty much all of the time for the rest of the journey, so eventually you just gave up and stuck to your brother’s side.

You reached your destination in what felt like no time, and soon, the morning on which your brother and the others would be flying to the island was upon you.

You were going to be staying on the ship with most of the scientists and didn’t really have to get up early, but you were still up and at it at the crack of dawn to help your brother prepare and to see him off, the two of you currently standing out by the choppers where everyone were pulling their own weight to get everything packed up.

“Go talk to her already.” Mills told his fellow soldier where they stood on the other side of the deck, sparing him a glance while he packed the record player into its briefcase. “You’ve been standing here staring at her for ten minutes now and it’s starting to get weird.”

Reg’s head instantly whipped around, his eyes leaving your form to meet his friend’s gaze. “What? I’m not staring.” He denied his accusations, glaring.

But Mills obviously saw right through him. “Uh-huh.” He said, giving him a deadpan look and raising his hand to his chin. “Is that drool I see?”

“What? No.” Reg hurried to bring his hand up to his chin to wipe it, finding that there was, in fact, no drool there.

His reaction brought a laugh from Mills, who shook his head at him in amusement. “Idiot.” He said simply. “We leave in less than an hour and you’re going to regret it if you don’t go talk to her, so go say goodbye. Go.”

He shoved at his shoulder and Reg held his hands up, backing away. “Fine, fine! I’m going!” He said while glaring, turning around with another word and approaching you where you were leaning against the side of one of the choppers, your brother luckily occupied with talking to a scientist.

You noticed him approaching instantly, your back straightening, your arms uncrossing from over your face and your lips pulling into a smile.

“Hi.” He was the first one to speak once he reached you, and you wasted no time in replying.

“Hey. You ready for this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He smiled back widely, and then his confidence took a sudden turn, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his head awkwardly. “Hey, listen, I was wondering if, maybe, when we get back to the mainland, we could go out for a movie, or dinner, or something.”

You raised an eyebrow, the smile playing on your lips widening. “Like a date?” You asked, and he shrugged.

“Yeah. I mean, if it’s- if you want to. And if it’s okay with your brother.” He trailed off towards the end, his eyes flickering to something over your shoulder

It was only then, when you turned your head around to see what he was looking at, that you noticed James had now abandoned the conversation he had previously been having to listen in to yours instead, his pointed stare never wavering from the boy in front of you.

“You know what? I don’t-“ He started, but you immediately cut him off by throwing your hand out to slap his chest.

His eyes flickered down to meet yours at that and you glared. “Don’t you have someone else to bother? Go away, please.” You told him, and with a long look at Reg, he did as told, picking up his bag and leaving you alone.

Once he was out of earshot, you turned back to Reg with a smile, your head nodding. “Dinner and a movie both sound nice.” You agreed. “But for now, your main focus should be coming back in one piece.”

His entire face was lit up in a huge grin, and a chuckle left his lips at your words. “I can promise you that I will.” He said, and you snickered back, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I’ll hold you to that.” You said, the two of you then walking over to where the others were getting ready to board their assigned choppers.

You said goodbye to both Reg and your brother, the latter of the two goodbyes being a bit more sentimental, James hugging you close and kissing the top of your head, making you promise to be good, as if you were ever anything but.

Once they had left, you were on your own with literally no one to talk to, and you found yourself at wit’s end trying to find something to occupy yourself with.

You’d brought books with you but only three, and you were a quick reader, all of them being finished within two days. And just your luck, your cassette player chose the most horrible timing to stop working again, and no one on board knew how to fix it.

But just when you thought you were going to die from boredom, they returned, and you wasted no time in running outside and sprinting straight into your brother’s arms, only then realizing how worried you had been.

When you came back apart, you looked up at him with a worried gaze, taking note of how roughed up and exhausted he looked.

“Are you okay?” You asked, and watched as his lips pulled into a tight smile.

“I’m alright, don’t you worry.” He assured you and you smiled back, nodding your head.

Your smile faltered as soon as it appeared, however, when you spotted another familiar face behind him, and James instantly noticed, stepping to the side to give you free passage.

