#i never use these tags but since ines we spoke about this

[stephanleyhes]

vegaspete // kinnporsche

#kinnporsche #kinnporshe the series #vegaspete #got surprise free time today so i had time to make this now #it is not exactly what i wanted but came out fine #i never use these tags but since ines we spoke about this #usertph #blood cw

[of-twilight-and-moonshadow]

Worried - Best Friends/Orange Cassidy x Emery

Part of my Dark Angel of the Bullet Club series

I wasn't planning on this being a thing, but it's kinda cute. We'll see where it goes.

I allude to the conversation between Yuta and Emery from this fic here during this one.

Word Count: 4,706

Tag List: @blxxckheart @katries @summertimefun1982

(divider by)

Emery stood backstage, leaning on one of the walls as she subconsciously chewed on her lip. With everything going on between BCC and her Elite boys—and things happening with other friends of hers—she was stressing badly. The worst was between Blackpool and Elite, though, and everything considered, Emery needed a distraction. Her mind went to another group she was close to—or rather had been close to.

Best Friends.

While the thought brought a smile to her face, it also pained her. Running around with the Best Friends is where she met Yuta. And now? Yuta was almost a complete stranger to her. She didn’t recognize him, the person he had become since joining BCC.

Shaking her head, Emery pushed herself off the wall and made her way through the backstage area before she came upon the room she was searching for. As she swallowed the lump in her throat, Emery gently knocked on the door, unsure of how her presence would be taken.

“Come in,” Trent’s voice rang out. Slowly, she pushed the door open and slid into the room, and left it ajar behind her. Instantly, all three guys had their eyes on her.

Trent narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out her intentions.

Chuck sitting there, surprised that she was even in the room with them.

And Orange. As stoic as ever, not even his eyes giving away his emotions. His signature sunglasses were resting on his leg as he leaned back in one of the folding chairs with his arm slung over the back.

“…Hey guys…”

“What are you doing here, Emery?” Trent questioned, his voice low and dark.

“I’ve seen what’s been going on… between you guys and House of Black,” Emery told them, looking at each as she spoke, “I’m worried about you guys. Elite has had their fair share of run-ins with the House, I know how dangerous they can be…”

“We’ve seen,” Chuck said, giving a single nod.

“We’ll be fine,” Trent bit out, “I’m not worried. We’ve faced tougher.”

“Toughness isn’t what I’m talking about,” Emery frowned, her eyebrows knitting together, “House of Black is tough, yes. But they’re cold and calculating, and that’s what makes them most dangerous. I’m worried that—”

“It’s a bit late to be worried about us, don’t you think?” Trent interrupted coldly.

“Trent, dude.”

“What?” Trent asked, looking at Chuck, “She all but stopped talking to us months ago and acted like we didn’t exist. Now her boys are getting their asses kicked, and suddenly she comes to us, worrying about us?”

“Things just got busy—I still care—”

“Just save it, all right?” Trent told her, “Besides. It’s three on three, us versus the House. We’ll be just fine without you.”

The tension in the air was palpable, and the silence stretched for what seemed like eternity as Emery let his words sink in. Chuck looked like he wanted to say something to ease the mood but kept quiet after a look from Trent. Orange sat there, just wordlessly staring at Emery as everyone waited for her next move.

“Just fine, huh?” she quoted Trent, her eyes narrowing at him; the guys could all tell she was hurt just from how she stood, “You know what? Fine. Three on three, sure. Until Julia Hart gets involved, and none of you want to lift a finger against her.”

Emery looked around the empty room for effect as she added, “Too bad Statlander’s still out.”

Looking back at Trent, she scoffed, “Whatever. Fine. You guys go out there and get your asses handed to you. Don’t say I never tried.”

Without a further glance at Chuck or Orange, Emery spun around, yanked the door open, letting it slam against the wall behind it, and disappeared down the hall.

A part of her was angry—but more so, she was hurt by Trent’s words and the fact that neither Chuck nor Orange had stood up for her. Back in the room, Chuck looked over at Trent, holding his arms out wide, silently asking him ‘What the fuck?’ as Orange picked up his glasses and put them over his eyes.

“Not cool.”

-time jump-

Just two nights later, on Rampage, Emery watched from a monitor backstage as Orange rushed out onto the stage and tried delivering his signature Orange Punch to an unsuspecting Buddy Matthews.

However, Buddy calculated it somehow, maneuvering his Trios belt to block the attack, causing Orange’s already injured wrist to smack right into it. Her gut twisted, and she felt sick to her stomach as she watched Cassidy writhe in pain and officials rush to keep the two separated. Buddy just stared at Orange, a small smirk on his face as he knew the All-Atlantic champion was injured. One of the officials helped him up, careful of his wrist, and escorted him backstage, and the camera zoomed in on Buddy, who just watched as Orange disappeared from his sight, that smile on his face falling flat as the wheels in his head began turning.

She hated to think about it, but she was right. House of Black were calculated, organized, and methodical, which made them more dangerous than your typical faction – and Best Friends were severely underestimating them. Biting the corner of her lower lip, Emery quietly stepped back from the screen and made her way through the halls. Despite Trent’s harsh words the other day, she still cared about them. Some more than others, but that was beside the point.

Emery wanted to know how bad Orange’s condition was. She needed to know.

Luckily when she approached the medical room, there was no sign of the Best Friends. While she did find it odd that Chuck and Trent weren’t anywhere to be seen, she was relieved as well. Stopping just before the door, Emery listened as someone asked the doctor if Orange would be able to defend his title or not. Taking a risk, she slowly leaned forward and peered around the door frame, past the camera guy. The winces of pain were very noticeable from Orange as the doctor worked carefully, and as he was about to answer the question, Cassidy waved him off. He looked to the camera with a frown on his face and with his signature glasses nowhere to be seen, his brown eyes narrowed in determination.

Emery listened as he admitted that his wrist was screwed up but claimed Buddy had taken the easy way out by blocking him twice now. First with his mask and now the belt. Orange will face him on Dynamite, injured or not.

The cameraman and interviewer left, and Emery watched in silence as Orange was left alone, wincing as he tried bending his wrist some. She hated seeing him in pain—with all her friends, she was that way. With Cassidy, though, she felt close to him. They had become good friends since the start of All Elite Wrestling, hanging out on occasion. When Kenny had been out with his injuries and surgeries, Emery had gotten closer with all the Best Friends- but Orange made her feel calm. He helped her relax—and weirdly enough, he was funny and had his own charm.

She saw Orange tense up and slowly looked in her direction, seeing her peering around the door at him. Their eyes met, and for a moment, they just stared at each other before she quickly darted back, not saying anything to him. He gave a sigh, looking down at the ground as his hand tensed. The pain returned, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut again and breathe deeply.

They should have listened to her warning.

-time jump-

Five days had passed, and now it was time for Orange’s match against Buddy for his All-Atlantic championship. He stood near the go-position with Trent and Chuck, waiting for his turn to go out, gently moving his fingers. The pain had subsided, but only just barely—and Orange knew that any wrong move out there could be damaging.

“I don’t know, Cass, I don’t think she’s coming,” Chuck frowned, looking at the area surrounding them before glancing back down at his friend. Orange had told Chuck and Trent about Emery standing outside medical on Friday, and with their agreement, he sent her a text over the weekend.

“Watch my six?”

He knew she had seen the message, as it was marked as read, but she hadn’t replied to it and had not sought them out.

Orange kept his gaze on the floor, a calming feeling coursing through his body, one had hadn’t felt for a while – but the nervous feeling was also there.

“She will…” he muttered confidently, although a part of him was uncertain.

She had to be.

Trent frowned, his hands in the pockets of his tracksuit, “I don’t know, man. She ain’t here yet, and we haven’t heard from her.”

As they stood there waiting for Orange’s match, Emery slowly made her way through the building. Despite any hostility or negative feelings, despite the exchange she had with Trent, she still cared. What didn’t help was Yuta’s cutting words that kept ringing through her mind.

“You and the rest of the Elite and the VIPs think you deserve everything around here.”

“The Elite walk these halls like they’re Gods or something, but they’re not. Their pompous, ignorant assholes—”

“Where one goes—the others follow. Just look at you... Ringside with the Bucks… Kenny. Ringside for Page--- well, not recently. Right? No, no—because Kenny ousted him from the group, so suddenly, all of you act like he doesn’t exist. When was the last time you were ringside for him?! When was the last time you traveled with him?”

Was he right? Emery had been so focused on her Elite boys – had she blindly pushed others to the side?

Trent seemed to think so, according to his words from last week.

That wasn’t what she wanted, though. Emery didn’t want to lose her friends—and now, as she realized just how important Hangman was to her, she also realized how valuable other friends were to her. She was determined not to lose anyone else. Up ahead, she saw Best Friends standing near crates, waiting for Orange’s music to hit as Buddy and Julia slowly made their way to the ring.

Emery cautiously approached, coming to a stop when Trent looked over at her. Chuck followed his line of sight, staring at her as he gently nudged Orange’s arm. He slowly looked up from the floor, his brown eyes boring into her own.

“H-hey…” she said, looking directly at Cassidy. They could tell she was uncertain—uncertain about being there, about where they all stood, and about if they wanted her there or not.

“What are you doing here?” Trent asked her, crossing his arms across his chest as he stared at her, “Why now? You haven’t been around for… how long now?”

“A few weeks back… someone made me painfully aware of how I’ve…” Emery started, her words uncertain as she tried to find the correct ones, “… How I’ve unfairly neglected people I care about. I already lost Hangman due to it… I don’t want to lose you guys too… I just hope I’m not too late…”

“Yeah- don’t you have other things to worry about right now?” Trent questioned, raising an eyebrow, “Something to do with that lost friend. Your Elite boys, too.”

Emery pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing briefly as she stared at Trent. Enough was enough.

“Yeah. A problem that includes a feral Yuta—which I should be blaming you for,” she said, glaring at Trent, before taking a breath and calming down, “I’m trying… to get my mind off everything that’s going on… Come on, guys… I thought…. I thought we were friends?”

As she said the words, her mind flashed back to her conversation with Yuta, her heart tightening in pain.

“You thought wrong.”

Chuck exchanged a look with Trent and Orange before speaking up, his head slightly shaking, “Nah, not friends.”

It became difficult to swallow, her airway feeling as though it was constricting, and her heart felt as if it had shattered. Tears began to build in the corners of her eyes, and in a desperate bid to keep them from falling, Emery bit her tongue as hard as she could as her gaze dropped to the floor.

All three of them felt terrible. Chuck gestured with his head, encouraging Trent to do something; before Emery had a chance to walk away, he spoke up—his voice softer now, the harshness to it was gone.

“We’re best friends.”

Emery’s head snapped up, her eyes wide as she looked at them. Trent and Chuck were smiling at her, and when her eyes met Orange’s, he even gave her a small smile of his own. Wordlessly, Chuck took a few steps towards her and reached out, cupping her face in his hands as he wiped away the build-up of tears in the corners of her eyes. Afterward, the tall Kentucky man-child wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

“You’ve always got us,” Trent told her as Chuck let her go, reaching out and giving her a hug of his own. When they parted, Orange walked up to her and gently placed a pair of sunglasses on her head, sliding them towards her until they rested on the bridge of her nose. Slowly, his head lowered until it rested against her own, both closing their eyes to just take in the moment. Cassidy’s music began to play, bringing them out of their own little world as he stepped back to grab his backpack that held the title.

“Bring it in, guys,” smirked Trent as he put his hand down in the middle of the group. Chuck quickly followed suit, placing his down on top of Trent’s, and Orange used his shoulder to support the bag, placing his good hand down on the very top. His hand was face up, open palmed, as the three looked at Emery. With a smile, she placed her left hand directly onto Orange’s, and he gave it a small squeeze before Trent called, ‘Break!’ and then headed to the stairs.

Orange followed Trent and Chuck out onto the stage, and after a brief pause, Emery took a deep breath and walked out behind him. As soon as the crowd saw her, their cheers got louder. Chuck and Trent unlocked their hands before grabbing one of her hands each and extending the chain, causing her to laugh. With his available hand, Trent patted Orange on the back in encouragement as Chuck gently squeezed Orange’s shoulder. As Cassidy began walking down the ramp, they let go of her, and Emery casually followed along behind him, but Best Friends stayed on the stage before disappearing to the back. Spotting a mini version of himself, Orange carefully sat down on the ramp and bumped hands with him before continuing to the ring.

Emery glanced across at Julia and Buddy, shivers running down her spine. She had a bad feeling about this – but she was going to support Orange through the entire thing. He was determined to do the match, to be a fighting champion—injured or not. As Orange flung his bag into the ring and rolled in after it, Emery shook her head in amusement, opting to stay outside on the floor as Cassidy held the belt up for the audience. The referee, Bryce, took the championship from Orange, holding it up briefly before handing it off to the timekeeper as Orange took off his jacket, shirt, and glasses. Each one he would hold over the top rope and drop into the waiting arms of Emery, who watched him with a smile, shaking her head. As he lazily slid on his black elbow pad, Emery quickly folded his clothing before setting it down on the timekeeper’s table and turning her attention back to the ring.

At the very least, in her opinion, with Bryce being the official for the match Emery knew that Orange was in good hands. Bryce was close with Best Friends, Orange in particular, and wouldn’t let anything happen to him if he could help it. The bell sounded, signaling the beginning of the match, but neither individual moved from their spot.  

Across the ring, Buddy stared at Orange, waiting patiently as he crouched in the corner. Julia stood near him on the outside, her face void of all expression. Emery watched as Orange crouched down against the turnbuckles, his arms supporting him on the middle ropes.

“What are you doing?” Emery questioned him softly, watching as he brought his left leg up across his right knee and propped his left elbow on the middle rope, resting his chin against it with a small smirk on his face.

Was he seriously trying to mock Matthews? Emery sighed, gnawing on her bottom lip in worry. As amusing as it was, it was still not the best idea.

Eventually, Buddy stood up from his corner, his eyes never once leaving Orange, as he followed suit and stood up. Slowly, they both walked to the center of the ring, staring at each other. Emery watched closely, her breath caught in her throat, as Orange lifted his arms up and aimed to put his hands in his pockets. Buddy wasn’t having it, however, grabbing both of Orange’s hands and tossing him into the corner of the ring.

Emery watched carefully as Buddy began to walk towards Orange before her eyes flickered to Julia on the opposite side. As long as Julia didn’t get involved, Emery wouldn’t – that was her stance. Quick movement caught her attention, and she looked back to the guys as Buddy went flying through the ropes, landing rather hard on the floor. She noticed he placed a hand to his jaw, holding it for a moment as Orange ran at the ropes, turning his back on Buddy to hit the other side for momentum. Buddy quickly slid into the ring, aiming to catch Orange unaware, but Cassidy quickly turned around and held his hands out in a ‘stop’ gesture as Buddy came to a halt in front of him. The House of Black member was still lying on the ring, his arms holding up his body as he watched in annoyance as Orange lifted his hands and put them in his pockets. In frustration, Buddy hopped up and continued the match.

The match continued, and the longer it did, the more worried Emery got for Orange’s safety. He sent Buddy to the outside of the ring once again, this time following him with a dive through the ropes. As Orange stands up, though, Emery sees him holding his wrist, pain written across his face causing her heart to sink. Orange seemingly shook it off, working through it as he got Buddy back into the ring and hits him with a thunderous Orange Punch. Buddy went down—but so did Orange. Emery’s eyes widened in worry as Orange instantly cried out in agony, rolling around on the matt, clutching his injured wrist. Slowly, he crawled over to the side of the ring where Doc Sampson and Emery stood and painfully clawed at the bandage until he finally tore it off his hand. As the doctor looked at it, Emery reached out and gently ran a hand through Orange’s hair, trying to soothe him as best she could. For now, Buddy was forgotten as Doc examined the damage to Orange’s wrist. He could barely clench his hand at all, the pain almost too much as his hand shook from even the smallest of movements.

Emery was about to ask Doc a question before loud footfalls neared them, and Buddy’s foot came out of nowhere, stomping on Orange’s hand. He screamed out in pain at the rough contact, rolling away quickly as Bryce backed Buddy away from him. Rolling under the bottom rope, Orange sat on the edge of the ring, delicately holding his injured wrist as Emery rushed around the ring to him. She wanted to reach out and hold his hand but didn’t want to cause him any more agony.

“Are you sure you want to keep in this match?” She questioned him, looking at him with a pained expression. He looked up from his hand, grimacing as he nodded to her.

“You don’t have to do this, Cass. You could seriously damage yourself if—” She couldn’t finish her sentence as Buddy stalked over and grabbed Orange, dragging him into the ring. Every time he went to attack, it was focused on the wrist; Buddy was hellbent on inflicting as much pain on Orange as he could—and Julia stood nearby, smiling at the damage being done. Orange’s face got more and more red the longer the match went on; the pain he was in was evident in his eyes. But he refused to give up.

Not when he’s finally got Emery back in his corner.

Orange gets the upper hand once more, bashing Buddy’s head into the turnbuckles a few times, but gets hit with a superkick—only to retaliate with a superkick of his own. They move to the outside of the ring, standing on the apron as Emery watched on from the side, yelling out words of encouragement each time he’d get going and trying to get the audience on his side. She watched as Orange set Buddy up for a DDT, wincing as Buddy avoided it, hitting Orange directly in the jaw with a high knee. Out of nowhere, Orange hit him with a Beach Break, and both fell to the floor, catching their breath. Emery watches closely as Julia walks closer and closer to them before getting too close to Orange for her liking. Quickly, Emery rounded the ring, walking right up to the guys and staring down Julia.

“Back. Off,” Emery warned her, voice low, as she narrowed her eyes. Bryce was administering the ten count, closely watching all four individuals to ensure neither lady got involved in the match. Julia stared at Emery wordlessly, her face void of emotion once again, eventually slowly backing away from the guys. Emery mirrored it, backing up a few steps but keeping her eyes locked on Julia.

By the time the referee yelled ‘9,’ both guys finally slid back into the ring and continued the match. Emery returned to her side of the ring, watching closely and noticing that Orange could barely put any weight or pressure on his injured wrist. He began to resort to forearms for his hits, and for a bit, they went back and forth, both using a forearm to attack their opponent. Eventually, Buddy got the upper hand once more, kicking Orange in the stomach and causing him to fall to his hands and knees. With a sick smile, Buddy jumped up and stomped on Orange’s hand, pressing his boot into the bones and flesh as much as he could before Bryce finally backed him off. Orange kneels up, holding his wrist as the pain flares through his body.

“Come on Orange… come on…” Emery whispered, leaning against the apron. Buddy began to mock Orange, using the weak kicks as a taunt against him, one foot and then the other, tapping it against Orange’s upper arms. A small sigh of relief followed by a slight smile graced her face as Emery saw Orange was starting to get mad; she knew that once he started, then he usually kicked it up a notch, and that could be exactly what he needed to do right now. As Buddy stepped back and went for the slow kick, Orange put his hands out in a ‘stop’ motion once again, causing Buddy to stop and narrow his eyes, watching him curiously.

Orange put his injured hand to the sky before lowering it and using his good hand to put it in the pocket of his loose jeans, grimacing in pain as he did so before adding his uninjured hand to the other pocket. Emery gave a soft smile at his antics as Orange gave Buddy a pained smirk of his own—only for Buddy to kick him harshly. As he went for another attack, Orange diverted it into an enormous DDT from the top rope. Buddy rolled to the outside of the ring to shake it off, but Orange quickly followed it with a torpe to the outside. He followed Buddy, climbing through the rope, and gave him a third DDT before pushing him into the ring and slowly climbing to the top rope, careful not to use his injured hand more than he had to. Diving off the top rope, Orange caught Buddy with a diving DDT and went for the cover.

“ONE!” Emery counted with the referee, “TWO! —” but Buddy kicked out at two, causing her to groan in annoyance.

“Come on, Orange, you got this!” Emery shouted to him, hoping to will him on, and saw Julia across the ring, calling out to Buddy with a worried look on her face.

Good. She should be worried.

Orange grimaced in pain as he grabbed his elbow pad, slipping it off and throwing it to the ground.

“Oh no…” Emery worried as she watched, knowing what was coming, “Orange… you really shouldn’t—”

Buddy evaded the Orange Punch, lifting him up only for Orange to roll him into a schoolboy but only got another two count. Shaking his hand as he stands up from the pin, Orange manages to pull a weak Orange Punch off, but again only gets a two count for his efforts.

Emery circled around to the side closest to Orange, reaching out her hand towards him with a sad look on her face. He was breathing heavily, grasping his wrist as the pain was getting worse and worse. He shot her a look, a smirk-like grimace to try to ease her worry before he stood up and turned his attention back to his opponent. Buddy was on his knees in the middle of the ring, and as Orange got closer, he taunted him, goading Cassidy into punching him—and he did. Or at least, he tried.

As Orange’s forearm got close enough to Buddy, he grabbed Orange’s wrist and twisted it as he stood up. Cassidy yelled out in pain the more Buddy twisted it to the side as he finally let go, lifting him up and delivering a knee to Orange’s jaw. Cassidy pushed Buddy away from him and demands him to hit him. As Buddy goes to, Orange falls flat to the mat; Buddy ran to the ropes to do a dive or kick of some kind, and Orange quickly hops up, but Buddy stops short, causing Cassidy to put on the brakes and falls back to the mat.

Emery watched in horror as Buddy hit the curb stomp on Orange, and went for the pin—but he kicked out at two. Buddy went for another move, but Orange countered it with Chuck’s patented move, the Mousetrap. As the ref counted, Emery held her breath, and time seemed to slow down.

One.

Two.

Three.

“YES!” Emery exclaimed, jumping up in excitement as she grabbed Orange’s bag, shoving the title and his shirt and jacket inside, slinging it over her shoulder before hurrying over to him. She placed herself under his arm, a smile on her face, and helped support him as they backed up the ramp a few feet. Emery was beyond worried about the status of his wrist but was happy for him getting the win. As she looked back at the ring, she saw Julia’s look of dismay and Buddy looking over his shoulder at them with a confused look on his face, not sure what the hell had just happened. 

Emery smirked at them before turning around with Orange and walking up the ramp, and put them out of her mind as she focused on him. Sure, he was sweaty, grimacing in agony, and breathing heavily—but he was back in her life, and now? She wasn’t going to lose him again.

Any of them.

#aew #all elite wrestling #imagine #fanfiction #dark angel of the bullet club #OC #original female character #OC Emery #Orange Cassidy #Best Friends #Chuck Taylor #Trent Baretta #House of Black #Buddy Matthews #Julia Hart #Orange Cassidy x OC

[earlgreydream]

lover of mine.

| winter soldier!bucky barnes x reader | angst | fluff |

lover of mine.

/When I take a look at my life/And all of my crimes/You're the only thing that I think I got right//I watched the world fall from your eyes/All my regrets/And things you can't forget/Light them all up/Kiss them goodbye/

“You loved him once. You can love him again.”

“I never stopped loving him. That’s what you don’t understand.” 

The fellow Avengers had watched the world fall from your eyes, the joy draining from you with every headline that involved Bucky. Not only had he changed, but you had too. You became completely enthralled with your missions, pouring every waking second into the Avengers. Because if you thought about anything else, you would break. 

Steve begged you to take breaks, begged you to take time off. You insisted you were fine, never wanting to be left alone with your thoughts. You didn’t want to think about the newsreels of Bucky-- the winter soldier-- wielding machine guns. 

You couldn’t bear to see the love of your life slaughtering people.

“I’m not picking up Parker from school... He’s in high school, he doesn’t need me to pick him up! He can take the subway! Or use his webs!” You snapped at Stark, who stared at you impatiently.

“You need to rest. This is how you’re filling your afternoon.” Stark was insistent, and you shook your head, grabbing the keys to a Tesla. 

“Steve?”

“Go, Y/N.”

You sighed and went down to the garage, driving uptown to get the teenager from school. You parked outside of the high school, leaning against the hood of your car while you waited. 

You never got used to the modernity. You were like Steve and Bucky. You’d been alive in the 40s, and frozen like they were. Luckily, you’d fallen to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of Hydra. You’d managed to stay safe with Steve, and become an Avenger, not suffering Bucky’s fate. 

Before the war, you and Bucky had been married. The memories in your mind of dancing in the kitchen, jazz bars, drive-ins, and reading the Hobbit when it came out, were all raw. Before he was deployed, there was a wedding.

You’d been surrounded by flowers and your friends, celebrating the love of your life. Steve was the best man. You’d left the ceremony with Bucky in his yellow vintage car, going to the coast for your honeymoon. 

You remembered the beach house, and running in the sand with your young husband. It was perfect back then, before Hydra got their hands on him. He was loving and gentle, the kind of man who danced with you in the kitchen and brought you flowers. 

You remembered when he’d gone off to war. You wore his dog tags, and hung a flag in your window. You’d kissed him goodbye, tears blinding you as you tried to focus on the silver eyes that were full of adoration and love. You remembered when Steve came back, and Bucky didn’t. 

There were so many memories of crying in Steve’s arms, and falling asleep with him beside you. Even when you’d moved to Stark Tower with him, even after becoming an avenger decades later, you still slept beside him. He’d listened to you sob for Bucky a million times; Steve had witnessed a lifetime of your heartbreak. 

You remembered waking up from being frozen, and finding out who James Buchanan Barnes had become. 

“Y/N?!” Parker’s cheerful voice snapped you out of your thoughts as he came bounding down the stairs of the high school. 

“Hey kiddo. Stark sent me to get you.” You stood up off the car and hugged him. He waved goodbye to his friends and got in the passenger seat. He immediately started chattering, and you welcomed it, appreciating the distraction from the deafening silence. That was why you were fond of Parker, he was easy to be around, and he was always happy to fill the silence.

“Let’s go to Starbucks!” He announced as the two of you drove back to the tower.

“Are you joking?”

“No! It’s on me.”

“It’s on Stark,” you smirked, and Parker broke out into a wide grin.

You and Peter walked into Stark Tower a half hour later, chattering and laughing. Parker was the only one of the Avengers who cheered you up, and he never made you feel bad for not wanting to talk about Bucky. He was bubbly and warm, and always made you laugh. You were giggling at a story from his school as you went upstairs to the penthouse, unaware of what you were walking1 into.

You nearly crashed into him, stopping dead in your tracks.

“Y/N!” The voice was so familiar, and yet, you thought you’d never hear it again.

You were suffocating. The air was ripped from your lungs, and you couldn’t breathe. It felt like the earth was swaying underneath you, everything shattered. 

Steve ran to you as you passed out, and Parker caught you with a shout before you hit the floor. He knelt on the marble, your head in his lap, and Steve shouted for Banner, who came running to follow you to his medical lab.

“Stevie, what’s wrong with her?!” Bucky demanded, and everyone looked at him. 

“It’s the shock of seeing you.” Steve admitted, and Bucky looked like he was going to break. 

“I’m better now, I’m no longer the...” he couldn’t even say it, his eyes anxious and frightened.

Bucky had spent months trying to free himself of Hydra’s psychological bonds. He was free now, motivated by the thought of coming home to you. Bucky had waited years. Now, he was home, and the second he said your name and laid eyes on him, you’d panicked and blacked out.

Steve attempted to comfort him, and even Parker, the boy he didn’t know. They tried to explain to Bucky that you were just in shock, but his heart broke. 

“I took care of her, Buck. She still loves you, she always has. Just give her some time. Seeing you like that...”

“I know,” Bucky breathed. 

Everyone left Bucky alone with you, giving you privacy. He sat beside the bed where you were asleep, Banner assuring everyone that you were fine, you had only fainted.

He watched you. Bucky hadn’t watched you sleep like this since the 1940s.

He was suddenly back, leaning in the doorway, the soft light pouring behind him as he drank a cup of coffee, taking in the sight of his sweet wife sleeping before he went to work. You’d glow in the golden light of the morning, your face peaceful and serene. It was so intimate back then.

Bucky sat up as you stirred, familiar eyes slowly opening. You didn’t know where you were at first, your mind running through events. You’d picked Parker up from school, stopped for a snack, and came back to the tower. And seen your husband.

You sat up suddenly, and he put his arms out, one made of vibranium. His eyes were soft, full of love, not the empty steel you’d seen on the news. Your name fell from his lips, desperate and anxious.

You jerked away at first, startled by the reality of what was happening. You were frightened, alone in the room with your husband. You scrambled back against the headboard, trying to put distance between you and his outstretched hands.

You were about to scream when you realized he looked just as frightened as you. You slowly sank back against the headboard, slowing your breathing as you stared at him.

“James?”

“It’s me, doll. I’m home.”

You didn’t know how long the silence lasted, but it felt like hours. The two of you stared at each other, and when you finally decided he wasn’t going to hurt you, you gingerly moved toward him.

“I’m free from them. It’s just me, it’s not the winter soldier anymore,” Bucky’s voice was soft, and you blinked back tears.

“It can’t be you. You were gone.” Your voice trembled as you spoke.

“I’m back now. I came back for you. I’m never going to hurt you, or anyone else again.”

“James-”

“I’m not a killer anymore.”

The plea broke your heart, the shattered boy begging you to believe him, begging you to take him back. Tears slid down his cheeks, terrified of your reaction.

“James, I love you.”

“I love you, Y/N.”

Bucky felt like he’d waited a million years to say it, and the words spread through you, filling your empty soul.

You wanted to fall into his arms, to hold him close and feel him again. You wanted all of it to happen instantly, but that’s not how it was. You needed time, time to adjust, and time to trust him again before you returned to your husband fully.

You reached out to touch his arm, and he noticed the wedding ring wasn’t around your finger. His eyes flitted up to yours, and you pulled the chain from around your neck that hid beneath your shirt. It held his dog tags, and your wedding ring. Relief flooded Bucky, and you offered a the slightest hint of a smile.

“What happened?” You asked, cautiously running your fingers along the vibranium.

“I lost my arm when I fell from the train. Steve told you?”

“A bit... you fell, he didn’t know what happened after.”

“Can I touch you?” Bucky spoke gently, understanding your hesitation and being patient.

You nodded, and his hand slowly lifted to your face, fingers brushing over the curves of your skin. You laid your hand over his, kissing the inside of his wrist. He cried softly, a smile crossing his face as he felt you, promising it wasn’t a dream.

“Bucky, we need you for a meeting.” Stark leaned into the bedroom, hours later.

“Stark, now?”

“I’m sorry. Y/N will be here when you get back.”

“I’ll wait for you.” You promised, and he nodded, the words falling heavy between you.

Bucky followed Stark out, and you sat on the bed, processing the day. Bucky had quietly explained the Hydra brainwashing, about how he was held captive in his own mind. You believed him, but it would always be hard to shake those memories of him on the news.

“Hey, we didn’t mean to just drop this on you.” Steve came inside, sitting down on the mattress.

“You couldn’t have kept from me that my husband was suddenly free and home. Is he really, though? It is him? He won’t kill me in my sleep?” You asked, and Steve gave you a sad smile.

“It is. He’s traumatized, he won’t be the same as before the war. But it’s not the winter soldier, it’s Bucky.” 

You knew it was true. You knew the man before you, his heart and his soul, and you were going to grow to know his mind again.

You were curled up in bed, Steve beside you on the other side of the large mattress. 

“Stevie? Y/N?” you heard a soft voice from the doorway, and you sat up in the dark. You had trouble sleeping, and you were awake when he came in during the middle of the night.

“Bucky?” 

“I can’t sleep.”

“Come here,” you whispered, moving over in bed, closer to Steve, who was waking from the disturbance. You didn’t fear Bucky, especially not when he looked so frightened and upset.

You lifted the blanket, and Bucky got in on the other side of the bed. You pulled him to you, silently wrapping your arms around him. You felt Steve against your back, leaning over to place his hand on Bucky’s arm, smoothing over the skin slowly to comfort him. 

“You’re okay now, it’s over, my love,” you whispered, settling between the warm bodies.

Your head rested on Bucky’s chest, and you realized how long you’d spent waiting for it. You felt his lips press a kiss to the top of your head, and Steve bury his face into the back of your neck, needing to be close.

#bucky #bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #winter soldier #the winter soldier #the winter solider fanfiction #the avengers #the falcon and the winter soldier #the winter soldier au #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier x reader fluff #winter soldier x reader angst #bucky x reader angst #bucky x reader #bucky x reader fluff #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x reader angst #bucky barnes x reader fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky fluff #bucky angst #winter soldier angst #winter soldier fluff #tfatws #fatws #falcon and the winter soldier #female reader #avengers #avengers au

[stephspurs]

A Family Affair | Euro 2020 Football Fanfiction

hey besties!! here is part 8! Part 8 see's Amelia in a change of colours, her friendship with Jorgi explored more, an awkward Chelsea player and a cheeky Villa boy. Please enjoy & send me your thoughts! Love always, Steph xx

Part 8. | parte otto

word count;  1569 writing tools; third person until dashed line, first person thereafter. next update; Wednesday 11/08 5pm AEST. Updates are three times/week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday)! tags (as requested by users); @footballffbarbiex @obsesseds-world @abysshaven link to fic masterlist here

Landing in the rarely-sunny but always wonderful London town, Amelia was swiftly picked up from the airport by a man in a blacked out Mercedes van and driven away to her new club-appointed accommodation in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The 24 year old couldn’t help but feel a sense of home resonating through her body. Yes, Italy was also her home for the last 3 years, but there was something in the air in London that really made her believe that this is where she was meant to be.

Whilst happy that her quintessentially-British townhouse was a mere stones throw from Stamford Bridge and her family home just on the other side of the park in Holland Park she was still a 30+ minute commute, without traffic & one way, from Cobham. Beggars can’t be choosers, at least this way she was close to the hustle and bustle of London City, as well as her family and old friends.

A few days had passed since her talk with Fede, her swift departure from bella Italia saw only a small gathering occur at her apartment with some of the juventus boys on the eve before her flight. Constant check-ins from La Cosa Nostra whatsapp group chat, of course the word had spread to the rest of the Italian national team before she had even returned home from Fede’s place, meant that she was never left alone to her thoughts for too long.

Keeping the promise he had made when she phoned to tell him the news, Jorgi was knocking on her front door at 7:30am the following Monday morning, ready to drive the both of them to Cobham for Amelia’s first full day of work. He was the only person who knew she was taking this offer, other than the professional staff at Chelsea FC who had to organise her contract, so it was very much a nerve-wracking drive to the suburban training ground.

“Sapevo che stavi bene con il blu Azzurri, ma il blu Chelsea è un'altra benedizione che mi è stata conferita” (i knew you looked good in Azzurri blue, but Chelsea blue is another blessing bestowed upon me) Jorgi exclaimed as she opened the door to his car and slid in, having stopped right in front of her house in a no-park zone.

“Morning Jorgi, Thanks so much for picking me up - i’ll sort out a car this weekend i suppose”

“It's not a problem, I'm only a couple of streets away anyway so it's not out of my way.”

The pair caught up on the past couple of weeks without each other, speaking on the Fede situation and Amelia’s feelings. The best thing about Jorgi was how he was able to see both sides of the story. He valued Amelia's opinion and feelings as much as his long-time friend, Fede. He knew how hard it was for both parties to come to an amicable separation & he was making a mental note to call his italian pal to thank him for letting the girl go.

Amelia’s first day at Cobham was heavily administrative, spending a lot of time sorting out paperwork, meeting the team of staff she would be joining, getting her uniform, sorting out her office. After a quick bite to eat with the head analyst, Paolo (she just couldn’t seem to escape the Italians altogether), she collected her leather bound notebook and followed her colleague to the first team wing of Cobham. Whilst she was strictly working with the first team, she had expressed interest early on & stipulated it in her formal acceptance, that she wanted the opportunity to work with the academy players and the freedom to dip into the talent pool of Chelsea youth, to assist in perfecting her tactical plays.

She couldn’t deny that the blue of her uniform was the perfect shade to bring out the blue in her more-often-than-not grey eyes, she felt comfortable in it, she felt part of the team. Pushing open the door ahead of them, Paolo stood to the side like a true gentleman and gestured to Amelia through the door first.

______________________________________________________________

Walking in, I noticed that the scene in front of me was similar to the first time I met with some of these players. With their backs to me, facing the front, listening to every word that Tuchel was saying to them. I snuck in, stood to the side and waited for my introduction which came very shortly after.

“I want you all to meet the new tactical analyst that the club has appointed following a very successful european campaign this past summer, Amelia White” Thomas directed towards me, and just like that, a slight bit of deja-vu settled in as i watched 30+ sets of eyes turn to look at me. Some were happy to see me, some were polite and offered a small smile, and just one set looked a little shocked and very guilty.

“I trust you all will treat her with the respect that you show me, Paolo and all other members of this professional staff. We had to fight tooth and nail for this girl to join us and I can’t express how lucky we all are to be learning from her.” Tuchel dismissed his team, Jorgi pushing through the chairs to get to me.

“Amelia! What a surprise! Why didn’t you tell me about this!” Jorgi rushed over to me and wrapped me in a hug that I didn't return. Less than impressed with the boy's antics and sarcasm.

“Oh be quiet, you drove us both here today.” I spoke with a smile and rolled my eyes.

“Always the trouble maker Jorgi!” Mason Mount spoke from behind him.

“Amelia, nice to see you again! Can’t believe you didn’t tell us in the group chat!” Mason continued as he greeted me hello.

“Haha yeah, it all happened very quickly & to be honest, my decision wasn’t final until a couple of days ago. I had a few opportunities and I had to weigh up my options, Chelsea were willing to go a bit above the other clubs so it became obvious. Besides, someone once told me I would look good in the Chelsea blue” That someone also being the person who avoided my messages, and who is currently avoiding my eyes.

Later that evening.

“As if I deserved to know you picked the blues on sky sport?” Jack questioned the girl over facetime that evening, keeping their friendship tradition alive and cooking together.

“It all happened so quickly Jack, I was in talks with a few clubs and there was a bit of a tussle and negotiation stage and then I just had to pick one. Chelsea offered me the opportunity to foster the youth team talent and no one else was willing to cross-contaminate their professional staff” Amelia hurried down the phone, afraid that she hurt the brummie lad’s feelings.

“Calm down Mils, it's fine! I’m only playin wiv’ya. I’m happy for you - and me too, now I can come visit ya and have a place to stay in the city” He joked back to her. Jack had a certain way of calming the girl down, he reminded her a lot of Fede. He could read her before she came to terms with her own thoughts and feelings.

“Are you trying to tell me that you, with all of your friends and all of your money, need to rely on little old me for a place to stay in the city?” The joking tone went back to normal with the two flirtatious friends.

“No, I'm just saying that I'm happy you’re in the city. Ya know, it’s only a 2 hour drive. I could easily come down on a Friday after training and be back before a Sunday game…”

“2 hours is far too long to be in the car just to spend the day with me”

“That's where you’re wrong, it would be two nights and one whole day. Besides, 2 hours in the car is better than having to fly to get to you. I was prepared to do the latter anyway before your big move back to London” Oh did her heart swoon inside her chest, a quick blush spread across her cheeks and a little chuckle left her lips - unable to find the right words to say back to him.

Amelia knew the dangers of the situationship, this was exactly how it happened with Fede. She couldn’t help that she was naturally playful and flirtatious, she often didn't know she was doing it. Normal conversations to her often appeared like a hardcore flirt-fest to anyone who happened to be around the girl. She didn’t want to cross that line with Jack, she knew better than to do that, especially with how she hurt Fede in the end. She didn’t know where she was going to be in a few years, nor where he was going to be.

What she also recognised in the older lad that Fede also possessed, and she would be surprised if he didnt considering he is a professional football player, is that he was determined. Too determined that sometimes it was more about the chase and the challenge, rather than the aftermath or the reward. She knew Jack wouldn’t give up on her and would always be there for her. Was it bad that she enjoyed it?

Part 9. | nona parte

#tumblr tags #football imagine #football fic #jadon sancho #ben chilwell #mason mount #declan rice #ben white #jack grealish #tyrone mings #kyle walker #ben chilwell imagine #jack grealish imagine #mason mount imagine #football one shot #tyrone mings imagine #x reader #a family affair fic #steph writes #stephspurs #italian national team #jorginho #federico bernardeshci #jorginho imagine #bernardeschi imagine #juventus fic #juventus imagine #italy nt imagine #england nt imagine #three lions imagine

[mamabearcatfanfics]

Battle Couple

I've had this little idea for a while, and then decided I could bend it slightly to fit this year's @inukag-week's first battle couple prompt. Because not all battles we face have to be huge ones against a deadly foe. Sometimes the battles can simply be standing up for what's right.

Inuyasha dragged the beanie down tighter over his head, stomping towards the exit of the store. He hated this. This is why he bought things online and had them delivered. Because then he could avoid interactions like he’d just had with that racist arsehole. He glanced down at the text from Sesshoumaru again, wondering if there was some other way he could get this gift for Rin. It was the first time his half-brother had thrown a birthday party for his adopted daughter, and no doubt it would be a big deal.

Rin has expressed an interest in this item. Her birthday party is on Saturday at 10am. Do not be late.

And of course the toy Rin had asked for was sold out everywhere online. The tiny dolls with light up dresses and a matching crystal necklace were apparently ‘the’ toy at the moment. She specifically wanted the purple one, the ‘hope’ doll, because it was her favourite colour, and she already had the other dolls in the set. This was the last one she needed. And he hadn’t been able to find it anywhere. He was failing as an Uncle. The last store he’d been to, he’d practically seen a pair of mothers come to blows arguing over the last CrystalShines doll on the shelf.

He was close to the exit of the store when an intriguing scent wafted past his nose. It was another store employee, dressed in the dark polo shirt and black jeans, with one of those ear walkie talkies they all seemed to wear. She was giggling, talking to someone using the button on her mike, her other arm full of a variety of women’s clothing that she was putting back on the racks. Her arms were a blur as she began sorting them into different sizes, working quickly to make each rack neat and tidy.

He watched as she flitted about the store, talking to a customer, smiling and waving at a baby in a pram, folding jumpers and t-shirts. His eyes were drawn to her dark ponytail; the way it swung as she moved was almost hypnotic. Her glossy hair was black, but had a blue sheen to it under the harsh fluorescent lighting, and he had a sudden urge to reach out and touch it, stroke down the length of the swinging tail to see if it was as soft and silken as it looked.

Without even realising it, he followed her, almost bumping into her as she suddenly spun around to go in a different direction.

“Oh! Good evening sir, can I help you with anything?”

There was a pleasant smile on her face, and she was looking at him expectantly. His voice didn’t seem to want to work now he was actually standing close to her, so he turned around his phone, showing her the picture of the doll.

“This is what you’re looking for?”

“Yeah”, he said softly, his eyes focused on hers as she glanced up at him again. He’d never seen anyone with grey eyes before. It seemed they were lit from within like starlight, and now that he was closer to her, she smelt even better. He cleared his throat, trying to get a hold of himself. “My niece wants one of these for her birthday, and I’m having trouble finding one.”

“Okay”, she said, reaching for the button on her headset to talk to the other employees on the shop floor. “Let me just talk to my colleague in the toy department, and I’ll see if we’ve got that item in stock.”

❤

Kagome watched as the man in front of her visibly deflated.

“Don’worry about it then. Already talked to ‘im.”

And then she got it. Ryan was working the toy department tonight. Ryan the racist bigot who didn’t like interacting with any customers who weren’t white, male, good ol’ boys, exactly like him. Usually he worked out the back in the store room, unpacking shipments, but due to the flu going around and the shortage of staff, the evening shift manager had put him on the floor tonight. And he’d no doubt said something innaproppriate to this gorgeous man in front of her, who obviously had some sort of youkai heritage.

She’d had her own run-ins with Ryan. He’d said many cruel things to her over the past six months, since he’d found out what happened a few years ago, cruel enough to make her run to the safety of the women’s toilets to shed a few silent tears in private. He never bullied her in a place where others could overhear, he always cornered her in dark places where there was no one else around. He frightened her. Jak knew she was uncomfortable around him, and did his best to make sure they were never rostered on at the same time, so it had been a while since she’d had to deal with him.

She took in the golden eyes, fangs and the beanie yanked down hard over his long silver hair, but it was the resigned bitter look on his face that caught at her heart. She knew that feeling. Internally Kagome fumed, but outwardly she hoisted her brightest smile onto her face, wanting to make it up to him. She could fix this!

“Wait. I don’t know the toy department that well, but I’m sure I could help. Just give me a moment to put these things down.”

He followed her to a wheeled rack in the aisle where she hung all the clothing in her arms back up, and then turned to him, smiling brightly again.

“Let’s go to the toy department and see if we can’t find this doll for your niece. When’s her birthday?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh dear, that doesn’t give you much time to find one!”

“I’ve been lookin’ all week. Online stores have sold out.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll have one in stock. Let’s see, the doll aisle is around here somewhere.”

They walked together down the aisle, both scanning the shelves for the tiny dolls.

“They should be around here”, said Kagome, her finger running along the price labelling on the edge of the shelf, her eyes lighting up as she found the right tag, but sighing in disappointment as she found the shelf empty.

“Yeah”, sighed Inuyasha. “I asked the guy around here if he could find out if there were any more out the back or somethin’ and he, ah…”

“Don’t worry”, said Kagome, a determined look on her face, “I will personally go take a look in the store room for you. Just wait here for me sir.”

“Inuyasha.”

“Huh?”

He coughed a little, his head turning to the side to avoid her direct gaze. “My name, it’s Inuyasha.”

“Oh. Right. Just wait here for me Inuyasha, and I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks Kagome.”

She blinked in confusion as he said her name, wondering how he’d known it, then realised he had read her name tag.

For some reason him saying her name out loud made her stomach swoop, like she was on a roller coaster, even though her feet were firmly planted on the ground. As he gave her a shy smile, she felt her cheeks begin to heat, and she whirled around, making a beeline for the storage room, talking into the mike on her headset as she left.

“Hey Jak, it’s Kagome – just going out to the store room for a moment for a customer. I’ll get right back on those returns as soon as I’m done, okay?”

“Oooh, tell me it’s the hottie with the white hair that I pointed out to you!”

“Jak!”

“Oh it is! Take your time honey!”

“You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“And you love me for it. Make sure you get his name and number before he goes!”

“Jak!”

“For the customer form darlin’, what else did you think I meant?”

She could hear him still sniggering as she released the talk button on her mike, and she shook her head, grinning despite herself. He was her in-line manager and they got on really well, but rarely got to spend time together, as he was usually rostered on during the day, and her in the evenings so her day was free for lectures and study.

Kagome squeezed her way into the storeroom, scanning the aisles of stock yet to be placed out on the shelves. And then she saw it, the edge of a box with a picture of a tiny doll up on the highest shelf.

Dragging over the step ladder, she placed it under the shelf and climbed up, her petite size meaning she had to stand on the very top to have any chance of reaching the box. She just managed to reach the doll with the tips of her fingers, and nudged it. It tipped forward and fell, and with a gasp she managed to catch it with her outstretched hand, teetering on the top of the ladder, her other arm windmilling frantically to keep her balance.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her frantically beating heart after her almost fall, the box containing the doll clutched tightly against her. But she’d found one for him, a purple one, just like he’d wanted. She had no idea why that made her feel so incredibly happy, but it did.

Grinning widely as she emerged from the storeroom, she began walking directly to the toy department. She could see Inuyasha there, waiting for her. But she could also see Ryan, his arms crossed as he spoke to him, a sneer on his face. She quickened her pace. Previous experience had taught her that expression couldn’t mean anything good.

❤

Inuyasha stood his ground, hands clenched in tight fists by his sides. He had every right to be here – he was a customer, he hadn’t caused any commotion or damage. Kagome had asked him to wait here. But apparently that wasn’t good enough for this guy.

“I told you already, we’ve got none of what your looking for. Nothing for you. Are you deaf, or just stupid?” The volume of his voice wasn’t loud enough to draw anyone’s attention to them, but definitely loud enough to get on Inuyasha’s nerves.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hands shaking slightly as he held back. He would not punch out this idiot – this was a department store, not a battle ground. Even though he deserved it because he was a racist bigoted shit.