“Go.” He said, and you gave him a doubtful look.

“Are you sure?” You asked, and he simply nodded.

“I have some business to take care of. We can talk more later.”

He didn’t have to tell you twice, your feet moving you in the direction of Reg just a second later.

Mills was the first one who noticed you approaching and slapped his friend’s shoulder, causing him to look up.

He barely even got the time to process your face, before you had reached him and pulled him into a careful embrace.

“Oh.” He mumbled into your neck, eyes widening in surprise. But he wasted no time in wrapping his arms around your waist and hugging you back, melting into it. “Wow. I could get used to this… You smell really good, has anyone ever told you that?”

You chuckled at his words and much to his dismay, the warmth of your embrace was gone too quickly, the two of you stepping away from each other again.

You immediately began looking him over for injuries, and you instantly spotted the torn up fabric of his pant-leg, or more specifically the wound peeking out from underneath.

Your eyes flickered back up to his, and you raised an eyebrow. “What happened to the promise of coming back in one piece?” You asked, and he shrugged, giving you a small smile.

“My leg is still attached to my body, isn’t it?” He pointed out, bringing a chuckle from your lips.

“Yes, I guess it is.” You agreed. “Can you walk?”

His face turned serious at the question. “I’ve just spent the last twenty-four hours running from a lizard with teeth the size of my head. Pretty sure that proves that there’s nothing wrong with my leg. Just a scratch on the surface.”

At the sound of his words, your interest was immediately piqued, but you knew it was neither the time nor place to ask about it.

“Well, we should still get it cleaned up.” You told him, reaching out and taking his hand in yours. “Come on.”

He did nothing to protest, limping slightly in his step as he followed you into the ship where you brought him to your room.

You instructed him to sit down on your bed and left him alone for a few minutes, heading off to the medbay where the other survivors were being checked over, to retrieve a medkit.

Once you had everything you needed, you returned to your room and wasted no time in getting to work, starting off with cutting off the lower part of his pant-leg and then moving on to clean the wound.

“You don’t have to do that, you know. I’m very well capable of patching myself up.” Reg told you as he watched your hands work, leaning back on his palms to be able to keep his leg straight out in front of him.

You glanced up at him at that, raising an eyebrow. “Are you complaining?” You asked, your lips pulling into a smile when he immediately shook his head.

“No. Definitely not.” He said, and you chuckled.

“That’s what I thought.” You said, turning your attention back to his leg with a shrug. “And besides, you owe me a date. Can’t have you dying on me from an infected wound.”

In the corner of your eye, you noticed him nodding his head. “A very valid point.” He agreed, and you smiled, finishing up bandaging his ankle.

“Exactly, now turn around. I need to clean the cut on your shoulder, too.” You instructed him, making a “turn around” motion with your finger.

He wasted no time in obliging, bringing his leg down from the bed and turning around. “Yes, ma’am.” He said, grabbing ahold of the upper hem of his shirt and tugging it up to expose his back to you.

In turn, you wasted no time in soaking a fresh cloth with alcohol, preparing to clean the cut stretched out over his shoulder blade.

“So, where are you from?” You asked, trying to make some light conversation.

“Detroit, born and raised.” He replied without missing a beat and you hummed, reality coming crashing down on you and dampening your mood significantly.

“I’m from London, if you hadn’t already gathered that from the accent.” You told him lowly. “I guess that date is going to be harder than we thought, huh?”

But much to your surprise, he only shook his head. “That won’t be a problem. I’d-“ He cut himself short for a moment, a hiss leaving his lips when you pressed the cold, alcohol-soaked rag to the cut.

But he regained his composure rather quickly, glancing over his shoulder to meet your eyes. “I’d follow you anywhere.” He finished, giving you a crooked, goofy smile.

You automatically smiled back, the two of you holding eye-contact for another moment before he turned back around to allow you to finish patching him up, both of you knowing you would continue the conversation later.

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#reg slivko #reg slivko x reader #reg slivko imagine #slivko x reader #slivko #thomas mann #james conrad #james conrad x reader #james conrad imagine #kong skull island

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