“I already told you to leave youkai! Do I have to call security?”

Inuyasha breathed out slowly, trying to keep any trace of anger out of his voice, even though he wanted to let rip. He’d found out the hard way that security tended to not ask questions, just see his youkai traits and assume the worst.

“And I already told you, another employee was taking a look out the back for me. She told me to wait here for her.”

“Yeah, like I’d believe anything one of you would have to say. You’re all the same. What are hidin’ under that hat huh? Some kinda weird freakish thing I’d bet. ”

“Inuyasha!”

Inuyasha turned, his eyes lighting up as Kagome appeared. But she wasn’t wearing the wide smile she had when she left. She was stomping towards them, a box tucked tightly under her arm, the scowl on her face impressive. Thankfully that scowl was not directed at him.

He could smell the nervousness pouring off of her, but you never would have thought it looking at the way she faced off with her work colleague, stepping in front of him like she wanted to shield him from this man's ire with her much smaller body.

“Ryan, I’m handling this customer. And I’ve already found what he needed, so there’s no reason for you to be here. I think you’ve probably said enough.”

There was the barest trace of a tremble in her voice, and Inuyasha moved in closer behind her, wanting her to feel like he was there to support her. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but he didn’t like it.

Ryan rolled his eyes and then sneered at her, his voice low and vicious.

“Ha. Shoulda known it would be you Kagome. Such a helpful little kiss ass. Why don’t you turn that cute little tush of yours around and head back to the ladies department where you belong, unless you’re still that desperate for some demon tail.”

“What?”

Ryan grinned at the shocked expression on Kagome’s face, posturing like he’d somehow scored a point. “Bit ironic really, you working in the ladies department when you’re anything but. A human ain't good enough for Kagome, huh? Wasn’t it bad enough that the last guy you had got fired, now you’re after customers too? You really are a-“

“Don’t. Say. Another. Word.”

Both Kagome and Ryan flinched at the snarled words behind them.

“Kagome, call your manager”, said Inuyasha gruffly. “I wanna report this guy.”

“It’s my word against yours demon, and little Kagome’s not gonna say anything, are you Kagome, because you’re fuckin’ pathetic. There’s nothin’ you can report me for”, snorted Ryan.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’d probably pick being a racist arsehole, for starters”, said another voice cheerfully. "Then maybe we could add workplace harassment."

A tall man in a tailored suit stepped into view, his dark hair slicked back into a short ponytail. He was holding his phone up, obviously still recording the whole thing.

“Here I was, minding my own business in the Lego aisle while I looked for the perfect birthday gift for my little girls, and what should I hear? An employee bad mouthing a customer, when the customer had been nothing but polite and civil. Don’t worry about proof, I’m happy to be a witness. I was recording the whole thing. From the very first racist slur that left your lips.”

Kagome’s eyes were wide as she glanced from the ponytailed man back to Ryan, and Inuyasha could hear her heart beating frantically. He nodded at her approvingly as she took a deep breath, her hand steady on the button on her headset.

“Jak, it’s Kagome”, she said, her voice a little breathless, but firm. “Can you-“

Ryan lunged towards her.

“Don’t you dare, you fuckin’ bitch!”

Inuyasha ducked out from behind Kagome, his fist grabbing the back of Ryan’s shirt and lifting him into the air, Ryan’s legs kicking frantically as he tried to escape. Before Kagome could move out of the way, his steel capped boot caught her on the chin. She dropped like a stone, crumpling to the floor in a heap.

“Fuck, Kagome!”

Inuyasha swung Ryan out of the way and dropped him none too gently, all his focus on the small woman laying prone on the slightly grubby linoleum floor, still out for the count. He could hear a scuffle behind him as the man in the suit and a few other observers struggled to keep Ryan contained, but he no longer cared about him. He knelt down close to her, gently stroking the glossy dark hair back from her face.

“Kagome, can you hear me?”

Inuyasha shook Kagome’s shoulder gently, trying to rouse her, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Inuyasha?” she said groggily, her arm tightening around the box, a wobbly smile on her face. “I got your doll.”

❤

It took a while to sort everything out. An ambulance was called, and the police. The police took statements from Inuyasha, Kagome and the man in the suit, Miroku. Ryan was fired on the spot, and Jak was positively gleeful, despite the mountain of paperwork he’d have to fill out before he went home that evening. When the paramedic suggested that Kagome should go to the hospital to be checked for possible concussion, Inuyasha had immediately said he’d like to go with her, if that was alright with Kagome, and after a few polite remarks about it not being necessary, she’d gratefully accepted. Jak had positively pushed them into the ambulance together, waving them off with a bright smile. It was the most exciting evening shift he’d had in years.

❤

“You don’t have to stay you know. I’ll be fine, I’ll just get an Uber home.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, leaning back against the wall, his arm resting on the edge of Kagome's hospital bed.

“For the tenth time woman, I don’t mind. I want to be here when the doctor examines you to make sure you’re okay. And then I wanna make sure you get home safe.” He sighed as he looked at the dark purpling bruise on Kagome’s chin. “I’m just sorry I didn’t throw that fucker down to the end of the aisle when I had the chance.”

“But it’s so late! It’s almost 2am, and you have the party to go to tomorrow. Today I mean.”

“Eh, that’s hours away. She won’t mind if I’m a little late, Rin’s a nice kid. And now I have the perfect present, thanks to you.”

Kagome was quiet for a while. The silence grew to feel uncomfortable, because Inuyasha could sense how tense Kagome suddenly was.

“Inuyasha… I want to explain. About what Ryan said to me.”

“Hmm?” He could smell nervousness again, billowing around her like a cloud, and he didn’t like it. “Doesn’t matter, none of my business.”

“But I want to”, she said, her voice taking on a stubborn edge.

“Fine, I’ll listen. But nothin’ you can say will change my good opinion of you. You stepped up for me back there Kagome, and that don’t happen for me much. I will always remember that.”

Kagome reached out her hand to lightly grasp the clawed one sitting next to her on the bed, and squeezed it.

“Thank you.”

He squeezed back.

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyway”, she sighed. “About what Ryan said. I started working at that department store when I was still in high school, as a weekend job. And there was this training manager, a kitsune. He’d come around every so often, and all the girls thought he was really good looking. He had a little green sports car; a lot of the other girls thought was really important. They all were flirting with him, and then he asked me out. I was so surprised. I mean, me! I’m nothing special! He was so stylish, and so charming. I really thought…” Kagome laughed but it had no humour in it, and Inuyasha squeezed her hand again. She shrugged, her shoulders coming up around her ears as her face turned away from him.

“I was so stupid! It turned out I was right about being nothing special, because he was going out with a couple of girls at every store that he visited.” She flinched a little at Inuyasha’s low growl of disapproval. “There were around ten of us. And because a couple of us were under aged, he was charged. Lost his job. Ryan found out about it a few months ago and thought-“

“Don’t say it”, said Inuyasha gruffly, squeezing her hand again. “Don’t matter what he thought. It’s in the past. And the Kagome I saw tonight was amazing.”

“No I wasn’t!” Kagome shook her head, then winced as her head throbbed, realising that was a bad idea. “I was so scared Inuyasha! I’ve never been able to stand up to him before. But I couldn’t stand the thought of him being mean to you!”

“Then you’re even braver than I thought.” Inuyasha entwined his fingers with hers, and cleared his throat. “Kagome, I know you don’t know me. But I think I’d like to get to know you. Could I call you? Maybe we could go out for coffee or somethin’? I mean you don’t gotta answer, and if you don’t wanna, I totally understand, I mean-“

“Yes.” Kagome giggled at the wide toothy grin on Inuyasha’s face. “Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in.”

“Wait. Maybe you should see what all’a me looks like before you say yes.”

Inuyasha tugged off his beanie, revealing the pointed white dog ears on top of his head. “If you wanna change your mind, I-“

“They’re so cute!” squeaked Kagome. “Please give me your phone!”

❤

Kagome woke up the next morning very late, so late that it was no longer morning at all.

It had been 3am by the time Inuyasha had dropped her home with a bag of painkillers and the Doctor’s instructions for treating her mild concussion. He’d helped her into bed, placed her medicine and a glass of water next to the bed for her, kissed her softly on the cheek and whispered goodnight, closing the door behind him.

She rubbed her cheek gently at the memory of that small kiss, a smile on her face. She still had a headache, so she took two of the tablets, then reached for her phone on the bedside table where it had been charging.

There were two messages.

The birthday girl loves her present! Attached was a picture of a smiling Inuyasha kneeling with his arm around a little girl in a checked orange party dress and sparkly sandals, her dark hair up in pig tails. A wide excited grin split her face, revealing the gap of a missing front tooth. The doll was clutched tightly in her hand, and she was wearing the necklace that came with it.

I told Rin how brave you were, and she wanted you to have some birthday cake. Can I bring some over when you wake up? 🍰

Kagome smiled almost as wide as Rin, despite her headache.

I’d love you to ❤

#inukag week #inukag week 2021 #battle couple #all the fluff #it's now 3am and I'm a tired tired Mama Bear #but at least I got one prompt in on time

[an-assortment-of-forks]

Just found out an ex-friend of mine posted a long victim blaming, manipulative post talking about him and his relationship with a current friend of mine. I don’t want to tag them because they don’t need any more of this mess on their dash, but he is currently under the @ thelefthandbonch (used to be atlasthewolfking, and also atlasthetoad). if you’ve reblogged or seen that post you’ll know what I’m talking about.

This man openly and intentionally misgendered his ex in his original post, so cw for that along with mentions of r*pe, su*cide, victim blaming, manipulation, and using his ex’s mental illness as a possible defence for what he did. To be EXTREMELY clear, I was in the group chat he mentions in his post since the beginning, and I was a very active member. I was also once his friend and I also once believed him or was unsure of my stance on this. I won’t stand for the story he’s spinning.

Regardless of how my friend spoke of him on their own personal blog, I believe they had the right to do so. I am livid for them, and I hurt for them deeply. He has never shown restraint in the past, and has used his porn addiction as a scapegoat for an extraordinary amount of things.

He kissed me without consent “as a joke” on one of his visits where we met up with a mutual friend, and that only furthers my belief of what my friend claims.

I will admit I didn’t know the exact ins and outs of their relationship because I didn’t want to ask my friend to speak more than they were comfortable about it, but I can say I always felt unsure about him even when I wasn’t positive why (even before he kissed me as a “joke”). He flirted with everyone in that group chat and had or attempted relationships with many of the people in there. He never owned up to anything and always pulled the victim card whenever he did anything wrong, as he’s doing now.

Not to mention he is calling out my friend for things completely unrelated to this story just to make him look better and further the dragging of their name. I am absolutely livid in a way I haven’t been in a long time. 

I am an adult. I am 22 years old. I have never once wanted to force a kiss on someone without their consent, much less anything else. It’s also extremely funny to me that he mentions how my friend is polyamorous to drag their image down more, while he kissed me and flirted with another of my friends while they were still in a relationship. 

If you support or believe his sob-story and believe he’s changed, cool, but I haven’t seen any change in his behavior to warrant the support he is getting from the post he has pinned at the top of his blog. A post where he drags the name of another person and paints them in a horrible light based on what he believes will garner him more support on the matter. A post where he actually owns up to nothing, and the things he does own up to he quickly skims over because he can do no wrong because he’s “trying to improve himself”.

TLDR; if you support him I’d like to ask you to unfollow me. Not because I dislike you based on you also being manipulated into believing he can do no wrong, but because I feel uncomfortable personally due to what happened to me as well.

#and dont ''oh wow I thought Ves was a christian i cant believe she'd act like this'' me #I AM ANGRY #REASONABLY SO #SUE ME. #some of my friends liked and reblogged that post and it hurts so much to know whats actually going on #it takes two to tango and i know that. i really do #but this is horrific #i cant just be quiet and let this happen #typed this out REAL fast out of anger also so my thoughts arent entirely together #but i dont care enough to wait and read over it again before posting

[starrynite7114]

Two Weeks (Miguel Galindo)

A/N: Tomorrow is my final and I think I’ve reached the point of a mental breakdown that you’re just numb to it. But no matter, positive thoughts all around and hoping my brain isn’t so mean anymore. But due to this, I needed a much needed distraction and finished part one of my Miguel mini series. He may be a little OOC, but I hope you all enjoy this lovely work of mine.

Everything is you, Snapshots, Misconstrued, and two requests will be posted within the next two weeks. 

Also may be adding Rio to my lovely writing list, we’ll see. 

This is my brain on procrastination, please forgive me. 

Love you all and I hope you lovelies are having an amazing week thus far!

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CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL GIF CREATOR!

You couldn’t do this, you were at wits end. You wanted nothing more than to throw your work phone away as it constantly rang, constantly interfered with your life, sanity, sleep, and did you already say sanity? Just in case, your sanity. 

“If I ignore it, it never happened.” You looked at the clock and it was three in the morning, you had to be up in three hours to get ready for work to see this despicable man once more. 

The ringing stopped, a sigh of relief overtaking your body. Your eyes closed and yet again, it fucking rang.

“FUCK YOU MIGUEL GALINDO.”

You took a deep breath, gathering what remained of your sanity.

“Hello Mr. Galindo, what can I do for you at three in the morning?”

His chuckle rang across the phone, aggravating you more. “Ooh, Mr. Galindo? I’m in trouble, rightfully so. I apologize for calling you so early in the morning, but I’m in a bit of a conundrum.”

“Miguel, I am not picking you up from Alejandra’s place.”

“I gave Nestor the night off.” He argued.

“I’m technically off too you asshole!” You were one of the few who didn’t fear Miguel. You knew of his capabilities, but you figured you were far too valuable.

“Yes, I am fully aware of that, your nights are sacred. But you know I rarely call you on nights.” He countered.

“Correct that statement.”

“Anymore.” He corrected himself. 

“Miguel, why do you continue to meet this girl if you’re not interested in her?” Ever since his divorce with Emily two years ago, Miguel has been single and kept it that way. Which in hindsight was for the best. With the cartel, real estate, which he still headed with Emily, and the rebels, he had plenty of things to occupy his time. But you knew why he liked the causality of his relationship with Alejandra. 

No strings attached.

No questions.

No commitments.

It fit his lifestyle.

“Because, I have needs and you know, she’s easy on the eyes.”

You begrudgingly got out of bed and made sure to sigh loudly. Miguel chuckled, and you just cussed his name in the three languages you knew. 

“Stop cussing me out in your head. Are you coming to get me?”

“I get the day off.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Better cuddle up then.”

“Fine, but we’re having breakfast then you can have your day off.”

“No work talk during breakfast or the ride home.”

Miguel groaned. “Deal.”

===========

You sat across from Miguel at this diner in San Diego, your usual spot whenever you picked him up from Alejandra’s. Miguel rarely indulged himself or let his real self out due to his obligations as a cartel head. He had a reputation to maintain, his playful and joking nature was hardly in display. But whenever he let himself be free, it was easy to see why Emily fell for him. 

You didn’t, but you could acknowledge why your asshole of a boss could be charming.

You dedicated ten years to Miguel. He taught you the ins and outs of business along with his illegal activities. If he was ever indicted, you knew you would be a target as well. Miguel always tried to keep you out of the cartel side of things, but that proved to be difficult. 

Straight out of college, twenty-two years young with your English major in hand, you applied for Miguel’s assistant position. What was supposed to be an in between job before doing a Master’s program turned into ten years of unfulfillment. You learned much from Miguel. He forced you to learn how to become a business woman, to think like him. You were the brain that wasn’t attached to him. 

But you had to walk away.

You were thirty-two years old, with nothing to your name. You wanted to be something. You couldn’t be his assistant forever. As much as he was a pain, you enjoyed working with Miguel, but you could still enjoy his friendship without working with him.

“Do you think I should involve myself in a relationship again? It doesn’t look good for my image if I remain unattached.” Miguel broke you out of your thoughts.

“True, but if you remain single, less people to worry about. Personal relationships in your line of work is hardly ideal.” This constitutes as business talk, but you’ll let it slide. 

“You’re right, and this is why you’re my right hand.” Miguel knew that technically belonged to Marcus or even Nestor, but he never made a decision without your input. He was just used to it. 

“I wanted to speak to you about something.”

“Go for it.” Miguel gave his full attention to her. “Are you finally going to confess your undying love for me?”

You know she liked playful Miguel, but when he was being this obnoxious, she liked hardened, cartel boss Miguel.

“Right, should I stab you now or later?” You rolled your eyes making Miguel laugh. “I’m going to look for a new secretary.”

“Sure, you need help?” Miguel hardly argued with you. He trusted your judgment after all.

“No, I’m resigning.”

===========

“She has to be in love with me.” Miguel paced back and forth in his office, a few hours after your breakfast.

Nestor watched his boss and closest friend, amused by his suggestion.

“Y/N?” It’s not that Nestor couldn’t see you falling for Miguel, but, that wasn’t it. “You’ve said it yourself that she’s far too bright to remain your assistant forever.”

“That was just insanity talk, of course I expect her to stay by my side.” Miguel stopped in front of Nestor. “She quit right after she picked me up from Alejandra’s. She hated picking me up from there and she never got along with Emily.”

“All circumstantial. You know she cherishes her sleep, most likely the reason she was annoyed. Second, Emily was always a bitch to her.” Emily never liked you since she thought you undermined her with Miguel, which was far from the truth. Nestor witnessed a majority of your fights and it was hardly pretty. “All circumstantial.”

“No, she’s jealous. I know it. No matter, I can get rid of Alejandra.”

Nestor shook his head. He knew this day would come, you spoke to him about it quite often recently. But he didn’t think it would be too soon. He also knew Miguel wouldn’t handle it well. It was hard for him to trust anyone and the fact the person he trusted most was going to leave? 

Miguel was at the first stage, denial. 

===========

You drove up the driveway of Miguel’s home the next morning, Nestor greeting you by your car.

“You had to drop that bombshell and take the day off?” Nestor shook his head. He loved Miguel, he did, but yesterday was full of theories and bullshit he didn’t want to partake in.

“Well if you’re didn’t take the night off then I could have told him later that morning.” You retorted, glaring at your friend.

“You’re punishing me for taking a personal day?”

“I’m not punishing you, I didn’t think he was going to go overboard with the theories.” Nestor texted you every fucking thing that Miguel had said. It went from you having a secret family, secret boyfriend to being in love with him, which was what he settled with.

“To be fair, I said it was all circumstantial.”

“And it is.” You handed your purse to Nestor. “I’m posting the job later and see if we get any candidates that are,”

You paused. “We’ll see if we can find people that are trustworthy.” It wasn’t about skills. It wasn’t about degrees. It was about being trustworthy.

“How can you even determine that?”

“I have good intuition.”

“Right, forgot, you're psychic.” He teased her. 

“Fuck you,” you playfully pushed him.

Nestor opened the door for you and you walked in finding Marcus and Miguel sitting around in the living room.

“There she is,” Miguel greeted you, giving you a hug and kissing your cheek. “How are you?”

“Good,” you gave him an odd look. “You ready, we have a packed day today.”

All three men were looking at you and you gave them a questioning look.

“Am I missing something?” 

“I got you something.” Miguel smiled, taking your hand in his. He led you through the house to the garage and before entering he requested for you to close your eyes. “If you got me a car, I swear to god.”

“Wait, why, did you not want a new car?” Miguel frowned. Materialistic items usually appeased women, it definitely kept Emily’s temper at bay when it was directed at him. But he should know how you were by now. Materialistic items rarely impressed you. He found it odd that the little things he did for you was what left the most impression. He got you a rose gold bracelet for your birthday and while you were thankful, he could tell it didn’t impress you much. He brought you lunch from your favorite restaurant, and it was like he gave you the world. 

Why the fuck did he get you a damn car? 

“I’m not Emily, Miguel, you can’t just wave a shiny thing in front of me and I’ll change my mind.” You crossed your arms across your chest. “Did you get me a car?”

“No,” he closed the door. 

Nestor refrained from laughing while Marcus just chuckled.

“You already bought it, might as well let me see.” You nodded your head towards the door.

Miguel indulged you and opened the door. Your mouth dropped. “You got me a Range Rover?” It was your dream car, one that you were saving up for, and now you had it. But you weren’t staying. “As much as I want the car, it’s not going to work. I’ll be posting the job later on today.” You saw that Nestor closed the door as soon as you said that. 

“This is ridiculous, why do you want to quit? Am I not compensating you enough?” Miguel was frustrated. He didn’t want you to leave. How could you leave? He compensated you well. Always made sure you were well taken care of and to top it off, you were basically the closest confidant he had. He trusted you with his life, there was no way he could find anyone he trusted as much as you. 

“I told you, it’s for personal reasons.” You didn’t understand why you had to give him a reason. In any other job, personal reasons would suffice. 

But this was different.

You knew change was not something Miguel was a fan of, he was meticulous and hardly deviated from his normal. He had a schedule and strictly followed it. When the plans deviated, it greatly irritated him, but you always found a way to soften the blow so he wasn’t inconvenienced. 

“I think I warrant more than a generic answer.”

“Miguel, I’ve been your assistant for ten years now. It’s just time for me to move on professionally. I couldn’t possibly be your assistant forever.”

“Are you in love with me?”

He blurted it out so quickly that even he was surprised he did. Miguel hardly said anything without thinking of it, but you were an anomaly to him. He spoke before he thought of his words with you.

“No, absolutely not.” You laughed. “No offense, you’re a good looking guy, but I also know you, so no, I’m not interested.”

“Why not?” Miguel was slightly appalled by your rejection of the idea of being in love with him. Was he not worthy? He was a catch if he said so himself. 

“What? What do you mean why not? I’m not interested, simple as that.” You could tell your rejection affected Miguel. Not everyone fell to his feet, especially not you. “Look, now that we got that theory out of the way, want to try another? Why is it so hard to believe I just want a better career?”

“I can provide that for you.” 

“Miguel, what can I possibly do in your organization that would be a promotion? I swear to god, if you say executive assistant.”

“Come on querida, give me more credit than that.” Miguel chuckled. “You can handle the developmental projects around Santo Padre. You could be my development manager.”

“No, absolutely not, I would have to work with Emily. She already thinks we're sleeping together, the last thing I want to do is deal with Emily.” 

“Y/N, come on, I’m sure I can find something in my organization that can fulfill this desire you have.” Miguel was not comfortable with the thought of losing you. He wasn’t willing to accept it.

“Miguel, we have to move on some time, you’ll be fine. I will find the most eligible candidate for this job. I promise.” You gave him a hug. 

You needed to do this. You couldn’t stay in this job forever, you had to move on.

“Hand them over.”

“What?”

You stuck your hand out. “You got me the car, it would be rude to not take it.”

===========

“She’s in love with me, it's the only logical reason.” Miguel was sitting down on the couch by the pool, nursing the whiskey in his hand.

“Did she not say she wasn’t?” Nestor wasn’t sure why they were talking about this again when Miguel already spoke to you. 

“She’s hiding it.”

“Look, I’m going to ask this at the risk of being killed by you, but out of pure curiosity, are you hoping she’s in love with you so you can confess some deep secret you’ve kept from her?” 

“No, absolutely not, I’m not interested in her, but if it keeps her by my side, I can be with her.”

Nestor gave Miguel an incredulous look, chuckling at his friend’s terrible idea. Though, he couldn’t help, but play Devil’s Advocate.

“You know what, you should pursue her.”

“Now you see what I’m seeing. She wouldn’t be able to say no to me. I know her like the back of my palm.” 

Nestor had to refrain from chuckling. This was going to be a fun two weeks. 

#miguel galindo #miguel galindo fanfiction #miguel galindo imagine #mayans mc imagine #mayans mc fic #mayans mc fanfic

[boldlyanxious]

Remember when

Part 25: Unresolved

RW masterlist

All fic masterlist

Tim was grateful that the mission was wrapping up. It had clearly been a set up, but not for them. It would probably make the drug ring even more difficult to track down since they had gone to such lengths to move the whole production, but that would be a problem for another day. Every one of the families, even the ones at locations they had not been aware of, had moved into their houses within the last week as part of a program to provide affordable housing for in need single parent families. He felt bad for all of them considering they were all pawns as part of a much larger scheme but he was far too worried about Marinette to be overly concerned about them now that they were all safe.

Without having captured even one person associated with the drug ring and having exhausted all their known locations, Tim feared they may not be able to find her quickly. He did not know what they could have possibly wanted with her unless they were sure she was Rouge Gorge and thought she had information about them. Although he chilled at the thought that they may have figured out exactly how much information about the drug ring had come from her. She had managed to be in the wrong place at the right time enough to give them all of the major leads they had followed throughout the case.

Oracle was attempting to trace her phone but having no luck. It was no more than he expected. Her phone was basically a burner phone. He had never seen for sure but he suspected she kept no information on it and that she took measures to make sure it had no way to be tracked. For all he knew she could be being held at her apartment. He had no idea where she lived, just that it was within walking distance of her work. That was only a guess based on knowing she had no car and had always walked to meet up with him.

He was dejected as he prepared to head back to the base. He didn’t know what would happen when they all arrived back there. Nothing had been resolved from the recent upheaval. They all were just ignoring their interpersonal issues in order to take care of the immediate issue with the coordinated attack on the drug ring. But the radio chatter even while they were all busy was not nearly as easy going as it tended to be when they were all getting along. He might be channeling Jason because he just wanted to punch someone until he had answers. Maybe he shouldn’t head back while feeling that way in case he decided to punch Batman. Even if he was working on learning more about her work as Rouge Gorge, Tim felt she would not be in this position if it were not for the threats.

---

He was still in the room but he remained silent. He was somewhere behind where she was sitting. There was no other movement in the house. Marinette suspected everyone else had left to deal with whatever excitement had everyone moving around this evening. He hadn’t even asked her many questions at all. She suspected he was just trying to make her nervous so she would just spill everything but without knowing what he knew telling him anything could be very bad for her. She couldn’t do anything that would risk the miraculous box even if it was herself she was risking. It was a few minutes before movement from another person proved her wrong about everyone else being out of the house. A hushed conversation took place behind her before she was once again approached by the man in charge.

When he came over to where she was, he was holding her laptop. She wasn’t sure what kind of information an expert might be able to get from it. She used it mostly for her online sales or for listening to music and watching shows. She kept no pictures or any information about who she was in France or at all really. She was fastidious about leaving no trace of herself online anywhere it could be found. She had not even used her name in any legal or official capacity since she had run from the hospital there. Everything she did was over the internet using passwords and fake log ins. She was especially careful with her recent communication with Adrien. She preferred using email with a hidden location so he wouldn't know she was still in Gotham; she wasn’t sure how effective that would be from her phone. She also tried to clear her history frequently but she could see he had it on the website where her orders came in so she had clearly missed something.

“Even the most careful person leaves a trace somewhere, but this is the only history my best guy could find on your laptop.”

“I don’t know what you are looking for but those beaded headbands are really cute.”

“I had thought you could get me information to stop annoying interference in my business, but clearly you are hiding far more than a secret night life.”

“Maybe I’m just a very boring person. I don't have information. I work, I play Mecha Strike and I sleep.”

“No, it is more than that. You are completely hidden. Your work. Your apartment. Your life is all completely anonymous. Who are you hiding from?”

"I told you, I'm a private person."

"We shall see when I get you to tell me about yourself. I wonder if your apparent concern for children is greater than your desire to hide things from me."

"I don't even know what that means."

He leaned in close to her. He held her still bound hands so they pressed against her. She couldn't even shift to move away from him as he leaned over spoke low right next to her ear.

"I know you are the masked girl and you were very worried about the children that night. You were more concerned for them than for yourself. My men are on their way to see them now unless you have anything you want to tell me."

---

“This isn’t over,” Jason said into the comms once he and Arsenal had gotten away from the warehouse and they could safely speak.

“Wrap it up for the night. We will regroup later.” Batman said.

“I have a lot to compile before I even know where to start with finding more locations for the drug ring. But I’m starting with any more information on where the missing girl is. I’m searching cameras near where we think she lives for any suspicious behavior or known associates of the ring.” Oracle explained.

“No, you don’t understand,” Arsenal spoke this time, “Penguin had the bulk of the force out working for him tonight.Penguin just ordered his men to attack. Falcone was taken and all his men at the warehouse are dead.”

“We should deal with this immediately if we want to keep it from getting out of hand. Penguin likely intends to kill Falcone but would want to do it publicly.” Jason added.

“Agreed. Regroup at Wayne Tower to form a plan. Oracle, see if you can find any movement we can start with.” Batman said.

Next

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#maribat #timinette #timari #boldlyanxious

[libraryofloveletters]

you should do an opposite to hurt where Matt's secret girlfriend works in the medical field and matt comes in one day as he hurt in the field where the reader is upset with him and they also relieve their relationship to the team. mostly fluff and some angst with prompt 7.

Relief 

Matt Simmons x Reader 

Prompt #7: “Hear me out” “Why the fuck should I listen to you” 

Warnings: fem!reader, cursing, mentions of injuries and blood, fighting 

Category: angst/fluff

Word Count: 1.7k (I got a little carried away) 

Author’s Note: you can read hurt for some backstory but it isn’t necessary. This can be read by itself.

Hurt (backstory) 

Healed (pt.2!) 

------

It’s been a few months since you’ve gotten shot, Emily suggested you take some time off and with Matt forcing you, you didn’t have much of a choice. The team had seen the two of you in your hospital room so they knew the two of you were close, but how close ? They weren't exactly sure. 

You had been working at the hospital, something you loved doing until the FBI recruited you. You and Emily were friends since you were children and she asked you to fill in for Spencer while he was in prison. She knew your medical background would be useful to them. She was also the reason you even met Matt in the first place. 

Since you’ve been back at the hospital, you’ve had a few drop ins from Spencer  and Luke if they were here to see the medical examiner. Penelope has stopped by every once in a while to get lunch with your or just to fill you in on office gossip. 

----

Today was a quiet day, only a few people came through to the emergency room. A few cases of the stomach bug, a broken arm and a small fracture on a little boy who ran into the tree playing tag. You were signing off on some medication orders when the doors to the ER opened. 

Two paramedics rolled in a stretcher with someone on it. You stood up to see who it was, Luke came running in after them. 

“Y/n! Did Penelope call you ?” 

“Luke! No, I'm working tonight, what happened ?” 

You rounded the counter as he walked over to you, “It’s Matt, he got shot. I don't know what else happened, they pulled him into the ambulance before I could follow. I came with the SUV” You didn’t even wait to hear what else he said before you ran down the hallway to find him. “Matt!” you shouted as you ran into the room, it’s not like he could answer you but you hoped he was alright. 

“We’ve got to get him up to the OR, he’s got a broken femur and some internal bleeding. We need to take the bullet out” you nodded, letting them wheel him away to the OR. You knew you couldn’t be in there, they wouldn't let you. You were too close to him for them to let you in. You stood there watching until you couldn't see them anymore, Luke found you standing in the middle of the hallway. You weren’t moving, your face was expressionless. “y/n..” he stepped in front of you, you broke down in his arms. “Hey, he’ll be okay. He’ll pull through” Luke held you and rubbed your back as you cried. 

---- 

It’s been 4 hours since he had been taken into surgery, you were starting to worry even more. You paced back and forth the waiting room, Luke tried to get you to sit, Tara tried to talk to you and assure you that he will be okay but you didn’t listen to either of them. Their words came in one ear and out the other. 

Emily suggested that you should go check on your patients while you waited to take your mind off of things, you told her you got someone to cover your shift. Spencer offered to step outside and have a smoke with you even though you knew he didn’t smoke. He knew it was something you did when you were stressed, he picked up on it the last time you were in California for a case. 

The doctor finally came out to talk to you, he said Matt is asleep and the recovery process would be slow and painful but he would be okay. You finally sat down, your feet aching from how long you had been standing. The team headed in to see him first, you said you'd stay with him overnight so when he woke up, he wouldn’t be alone. 

Luke asked you if you wanted some company and that he didn’t mind staying, you swore to him that you would be fine. He promised to be back in the morning to check on you. You sat in his room, making yourself comfortable. Your friends stopped by on their way out to say hi and see if you needed anything. 

---- 

It was 4:15 am when you heard something fall, you sat up and rubbed your eyes. Matt was awake and trying to reach for the glass of water on the table next to him which he had just knocked down. “I've got it” you poured some into a new glass and handed it to him with a straw. You wiped off the table and sat on the chair beside his bed. You took the empty glass from him and rested it on the table. 

He looked so tired and fragile, you were scared to touch him. You felt useless, you were a doctor and here you were, not sure how to help him. “Is there anything you need? Are you in pain ?” He shook his head and shut his eyes. You brushed his hair off his forehead, placing a kiss there. He opened his eyes to look at you, a small smile on his face. 

“What happened ?” 

“Luke said you were shot. You had a broken femur and some bleeding. You’ll be okay but you’re definitely going to have to take some time off work” 

He looked at you like you just committed a crime, he chuckled and shook his head. 

“Take time off work ? I'm not doing that.” 

“Matt, come in. Don’t be stubborn, you can’t just rush into the field, you have to  let your leg heal properly.” 

He looked at you and shook his head again, you leaned back against your chair.  “I took time off when I was shot, I came back to the hospital because you thought it would be safer for me.  I did what you thought was best for me and now that I'm asking to take time for you to let your leg heal properly, you don't want to? Just hear me out Matt” You held his hand, hoping that he would reason with you. He pulled his hand away and scoffed “Why the fuck should I listen to you?”

You didn’t react, you just looked at him. You were shocked, even when he’s upset, he never lashed out on you. “I get that you’re upset but-” “I don’t care. I'm not doing what you want, it's my choice.” You couldn’t believe him, you stood up and headed towards the door. Turning back to look at him “You know what? Do whatever the fuck you want. I'm done with you and your shit Matthew” you walked out of his room and headed outside. You texted Luke that he should come to the hospital and stay with Matt. You didn’t even wait for him to text back before you headed home. 

----

6 days. 

That’s how long it’s been since you last spoke to Matt. He was still at the hospital, they had to keep him for observation to make sure his leg was okay and the incision healed properly. You’d stop in while he was sleeping to check on him, you were still his girlfriend after all. You had been updating the team on his condition as they were away on another case. Penelope has been coming by to check on him and keep him company. 

“Dr. L/N to room 453, Dr. L/N to room 453″ 

That was Matt’s room and suddenly, you found yourself sprinting down the hallway like you had been that night. You turned the corner and ran into his room, stopping yourself before you ran into his bed. Matt looked fine, he was asleep and Penelope sat in the corner knitting something. “Penny what’s going on?” she put a finger up telling you to wait until she’s done, you stood there for a few minutes until she put down her scarf looking thing. 

“You need to talk to him. He’s miserable sugar. He misses you, he’s always asking if I've seen you and if you're okay” she pushed her glasses up, you glanced at him and back to her. “Penny, I can’t. Do you even know what he said to me?” She nodded. “He told me everything” She picked up her bag and walked over to you “The team will be back soon, I'll be back with them afterwards. Just talk to him, please ?” She gave your arm a squeeze and headed out. Matt woke up right after Penelope left, he rubbed his eyes and looked at you.

“Y/n.. I'm sorry baby. God, I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was in pain and I was angry. You know I didn’t mean it” 

You didn’t know what to say, you took a seat on the chair beside him. He reached out for your hand but you pulled away. All the hope from his face, now washed away. “Y/n.. please” you wanted to forgive him but you knew you shouldn’t but you couldn’t stay mad at him forever. 

“I don’t forgive you but I'm not mad” he let out a breath neither of you realized he was holding, he reached out for your hand, glancing at you as you put your hand in his. He tugged on your hand pulling you closer to him, he leaned close to you, faces inches apart

“I love you y/n” 

“I love you too Matt” 

He kissed you, his hand on your cheek as you leaned forward on your chair. Your kiss was interrupted by a squeal. “Oh goodie! you guys made up” You and Matt turned to see Penelope by the door with the team. JJ, Emily and Tara all smiling, Luke gave you two a wink as his arm wrapped around Penelope who was already discussing wedding details with Rossi, which he seemed oddly excited about. Spencer looked around “What did I say? I knew they were together” 

The secret was out now. 

#matt simmons #matt simmons smut #matt simmons x reader #matt simmons x y/n #matt simmons x you #matt simmons imagine #matt simmons oneshot #ssa matt simmons #cm #cm imagines #cm imagine #cm oneshot #criminal minds #criminal minds imagines #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds oneshot

[alicanta77]

Finale: All or Nothing

Pairing: y/n x Haechan

Themes: angst, fluff, suspense(?)

Warnings: swearing, zombies, blood, violence, death, virus, illness, anxiety, mentions of abusive family, needles (one injection)

Words: 12.4k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Finale

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The inspiration for this story came from my amazing friend @2-cute-4-school and her story called ‘Evanescent’. Her work is so brilliant and she is such an under-appreciated writer. I can’t recommend or praise her enough. Thank you to the ends of the earth for letting me use it as a starting point.

I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read post mortem. This is my first series and it so special to me so it means so much to receive likes, comments and tags saying that you enjoyed it. It has brought me brilliant friends such as @in-my-neofeelings and @honei-n and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. It’s been a wild ride so far and I hope you enjoy the finale!

Felix xox

——————————————————————————

Jeno walked swiftly down the hallway. He had holding a single piece of paper, folded in half to hide what was on it and his feet were almost silent as he made his way to your room. He turned a quick corner, knocking on your door three times, pausing for a second, then knocking again twice, before letting himself in.

He closed the door behind him, twisting the lock so that it clicked, before turning around and facing the rest of you. He held up the paper in his hands.

‘I’ve mapped out the blueprint of the army base.’

I.N. spoke next, running a hand through his hair to hide the fact that it was shaking slightly.

‘I’ve figured out how to override the system.’

Wooyoung joined in, swallowing before talking.

‘I’ve sorted our weapons.’

You spoke last. 

‘I’ve planned our route.’

The four of you looked around at each other, your obvious nerves making the tension levels rise.

I.N. took a deep breath.

‘Ok, so we’re all set for going back into the simulation.’

You nodded, determination taking over your mind as you shared a look with the boys in front of you.

‘Let’s blow this thing up.’

It hadn’t been easy to get organised. Especially not without drawing any attention to yourselves. Jeno had managed to draw up a map of the army base, marking the easiest route to the kill switch. He still remembered the ins and outs of that place from his summer camp, therefore was nominated the best person for the job. I.N. had spent his few days in the tech lab. He worked alongside a few other technicians, supporting people in the simulation. He quickly realised however, that they weren’t supporting them, but instead were directing packs of zombies towards them, trying to get as many people as possible to turn. It was in mindless conversations with these people that I.N. managed to ask a few questions about the system and get a vague understanding of how it worked. Wooyoung had been the one to realise that you would need weapons. Once the people here figured out that you had gone, they were going to come after you with everything they had. You knew too much. You were going to have to protect yourself, and Wooyoung managed to figure out how. And your job was to plan the way to the army base. You were hoping that I.N. could find a way to place you at the army base but, just in case, you had planned seven other routes. You had also spoken to Donghyuck’s sister, begging her to stay safe and keep her head down for the time you were away. You didn’t tell her much, only that you were going to get Donghyuck. She seemed to understand a lot more than you thought she did, as she gently held on to you while you hugged goodbye, taking the chance to whisper “do what you have to” in your ear. You had no idea if she had figured out what was really going on, but you knew you would never underestimate the girl again.

Tomorrow was the big day. Tomorrow was when it mattered. Tomorrow you went back into the simulation.

---

You were lying in bed that night, Jeno next to you as you chatted with each other about random things, trying to ease your nerves. You were glad that he hadn’t left you alone, instead claiming that he would wait for you to fall asleep before heading back to his own room.

‘What do you think will happen to us in there?’ He asked, changing the subject from whether starfish have feelings to the task ahead of you.

‘I don’t know.’ You answered honestly. ‘Probably what happened before, except harder. There are more zombies and we have to be careful not to get bitten. I mean, we always were careful but... everything relies on us now.’

‘As long as one of us makes it we’ll be okay.’ He reasoned, keeping his eyes on the ceiling above him. ‘We’re gonna get to see everyone again too.’

‘Yeah.’ You breathed out, your mind filled with the memories of Hyuck and you couldn’t begin to imagine what it would feel like to see him again. ‘It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I saw them last.’

‘I know.’ Jeno replied. And he really did. Since you both got your real memories back, your friendship had gone right back to normal. It was such a relief to have someone who understood the situation you were both put in, especially as it was so hard to explain.

A silence fell over the two of you for a second.

‘Are you thinking about Hyuck?’ He asked, turning his head to look at you.

‘Yeah.’ You said honestly, keeping your eyes on the ceiling and blinking back the tears that were gathering. ‘I miss him.’

‘I know you do... I also know that he misses you too, if not more. I still can’t quite wrap my mind around the fact that they actually think that we’re dead.’ Jeno looked back at the ceiling, blinking back tears of his own before you saw them. ‘Do you think they’ll believe us when we tell them about the simulation?’

‘I mean, we’ll be alive. Surely that must be proof enough?’ You wondered. ‘Although, it almost doesn’t matter whether they believe us or not. We actually don’t need them to, we just need to hit that button.’

Jeno nodded.

‘You’re right. We need to focus on shutting it down and we can properly reunite and explain everything to them once we’ve woken up again.’

You hummed in agreement, your eyes shutting slightly as tiredness began to take over you.

---

Tomorrow had arrived.

You woke up to an empty room, Jeno fulfilling his promise and heading back to his once you had fallen asleep. You looked over at the alarm clock on your bedside table, the red numbers staring back at you. 

9:37am

You were meeting the boys in Wooyoung’s room at 10am, as per I.N.’s request, meaning you had 20 minutes. You lay in bed for a short while, the thought of what you were preparing to do occupying your mind, before climbing out and heading towards the shower.

After a quick shower, you dried off and pulled on some more clothes. All the clothes supplied here were the same, tracksuit bottoms and a t shirt, the colours just varied every day. Today you had white bottoms and a white t shirt as well. You pulled them on before walking towards your door. You opened it, stepped into the hallway and began making your way to Wooyoung’s room.

---

By the time you arrived, the other boys were already there. There was a heavy silence in the air, it was clear that they’d been discussing something before you’d arrived.

‘What wrong?’ You asked, afraid of what they were about to tell you.

‘Dr Kim is in the pod room. He booked it last night and apparently won’t be leaving for the rest of the week.’ Jeno explained.

Your brows furrowed slightly in confusion.

‘Ok, that’s not good, not at all. Is Dr Kim-’

‘The one you overheard with Jeno? Yes.’ I.N. cut you off. ‘Look, we can’t waste any time. I say that, as soon as he leaves the room, we go in, lock the door, and get into that simulation.’

The three of you nodded in agreement.

‘I.N’s right.’ Wooyoung said. ‘We don’t have time to wait for an opening, we’re gonna need to create one. We can hear the door opening from here so, as long as we are near, we can make sure to take that gap.’

‘There’s something else.’ I.N. abruptly mentioned. You and the two other boys turning to look at him quizzically. ‘The three of you are going in alone.’

‘What? I.N. wait-’

‘No, let me explain.’ I.N. interrupted Wooyoung’s protest. You didn’t know how to feel, you had been prepared for all of you going in, you weren’t sure how you were going to leave him behind. ‘The three of you are going in alone because you have to. Firstly, in order to get into the simulation, someone else has to “authorise” it, for lack of a better word. You are going to be lying in a pod, and I’m going to “authorise” you going in. No matter what we try and do, one of us would always have to stay behind. And it has to be me. The three of you are much more suited for the challenge ahead, I’m just the brains of the operation. Plus, I’ve got to make sure that no one can follow you in or pull you out, therefore I need to stay here. Besides, from out here I can throw them off your scent, hack into the camera system to make sure that the cameras don’t follow you, and other things like that.’

He looked around at you, easily telling from your faces that you clearly weren’t okay with this development.

‘I.N. we need all four of us. We can do this if we’re together.’ Jeno pleaded, but I.N. simply shook his head.

‘You can do this alone.’

‘No I.N. we need you. Like you said you’re the brains of this and what if we come across a problem that you know how to solve but we don’t? You have to come with us.’ You begged him, but he didn’t change his opinion.

‘You have to trust me on this. You need to leave me behind.’

Wooyoung was the only one who hadn’t said anything, just staring at his friend sadly.

‘You know they’ll punish you for us going in right? You’re going to pay for the consequences of our actions.’ Wooyoung whispered, obviously scared for what would happen once you leave.

‘I know.’ I.N. replied, his voice quiet but surprisingly calm. ‘But that should buy you guys some time. And you’re going to need all the time you can get.’

The three of you nodded, finally understanding that, even if I.N. wanted to, he couldn’t join you in the simulation. He needed to protect you from the outside.

‘Just... promise me one favour?’ I.N. asked.

‘Anything.’ Wooyoung guaranteed.

‘Let them know that I’m okay. Especially Chan... please just make sure he’s not blaming himself.’ He whispered.

You felt yourself nodding. You couldn’t help but let your mind drift off to the boys who were in there, waiting for you. You thought of how Renjun had argued with you not to become a raider in the first place, claiming that he just wanted you to be safe. You thought of how Jaemin had only ever asked one thing of you, and that was for you to stay alive. You thought of how desperate San had been to stay with you when you had told him to leave you behind. And you thought of how Donghyuck had looked when you told him you were going on that final run. You thought of how you could see every part of him want to tell you “no”. You thought of how many times he had pulled you in for a hug and begged to stay with him. And you thought of how he had looked when he sat by your grave. They needed to know that you were okay. They needed to know that you didn’t blame them. They needed to know that you loved them.

The sound of a door opening and harsh footsteps treading down the hallway next to you interrupted your thoughts. The four of you froze, listening to the muttering voice of Dr Kim disappearing down the corridor as he muttered about being interrupted.

‘The room’s empty.’ I.N. stated.

Jeno stood up, quietly opening the door and checking that it was clear before turning back to the rest of you.

‘Let’s go.’

---

‘This better be important.’ Dr Kim stormed into his office. ‘I have other business to attend to.’

‘Sir, you’re going to want to see this.’

The head doctor, Dr Kim, turned his head towards the voice of his assistant. On their computer screen was a video, a video of your conversation from last night. Dr Kim leaned on the desk in front of him as he listened to the four of you talk.

‘Ok, so we’re all set for going back into the simulation.’

‘Yes. Let’s blow this thing up.’ 

Dr Kim took a deep breath as he tried to make sense of this development. 

‘How did they find out?’ He asked, his voice quiet but the anger clear.

‘We don’t know.’ His assistant replied. ‘But they’re planning to head back into the simulation and shut it down. They’ve... they’ve found the kill switch.’

Dr Kim’s eyes shot to his assistant, who once again shrugged, answering the question he hadn’t yet asked.

‘Then the answer is simple. We need to stop them. Shut down the pod room, no one goes in and I want to be alerted if there is any attempt to override the system. And you-’ Dr Kim clicked at the bodyguard on his right side. ‘Let’s go pay our little heroes a visit. I think they’re in need of a few new memories, don’t you?’

---

You watched as I.N. shut the door tight behind him, making sure to twist the lock. He stopped briefly, taking a quick look around before beginning his instructions.

‘Ok, Wooyoung, go into that cupboard and grab the solution that’s there, y/n, find me a syringe and Jeno, go and open three of those pods.’

You all nodded, quickly scrambling to fulfil your orders. You were pulling open random drawers, desperately looking for a syringe for I.N. to use. You were on your seventh when you finally found it. You turned around triumphantly, holding it out for I.N. to take when the lights surrounding the door went red and a low electronic groan echoed out.

‘What was that?’ Jeno asked to no one in particular.

‘We don’t have time to wait around and find out.’ I.N. grabbed the syringe out of you hand while uttering those words. The tension was unbearable, all of you knowing that you had a very short amount of time before you were caught.

What none of you knew was that, you had already run out of time.

---

Dr Kim threw open Wooyoung’s door, a shout of frustration leaving his mouth as he found it empty. He had been to all of your rooms in an attempt to find you. He stormed into the corridor again, his eyes drifting to the pod room down the hall. He walked up towards the door, pressed his ear against the wood, and listened.

His guard behind him had a hand on his gun as he watched Dr Kim’s face transform into an expression of absolute rage.

‘They’re in there.’ He forced through gritted teeth. He turned around and looked at his guard before shouting. ‘Get this door open!’

The guard moved forwards immediately, putting the gun back in its holster and attempting to kick down the door. After a few tries he turned around.

‘It won’t budge. It needs to be opened from the control room.’ He informed the doctor in front of him.

Dr Kim let out a strangled scream and lunged forward to grab the radio off the guard’s waist. He lifted it up to his mouth and spoke into it, shouting instructions at the people in the control room.

‘I want the door to the pod room open right now!’

‘But Dr Kim, if that-’ A static voice came through from the other side, giving him some excuse as to why he needed to wait.

‘I don’t care! Open the door now!’ Dr Kim threw the radio back at the guard in front of him and watched as the lights around the door changed from a red to white, signalling that it was unlocked.

He threw the door open and burst into the room.

---

‘Get this door open!’

Dr Kim’s voice travelled through the door separating you and the four of you inside looked at each other in fear.

‘Jeno, quick! Come here.’ I.N. instructed, moving the syringe so that it was close to his neck. He had already given you and Wooyoung injections, only Jeno’s was left. He pulled the syringe out, ready to send you back into the simulation. ‘Go and lie in a pod and close the door on top of you.’

His voice was sharp and clear, not a single trace of fear in it, the only thing betraying him were his slightly shaking hands. You could hear a loud bang come from the door as you ran towards the closest pod. You turned back towards I.N. as a thought crossed your mind.

‘I.N.!’ You called out, only getting a hum in response. ‘Can you do me a favour?’

I.N. looked up at you for a split second, his expression conveying all he needed to say.

Now is not the time to ask questions but yes, what do you need?

‘Please, look after Hyuck’s sister for me? Make sure that she’s okay.’

I.N. nodded.

‘I promise.’

You felt a small amount of relief flow through you. You were leaving without speaking to her so you were glad to know that she would be protected. You quickly lay down in your open pod, pulled the door down over you, and, as the door clicked shut, you were encased in a pale blue light.

A few seconds passed before I.N’s voice came through.

‘Ok, I can’t seem to put you straight into the army base for some reason, the location is locked on here and I don’t have time to figure out how to hack it, but I’m going to drop you as close as I can. It’s in the nearby city and looks like it’s just under half a day’s walk away.’

You took a deep breath as you mentally pictured the maps you had drawn up. You knew you had planned some routes that went through nearby cities, you just weren’t sure which on you were going to be dropped in.

‘If I remember correctly from when we went in, you’re going to get very drowsy in a minute, just relax into it. Let the simulation take you okay? Don’t panic.’

He paused for a minute, leaving you in silence, your own breathing being the only thing you could hear. You could feel your eyes begin to relax and the tiredness swept through your veins. You could feel your heart rate begin to rise, all the memories from the simulation flooding back through your mind. Your father’s death, Jeno’s death, Donghyuck’s sister’s death, the first girl you killed. But you forced those pictures out of your mind. This time wasn’t going to be like that. You were prepared. You weren’t going in there to just fight for your life, you were going in there to save everyone. I.N.’s voice came back over the speakers, just as you lost consciousness completely.

‘Good luck.’

---

You opened your eyes.

You were surprised to find yourself standing up. You were stood in the middle of a road, clearly on an abandoned high street. The shops up and down the pavement were empty, some even having been looted. You turned to look around you, spotting Wooyoung and Jeno a little further down.

You took an experimental step, relieved when you didn’t go crashing to the ground, and took off in a jog. Both of the boys saw you moving towards them and came forwards to meet you halfway.

You came to a halt when you reached them, the three of you standing in silence.

‘Well...’ Wooyoung spoke, his eyes constantly darting around your surroundings. ‘We made it.’

‘Yeah, I guess we did.’ You mumbled, your eyes looking down at the ground. It was only when you did this, did you realise the clothes that you were wearing. ‘Oh my god! I’m in the clothes I died in.’ You realised, both Jeno and Wooyoung’s eyes darting to their bodies as well.

You recognised Jeno’s outfit from the final day at Mark, the sight of him running through the infested house on the monitors was not one that you would easily forget, and judging from Wooyoung’s shocked face, he was also wearing what he had been killed in.

‘Wow. Yeah, thankfully the clothes from just before we died. Cause, you know, there wouldn’t be much left of mine otherwise.’ Jeno’s shot a smile at the two of you. 

You stared at him in disbelief, a laugh leaving you despite the circumstances.

‘Only you could joke about blowing yourself up like that.’ You chuckled.

But Wooyoung whirled around to stare at Jeno.

‘You blew yourself up?’ He asked, as Jeno nodded in confirmation.

‘Yeah, just pulled the pin on a grenade and ran into a group of zombies.’ He shrugged like it was no big deal, causing Wooyoung to stare at you.

‘It’s true.’ You informed him. ‘We were in the floor above. The blast knocked us off our feet.’ Your voice got quieter towards the end. Even though Jeno was very much alive, listening to the blast and coming down to the wreckage of Mark’s kitchen wasn’t an easy thing to forget.

Jeno placed a hand on your shoulder, sending you a comforting smile. You sent one back before turning to Wooyoung again.

‘But what about you? San told me all about your heroics, sacrificing yourself so that they could get into the army base.’ You grinned at him, watching as Wooyoung blushed slightly.

‘I’m not the only one though, who sacrificed myself for San am I?’ He asked, looking you directly in the eye.

Your smile shrunk slightly, leaving only a sad one on your lips.

‘We weren’t both making it out of that alive.’

You all fell into silence after you spoke those words, all replaying the scenes of your own deaths in your minds. It wasn’t something you ever expected to be haunted with, but here you were, stumbling back through this wasted version of the world, being stalked by your own ghost.

‘Let’s just get our weapons and move on?’ You suggested, breaking the tension as both boys nodded in agreement.

‘If I remember correctly...’ Wooyoung muttered, mainly to himself as he walked through a broken shop window. He disappeared for a while, making yours and Jeno’s hearts race in fear. You had forgotten the terror that came along with losing sight of someone for a few seconds in this climate. 

His head popped up again, a childish smile on his face. 

‘Found it.’ He informed you, even though neither you nor Jeno had any clue as to what “it” was.

‘You know,’ Wooyoung continued. ‘I.N. actually couldn’t have dropped us in a better place, I grew up around here and I know that the owner of this store was very paranoid about people stealing his things. So he had a secret compartment put in, and filled it with these.’

Wooyoung appeared over the top again, this time holding a gun in each hand. They were large guns, similar to the kind that you had used at Mark’s. He handed one to each of you and then grabbed one more for himself. He also pulled a box out that was filled with cases of spare bullets.

‘I thought we might need these too.’ He said as he unzipped a backpack on the floor, emptying the contents and filling it again with the cases of bullets and a few spare pistols. He also made sure to hand both you and Jeno a handgun. 

‘How do you know all of this?’ Jeno asked, his eyes wide at the sight in front of him.

‘Hmmm? Oh I worked here part time. It paid quite well actually. He only ever took on three students a year so it was really competitive.’ Wooyoung replied.

‘So he told all his employees about this? How come no one else took these?’ You wondered aloud.

‘Oh no. He didn’t tell all of his employees. Only me.’ Wooyoung corrected you.

‘Well, please don’t take this the wrong way, but why you?’

Wooyoung looked up at Jeno’s question, diverting his eyes from the gun in front of him.

‘Simple. He liked me.’

Another large smile broke out across the boy’s face, one that made you smile with him, without realising it. Wooyoung was such a happy virus, someone who could make people happy or brighten their day without even trying. Your mind drifted to Donghyuck. The only boy who could make you smile even in the worst of circumstances. You missed him. You missed him so much that it physically hurt. It sometimes felt like he was the only thing keeping you going.

‘Right.’ Wooyoung’s voice cut through your train of thought. ‘Shall we go?’

You opened your mouth to answer but before you got a chance to, a low groan sounded through the high street. It was a noise that you hadn’t heard for a while, but nevertheless, still managed to send a chill of terror down your spine.

You turned slowly and made eye contact with the zombie staring at you through the broken store window.

---

‘Where are they?’ The Dr Kim bellowed as he burst into the camera room. ‘I want eyes on the three of them right now!’

All he got in response were frantic nods from the staff as they combed through every camera that they possibly could to find the four of you.

‘Doctor! I found them.’ A voice from the far left called out.

‘Put them up on the screen.’ Dr Kim instructed, watching as the main screen on the wall lit up with a picture of you all walking through the empty high street.

‘That street... I know that street.’ Dr Kim mused. He turned to the guard on his left and barked an instruction. ‘You, go to y/n’s room and grab the papers on her bed.’

The guard left immediately, running down the corridor.

‘Send a zombie their way.’

The staff nodded in response to his request and watched as you turned to look at the zombie now watching you through the window. Dr Kim focused as Wooyoung pulled the gun up and shot it through the head immediately, not wasting a second.

‘They’re not afraid to kill anymore. They know that they’ll only wake the person up. I want them out of there as soon as possible.’

‘Do you want us to organise for them to die? Or to pull their pods out?’ One of the crew asked.

‘No.’ Dr Kim muttered. ‘They know too much, and there’s no guarantee that they won’t figure it out again. Fake memories are hard to create and even harder to make last, our best chance was putting the two of them into a relationship. If that didn’t work before it’s not worth wasting the time and resources to try and do it again.’

‘So, what should we do doctor?’ The same person questioned.

‘There’s only one answer really, they can’t leave. We have to make sure they turn. Push forwards the mutation of the virus. What stage are we at currently?’

‘Stage 3 out of 5.’ Another voice appeared from somewhere in the room, Dr Kim didn’t know and didn’t care where.

‘Mutate it. I want stage 5. Enable the virus to be transmitted through insects. If they get bitten by an infected mosquito, I want them infected, if they eat a vegetable grown near infected bugs in the soil, I want the disease to travel to the food, if they smell a flower pollinated by a bee, I want that bee to be infected and I want the virus to transmit to them. Understand?’

He looked around at the staff behind him, all of them shouting agreement with his plan and turning towards their computers to put it into action. 

The guard appeared again,  holding out the papers towards Dr Kim. The doctor practically ripped them out of his hands, rolling them out on the table in front of him. He pointed to one drawing in particular.

‘Look, they’ve planned their route.’ He could now see exactly the journey you were planning to take to reach the army base. He checked the screen and saw the mutated virus already starting to have effects. He smiled and turned to the staff in front of him. ‘What do you say we send a few old friends to break up the party?’

---

Wooyoung reacted before either you or Jeno could, pulling the gun into position and shooting a bullet straight into the zombie’s forehead. You watched as its body hit the ground with a dull thud.

‘Jesus.’ Wooyoung breathed. ‘I forgot how terrifying seeing one of those was.’

Jeno turned around where he was and sent Wooyoung a nod.

‘Yeah me too, thanks.’

Wooyoung shrugged it off.

‘Probably better for them right? I mean, they’re gonna wake up now.’

‘Yeah, you’re right’ You piped up. ‘We can’t be afraid to pull the trigger anymore. We know nothing bad is going to happen so just, aim for the head so that it’s quick and doesn’t leave them in pain.’

Jeno and Wooyoung nodded slowly. As well as the three of you knew what was waiting for you on the outside of the simulation, and that dying here was nothing to be afraid of, it was still difficult to pull that trigger.

‘We seriously need to move, we don’t want to stop if we can help it.’ Wooyoung said, hoisting the bag over his shoulder.

Jeno turned to you expectantly, waiting to see what direction you were going in.

‘Ok, from the routes I created, we need to head West from here. Luckily for us, there’s an almost direct path from where we are now, to the army base.’

You pointed in the direction you needed to head as you spoke, Wooyoung nodding in agreement. Having someone around who knew these areas would be incredibly useful.

The three of you set off, your hands firmly on your weapons as you began your trek to the army base. You walked all the way down the high street, crossing the empty roads to take other paths. You ensured that you always took the largest street possible, not wanting to meet a group of zombies in a tight alleyway.

All the minutes seemed to blur into one as you walked. Your mind began to wander and you thought of I.N. You wondered if he had gotten into trouble when they had found him alone in the pod room. You were scared that they were going to wipe his memories again, but you were even more afraid that they were going to hurt him. You hoped that he had stayed true to his word and that he was looking after Donghyuck’s sister. You were praying that she would be okay.

The tall buildings gradually began to shrink as you left the centre of the town you were dropped in. Jeno was a few steps ahead of the rest of you and Wooyoung, naturally walking at a faster pace. The silence between the three of you was getting louder with every step when suddenly, the low groan that you had not missed in the slightest, cut through. Your heart sank, out of annoyance rather than fear.

That annoyance quickly evolved into fear when you recognised the zombie leading the silent pack walking towards you.

It was Hongjoon.

Someone who had run the army base when you were there. He had offered you support before and after every run, he had been there to listen anytime you needed to talk. You knew he was someone who could be trusted.

But here he was. In front of you, stumbling forward as though he had no idea who you were.

Wooyoung didn’t move, his voice shaking slightly as he tried to talk.

‘Hyung?’

Hongjoon’s eyes shot towards his younger friend, opening slightly wider for a second, as if in recognition, before they turned back to you, narrowed, and he shot forwards. He moved like lightening, you only had a second to shout out before you were on the ground, underneath Hongjoon who was biting at you with everything he had.

Wooyoung pulled his gun into position and aimed at his friend’s head. He could hear your shouts as you pushed against the infected boy with all your might, yet he didn’t pull the trigger.

‘Wooyoung, shoot!’ You screamed. ‘It’s not real! Shoot!’

A shot rang out and Hongjoon collapsed on top of you. You rolled him off you and on to the ground and looked up. It wasn’t Wooyoung who had fired, it was Jeno. Jeno grabbed you by the hand and pulled you up. He turned to shoot an accusing look at Wooyoung, preparing to say something, but he was interrupted by the rest of the crowd of zombies breaking out into a run behind you. 

The three of you took off. You tried leading the boys on your planned route to the army base but more zombies just appeared from that direction.

‘How are there so many all of a sudden?’ Jeno asked in between breaths.

‘I don’t know!’ You said, frustration bubbling up inside you. ‘It’s almost as if they’re spawning here.’ Then a sudden realisation dawned on you. ‘The lab must have found our plans. They know our route, we have to find another way.’

Jeno’s eyes widened in desperation, the both of you wracking your brains in an attempt to think of an escape plan. You hadn’t noticed that in an attempt to escape the undead hoard chasing you, you had circled back and were heading back into the main city. 

Suddenly, Wooyoung’s voice rang out.

‘I know a way. Follow me.’

He sped up as he ran back into the streets of the city he knew. You and Jeno both followed, piling on the extra speed in order to keep up. You turned a sharp corner a few seconds after Wooyoung and found him attempting to open a manhole cover. Jeno crouched down next to him to help and, together, they lifted the metal cover off. It was on hinges so it should be easy to close after you.

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ You groaned.

‘It’s either down here with a few rats, or out there with them.’ Wooyoung nodded in the direction of the zombies. Their footsteps getting dangerously loud.

You sighed, nodding in agreement. Wooyoung climbed in first and then Jeno held out a hand to offer you help.

‘No.’ You bluntly refused.

‘No? y/n I thought you said you were ok going in? We don’t have-’

‘Not that kind of no.’ You cut him off. ‘I’m going in, I’m just going in last.’

You could see Jeno was confused so you explained hurriedly, trying to keep your voice as steady and as hard as possible. But you didn’t quite manage to stop it form shaking.

‘The last time you offered to go last was at Mark’s and the next think I knew, I was watching you die. I don’t care if this is a simulation, I’m not risking it again.’

Jeno’s expression completely changed. He looked like he wanted to say something but Wooyoung voice travelled up from below before he could.

‘What the hell is taking you two so long? Don’t worry, I know these tunnels.’

Jeno swung his legs into the manhole, climbing down the ladder quickly. You waited until he was a few rungs down before lower yourself in too. You had just got your lower body in and you were reaching for the lid when the first zombie skidded around the corner. It let out a sort of yell, almost in triumph, and you slamming the cover shut over you. You bent yourself in half slightly, not being far enough down the ladder to close the top and stand up straight.

You thought that would be okay but the lid started to move up again and you got a glimpse of the zombie trying to open it.

‘Wooyoung! How do I shut this?’ You screamed down.

‘The wheel on the inside. Turn it!’ Wooyoung yelled back, the panic clear in his voice.

If you didn’t get this wheel locked it would be game over.

You tried to step down slightly, not being able to pull the door down with force at the angle you were standing. However, it was incredibly difficult as you had both your hands on the wheel above you. You placed another foot down, but this time you misjudged where the step was and slipped. You went down about two rungs, a yelp escaping you as you did so.

‘Y/n!’ Wooyoung screamed from the floor.

You felt a strong hand come up and grab the back of your thigh, steadying you.

‘You’re okay. Now, close it.’ Jeno’s words brought you right back down to earth and filled you with the strength you needed.

You gave the cover a powerful tug, yanking the wheel to the right as you did so. You kept both hands there, turning the wheel until you couldn’t physically turn it anymore. Eventually you stilled, your hands stopping their frantic movements.

You stood where you were, pausing just to catch your breath.

‘We’ve gotta keep moving.’ Wooyoung’s voice echoed up through the tunnel and you nodded.

You released the metal wheel above you, instead grabbing the ladder and lowering yourself down onto the floor.

‘Let’s go. I know a path into the woods, I’m pretty sure that it has an exit close to the army base.’

Wooyoung made to move off but Jeno’s hand shot out, grabbing him by the shoulder, stilling his movements.

‘Not so fast kiddo.’ He said, staring the shorter male down.

‘I’m older than you.’ Wooyoung muttered, his eyes facing the floor. Despite the fact that Wooyoung was older, it was obvious who had the power in this verbal exchange.

‘You didn’t take the shot.’ Jeno said, watching as Wooyoung swallowed. ‘You had a clear shot, you wouldn’t have hit y/n, but you didn’t take the shot. Instead you put her in danger, and in turn, endangering everything that we’re trying to do here. You know it’s not going harm them. Why didn’t you take the shot?’

‘I tried to. But he was still my friend. I was staring at the face of my friend. I know that he’s going to wake up, and that he’s probably better off dead than as one of those, but... I just didn’t think it would be that hard to pull the trigger. I’ve done it plenty of times. Hell, I even did it earlier today, but when I was looking into the eyes of someone I knew... I couldn’t do it.’

Jeno sighed deeply. You could tell that he understood where Wooyoung was coming from.

‘Ok.’ He said, Wooyoung looking up in shock at how fast Jeno moved on from it. ‘No one got hurt, and hopefully by taking this route we shouldn’t have to see anyone else.’

Wooyoung smiled thankfully, turning around and pointing down the tunnel.

‘It’s this way.’

And once again, you set off.

---

Your throat was dry, your legs ached and you were tired. You had been walking for hours and you were worried that it was going to be dark when you left the safety of these tunnels. Wooyoung wasn’t lying when he said that he knew them well, from the easy way he was guiding you through them, he had clearly spent a lot of time in them when he was younger. You had to admit that Wooyoung had made himself an invaluable member of your team. You really had no idea how you could have gotten this far without him.

As thankful as you were to everything Wooyoung had done so far, you had never loved him more than when he told you that you could stop walking. He approached the ladder in front of him, gently placing his hands on either side and whispering.

‘This is it.’

He climbed first, turning the wheel to unlock it at the top and wincing as it creaked loudly as he pushed it open. Wooyoung paused with it open slightly, listening for the tell tale noises of the undead, and then continued to open it completely.

You climbed out of the top, savouring the fresh air, pausing to listen for a guttural groan or ominous footsteps but, instead, you were greeted with a blissful silence. 

Well, almost blissful.

‘Careful!’

A voice echoed through woods, a voice strangely familiar that caused both yours and Jeno’s head shoot up.

‘That sounded like Renjun.’ You whispered breathlessly, the thought of seeing your longest friend after what had felt like an eternity was almost alien to you.

‘I know. But it can’t have been him, he’s at the base.’ Jeno reasoned.

‘Jaemin, you ridiculously stupid moron.’ The voice appeared again, causing you and Jeno to share a smile.

‘No.’ Jeno’s eyes curved up into crescents. ‘That’s Renjun.’

‘Renjun!’ You shouted out, starting to jog towards where you had heard him before.

You didn’t get a reply, causing to you panic as an indescribable feeling of sadness took over you. 

‘Renjun, it’s the grief. It can cause you to hear people when they’re not there.’

‘I’m not an idiot, San. I know my best friend’s voice.’

Your heart sped up again, warmth spreading throughout your entire body as you called out.

‘Renjun?’

This time you got a reply.

‘Y/n?’ You heard footsteps speed up, getting louder as they got closer to you. ‘Oh please be real, please be real, please be-’

Renjun turned into your line of vision, his words and movements stopping suddenly as he laid eyes on you. You smiled at him, tears starting to blur your vision.

‘Hi.’ You said.

That was all it took. Renjun threw himself forwards, pulling you in for the tightest hug you had ever felt in your life. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and hugged him back, feeling his tears begin to wet your neck.

‘You’re real. I knew it, you’re real.’

His words got lost in a haze of disbelief and shock at the sight of you standing in front of him, alive.

He pulled away, cupping your hands with his face, wiping away the tears that had fallen. He just stared at you, utter amazement gracing his features. Then, finally, a smile broke out. The largest smile you had ever seen. He wrapped his arms back around your waist, pulling you around in a circle as he screamed happily into the air.

‘I was right!’

It was at this moment that Jeno, Jaemin and San also found their way to where you were. You pulled away from Renjun, staring at the two boys behind him as Renjun’s eyes locked on to Jeno. You stroked Renjun’s face one last time as you moved away. Renjun hit Jeno at full force, hugging him tight and bursting into tears again. You didn’t move, looking only at Jaemin. He was staring back at you, clearly not knowing what to say.

So you smiled.

‘Miss me?’ You asked, watching as Jaemin’s face broke out into a smile matching yours and he laughed with glee as he ran towards you. He picked you up in a hug, his laughter never stopping. You couldn’t help but laugh back. He put you down, finally managing to get some words out.

‘Oh god I missed you so much. You’re alive!’

You nodded, the smile on your face was starting to hurt but you couldn’t make it smaller even if you wanted to. You pulled away from him after a short while, allowing him to greet Jeno and you were left facing San.

San didn’t meet your eyes, instead choosing to stare at his feet.

‘San?’ You asked, hoping that he would at least look at you.

You could see the boy blinking rapidly, chewing on his bottom lip at the same time. Eventually you couldn’t take it anymore. You walked towards him and pulled him in for a hug. The second your hand made contact with his shoulder, San broke down, hugging you as tight as the others and whispering about how sorry he was.

‘Shhhhh, it wasn’t your fault. You did exactly what you should have done.’ You comforted him.

You pulled away sooner than you wanted to, but you knew he had to see Wooyoung.

‘I have a surprise for you.’ You said, smiling at him.

San sent you a teary but confused smile back, and you wordlessly grabbed his hand and turned him around.

Upon seeing Wooyoung, San moved faster than you had ever seen him move before. He shot towards the boy, Wooyoung moving forwards too as they reunited. Renjun appeared back at your shoulder, keeping an arm around you, as if to remind himself that you were really there.

‘I’m so happy you’re okay, but I have to ask, how?’

You shared a look with Jeno and called out to Wooyoung and San.

‘We’ll tell you on the way. It’s not an easy story.’

‘On the way? Wait where are you going?’ Jaemin asked, placing a hand on your chest to stop you moving.

‘Back to the army base.’ Jeno explained. ‘There’s something there that we need to do.’

Renjun and Jaemin shared a nervous look.

‘What’s happened?’ You asked, your hope diminishing by the second.

‘We’ve lost the army base.’ Renjun said bluntly. ‘People started turning from the inside, with no scratch, bite, or even contact with a zombie. It was as if it was in the air. Anyone who could abandoned the building immediately. Within under two hours it wasn’t safe anymore.’

‘Are you three the only ones who made it out?’ Wooyoung voiced the question you were too afraid to ask.

‘We don’t know.’ San chimed in. ‘The three of us left within a few seconds of each other. All we know is that we were the first out. If anyone got out after us, they can’t be far away.’

‘This isn’t part of the plan.’ You whispered, bringing your hand up to your head to rub your forehead.

‘What plan?’ Renjun asked, his eyes flickering between you and Jeno.

‘The plan. The plan that’s going to save us, to end this all.’ You rambled, not even fully sure of what you were saying.

‘End this all? Wait do you know how to stop the apocalypse?’ Jaemin asked.

‘There is no apocalypse!’ You exploded. ‘None of this is fucking real! It’s a damn simulation.’

‘A simulation...’ Renjun repeated.

‘Yes, a simulation. Aren’t the three of us proof enough that this can’t be real life. Jaemin, you shot me. In the head. How the fuck would I recover from that?’

Jaemin flinched at the reminder of your death. Jeno, noticing how your distressed state was unsettling others, tried to calm you down.

‘y/n, just breath for a minute ok?’

You whirled around.

‘No! Not okay. I’m so fucking done with this. How much hell have we been put through. I have killed people, and watched them been killed. I have lost friends, lost memories, left people behind, fought for my life and it still isn’t enough. When is this shit going to end? What more can they put me through?’

You turned towards the sky and screamed.

‘Fuck you! You hear that Dr Kim? Fuck you and your little experiment. I’m still finding a way to shut you down. Because you know what? I’m getting that happy ending. Cause after all the shit you’ve put me through, I fucking deserve it!’

You sat down, trying to catch your breath after your meltdown. You stared at the grass in front of you, ignoring the five sets of eyes watching your every move.

‘You went through something pretty rough on the outside didn’t you?’ Jaemin asked, assuming there was something more to your anger than what you had just learnt.

‘Yeah. It wasn’t easy.’ Jeno clarified. You were glad he didn’t go into more detail and even more glad that the boys didn’t ask for more.

You stood up, pulling your gun around to your front and took off.

‘Uhhh, y/n? Where are you going?’ Renjun asked.

‘To the army base.’ You declared. ‘I’m still shutting this thing down. Even if I had to do it alone.’

‘Who the hell said you were going to be doing it alone?’ Jeno’s words caused you to stop and turn around.

‘You’re coming with me?’

Jaemin shrugged, grabbing the pistol that Jeno offered him and beginning to walk towards you, the other boys all following.

‘Well, we started this together. Might as well end it that way to.’

---

The doors to the army base were open when you arrived. The wide gates were oddly unnerving, open gates were normally a symbol of welcoming, but this only reminded you of the gates to hell.

‘Remember, just get to the button and press it. That’s all we need to do so just focus on that.’ Jeno reminded you all. His voice was clear and steady, not a hint of fear in it. It was the voice of a true leader.

You stepped forward, ready to face whatever came at you.

---

You don’t know where it went so wrong.

Only you and Jeno were left alive and unbitten. The rest of you had been picked off one by one. They appeared out of nowhere, moved quickly and silently and were almost impossible to find. You had no idea what had made the zombies so dangerous all of a sudden. They had lost the slow paces of the previous kind, the fast bursts only maintained for a few seconds, and now had the agility of 20 year olds. It was as if they had retained the characteristics of the people they used to be. It was even harder to know that it was you friends picking you off just predators pick off the weakest member of the herd.

The two of you moved silently, aware of the moving shadows that signified the walking ghosts of your friends. You had only seen a few faces yet. You’d seen Chan, Changbin and Jongho as well as Mark and Chenle. It was seeing Mark and Chenle that was the most difficult, and in that minute you understood better than ever before, why Wooyoung couldn’t pull the trigger on Hongjoon. 

A scream came from your left and you turned and blindly fired. You missed and watched as a figure you recognised to be Jaemin’s slunk back down the corridor.

You were only a few minutes away from the button, but at the pace you were moving, it would take you ages. You had to speed up. There was a door up ahead, one that was already open, as if it was awaiting the two of you. It only took one short shared look for the plan to be formed. You counted to three under your breath.

One

Two

Three

You threw yourself forwards, sprinting towards the open door as fast as you could, Jeno doing the same. Jeno reached the doorway before you did, and, as you cleared the distance, he slammed the door shut behind you.

You whirled around as you heard another loud bang on the door and saw Jeno pushing himself up against it to hold it in place. All of a sudden it made perfect sense as to why the door had been open.

It had no hinges.

The zombified bodies of your friends were pushing against it, clawing desperately to try and reach Jeno.

‘y/n, you have to go! Run now and find that button.’ Jeno’s voce was strained, all his energy being used to keep the door in place.

‘No, Jeno you have to go. You know the base better than I do.’ You reasoned.

‘Do you think I can go anywhere right now?’ He asked, pushing back on the door again as it began to budge. ‘Don’t be an idiot y/n, just go! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.’

So you ran, you turned on your tail and sprinted down the hallway. You were pretty sure that you only had to get down this hallway, one set of stairs and one last door before you were at the button.

You were so close. Surely nothing could stop you now. All the zombies were upstairs, you had a free run.

You had just turned the second last corner of the corridor when you felt two hands grab your arm tightly and teeth quickly sank into the skin.

You let out a scream in pain, the zombie releasing your arm and stepping back from you, its work now done. You spun around and came face to face with the zombie who bit you.

Donghyuck.

Your heart stopped as you looked at the boy you loved. He stared back at you with no recognition, his eyes dull and his skin coloured with a sickening grey tine. You didn’t have time to mourn him. Your only hope was now getting to that button before you turned and forgot who you were. If you turned, all hope was lost and this would all have been for nothing. You knew from the last time you were bitten that you only had a few minutes, probably less if the doctors at the lab had mutated the virus. The pain in your upper arm was excruciating.

You stumbled forward, trying desperately to remember Jeno’s drawing of the army base layout. You turned a corner and came across a set of stairs, taking you down into the basement.

You took the first one, you vision starting to disappear as dark spots danced across the scene in front of you.

You took the fourth one. Focusing only on that button you had to do something with.

You landed at the bottom.

You stood there, not moving, confused beyond belief as to what you were doing. Why were you here? You had no reason to be at this level. You should be upstairs so that you could leave the base soon. 

You turned around, away from the door in front of you. You looked up the stairs and saw Jeno. His eyes a cloudy white colour, and the veins across his arms and neck running black. Your eyes focused on a small black object behind him, however, something that was built into the wall, you had never noticed it before.

A camera.

You swung yourself around so that you were facing towards the door again. You knew what you were doing. You knew who you were. You knew what was behind that door.

You turned the handle, throwing yourself against it when it didn’t open. You banged the door with your shoulder, screaming in frustration when it refused to open.

You took a step back and lifted your foot. You kicked the door with all your force, relief flooding your system when it swung open. However, the momentum of the kick carried you through and you didn’t have the balance to keep yourself upright. You landed on your back, a sickening crack echoing off the walls as your head came in contact with the concrete floor.

You groaned in pain, recognising how your voice was sounding more and more like the undead’s. You summoned every bit of strength that you had and pulled yourself up so that you were on all fours.

You tucked your legs under you and pushed yourself up from the floor.

This was the room that Jeno was talking about. You vaguely registered a tunnel to the left, one that you assumed led out into the forest. And in front of you, only a few steps away, was an almost empty control panel with only one small button on it.

The entire room was spinning and your vision was getting darker by the second. You didn’t know if you had any strength left to continue forwards, holding on to the door to keep yourself upright. You head was pounding, your arm was throbbing and your heart was aching.

Your body was screaming at you with everything it had for you to stop, to give up, to rest. But you couldn’t. You couldn’t give up now. Not when you were so close.

You stepped forwards. You thought of Renjun. The boy who had never left your side since the day he met you. He was fiercely loyal, always prepared to do everything he could to protect the ones he loved. To protect you.

You stepped again. You thought of Jaemin. The boy who had saved your life more times than you cared to admit. He had diligently watched over you, cared for you and loved you when you couldn’t do it yourself. He wouldn’t hesitate to keep going. To rescue you.

You stepped once more, collapsing on the counter in front of you, the button in sight. You thought of Jeno. The boy who had been through exactly what you had and was the only one to know the true pain of it. He had protected you from more than you knew and you knew he would never stop protecting you. To shield you.

You pulled yourself up, the button within your reach. You thought of Donghyuck. The boy who you loved more than anything else in this world. The boy who you would do anything for. He was sunshine personified, always finding any way he could to make you happy and always ready to fight anything that had made you sad. There wasn’t a thing that he would not do for you. He would volunteer to go through hell and back a million times without even thinking about it. To save you.

You threw yourself forwards, the last thing you saw being the button spinning with the room as your vision disappeared completely. You brought your hand down in a final attempt to hit the kill switch, your brain only managing to register one final sound as your legs gave out completely and you blacked out.

Click.

---

The dull pain at the back of your head was the first thing you noticed. You tried opening your eyes, but your eyelids felt so heavy it was impossible. You gave up, trying instead to listen to the movement around you. You managed to register a woman’s voice somewhere in the haze.

You tried again to open your eyes, this time succeeding slightly. This prompted the woman watching over you to call for a nurse. You couldn’t see the nurse through the blurred slit of vision you had, but she had a soothing voice, one that radiated comfort.

‘Don’t overwork yourself y/n. You’ve been through quite an ordeal. Just take your time and you’ll be able to wake up.’

You took a deep breath, relaxing your eyelids so that they were fully shut, and tried again. Finally, you managed to open them all the way. The room gradually came into focus, and you saw that you were lying on your bed in your room at the lab. You saw the nurse next to you and your eyes widened.

‘This place- it’s not safe. It’s not what you think. We need to-’

The nurse put a hand on your shoulder, pushing your body back into the bed.

‘Calm down y/n, it’s okay. We know. A Yang Jeong-In called and explained the situation to us. At first, we were skeptical, but we sent an investigation over anyway. We owe you a great deal y/n. You’ve saved a lot of people.’

She smiled at you as you fell back into the pillows.

‘I didn’t do it alone.’ You insisted. ‘Wait, how long have I been asleep? How long was I in the simulation for.’

The nurse chuckled.

‘Don’t worry sweetheart. You haven’t lost a year of your life. In fact, it’s only just been around 30 hours since you went back in. You saved us in a day.’

‘Wait... it worked? We did it?’ You whispered, not quite believing that it was finally over.

‘You did it y/n. You’re safe now. In fact, your friends are also all awake. When you’re ready, you can come and see them.’

The nurse smile at you as you nodded. You began to sit up, but fell back immediately when the pain in your head flared up again. The nurse grabbed a pill and some water from your bedside table and handed them to you.

‘Here, take this. You took a nasty fall in the simulation and your body is convinced that it has concussion. Now since it didn’t really happen, you don’t, but it may hurt for a short while. This should help.’

You nodded absentmindedly as she spoke, purely obsessed with the thought of seeing your friends again.

You attempted to sit up again, this time with much more ease.

‘Wow, that worked fast.’ You commented, causing a light laugh from the nurse at your side.

She gave you a supporting hand as you climbed out of bed and stood up. You walked shakily over to the door, leaning on the frame slightly for support as the nurse opened it.

You headed outside, amazed by what you were greeted with. There were police, detectives and special investigators all over the scene. Dr Kim was sat in the lobby when you passed, in handcuffs and being read his rights. He looked up as you walked by, and if looks could kill, you would have been a pile of ash on the floor. But they couldn’t. So instead, you paused, held eye contact for a second and smiled before moving on.

You were finished with that.

Your nurse led you to the room that you recognised as the test centre. It was where all your skills had been testing once you left the simulation the first time.

‘The room has been cleared out and turned into a relaxing space. At the moment, we’re just using if for your group. We thought that since you saved all of us you deserved your own area.’

The genuine smile on the nurse’s face made you laugh in happiness. She turned the handle and pushed the door open.

‘I’ll leave you be.’ She whispered from behind, pulling it shut gently as you walked it.

The sight in front of you brought tears to your eyes. Jeno and Jaemin were collapsed next to each other of a sofa, looking at something on a phone in front of them, Chenle and Jisung were attempting to teach Renjun a sort of clapping game, Chan and I.N. were standing in the far corner chatting with Mark and a few others and San and Wooyoung were laughing at something over a box of pizza.

But the best sight of all, was right in front of you.

There, sat on the floor, his little sister curled up in his lap as he peppered little kisses all over her face, was Donghyuck. Alive and happy. He held he close, treasuring the fact that he got to have her back. He laughed at something she said, the sound reaching your heart immediately and you realised just how much you had missed him.

Renjun noticed you first. He had given up on learning whatever game Chenle and Jisung were trying to teach him and turned around, coming face to face with your smiling figure. 

‘Look who it is!’ He announced, easily gaining the attention of the rest of the room. They all turned around to look at you, smiles breaking across all of their faces as they did so. ‘Our saving grace.’

‘Lets hear it for our hero!’ Jeno called out, causing the room to erupt in cheers, screams and claps as you stood there slightly awkwardly. 

You looked at Hyuck again, this time finding him staring right back at you. His sister moved off his lap, allowing him to stand. The entire room was watching as he made his way towards you. He didn’t break stride, instead choosing to pull you in towards him for a hug. His arms wrapped tightly around your waist as he pressed you against his chest. Your arms moved up by themselves, finding their place behind his neck and holding on for dear life.

The hug got tighter and more desperate the longer it went on, Donghyuck holding onto you as if you slip away if he let go. Little did he know, you weren’t going anywhere. He mumbled out a few words, you only just managing to catch them because of how his face was buried into your neck.

‘I missed you.’

‘I missed you too.’ You whispered back, relieved to finally be back with him.

‘Don’t you guys think that you two are slightly beyond hugging?’ Renjun’s voice interrupted your moment, causing you both to turn and stare at him incredulously. ‘Come on! If this experience has taught us anything, surely it’s that time is precious and we shouldn’t waste it dancing around our feelings.’

As much as you loved Renjun, you had never wanted to hit him more than you did at that moment. You wanted to talk to Hyuck about your feelings but not in front of everyone and, now that the reality of that conversation was dawning on you, you were nervous for it.

Hyuck, on the other hand, seemed to ponder Renjun words before turning back to you.

‘You know, he has a point.’ He mused a cheeky smile on his face.

‘Hmmm?’ You hummed, not sure where he was going with this.

Donghyuck simply took a small breath before pulling you in again. He used his hands, that were still resting on your waist, you pull you in closer, and then moved on up to cup your face as he leaned it. You had about half a second to understand what was happening before his lips were on yours.

Donghyuck kissed you.

Finally, after all these years and struggles, you finally got to kiss the boy you loved. You kissed him back, shyly at first but, as with the hug, the emotions grew. Before you knew it you were pouring all the love you had for the boy into your kiss, praying that he would be able to feel it.

When you finally pulled away you stared into his eyes. You ignored the cheers and shouts of “finally” coming from your friends, only focusing on the boy in front of you. He gently tilted his head forwards, so that his forehead was pressed to yours.

‘I love you.’ He whispered.

‘I love you too.’ You replied, your voice as quiet as his, but your words just as powerful.

---

After a couple of hours, you and Hyuck eventually excused yourself from the rest of your friends, choosing to instead go back to your room and spend some time alone together. Hyuck’s sister had headed back to her room earlier, leaving just the two of you wandering the halls side by side.

‘You know.’ Hyuck grabbed your hand, lacing your fingers with his as he talked. ‘i always knew that, if any of us was gonna save the world, it would be you.’

You blushed.

‘I didn’t save the world... Besides, I don’t know why I’m getting all the credit! Without everyone in that room, we wouldn’t have done it.’

‘I know.’ Hyuck giggled. ‘But you’re still the one who pressed that button. And according to Jeno, you’re the one who figured out the truth as well. Let me just compliment you! I like being able to say that my girlfriend saved the world.’

You looked at him out of the corner of your eye, unable to stop the smile from spreading across your face.

‘Girlfriend?’ You questioned, watching as Hyuck began to get flustered.

‘Uhhh- I mean... we haven’t really had a chance to talk about it yet but... hopefully?’ He questioned, looking shyly at you.

‘Sounds perfect.’ You grinned, squeezing his hand that was in yours.

And for a minute, all was right with the world. Until two words cause Donghyuck to freeze where he was, terror consuming him.

‘You bastard!’ Donghyuck’s father came storming up to the two of you. ‘What gives you the right to act that way? Thinking you can treat me like that? I don’t care if it was in a simulation, you’re going to pay for that.’

Donghyuck’s father lifted up a fist, in an attempt to hit him, but Hyuck was faster. He pushed on the opposite shoulder on his father’s body and stepped back, watching as the momentum of his father’s punch threw his body around in a full circle. Donghyuck pushed you behind him slightly, wanting to protect you.

This action did not go unnoticed by his father, who tilted his head to the side, observing how you gripped his arm and how Donghyuck was shielding you.

‘Ohhhh.’ He realised, a wicked smile taking over his features. ‘So the two of you fell in love.’ The smile dropped off him completely. ‘How sweet. Maybe, if Donghyuck refuses to face the consequences of his actions, someone else could take the punishment for him.’

‘Back off!’ Donghyuck barked, moving you properly behind him. ‘You don’t touch her.’

‘Protective are we?’ His father teased but Hyuck didn’t reply. ‘What would you do to protect her? How far would you go? Would you shout at me? Would you threaten me? Would you hit me?’

His father had been circling Donghyuck all this time, trying to find the right moment to pounce. Only when you arm appeared around Donghyuck’s waist did he make his move. He lashed out with a harsh punch to Donghyuck’s shoulder, causing the boy to fall to the floor, and grabbed you holding you by the wrist with one hand and around the neck with the other.

‘I’ll kill you!’ Donghyuck screamed, losing his mind at the thought of his father hurting yet another person he loved. He stood up, preparing to charge at his father.

‘Take one step closer and I’ll cut off her air supply.’ His dad’s voice was quiet, no more theatrics or teases, just a pure, cold-blooded threat. Then his voice changed again, back into the taunting manner it was previously. ‘Or maybe I’ll just do it now.’ He began to push down slightly, making you swallow out of discomfort. He gradually pushed down more, making it increasingly difficult for you to breathe. ‘Maybe that will finally get you to throw a punch.’

Down the end of the corridor you recognised the police uniform, meaning that Donghyuck’s father had run out of time. You swung your foot underneath you, taking him by surprise and effectively ruining his balance. Hyuck took his chance while his father was out of it and pulled you back into the safety on his arms. He stroked the hair out of your face.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked, concern and guilt prominent on his features.

‘I’m okay.’ You reassured, falling back into his embrace.

‘You bitch!’ Donghyuck’s father roared and he prepared to throw himself at the two of you again. But this time he was met with the police. One officer tackled him immediately, forcing him to the ground as another secured his arms behind his back with a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.

You and Hyuck watched as he was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Donghyuck’s mother and multiple account of domestic, physical and verbal abuse. Just as he was being pulled up he look at Donghyuck one last time.

‘When will you be a man and learn how to throw a punch.’ He spat.

Hyuck stood up calmly, pulling you with him and keeping an arm around you at all times, but he never took his eyes off his father.

‘Being a man isn’t about being able to throw a punch. It’s about what you would take a punch for. I will never throw a punch, because I will never be like you. Goodbye father.’

You watched as Donghyuck’s father was dragged away in handcuffs. Only once he had disappeared around the corner did you turn to Hyuck.

‘I’m proud of you.’ You smiled slightly.

‘Thank you.’ Hyuck whispered, smiling back and placing a kiss on your forehead. ‘I have one favour to ask you though.’

‘Yeah?’ You looked up at him.

‘Can we go to bed? I’m exhausted.’ He said, watching as you burst into laughter at his mundane request.

‘Sure we can.’ You agreed, your body starting to agree with Hyuck.

---

You lay in your bed, your head on Donghyuck’s chest, his arms around you and your legs entwined. You’d been mindlessly chatting for the last few minutes but the conversation had since then drifted off into a comfortable silence.

‘I figured it out you know.’ Donghyuck informed you suddenly, causing you to look up at him from where you were laying.

‘What did you figure out?’ You asked, entertaining his antics.

‘That it wasn’t a real virus and that there were higher powers responsible for it. I figured it out first.’ His slightly smug yet still teasing voice brought a smile to your lips.

‘How did you do that?’ You were genuinely curious as to how he had come to this conclusion.

‘Remember? At the beginning, as soon as the virus broke out, I told you it was government created.’ Now the smugness was really coming through on his voice, showing how he was clearly enjoying this.

‘Go to sleep Hyuck.’ You chuckled.

‘I’m just saying.’ He whined, pulling his arms around you tighter.

You didn’t reply to that one, choosing instead to smile. You nuzzled further into Hyuck’s chest, relishing in the fact that you finally get to be close to him. 

And that’s how you spent your first night of freedom. Curled up next to the boy you loved, with him whispering sweet nothings into your ear, all thoughts and dangers of the simulation far behind you.

Turns out you finally did get your happy ever after.

#dreamwritersnet #post mortem #nct #nct zombie #nct dream #nct dream zombie #nct 127 #nct 127 zombie #haechan fluff #lee haechan fluff #haechan x reader #donghyuck #lee donghyuck #donghyuck x reader #lee donghyuck x reader #renjun #huang renjun #nct dream jeno #lee jeno fluff #jaemin #na jaemin #nct dream fluff #nct dream angst #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 angst #nct fluff #nct angst #nct series #nct dream series #nct 127 series

[princessfbi]

Fic Writer Questions

I was tagged by @ashavahishta and @indigo2831

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

93

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

805,881

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

16! 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, Les Mis, Marvel, The Almighty Johnsons, White Collar, The Hobbit, The Magicians, Graceland, The Flash, Now You See Me, Burn Notice, The Man From UNCLE, Royal Pains, Shadowhunters, and Star Wars

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Not Worth It

Soccer Mom Protocol

School Nurse Protocol

The Babysitter Protocol

Just Below the Crowded Avenue

Which are all for the Marvel fandom

5) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oooohhhh.... I try not to be too angsty near the end. I guess.... Will I Ever Be More Than I've Always Been? because it leads into the truck explosion and Athena getting a first real glimpse of Buck's parents being a waste of space a total let down.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

OH! I think that's probably a tie between She Made Herself Stronger (by Fighting with the Wind) and To Look and Be Seen and Howard Han's Daycare Carpool

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I do! I have a crossover with Graceland and Les Mis because Aaron Tveit whump was the dream (also a Harry Potter crossover)! I also have a very subtle crossover in The Almighty Johnsons where Anders is friends with the reincarnated Hercules which was a little nod to Dean O'Gorman being on Young Hercules. I've also a crossover with White Collar, Royal Pains, and Burn Notice. Annndddd..... *checks notes* Also just I crossed over all the Marvel fics all the time.

8) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I've been known to dabble from time to time. Just depends on the tone of the story. My main thing is keeping it consensual, have healthy communication, and show safe practices.

9) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I don't. I used to respond to everyone all the time but I had a few run ins where certain people have been a bit rude. I also stressed about my responses a TON because I didn't want to seem like I was just copying and pasting and that was taking up a lot of my energy. Eventually I had to decide what readers wanted more: my responses to comments or my writing. I'll answer a question here and there but for the most part I let the comment section be a space for the readers.

10) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really. I did get one person who was kind of really mean but they'd been mean to a lot of people so I took that with a grain of salt. I get more rude comments from time to time but those are also easy to disregard since I don't respond to comments anymore.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Sort of? I've had a few instances where people have taken certain things from my fics or scenarios from my fics and wrote it their own way. Though someone did take a part of my fic that was like a 5+1 and expanded one of the 5 to do their own story but that was on a site I don't use so I didn't know about it until recently.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of but it's possible.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

*side eyes @buddie-buddie* Ella you remember that time we went deep in our Buckley Siblings feels?

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh definitely Buddie for sure! Buddie followed by Enjolras/Grantaire.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I had a Carlos whump fic that I was working on but I've lost the inspiration (and the fun) from being a part of that fandom. But who knows? Never say never.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Character and pacing/tone? I feel like a lot of people talk about those the most.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Homophones and being kind to myself.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If it's in character and done correctly then sure! I made it a point in I Want You to be Happier where the only Spanish Eddie says is the Spanish he says in canon or the one time he's parroting back to Abuela. Abuela and her friends spoke Spanish fluently though and since Eddie was living with her, I would write him understanding parts of what she was saying. I actually even specifically only had Eddie mentally translate one sentence ("Who was on the phone?") and because it's a common occurrence he knew what she was saying. But whenever I do a different language I make sure that I am almost 100 percent correct when using it!

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Charmed!

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

....Tortured Musician Buck!AU my beloved!!!! That one and Tear Me to Pieces; Skin to Bone and If I Fall, Can You Pull Me Up?

Imma tag @buddie-buddie @lovebuck @herodiaz @softsatanhq @renecdote @maddieandchimney @madneyfiles @buttercupbuck

#tag game #fic writing talk #911 on fox #les miserables #graceland #charmed #Marvel #the almighty johnsons #white collar #burn notice #royal pains #911 LS #the man of uncle #the magicians #tortured musician buck owns my soul

[felidaefighter]

Fears To Ease And Flesh To Mend

Ranboo and Tubbo find out that unzombifying a piglin is a bit different from unzombifying a villager, and they start off parenthood with quite a few complications and in a little over their heads. For the sake of their child, they may need to put awkwardness aside and ask for help.

[Sick fic, canon divergence, Phil and Techno meet Michael, lots and lots of piglin lore headcanons] ~20,000 words per chapter

Chapter Two of Four

     “Hey Phil,” Ranboo said carefully as they were coming back from trading with the local villagers, who gave good deals since they were grateful they’d been cured after being zombified, “What’s the difference between curing a zombie villager and curing a zombie piglin? Aside from the obvious.” Phil looked curiously at Ranboo while they walked. “That’s an interesting question. It is a little bit different, yeah. Technically the process itself is the same but ahhh there’s always some difficulties. Usually not worth the trouble.” Ranboo pondered this for a moment. “Huh. How do you mean?”

    “Well, because of where they’re from, piglins tend to have a bit of a resistance to magic. So the rotten flesh doesn’t really heal fully or automatically the way it does for villagers. The whole process is easier in the Nether, because the lack of moisture keeps the rot slow and less likely to spread after they’re healed.” Ranboo listened intently, opening his book and scribbling notes so he could keep track. “It’s just a rare thing to see happen, is all. Adult piglins especially, they’re such a warrior-based society that waking up hurting and confused just means they’re more likely to attack the person who healed them than be grateful. Not to mention they’re still going to have infections and rot. It’s just so uncommon because you’d never try and heal a piglin that you didn’t know beforehand. It requires so much aftercare and pre-established trust, like from before they were zombified, that without it it’s just bound to lead to the piglin dying anyways.”

    “Oooh interesting, interesting. But the dosage ratio of potions and apple and stuff is the same, right?” Phil nodded. “Yeah, between piglins and villagers and the little rascals, too.” He cackled a little. “General consensus tends to be it’s better to overdose on magic than underdose, because worst case scenario for inhaling too much of the weakness potion is you feel a bit queasy, and worst case scenario for eating too much golden apple is that you get a stomachache, but if you underdose the worst case scenario is they aren’t healed at all and can never be properly healed.” 

    They were just about at their houses now, and Phil shot Ranboo a look with raised eyebrows. “You don’t know any piglins aside from Techno though right? You aren’t worried about Techno are you mate? You don’t need to be-- he’s already gone through that process. He doesn’t need to do it again.” Ranboo stopped short. This was news to him, but also, it made for an excellent cover. For now at least-- admittedly he was still a little lacking on information for how to treat the infections properly. “Wait, really? Techno was zombified?” 

    “Ah, yep.” Ranboo nearly jumped out of his skin, spooked at Techno’s voice. The piglin must’ve come out of his own house to greet them as they arrived, and overheard the last bit of conversation. “An interestin’ way to enter a conversation, but yeah, I was.” Techno shrugged. “Just for a few seconds though. Happens with any piglin that wants to be able to traverse the overworld. Phil and I planned it ahead of time, so there weren’t really a lot of sores to deal with or anything. Definitely not where most of my scars come from,” Techno said with a bragging smirk. 

    Ranboo laughed a bit. “Of course, yeah. That’s so cool though, ‘cause I didn’t know any of that. It does make sense though, I think, yes.” Ranboo was desperately trying to sound normal and not allude to anything else at all. He really hoped it was working. “Ranboo, you good mate?” Phil asked. It was, apparently, not working. He tried to stay steady and even with his voice. “Yeah, no, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Techno kind of squinted at him, and Ranboo nervously curled in on himself just a bit, despite being slightly taller than the piglin.

    Techno looked like he was going to say something that surely would’ve made Ranboo explode with anxiety, but instead, he just shrugged. “Alright. We won’t pry. Will we, Phil?” Techno said, looking pointedly at the man, who very much looked like he did in fact want to pry, but conceded with a bit of a grumble and a small sigh. “Let us know if you’re curious about anything else though. Techno and I have gone around the bend with this one, we know the ins and outs.” Techno elbowed Phil (knowing this was his way of trying to subtly pry), who lightly smacked him back. Ranboo, in turn, nodded at them. “Mhm! I will, thank you.”

    Ranboo pretended not to notice as the two of them exchanged a knowing glance with one another, instead giving a wave and heading off to his own house for the night. He let out a long, shaky exhale once inside. “Okay, could’ve gone better, could’ve gone worse. Should’ve kept Michael in the nether while healing him, but we did it as soon as he was safe at Snowchester in a baby-proofed room so… Overall… not... as bad as it could have been? I think we did okay, I think we did okay,” Ranboo muttered to himself, trying to calm himself down. 

    Unfortunately, he didn’t learn anything about how to heal an infection, but he supposed that was typical. He didn’t ask about infections. He asked about unzombifying piglins. He did have more resources at his house than Tubbo had, though, so he went to his basement and started rummaging around in his chests to see if he could find anything of value. A little difficult with how disorganized he tended to be, but that was okay. It gave Tubbo time to respond to him after he sent him a quick message. 

    Secretly, Ranboo wanted to involve Techno and Phil; he knew that they and Tubbo had a bit of a rough history, but the two really seemed to know what they were talking about. And Tubbo had changed and Phil and Techno had changed, and Ranboo didn’t think they would try to hurt Michael. If there was a chance they could help Michael, he was considering risking it. He’d do anything for his son. But he wouldn’t say anything unless Tubbo was okay with it; after hesitating, he sent Tubbo another message. 

<Ranboo> techno and phil might know how to help with michael’s infection <Ranboo> but i don’t know how to ask without telling them about him <Ranboo> and i won’t tell them if you’re worried <Tubbo> i don’t trust techno <Tubbo> but he is a piglin also <Tubbo> and i trust you <Ranboo> i just worry that it’ll get worse if we don’t do it right <Tubbo> it’s your call big man

    Ranboo stared anxiously at the messages, thinking of his next step. He was so focused on it that he almost didn’t hear the knock on his door from upstairs. Startled, he shouted up. “Coming! I’ll be there in a second!” Giving one last glance at the conversation, he tucked his communicator away and rushed up the ladder. He opened the door and stepped outside a bit, his house being a bit too cramped to have a decent conversation. “Phil!” He exclaimed, utterly confused. “What’s up? Everything okay?” Phil was standing at the door next to a very disgruntled Technoblade, who looked like he had tried everything in his power to stop whatever conversation was about to happen and, upon failing due to Phil’s Old Man Stubbornness, decided to tag along. 

    “So, hypothetically,” Phil started, and Techno groaned. Phil sent one of his typical jokingly exasperated glances at Techno in response, and started again. “Hypothetically, if you were curing a zombie piglin, you’d probably want someone around who’s done it before to make sure everything went okay.” Ranboo stared at him for a moment, processing. “That’s true! Hypothetically, if I’d already cured a zombie piglin, I’d also want help with it to make sure nothing went wrong.” Phil now wore a knowing smirk, triumphant in the fact that his suspicions were confirmed. Techno sighed. “See, Phil, what you’ve done now is you’ve made a lot more work for us. Ranboo could’ve got it all done on his own and probably would’ve been fine, but now we gotta go help.” Phil turned to him as he spoke.

    “Techno, you don’t have to help mate, I’ve done this on my own before--” Techno interrupted him. “Nahhhh nah nah, you can do it on your own sure, but you see I am a certified actual piglin, so you’re gonna want my help regardless. It’ll be easier with me there. I’m comin’ with you.” Ranboo just stood there, baffled, trying to gather his thoughts. They were both asking way more than he initially thought and also way less. Was this a good thing? Regardless, they had offered to help and apparently nothing could convince them not to. “Th-- Thank you…?” Ranboo said, then corrected himself, “Thank you. I uh. Hoo boy. It’s a bit of a story,” he admitted nervously.

    Phil placed a hand on Ranboo’s upper arm, given his shoulder was a bit too high up for comfort. “Let’s walk and talk, then. I’m assuming this piglin you know is elsewheres, at least.” Ranboo nodded. “Yeah. Let me just, uh--” he sent a quick message to Tubbo saying they were on their way as they started walking-- “Yeah. But first uh, we already healed him. Sort of. We cured him, but he’s not healed. He’s got some really bad infections and we’re worried that some of the issues are internal. It doesn’t seem like it, but we want to be safe.” Phil’s face shifted to a look of deep concern, and mentally started making note of what they would need, as Techno looked rather thoughtfully at Ranboo, having picked up more than just the medical details that Phil was so focused on. “‘We’’? Who’s ‘we’?” Techno asked. 

    Ranboo stiffened, and then took a deep breath. Well, here went nothing. “So you know Tubbo? --Please don’t get mad at me,” Ranboo started, and Techno held his tongue. “When I first joined and Tubbo was giving me a tour of New L’Manberg, we found a. Uh. We found a baby piglin who had been zombified.” Something seemed to click for both Techno and Phil as a look of realization passed over their faces, and Ranboo prayed that it didn’t turn to anger or aggression. They had no reason to feel that way, he tried to reassure himself, but he knew their history with Tubbo.

    “We… made him a little shelter in the Nether to protect him from ghasts and wandering off. Until we’d made a baby-proofed room for him at least in Tubbo’s house. And last night we brought him to the overworld, to Tubbo’s house, and cured him.” Ranboo waited for the backlash, and while Techno looked like he had something he wanted to say, Phil spoke first. “Keeping him in the Nether in a shelter was one of the best things you could’ve done. Most of the area around the main portal, which is what I’m assuming you used, is wasteland, so it’s really dry and that would’ve protected him as well as anything can from decaying. Techno?”

    Techno, after having been given the go-ahead, was finally free to speak his mind. “Ranboo-- Ranboo I’m not really so sure about Tubbo, I mean he is one of the big government guys that hunted me down-- are you doin’ this as like, a favor to him? What’s the relationship there?” Ah. Ranboo had been prepared to talk about Michael, but this, now this was a little awkward. Instead, he decided to first pipe up to correct Techno and defend Tubbo. “Actually, that was Quackity’s idea. He kind of talked everyone else into that. I’m pretty sure at least. I think I wrote it down. He was definitely the one who organized it though. I think he was gonna do it whether we agreed or not?” Techno was very clearly making mental notes. “Interesting,” he said. Ranboo continued in his answer. “And relationship, well uh, it’s not a favor per se, it’s more like… we adopted him? Together. We adopted him together, like, as our son? And we’re married.”

    “What?” Phil squawked. Techno just blinked at Ranboo, and chose his words carefully, trying to hide his shock. Actually, if it wasn’t so nerve-wracking, it would’ve been hilarious. “Well. I won’t say anything as to your choice in spouse, but this is definitely new information.” Phil, despite his ruffled feathers in both a physical and metaphorical sense, gathered himself and decided to push the other two to do the same. Quite literally-- he put a firm hand on Techno and Ranboo both and started urging them towards the portal. Ranboo let out a startled noise that was intermingled with a confused, small laugh. “Right, well, infection’s not gonna get better on its own, we can deal with this situation later. I will talk to you and Tubbo about this,” Phil nearly scolded, and Ranboo could only nod under Phil’s determination. Techno, of course, deferred his judgement to Phil.

#ranboo #philza #technoblade #dreamsmp #mcyt fanfic #they write #don't worry i'm only tagging the people who show up in the chapter! #posting it all at once hopefully that's okay #r #p #t #family bee

[brandyllyn]

In our own image... (04)

Chapter 4

(Poe Dameron x OFC)

Other chapters...  My Masterlist

Word count: 1600. Read it on AO3.

Rating: Teen & Up (PG) no warnings

Rey sighed, pushing off with her foot and setting the hammock swinging. She’d come here to rest, enjoying the sounds of Kina working, the small beeps and trills that filled the workshop. But the third time she’d fallen asleep sitting up Kina had snorted, pushing herself away from the workbench and digging through a pile of things under a nearby table. She’d returned with the hammock, shoving it into Rey’s hands and pointing at an area high in the workshop.

Rey had gotten the hammock strung up within a few minutes and gratefully rolled herself into it. There was a breeze at this height, a gap between the stacks of boxes and the roof tarp. And, if she draped one leg off the edge, she could set herself into a gentle rocking motion by flexing her foot against what was below her.

It was, all in all, quite nice. And it certainly beat waiting around for the next thing to go wrong. If people needed her they could find her. But they would have to look and she kind of liked that. She missed the solitude of Jakku sometimes. As much as she loved her new life, her new friends, it was still so different from what she had grown up knowing. People were always talking. Just for the sake of it. Just to fill the silence.

Kina didn’t talk. Oh, she whistled and clicked and tsked, but she didn’t talk. The sounds she made were soothing, flowing over Rey like a wave. Sometimes, the woman would whistle a low tune - not Binary, just whistling for the sake of it - and Rey could feel the hairs on her arms stand up. Kina was doing it now, a melody Rey had never heard before. It made her feel sleepy, relaxed, like she could float away.

If she concentrated, sometimes she could catch words when Kina spoke. If the pitch was just right, but most of the time it was a jumble. Kina might whistle something that sounded like three long notes, but then K-0 or BB-8 would translate long thoughts or processes. There were obviously other notes there, other frequencies, but Rey just wasn’t able to hear them.

Below her, she could hear the beeps and trills of the two droids arguing, along with occasional thumps. Poe was in strategy meetings all day and BB-8 had chosen to tag along with Rey. She should probably be in that same meeting. She just… didn’t want to be. She wanted to be somewhere else. Somewhere she could relax for a bit.

That was apparently not going to be here today. K-0 continued to try to run BB-8 off anytime he was in the workshop. There was something about the other droid helping out Kina that made K-0 furious. BB-8, for his part, seemed befuddled by the smaller droid’s actions.

Kina had already run the pair off from her side of the shop, sending them away with a sharp set of whistles and clicks that Rey had not needed to have translated to understand the meaning of. Since then, K-0 had been making snappy digs at BB-8 who was trying to avoid the other droid. They were almost directly below Rey, and she was having a hard time concentrating on her meditation with their chatter back and forth.

The room went quiet and Rey froze. That was not peaceful silence. That was the silence of something lying in wait. She glanced down just in time to see K-0 push itself against one of the table legs, tipping it over onto BB-8 and then darting across the room.

A shrill whistle from Kina and Rey could hear K-0 beeping back furiously, saying something about BB-8 but it was so jumbled Rey could barely make it out. Kina turned to BB-8, hands on her hips, clicking her tongue and whistling. No one was translating but Rey could understand BB’s reply.

"It is not my fault Friend Kina!" BB-8 whistled at the droidsmith.

"It’s not," Rey called down, swinging her legs over and then into the hammock so she was sitting cross-legged - using the tiniest tendril of the Force to keep the sling from tipping over. "K-0 knocked it over."

K-0 looked up at her, letting loose a torrent of Binary that made Rey blush.

Kina’s sharp whistle sent the little droid scurrying, then she rolled her eyes and crouched down to help dig BB-8 out of the pile of junk that had fallen on him. Rey hopped down, lightly landing on the balls of her feet. That jump probably counted as Jedi training right? If so then she could honestly say that she hadn’t spent the day doing nothing.

Rey squatted down next to Kina, the pair of them quickly righting the table. Rey handed objects up to Kina who seemed to have a very specific idea of where everything should go. It looked like a haphazard mess to Rey, but Kina nodded after a minute and then smiled at her.

"Thank you," BB-8 translated.

"Not a problem," Rey smiled back before following Kina over to the workbench. "That’s quite a little troublemaker you’ve got in K-0."

Kina grinned at her as she sat back down. "Yeah, they are, aren’t they? Sometimes I wish they weren’t but… well…"

Rey’s forehead furrowed, "What do you mean? You can just reprogram it right?"

Kina froze, the grin dropping from her face. "But then they wouldn’t be K-0. They would be someone else. And K-0 would be gone."

Kina whistled again at BB-8 and the droid spun in place. "Apologies Friend Kina. Friend Rey, what Friend Kina said was 'And K-0 would be dead'."

"Droids can’t die," Rey said without thinking. "They can be destroyed but they’re not alive so they can’t…" she trailed off, thinking.

"They think, they feel, they make jokes and solve problems and in their own way they can love us and each other," Kina turned away from her, picking up a tool from the bench. "If you have a definition of 'alive' that does not include those things I am not sure it’s worth having."

Rey stood there, staring down at BB-8 who looked up at her with his photoreceptor. She’d never really thought about droids before. They were always there, and she had grown attached to a few - including this one. But she’s never thought of them as alive. They obviously were made by someone, like ships and blasters and crates.

"People are made by other people," Kina whistled and Rey realized she had said the last of her thoughts out loud. "Whether it’s more of their own species or droids, every person is made by someone."

Rey pondered that as she watched Kina. "I’ve never heard anyone put it that way before."

"You need to talk to more droidsmiths," Kina looked at her from the corner of her eye. "It’s pretty common in our circles."

Rey nodded, pulling a stool up and sitting next to her. "What are you working on today?"

With her new information, Rey could see how differently Kina treated the droids than other people did. Always asking permission before working on them, asking their opinions. She whistled at them constantly, explaining what she was doing and stopping to explain further if she received questions back.

Is that why Kina could speak binary? Rey listened closer. It was a little awkward, having to parse out what BB-8 repeated in Binary. Rey tried to understand the difference between what the droid was saying and what Kina herself was saying. After a few minutes Rey finally asked, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Talk in Binary?" Rey answered and then shrugged ruefully, "I tried it last night but I could barely manage to get a few random words strung together."

Kina paused, setting down her tools and sighing. She seemed to have a moment of arguing with herself then she turned on her stool to fully face Rey. "My people possess the gift of music. We can sing notes others can’t hear, perceive a much wider spectrum of frequencies."

Rey had a follow-up question but BB-8 actually got there first. "But you do not sing Friend Kina."

"No I do not," Kina said, leaning down and stroking one hand along the droid, the other rising to touch the thick leather necklace at her throat before turning back to her workbench. BB-8 made half a noise but Rey quickly tapped him with her foot, motioning for the droid to stay silent.

"If you are going to stay," BB-8 repeated from Kina, "I could use a hand getting that DZ unit up here."

Rey nodded. It hadn’t exactly turned into a relaxing ’lay around and take a nap’ kind of day. But helping Kina haul droid parts around was satisfying in its own way. A few hours later, she said her goodbyes, BB-8 circling around them. She glanced out the front of the workshop, noticing the dark skies.

"Have you been here for a storm yet?" she asked.

Kina shook her head, an anxious look crossing her face. "I have not. Are they… bad?"

"They can be," Rey said honestly, watching the play of emotions in the other woman’s eyes. "If you want, I can go do my check-ins and then come back. I’ve got the hammock now and it’s probably drier here than it would be where I usually sleep."

She usually slept on the Falcon but there was no need to point that out. Kina was staring past Rey, at the wind picking up and the roiling clouds overhead. Finally she nodded. "I would like that," BB-8 translated.

"Great!" Rey exclaimed as optimistically as possible. "I’ll see you later then."

=

Chpt 5

#in our own image #writing #poe dameron x ofc #poe dameron / ofc #poe dameron #star wars #star wars sequels #fanfiction

[suitofvibraniumarmor]

If You Just Realize [Finale]

Part Fifteen: Watching Over Us

Summary: Irina’s letter bodes well for Sebastian and his growing family.  Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Reader Word Count: 1945 Series Warnings: Death, angst, sadness. Lots of creative licensing, I’m sure. Chapter Warnings: Post-death grief/feels, custody issues, pregnancy.  Square Filled: This entire series will fill my realized feelings square for @marvelfluffbingo​​. A/N: I’ve much enjoyed writing this series, and I hope all of you enjoy reading it! The tag list is open; requests to be added can be done so here. There are bits and pieces of Romanian throughout the series, mostly from Google Translate and the few things I’ve picked up as I learn the language.

Also, I don’t know why I’ve never mentioned it before, but a huge song inspiration for the title of this fic (and some chapter titles) is Realize by Colbie Caillat.

Thank you so much to everyone who read, reblogged, replied, allofthethings, for this fic! I’m very proud of it and have loved writing and sharing this story with you. Your support means the world! Keep your eyes open for a new series announcement coming Sunday! ;) 

Series Masterlist

Y/N — 

Well, here’s a letter I never dreamed of writing. Having Milena, though, it’s changed everything. I look at my previous little girl and I want to give her the world. I’ve brought her into a scary world, and without a father to boot. I know, though, that she will have no shortage of family, love, and opportunities. 

Thank God for my brother. Sebastian is a good man. I’m a better person for being his little sister. Being a mama on my own seems so much more possible with my family, especially him. I know that my baby girl will always have that father-figure in her life with him around. Can you just imagine him walking her down the aisle one day? She’s such a tiny thing now, but I can picture it perfectly in my head. 

Part of protecting my daughter is making sure she is taken care of in the event that something happens to me. No shortage of family and love means there will be no shortage of people taking care of her, but I want it to be Sebastian. He’s going to think I’m crazy. My parents might not even understand. But I know, with every fiber of my being, that he is the best option to raise her if I’m not around. I can’t explain it beyond that — I just know. He will get her through my absence, get her through the toughest times in life. He will give her all of the love in the world. 

Which is why I’m writing you. I’m honestly not sure who will have a harder time if something happens to me, Milena or Seb. You’re his best friend, and I can only pray that the two of you maintain that friendship — not for the benefit of this potential situation, but for his sake and yours. I can tell you now that I secretly hope the two of you will see the love you have for each other and let that come to fruition. Either way, Y/N, you have to be the one to guide him through all of this. He will be grieving, may not know the ins and outs of parenting, especially of parenting a little girl … have to admit, I’m laughing to myself thinking about him trying to do her hair or pick out outfits for her. He’ll figure it out, on his own or not, but I know the best choice for my brother, in so many ways, is you. 

I’m having all of the legal documents sent to you, as well. You’ll be in a better place to handle all of this and make sense of it to Sebastian. He’ll handle my parents, but only if he’s in a good place. Help him find that good place. Please. 

Whatever happens with the two of you … take care of each other. Take care of my little girl. Take care of Mom and Dad. I’ll be watching out for you. 

— Irina

Philip set the letter to the side. Y/N had read it aloud to Sebastian when she first opened it, and they had read it countless times together, but hearing Philip read it aloud with all four of the grandparents present made the emotion new and raw. Even Tim and Anthony were brought to tears by the words. After a box of tissues was passed around, Philip continued. 

“The legal documents sent have all been endorsed — they’re legitimate. I spoke with the lawyer Irina had draw everything up and put in charge of sending the letter and the papers out. News of her death didn’t reach him quite the way it was supposed to, which delayed everything being mailed, and then they sat in Los Angeles for a while, of course. She’s included copies of everything we need: Conor’s rights being signed away, copies of the emails they exchanged leading up to that, a last will and testament appointing complete guardianship to both Sebastian and Y/N. I know we want to avoid a hearing, so I’ll present these to the court, and we’ll go from there. I don’t see, though, with all of this, how anyone could give Conor any part in custody of Milena, including visitations.”

Alice sniffled. “We have told Conor that we won’t take part in his case. We love our son, but he has to face the consequences of his initial decision.”

Sebastian nodded his gratitude. “We’d like to make sure all of the grandparents are included on visitations in the final papers, but Y/N and I want to adopt her. We want to make her officially ours.”

“And everyone is in support of that?” Philip asked. 

All four grandparents nodded their agreement, with enthusiasm and without hesitation. Philip explained the process going forward, promised to do his best to keep it out of the courtroom, and sent them on their way. 

The remaining days that Milena was with Conor, Y/N and Sebastian worked to put the final details of her birthday party together. They visited the breeder and put a deposit on a puppy they could pick up on Milena’s birthday to surprise her with at her party. Y/N washed her bedding and found a couple more things to decorate with, and Sebastian worked on putting together the swings they had invested in but hadn’t gotten to setting up yet. 

After that, there was nothing left to do but wait. With thirty-six hours to go, they decided it was okay to go out for a date night. They hadn’t been able to since they had opened up about their feelings and decided to make a real go of things, so they took the opportunity and went to dinner and a movie. 

“I had a good time tonight,” Y/N said, leaning on his shoulder while they waited for the movie to start. 

Sebastian smiled and kissed her forehead. “We’re only halfway through the evening, Bright Eyes.”

She shrugged. “I know, but I’m with you. That’s all I need.”

“Me too,” he agreed, hooking a finger under her chin to bring her lips to his as the lights in the theater began to dim. 

By the time Milena’s birthday came around, life had fallen into a pleasant routine. The adoption wouldn’t be final for a couple of months, but that was more to do with court timelines than anything; one week with a little girl processing her mother’s death and a lot of other changes in a short time had been enough for Conor to know that parenting was not something he could handle. He dropped his end of the custody battle a couple of days later, allowing the family to move forward with their lives unhindered. 

Milena’s night terrors continued, but were becoming less and less frequent. She was still seeing the psychologist once a week, and that seemed to be helping. She had even had an overnight with Georgeta and Anthony without any mishaps. 

Sebastian left around lunchtime to go pick up Milena’s puppy, leaving the girls home to put the finishing touches on party decorations and make sure everything else was in order. Milena was in her birthday outfit, her hair was secured in a cute, curly ponytail, and she was jumping around like she’d already eaten an entire pan of cupcakes. 

“Is it time yet, tanti?” she asked Y/N for the millionth time that day. [Tanti = Auntie]

Y/N chuckled and scooped Milena up in her arms. “Not yet, princess. Very soon, though.”

Milena groaned. “Can I call Gramma Alice and Bunica and ask when they’re coming?”

“You can call Gramma and Grampa,” Y/N offered, dialing the number and putting it on speaker before handing the phone to the now-three-year-old. 

Thirty minutes later, all of the grandparents had arrived. They grinned at the little girl dancing around and showing them everything that was set up for the party. While Milena was kept busy, Y/N checked her watch and realized Sebastian should have been back by now. Frowning, she found her phone and stepped outside to call him. 

“I’m just pulling up to the house, babe,” he answered. 

She looked up and spotted him, so she smiled and waved. She waited there, anxious to get her hands on that puppy. 

“Two puppies?” she exclaimed when Sebastian approached with a puppy in each hand. He carefully handed her a black and tan one, its little tail wagging faster than a hummingbird’s wings.

Sebastian kissed her hello, then stepped back. “I saw how you were eyeing that one when we put the down payment on Milena’s puppy. No reason both of my girls shouldn’t have a puppy.” 

Y/N held the little creature close, tears welling in her eyes. “She’s so precious!”

“Why are you crying?” Sebastian chuckled, pulling her to his chest and kissing her again. “I didn’t know you’d be this excited!”

“I am excited,” she sniffled, “but it could also be the baby.”

Sebastian nodded, then his eyes went wide. “Baby?”

Y/N giggled through her tears. “I was gonna wait to tell you — found out at my doctor’s appointment the other day. I wasn’t expecting it at all, since it was just a yearly check-up, but since you and I haven’t been preventing anything, they wanted a test and it came back positive. I was going to wait to get through the party before I told you …”

Sebastian set down the puppy that was in his arms and grabbed up his wife, tears flooding his own eyes now. “I can’t believe this — I can’t … I can’t form words.”

Y/N grinned and wrapped her free arm around his neck. “You don’t think it’s too soon?”

He shook his head, taking her face in his hands. “From the moment I realized how long I’ve been in love with you, I knew we had a lot of time to make up for. I’d say we’re right on track.”

“Me too,” she grinned. “Let’s not tell everyone yet though, okay? One shock at a time.”

Sebastian nodded his agreement and looked around for the puppy he had set down. He was just corralling the little thing when Milena came out to the porch and saw what her Uncle Seb had brought home. 

“Puppies!” she squealed clapping her hands and running toward Sebastian. “Can we keep them?”

“This one is yours,” Sebastian told her, handing the puppy over and guiding her on how to hold it safely. “Happy birthday, munchkin!”

“Thank you!” Milena said before peppering the puppy with kisses and then asking if she could go inside and show her grandparents. 

Y/N opened the door with her free hand. “Let’s go!”

Sebastian took the door from her, allowing both girls to go in and show off their new pets. He stood back and let them have their moment. Watching his parents, his wife, his niece, and Alice and Tim, Sebastian felt a moment of sadness. His sister should have been here for all of this. He would always miss her, but the pain of it was still too fresh. 

Seeing that Sebastian’s smile had fallen some, Y/N stepped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his middle. He hugged her back. 

“She’s watching over us,” Y/N reminded him. “She said so herself.”

He leaned to kiss her. He knew that Y/N was right — after all, he was married to his best friend, would be able to raise his niece the way his sister would have wanted, and had a baby on the way. Without his sister watching over them, he wasn’t so sure all of this wouldn’t have passed him by. 

“She did,” Sebastian grinned, “and I’d say today is perfect proof of that.” 

AllOfTheThings: @captain-s-rogers​ @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​ @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​ @hurricanerin​ @horsesandbandsforlife​ @im-not-an-armrest-im-short​ @shynara51​ @sea040561​ @pinknerdpanda​ @xtina2191​ @jackryanplz​ @beakami​ @heartsaved​ @fullprunerebelstatesman​ @blackwidowismyhomegirl​ @averyrogers83​ @jennmurawski13​ @connie326​ @auriandthepussicats​

IYJR: @elsatxx​ @tanelle83​ @amanda-teaches​ @etherealwaifgoddess​ @kmuir1​ @ntlmundy​ @jayankles​ @rebekahdawkins​ @denise1605​ @rhadigen​ @peace-love-hobbitness​ @itsallyscorner​ @mizzzpink​ @auspiciousharriet​ @the-murder-strut-murdered-me​ @learisa​ @tellmewhatyouwill​ @katherinereid​ @lokilokilokilokilokiloki​ @itsmycorneroftheinternet​ @andreagf956​ @voltage-my2dlove​

#marvelfluffbingo2020 #sebastian stan #reader insert #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian x reader #queue and i remember budapest very differently

[utterlyinevitable]

Hurricane (Part 3)

Part 1 | Part 2

Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Rebecca Lao) Word Count: 1.7k Warning: Nothing outright. The story is rated T+. Summary: A hurricane is falling over Boston. Edenbrook has been evacuated and some very different doctor’s end up seeking shelter together.  

A/N: This series was inspired by an anon prompt request for “protection”. I hope I did it justice! This is a multi part story.  

________________________________________

The rag tag team of doctor’s sat around Naveen’s large dining table in the wooden room with endless windows looking over the river. They had copious amounts of wine accompanying Ethan’s homemade meat lasagna and garlic bread. Naveen sat at the head of the table, Sienna to his left with Elijah and Rebecca to his right with Ethan. 

The conversation was pleasant enough. The only awkwardness was Ethan, though the others were oblivious to it. Ethan stayed quiet at the end of the table drinking his wine and assessing how everyone moved about. He desperately was still trying to diagnose the outcome of their predicament. 

The young doctor’s were adaptable and Naveen took to them with fatherly glee. Neither of the older doctors could remember the last time this cabin was so full of life. It was easy to notice how the young doctors moved around each other like family, without any regard for the others personal space. For a while Ethan felt completely out of place. 

Naveen watched their antics like a doting parent, jumping in and out of the conversation with delight. While Ethan was on the sideline wondering if he could ever find the courage to take the leap. He doubted it. Ethan was well past his jovial years - he was too old for twenty-something antics and anything that didn’t serve a concrete purpose in the continuation of life. At least, that’s what he told himself. 

Could he see himself mixing with the personal daily lives of these residents regularly? 

The notion sent a shiver up Ethan’s spine. 

Sure, Trinh and Greene were nice and accommodating enough - a pleasantry even. And Ethan was thankful they kept his rendezvous with Becca secret, but could they be his friends too? No. He was a world older than them. They had a lot more learning to do. 

But they’re Becca’s family… 

Could he do it for her? Did he care enough to do it for her?  

Naveen’s next question pulled Ethan out of his thoughts. 

“How are you finding your interns, doctors?” Naveen asked with dazzling curiosity.  

“It’s…” Sienna began to say, not wanting to damper the evening with second-year struggles. Dr. Sienna Trinh had been grappling with the daily grind since intern year - her pure soul so easily crushed by rude patients and unfortunate circumstances. Her incompetent and manipulative intern didn’t help ease her anxiety one bit.  

“Challenging,” Becca finished for her. 

The Chief’s interest was piqued, “Oh?” 

Becca bit her lip before speaking, “I know Dr. Ortega is brilliant, but a bit hot headed and impulsive.” Dr. Esme Ortega had some character flaws Becca was well used to working with - the fiery intern reminded Becca a lot of herself, and her standoffishness and unwillingness to trust others was definitely reflective of Ethan. She knew with just some faith and a little push Dr. Ortega would be best in her class. 

“Sounds like someone I know,” Naveen jokes.  

Becca continued on, “She needs to think more before she acts sometimes.”  

A confident mumble came from Becca’s right, the first words he’s spoken in a while, “May I suggest taking your own advice, Dr. Lao?”  

She turned to look at him. Ethan’s eyes met her own. There was a crinkle at the corner of his lips, the ghost of a coy smile. 

“Oh shut up, Ethan,” she rolled her eyes playfully. “You know what I mean.” 

Their eyes were locked on one another and bodies frozen in place. Ethan’s implored Becca silently asking her why she didn’t tell him she was having problems. She gave an immobile shrug.    

Being the gracious host he is and not wanting to subject Sienna and Elijah and even himself to an awkward encounter, Naveen turned to his left and asked, “And what about you two?”  

“Sothey needs... a lot of hand holding. He’s a nice guy, but I’m not too sure he’s up for the challenges,” Elijah admitted.  

Sienna folded her hands in her lap as she looked down and agreed, “I feel the same way with Mitch. I wish I was more like Zaid with the no-nonsense personality - if I could just scare Mitch into doing better that’ll teach him a lesson.” 

Finished with her aphonic conversation Becca turned back to the table, piping in, “From what I’ve seen Mitch is just lazy.”  

“Oh?” Naveen took a large swig of wine. 

“Yeah…” In the handful of times she interacted with Dr. Mitch Keller she hadn’t seen him do any doctoring, just looming over as Sienna did all the dirty work. “But I don’t know him well enough - it’s just a speculation.”  

Naveen nodded his head at the admission while Ethan made a mental note to watch Dr. Keller with a steely eye. 

As the conversation died there Elijah happily changed the topic; 

“Dr. Banerji, I hear you love a bit of hospital gossip?”  

The old diagnostician had the most elated smile, bringing every crack and wrinkle into the warm stormy light, “Who doesn’t?” 

“Any respectable human,” Ethan chided.  

Everyone ignored him. 

“What have you heard?” Naveen asked as he learned forward with utter intrigue.  

Elijah pressed his palms into the table, bracing himself for the bomb he was about to drop. “That Ines and Zaid are engaged,” he said it flatly and with a raised eyebrow. “I always thought them dating was just a rumour!” 

“They do show up everywhere together,” Becca added, polishing off the last bit of garlic bread. 

Sienna excitedly clapped her hands together and hopped in her seat, “They’re so cute together! I’m so happy for them.” 

“I haven’t heard that one,” Naveen told them. “But I do know the pair are quite close,” the old man winked and that was all the confirmation the young doctors’ needed.  

Keeping with the excitement Elijah let another rumor slip, “I heard from the nurses that a resident and attending were hooking up in a supply closet on the lab floor last year.” 

Becca stopped chewing and Ethan sat up straighter. They never ever “hooked up” at the hospital, but they did hide in a supply closet on the lab floor when they needed to sneakily run Naveen’s blood last year. Surely no one saw them? Did they? 

Out of the corner of his eye Naveen noticed the tension of his dearest of companions. He recalled that story - with his results Becca mentioned how they had to hide in a closet from Dr. Wren. She never mentioned anything else transpiring. Though the pair were allowed their own secrets, much to Naveen’s dismay.   

“How scandalous,” he sent a small wink Becca’s way. “I heard that our wonderful Dr. Lao didn’t act alone in her retrieval of the Rhode’s cure.” Naveen looked directly into Sienna and Elijah’s eyes,  “How was that for you?” 

The two friends spoke at the same time; “I -” Sienna began.  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elijah finished.   

The group erupted into laughter. Well, everyone except for Ethan who was still too affected by the previous confession.  

“Speaking of relationships,” Naveen changed the subject “I hear you and Nurse Danny are quite close, Sienna.”  

Quickly Sienna’s face flushed, “We are. It’s new.”  

Elijah was having too much fun with all this banter flowing as effortlessly as the wine. With a rueful grin he let the words slip, “Word on the street is Dr. Ramsey’s been seeing someone.” 

Ethan nearly spit out his wine. 

Becca looked at her friend with sheer horror. 

Before anyone could question further Naveen interjected, steering the conversation, “Are you, Ethan?”  

The blue eyed doctor tried not to choke at the intrusion into his business, “Am I?”  

“Are you single or not?” he quizzed. “It’s the first I’m hearing of this.” Naveen had the biggest shit eating grin as he bore Ethan down, subtly shifting his glance between him and Becca. All three doctors were sitting on the edge of their seats as they waited for Ethan or Becca to confirm what was already apparent.

Becca wanted no part of this conversation, keeping a constant stream of wine flowing down her esophagus.  

Ethan sat back and crossed his arms, his stare ready to kill, “My personal life is none of your concern.” 

“Oh but it is,” Naveen said knowingly. 

Becca’s eyes never left her glass. 

Sienna and Naveen tried to salvage the conversation by moving onto lighter subjects such as hobbies and Naveen’s career. Elijah was very interested to learn about the old man’s childhood and how he found moving about the US over the years. Ethan was too dejected to contribute, and anyway he’d heard his mentor’s stories more times than he could recall. He could recount Naveen’s story of how his first day of residency went as easily as he could recite the alphabet backwards. 

Ethan topped up everyone’s glass with the last of the red wine before setting off to the kitchen to clean up. 

Becca noticed his retreat and helped clear off all their dishes while her friends were completely engrossed in a story she’d heard from Naveen before. 

“You survived dinner,” she praised as she walked in.

Ethan was standing in front of the porcelain farmhouse sink with his sleeves rolled up and forearms deep in suds. Becca loaded up the dishwasher with plates, cutlery and any smaller items. 

“I’m proud of you,” she told him.  

“I’m stronger than I look.”

Ethan’s right sleeve began to slide down. She caught it just before it met the bubbles attached to his arm.   

“Don’t I know it,” she winked as she folded the sleeve back in place. 

Ethan let the utensil he was washing slip through his fingers. Becca was so close. And all this was all so… comfortable. The warm feeling of her skin grazing against his was enough to subside the panic rooted deep inside him. He went to rotate his body towards her, letting them be flush against one another. Becca’s hand trailed and tightened at his wrist, keeping him in place.  

“Thank you for inviting us along.” She smiled so sincerely Ethan’s chest fluttered. “I don’t know what we would have done, god forbid the apartment actually floods.”  

He smiled back graciously as his free hand moved to cover hers. “I’ll always protect you, Rookie.”  

“I know.” She laced her fingers with his just above the waterline. “You always have my best interest at heart. Even if I don’t agree with it.”  

With their affectionate gaze still locked he leaned over to kiss her hairline. 

________________________________________

A/N: Where do you want to see this series go? I have one more chapter written before I hit an impasse 😞

Taglist: @ohchoices​ @dulceghernandez​ @aylamreads​ @binny1985​ @ramseysno1rookie​ @interobanginyourmom​ @queencarb​ @perriewinklenerdie​ @rookiefromedenbrook​ @eramsey28​ @choicesficwriterscreations​ @heauxplesslydevoted​ @schnitzelbutterfingers​ @purpledragonturtles​ @ramseyandrys​ @ermidc​ @mrsdrakewalkerblog​ @doilooklikeiknow​ @overwhelminglyaquarius​ @drethanramslay​ @edgiestwinter​ @rookieoh​ @lucy-268​ @mvalentine​ @lilyvalentine​

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[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Monster Part 12

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Damon Salvatore x Reader (Completely lacking Damon in this part, but might as well add it.)

Word Count: 1.4K

Warnings: None? Lost memories that have been resurfaced.

Author’s Note: Welcome to part 12. This one is quick, but I promise it is needed. Thank you for sticking with me on this one. I promise the next part will be longer. 

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. ♥

Y/N felt sick the moment the world stopped moving so quickly and came to a stop inside a hotel room. One moment she had been watching as Damon and Katherine had been fighting, and the next she was being taken away from the Salvatore house. The brightness that consumed the room had her shutting her eyes quickly.

“Right, this point in transitioning has you sensitive to everything.” Katherine said as she rolled her eyes as she walked over to the mini fridge she had in the room and reaching into it. “One drink of this and all of that will go away.” She shrugged her shoulders. “For the time being anyways.”

Y/N heard the sound of the blood bag landing on the table next to her moments later. Opening her eyes slowly, she winced at the pain before her eyes adjusted to the blood bag. “I don’t want it.”

Katherine huffed. “Is that because you haven’t heard your father’s story? Or because you don’t want to be a vampire?”

Y/N looked over at Katherine, really seeing her for the first time. It was scary how much Elena had looked like the woman before her. She picked up on the slight differences between the two. The way Katherine’s hair was curled was a style she’d never seen Elena. Then there was the voice. Y/N could pick up the slight differences in the way they spoke.

“What if I want to die?” Y/N asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve already taken my chances of living away from me. And now you want me to be a part of some game of yours?”

Katherine chuckled as she took a few steps closer to Y/N. “It’s not a game when it’s a way to make both of our lives better. Mine and your family go way back. We used to help each other out.”

Y/N huffed. “Why do I doubt that? If my family knew yours so well, you wouldn’t have turned me into a vampire. And whatever help you needed, you would have just asked.”

“The last time I asked for help from your family, I was human. And they turned me down.” She closed the space between them. “So this time, I figured I’d try a different strategy. And it worked like a charm.” Her lips pulled into a smirk as she said the words.

The moment they had, Y/N’s mind reminded her of several memories. Ones that had been taken from her.

“That’s some impressive magic.” Katherine said as she walked over to Y/N as she held a newly bloomed rose.

Y/N jumped in surprise as she turned towards Katherine. The woman hadn’t been there moments before and the smirk on the woman’s face made her take a step back. Her eyes searching for her mother who was just on the other side of the garden.

“You can go to her, if you’d like.” Katherine said with a shrug. “But then she’ll tell you stop practicing magic.”

“No she wouldn’t.” Y/N said confidently. “She wants me to practice.”

“I’m betting on that kid.” Katherine gave her a smile. “That magic will help me out in the future for sure.”

“You want me to make flowers grow in your garden?” A curious look formed on Y/N’s face.

“Not exactly.”  Katherine’s eyes met Y/N’s. “For now, you’re going to lose interest in this magic of yours.” Katherine watched as the compulsion took over the child before her. “There will be a time where you’ll want to try it again, but no matter what you do, it’s just not going to work. Not until it’s time.”

“Y/N?” Her mother’s voice carried over to her. The woman’s back still turned to her child and Katherine.

Katherine never took her eyes off of Y/N’s. “Your mom is calling, but you won’t talk about us meeting. This never happened.”

In a blink of an eye, Katherine was gone and Y/N went running towards her mother.

...

“What do you need Elena?” Y/N asked as she typed away on the computer before her. She had been making the newest memo for Mrs. Lockwood. Her eyes hadn’t moved from the screen to look up at the woman since she walked in.

“I actually need a favor.” Elena’s voice reached her causing Y/N to look away from the screen and up at the woman. The moment their eyes met, Katherine smirked and began compelling her. “A little birdy told me some things are going to be happening soon. And I need someone on the ins. Especially when Damon Salvatore decides to poke his head in.” Katherine gave an eye roll before bringing them back to Y/N’s. “I’m going to need you to trust him. No matter how out of place it may seem, or scared you are, you’ll trust him, even if it goes against your gut instinct.”

“I’ll trust him.” Y/N repeated back in a trance.

“Good.” Katherine said with a smirk. “You’re also going to forget this conversation happened. I’ll see you soon, Y/N/N.”

Y/N’s eyes blinked several times as she looked around the hotel room. Y/N remembering the missing parts to her memory, triggered the suppressed ones. All the details of her life that her mind chose to forget came flooding back.

“Does everyone have magic like me?” Y/N asked as she looked over at both of her parents.

“No, my love.” Her mother said as she ran her hand along Y/N’s cheek. “You are very special. While there are witches in this world that can practice magic, yours is entirely based on another kind of magic. You are part Fae and that is why you can do this.”

The magic, the wanting and begging herself to be able to practice again. All of it had been suppressed because of Katherine’s compulsion.

“There’s my Pixie!” Her grandfather called out as Y/N stood out in the garden attempting to make a rose bloom.

A sigh passed Y/N’s lips. “I can’t be your pixie anymore, grandpa. My magic’s not working.”

“Oh I don’t believe that.” Her grandfather said as he came to stand beside her. “You’ll always have it. Even when it doesn’t feel like it’s there. And if a vampire ever comes into your life, that is going to be the one thing that helps you the most.”

Y/N shook her head. “That’s silly grandpa, there are no vampires.”

A chuckle came from the older man. “We’re part Fae, Pixie. Given our bloodline has thinned out, we’re still out there. Just because you can’t see vampires, it doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”

Anger flooded Y/N as her eyes landed on Katherine. “You did this to me. All of it” She shook her head. “This whole time it was because of you.”

Katherine shrugged her shoulders. “Duh. How else was I supposed to keep those powers of yours under check? Imagine if someone else had learned about what you are. They’d use you for darker reasons.”

“And you turning me into a vampire is going to do what exactly?” Y/N asked as she crossed her arms.  

Katherine looked around the room for a moment. A small smirk pulled at her lips as she walked over to one of the plants she purposely placed in the room. The leaves had once been brown and dying due to the lack of water from Katherine. But now it was a vibrant green and the leaves perked up.

“It’s going to make you stronger and the best form of protection.” She said as she looked over her shoulder at Y/N. “Because at the moment you are not alive, nor dead. And that Fae blood within you has already done more in the last few minutes than it’s been able to in years.”

Y/N looked over at the plant that Katherine was looking at. From where she stood, she watched as the plant continued to grow right before her eyes. “I’ll lose it the moment I drink the blood. Then what? You’ll be left with a vampire.”

Katherine rolled her eyes as she sighed. “Why don’t we find out? Take a drink. If you still have your magic, you’ll have to help me. If you don’t then I’ll have to kill you for wasting my time.”

Y/N raised her brow. “What makes you think I’ll want to help you after all you’ve done?”

Katherine closed the space between the two of them. She looked Y/n right in the eye. While Y/N kept her head held high, she still came face to face with the woman. There was one thing Katherine had always used over the years to get what she wanted. Leverage.

“I’m the only one who currently knows where your now vampire mother is.” The words were a whisper, but Y/N heard it clear as day.

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